#and by writers who were having FUN and it shows

[buggie-eyed]

THERE ARE SPOILERS UP AHEAD FOR NINJAGO DR S3!!!!

This post will be tagged properly, but I placed that warning just to be safe. You have been warned~

Now get ready for my dr s3 notes, in no particular order of importance

- Right off the bat, I love love love Frak. We didn’t get to see his personality on full display in s2, and now that I know what he’s like I freaking love this guy. He’s kind of a dick, but not on purpose, more like in a teenager way. He really reminds me of the early season ninja, when they just said whatever tf they wanted, whenever. With Arin and Sora being pretty sweet most of the time, and Wyldfyre being a little pest but not actually saying anything controversial, I like that an overly opinionated guy got added into the mix.

- with that being said, I really didn’t expect Sora to be given a real love interest, but I don’t hate her and Frak as a possible pairing. Ik people interpreted her as a lesbian but idk pan Sora also works for me. Their dynamic is pretty fun. I like that Lloyd can’t pick up on the fact that they’re bonding and not actually full on arguing.

- PIXAL MY BELOVED IS BACK AND HER EYES ARE OOPY GOOPY AND HUGE!!!!!! WHY ARE THEY SO BIG, IS IT TO SEE HER DARLING HUSBAND WITH?

- Zane being goofy w/Pixal as soon as they reunited was what got me to tear up. That might sound weird but I love love, and their love means so much to me :[

- I didn’t know I needed and Lloyd and Pixal hug until they did it and now I need more Pixal hugs with her friends

- “Wow it’s awesome that Morro got his moment. He’s so epic and noble now, what a guy. I hope we see him again.”

- The second and only other time I cried was because of Arin and Sora’s friendship backstory, and when they hugged again for the first time in ages. God damn the writers didn’t have to make their dynamic and friendship that amazing but they did. They are the definition of platonic love, together until the end. While it’s sad that Sora left with Arin and Ras, it actually makes me so happy that she chose friendship.

- ^^ And now to add on. It was obvious from the start that Ras was lying about Arin’s parents. His non specificity about their deaths cemented it for me, and what shocked me the most wasn’t Jay’s reveal. What shocked me was that Jay instantly knew exactly who the ninja were talking about when they mentioned Arin’s parents. Is his memory really good? (It would be ironic, I know) but if Jay was really managing that many people, for like 7 ish years, the idea that he remembered these people who mean nothing to him right away is so Jay of him.

- NOW FOR JAY. He was really awesome as Rogue. Bro was kind of a beast. He took so many damn hits, yet he was suddenly “really hurt” the minute he was offered a warm and safe place to rest (🥲). I doubt his reluctance to go with the ninja was real and not an act. I think he’s genuinely sad and lost, and then these kind people showed up and he doesn’t know how to react without claiming it’s weird. I’m excited for him to learn to be vulnerable again. That was kind of his whole thing before, wasn’t it?

- I need to know what happened to Zane’s actual body. Is it in the suit? Is it under maintenance somewhere else? Like hello?!?! Imagine transferring bodies and being that chill w/it. It will for sure be addressed (I think)

- I really like that Kai and Nya got so many moments together. They deserve to be with each other, and annoy each other to death after being separated for so long.

- For the people who got sidelined a lot- Wyldfyre and Cole - here is why I don’t mind it too much:

- Wyldfyre was given a boyfriend, and while they like each other a lot, I did think they needed more development. And development is what they’re getting. I also liked seeing Wyldfyre apply her lessons with Kai about remaining calm(ish) when things are looking bad.

- Cole, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen for most of the first half of s3. Why do I not care too much? Because they’re really trying to hammer in the fact that Cole is a family man now, with a responsibility to his husband (yes husband) and his kids. That’s my interpretation, and now I need the writers to commit to a lostshipping kiss :]

- “Well I think that wraps everything up. I’m glad that boss dragon was defeated, so anyways- Oh, is that Morro again? Cool, maybe he’ll get to see the ninja or- wait what’s happe- THAT DRAGON ATE MORRO? He FucKinG ATe hIM WHAT TJE FUCK YOU CANT END IT LIKE TJAT-“

[markantonys]

3x08 thoughts! full book spoilers

my reaction when the credits started rolling was "oh.........that's it?" which is not the best feeling for a season finale to leave you on! it was a good episode with some great moments, but as i'd feared, they left themselves with WAY too much to wrap up, with the result that it all felt rushed and cramped and not particularly satisfying. in the first 2 seasons, i said that the 8-episode model was just the right amount of time to tell the story, and i stand by that. with this season, it wasn't enough, and it's not just the fault of the model but just as much the fault of the writers who should have been more realistic about the limits of 8 episodes and not tried to cram in so much. obviously the main 4 plots of the waste, the two rivers, tanchico, and the tower all had to make it in, but within that i think there was some bloat and dragged-out stuff that could've been trimmed back. (especially considering that they planned for an entire episode dedicated to rhuidean and an entire episode dedicated to the two rivers battle: good choices that let those events shine, but it means that the tanchico-based characters, for example, only even APPEAR in 6 out of 8 episodes and in most of those 6 they're relegated to the B or C or D plot, so no wonder their plotline felt so underbaked; if they were going to devote 2 episodes to single events, they needed to be more merciless about trimming out bloat in the other 6 episodes.)

now for the episode itself. i'll start with the white tower. personally i don't mind siuan's death, but i understand why people are upset. now i can retroactively say that @butterflydm was 100% right on the money in speculating that the reason they jumped the gun on cramming elayne & avi together so fast was not for any story reason, but rather for the out-of-world reason of wanting to establish that there will still be a big canon wlw ship even after one half of moiraine/siuan exited the stage.

as for how this might affect the story going forward, i originally had a whole theory here of "what if salidar is cut and there's no schism & rebel breakoff faction, just bubbling discontentment with elaida's rule, and egwene just gets kidnapped straight into the tower and becomes amyrlin from there?" but then i saw that rafe confirmed there is a cut scene of leane, verin, and ryma heading off with a group of other aes sedai to found salidar, so scratch that whole theory haha we are indeed still getting salidar and the rebels. but he said that the scene had them planning to gather "on the shores of the river where siuan was born", which means the rebel base will likely be moved to tear in the show.

if this cut scene was planned for s3, that seems to imply there is not going to be a tower battle and it was simply some sisters voluntarily leaving. we'll see how it plays out in s4, but min's viewing about a battle in the tower could very well be the future seanchan attack rather than the coup battle. i wouldn't mind that since a coup battle could feel repetitive with the 3x01 tower battle, but it does make me curious how gawyn's arc might play out since the coup battle was a pivotal moment for him in the books (though the show hasn't set up for that at all, so we're probably looking at a pretty new arc for him regardless, at least in the short-term).

off to tanchico. nynaeve's block breaking scene was wonderful, but outside of that, it feels like this poor crew was just off on a sidequest all season and didn't accomplish much. mat's doorway trip was fun but felt like a random sidenote in a packed episode, and now that the season is over i can firmly say that mat did not get a satisfying season-long arc and it felt like he was just There most of the time. his memories were his driving trigger for the season but they weren't brought up basically at all between 3x03 and him asking to get rid of them in the doorway, which makes them feel more like a plot device than something that was actively impacting him season-long. there was big setup for the mat-nynaeve dynamic in the early episodes, but it fizzled out in the back half and nothing meaningful came of it and nynaeve didn't get to do anything to help mat like she'd promised. it absolutely feels like mat just got plot-deviced out of the waste storyline because they wanted rand to feel isolated, rather than because leaving that storyline actually contributed anything to MAT'S story. they say they like to vary up the relationship dynamics season to season, but once again it's a whole season of mat-min with each of them only getting brief interactions with elayne and nynaeve. i need mat and min to get separated next season oh my god i loved their vibe in s2 but i am tired of it now! please don't do a third season of it! let them hang out with other people for once! YES i am VERY bitter over min being the one to take over the cauthor cpr lmao (and of course the second mat's cpr-giver is switched to a woman you have several people going "wait are they setting up a romance here?" when none of them said so when rand was the one doing it in the book version! though thankfully the show itself continues to remain firm in the platonic nature of mat & min even if heteronormative viewers are constantly desperate to read romance there. oh how i mourn a vision of cauthor cpr with show!mat being like "wow rand if you wanted to kiss me you could've just asked" because you know show!mat would 100% say that to rand as well haha)

we'll see what they do with liandrin, but i wish she'd been killed off this season. she was a great early-series villain, but has now overstayed her welcome for me and i wish she'd gotten cleared off the stage. i don't mind ending this plotline on a loss with the collar & bracelets winding up in the bad guys' hands (i'd been expecting it), but if we'd at least vanquished liandrin and left moggy as the new big bad, that would have helped this plotline feel like it got more resolution and like it accomplished something. nynaeve breaking her block, while a wonderful scene, wasn't enough to carry the full narrative climax of this entire season-long plotline (especially since there wasn't REALLY that much setup for her breaking her block, just the one line from the seafolk about how her problem is not being able to let go and go with the flow, though i do like that they used that metaphor to set up for her water-based block breaking scene). then again, there literally wasn't TIME for liandrin to get vanquished because they had too much to do this episode.

