#and b) i'm not even that big of a star wars fan??

[in-tua-deep]

i have a star wars fic idea floating around my brain that is just a time travel fic centering around bodhi rook where part of the explanation for a suddenly-force-sensitive-bodhi is "the monster tore parts of me out and maybe that made more space for the force to fill in the gaps"

[p1utofairy]

PAC: “one hit of your love addicted me. now i’m strung out on you, darlin’, can’t you see?” 🕊️🕰️✨📨

• what will your first love be like?

disclaimer ✩: take what resonates, leave what doesn't. i wanted to try something new by including edits but ofc tumblr is annoying and doesn’t let you post more than 1 video ugh. hope you all enjoy this though! love you much.

PILE ONE.

hey pile 1 🎀 right off the bat i gotta say…your person could possibly give anakin skywalker vibes visually lolololol very tall, handsome and broody. i'm also thinking of jon snow from ‘game of thrones’ hmmm i think this just ties into the fact that your person is in their bag a good 85% of the time! they analyze and process their thoughts & emotions a lot, and this won’t change especially when it comes to their love and devotion for you. they are very intense and purposeful when it comes to love — there’s no faking it or forcing it. they say what they mean, and mean what they say. they hold themselves to a very high standard so i think they’ll be in their head a lot when it comes down to approaching you/courting you. they want to make sure that they’re doing and saying the right things…they want to make sure that you’re comfortable. they will prioritize you and take the time out to really get to know you! they don’t want to do the whole cliché “wyd” texts or just take you out to the movies. no, they want to be able to take you to places you’ve never been before & treat you to beautiful experiences that will stay with you forever. that’s how highly they think of you, pile 1! they think you deserve the best of the best and they will do everything in their power to give you just that. this person has been through a lot in their life and they’ve felt so alone and misunderstood. 9x out of 10 if they just got out of a relationship, their ex didn’t understand them or couldn’t match them emotionally. your person is big on “everything happens for a reason” so when you come into their life they’re going to feel so much joy and relief, it’s like you’re their saving grace. it’s that energy of — where have you been all my life? that scene of anakin and padmé in ‘star wars: attack of the clones’ on the balcony is coming to mind…the longing in their eyes before they share their first kiss. a lot of people may talk about y'alls relationship/how y'all got together. it's nothing scandalous…i just see people being infatuated? i’m picking up a lot of outside influences/opinions so just be careful of that…don't have too many people in your business cause i’m picking up that some of these people don’t have the best intentions and are secretly jealous. it’s giving very much “fan behavior” hm they might keep tabs or ask lots of questions about you and your person’s relationship…it’s weird. i think for some of you, you’ve been single for a long time, so it’s going to be a shock to a lot of people when you pop out with this person. once your person comes into your life you may start to notice multiple people show romantic interest in you and you’ll be like??? where tf were y’all at when i was single for ____ years?! LMFAOOOOO that’s hilarious but back to your first love, it’ll be beautifully intense. i see you giggling a lot, staring at your person with big starry eyes and a lot of physical touch between you two. it may not even be in a flashy way? i can just see you coming up behind them and placing a hand on their back to make your presence known…i see a lot of moments of them holding you in their arms and resting their forehead against yours — they’re looking at you with so much intensity…deep concentration and passion etched across their face and you just break out into this bright smile and they just melt. you look so innocent compared to them like there’s this light in your eyes that’s left their own a long time ago, but they feel so safe…so free to be themselves when they’re with you. you’re their heart, pile 1. i’m hearing that scene from ‘the bear’ when carmy tells sydney “i couldn’t do it without you. i wouldn’t even want to do it without you…” AWWWWEEEEEE.

via tnqkins on tiktok

other channeled messages:

who's that girl? by eve, shravana moon/rising, doe eyes, baby pink, curly hair, strong arms, yin & yang energy, younger/age difference, vishaka scorpio moon, hypnotic gaze, 10:10, mirroring each other, distinct cologne

PILE TWO.

heyyy pile 2! you will NOT expect to fall in love with this person wow, your feelings for them will actually catch you off guard. this person is not your usual type and that's what's so intriguing about them…you’ll never know what to expect with them; they’ll keep you on your toes. i think that you keep repeating cycles or keep going back to someone who is no good for you, but once you meet this person there’s no going back. you’ll gravitate towards them like a month drawn to a flame lol you can’t fight these feelings even if you wanted to. you might meet this person through a mutual friend or meet them in a group setting, i see other people around you both as you talk and get to know each other. there’s so much warmth that this person radiates…they feel like home to you. a hug from them could fix your bad day, a kiss from them could make your heart skip a beat 🥹 and their smile?! to see them smile at you will give you an instant serotonin boost. this relationship feels divine…it feels fated. it’s giving “right person at the right time” like everything leading up to this connection will make so much sense once you’re actually together. some of you that chose this pile are quick to self-sabotage or cut off a relationship before you can get too emotionally invested. you’ve built these walls up because you’ve been through a lot of shit and you don’t want the extra baggage a relationship can sometimes bring, but it’s gonna be different with this person. you’re going to be so open to receiving their love and reciprocating it, there’s going to be such a healthy balance between you two. i’m hearing that this person is going to be a wish fulfillment, pile 2. this might be a long distance relationship at first — you might have to travel to see each other or you both will like to travel to different places together. they will value you so much! they will wine and dine you, surprise you with your favorite things and make sure you always have whatever your heart desires. they love you and they will have no problem showing that.

other channeled messages:

short king, sagittarius, bisexual, when harry met sally, opposites attract, capricorn man, matcha latte, boyfriend by big time rush, saturn dominant, west virgina, virgo/6H placements, ruby, freckles

PILE THREE.

pile 333 🦢 whoa i'm already picking up that this is a love that only grows stronger and better with time; it ages like fine wine. WOW WOW WOW. i'm ngl i feel like this person is your divine counterpart…when i say you two are a match made in heaven — i mean it. you complete each other in ways that other people will never truly understand. there’s this unspoken love and desire between you two initially; i see you both stealing a lot of glances at each other, waiting for the other to cave in and say something…anything. you both want to close that space between you but don’t know exactly how to. i don’t think either of you has ever felt this way before about anybody 😮‍💨 this love is strong AF. it’s never a dull moment between you two, there’s always that underlying passion and spark ready to consume you both. i’m picking up that either your ex or their ex is going to be very envious of this relationship. they almost feel blindsided in a sense…they thought you were going to come back to them and give them another chance, so it's going to make them feel some type of way when they see that you’ve moved on. please be cautious of this ex pile 3…they don’t have good intentions at all and i pick up an obsessive vibe from them. we are blocking that all the way out 🧿 anyways! your person’s love language is more than likely quality time…they loveeeeeee spending time with you and stepping out of their comfort zone to try things that you like. there’s a solid friendship at the root of this connection pile 3…like not only is this person your lover, but they’re also your best friend wrapped into one. you will give them the key to your heart and vice versa. any other options or third party situations will be cut off/left behind because all you both can see is each other! nothing and no one can tear this relationship down because it’s built on such a strong foundation, you can see yourself with this person years down the line from now and they feel the exact same way. you’re home to them. i know this is your first love pile 3 but i wouldn’t be surprised if they popped the question 💍 — i'm just sayinnnnnnnnnn!

other channeled messages:

feel it by jacquees ft. lloyd & rich homie quan, la perla lingerie, just left a toxic relationship, rock the boat by aaliyah, air sign placements, 26, 111, lemon drop, leo, jaded by drake

[thecurioustale]

My Thoughts on Jenny Nicholson and the Star Wars Hotel

I watched Jenny Nicholson's four-hour "The Spectacular Failure of the Star Wars Hotel" video essay that YouTube showed me recently but which till now I couldn't bring myself to construct a day around. She's in great form here, and I'm pleased to say I go back as a fan of her work all the way to her Friendship Is Witchcraft days. (Blows my mind that she voiced all Mane Six characters, and others, so well.)

