#and it has a better storyline than most movies nowadays

[rose-n-gunses]

y'all know the grimace shake trend? yeah eddie thinks it's hilarious and convinces chrissy to help him film his own video (she gets so into it and writes a script and gives it a plot and everything)

[bestanimatedmovie]

Choose your favorite!

Vote in the other polls!

What fans say:

The Lorax:

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse:

It had a very big impact on meme culture. And a really catchy soundtrack. Plus it has the silly sexy green man. What more could you want from a film.*

The Once-ler and the let it die song. This movie is glorious.

It is legit the mother of all great animated movies nowadays. From Mitchells vs the machines to the new mutant mayhem movie! The plot is so good and you can really see character development from almost all of the characters, plus the designs are BANGER.

THE MUSIC?? TOP FUCKING TIER. THE CASUAL DIVERSITY? IT ALSO HAS LITERALLY THE BEST SHOT IN CINEMATIC HISTORY (Miles rising after taking his leap of faith)

BRO THE ANIMATION IS SO SICK. The amount of sheer effort put into this movie is insane. The character growth was so amazing to watch and such a great movie to analyze. Best scenes are obviously the leap of faith. Actually gorgeous. And also the scene where aunt May sees Peter b after her Peter died. Her “you look tired, Peter” is just so heartfelt

Where the hell do I even start. The visuals are incredible and the plot is engaging. Every scene is perfect.

This film has EVERYTHING. Humor, action, inspirational scenes, kickass music, absolutely killer animation, an art style that is an homage to comic books, loveable characters, a talking pig, DR OLIVIA OCTAVIUS, I could go on

This is the best superhero movie ever made, the leap of faith is one of the best movie scenes of ever

The animation style is better than all the others, and makes the movie funnier too! The representation is also good, and the romantic storyline isn't too prevalent in the movie. Probably the best animation Marvel has made. My favorite scene is when the villains show up to Aunt May's house -- its my favorite fight scene!

I’m sure this movie’s been submitted already because it’s arguably the greatest animated film of all time. I have a personal connection to it because I saw it in theaters on opening night with my late father, and we both loved it and I still do. The animation is revolutionary and it’s one of the only 3 movies that make me cry.

gsksvbsvsbsvs I love everything about it, I love the animations, the story, the soundtrack also the style of animation AAAAAA its so beautiful its art it belongs in a museum i get goosebumps everytime I rewatch it

It’s just so good. All the characters are amazing and I love Miles dad. It’s hilarious and sparked my love for spider-man. It’s such a sweet movie about finding yourslef and has such a powerful message. I totally recommend it so I’m not adding spoilers, but like. Ohhhh, it’s so good.

Interesting villains, well-developed character arcs, a fresh take on Spider-Man, unique use of animation, funny, good use of multiverse that adds to the nature of the story being told, complicated character dynamics

It's the best animated movie because A: it takes one of the most well known comic characters of all time, kills him off in the first few minutes, and then shows you every cooler version of him. B: Has a large amount of representation in its main cast, considering that they're all versions of Spiderman, and that requires a white guy by default. C: everything in it is so well done I can't pick a favorite scene, but the most iconic is the jump off the skyscraper window.

The animation is incredible, the movie has so much story and heart, and there’s a perfect balance between humor and seriousness. And the soundtrack slaps

This is probably the best animated film I've ever seen. The animation is definitely the highlight, the way they blend comic book art styles and 3D animation is an absolute joy to look at and is so overwhelmingly creative, every frame of this movie is gorgeous. The impact this had on the industry is undeniable, as we start to see more and more movies getting more creative with their animation styles. It's not just the animation though. All of the characters are entertaining, all of the jokes land and the story is really well done. It leaves me blown away every time I watch it.

This movie kind of changed the western animation industry from the ground up. Apart from being expertly written, funny, and heartfelt, it is also stellarly animated, with a unique visual style that takes direct inspiration from the comic books it adapts and mixes 2d- and 3d-animation in a way and to a degree that hadn't really been seen before in western mainstream. Its critical and monetary success paved the way for mainstream 3d animation to open up to new and excitingly stylised movies that were like a breath of fresh air between the generic Pixar-style animation that had been the largely unchanged norm in the industry since Toy Story circa twenty years earlier**. ITSV divides the screen like panels on a comic page, it uses dots and lines for shading and gradients, doesn't shy away from lowering framerates for stylisation, and makes liberal use of onomatopoeia, both to comedic and dramatic impact. Impact frames and SFX are often hand-drawn and stunningly colourful, and even the simple dialogue scenes astonish with an expressiveness and realism in their depiction of emotions that makes me rewatch a two-second scene of Miles laughing fifteen times in a row. My favourite scene has to be the What's Up Danger scene, the emotional climax of the movie. Set to an absolute banger of a song, it is the moment the entire film has been building up to. I won't spoil anything plot-wise in case you somehow haven't seen this movie, but both from an emotional and a visual standpoint it is Fucking Dope. Conclusion: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse is my favourite movie of all time and I could talk about it for hours. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Thank you.

Have you SEEN the Whats Up Danger/rising and falling scene? it's a work of art that makes me fall in love with storytelling all over again whenever I see it. Also the impact that it's had on animated film is absolutely being felt at current, if incrementally. Incredible film.

It has an amazing art style based on comics and mixed up due to genre differences. It's really fun and the characters are great, even the side ones. The story line is great and I love Miles and his family.

*Mod note: errr, quite a lot more than memes and music actually

**Mod note: amen

[moiloru]

🤠 Cowboy Bebop Review! 🚀

Hello, and welcome to a new anime review! We're headed back in the 20th century with the famous Cowboy Bebop!

Cowboy Bebop aired in 1998, making it the first anime I ever watched that's older than me. It has twenty-six episodes, and an additional movie aired in 2001.