as i'd speculated a while back, elayne casually mentioned gaebril to thom and he was like "um who the fuck?" and so now elayne knows that a forsaken is holding power in caemlyn. nice! this was a great way to justify thom's return to the story: he contributes something important that only he could contribute, because his history with the trakand family helps point our gang towards the whereabouts of a forsaken.

caemlyn is now teed up to be a big focus in s4, so i would expect that resolution to come next season, unless something happens to significantly delay elayne, but as of now, she's primed to have helping her mom & country as Priority #1. she also has a balefire rod in her possession, which could lead to her being the one to balefire rahvin instead of rand. i definitely want elayne to take part in defeating rahvin, but i hope rand can still be involved in some capacity! and as much as i like the idea of elayne doing the balefiring, i would be soooooo sad if yet another iconic cauthor (& avirand) moment (rand being so distraught over their deaths that he reverses time to save them) was taken from me haha i will have to hope that elayne, rand, avi, and mat can all be involved and i can get some kind of avimatrandlayne rights out of it, however the specifics might turn out.

over to the waste. rand picking the squashes to meet his toh to alsera!!!! but i think i groaned out loud when it was egwene who came to see him in that moment instead of aviendha lmao i am SO disappointed that we didn't get any avirand interaction this episode! they were completely shafted in favor of randgwene & randfear during their own Main Storyline and i don't think i'll ever get over it, though i hope s4 can bring them some good stuff to semi make up for it (like, i wasn't expecting any out-and-out romance between them for s3 once it became clear that randgwene was lingering, but at least stronger relationship development and a deeper emotional connection by the end of the season than what we got). i'd hoped we would get a nice moment this episode to tie off their arc of rand proving himself to avi*, but instead all we get is avi telling egwene about what a terrible partner rand would make for anyone. okay. cool. We Who Know can interpret this as avi trying to dissuade herself from rand as much as trying to dissuade egwene, but to the show-only audience, it accomplishes nothing but throwing them even further off the scent of avirand (which they were never on to begin with because nothing in this season sets up for it unless you already know it's coming) and therefore making it so that they'll be even more bewildered when avirand starts becoming a thing.

(*we DID see avi willingly kneeling to him as car'a'carn, so we can conclude that she accepts him now, but i would've liked a more personal acceptance moment between them one-on-one too. maybe next season. also, her wonder when he made it rain was very sweet <3)

this season has really been hammering on how rand probably isn't in a place where he should date anyone thanks to his destiny etc, so idk how they're going to swerve into him joining a polycule (and a polycule with his messy-breakup-ex's BFF + a woman who knows all about the messy breakup and disparaged rand to egwene about it). so far, they're making it a lot harder for themselves than it needed to be, and my impression that avirandlayne development/seed-planting is getting sacrificed in favor of beating the randgwene dead horse and that it feels like the show cares a lot more about randgwene than about avirandlayne still remains strong after having seen the whole season.

but now time to link this wonderful josha interview! it contains full season spoilers and full book spoilers, because he is a spoiler-loving king who never makes any attempt to censor himself. one of the things he says here in response to whether rand has closed himself off from love after randfear and randgwene is along the lines of "i think he doesn't trust himself to love again, but i know he will do so anyway because it's just who he is" and then he talks about how in the books it's rand's capacity for love that ultimately helps him win. josha's answer is talking about love in general and not necessarily romantic love, but regardless, very very sweet answer that shows his deep understanding of the character and gives me hope for getting well-done avirandlayne in the future! my other two favorite parts of the interview were 1) the reveal that all the "what does the prophecy say?" dialogue in the alsera scene was not scripted and josha came up with it himself and 2) he says Definitely Mat as the ta'veren boy who's the best at talking to girls jdkfjgh extremely randcore to always think mat is The Best Ever and go "well of course mat is the best at talking to girls!" when mat has spent the entire show trying and failing to get laid. i'm going to take my crumb of a cauthor right wherever i can find it since i barely got any in the season!

okay, back to the episode. i loved all of rand's stuff! his confrontation with lanfear where he finally gets to push back on her narrative was A+, i loved his conversation with moiraine, and of course his alcair dal moments were wonderful and he looked very sexy in that sleeveless shirt with the tattoos out. his rain channeling was so beautiful!! again, i do feel like we might be hammering on the "soul of fire, heart of stone" stuff and whatnot a little too much too soon considering that rand still has to be in a good enough headspace to form two whole new romantic relationships, but we DO see a contrast with him very calm and in control of himself, despite egwene's worry, compared to the more unhinged moments he'd had earlier in the season, so hopefully going into s4 he'll be in a place where he's more emotionally stable yet also not so Cold And Hard yet that he's not open to new love. (though ending randgwene on such an ominous and mistrustful note is going to make it a haaaaard sell to the audience that elayne & avi can wind up dating rand and that won't be doing egwene wrong or anything. but if there's a timeskip, maybe we can pick up with rand & egwene getting along better and being friendly, even if there's still a distance between them. still, i wish they'd gotten to clear the air a LITTLE bit during the squash scene while they had a chance to talk one-on-one.)

egwene didn't really have anything in the finale. not mad about it since she had such a big time to shine in s2 and was naturally going to take a backseat in s3, but it does feel like her s3 story was exclusively rand-centric and like she could have gotten more For Herself if they'd just broken up in 3x01.

not much for avi either, very sad about that since i'd hoped the show would give me more on her TSR character arc than the books did, not less. but they are unfortunately hampered by TV's stricter (compared to books) Cast Tiers, i think; story-wise, i'd say avi should be the third most important character in the TSR waste story after rand and moiraine, or even arguably above moiraine for #2, but in the show, rand, moiraine, lan, and egwene are all a Character Tier above avi and so they have to have a bigger role than her even if the story of returning to her homeland and people naturally calls for her more than it calls for some of them.

lan got his conclusion with melindhra as expected, not much to say on that. i like that they made it so that melindhra genuinely IS loyal to him and malkier and feels bad enough about it to betray her dark oaths, rather than keeping it as a full betrayal.

and finally, the moiraine vs. lanfear fight, which got hyped up big time but then ended in a draw, so i did feel pretty edged! like liandrin, this is a place where i raise my eyebrow over characters seeming to overstay their narrative welcome. are they setting up for the doorway confrontation to happen next season, or are they planning to alter the story and keep moiraine and/or lanfear around longer than they were in the books? i don't care for either option as much as i would have for them simply doorway-ing each other or otherwise finishing each other off in this episode. because if it's option #1, then we spent a whole season building up a conflict that we're just going to have to repeat the buildup for again next season (though if lanfear is now fully at odds with our gang rather than precarious allies with both moiraine & lanfear, that might help it feel different enough). if it's option #2, moiraine is going to continue eating up screentime and narrative importance that needs to be going to rand and the other kids at this stage in the story. she was a great character to center the early story around, but i'm sorry, she has to go in order to create space for the kids to leave the nest and come into their own. although, i wouldn't be mad if she stayed on as rand's permanent advisor and cadsuane was cut (but that doesn't feel likely given all the cadsuane namedropping; but maybe cadsuane could appear but in a different role/storyline) since cadsuane basically does nothing but be a walmart knockoff moiraine, so i suppose we could just keep moiraine - but only if they let her step fully back into the role of a secondary character, which is unlikely since rosamund is the biggest name in the cast and they'd probably want to give her a primary role as long as she's in the show. so i don't know, i feel like we do need to fully exit moiraine at some point, but we shall see.