Anyway, long story short, Disney built a Star Wars hotel at Disneyworld in 2022 that was themed as a voyage on a spaceship, then proceeded to charge thousands of dollars per person per night, the most expensive publicly-available Disney theme park hotel experience by miles and miles, and then closed the hotel in 2023 after having spent hundreds of millions of dollars. Jenny went into the experience as a member of the core target demographic and spent four hours talking about all the ways it was an underwhelming or outright disappointing experience.

Her video reminded me of Hasbro's own misadventures in corporate greed with Magic: The Gathering, which has suffered in recent years from price increases, disengagement from the fan community, and a huge proliferation of product spam—i.e. more products overall, more ways to buy a given product (e.g., the proliferation of different boxes, which eventually killed the original draft booster box that had powered Magic for 30 years), and more variants of individual cards within and between products.

Hasbro and Disney are very similar in the economic space they operate in, and also utilize similar business strategies. Disney is essentially the S-tier megacorporation to Hasbro's B-tier, and we have seen many of the same corporate trends play out in both companies.

When it comes to Disney theme parks, they have massively increased ticket prices over the years, well beyond the rate of inflation, and have also implemented advance-scheduling systems for faster access to rides that has made the process of exploring a Disney theme park much less spontaneous and a lot more regimented and stressful.

Disney realized, years ago, that their limited number of theme parks—they only really have two, not counting the various sub-parks: Disneyland on the West Coast and Disneyworld on the East Coast—together with Disney's entrenched status as a cultural icon with lots of goodwill and brand recognition among the public, are vastly underserving public demand, allowing them to inflate the price of a single trip almost arbitrarily, well into the four digits—or even the five-digits if you're taking the family and spending several days.

The Star Wars hotel was Disney's "Magic 30": a product so ludicrously expensive as to incur immediate and universal condemnation by their own fans. It's clear to me what Disney was doing: They'd happily turned the conventional price knob up and up and up for years. Now they wanted to experiment with a fundamentally more expensive product class, basically five to ten times more expensive. They wanted to see if the market could support it. Because the growing disparity of wealth in America, together with America's obscene wealth as a nation relative to the rest of the world, means that it's definitely possible: There are definitely millions of people out there who could book a stay at the Star Wars hotel if they wanted to. And Disney was like "Let's see if they will."

And you know what? I think it could have succeeded. Because there really is an obscene excess of wealth in this country, even though most of us don't have any access to it. And we are a culture whose zeitgeist is ever ravenous for the next big, flashy experience.

But instead the venture failed spectacularly. Why? Because such reckless corporate greed is, itself, usually a sign of deep organizational rot and incompetency among the board and executive leadership. In other words, their hotel failed for the same reason they tried building it in the first place: Disney has grown stupid.

The way it failed, going by Jenny's video, is down to two independent reasons:

An outrageous degree of "penny-wise, pound foolish" thinking;

A fundamental failure to anticipate the comfort and pleasure of the guest.

The former is the more obvious of the two, and what really stood out to me as emblematic of it in this whole boondoggle were two simple thing: 1) The hotel rooms didn't have complimentary Disney+; and 2) the free loaner umbrellas for hotel guests visiting the Star Wars Land in Disneyworld were either so worn-out or so shoddy to begin with that, unless it was a big coincidence, both Jenny's and Jenny's sister's umbrella failed while in use. This was in the context of Disneyworld's most expensive customer experience ever, by a lot, and Disney was nickel-and-diming them. Jenny's video goes into a great depth of detail on the dozens if not hundreds of corners they cut; it was basically everything but the food. The result was an antagonistic relationship between Disney and their hotel guests where almost everything interesting cost more money (usually a lot more money) while almost everything included in the main ticket price was of cheap quality or stingy in its allotment. Every aspect of the whole process, from the scammy vibes of booking a room in the first place, to the pathetic after-care for customers who reported a problem after their stay, was likely to leave a sour taste in the customer's mouth.

When you're paying the most expensive prices in the history of a product category, you really just need to be given an up-front price that includes all or nearly all of it. You'll know what you're in for, and you can make an informed decision, and then it's really just down to the host to provide an experience and level of service that matches those high dollar outlays. But instead, as Jenny pointed out, it's like you're dealing with Spirit Airlines, where you're gonna pay a fee for literally everything beyond sitting your body quietly on the airplane.

Mind-boggling hubris. Disney needs to be broken up for the monopoly that it is, and this is just one more example of how convinced of their own inevitability and supremacy Disney has become.

The other main failure on Disney's part is the subtler one.

Jenny focused on how the Star Wars themed choose-your-own-adventure game, which was at the heart of the hotels' central conceit of "live your own personal Star Wars story," was irreparably dysfunctional. Not only was the app, through which most of the "experience" was conveyed, horribly designed; and not only were the tasks delivered through this app mostly busywork to anyone other than young children, consisting of little more than walking around and scanning inanimate objects; but the storyline's entry points and decision points were completely impenetrable through reasonable means, to the point of seeming arbitrary. Jenny proactively tried and failed to get into her preferred storyline; then tried and failed to get into any storyline; then was automatically sorted into one the next morning; and ultimately ended up having only one (dubiously) interactive story experience over the whole weekend.

She talked about how the tightly-regimented and incredibly full schedule was so mentally and physically draining that on the final night she fled her dinner table fearing she would vomit and had to stand in her hotel room staring at herself in the mirror for a while, to understand her illness (which turned out to be stress-induced exhaustion) and center herself.

She talked about how she didn't get to see a much-coveted music show during dinner on her first night because she was seated behind a giant column.

Really, these things are manifestations of the larger and more fundamental failure on Disney's part to anticipate the comfort and pleasure of the guest, as I put it.

As I was watching her video, two thoughts came to me in this vein:

First was that this whole experience really needed to be "playtested," as we might say in Magic. I mean, I'm sure there nominally was, but whatever playtesting they did was completely ineffective. Good playtesting would have brought most of these issues to light.

Second was that the Disney of today has completely lost touch with the namesake of their industry: hospitality. This would never have happened at a new luxury resort by an established world-class hotelier a century ago. Because they understood the basics. Little things, like hot towels.

I could tell just from Jenny's video that this whole hotel was decided from the top-down by soulless, disconnected corporate suits who blatantly disregarded whatever good suggestions I'm sure the Imagineers® came up with. For the failures to be as expansive and ubiquitous as Jenny's video documented, no doubt the institutional rot extends down at least as far as the project manager level, if not down to individual Imagineers® and beyond, but there have to be at least some good ones, and clearly they were overruled early and often. Whenever Disney's leadership was faced with a decision between anticipating the comfort and pleasure of the guest, and saving a couple bucks on a guest who was literally laying out several thousands of dollars to be there, leadership chose the latter.

They were so arrogant that they believed, without noticing or questioning it (unless Disney's leadership is in fact cartoon evil), that they would tell the customer what constitutes a good experience, and the customer would pay top dollar for it. And so you get a guest experience where customers who are actively trying to pick a given storyline can't get any storyline and are later seated for the dinner show behind a giant fucking column.

It's sad, and we should all be glad that their hotel failed. Not that Disney is likely to learn the right lessons from their failure, but the long-term solution here is for leisure dollars to be directed toward other companies. For the several thousand bucks that Jenny paid, she could have had a true luxury vacation in most parts of the world—and for longer than two nights.

One thing that I noticed during the four hours of her video was that Disney, or at least the people in charge of developing this hotel, didn't seem to understand what constitutes an enjoyable story experience. I am forgiving of the low level of complexity in the various puzzles, since the public is famously stupid plus a lot of these guests are going to be children. But there was so little imagination in the actual plot beats: Chewie sneaks in, gets arrested, and busts out. You get to help some Resistance fighters smuggle their luggage. Like, it's insipid. I mean, ultimately, most pop storytelling is insipid, but what I mean is that the dressings were insipid too. Dressing a story up is what makes stories great, at least at the mainstream level. There was no pomp and flourish; no clever interweaving; no electric events that put people on the edge of their seats. Just walking around on your phone for two days scanning crates and occasionally being in the same room while somebody busts Chewie out of the clink—assuming you even make it to the story events in time, since they often fired early.