This anime is some good old action with an adult cast and some sci-fi elements. It's different from what you'd see nowadays... which makes sense since it aired twenty-five years ago.

Cowboy Bebop is one of the most acclaimed anime of all time, especially by people who grew up when it aired. Is it due to nostalgia? Perhaps, though there are definitely reasons it's praise-worthy. I probably wouldn't go that far, still.

Let's start by talking about the plot. Well, it takes a few episodes to get used to, and I regret that you truly understand what's going on pretty late into the story. The overarching plot could be more straightforward since the attention is put on the current action.

The composition of the episodes (called "sessions") is pretty good, especially in specific episodes, with the right balance of seriousness and humor. Some do feel like fillers, though, and only give a few backstory elements.

While it may take time to get used to the plot, the ending certainly packs a punch. Everything falls into place, and the final episode was my favorite by a mile. It honestly kind of redeemed it for me.

The movie has a much clearer storyline! It focuses on a new villain and has a little bit of everything - and I particularly liked the beginning of the film with great humor!

Honestly, the anime deserves a comedy tag with how funny it can sometimes be. It obviously has some darker/more serious moments, but it did make me laugh quite a bit.

That is all thanks to the main cast. Apart from the protagonist, I didn't think any of them was amazing, but together, they make for an excellent group. Their quirks are amusing, and the emphasis on their backstories was greatly appreciated here.

The rest of the cast, though, is pretty meh. Some oneshot characters are okay/good, but the rest is pretty forgettable. At least, both the anime and the movie have recognizable villains, so that's something.

Character development in Cowboy Bebop is touching! I really disliked one of the MCs at first, but I grew to like them better thanks to their development! It's bittersweet at times, but good, nonetheless!

One undeniable strength this anime has is the music. OMG, the OST is amazing and so fitting. You can hear the 90s vibes, and it's undoubtedly the best thing about Cowboy Bebop. Great opening, too - with very unique vibes.

The animation holds up for something that aired so long ago, and the art looks especially pleasant. Back in 1998, this must have been like seeing Demon Slayer now, honestly. I'm pretty amazed they could animate something so well back then. Kudos here.

Overall, Cowboy Bebop is a good anime with some great moments but, unfortunately, some lows, too. Sorry to the fans, but I do believe it is slightly overrated, though it remains a very enjoyable watch that I would definitely recommend.

Down below is my tierlist for the characters in this anime! Thank you for reading this review!

[shishkabobninja]

I've noticed this as a trend in general with TV nowadays, focused on shorter seasons with extremely high budgets that go towards special effects but not much else. It's almost like a child with a new toy, where everything is written so they can get those huge CGI/special effects moments rather than using it to tell a compelling, character driven story.

My favorite example of this is a 90s superman show called Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (10/10 would recommend). There was really no good way to have good superhero-esque effects back then, especially for a TV show with a minimal budget, so much of the story related to building the characters and their relationships. There were big overarching plots/villains, but there were also episodes whose sole purpose was to create compelling character narratives.

Don't get me wrong, I love action and big plots and fun CGI effects, but when it's happening to characters I don't care about it all falls flat. I love TV because it used to have the time movies didn't to build a relationship between the audience and the characters, and it is a crime and absolute travesty that so many TV shows are moving towards "extended movies."

I feel like the Flux storyline was a good example of this issue.

So far this season of Doctor who has done a better job than most at maintaining the character driven storytelling that is intrinsic to the TV format, but it still falls flat at times. To me, while the Doctor and Ruby have great chemistry, it feels undeserved. I am both not getting enough of their interactions together, and the ones we do get feel like they have developed a rapport that to me feels too close too quickly (especially in the first 2 episodes). We are halfway through the season already and I feel like I have only barely begun to get to know these characters. While I've never been a big fan of fantasy type stuff (and I won't lie and say it doesn't play into my slight dislike of some episode concepts), the diminishing character moments (compared to earlier Doctor who) is what's really hindering my love for this season so far.

i’m trying so hard to love this new era of doctor who. but god i just don’t. i wonder if this is what it was like for people who grew up with classic who when it was rebooted in 2005.

and like i don’t HATE it, i just don’t love it either. and tbh, i think a big chunk of why i don’t like it is that it seems like 90% special effects. that’s where i think its disney-fied. they have this huge budget now and instead of using it for real props and authentic costumes we get cgi and fast fashion outfits that are trying to mimic authentic clothes.

i do have to give millie her props for 73 yards though. personally i think she should have been more hurt and upset with the doctor as she got older, but i can understand why they chose to have her more at peace with it. even so, they could have given us some kind of explanation as to wtf exactly happened.

[starlightfantasy]

Hey! I hope you're feeling better!

Wonho leaving has had me a bit down lately, too - that plus trying to get ready for the holidays, it's honestly crazy!

I'm really hoping this proves to be a nice break for him, he's done so much in the past few years! I'm sure Wonho will come back better than ever.

Libido is what got me to stan OOO, too! The acting & the storyline really got me - but also musically they're so talented? The song itself blew my mind the first time I heard it! Also the choreo!?!?!? OOO really is a one of a kind group IMO.

I've never heard of k-ville, I'll have to check it out! Keeping track of new releases can be hard, so I'll have to look into it.

Those are all great groups you listed!! I've been following the Omega X situation and it's honestly so sad - as much as I love their music I'd rather them get out and be safe than stay stuck in that awful company.

Also TAN is soooo good! Du du du is one of my favorite debuts this year - and Walking on the Moon is probably one of my favorite comebacks! I really hope they have a long career. Honestly all those groups you listed are great!

Ooooh MX in a supernatural concept.... I'd love to see them tackle that. Werewolves would be great! Did you see they're having a comeback in January!? I'm thrilled - no clue what it'll be like but honestly I'd love to see something darker from them.

Also these are some good questions!!

Favorite Monsta X era: I feel like my answer to this will change every other week because it's so hard to pick! Right now I'm gonna say Shootout. Shootout has some of my fave MX choreo, and I loooooooooove Wonho with black hair.