oh also, sammael died! i completely forgot lmao rip my dude! it feels kinda wasteful to introduce a whole forsaken only to kill him immediately when there's only 8 of them to go around in the first place (now down to 6), but moggy offing him IS a great way of showing just how divided the forsaken are, so if sammael's death can help bulk up the surviving forsaken into even bigger threats, then no harm no foul.

ann ogbomo never appeared, so either she had a scene that ended up getting cut, or wotseries was wrong on her being part of the show (which would be mildly surprising since i don't think they've ever wrongly said that an actor was part of the show before, but when it comes to leaks there's always risk of course). so much for the theory of a semirhage finale stinger scene! we'll have to keep waiting to see when she and the seanchan might enter the stage.

i do have solid hopes for a cauthor reunion in s4! i'd thought they could begin a seanchan invasion of tanchico and leave it open-ended if mat escapes or not and then make that decision in 4x01 according to whether they need to follow the long or short model for the show, but now mat is firmly on a ship with the others headed off to their next destination. there could always be time for the ship to get intercepted or mat otherwise separated from the group, but for now it feels safe to assume that mat is sticking with them, and i find it the most likely that they will meet up with rand's group in tear (to warn rand about the collar and/or to hunt moggy & liandrin who are hunting rand). caemlyn is also a Desired Destination for them of course, but i'd think elayne would want to lie low, gather information, and come up with a plan first, and tear would be a good place to do that since she has a trusted family friend there (per 3x01).

in addition, if the location of the rebel base is moved over to tear, then that puts another Character Group in that area and is all the more reason (out-of-world) for nynaeve & co to definitely be headed there (since whether they follow their book plot of linking up with the rebels or a show-only plot of linking up with rand & co, it's in the same general area and so they could probably hang out with both groups if desired).

this seems to leave us with 3 major locations for s4: tear (rand & co, nynaeve & co, rebels); caemlyn (morgase & rahvin, elayne eventually, maybe perrin & co for his trial plotline?); the white tower (elaida & co)

hopefully, if we get more condensation of Story Groups, then s4 won't feel stretched as thin as s3 did. 3 main groups would be more manageable than 4, even if it's still a lot of characters within each group.

random mat notes since he's apparently the character whose s4 story i'm most concerned with haha (and s4 should be his time to get his Focal Episode anyway!):

rafe confirmed on instagram that they have plans for the band of the red hand. couladin escaped alive (rather than being killed by rand at alcair dal as a couple people had speculated). hopefully, this will lead to mat rejoining rand's plotline, taking part in the battle against the shaido, and forming the band. this would be a wonderful choice of event to center a Focal Mat Episode around, if you ask me!

mat got his medallion for sure, and i missed it but eagle-eyed viewers pointed out that he got the ashandarei too and that's what he's hanging off of. however, he has not gotten his prophecies - will there be a second doorway trip in store for him, or will his prophecies simply not be in the show? i wouldn't mind either way. they did show a good number of doorways in the finn realm that i'm guessing each correspond to one in the real world, so they've given themselves freedom to stick another IRL doorway anywhere they want in addition to the tanchico & white tower ones we've already seen.

then there's the question of mat's memories. he starts with too many memories and ends up with not enough, which is the opposite of his book progression, so i'm puzzled for now, but will wait and see what they're planning to do with this. but i'd been so glad the show had avoided mat losing some of his own memories because that makes me too sad, so i'm heartbroken that that's now the case after all and even more heartbroken because i'm guessing the show might make him forget important things that will make me sad! vs. the books just telling us that mat has holes in his memory but he never actually seems to be missing anything important. at least he clearly remembers min and their relationship even if he forgets how he got where he is, so hopefully that means his memories of his friends and loved ones will be more or less intact and it'll just be little snippets missing here and there. if he forgets his sisters i swear-

update: i just saw a good theory that the finn interpreted mat's problem as having too many memories for one person and "fixed" him by taking away enough memories to leave him with a normal amount of memories, but said normal amount is just a mix between horn & his own memories, and the amount they took away was likewise an indiscriminate mix. i buy that! if so, that means we don't need to do any more Mat Memory Fuckery, just adjust to the fact that he's lost some memories from his own life in addition to some of the unwanted horn memories.

okay, that's all the initial thoughts off the top of my head. this episode was fine, but in my eyes, 2x08 was unquestionably a better season finale and a better hour of television and i'm baffled by all the readers who hated on 2x08 so hard and are now saying 3x08 is the best finale episode by far. what standards are you using to judge that? definitely not the same ones i'm using! heck, i'd even heretically say that 1x08 is in some ways a better season finale than 3x08 since every main character (well, bar mat and lan for real-world production issue reasons) got a moment to shine and a meaningful conclusion to their season-long character arc, everything had enough time to breathe, and no character or storyline felt like an afterthought. but, of course, it's just inherently easier to construct a Season Finale when all the characters are in one location participating in different aspects of one big event together, and maybe that's the very thing i'm subconsciously picking up on when i say that 3x08 didn't feel as cohesive or as well-paced as other finales.

the good news is that TSR is one if not THE densest book in the series, so hopefully future seasons will have an easier time managing to fit everything they want to include inside the 8-episode structure.

[nquesoxlies]

https://www.tumblr.com/nquesoxlies/780567152604463104/let-people-be-upset-about-their-favorite?source=share

tbh there's also something a loooot of ppl need to learn calling "setting realistic expectations." i personally wouldn't want eddie back without an on-screen conversation between him and CHRIS about what CHRIS wants, otherwise his entire plot in texas would feel kinda moot with a throwaway "yeah chris is fine with coming back to LA :)" since this plot was big enough for eddie to drop everything to go finally make things right with his son. i didn't expect for him to show up for the two-parter. meanwhile, everyone i saw who was momentarily disappointed bc no tommy was like "ah well, we know we're almost definitely getting him next episode bc of leaks" and went on to enjoy the episode as a whole

its genuinely fine to go "aw no eddie? :(" its Not fine to review bomb an episode and repeatedly bitch about the director not putting ur favorite man in the episode when it makes 0 sense for him to come back so quickly and without showing us that he IS still working on being a better dad to chris. hell, go write fanfic about it where eddie IS back instead of review bombing!!! that's probably a way more fun use of time than review bombing!!!

honestly, these fans make me dislike eddie more and more ngl which isn't even the actor or the writers faults at all. if he leaves the show then it's not going to impact me that much unless his ending is fully unsatisfying, and that'll be more of a "cmon, writers, you knew this was where this was going, do better." i have never watched the show only for eddie like these people have. came into the show expecting to love madney + henren and ended up very emotionally invested in bathena while enjoying buck and eddie as well. i'm on the same page as a lot of ppl who have been here longer than i have been: we love the entire show rather than just eddie. honestly, i think half of these people don't even like buck. i already know most of them don't give a shit about the rest of the show from insulting ravi over him distracting buck with tommy to turning josh into the "number 1 b*ddie cheerleader" to ignoring henren unless they can use them as a "gotcha!!! you don't actually care about queer rep!!!" like.

@ BoBs: do YOU? because every time there's queer rep that threatens ur fanon ship, u actively get homophobic about it down to, what, 600? of you PROUDLY admitting you would commit a hate crime to make your stupid ship canon--including both real men and fictional characters like josh and tommy in your "i'd hate crime for them teehee!" bullshit.

idk queso its just wild to me how often i also see the "eddie diaz pretty pretty princess who wants to paint his nails!!!" like. painting ur nails isnt gendered, the fuck? BoBs see anyone gender non-conforming and goes "wow, inherent sign of queerness, i am very smart :)" while feeding directly into toxic masculinity with the idea that if you don't adhere strictly to what's deemed masculine, then clearly you're queer. even if you say you're straight and know you're attracted to women and only women, you're gay because you (checks notes) have emotions and cry over your friends and did ballroom dancing when you were younger.

anyway if im being petty then i kinda hope that eddie leaves to focus fully on chris and making a life for the two of them in el paso and ravi takes his place on the team so that we get indian rep permanently on the show for a bit! i think he could bring some new life into the team (regardless of whether the show goes on for one season or more) and it'd be nice to see buck in a mentor position to him. plus i'd love to see his dynamic with the rest of the team <3 i am still available to play his love interest who is there for a single episode before being relegated to one-off mentions <3 /hj

Yes to alllllll of this, Annie!!!