The whole thing smacks of rule by committee, too many cooks, and suits suits suits all the way down.

I think it's a sign of the times that this is happening. We are once again in Robber-Baron territory in this land. The big corporations and the oligarchs who run them have become so obscenely rich and so utterly disconnected from ordinary life, and their corporate cultures have become so masturbatory and so officious, that they are increasingly creating products for idealized, phantom audiences. They increasingly don't understand real people or real life.

And we can and should bring the weight of the government down on them, more to break up monopolies and allow new and established competitors to seriously challenge them than to actively punish these companies for making money, but even more so we just need to spend our dollars elsewhere. I mean, I'm speaking hypothetically here; I am poor so none of this even applies to me in the first place.

Hence why, even after inflation, this is still just my two cents.

[jo-harrington]

Fic Author Self Rec Game

When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics you've written, then pass it on to at least five other writers. Let's spread the self-love!

Thanks @onegirlmanytales for the tag. I'm going to preemptively tag 5 right now so they don't have to slog through my recs: @somnambulic-thing (I need you to do this because I know you don't like self promoting but please), @dr-aculaaa, @wheels-of-despair, @shenanigans-and-imagines (I'm seriously curious to see what you pick) and @storiesbyrhi

Lack of Faith - No Pairing, Themes of Friendship and Hurt/Comfort This one was one I wanted to write for a while. I'm a big Star Wars fan and while I truly believe that Eddie would be too...I'm also someone who likes to sow chaos and heartbreak so here we are.

Loving Eddie - Grim Reaper!Eddie x Reader, Themes of Death and Grief Truly the beginning of what seems to be a saga of me exploring death and grief and Eddie in one-shots specifically. Like you can do it in a longfic type of setting (we'll get to that) but sometimes I need to crack open my heart and let that sludge out. And you get things like this.

Eddie Universe - Steddie, Themes of Friendship and Crushes/Unrequited Love This was not only my first foray into Steddie by into a truly Modern!Au as well. It was weird but it turned out really well and I'm proud of it. It's very soft and fluffy.

Closing Time - EddiexStore Manager!Reader, Themes of Friendship and Crushes, Part of the Store Manager Verse This was my first fic coming back into posting my writing online. And look at where we are now. It's not the beginning of the series, but it holds a special place in my heart as someone who is going to be tied to retail in one way or another for the rest of my life.

As Above, So Below - Kas!Eddie MunsonxFem!OC (The Knight), Loosely Inspired by Van Helsing. Damn lets talk about the fic/story that has taken over my whole life. And I could not be more proud of myself for a) making it this far and b) being determined to see such a beast through no matter what. Because we're not quite there yet, and what a beast it is. (I'm giving myself til the end of the year to finish it). There aren't many people who read this series but I'm grateful for each and every person who does. Grateful for all of the support and encouragement my friends have given me. It isn't for everyone...I don't even know why I'm recommending it. This is a story about grief, transformation, self-discovery, and all-consuming love, not just for one person, but for yourself. If you do find yourself curious, I truly hope it won't disappoint.

[thetruearchmagos]

Dunking On Some Fools

In Which I Whine About Star Wars, And Talk About Multi-Role Platforms (Mostly The Latter)

Yes, the none-awaited sequel to this post a few days ago has arrived! If no one reads this, I don't think I'd mind, but I am tagging @coffeexafterxmidnight since you asked and @theprissythumbelina because I vaguely recall you reacting positively to something star wars related a while ago.

Anyhow, more below the cut;

Now, the way I see it, a lot of the pro-LAAT arguments come from the perspective that using 'multi-role' vehicles, or 'platforms' to be technical, is inherently better than splitting those roles across multiple platforms in unison. These two comments, for example;

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Now, I'm gonna start by saying that while I am a very big fan of most multi-role platforms (F-35 my beloved I never doubted you), I am of the opinion that the 'Low Altitude Assault Transport', or LAAT, is absolutely not a good example of one, and I'm here to explain why.

"Multi-Role' VS 'Multi-Form'

Basically, the way I see it is that it's a good idea to design one or a small number of platforms to be able to conduct a variety of missions as long as the ability to actually do that doesn't require making absolutely detrimental sacrifices in that platform's ability to fulfil its core functions.

Now, what does that look like?

This is a Nimitz-class nuclear powered aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, and in my opinion such platforms are an excellent example of what it means to be multi-mission right.

The base, structural form of aircraft carriers is basically a flat deck, a hangar beneath it, and all the engineering, navigational, and communications gear needed to make it go places and do things.

And what can an aircraft carrier do? Anything, depending on what you put on it.

Fight for and win air superiority? Launch fighters.

Bomb something? Send up some strike aircraft.

Hunt submarines? Sic anti-submarine helicopters on them.

And you don't even need to change the ship itself! There's not really a structural difference between a carrier that can 'do' air warfare VS one that can fight surface targets, and the same hold true in other domains. Modern missile cells on ships, or launch rails / bomb bays on aircraft, can store and fire many types of ordnance (if you've designed them to), allowing the platform with these systems to be easily re-tasked between various missions.

The exact opposite of this fortunate state of affairs can be seen when improving a platform's ability to do A actively weakens its ability to do B. This often happens when the structural components needed to carry out one task take up weight or volume while providing nothing to the platform's ability to do another.

Such as, say, having to have both a large transport compartment and all the lasers in the galaxy.

Where Does The LAAT Fit?

Now, to return to the vehicle that started all this.

I believe the LAAT is a flawed concept, and my proposition to replace it while retaining a similar level of 'orbit to surface assault' capability would be to divide the roles of 'fire support' and 'troop transport' between two separate platforms. Frankly, I'm more than a little sceptical of this whole doctrine to begin with, but I'm not gonna get into that.

The main problem here is weight. It shouldn't be controversial to say that in the air more than any other domain, weight is at an absolute premium, and speed is often your best protection. Just by stripping the basic hull of either the armament or the troop bay would give the resulting craft a good boost to speed or range, especially if you take the effort to make a more aerodynamic hull form. Alternatively, you could use the saved weight to cut back on thrusters / repulsors, or boost carrying capacity, armament (as if it isn't already armed enough), or shielding / armour.

A second point that I think is also relevant is that, by splitting these two conflicting missions and design requirements into different aircraft, you can now get away with adapting the new platforms into even more roles which their now non-contradictory frames might be better able to handle. The troop transport can also haul cargo or vehicles without wasting capacity on weapons, and on the flip side the gunship can carry out independent attack missions without subtracting from the transport fleet.

With these arguments made, though, I'd like to take some time to properly shoot the two YouTube commenters who started this right between the eyes. Their takes, I think, are dumb.

Take 1; 'Sequencing Bad, Actually'

Okay, well.

First of all, surely the idea of 'easily anticipated stages' applies equally to the approach best described as 'mass identical waves coming right at you'? Like, just using the LAAT is no less predictable the split idea? Military operations are always broken up into clearly defined stages for a reason, which brings me to my next point.

Let's say you send in the LAAT in your first, second, and third waves, as you'll need to because there's no way in hell you're getting a 'large' amount of troops down at once. The first wave will take the most fire since the defenders haven't been suppressed yet, and since the troop transports and gunships are the same, losing gunships while attempting to clear defences also condemns their passengers to dying with them.

Unless you mean to tell me you intend on dropping troops while the enemy's guns are pointing right at you. In which case, please watch Saving Private Ryan Opening Beach Scene on Holo-Tube.

On the other hand, breaking up the mission into discrete and sequential stages, and splitting attack and transport craft into separate roles, allows you to cut back on risk massively. Take the LAAT hull, leave the droops on ship, and replace all that weight with even more lasers (but preferably rockets or something), and now you have a craft for that 'first wave', which can hit defences with speed and firepower without risking a single ground trooper's life. Then, once and only once the Landing Zone is ready, you can send in the ground pounders to do their work.

Take 2; Muh Multi Role

Ah, screw me I guess.

Look, first of all, who the hell 'needs; to do so? Like, the video and commenter made a point of saying that there very much was no need to slap weapons on the blackhawk or Mi-8, so what exactly are you trying to say??