Fave photoshoot: I think their photoshoot for Fatal Love might be my favorite! The suit looks... Monsta X can really pull of a suit.

Hobbies: Reading & video games are probably my two big ones! I also like journaling, but I'm not super consistent with it lol

Favorite movie: Halloween! I really like horror films

Favorite Food: Lasagna

Favorite season: This one's hard! I want to say Winter, but there's something about Fall that I really love. Can't really pick between fresh snow and leaves changing

Tea or coffee: Coffee - I need coffee to survive lol I probably drink way too much of it but oh well!

What about you??

Plus an additional question: If you could plan a week long vacation to anywhere in the world, where would you go & why?

Also: if MX could collab with any artist, who would you want to see them collab with?

Also that meme omg thank you 🤣❤️

- MBB Secret Santa 🎅

Hey!!I am feeling better! But I will feel better once I hear from him, lol.

In all honesty real life has distracted me enough, with the holidays approaching and all. Do you celebrate? Or do you have any plans in general? It is a busy season anyways, lots of gatherings and parties and stuff…

From ooo i have also really liked all the solos that they have been releasing lately. My favourites are Begin and Be Free, but they all are very good! As you said, they do a lot of work, from producing, to the choreo, they are very unique and that’s what attracted me immediately.

I know we’re he for the monstas, but it makes me really happy to have more in common musically speaking. Music is very important for me and it has been years since I have felt like this. I do like rock from the 80s and indie and grunge from the 90’, even some more recent emo bands, but most of the new western music (or even music in my language, i despise reggaeton, and that’s all people seem to listen to nowadays) so when i discovered kpop I was blown away by everything, the concept, the songs, the voices, the clothes, the choreos and I am perfectly aware of the terrible things that the kpop industry hides behind the glamour ad I hate that there’s no way to support your idols without supporting these problems, but still I love the music and I’m happy with that.

I loooove dark and sexy concepts and that’s something the Monstas do very well. I mean the darkest I have seen was Voodoo doll by VIXX and that was just a cultural reset. I would love to see some more of that.

Favorite Monsta X era: I will say Love killa, cause that is the era that got ge to stan them HARD, and from the eras with Wonho, definitely Alligator! I love how he looks all the time, and that bubblegum pink hair drives me insane

Fave photoshoot: the third photobook from the FOLLOW albums, it’s just my jam, i love all the pictures, all of them.

Hobbies: Reading & handcrafts. Tho I haven’t touched a book in so long I mostly read fanfics, lol

Favorite movie: portrait of a lady on fire. I love that movie, it makes me feel so many things, also Bram stoker’s dracula. I do love horror movies too!!! Now with age i have become i bit squeamish, but I do love gothic and supernatural horror (I am more of a Freddy kinda gal.)

Favorite Food: possibly sushi

Favorite season: Fall, all the way. The crisp air, the leaves the wind…

Tea or coffee: tea! Coffee upsets ,y stomach and I don’t like bitter flavours…

Ooof, the week long vacation….i’d go to a place I’ve never been. Probably Iceland, there’s something about that country that calls to me and I would love to see the landscapes, and feel the (probably shit weather), also I love countries where they believe in elves and fairies (tho they'd never admit that)

I have never thought about MX collabs…. I mean I do not think they’d particularly fit with a western artist (tho so far my fav collab is the one they made with Sebastian Yatra) but also in Korea… they are so unique that I have trouble imagining something that would be epic.

How about you??

Also have I asked you if you got a bias? My memory is shit. 

In any case, if you had one of the monstas for yourself for a day. What would you do? Where would you take him? Adventure? Sightseeing? Cosy time at home?

And yes, definitely check k-ville entertainment, the new video is out and that’s how I found out that sub unit from shinwa has new music and that made my day

"Never mention bald Wonho. Your great-grandmother has been waiting for a photo for years"

"Has he uploaded it yet?" "Calm down, mama, they said that they'd do it soon"

AND IF THAT'S NOT ME.....

have a great day!!!!

[sofibeth]

I randomly share my Sonic Shipping preferences

Cause despite how predictable my OTPs its fun to talk bout dyanimcs and expose my shipping types lol.

OTPS:

Sonamy: top of the list, my ride and die pairing. Fun teasing dynamic both romantic and platonic sense, one of slow burn kind of relationship that really works for me. Have my specific tics for how they would act but I’m flexiable and cute fanart is cute. The one pairing that I feel Sonic can settle with while still staying true to his lifestyle.

Knuxouge: the funny back and forth tension one which I feel can go in many direction. It strange on the outset I feel they wouldn’t work long term but trying to see how they can is pretty fun. I feel its self explanatory for a cat thief type of pair its surpirsely wholesome.

Tailsmo: the one Tails pairing I will vibe with as I cry. Also only one in a canon that has good euongh screentime for us to grow attach too. (I dunno why Tails gets shipped alot in alternate canons) Some childhood biased since I wish Cosmo was better utilized than she was but I won’t deny their cute moments were one of the most mermorable parts of that anime. I’m also conflicted in I do want them to be happy but the tragic end in the anime and the angst is iconic euongh to not deny it. The idea of single dad Tails is good tho.

Whispangle: classic opposites attract pairing and I can take in either planotic or romantic. not much else to say.

The Fun ones:

Sonknux: The superior male pairing for Sonic. Don’t share this one as much on main since I do see it as a bromance first and foremost but I think bout any other day. The chocolate to my Sonamy’s vanilla in having silmilar fun dynamic vibes and Sonic bring Knuckles out of his shell. Shame not alot more serious art of this one but Sonic Movie 2 helped in the cute fanart department.

Sonaze: Alot this comes from teenage nostagia since i was really into this pairing as a young teen. Nowadays I lean more torwards platonic with the pair but I will still enjoy the occassionial cute fanart. The fighting equals and badass teamup is the appeal for me as well as Sonic Rush being my first sonic game. Can be jarring if art is lovey doey cause I don’t see them like that at all.