What's ironic to me, based on something you mentioned, is the nail painting. They want sooooo hard for RG to actually be gay yet an actor who does paint his nails (for self-harm reasons) they call a slur and tell him to die.

Like???? Wtf are we doing???

(I know your ask is about the characters but that shit will always rub me the wrong way about Ryan stans)

[theinheriteddutchess]

It was a fun beginning, but everyone started running with "Johnny is the real victim" and "badass". Read it everywhere. Most of these people haven't watched or grew up with the original, they think Daniel is simping (or glazing as the kids call it nowadays apparently) over Miyagi (😭🤦🏻‍♀️), anything else they wouldn't have accepted.

We have gotten a show that cares more about looking cool than being right. Being right is boring and weak, and they fully bought into the no mercy, badass mentality that the original proved was toxic and damaging. Balance was the real deal.

There's still no balance, the show is still about winning or accepting you're the loser. I'm disappointed that the writers don't really understand the core. That many watchers really get lost in "but they needed to win because they were sad!" Like that even matters.

Johnny was Daniel's bully. Johnny was also the victim of Kreese. Both can co-exist at the same time. But Johnny is also kind of dumb and emotionally immature. He doesn't really have self reflection, he doesn't work on his mental health or what he needs to do to get out of that funk. There's still resentment and blame towards Daniel for what happened 30 years ago, where he's bitter and rewriting history like he was done wrong.

There's still that mentality that he didn't do anything wrong. He never truly admits his wrong doing, because he doesn't take that responsibility fully. It's "also Daniel's fault because Daniel liked the girl I used to date", or "Robby didn't want anything to do with me" after he bailed for years.

I like Johnny. He's funny. There's something tragic about him, but he's not a rolemodel. He doesn't have to win because his identity circles around karate and what went wrong in his life.

It's disappointing that the 2 who have the best affinity with Miyagi-do are the ones that lose, so Miguel and Tory can shine. So Johnny can shine.

Daniel, and Robby and Sam will be okay, because they're still mentally stronger people, they are good people, they can take a hit and don't rely purely on winning and having that define them.

But why is that somehow seen as weaker? And why is that, in this show, shown as not deserving to win?

All the competitions only strengthened these gaps. Holy shit! They should have all turned their backs on these games and just made one big karate do and just do their own thing and bond and have fun. They should have stopped competing all together!

I actually am bitter about the fact that in the end it’s still Daniel being the only one who has to change or make any kind of sacrifice. I mean yeah go Lawrusso etc but what the fuck man. Evil. Evil shit. What’s the lesson there?? Daniel has to learn to be okay with karate being fascist sometimes??? Like are you kidding me???

Johnny couldn’t even get the guy who created Miyagi-Do’s name right. He didn’t learn shit. It was only ever Daniel, who basically had to be worn down into accepting that Johnny and his ideology somehow weren’t ever even flawed in the first place. There’s no “middle ground,” it’s just the people who believe in peace being coaxed into permitting the continuation of violence. Like did the showrunners do it? Did they suck assimilationist dick enough?? Does the boot taste great? Are they fucking happy now??? Jfc

[sflow-er]

Are you representing Sweden or Finland at Eurovision, Jakob Norrgård?

[Translation of a profile feature published in Suomen Kuvalehti on 29 March]

The vocalist of the music and comedy group KAJ is a shy showman. Jakob Norrgård speaks Vörå dialect and wants to show that it’s something to be proud of.

Text: Kristiina Sarasti, Photos: Jonne Räsänen, Translation: @sflow-er

Coffee and pulla with his parents and hanging around pensioners – that’s how Jakob Norrgård would describe his time in lower secondary school.

“We were really old for our age,” he says, referring to himself and his best friends, Axel Åhman and Kevin Holmström.

“Axel in particular is an old soul. At five years old, he was already a man in his sixties.”

In lower secondary school, the group of friends preferred to spend breaks between lessons at the nearby coffee shop, which was populated by pensioners and unemployed people.

Sometimes, they would go to the school library to read horoscope columns in magazines and act out characters based on the text.

They started to test their humour on the rest of their friends by making sketches, humour songs, and short films.

“We wanted to spread joy around us. Laughter is instantaneous feedback on us doing something right.”

Norrgård says he got hooked on making people laugh.

“Other people’s laughter is addictive. You always want a bigger and bigger fix.”

Norrgård, Åhman and Holmström are known as music and comedy group KAJ. The three Swedish-speaking Finns, who grew up in Vörå, Ostrobothnia, won Swedish Melodifestivalen in March.

The winning song, Bara bada bastu, has topped the Spotify charts in both Sweden and Finland. KAJ are also the bookies’ favourite to win the Eurovision Song Contest in May.

Vocalist and song writer Norrgård can only spare an hour for this interview at Kaapelitehdas, as his days are filled with PR obligations.

Representing Sweden at Eurovision comes naturally to the members of KAJ, who have always been drawing on Swedish humour and music. Norrgård still says KAJ aren’t only representing Sweden.

“At Melodifestivalen, we represented Vörå, and at Eurovision, we will represent the brotherhood of Finland and Sweden in Europe.”

KAJ are known for their humour, their well-produced electro-folk pop, and their genre pastiches, as well as their unusual Vörå dialect that even Swedes sometimes find difficult to understand.

To illustrate just how particular the dialect is, the group’s earlier hit is called Jåo nåo e ja jåo YOLO ja nåo, which freely translates to “yeah I still know how to live it up well enough.”

“Dialects weren’t cool when we were young. Many people are used to trying to hide their dialect, but we have wanted to show that it’s something you can be proud of,” says Norrgård.

He sees the many dialects spoken in Finland as something that enriches us and should be cherished.

Norrgård himself has always spoken Vörå dialect with his grandparents.

“We wanted to bring their generation’s dialect on stage. We value traditions and where we come from, and we want to uplift that culture. Dialect has also been a way for us to stand out.”

Norrgård finds Vörå dialect fun, but it isn’t the target of jeers in KAJ’s humour music. Their jokes make us laugh at rural life, stereotypes, types of people, human weaknesses, and ourselves.

For example, the song Tango taas features Finns dancing tango while waving knives. The invitation to dance goes, “Do you want to dance? May I have the pleasure, god damn it?”

Sometimes, the humour comes from contrast, such as a supposedly tough rap song actually being about how you don’t want to eat cold food. Or a dramatic aria about driving a Nissan in slippery winter conditions.

Nissan bromsa (Nissan braked) is Norrgård’s parody of Giacomo Puccini’s aria Nessun dorma. It has become a viral hit since the Melodifestivalen win, and Norrgård’s masterful vocal performance has even been praised by opera singers.

Norrgård was born in Maxmo, Ostrobothnia, which later became part of Vörå municipality. He describes it as an idyllic place to grow up.

“My family were amazing and supported me in everything. I have two brothers. We are pretty different, but they have always had my back.”

Norrgård’s mother has said that he's been a cheerful person and laughed a lot ever since he was little. As a child, he loved to spend time with his maternal grandfather.

“Grandad has always had the kind of energy where everyone feels better when he enters the room. He always cracked jokes and made others laugh, and as a child, I already knew that was something I wanted to do too.”

Norrgård remembers he already used to write his own plays and put on shows when he was in preschool.

“There were two sides to me: I really wanted to perform, but I was also nervous. I used to plan all kinds of stuff, but when the performance drew near, I always got scared. I was a shy showman.”

In primary school, Norrgård’s hobbies were football, playing the guitar, and judo. One of his football teammates was Komossa-born* Axel Åhman, and the boys got to know each other.

“Axel had the same creative side as me. But unlike me, he had the nerve to perform and wanted everyone to see what he’d come up with.”

Up until that point, Norrgård had somehow felt different from the other five children in his class at school. On the football team, he soon found another kindred spirit in addition to Åhman: Kevin Holmström.

The trio went on to attend lower secondary school together and navigate its challenges by making people laugh.

They would often sit in a circle and improvise humour songs.