Also, the point about multi-role fighters is so stupid it spawned this whole post. In the modern day, where the divide between ground attack and air combat capabilities are summed up quite well by 'stick the bloody weapon on a launch rail and chuck it from beyond the horizon', the structural concessions you need to support both roles are much lower than having to accomodate, I don't know, a vacuum pressurised passenger compartment, and a absolute crap ton of lasers. So, yeah! You can't compare the two!

And with that... I don't feel like trawling through the video for more dumb takes. So, Arch out.

[blazehedgehog]

You know how characters introduced as a rival to Sonic mirror him in some way? Which ones do you think do the best/worst job of it?

I feel biased because I really like Metal Sonic. He was kind of always this, but they've really leaned into making him this cold, ruthless machine, who, at least according to the comics, secretly questions his own identity.

He is the ultimate evil Sonic: extremely fast, endlessly acrobatic, but with absolutely no heart. All business, no pleasure. He exists to get a job done. And, like, guys like Shadow have their own business going on. Metal Sonic exists for one reason, and one reason alone: be the anti-Sonic.

The worst is hard to pin down because there's so many jobbers. I know people like Sonic 2 GG's Silver Sonic, but I've never been a huge fan of him (he's cute and weird sure, but I dunno). Then there's Pseudo Sonic, from the Adventures of Sonic cartoon.

I'm going to jump into hot water, though, and I want to preface this by saying: I have still not read Sonic the Comic. I am judging these based on very limited information.

(So, so many images incoming)

I really do not like "Sonic Badnik."

This design is such a strange looking mess. It feels like the sort of thing they didn't expect to draw more than once. Like there were no design meetings, it's just, this was it. This was the first draft, right here.

Skimming the rest of the issue, that rings true, given "Sonic Badnik" doesn't even look totally correct page to page.

Details change, colors change, it's like the artist is drawing his own character from memory and he can't remember what it looked like three pages earlier.

It can be forgiven. This was issue four. I don't think anyone was taking the job very seriously yet.

I'm also not a huge fan of Emperor Metallix.

I also don't know tons about Doctor Who, but I understand enough to know this is a Dalek thing. It makes it comparable to all those dumb Archie Sonic comics where they snuck in so many Star Trek and Star Wars references that the upper management supposedly had to lay down rules blocking that kind of material because it was starting to clog up the book.

Also the idea of a big Metal Sonic permanently fused to a big chair doesn't seem very scary, even if he is commanding an army of Metal Sonics. It's sort of like being scared of a refrigerator. Was he even mobile? I suppose if the chair could fly around and had weapons and stuff built into it, maybe that could be scary. I see some images where that's suggested, but I also see images where it looks like he's attached to the floor and walls.

Even if he can fly around, he seems like he basically only exists to pass orders down. That's pretty boring. This guy is a boss only in the sense his employees do all the work.

Also, let's turn the lens back towards Archie: I think Anti-Sonic himself is lame.

Again: it's Archie going back to the well of Star-Trek-isms. Star Trek has the mirror universe, where an evil version of the Enterprise exists, with evil versions of Kirk, Spock, etc. We see Mirror Kirk literally do the nazi salute!

Side note: Mirror Universe TNG is hilarious because everybody is sexy, edgy, and super ripped. It's REALLY dumb, but in the best way.

Anyway, that's literally all Anti Sonic is: he's mirror universe Sonic. He's evil, and we know he's evil because he dresses like a PUNK. That means knee-high boots, a leather jacket, and sunglasses. And that's it. That's his entire personality.

Oh and I guess he lusts after everyone, including Sally's computer, Nicole (notably when she was still just a computer and not yet her own character) and even himself, I guess.

Ian Flynn eventually turned this guy around by changing him into Scourge the Hedgehog, and fleshed out his identity a lot more. I am probably not the first one to note that the current IDW Sonic character Surge the Tenrec feels like a do-over in terms of Scourge the Hedgehog.

Which is basically: an attitude turned up past 11. Both are deeply broken individuals.

But I'm getting off topic: the original Anti-Sonic sucks. He's a one note gimmick, and a bad one.

[padme-amitabha]

I just saw a post calling ahoska and obi wan anakins truest loves and uh what? It brought up the mortis arc of tcw and essentially minimizing the anidala love for one another as some form of escapism and how its poison ( even tho vader literally gets saved bc of luke - padmes son🙄) Its so strange how ahsoka fans want to make her a more prominent character than she really is. Also a recurring opinion that gets brought up is ahsoka knowing/understanding anakin better than padme and obi wan when she didn’t even know things about him (like he was a slave) and we consistently see anakin confide in padme its just so odd how alot of star wars fans diminish her

That doesn't surprise me at all since Star Wars is Ahsoka Wars at this point. And even if it wasn't, you have to give the Skywalkers at least some rest uk? The constant retconning and addition of new stuff most people didn't even ask for is tiresome. Ahsoka from the start felt very OC-ish to me because she was constantly hyped and favored in a way not even Anakin was. She felt like a self-insert jedi character so her place is canon is just weird. And forcing her to be important in places where she's not needed just shows Filoni's favoritism. At least GL wasn't ever really biased towards Anakin and Luke. Anakin mainly suffered through so much and had enough flaws and complexies which Ahsoka never had. She's constantly in a plot armor and just overpowered imo. But ofc she's a badass Jedi so she is more popular than Padme. I cant even.. I just hate the way TCW and Filoni wrote her. I don't see Anakin as being a big brother to anyone. Or being a teacher. The only other natural interaction he has except Padme and his mother is with Obi-Wan and even that took time. They didn't get along well in the first two movies and although he does joke around with Obi Wan in ROTS, he has his own slightly awkward and shy way of doing it. And I imagine he's semi reserved and shy with other Jedi. Or when we see him interacting with Padme's family. But to make him a responsible master is strange because even in ROTS he was too young and not mature enough to be level-headed and responsible all the time. And I like that because he has flaws but he was trying to learn and wanted to be a good father. And I do believe he really gained that maturity (which was stunted due to obvious trauma) and fatherly affection for Luke after ESB and not before. I think he would have had trouble connecting with Leia as well post ROTJ because he wasn't prepared to and had no experience being a role model for anyone. Meanwhile, 22 year old TCW Anakin with Ahsoka acts like a 30 year old man with anger issues...

It's also frustrating to see Padme being reduced to a love interest when she was a main character and part of the trio. She, like Han, didn't need to be a Jedi to be one of the main characters and it's boring to see a trio of Jedi only. I don't really blame Ahsoka fans - only Filoni for constantly dragging her into everything and I'm glad it's backfiring because I see fans who previously liked her are beginning to get tired of her being shoehorned into every single SW thing and acting all Mary Sue. Also, see the amount of concept arts and storylines they wrote for Padme during the prequels. She had more arts than Anakin and Obi-Wan. GL clearly wanted her to be important even more than Leia in ANH because we see much more of Padme and the first movie directly involves her and her planet with Anakin's discovery being a sideplot. It's disrespectful to reduce her to a love interest.

This video puts it really well (although he isn't a fan of the prequels as far as I can remember): "Dave Filoni's biggest problem as a writer apart from his complete inability to write interesting dialogue or craft stories that are more than just fetch quest for Magical McGuffin or create people who actually make smart decisions or his borderline fetish for the boring mediocre character he's trying so hard to insert as the driving force behind the entire Star Wars narrative is his constant [ __ ] around and reconning of past events and World building to suit the needs of his own narrow story. It's like he's staying in a hotel room for a couple of days and decided that he now has the right to completely remodel the place because he feels like it. This isn't your job Dave you're supposed to work within the rules of the world that George created not write a whole bunch of new ones just to suit yourself that now affect everyone else."