Sallicole: Putting this one here as special mention cause I do enjoy them even if its now in a dead canon. (add Buntonie around same I guess) The Stargazing and Spark of Life storyline is mermorable and what makes them stick for me and I think I do slightly prefer them over Whispangle at times. Funny how they work so much in a smaller timespan compare the many years they keep trying to make Sonally work.

Sliaze: This one unfortunatly falls down the hardest when the game that somewhat establishes a bond is quickly retconned. Aside from the whole “hey we’re from different times let’s bond” the garden story from IDW annual like the only other time I feel something. More so this paring is fueled by just pairing cause 06 was a thing but nevertheless I won’t deny the cute fanart and fan interpretations.

Stobotnik: this pairing I don’t search for really but something wrong with you if your not “there is no heterosexual explationation for this”. I find it funny how the staregg ships dies as soon as Agent Stone got more traction.

Somina: Putting this rarepair one out of spite cause as OC-ness at it is to make a love interest with the same power as Sonic it had chemistry potiential. Mina kinda a fave for him and the idea of Sonic with a popstar I feel can vibe with him alot. Just a shame this was just made for a love triangle for Sonally and Mina was quickly discarded and put with an asshole boyfriend.

Shadamy: Do enjoy the classic bubbly girl and jerk with a heart of gold type for this one and SA2 was a good foundation if you wanna go that route. A bit soiled thanks to stupid love triangles and sonic mischaracterization in early years while not really vibing for shadow charactization is most of these fanarts. Still I can enjoy it once and awhile. 

Sonadow: this one barely made this tier as I can vibe with it on a SPECIFIC type of intepretation. I like it when its not as lovey doey and Shadow is alot more subtle in his affections, I can appreciate that. Unfortunately this one been spoils for me with overexposure and popular interpretation I don’t jive with. A point of feeling apathy over a popular ship 90% of the time.

usually neutral but have thoughts:

Vectilla: Sometimes can fall into the fun tier. the crush is cute and its nice for a good adult relationship in this series. Go back and forth whether if it can even work in long run but I dont have as strong feelings to care as much.

Blazamy: I nearly forgot to put this one here which I feel disquailfies it from fun tier but I do like the Madoka and Homura asetheic in the fanart. The female pairing I would vibe with but more of a fluff over substance ship.

Vecispo: I can see why but I’m more in planoic life partners vibe, I do enjoy the two dads ans a kid jokes tho.

Silvamy: only Plantonic for me, the shippers seen nice tho.

Sonally: too much pro and cons revolving around this one that just shrug. I can understand the appeal of the dynamic but satam and espcially Archie nonsense really test you if you actually enjoy it. Uilmately agree with not liking the idea of Sally anchoring Sonic down so I just stick with friends. Can enjoy it if I’m in the mood sometimes tho.

Shadouge: remembering enjoying this one when I was younger but doesn’t have the nostagic power like Sonaze to make me care as much. shippers are chill tho.

Tailsream: funny thing is I feel I can think of a dynamic that may work for them, but lack of canon interaction and not finding a good fanon interpretation makes this a boring pair the spares ship.

Crack

Surgamy: this should never work in canon but the “steal yo girl” energy from this ship that I accept one guilty pleasure. 

[variousqueerthings]

some thoughts on queerness in narrative (using cobra kai as a main point)

1. intro

It’s interesting getting to engage with pop culture right now versus even five years ago, where there was something kinda sordid and undercover about queer reads of text and even just talking about being into stuff very passionately while being queer in spaces that included creators was considered somehow icky (supernatural is always a good example, but definitely was just the most visible of these types of interactions between fans and cast/creators). Obviously that’s where a lot of modern definitions about queerbaiting and bury your gays comes from.

A lot of this kind of drama centred on queer ships rather than queer characters in their own right (dean/castiel, merlin/arthur, derek/styles and maaaan just a lot of white brunette/blond pairings, which is another post and I acknowledge that Lawrusso is also literally that... the irony)

But also this isn’t so much about “shipping.”

2.

There’s a danger of flattening out the ways in which we create a dialogue with text when it becomes just about whether or not our ships become canon (in general the way fandom discourse revolves around ships can be incredibly unhelpful for engaging critically with text) – for context I am queer and I’m queer through my transness and aromanticness and asexuality, and I also write a fair bit of shippy fanfiction and analysis, but personally am not (always) thaaat bothered about how the connections with queer-coded people are realised in text, as long as those connections are acknowledged in a queer way. How that works varies from text to text.  There is no one-size fits all proper queer representation.

An example: SE Hinton (because I just read The Outsiders/watched the movie) being really dismissive of people reading her characters as gay on twitter (why do we ever try to do this sort of deep textual analysis on twitter, why do creators – like Hinton – think that they ought to espouse opinions on twitter, why twitter folx?)

I wrote – kinda for the void, because I write a lot and I like posting some of that on tumblr, but I don’t expect people to engage necessarily – about how The Outsiders is absolutely a queer text, whether or not the creator intended for it to be. Long story short, queerness has been – and often still is – illegal and/or frowned upon in canon text, so a semiotics was created to make something queer if you knew how to read it. The fact that cis-straight creators play with and use those semiotics without knowing doesn’t negate the fact that that language is there and was deliberately created for that purpose.

That also doesn’t make it queerbaiting. Maybe cis-straight dumbassery, idk (wouldn’t be if you just went “huh, didn’t think about that, cool read”)

Intentionally playing with and acknowledging those semiotics also isn’t necessarily queerbaiting.

Definitely queercoding though.

3.