WHO: JAKOB NORRGÅRD AGE: 32 BORN IN: MAXMO LIVES IN: HELSINKI OCCUPATION: MUSICIAN, COMEDIAN, ACTOR EDUCATION: BACHELOR OF CULTURE AND ARTS FAMILY: PARTNER AND DOG HOBBIES: WALKING THE DOG, BADMINTON, WATCHING TV, CHILLING WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND

KAJ was born in 2009, named for the initials of its three members.

Their first performance was at a Christmas party held on the campus of Norvalla upper secondary school, in Vörå.

“In the early days, I was a bundle of nerves when it came time to get on stage,” Norrgård says.

“I have to be really well prepared every time, and Axel and Kevin have always pushed me to overcome my nerves. When I do get on stage, it feels like I tap into the funny-man side learned from my grandad.”

KAJ’s journey has entailed a lot of extreme emotions for Norrgård.

“My worst fear is to have a complete blackout on stage. But when I come up with something new, and I feel like it's got layers and can be developed into something funny, that’s the greatest feeling there is. It’s what drives me.”

In 2014, KAJ started performing their own show at Wasa Teater, which led to their breakthrough in Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia.

Afterwards, the band also started touring in the Uusimaa region and Southwest Finland.

“And when Yle commissioned a comedy advent calendar from us, it felt like we had earned our seal of approval.”

Since then, KAJ have also made two musicals for Wasa Teater: Gambämark (Bygone Village) and Botnia paradise (Ostrobothnia paradise).

“People even travelled longer distances to see the musicals. That was the first time I thought to myself that I could make a living off the group.”

Jakob Norrgård is often described as KAJ’s idea man. He says he used to be a control freak who tried to control everything that happened on stage.

“Little by little, I grew to trust in the others and their skills, and in that I didn’t have to be in control of everything.”

Norrgård wants to emphasise that KAJ are a collective: the group is greater than the sum of its parts.

“We make better music and comedy together than any of us would make alone.”

Norrgård’s ambition has grown in step with the group’s success. He wants to take on bigger and bigger challenges, even if they come with greater expectations and more pressure to deliver.

Thankfully, he doesn’t have to carry it all alone.

The three friends have a ritual they always perform before a show. They lay their hands on top of each other, and each of them names what he is putting on the pile for the others to keep safe.

“It’s our way of reminding each other where we come from and releasing the pressure. At the end, we raise our hands and tell one another that we’ve got each other’s backs and none of us will be alone on stage. That’s really important.”

The trio call this raising of their hands a “KAJ five.” After the gig, they tell each other they did great.

“It’s almost too cute, but true,” Axel Åhman says in the 2014 mini documentary available on Yle Areena.

After graduating from upper secondary school, Norrgård moved to Helsinki to study cinema and television at Arcada university of applied sciences. He specialised in photography and editing.

Åhman specialised in journalism and Holmström in audio technology.*

“At the time, the studies felt like something we were doing on the side, but in hindsight, they turned out really useful for KAJ stuff. They gave us a language for communicating on all the different aspects of the show.”

The first years in Helsinki were somewhat of a culture shock for Norrgård. In Vörå, he had grown up in a Swedish-speaking bubble, but in Helsinki, he had to learn to make contact with Finnish speakers as well.

In the early days, Norrgård was so afraid of messing up that he didn’t dare to communicate in Finnish. He was too nervous to book a haircut and let his hair grow out instead.

“I was from a small community and needed a lot of exposure to Finnish-speaking folks for my fears to go away. It took a long time but also helped me grow a lot. My Finnish is better now, but I can only express maybe twenty percent of myself speaking it.”

Norrgård is often characterised as happy and cheerful.

“When I wake up, I try find reasons for joy in everything. But it’s an active choice and doesn’t always come too easy.”

Norrgård says he is part extrovert, part introvert. In his spare time, he mainly hangs out with his fiancée and dog. The relationship started around the same time as KAJ.

“I love Helsinki and I've enjoyed being unknown here, although that is changing now.”

Norrgård still makes frequent trips to Vörå and his family’s cabin in Ostrobothnia.

Norrgård’s father Rune told Aftonbladet that when he comes to the cabin with Åhman and Holmström, the first thing they do is take out the batteries from the clock on the wall. The cabin is a place for letting go of schedules.

His father also said he once bathed so much in the sauna that the stove broke.

Alongside KAJ, Norrgård has done some acting. For example in the mockumentary comedy series Halln, written by Axel Åhman, about an imaginary company called Pro-Mink that manufactures mink cages in Ostrobothnia. Norrgård plays the owner’s overly enhusiastic nephew.*

“These types of side projects give me an energy boost and allow me to develop skills that will also help make KAJ better. I’d love to do more acting in other TV shows and the theatre. I also want to work my writing muscles and write more musicals.”

Norrgård says the Eurovision buzz feels like a sort of pinnacle for his music career.

“Right now, I am living the dream. Although to be fair, I never dared to dream of anything so huge and amazing.”

--

*Translator's note 1: This is a mistake in the article as Kevin is from Komossa. Axel was born in Vörå!

*Translator's note 2: Axel actually studied journalism at the University of Helsinki, while Kevin attended Arcada with Jakob.

*Translator's note 3: Jakob's character in Halln is actually the nephew of the current boss; the company owner aka. his father and the current boss's brother has gone off to live in Spain.

[jaegersmoon]

As a person who hasn’t experienced these horrible things that y/n has, could you please explain what made her jump to react that way? I mean this as a genuine question, I am so confused after reading. She receives a threatening letter and her response is to be unnecessarily cruel (and very hypocritical) to someone who has treated her very well rather than be concerned about the letter and explain what happened? However, maybe it is best for them both to work through their traumas before getting into a relationship.

lord let me lock in. just warning u this is abt to be long asf bc i have a lot to say.

i don’t speak for everybody but i do speak as someone who was in years of a very abusive relationship and for y/n’s characterization that i worked extremely hard on.

one thing about me is i am a very intentional writer. the signs of y/n’s fear of abandonment and love, lack of trust, and her want to run away were always there, sprinkled and foreshadowed all throughout the book. you just need to read between the lines.

when y/n defended jean at the club or in the bathroom at cyberwave when she threatened annie or confronted those girls, those things weren’t written just for the fun. they were meant to be indicators to show that y/n has unaddressed trauma and has accidentally picked up reactive behavior that she grew up around both in a household and love.

even when she was nothing but kind and perfect and put together to make other peoples lives easier, not wanting to be the burden she was made to feel that she was since she was a little girl, the turmoil within her was always always vicious. it’s just not silent anymore.

why do you think jean had to pull her out of her head so many times?

the things she said during the argument were INTENTIONALLY hypocritical and full of projection. jean needed to call her out for it and point out the things she didn’t want to see or else she would keep going the way that she's been going, faking her joy and hiding her true issues away for the sake of others. she has trained herself to be that way FOR other people. to keep them happy and help them be the best person they can be because of her incessant need to fix people. looking back at ob since the very beginning y/n has been someone who has constantly been advising and being there for others. i.e. helping jean navigate through his own grief, sitting and talking to reiner about his familial issues, advising mikasa on her relationship with eren etc. she is a giver to a FAULT and she uses her calling to help others to distract herself from the fact that she needs help, too. her empathy runs deep for others but she has none for herself.

i can't stress enough that ever since her mom died, y/n has never had a complete breakdown like this, mind you her father even shamed her for crying at her own mother's funeral. so that is nearly ten years of bottling pain, grief, anger, disappointment, fear and a million other things. instead of fixing herself she put all of that energy into fixing other people--her father, porco, lucas, jean, her friends in trost--leaving her fraudulent in her own happiness and her healing. if you look at her life, what happened in 41 was a long time coming.

the hits made by jean were very direct which is why she got even more angry because of how exposed she felt. she KNEW that she just didn’t want to acknowledge it made her push away 10x harder.

she was cruel because she was scared and angry. it was a defense mechanism and jean just so happened to walk straight into it and everything she has spent so long bottling came spilling out.

y/n’s childhood was nothing but reactive. so was her love life. lucas, her father, and porco were all extremely reactive people who did extremely reactive things; fighting, throwing/hitting things, yelling. and she was nothing but a terrified, softhearted girl who who learned not to react because of the consequences and instead shelled up and let the explosion happen all around her for years and years. she has fought so hard to be kind and gentle despite the anger and harm she grew up around but sadly, as it happens so frequently in life, she ended up picking up on those behaviors.