Lol applause for saying that out loud

[separatist-apologist]

So you miss people asking you to rank things? Could you rate/rank acotar characters (of your choice) as Star Wars fans on a scale from “makes it their entire identity/personality” to “hater and they like people to know it” 👀

I'm gonna do men again, just because its 9 people

9. Eris Vanserra- Way too pretty to know ANYTHING about Star Wars.

8. Jurien- Isn't that a movie for children? He's pretty sure it is, but he's also judging you about it.

7. Tamlin- He's seen it and it was fine. It's just...it's a movie?

6. Tarquin- Tried to do a marathon once, didn't even make it to the Duel of the Fates in A Phantom Menace.

5. Azriel- Did you say Lord of the Rings? Well, that's what he heard you say and actually, did you know when Viggo Mortensen hit that helmet in Two Towers he broke his toes-

4. Lucien- Excellent background noise. Pretty sure he's seen the whole trilogy via Disney+ and chill. If you ask him, he'll lie and say his favorite character is Princess Leia when in truth, he doesn't have strong enough feelings to have a favorite character

3. Kallias- The Empire Strikes Back Hoth scene, specifically where Luke is taken by the wampa really captured Kallias's imagination. It's the best film, he doesn't care WHAT you have to say about it and actually, he'll fight.

2. Cassian- Big into the prequels. King of the memes, really loves The Clone Wars. "C'mon Nesta, put on the costume for me. Just once. No I'm not gonna be Jabba obviously I'm Han-"

Rhys- IDC what anyone says, Rhys is king of the fucking nerds. B I G opinions about the sequel trilogy, swears the Binary Sunset (Force Theme) changed his whole life. "ITS LIKE POETRY IT RHYMES" okay Rhys calm down

[robo-dino-puppy]

10 Fandoms, 10 Characters, 10 Tags

thank you for the tag @bluntblade! (i'm embarrassed this took me so long. also i've never been good at ranking things so uh don't consider this list in order of most favorite or anything)

Donna Noble (Doctor Who)

Character I think about if I'm having a bad day <3 This scene between the windows in Partners in Crime never fails to cheer me up. Also: "You're not mating with me, sunshine!" Theeeeee best platonic relationship with the Doctor IMO.

Varl (Horizon)

Aloy did not appreciate this good dude nearly enough. I want Varl to be my BFF. T_T But HFW happened and... I won't say too much about that or we'd be here all day. He's alive in my head and that's all that matters.

Cimorene (The Enchanted Forest Chronicles)

Cimorene! She's no-nonsense and clever. She wasn't a fan of being treated like a princess so she went and "got captured by" a dragon so people would stop bothering her, and helps her cook and organize her library. I mean, goals.

Loki (MCU)

I wasn't into the MCU when it started getting big, and in fact I didn't see any of the movies until I read someone on Tumblr (c. 2012) going on about (paraphrased) how awful it was that people liked Loki because he was the absolute worst and if you liked him you were a gross immoral person and you should feel bad. So I went and watched this Avengers movie everyone was talking about. And guess what haters? He is terrible and I love him.

Parker (Leverage)

Although I am not brave enough to throw myself off buildings, sometimes I amuse myself by thinking "what would Parker do?" and since a canonical option involves stabbing someone who's bothering her with a fork and jumping out a window, the thought cheers me up even if I can't do that.

Aziraphale (Good Omens)

He just wants people (aside from Crowley) to leave him alone in his bookshop. He never fits in with his "side" but tries to do what they want anyway, because that's the good thing to do, and he wants to be good. I can relate so hard, buddy.

Milo Thatch (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Ok so... I totally had a crush on Michael J. Fox and I was already interested in linguistics back when this movie came out, and then here's a main character voiced by him who was a linguist! Milo had to be my favorite :D

Elena Fisher (Uncharted)

I will fully admit that some of my initial love of Elena came from her AI covering my panic-flailing self early on in the first Uncharted game (I'm THE WORST at games with guns, even on easy, it's actually embarrassing) - but she impressed me right away when she was not overly impressed by Nate. And her snark game is on point.

Zeb (Star Wars Rebels)

I feel like Zeb needs more love. Comic relief character who actually has an unbelievably tragic backstory! And his story has so much untapped potential! We never really get to explore what happened with Lasan, and then then dump Kallus in there with his defection to the Rebellion and his whole *handwaves* history with the Lasats and eventual apparent (b)romance with Zeb - and the show had so little to say about it! Huge angsty storytelling miss right there. (Dave why.)

Brian Finch (Limitless [2015])

This dude! Lovable but he would be SO exasperating to deal with IRL. His arts-and-craftiness just resonated with me. He was always making stuff out of toothpicks and yarn and papier mâché and clay and and and- I'm still mad this show only got one season.

zero-pressure tags: @mari-mary, @ayaitch, @hannahmationstudios, @inomakani, @fogsblue, @nerd-artist, @singingkestrel, @prototypelq, @tjerra14, @artekai or just consider yourself tagged if you want to do it!

[rosalind-hawkins]

Yay, my first ever ask to someone!

Because I know you love him as much as I do, I'm sure you'll probably won't even have to think very long about the answers: Of course, I'm choosing Duke for the character ask game :D I'd be very much interested in 4, 9, 10, 11, 21, 22, 24 – but of course, choose wichever ones you like or make it everything <3 And for the freebie question a little headcanon: What would be a typical phrase you imagine him saying all the time?

OMG Honored to be your first! <3 <3 <3 And you're right, I always love talking about Duke. Sincerely shocked how little attention he gets overall. And as predicted, I answered way more questions than you asked lol. Enjoy!

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

The cheerleaders. I just, oh boy, wow. Please tell me those girls put those uniforms on themselves and he didn't ask them to. That would be so cringe. >.<

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

So, his English VA, Marc Thompson, does the audiobooks for the Star Wars "Fate of the Jedi" book series that my husband and I are listening to, so I find myself frequently picturing Duke in Star Wars outfits during my Duke Devlin Star Wars Storytime. XD

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Cherry Pie by Warrant, cause I imagine him jamming out to it in his classic car. See also Question 12.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Fandom doesn't do enough with him for me to have an answer to this question, but I have seen people giving him new outfits, which I adore. Yes, dress this boy up, he loves it!

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Yes, I appreciate the YGOTAS theme song jokes as much as the next dude, but if you try to find Duke scenes on Youtube, that's all you can find. :(

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

Absolutely. I headcanon that he's really tidy with his personal space, and we could take turns making dinner (thank you Season Four for telling us that he's a good cook).

10. Could you be best friends with this character?

Quite possibly, yeah. I have some creative indie side projects of my own, and I feel like he'd have good feedback if I needed another set of eyes on some new character designs or plot-points. I will also be hitting him up for haircare tips all the time lol.

11. Would you date this character?

If I weren't married and I had a chance, absolutely yes. Don't know if it would work out long-term, but it would be fun.

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

I headcanon that he's a big Adam Lambert fan and sings his music in the shower (and everywhere else he sings). Try listening to the Adam Lambert cover of Holding Out For A Hero and try telling me it doesn't have Duke-like levels of drama and flare, I dare you. Other AL songs I think he'd specifically jam to are Fever, Strut, The Light, and Pop That Lock. I don't always have headcanons for a character's taste in music, but I just get really strong vibes on what he's into. I also think he'd listen to a lot of classic rock.

Another few songs that will go on my Duke playlist when I get around to making it: You Put A Spell On Me and Dangerous Hands both by Austin Giorgio, Fangs by Neoni, 100 degrees by Kenzie, basically everything by Steven Rodriguez (there's not a lot, but it's all so sexy), and Play With Fire by Sam Tinnesz ft. Yacht Money.

Okay, I admit defeat, Duke Devlin Playlist Post coming soon. (Songs he listens to, not songs about him.)

15. What's your favorite ship for this character? (Doesn't matter if it's canon or not.)

I'm not going to pick just one, I can't, but I'll give you my top ships: Mastershipping (Kaiba), Minorshipping (Ryou), Snareshipping (Joey). Poly ships: Mumbleshipping (Kaiba + Ryou), Rollshipping (Joey + Ryou), and Petshipping (Kaiba + Joey). Okay, that's just... all my Duke ships. XD But they're all so good!

