#and given that theyre all claw episodes

[ofdreamsanddoodles]

aster i am holding my head in my hands wanting to claw my eyes and ears. i keep seeing ppl being pissy abt wolfwood this episode (anime only watchers, for the most part). theyre like "why is he being such a hypocrite??? just kill this dude already smh" @ livio EVEN AFTER WATCHING THE FLASHBACK??? BABES. THATS THE POINT? the point. is that wolfwood is definitely being a hypocrite. its called a character flaw! its smth characters can have!

there is a REASON we're getting this information directly after everything that rollo like this is the absolute MOST hypocritical he could be ESPECIALLY in this specific moment of course that's intentional. wolfwood said that death is the only way, all you can care about in life is yourself EXCEPT when it comes to his special little guy. like nothing about the information we're given shows that he ever wanted to be a killer, it's a horrible task he has to do, and when that happens, you find ways to justify it to yourself, but the thing is? its all lies!! every bit of it! legato even points out in the episode that they could always go back & find another orphan! if wolfwood kills livio, he could end up having to go through the same kind of trauma of killing a KID HE GREW UP WITH like. maybe 5 months later. like obviously i don't want livio to die but legato explicitly says livio dying may in fact make things worse it's very reasonable to hesitant in this moment

[merchantarthurn]

So I've been recompiling the character list for the project by rewatching mp100 on 2x speed (my first pass was a mess and i needed extra screenshots for some S1 characters) and uh

Ah... Hah.... Oh boy (it's at 201 at the end of s1e9 and there was over 150 in S2....e1-8. Weeps.... F-for the record applications are still open--)

[ankhisms]

also i still love the one years worth supply of ice cream promise so much ive already written embarrassingly long posts before talking about how by the end of the show its not just about ankh getting ice cream or wanting only that its about their partnership and a kind of way of saying i want you here and i love you without saying that out loud. anyway even in the beginning i think its not just as simple as ankh only being motivated by desire for the new tastes hes enjoying or just him ONLY helping eiji because of a bribe, i think ankh is clearly conflicted by everything thats been going on because as other people have pointed out hes very frustrated by hina and eiji asking him to not just take but to give back in return and that baffles him and frustrates him but by this point he IS seeing them as a kind of team and he automatically assumes that eiji is coming with him to places and helping him and that theyre a unit together. hes fond of eiji and hina at this point and he doesnt understand it and its frustrating to not know whats going on when it comes to feeling things for the first time EVER. so hes lashing out and saying youre asking me to give so much i dont just give things easily what will you give ME in return, but again. its not just about being given something material. its the establishment of a partnership. which i think is clear especially in contrast to how kazari backstabs all the other greed in the same episode, ankh and eiji are establishing that even if they dont fully understand each other or what their relationship is yet theyre still going to trust each other and have each others back. anyway tldr you construct intricate rituals to touch the bird claw hand

[auckie]

just curious, why/what do you love about goblins so much?

this is such a long answer i didnt mean to type out but anyways its under the cut bc its an essay! sorry!

yknow, ive always liked them a bit but over the past year ive just been nutso about them and im not sure why. i used to hate fantasy! i definitely cycle through SPINs but its hard for me to remember when this one started or like, when i last had it. anyways, i think theyre neat for a lotta reasons! 

so there’s definitely a lot to be said about the fact that they have been used in incredibly antisemetic ways! as a jew, i have always had a fascination with the stereotypes used to make characters like shylock and svengali, two infamous, classic portrayals of greedy and devious jews. it’s this weird drive i have to take the bones of these characters (or just the tropes themselves) and craft them into a full, three dimensional person. I like to do this in the abstract with a lot of things and i refer to it as ‘applying physics to the absurd’. it’s the reason im so invested in side characters and humor in narratives, and probably why i am so into who framed roger rabbit! that movie literally takes absurdity, the very concept of it, and asks ‘what if we were to apply real world logic to this?’ Mixing cartoons and murder and then playing it out to the logical end makes for a very interesting and unique mood; it’s a funny but sort of dark movie that a lot of people remember seeing only as a kid, and being vaguely afraid of it. i LOVE that.

wow goblins are a great example of the fucked up jew trope. they try and sorta divert it to a jersey thing, but its pretty blatant what with their greed, obsession with banking and being referred to in canon as ‘grease balls’ and often having the whole jewface thing going on what with the foreheads and balding and noses. thankfully they dont have straight up yiddish accents but yknow, ny/jersey accents are heavily associated with jews so. im not making a stretch here believe me.

theyre not given a lotta attention in the narrative either, used mostly as little plot devices (need a trash mob? need a reason the horde has out of place tech? a quick way to get the player character into some stupid giant robot that will make this quest of killing 100 enemies go a lot quicker?) and for humor. but! they are SO funny and even if not major characters, theres a handful of good ones present in the lore. 

so, theyre throwaway jokes, bad stereotypes, and side characters? the PERFECT storm of traits to apply gravity to, in my opinion!

outside of wow, its still pretty much the same. in fantasy, goblins are generally just trash mobs or occasionally big bad guys, which is all fine and fun, but i like when characters, who by no means should be the focus of a story, happens to be the protagonist. its so refreshing and relatable and more interesting to me! its very rare to find media that uses them as an integral part of the story for any reason, let alone a positive one.