Anyway this is all a bit murky territory, so let’s talk about Cobra Kai, my current little obsession, and about Star Trek, my always-obsession. Time-was you could get sued for your Star Trek fanfiction. Nowadays that fanfiction can get turned into a for-fun zoom play and read out loud by the two actors who played the original characters (Alexander Siddig and Andy Robinson). This is very fun, new territory for a lot of us.

Meanwhile Hayden Schlossberg and the other writers of Cobra Kai are openly aware of the fact that lots of people read their lead characters – Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence - as probably bisexual (and probably as in love) and are on good terms with several active members of fandom and fic-writing. This is… so fucking fun. And it doesn’t have that weird overtone of shit like Teen Wolf (“We’re on a ship” winky-face, followed by that about heel-turn “just think it’s weird and strange” or however tf it was described later on - that shit: definitely queerbaiting).

In Star Trek there’s a slim-to-none chance that these characters will ever become canonically queer in the main text, but the acknowledgement and the light-hearted open engagement with it makes such a massive difference (not that Siddig and Robinson weren’t talking openly about it as far back as the 90s).

In Cobra Kai there is no obligation to make Johnny or Daniel canonically bi because there’s been no promise to do so – there is, in my opinion, an obligation to create a world in which queerness exists and not just on the sidelines. In the same way as there’s an obligation to generally create a world that accurately depicts what LA looks like in multiple other ways (cough, not mainly white, cough). If a part of that were through exploring how 80s era toxic heteronormative masculinity could throw people deep into the closet for most of their lives, hey, that’d be a neat storyline (such a neat fucking storyline), but it’s not the only way to do it.

While I do like canonically queer couples in stories, I also think it’d really limit what queerness can do for a text if that were the only way it was represented - sure I ship Lawrusso, but I find the above-mentioned analysis of toxic masculinity’s effects on the characters-as-queer-coded to go much deeper than whether or not they get together. 

I also would love trans and/or other-gender characters - we all know Johnny needs his “gender-what?” ignorance challenged and the potential for characters like that to fit into a narrative around trauma, loneliness, and misfit-families is kinda perfect (and when I say characters, I mean that plural, we’re not a one-size fits all).

Lastly I think there is also an obligation to do exactly what the showrunners are doing - what didn’t happen with Hinton or SPN or Teen Wolf or Star Trek of yore or so much other popular fiction: say, oh yeah, that language is absolutely there, we recognise it, we can read it and it’s not weird or sordid or something to be judged. So that’s already a massive thumbs up/promising start.

4. some final thoughts:

Idk where all this’ll go. I’m still missing a lot of canonically queer representation - and when I say representation I mean more than just shoving in a queer character into a scene and not thinking about how that affects the world that’s been established. But I’m feeling a lot better about queerness and story than I used to.

I’m hoping that whatever comes moving forwards in culture in general it’ll have some thought put into it. I’m hoping that queerness and queer allegory and coding will be recognised more and more as important reads of text and will go into informing how something is made (Hannibal, Black Sails, Sense8, Pose). I’m just hoping this’ll mean some interesting, intelligent, wildly varied narratives.

Just very excited.

[megalony]

Kiss the girl

This is my first Noah Flynn imagine/ series from the Netflix movie The Kissing Booth. I’ve replaced Elle with the Reader and changed the storyline to fit the plot, I hope you will all enjoy, feedback is always lovely.

Taglist: @lunaticspoem @butlegendsneverdie @langdonzvoid @jennyggggrrr @rogmeddows @radiob-l-a-hblah @rogertaylorsbitontheside @chlobo6 @rogertaylors-lipgloss @sj-thefan @omgitsearly @luckytrashgooprebel @scarsout @deaky-with-a-c @killer-queen-ofrhye @bluutac @vousmemanqueez @jonesyaddiction @ambi-and-sunflowers @milanosaurus @httpfandxms @saint-hardy @7-seas-of-fat-bottomed-girls @mrsalwayswritex @rogerina-owns-me @peterquillzsblog @im-an-adult-ish @crazylittlethingg @allauraleigh

Masterlist

Part 2

Summary: (Y/n) and Lee are best friends but Lee warns his brother away from her, she’s been through a lot and her mental health is suffering. Lee thinks Noah is only going to make (Y/n) worse after what she has suffered, but Noah can’t stay away from her and (Y/n) feels drawn to him.

Enjoy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What was she doing?

She couldn't do this, she wanted to go back and hide behind the curtain, she wanted to be stood on the sidelines taking money in exchange for tickets and a mint from the complimentary bowl on the side. (Y/n) wanted to be anywhere but stood here where even with the blindfold she could still see and imagine all the eyes that were watching her with intense curiosity. She could feel their burning gazes making blisters form on her skin and she could sense someone close by who was waiting to take her first kiss away from her and keep it like a reward.

(Y/n) never liked anyone watching her or looking at her when she was doing anything. When her father glanced over her shoulder when she was cooking she froze up and waited for him to smile and disappear. When a teacher looked over her shoulder when she was working out a problem or starting her essay she leaned over to block her work and felt like crying until they relented and moved on to watch another student instead.

Sometimes she wanted to be invisible, she wanted to be a ghost who could glide through the world unnoticed and only have a select few people notice her who she wanted to be seen by.

But now the whole school was gathered round the booth she and Lee had come up with, watching in amazement and anticipation as she was about to have her first kiss with a total stranger- not that anyone at school knew this was to be her first kiss.

(Y/n) could feel her heart pounding in her chest like it was going to break free from her ribs and she could feel her lungs shrivelling up like balloons which had been popped and were now sagging and becoming useless in her chest cavity. She wanted to go home, she wanted to go to the arcades with Lee, she wanted to be at her mum's grave, just anywhere else but here so exposed and in the open like this.

Then she felt a pair of hands.

The moment she stumbled out of the curtains and froze up like she had turned to stone, (Y/n) felt a large calloused pair of hands taking her own like a guiding light or a star for the shepherds to follow in the dead of night.