I'm intrigued by the idea of Ishizu x Duke, which doesn't have a name. I'm not sure they really know what to make of each other, but I think that keeps them intrigued with each other. I think a first date with them, or even just a flirting scene, could be real fun. She's serious and scholarly, he's fun and free-spirited. They could balance each other.

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Him and Tristan, Chaseshipping I think. I think they could be friends just fine, I just don't see the chemistry there.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

I'm leaving out ship characters for the sake of this question.

I actually think he and Mai could be really good pals, they'd go shopping and talk about bfs/gfs and have a good time. They also both own convertibles, so you know they have some of the same tastes.

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

One thing that's always fun for me is Duke's flirting. Can't say I'm a master of writing flirtation, but I do my best to make Duke look like a master of it, because he is. I do generally just love writing him so much, though. He's one of the least angsty characters that I write, so he always puts me in a happier headspace.

In my fic Rock Bottom, he's a solid friend to Seto without being too nosy, which Seto appreciates so much. They understand each other on an intellectual level, but even after Seto's like "no thanks" to a relationship, Duke makes it clear that he's always free to change his mind in a no-pressure way. He's supportive but not nosy. I've got a chapter coming up (spoilers) in RB Season Three where Seto just needs somewhere to chill and lay low, hide from reality, and Duke's like, "I won't say a word to anyone that you're here, it's fine, no explanation needed, just take a deep breath pal." Doesn't ask what's going on, just takes him in for the night. (Also negotiates him into cuddles, but that's separate lol.)

He's just there for people, doesn't need answers (unless things are bad enough that some kind of involvement is just necessary).

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I like when people fill out the details of him balancing his responsibilities between his game shop and managing DDM, or flesh out his relationship with Pegasus even if it's not central to the story. There's just so much more to this boy that we don't get to see, and that stuff just feels like such a necessary backdrop to the rest of his life.

23. Favorite picture(s) of this character?

DSOD did this boy right. He's just so pretty. :')

But also, look at this boy pretending to read while he eavesdrops. And he set up that hammock so dang high off the ground? Looking down on everybody? No, boy has the high ground, tactical advantage. I love him.

And wait, what's that? The most Mastershipping moment in the entire anime, you say? Show me!

Oh. Oh dear. ;P But, for so many reasons, I'll genuinely never get over this scene.

24. What other character from another fandom of yours that reminds you of them?

I'm gonna try to stick to canon behaviors and traits for this and not let headcanons influence it too much.

ZEN/Hyun Ryu from Mystic Messenger has the same "I'm pretty and I know it" vibe as Duke and shares the casual-but-constant flirting behavior (also ponytail bros). This is a fun comparison for me because their hair and eye colors are also exact opposites.

From Nanbaka, I'd have to go with Uno, who can be abrasive at times with his enemies/rivals, doesn't let his friends fight alone, and shares the "ladies love me, I know I'm pretty, look at how well I take care of my luscious long hair" confident attitude. Also like Duke, there's a good few times where a friend is doing something/rash or unwise, and he tries to talk reason to them. Also obsessed with games, so they have that hobby in common. He also compulsively flirts with every woman in the vicinity (except the warden, because she's terrifying and he knows better). Real smooth operator, even with the dudes.

From UtaPri, I'd have to go with Ren Jinguji. Look, they're even hammock bros! Exceptionally confident, but also a bit mysterious. Flirty with the ladies, not that he even needs to try that hard. Actually pretty laid back and down to earth most of the time.

He also just moves the way I imagine Duke moving, with that fluid grace of a man's who's totally comfortable in his own skin. Just look at him!!!! LOOK AT THE HIP! *chefs kiss*

Another thing all these boys have in common is a strong fashion sense in addition to a strong sense of showmanship (ZEN as an actor and Ren as an idol, this is obvious, but Uno just can't help showing off lol), two great traits that Duke also has.

26. FREEBIE QUESTION!!

Honestly, I can imagine him using "yo" a lot, not exactly a phrase, but a slang term. If anyone tells him something like "that's not cool anymore" he just responds with "it is when I say it ;)"

If we're leaning into my headcanons of him as a good cook, maybe he sometimes uses "now we're cooking with gas!" He probably has to explain this to Tristan and/or Joey, which launches him into the discussion of gas vs electric stoves. He's a strong believer in gas stoves being superior. I wouldn't say he's a snob when it comes to cooking, but there's certain things in the kitchen that he has a strong opinion on.

Bonus Headcanon

Duke Devlin's top Halloween Costumes: some kind of imp/demon/devil (let your imagination run wild with this one, because he definitely did), one of his Monster World OCs, the Phantom of the Opera, vampire, ninja.

[sakuracyanide]

pls know most my life i thought zoeisite was a woman & the lesbians were cousins b/c america is WEIRD but you bringing sailor moon on dash has unlocked precious core memories even if the english dub is.. a thing that happened [ legit their english names are cemented in my head to this day thanks to toonami. tell me their japanese names and i just cry confusion into my hands as a young fan who didn't know better b/c i was literally like 5-8 years old ]

softly go bleach your roots creep is like cemented in my brain the dub was so unhinged and i loved every fucked up second of it.

trust me trying to follow the changes between sailor moon adaptations is a nightmare. like classic & its og eng dub are basically different canons with totally different characters.

zoisite became zoycite, and now fandom forever spells zoisite (the actual rock) with a c and i'll die mad about it.

kunzite became malachite? for... reasons?? i don't think anyone has ever come out and said why.

and the manga is its own thing. like legit totally different vibe than the 90s anime - they were happening concurrently so the anime team was mostly just taking naoko's notes and then going feral??? like kunzite and zoisite are more or less an extended reference to patalliro. jadeite gets run over by a plane at one point. its fucking great. but like not that great if you want development for the main heroines. usagi does develop, but the rest of the girls stay very stagnant. the development in each season is given to whatever ragtag group of villains are being puppeted by the big bad. s1 had the shitennou, s2 had ali & an at the start bc the first season wrote itself into a corner by having usagi reset the timeline and they had to unfuck that before they could get started on the dark moon which you know what is a really upsetting plot i stan it. then it had the dark moon kingdom which ... if i remmeber right were people banished from the silver millennium for not wanting to be immortal and being concerned about all powerful monarchs? but they were corrupted. something something i would play saphir. s3 had the death busters and hotaru's hot dad. s4 had the amazon trio and the amazon quartet. and s5 had the sailor animates and i will die for lead crow & aluminium seiren's romance. so like if you care about the senshi as characters i don't really rec the 90s version on its own

and then there's sailor moon crystal which was supposed to be more faithful to the manga but was a ffffffffffucking mess. seriously i have never seen such ugly animation or bizarre animation choices for an ip that was lauded & is still upheld as having some of the most gorgeous backgrounds and animation in the genre. morimo clover z did the op and it slaps so like there's that but the rest of it is something else. it should be noted that the animation improves from season 3 onwards but they eventually just said fuck it and made movies out of the rest of it which is a bummer!

and then there's pretty guardian sailor moon (the live action drama which is THE BEST ADAPTATION I WILL GO TO WAR OVER THIS) which features all of the girls having an actual existential crisis over what it means to be reborn princesses from distant stars, it also gives them the spotlights they absolutely did not get in crystal or the og anime AND the shitennou get a lot of development.

and then theres the musicals.

i am happy to hold people at gunpoin - i mean, do a group watch of sailor moon! i really want to rewatch pgsm but i'm ngl its an early 00s live action jdrama so that........ that takes a strong mind to endure.

[fantastic-nonsense]

Hey a friend of mine linked me these two twitter posts (actually looking at them again one of these might actually be you!) and I was actually really surprised to see this information. I really enjoy reading your comic opinions and so I was wondering if you had more detailed thoughts that you wanted to write out, or a rant to go on :D. Especially seeing as your such a big fan of the Batfam. https://twitter.com/wordsandsense/status/1576264169736675333 https://twitter.com/RobynZComics/status/1576331557169954816

lmao yes, the first one is me. This is a funny coincidence, but comic twitter is a fairly small place (all things considered) so it was bound to happen eventually. Anyway yes, welcome to my rant on the state of DC Comics' publishing slate and why their entire management and creative decision-making structure sucks right now.