i think people are undermining how important it is that she was able to even acknowledge that. the fact that even in such a dark state of mind she was able to self-reflect and see her mistakes is so important. that's how you know that she isn't truly cruel like porco or keith. if she were, she wouldn't have been able to recognize her behavior and she wouldn't feel as terrible about it as she did. her reaction isn't who she is but rather a reflection of the people in her life before that she loved the most.

yes. jean has been kind and has treated her very well but just because that's true doesn't automatically mean that her brain will be able to digest that. you also have to remember that porco treated her very well in the beginning, too, before he became controlling, abusive, and narcissistic. so that makes her even more scared to trust. she fell for it once and it left her less than half the person she was when she met him and she doesn't want to go through that again so she pulled away herself before it could be done to her even though she is in love with jean. think of it like disorganized attachment.

when you get out of something as toxic as what was porco’s and y/n’s relationship, it literally ALTERS your brain chemistry. it changes the way you think, you feel, you love, you exist. and when i say that shit lingers. it LINGERS. you have to unlearn what their hatred, manipulation, and toxicity taught you. think of it basically like learning how to be a functioning human again because they stripped you completely of the knowledge of who you were before them INTENTIONALLY so you would feel like you would be nothing without them.

i got out of my relationship a while ago and what was done to me still haunts me to this day. i find myself unable to trust, hesitant to love, questioning my worth, and scared to be myself because of how i was shamed for it. it’s like a devil on ur shoulder that never goes away constantly reminding you what was done / said to you and constantly trying to tell / convince you that they were right and that you deserved everything you were put through by them.

it’s the same exact thing for y/n. if you read her flashback you can see first hand how brutal porco was to her and that’s just a glimpse. you need to remember that she LOVED him. like i cannot stress enough she genuinely, deeply loved him to the point she would have rather died than lose him. he was EVERYTHING to her at one point and her love for him is what got her trapped. she constantly poured into him until she was sucked dry and the only person she had once she was finally set free was herself. she had no friends. no support. no family. nothing. she has been completely in her own until she moved to trost.

porco constantly told her that she would never be loved. that they would get tired of her. that they would find her disgusting. even told her she was better off dead time and time again. it doesn’t matter who you are, that shit will stay with you. even her father made her feeling thins way, he did not gaf abt her.

people have constantly called y/n stupid for taking so long to realize that jean had feelings for her. she isn't stupid. she was written that way on PURPOSE. her mind literally cannot understand that jean could possibly see her in the light that her does because her brain is so hardwired to believe that no one ever would. it's even hard for her to swallow that her friends care about her the way they do and is constantly asking herself what she did to deserve it because she was frequently told for her entire life that she doesn't deserve anything. if she feels that way about her FRIENDS its going to be 100 times worse when it comes to romantic feelings since her only experience of love was treacherous.

and the fact she found the strength to admit to herself that she's in love with jean after coming from something terrible is very very looked over imo. coming from what she comes from that takes a lot of strength. and it's because of how much and how deeply she loves jean that she is a million more times more terrified that he is going to abandon her just like everyone else. she loves him even more than she loved porco so you can imagine the fear she feels knowing that love got her into such a mess the first time around.

when you say, "instead of just showing him the letter and explaining what happened” she said it herself, she doesn’t want anyone to know what’s on that letter. it's everything she ran from. everything she fought to keep buried. it makes her feel worthless. ashamed. nothing. if you know y/n’s character at all, you know that she does not open up or ask people for help. she never has. she literally doesn’t know how. all the other times in her life she asked for help, she was shamed for it or called crazy, or was called a useless waste of space.

think back to the scars. porco KNEW she needed help. saw it with his own eyes. she even told him that she did. she said, "i'm sad all the time and i don't know why i think there might be something wrong with me." porco's only response was: "what do you want? for me to feel sorry for you?" and that came from someone she loved and who was supposed to love her. her father was the exact same way. that response to her brokenness is all she knows. why do you think she frequently struggled to cry? because she was so shamed for her emotions she literally trained herself not to even though she feels things more deeply than the average person.

not to mention, the content that was on the letter calls for DEEP conversations about things she is not ready to have. so instead, she chose to hide it away and try to deal with it herself because that's all she has done for her entire life.

please don't underestimate the fact that when when she ran out to try and stop jean from leaving she WAS going to tell him about the letter but it was too late. he was already gone. she deserves credit for even attempting to look over her fears and confide in him especially after her trust was betrayed by their mutual friend.

you also need to remember that y/n has hardly opened up about the things she’s been thru. what she has told the gang about her life is slim to none. even jean which is what he called her out for. the only reason he caught on to the type of ppl her father and her ex are is bc he saw it first hand when he went to stohess w her not bc she confided in him. even when he asked her if porco hurt her before, she didn't say yes or no, she simply looked at him. jean was able to put two and two together reading her as well as he does, but even still, he doesn't know close to anything about the true trauma of what she went through. the only thing she ever told him that porco did to her was when he saw the scar on the back from when she fell on glass and she was very scarce on details even w that.

same with her father. jean knows he changed after her mom died and drinks heavy but he doesn't know to how severe of a degree. he doesn't know she used to have to clean vomit off of him or that he used to beat her and lucas when they were little or that he would be gone for days on end or that she was the one that found lucas when he tried to commit bc her father was passed out drunk on the couch. the things her friends / jean know about her are all surface level and she has undermined everthing she has revealed because she simply can't process what she went through was truly as bad as it was. she also doesn't want them to worry about her.

one of her most famous lines is "what if i can't bring myself to tell you everything that happened to me?" again, that was INTENTIONAL dialogue. because she can't. especially not now that one of her "friends" betrayed her after learning about her life before.

if annie knows about personal things in y/n’s life that porco told her and ended up taking his side and judging her her for the things of her past, she is 100% going to believe what the letter said and jump to the conclusion that other people around her will too. you also have to remember that everyone back in stohess ALWAYS believed porco. after they broke up, he did not speak of her with grace. part of the reason she left is because her destroyed her image. so in her head its history repeating itself. it's only natural for her to shut down.

to save herself from that pain of abandonment, she chose to take the power into her own hands since she was so powerless in all of her losses that came before.

p.s. listen to the bridge of the smallest man who ever lived by t.s. or the greatest by billie eilish. those two songs perfectly describe what she came from. her wounds are gaping and all of what she has been masking for the sake of others is finally spilling out. it was a long time coming.

[carolinahope]

8x15 Lab Rats

I have very mixed feelings about the episode. Because the acting was superb. From everyone. The main cast outdid themselves. Moira was a great villain (Bridget really shines in this type of roles) and Roz and Allan were so fun.

I loved the team ups. I loved Athena with Buck and then them with Karen. I loved the scenes with Chim and Maddie and Chim and Bobby. And Hen saving Chim. And Ravi and Bobby. And Ravi and Karen.

As a standalone piece of television it was very well done. There was humor but it also hit all the emotional beats. The camera and music and editing were superb.

But as an episode of a show I watched for 8 years? It was utter shit. It was a spit in the face of the audience, and frankly the characters as well. Because there were ways to let Peter leave without killing Bobby off. And there were even ways to kill Bobby and it not being this disconnected.

And yes, I am talking about Eddie who the writers apparently forgotten about. He was not there for his best friend and did not get a chance to say good bye to his mentor. He was not even mentioned.

And we had to fucking endure that man. And we will have to do so for at least one more episode. And frankly, after this, I don't have much trust in Tim. Who always puts shock above solid story-telling. And this time, I fear he dug himself a too deep a whole to crawl out of.

I will say, I liked the passing of the baton to Buck. But this is definitely not the way I wanted for him to start on his journey to becoming a captain.

I have too many feelings to put them into coherent words that are not expletives.

[oldtypenewtype]

MTV

Funny Funny!! A collection of anime video clips

MUSIC MUSEUM

Are you tired of videos that just feature dancers or have the artist act cheesy? As promo videos become more varied, it's nice to see more videos that use animations and dolls. MTV is going crazy again tonight!

*The title says it all. The writers over at Newtype were excited about the animation displayed in the music videos on MTV in the 11/1985 issue of Newtype magazine. I really love their enthusiasm for animation and the different techniques used in the videos that were featured in the article*

John Fogarty - Vanz Kant Danz

Produced by Will Vinton Productions. The main character is a pig named "TUNES". A 3D animation style with clay pigs and break dancer dolls moving frame by frame. The dancing pigs are really cute.