There was something oddly familiar about the hands that held hers so firmly yet with a gentleness about them like they wanted to help but not hurt her or be too firm or too rough or loose or cruel.

(Y/n) almost jumped when she felt the person's thumbs smoothing over the back of her hands in a rhythmic way that automatically seemed to calm her erratic heartbeat. By the size, feel and callousness of the hands (Y/n) guessed that it was a boy standing in front of her which made sense since she was here to be kissed in the booth.

When she felt the hands suddenly but gently pulling on her hands she realised the person was guiding her to the podium to stand at so they could kiss and get this over and done with. (Y/n) knew without a doubt that she was kissing this one person and then she would retreat and hide from the world, there was no way that she could stand and do this again and again, her nerves would be too shot to pieces for that to happen.

Her toes scuffed against the floor and her feet tripped over thin air due to her nerves and uneasiness about the situation but she didn't fall or stumble very far like she thought she would. The hands so gently holding hers were firm and the arms were tense and strong enough to bear her stumbling weight and keep her upright.

(Y/n) felt the hands slowly turning her palms face down until they were resting on the stand with the stand between her and the stranger who felt somehow familiar. She didn't know what to do when she was stood knowing all eyes were now solely focused on her like there was a bright spotlight beaming right onto her panicked form. She didn't know whether to lean forward and just try to kiss him, whether to wait for him to make the first move or to lean in and let him kiss her.

Noah almost felt bad.

He bought a ticket but he didn't think it would be (Y/n) who would emerge from behind the curtain ready- or rather afraid, to kiss him.

One the one hand, he felt rather bad because it was very clear by the timid way (Y/n) was holding her upper arms to her chest and coiling in on herself that she didn't want to be here doing this. She was afraid, she was panicked like she always seemed to be nowadays and she was clearly unnerved by the fact that she didn't know who she was going to be kissing. It made Noah feel bad because he didn't want her to be afraid or upset like this, especially not when it was him who was about to kiss her.

But on the other hand, Noah was glad he was here about to kiss (Y/n) because he knew she had never had a boyfriend or ever kissed anyone before. He wanted to be her first kiss, he wanted her to kiss someone she knew and someone she- hopefully, liked. Someone who wouldn't make her feel uncomfortable or push her or take advantage of her.

He also wanted to be her first kiss because there was something about (Y/n) that drew Noah in and she was the only girl he really felt the urge to kiss and want to be around. Everyone else that he kissed was merely a distraction from the one person he was desperate to kiss but knew he couldn't because he was bound by a promise he had made to his little brother.

This was different.

Noah could kiss her for the first time and he could kiss her freely in front of everyone knowing that Lee was bound to find out because this was a kissing booth. It was for charity, he didn't plan this and it wasn't as if people knew he was delighted that it turned out to be (Y/n) that he was going to kiss.

Wasting no more time since he could feel eyes watching them, Noah gently cupped (Y/n)'s cheek before he leaned over the stand and pressed his lips to hers.

Noah could feel the way that he stole (Y/n)'s breath that she didn't seem to have very much of in the first place. Her chest tightened and she almost wanted to pull back and tear herself away from him but after half a second Noah felt her relax. He felt her body tensing before releasing, he felt her jaw loosen and her lips part ever so slightly and press more firmly against his own. He felt her hands moving to hold his arms like she needed something to ground herself and her head leaned forward to try and get as close to him as possible.

This was something much different than any of the other many kisses that Noah had experienced before. He had imagined what it would be like to kiss (Y/n), his little brother's most trusted best friend and whenever he thought about it Noah felt like he was doing something wrong. It felt like a guilty pleasure to imagine himself kissing the girl who intrigued him so much but here he was living out his most thought of fantasy.

Nothing could have prepared him for how it felt to kiss her.

Who was she kissing? Who was (Y/n) kissing who was touching her skin so delicately yet kissing her with a fire and a passion that she had never felt or born witness to before?

(Y/n) felt like she could have stayed in that moment for the rest of her life and let that be her future. She could feel every nerve and worry and spark of anxiety that were her constant companions suddenly vanish into thin air and made her forget that they were being watched by many people from school. She had no pestering thoughts on her mind, there were no worries plaguing her and no anxious butterflies in her chest ready to steal her breath and knot her stomach until she wanted to be sick. Whoever was kissing her seemed to be putting a drug into her system, one that (Y/n) was in dire need of that she wanted to become addicted to.

The moment the kiss ended (Y/n) wanted to rewind time and replay that moment again and again to see if it would feel any better or different than that because right now she couldn't think of anything that would top that feeling.

She could barely breathe, but this wasn't the breathlessness that (Y/n) usually felt. She didn't feel the panic that came with not being able to find her breath, she didn't feel scared or like her lungs were screaming for air. It felt like she was full of helium and was about to float away into the clouds if those hands weren't still cupping her face and holding her arm so tenderly.

The hand on her arm suddenly moved up to her shoulder before reaching her face and for a brief moment, (Y/n) wondered if he was going to lean in and steal another kiss from her. She wouldn't mind if he did because he just made her first kiss the most memorable and most precious moment of her life and right now she needed a moment like that to lift her spirits.

But his hand didn't cup her face to take another kiss from her lips, his fingers instead moved to the elastic band around her head that held the blindfold in place over her eyes, protecting her mind from panicking about who she was kissing. When the stranger very gently and cautiously removed the mask from her eyes, (Y/n) felt a spark of fear striking her heart that simultaneously jumped up into her throat.

She had always wanted her first kiss to be special and with someone she either loved or really admired and wanted to kiss. It was something she wanted to be meaningful and something that she could take comfort in.

When she was younger she always wanted to kiss Noah and know what it would be like because so many girls had the pleasure of kissing him. All while (Y/n) only had the pleasure of knowing him and knowing what a crush on him felt like from being so close to him. Her crush on him seemed to dwindle and then spark up again when she least expected it but she thought she had it under control.