ive never been too good at projecting onto main characters. im jewish, latino, probably trans and gay, and like, also just a weird person in general i think, so growing up there wasn’t a ton of media i saw myself in. i was never able to relate to female leads, and male leads were always just standard white dudes so there wasn’t too much luck there. it was easier with cartoons featuring less realistic characters but even then! seeing a sort of…’minority’ group, especially one usually negatively depicted with either racist characteristics or just run of the mill fantasy logic (”these non human, somewhat poc coded creatures are inherently evil! theyre born that way and theyre too stupid to know better and throw spears and live like nomadic indigenous peoples and are bad to the civilized, white eurocentric human and elf populations! go kill them for gold before the pillage and plunder!) is just. its like HEY YEAH OK! its good! i love seeing it! love seeing the little guy represented! its like when the sidekick finally gets his own arch or episode, its always so much more interesting than the hero’s story! even if it’s short and lighthearted. not everything always has to be grave and intense!

but i also hate cheesy over the top soft shit yknow? theres this anime called ‘that time i was reincarnated as a slime’ or some shit, and ive seen pics of how they do goblins and i HATE it so much. i LIKE when goblins are little nasty green men with big noses and ears and no eyebrows who cant read and are twitchy and paranoid and eat rats raw. take THAT and give it weight! what if this gross little man were to get a whiff of the good life, huh? to see human society, and compare it to how he’s lived for all of 8 years in a dank cave where his da got his head smashed in with a rock yesterday– what would that do to this little goblin? 

but yknow, i could also just sum this up with the fact that i think theyre really cool and funny and neat. i also GENUINELY think they are so adorable. like, night goblins and skaven from warhammer, goblins from wow, any goblin or little gross dude really– i just honestly think they are so so cute and idk why. the sharp teeth! the green skin and slit pupils! the ears and noses and claws! i think the way people feel about baby monkeys and puppies is how i react to stupid little green dudes. i especially love when theyre like, mischievous and mean and like ready to jump at you and bite you bc that’s how i always feel. like that comic of the guy driving and then he thinks ‘penis’ and hunches his shoulders and smiles REAL nasty.

also, ever since i was little, whenever a character on a cartoon or in a movie was: short, green/blue, had a jersey/NY accent, i just. fucking IMMEDIATELY loved them. i have nooo idea why but i can think of like ten characters who fit at least two of these criteria off the top of my head who i was obsessed with as a kid. snap from chalkzone, bloo from fosters home for imaginary friends, zim, stitch! 

[eppaljeck]

my mind...... (season one)

so like did ross asking rachel out mean NOTHING?

monica rights! fuck geller lives! chandler had no story?

wig!

ross shut the fuck up challenge. the girls half of the episode was WEIRD poor george whoeverthefuck

this shit was so funny that was my favourite part of the whole show (im talking about chandler). joey what the fuck.

chandler realises that, unfortunately, he has feelings

chandler please (also wtf? this was a crossover?)

oh the swag! oh the style! boys in the house!

chandler rights! fuck thanksgiving!

gay rights!!!!! gay rights!!!!!!!!!!

hi. what? poor chandler.

theyre gay theyre Gay. kill paolo.

this is the WORST episode title ever. roger wouldve outed chandler if given the chance and i know it.

drags claws down face

chandler wins again! (also @the wiki what change wtf?)

this is the episode where i pwned myself irl while watching it. also did i fucking zone out or something i do NOT remember chandlers hand getting stapled to the table) sorry i cant focus on the review for this one im watching a kooky koopa laughing compilation.

JOEY. my nana thought this was WILD. marcel funny moments.

i dont have much to say here other than the fact that aunt iris was called monicas aunt on the wiki when surely shes ALSO ross’ aunt??? also chandlers wearing that sweet style again

this just strongly reaffirms my belief that ross and rachel should not be a thing

unfortunately cute. stupid but cute. also kill barry.

the no evil parallel was cute.... also wow chandlers mind

D: poor monica :(((. also i hate to say it but again! just a lil bit cute. also GAY RIGHTS LOL. why was rachel so horny?

the end of this episode was SO WEIRD. good guy joey. shut up ross.

oh so THATS what that was all about. THEY DID DO PROS AND CONS WITH ROSS. nana was so fucking upset about the end lollllllllllllll

[thekaijudude]

Ultraman Geed Episode 9 Discussion

The main crux of today’s episode was basically signalling the start of answering questions like Belial’s involvement with little stars and whatnot:

1. Raiha used to have a Little Star

As mentioned in one of my posts, this might be a future plot device

2. Zero Capsule Activated

3. King’s first cameo ‘appearance’

He was probably the voice that Raiha heard as reasoned in one of my previous posts

4. AIB has started to investigate Kei

This will definitely also signal the involvement of AIB into the overall plot as they will soon eventually find out about the true identities of the other characters.

5. True identity of Kei revealed

Apparently he’s an alien Sturm but how he let himself get involved with belial is unknown as of now.

Positives

1. Was kinda satisfied to see Zero going beyond to finish off Tyrant which kinda repays all the underballing tyrant went through over the past few series via Wide Beyond Shot, a new attack from Zero Beyond.

2. Glad to see TsuPro switching gears to have riku use Solid Burning and the Geed Claw for a change from the usual AS (Although theyre going back at it again in the next ep)

3. Nice King appearance to ‘live up to the hype’

Negatives

1. Some fight shots were kinda cringey aka the one where Zero Beyond swings his 2 huge banana blades

2. How can Mayu see Pega tho?

3. Little Star working mechanism not quite consistent with the first explanation given in the series as said in one of my earlier posts

4. The slow ass build up OMG (ik it’s gonna be a problem at least up till Episode 12 but I just really wanna whine)

Next Episode:

Mostly it’s just gonna be a filler fight episode with character development for Moa, and perhaps we can get to know even more about the AIB as well and it seems that Riku won’t be getting the Ultra Father capsule until episode 11 or 12 I guess.