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing 

Produced by Steve Baron, who has worked on famous promo videos such as "Billie Jean." I was surprised at the beauty of the CG animation overlaid on the live footage from Budapest, Hungary. The color scheme is excellent, not only in the square-like animation but also in the live scenes, where only the instruments are colored. It seems that we will see more of this kind of thing in the future.

Prince - Raspberry Beret 

The video director is Prince himself. It is a rather flashy video that combines live performance scenes, live action of the dancers around him, and animation. The images of people's faces and skies remind me of psychedelic illustrations from the 1960s.

a~ha - Take On Me 

Warner Pioneer This was also made by Steve Barron. The animation was done by Limelight Productions in the US. The strange footage of the members' movements turning into animation seems to have been quite elaborate.

Goon Squad - Eight Arms to Hold You

The second single from Goonies (movie). It's not an animation, but an elaborate piece that moves puppets one frame at a time, like the old monster movies. The punch line of him becoming a hero is also hilarious.

Motoharu Sano - New Age

Among Japanese artists, Motoharu Sano is the one who puts the most effort into making promotional videos. This one was made by Tim Pope, and features a robotically marching doll and a scene of Sano rapping alternating. It's not particularly eccentric, but it's a memorable video.

The Alan Parsons Project - Don't Answer Me

It was produced by D.J. Webster, who recently produced Jeff Beck & Rod Stewart's "People Get Ready." The animation was produced by Broadcast Arts in Washington. It's a wave-like video that's like an American comic that's been animated, with a lot of hard-boiled touches. It shows a new direction for promotional videos.

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Accidents Will Happen

The production is by female producer Annabel Jankel. The best anime and the painting itself is simple. But it's a radical movement with a touch of emotion to the song. Perfect for the page.

Cars - You might think

The first MTV Video Awards were held in May, this is one of F. Stein's masterpieces. The members of Cars suddenly turn into flies(?) and the skillful combination of live action and animation is eye-catching. The video is more popular than the song itself. Is this your masterpiece?

Go West - We Close Our Eyes

Godley & Creme (formerly of 10cc), a sought-after video director, made this epic film at a cost of $90,000.

-Another fun thing about MTV is the various animated jingles. There are a lot of great pieces of art that last just a few seconds.- *(Link to MTV bumpers of the 1980′s. This is what Newtype was referring to as “animated jingles” in this part of the article.)

[boyfriendsmalec]

I mean is the Milkvan relationship really a selling point to viewers? The GA overall seem to not really care about Milkvan. A lot of them actually dislike Mike's character when he's around El in Season 3 and Season 4. I don't think any of the past ST trailers have ever really highlighted Milkvan moments either, and other than the Season 3 poster of them holding hands, they just generally don't have them acting super couple-y in most of the ads for Stranger Things. Instead they have had several photo shoots with Finn and Noah, and even have a Byler thumbnail they use to advertise the show on Netflix (this same thumbnail was used on posters to advertise for Season 4 too).

ST Reddit and Milkvan Twitter really seems to inflate how much people care about Milkvan. Watching the GA fans on YouTube I saw many of them not even care about Milkvan in Season 4. And those GA members that find Milkvan sweet really don't think that deeply about things, and tbh I think won't care much when they break up in Season 5 and Byler is endgame (for the more liberal fanbase, that is). And I think given that Robin came out in Season 3, they've already likely weeded out some more of the vitriolic, homophobic audience.

As to what the point would be, I mean what was the point of Stancy if they weren't endgame? What was the point of Steve liking Robin for almost all of Season 3, straightbaiting the viewers, only to have Robin turn Steve down? The writers have straightbaited before, they've broken up established couples before.

It's not a shitty thing for El's relationship to end. She's unhappy in the relationship. Her happiest moments in the show were when she and Mike were broken up in Season 3 and she was able to just hang out with Max, having fun and discovering who she truly is. Mike never encouraged El to find out what she liked, and neither did Hopper. Only Max helped support El in finding out what it is she likes. It was an empowering moment for her, and I think that showing that a female leading character can be single and happy since so many shows try to shoehorn in a romance for their main female lead.

Stranger Things is all about breaking conventions and not conforming. A Milkvan endgame goes against the core principles the show holds itself to. Just look at the final shot of Season 4 and you'll see the direction Stranger Things intends to go on in the final season.

One thing about byler that gives me doubt is what does it say about El's character? What would be the point of pairing her up with Mike for so long and try to sell their relationship to the viewers only to discard that in the last season? It kinda feels like a shitty thing to do to her character to me, but I don't they work as a couple either so I end up stumped.

Sometimes growth comes from mistakes. Mike and El jumped into a relationship for all the wrongs reasons. Realizing this and figuring out what they really want is a key to them being able to have successful romantic relationships. We already know from season 3 that not only does El not have what she wants, but she doesn't even know what she likes. Max had to tell her to "try things on." Mike doesn't know what he wants, either. He got together with El because it was expected, and he assumed it was the right thing to do, following in his parents' regret-filled footsteps. He needs to learn this as much as El does. Them breaking up wouldn't be sad as long as it's done amicably as friends (which they never really took the time to become in the first place).

I am curious as to how they'd resolve this, though, considering El seems to have a separate storyline for a large portion of the season.

[dreadfutures]

Tevinter Nights: dramatic summaries

Back in March I decided to read a story from Tevinter Nights out loud to the DA FanFic server every Monday night. I figured with the number of stories, we'd hit August right as we finished - hopefully it'll be a big month for us fans!

I just love this anthology so much - there are many gems and entertaining bits among them, and they're criminally underrated. A lot of the DA side content is hit or miss for a lot of people, but seriously, some of these short stories could be published on their own without any knowledge of Thedas and still entertain!!

Here are the summaries I wrote ahead of each reading. :) All of the TN short stories are independent of each other, so take a look and perhaps you will find one you enjoy. I tried to keep them largely spoiler free :)

Also, check out @larkoneironaut 's Tevinter Nights art project! They're enjoyable in their own way :)

Three Trees to Midnight, by Patrick Weekes

After the Qunari take Ventus, prisoners are put to work chopping wood on the outskirts of Arlathan Forest. Myrion, a human mage, and Strife, a city elf who joined the Dalish, are shackled together at the ankle as a work pair. While their relationship starts antagonistic, they are quickly forced to work together to escape. This thrilling adventure is one of our first looks into the mysteries of Arlathan Forest, and the Antaam’s advance south—despite the rifts forming in the Qun’s ranks. Notably, Strife and his companion Irelin appear in another short story, Ruins of Reality, and Dragon Age: The Missing.

Down Among the Dead Men by Sylvia Feketekuty

We finally see Nevarra in this tale, and what better place to start than in the Grand Necropolis itself? Audric Felhausen, our POV character, is a city guard who is tasked with protecting a Mortalitasi mage during an investigation about some restless undead in the bowels of the Necropolis. We see how spirits and demons wander, and get stuck, in the bodies kept there -- and how possessing a body, even a long-dead one, can have significant effects on the spirit. On both a cultural and metaphysical level, this story gives us a TON of lore. And Audric, our hero, is equally curious and unsettled by what he learns. By the end you'll see why so many people are desperate for him to be a companion in DA4!

The Horror of Hormak by John Epler

Do you love Wardens? Do you miss the dark fantasy elements of Origins? Do you like the aesthetic of Dark Souls, with giant stone doors you push open with all your might to reveal a giant boss? That's the vibe that John Epler (DA4 Creative Director!) brings to this story. Wardens Ramesh and Lesha are tracking down a group of missing Wardens in Nevarra--a group, it turns out, that does not want to be found. For better or worse, Ramesh and Lesha plunge into the darkness and discover a horrifying truth with massive implications for the ancient history of Thedas... and the Evil Gods about to wake in DA4!

Callback by Lukas Kristjanson

Follow Sutherland and his crew of honorable adventurers back to where they began: Skyhold. Now defended and empty but for a handful of Chantry chosen caretakers, the fortress that once housed the Inquisition has gone dark, and Sutherland is tapped to investigate. We see Skyhold and by proxy the Inquisition itself from the perspective of one of the little guys, drawn to it because of ideals and encouraged to become their best selves. In doing so, we also see how the events of this world can shape Spirits in unexpected ways, with consequences for a world where the Veil is thin. Callback is full of callbacks and cameos from a surprising group from DAI, and an entertaining and perilous mini adventure in its own right. This is a love letter to Skyhold, to the Inquisition, and a meaningful counterpart to the memories of Skyhold kept in its frescos.