Her first kiss was with her crush who she had known her entire life, someone she would have to face seeing almost every day and live down the embarrassment this moment would now cause.

It was Noah.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You kissed her!" The anger and the pain that were fuelling Lee's words were unmistakable, especially to someone who had known Lee all of his life and had been witness to his temper tantrums growing up. But the way that Lee looked at Noah made him both infuriated yet sorrowful like he had truly cut into his brother when he never meant to hurt him.

It wasn't as if Noah had planned to kiss (Y/n), he didn't think she would be the one who would come out behind the curtain, he thought it would have Been one of the OMG girls that appeared before him. But he was stood there, ticket in hand in front of the podium when (Y/n) stumbled out wearing a blindfold and such a timid yet panicked smile on her face. He couldn't help but take her hands and guide her over to the stand and people were watching. It wasn't as if Noah could just turn around and leave her stood there all alone like that.

He had bought a ticket to kiss someone and it just so happened to be (Y/n), Noah didn't pre-plan this at all and Lee couldn't treat him as if he had.

"I didn't know it would be (Y/n) coming out there did I? What would you have me do, walk away and leave her there in front of everyone?"

Noah held his hands out at his sides to emphasise his point. No matter what Lee thought of him, Noah wasn't cruel and he would never hurt or embarrass someone like that, especially not (Y/n). She was like family, she was someone Noah liked and he wouldn't do that, he could joke around with her, play the odd prank or name call with her but he could never show her up like that.

"But you still kissed her, Noah! You can't do that again, you promised me you wouldn't go near her-"

"Jesus Lee, what is it with you and (Y/n)? It's not like you have a claim to her or that you even like her like that because you don't. I had a ticket, so I kissed her I'm not making a move on her."

The way that Noah rolled his eyes caused Lee's hands to instinctively curl up into fists making his short nails dig uncomfortably into the palms of his hands. He knew he had no claim to (Y/n) whatsoever and he didn't want to be that person that tried to control someone else, but he wanted to protect her. Lee loved (Y/n) as a sister, she was his best friend and he would do anything for her and that meant making sure Noah wouldn't break her. Noah didn't use people but he did play around with girls and if he played around with (Y/n) and messed with her heart Lee didn't know if she could take that kind of hurt.

This was his best friend and Lee couldn't afford to let anything happen to her, especially not when it would be his brother who would be hurting her.

"(Y/n) is fragile Noah... you're not good with fragile people-"

"What the Hell does that mean? I would never hurt (Y/n)-"

"You don't do relationships, you have flings and one night stands and that is fine but you can't do that to her. She's not well and she's special to me, I have to protect her. You promised me you wouldn't go near (Y/n) and you can't break that promise." Lee wanted to stomp his foot down on the ground like he used to do when he was a child in a fight with Noah that wasn't going the way he wanted it to.

(Y/n) was like Lee's twin sister, they grew up together, they knew one another inside out and back to front. He couldn't have anything happen to her and he looked out for her just like he knew she looked out for him. After everything that had happened, Lee felt that (Y/n) needed protecting for once and he was going to make sure that that happened.

He and Noah had a deal of sorts, when they were younger and (Y/n) used to come round they had rules. Noah couldn't try and join in their games and get involved and he couldn't try and steal (Y/n) away from Lee. She was the one thing that Lee had which he didn't have to share with his brother or that wasn't overshadowed by his big brother who got everything he wanted his entire life. Noah respected this wish because it was the only thing that Lee had ever asked of him. Now they were growing up, the rule had changed a little, Noah couldn't get close to (Y/n) and he couldn't try and make a move on her at all.

Lee still didn't want his brother to try and steal (Y/n) away from him but (Y/n) was fragile and he didn't want Noah to hurt her in any shape or form even if Noah never meant to hurt her Lee knew he would. That couldn't be a possibility.

"What do you mean she's not well?" Noah leaned his head forward, stooping down to be more of his brother's height as his eyes narrowed.

He understood what Lee was saying even if it hurt, Noah did end up having a lot of flings but that wasn't who or all that he was, there was so much more to him that no one bothered to look at. He also knew Lee felt like he was mustling in and taking his favourite toy away from him just to mess and tease with him when that wasn't Noah's intention at all. But he didn't know what Lee meant when he said (Y/n) wasn't well.

Of course Noah knew more than what everyone else at school did. Their families were so close that secrets were known and shared that the rest of the school and the world would never find out.

Noah knew that (Y/n)'s mother passed away when she was thirteen and then her older brother passed away last year and he knew how Andrew died just like everyone else at school did. But Lee and Noah were the only people in the whole school to know that (Y/n) was the one who found her brother when he died. They knew she went to therapy for that and they knew it affected her very badly, everyone else was simply under the impression Andrew passed away and (Y/n) had taken it badly.

But Noah didn't know if Lee was referring to that or not because he knew (Y/n) had been getting back on track and she was determined to hold her head high and not be pitied or looked at when they were at school.

So why was she unwell?

"Lee, what's wrong with (Y/n)?" A dangerous look seemed to pool in Noah's electric blue eyes that were darker than Lee had ever seen them. He wanted to know what Lee knew because it seemed important and he wanted to know if something serious was wrong with (Y/n) because he cared. Noah couldn't tell his brother just how much he cared for (Y/n) but he could pretend it was in a brotherly sense. After all, he knew Andrew and he wanted to look out for (Y/n) just as Andrew had done.

Lee turned his head to the left and glanced around at the carnival that was slowly beginning to dwindle down as the night went on. People were going home and becoming scarce which left very little for Lee to focus his sights on.

He knew it was something that (Y/n) didn't want the whole world to know, but he wondered if she wouldn't mind Noah knowing this secret. He knew about Andrew, he knew about the little secrets and family problems and issues because their families had always been so close since forever. It wouldn't necessarily be wrong for Lee to tell Noah and he was pretty sure his brother was going to drag it out of him eventually anyway.