The long and short of it is that DC's current publication slate is incredibly depressing to look at and think about. There are only 16 main DCU ongoings and all but 4 of them (Action Comics, Son of Kal-El, Flash, and Wonder Woman) star either Bat or Gotham-based characters (the sole exception, Deathstroke Inc., is ending next month and is still technically Bat-adjacent due to Shadow War). While the various limited series are more varied, they're still incredibly Bat-heavy: 9 are explicitly Bat books and an additional 4 are "whole DCU titles" that nonetheless still primarily star Bat characters. Mind you, DC is only publishing 54 total titles total right now across their ongoings, limited series, and Black Label imprint label, meaning that a full half of all DC books being published right now are Gotham-based books.

Meanwhile, what's not being published? In terms of ongoings, there's no Green Lantern, Arrowfam, Aquafam, or Marvelfam books at all. No magic user books. No Suicide Squad or New Gods books. No Titans book. No JUSTICE LEAGUE books. Only two Superfam books, one Wonder book, and one Flash book. And even when you look at the limited series DC is publishing, you're left with a rather paltry offering of character, team, and family diversity. It's an absolute mess.

The fact that we've known Lian Harper was alive since 2019 and Roy since 2020 and they still have not reunited is absurd. The fact that we're only getting a Conner Kent mini because he won the Round Robin poll and there's not a Supergirl ongoing after Woman of Tomorrow was a critical and commercial hit is nonsense. The fact that nearly every teen hero who isn't a) Jon Kent, b) a Bat or b) the YJ Core Four is basically absent from the comics right now is ridiculous. The fact that the only space-centric book we have is Action Comics' Warworld Saga is absolutely bizarre. The Milestone characters only having one current miniseries (Blood Syndicate) and one planned mini (Static) after DC trumpeted their triumphant return earlier last year is obscene. And the fact that the entire magic side of the DCU is being repped solely by a 4-issue Mary Marvel mini and the Batman vs. Robin mini starring a possessed Damian is just insulting.

Yes, I'm a huge Batfam fan. But I love a lot of DC's characters; I read DC over Marvel primarily because I'm drawn to the richness of DC's worldbuilding and the incredible backbench of characters in their universe. There's not a main Justice League ongoing right now because of Dark Crisis, and that's a purposeful creative decision, but the fact that it wasn't replaced by a Titans ongoing (at minimum) and there aren't any JL-affiliated ongoings PERIOD is just insane considering the number of adult and young adult heroes in the DCU.

When the Core League has previously disappeared/died/become unavailable for some reason, other characters and groups stepped up. We have the JLI. There's Justice League Europe. The JSA exists. The Titans exist. Even if the characters in-universe didn't want to form a new Justice League after the 'deaths' of the Core 7, there are other groups willing and ready to step up and take their place. The fact that DC execs have refused to utilize and capitalize on that is, frankly, a dereliction of duty. The Titans were supposed to be front and center during this event; instead, all DC's done is blow up the Tower (again) and relegate all of the characters to appearing only in the Dark Crisis books...none of which seem to be affecting the larger DCU apart from the events happening in the Flash book.

The current state of events also really obscures the fact that the countless Bat books doesn't necessarily mean "all Bat fans are eating like kings" even as it makes it incredibly hard to complain about the little content we are getting for the rest of them (because at least we're getting content, right?). BRUCE WAYNE fans (and to a certain extent Dick Grayson fans) are eating like kings. The rest of us, especially if we're fans of female Bats? It's like leading us to an ocean and telling us to drink. So much water but none of it was made for us to drink 😭

And before I get a "but Batman is what sells, so obviously that's what DC is going to make" from someone, stop. Batman books sell well because DC has invested the time, effort, money, marketing power, and creative capacity into growing that brand for multiple decades. They have hired well-regarded writers to pump out story after story, marketed those stories properly, and created non-comics media that raised the profiles (and thus marketability) of those characters. These are things which they have refused to do for basically every other character except Superman..but they COULD do it, if they were so inclined.

In the current comics distribution model, all of the core DC families and their two big teams (the Justice League and the Titans/Teen Titans) should always have at least one ongoing. I consider that a basic requirement of an even moderately successful comic book company. DC creating a situation where nearly all of their ongoings and a full half of their entire slate is Bat books indicates that they have failed to understand the need to spread their eggs out over multiple baskets. If they don't diversify their publishing and development slate, they're far more likely to tank if something happens to their cash cow. Which it will, inevitably, because of creative boom and bust cycles. DC's creative execs need to be ready when the Bat bust happens and so far...it looks like they're not.

[chaos0pikachu]

Hi Chaos,

I keep seeing people post about x director and their thematic parallels and storytelling, and I can't help but think that it's the writer who does all those things!!! And it's so frustrating seeing the director get the credit for the screenwriters' work. I am also in the TVDU fandom, and to this day, I've never seen the director get the credit for what is clearly a writer's work. We praise, and we curse at the writers every time. We know their names by heart. Even in kdrama fandoms, I've seen the writer get the credit they deserve. So I'm just baffled by why the director is being credited with 'making' or 'writing' a show in the eyes of the public. I understand that they are more visible than the writers, but its only a matter of looking it up on MDL. (And the only writer who gets full credit for her work, MAME, is also cursed/called names by a lot of people). ( Can't forgive the fact that MAME did not write the TT show. What's the difference, you ask? I point you to Big Dragon, Kinnporsche (positive), Step by Step (negative). ) (Sorry, I feel very passionately about this.)

Lol nah I love this chaotic passion and I love how folks are so open about how Mame is treated in fandom is weird, actually yes spill those feelings to me it's safe here

I've written and rewritten this answer like five different times b/c it got so long but fuck it under a read more cut for other stuff but here's my general gist on this: I think it comes down to a few factors - visibility, apathy, ignorance and probably other stuff but I'm not a behavior scientists I'm just a bitch with a blog. As always y'all take what I say with some season salt mix

So, visibility.

It's really easy to credit whichever person is the most visible on a project with a majority of the work. We understand, as people, that many many folks work on these shows, but it's much easier to attribute the bulk of the project with a few individuals.

Actors used to be at the forefront of this, in recent years as social media has chipped away at the fourth wall, writers and directors have also risen in prominence in the discussions of film. But like, producers can and do have a huge impact on the way I project takes form and shapes yet you hardly ever see fans talking about x, y, z producers' influence on a project.

I think the only times I see a producer come up in discussions of a project is Kevin Feige (almost universally positive) and Kathleen Kennedy (almost universally negative). And that's really b/c both of these ppl are visible - they're a part of the promotional tours, they're walking the premiere carpets, they're giving interviews, etc. But it's all very bias b/c fans look at a singular body of work - Feige's case Marvel films, Kennedy's case Star Wars - of both of these producers and b/c they made either things they liked or hated.

But like, a quick bit of research and you'd see Kennedy has been a producer on some amazing and even classic projects: Gremlins, Back to the Future I & II, The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Schindler's List, ET, The Color Purple, Hook, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense.

She's even been a producer on the Star Wars things people did like: The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Acolyte. She's been a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has eight Oscar nominations as a producer but she was a producer for some mid Star Wars films and she's the devil incarnate. I don't even care that much about Kennedy or Star Wars shit but I'm not gonna pretend there's not bias in her case that's similar to how fandom views and treats Mame.

And on the flipside she's been a producer on shit or mid projects - like the Star Wars films and Signs, the Flintstones - which is just typical. You work long enough in the industry and you'll make or work on mid to bad projects. See Ridley Scott's career of epic highs & epic lows.

[It's interesting to me that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni get all the credit for shows like The Mandalorian but Kennedy gets no credit whilst on the flipside JJ Abrams gets like no blame for how mid to bad Force Awakens & Rise of Skywalker were but Kennedy did get blame. And I'm speaking broad strokes here, yes I'm sure JJ did get some cranky posts about his part in RoS but in general Kennedy got more.]

Which leads me to the next factor, ignorance.

I think ppl are gonna like take offensive to that word but I'm using it super neutrally ignorance is just a lack of knowledge.