Luck in the Gardens by Sylvia Feketekuty

Hear a tale of glory and daring straight from a Lord of Fortune themself! A genderfluid, disguise-wearing, acrobat-turned-swashbuckler regales us with an adventure from the streets of Minrathous. Spy on secret meetings between Magisters, learn what the Venatori have been doing since Corypheus' defeat, and tremble in the face of things "past the Veil of our world," neither demon nor spirit. Who are the Lords of Fortune from Rivain? What lurks beneath Tevinter's streets? This may be the story that inspired many people's wishlist for the next Archon and the next Black Divine -- some beloved, familiar faces join our hero to face the terror in the gardens!

Content Warning: Body horror, Eldritch horror, mentions of Tevinter slavery

Hunger by Brianne Battye

Tevinter Nights returns to Warden business in Hunger -- or does it? Evka Ivo, a heroic warden, and her junior recruit Antoine, have to decide what counts as Warden business when there's not a Blight ongoing. As they make their way to Weisshaupt to answer their summons, they decide to make a small detour to help a village in need. Evka and Antoine are our beloved dwarf/elf romantics who feature in a DA Day short story - as well as in the DA4 lead-in comic, The Missing! Whether they may be companions or contacts to our protagonist remains to be seen, but surely they'll make an appearance after such tales of heroism and compassion!

Murder by Death Mages by Caitlin Sullivan Kelly

We return again to Nevarra from a different angle this time! An agent of the Inquisition, the multiplayer necromancer Sidony, is sent back to the home country she resents in pursuit of a killer. We learn not only about Sidony's past, but about the political landscape of Nevarra: do the Mortalitasi run the country as shadowy puppet masters? What do the common people, and the nobility, think of the death mages from the Necropolis? How are Mortalitasi trained? And what does necromancy look and feel like to the characters in Thedas? In this tale of alleyway chases and gossip-filled balls, we get another glimpse into a country we may very well visit in DA4!

The Streets of Minrathous by Brianne Battye

We return to Minrathous to learn what's become of the Venatori since Corypheus's defeat. Join Neve Gallus, special investigator (and important cameo in The Missing comic), as she navigates the alleyways of Tevinter's great city in search of a murderer. Through her eyes, we see how less-privileged mages are viewed, and how the law bends to the whims of the rich and magical in Tevinter. Neve is joined by Tevinter Templars in her investigation, and their final battle is certainly eye-opening for anyone interested in fighting mages... What lies beneath the Streets of Minrathous, if not the Cekorax? Well, you're about to find out.

The Wigmaker Job by Courtney Woods

Lucanis Dellamorte, Master Assassin (and rumored heir to the First Talon) of the Antivan Crows, prowls the secret passages and unsuspecting rooftops of Tevinter with his cousin Illario on a contract. The target? A member of the Venatori with a... peculiar hobby. From shady hotel rooms to a grand gala and fashion show, get a look at the best of the Crows doing what Crows do best. This is one of the best stories in Tevinter Nights by far.

Content Warnings: abuse of slaves, body horror, torture, gore, hair eating, lots of pretty gruesome (if cathartic) assasination, and possession

Genitivi Dies In The End by Lucas Kristjanson

The remnants of the Inquisition approach a new group of adventurers and task them with finding the secrets of Fen'Harel. The Antaam - or at least, part of it - give chase. And Genitivi Dies in the End.

Herold Had the Plan by Ryan Cormier

Our Lords of Fortune are on the run as a mission to steal an ancient amulet goes awry. They have the amulet, they have their daring escape (a Lord of Fortune knows no other kind, of course) -- but Herold had the plan for what to do with the damn thing, and Herold is gone. As Starkhaven guards give chase, only one Lord of Fortune will survive the night. But will he make it to the mysterious Squire who hired them in the first place? Join us for an adventure that will break your heart and keep you on the edge of your seat.

An Old Crow's Old Tricks by Arone Le Bray

Tevinter has sent their finest centuri to defend the shores of the Nocen Sea from potential Qunari invaders. They stake their claim on the area and set up camp, enjoying the esteem of being the proud defenders of Tevinter. But it's not the Qunari this group of soldiers should fear.

CW: blatant racism against dalish, off screen massacre of a Dalish clan, many gruesome cathartic assassinations described in some detail, hand trauma

Eight Little Talons by Courtney Woods

Antiva's crown is weak. Antiva has no army. And the Qun is at its doorstep. Antiva's Crows may be the country's only defense, but they must act fast. Caterina Dellamorte, the fearsome leader of the Crows, calls all Eight Talons to meet in secret and solitude to discuss and prepare for the threat at Antiva's borders. But perhaps they should begin by looking for threats at home. All Crows are assassins. But only one is a murderer.

Half Up Front by John Epler

A former altus who chose to be disowned into poverty to be with her elven lover takes the job of a lifetime: steal a precious, powerful, magical artifact from the Archon's Palace itself. It was never going to be easy, but the former Altus Vadis couldn't have predicted that a Minrathous heist would bring her all the way to a port in Rivain, loyal to the Qun. What at first glance seems like a classic cat burgling caper actually might tell us a lot about the forces at play in Thedas—how perhaps the people on the ground may or may not be following orders.

Dread Wolf Take You by Trick Weekes

[keferon]

May I ask what were the best transformers media you ever saw/read?

Well Transformers Prime, Transformers 1986 and IDW comics are having the first place that’s for sure

And then the second place is kind of shared by Fall of Cybertron, Exodus, Prime wars trilogy, Robots in disguise(2001) and Transformers One.

The third place goes to G1, Animated, Earthspark, Armada, War for Cybertron Netflix series, Aligned Robots in disguise, Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts and Cyberverse because I only liked some little parts of them.

And then I also saw some of the Bay movies, Victory and Headmasters and didn’t like them at all.

Separate first place for J-Decker. It is not exactly Transformers but it is a show about giant robots and I loved it

[local-limebug]

jason todd has so many underrated canon love interests. essence, isabel, artemis, and rose are all characters i love with him. like those are good ships. why is everyone ignoring them?

[nenoname]

What are your thoughts on Hirsch?

i do genuinely respect him a lot (the fact that a bunch of the show was improvised is both horrifying and kinda amazing, standout examples being ford himself being written on the fly and also the last mabelcorn being written in a day) and love that he's insistent on the importance of found family and platonic affection, and that he's furious when people devalue family relationships if they're not directly blood related

but also a bunch of his ford takes are pretty iffy (even if he's gotten somewhat better about him recently) and he's pretty "two steps forwards, a bunch of shuffles back" about treating the abusive relationships he writes cos it was like "oh he's talking about it normally for the panels--" and then that charity stream was basically a cannonball to any goodwill he built up

also god damn he's bad with writing romance and picking side ships in general (tad/woodpecker guy is the most 'picked random names outta a hat' shit), especially when he's fully aware that it gets fans sidetracked from the main points he's trying to make with the series

his current take of bullying and shaming ai shills however? excellent! love to see this when people are going "uwu if we ignore them stealing and being shitheads maybe they'll go away there's nothing we can do anyway" defeatist bullshit-- do it hirsch!!! send your legions of obsessed fans after those morons!!! him openly bitching about how disney execs are a bunch of spineless cowards is great too

[doverstar]

every year around this time I rewatch Julie and the Phantoms, and every year I am reminded how much heart this little tween show about grief and hope has

[mantisgodsdomain]

Anyways, to those who have been wondering what we've been doing during our impromptu Tumblr Vacation or whatever we're calling it, we've been trying to find a playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 that is made by someone who doesn't annoy the shit out of us, and also tormenting Karlach Cliffgate (as you do)

[rin-the-shadow]

So I know Penguin was probably just making a crack and didn't actually think Batgirl was Batman's little sister, but tbh it could potentially be a good secret identity diversion for both of them if they played into that assumption. Let everyone think Batman's got a kid sister he's finally decided to let tag along on missions, and then pretty much nobody would be looking at Bruce Wayne and Barbara Gordon as potential suspects, since neither one has any siblings.