We're all ignorant about stuff like fuck don't ask me about how sales tax works I don't know. Lacking knowledge is just a fact of life we can't be experts on every single facet of the world, life, etc it's impossible and that's fine. Just own up to the fact you don't know and if you want to know do some research because learning can actually be really cool and fun and shit. Except sales tax I'm not learning all that.

But from my general observations of BL fandom well a lot of people are ignorant on how film making works. Hell a lot of ppl outside of BL fandom are ignorant about how film making works - the implosion in the 911 fandom is showing out re: this lmao literally right now - and again, that's fine. It's really Not A Big Deal. I'm no by-the-by expert either. I think the grind comes when folks try to be Breadtubers and others take said posts as gospel knowledge when by my observations it's a lot of opinion and/or misinformation.

[idk what yaoi framing is but it isn't a real film making thing; comics and film are two different mediums y'all]

I saw this a lot in the BBC Sherlock fandom ppl with very strong voices claiming x, y, z is how television works and, well it wasn't lol like this very consistent argument I see in migratory conspiracy shipping circles is actors and showrunners just be lying in interviews to "hide the big romantic plot twist" for said MCS and that's just not true. It's not trueeeeee that's not how PR and marketing works. So many MCS fandoms pull out the "we were baited b/c they posted The Ship on twitter" and harass the showrunners who have nothing to do with the official twitter. That's an entirely different department of the show/film. Marketing is a different department from the film crew.

But most people don't know this or don't consider this b/c a lot of folks don't know the inner workings of film, or publishing.

Like whoever runs the Seven Seas social media is in a totally different department from who's acquiring licenses for titles and who's editing the books themselves. Likewise yelling at a showrunner b/c the trailer for an episode advertised a scene you were excited about and then the scene wasn't in the episode? Not the showrunners fault they don't cut the promos that's a different department entirely.

I'm not knocking ppl for not knowing stuff like this, it's not like it's inherently common knowledge. Like hell if I know how the education hierarchy works I don't work in education. The issue - if it can be called that - comes in when people make assumptions is all and spreading misinformation.

In the case of Mame you're right she didn't write Tharnype on MDL she isn't even listed as a producer (idk if she is and it's listed elsewhere personally I find MDL very unreliable since it's fan edited) the show is just based on her novel but she's the one who gets all the hyper focused critique not the actual screenwriter nor director. Similar for any other Me Mind Y show. They're all just considered "Mame's work" and not like, a group project (which is what film making is lol).

Now, I'm no expert on how the Thai film industry works. I imagine the hierarchy aspects are, if not the same, at least similar to American film hierarchy. Meaning producers, and directors have a lot of power in terms of what gets put on screen.

I will say from what I've seen folks do wear multiple hats on Thai productions so like the director might also be the screenwriter, or the screenwriter might also be a producer, etc so that could also add to some of the overlap in credits.

I don't use the term "apathy" as a negative here. Fandom is first and foremost a hobby and a hobbyist space. I do not research every single show or film I watch either. Hell I struggle with watching as many BLs as other people who are just straight up powerhouses with how much they can watch.

Not being interesting in the deep ins and outs of How A Thing Is Made isn't a bad thing, focusing on only "the faces" of the project isn't something I'm gonna hold against people either.

I do think if you're going to be giving a Roger Ebert style critique or go for a more academic reading of a piece of media then yeah, you might have more of a burden to do some research if only to not spread misinformation. Or at least, to properly give credit where credit is due.

Personally, I'm of the mind fandom - in general not just BL fandom or whatever - is to concerned with like, "being right" about the media they watch and being seen as pseudo authority figures at times. That Big Name Fan aspect of it all, the social clout that comes with it - saw this with a lot of bbc sherlock wank - and genuinely, bro who fucking cares?

It bothers me when fans feel guilty for liking a thing big voices in fandom claim are Bad, Wrong, in a breadtube voice like who caaaaaares there's so many shows I could break down via film techniques for why I dislike them but like I'm so lazy bro it's not that real if you like 2gether I'm so happy for you light up like a firework baby

[unless you like star trek into darkness and then your wrong pikachu has spoken es lo que es]

anyway idk where I'm going with but yeah those are my general thoughts I guess on why ppl might attribute or heavily focus on the director vs the screenwriter of a project

[f1-birb]

let me see if i can find it again lol, i will send a link to the post if i can. it was one of the posts on facebook about lando's manager talking to helmut marko because you-know-who's fans think he's automatically entitled to that red bull seat, i don't think it had much of anything to do with oscar necessarily.

my dad only uses facebook as social media so even though i'm not on there much, i swear he just sees something with lando's name and sends it to me so my whole facebook home page on the rare occurrences i do go on there is like lando this, lando that, mclaren this, etc. and i'm forever finding mister malvern in the comments just going to WAR for lando like he really is so adored by the entire malvern family

you are a star anon ❤️

Lando's manager (big up Mark) has no doubt had multiple conversations with multiple people, but yeah I've seen the new things that have come out of saying Marko saying that Lando would be a fit for RB

tbh that was in reaction to a comment I saw that rubbed me the wrong way saying Oscar deserved to overtake Lando at the start when he'd said he felt quicker but still 😅

It's so understandable because a. Lando is likeable and lovable and b. Jon's been with Lando for near enough a decade now, they're so good together and the bond is so blatantly obvious and it makes me very 🥺

also have this from Papa Malvern's Twitter:

[darkdoverpseeker]

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I'm a 3rd person, literate paragraph roleplayer looking to do an original plot that involves a lot, in this case ill be looking to do an idea I think is completely original compared to all of my other prompts and any of the prompts I've seen. I do hope my partner can be detailed, play in third person with multiple characters.

Okay, so here's the idea! Me and you would basically be writing our own original characters for an rp that functions like a series! Maybe not split into episodes, but a plots, b plots, multiple characters, a big concept, beginning climax and end and all that!

The reason I want this to be like a tv show, and while this isn't a hard requirement it is a heavy preference, is that I want our characters to have celebrity face claims of actors, as if the actors play them in the tv show. Think of it as some sort of fan casting but for non fandom stuff.

This takes a decent amount of time and world building, so If you're someone who wants to jump right into it, we won't gel. But I try to be as understanding and cooperative as possible, so hit me with ideas and stuff.

As for the genre of the tv show we do? Could be superheroes, could be criminals, fantasy, sci-fi, I usually stick to modern stuff but I'm willing to give most stuff a shot with this prompt!

We can also use our faceclaims by era, a show taking place in the 80s, 90s, 00s, or even early 2010s?

We could also redo franchises! Marvel with a different cast! DC done right! Star Wars reborn! Video games adapted to tv! So much fun is possible!

Like this post and I will message you! 🌊

like if interested !

[yetanotherrpfinder]

Hello! Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I'm a 3rd person, literate paragraph roleplayer looking to do an original plot that involves a lot, in this case ill be looking to do an idea I think is completely original compared to all of my other prompts and any of the prompts I've seen. I do hope my partner can be detailed, play in third person with multiple characters.

Okay, so here's the idea! Me and you would basically be writing our own original characters for an rp that functions like a series! Maybe not split into episodes, but a plots, b plots, multiple characters, a big concept, beginning climax and end and all that!

The reason I want this to be like a tv show, and while this isn't a hard requirement it is a heavy preference, is that I want our characters to have celebrity face claims of actors, as if the actors play them in the tv show. Think of it as some sort of fan casting but for non fandom stuff.

This takes a decent amount of time and world building, so If you're someone who wants to jump right into it, we won't gel. But I try to be as understanding and cooperative as possible, so hit me with ideas and stuff.

As for the genre of the tv show we do? Could be superheroes, could be criminals, fantasy, sci-fi, I usually stick to modern stuff but I'm willing to give most stuff a shot with this prompt!

We can also use our faceclaims by era, a show taking place in the 80s, 90s, 00s, or even early 2010s?

We could also redo franchises! Marvel with a different cast! DC done right! Star Wars reborn! Video games adapted to tv! So much fun is possible!

Like this post and I will message you!

Like if interested!