"She's not eating, her dad's getting pretty worried. I've taken her out to the arcades and tried to get her to eat but she won't. If her dad thinks she's getting depressed again he'll think she's harming herself again and send her to therapy."

When (Y/n) lost her mother when she was thirteen she took that hard but losing Andrew too hit her in a whole different way and both brothers knew it. Andrew died almost a year ago and everyone had seen how quickly (Y/n) deteriorated, within a month she became depressed and she harmed herself only once but it was enough for her dad to send her to therapy. He had lost his wife and then his son, he couldn't lose his daughter too, he had very little family left, (Y/n) was all he had and he would be damned if he let anything happen to her.

Everyone had tried to get (Y/n) back on track and help her through this and she was slowly picking herself back up but she wasn't eating. She wasn't hungry, she didn't have an appetite and when Lee took her to the arcades she didn't eat many chips or even want their usual ice cream. Lee couldn't have her falling behind or dropping out or making herself ill, he had to help (Y/n) to keep pushing forward and he didn't want Noah pushing back her progress by getting in her head and hurting her.

"Lee... I'm not gonna hurt her I promise, I would never hurt (Y/n) you have my word."

"Thank you."

Noah would never hurt (Y/n), he wasn't that kind of person and he cared for her far too much to do that. But he wasn't saying that he wouldn't kiss (Y/n) again. Kissing her wouldn't hurt her because he didn't want to string her along or toy with her or have a fling with her because she was different. (Y/n) never flung herself at Noah's feet, she joked with him and teased him and she was shy and innocent and quiet but had a sly, cheeky side to her. She was different and intriguing to Noah and if he got the chance to kiss her like that again he wouldn't turn it down for Lee.

He wouldn't turn down that chance for anyone.

[blogwriter]

10 Latest UX/UI Design Trends That You Should Know in 2021!

In this high-paced digitalized environment, UI/UX trends are ever-changing. This change is the only constant thing in this design world. This may sound like a cliche, but it's true. Users all around the world visit hundreds of websites every day, and if you want to draw their attention, you need to be extra creative with your website design. For web designers, staying up to date and relevant to the latest UX/UI Design trends is necessary for survival in the industry.

To see what we mean,

Check Out The 10 Latest UX/UI Design Trends Coming In 2021

1. Minimalism

Minimalism is already taking over 2021 and comes among the latest UI trends going to set its ground. Every time, while browsing the website, we come across many advertisements; there are constant notifications and alerts. Also, the user gets to interact with many interfaces loaded with information. 

To avoid such a heavy burden, the designers keep finding new ways to make simpler graphic elements. The best example of minimalism is Hair & Body Care brand Ray; they created an elegant and simple web design following this trend. 

2. Simplified UX design

If you are working with a reputed web designing company in India, you will get to know that designers are now focused on creating simple interfaces so that the user does not need to perform any extra action. One of the latest UX trends is simplified registration, for example; if the user wants to log in to the Marketplace account, he/she just needs to enter the phone number. Password is no longer the requirement.

Recently,  Apple has followed this UX trend to make the custom button for avoiding extra registration steps. With the click of this button, the users can choose whether they want their website to see the email or not.

3. Voice user interface

Voice user interface has become the latest UX trend with its widespread adoption. With the VUI(voice user interface) term, it is pretty clear that the design does not need to be visual to work well. 

VUI is an internal interface that has to do more with the data synthesis and context rather than the design. Designers all around the world are trying to keep up with the latest trend to share an incredible User experience by providing them with a voice interface.

For example, Google translator; helps to translate a word or sentence into another language. A user can simply click on the button, start recording the voice, and it will translate your speech into your preferred language. 

4. Glass Morphism

In the previous year, neo-morphism was widely used by web designers. It represents the amalgamation of two common approaches for creating the user interface. In 2021, web designers are going to practice glass-morphism.

Now, gradients are becoming lighter, but getting much more complex. The thing is that previously, web designers preferred to use only two or three colours in the line of the gradient. But now, this colour count can be increased up to 10, and overlay can also be used. 

These gradients offer temperamental outbursts because of their colourfulness. This is the reason why many designers prefer to use them. The SaaS company Stripe has successfully implemented this popular UI Trend on their website where you can see the blurred background with multiple colours. 

5. Unique 2D illustrations

Illustrations are always on the top as they were last year. Although, they are less generic now. Nowadays, web designers like to experiment with unusual proportions, angles, and storylines. They prefer to use bright, muted, or vice-versa pistol colours to create fancy illustrations for the biggest stir than ever. Companies like Magnet Co know how to give a distinctive look to the website with these unique illustrations, and you can do the same for yours. 

6. Mobile-first approach

Most of the search queries are made using smartphone devices. People prefer to use their phone to find the restaurant for dinner, book movie tickets, Magnet book cab, browse travel marketplaces for trips and so on. Thus, a website needs to look good on the desktop version as well as the smartphone version. This is the reason why the mobile-first approach has become one of the popular UI/UX trends to share a better customer experience. An application like Dorsia has implemented this latest trend in its travel application. 

7. Icons

An icon works as the most efficient tool for having visual communication with the users. Simple minimalistic icons are considered to be the powerful UX trend because of their ability to convey meaning using fewer words. Most businesses especially emphasize icons. While designing a website, you must choose small icons of same size and dimension for the same family. This will help you to display the skill level and let you focus on the website integrity. 

You can find this latest UI trend on the Vegan Badun Adventures website

8. Prioritising Accessibility

This year is all focused on accessibility prioritisation. Accessibility is a practice to create digital services accessible to users with special needs, impairments, and disabilities. Here, the target is the users who need a little more attention than others like the users with hearing impairment, dyslexia, all the old age users. In 2021, many business brands may perform an accessibility audit to ensure that their digital services are serving all the users well.

9. Typography

If you are a web designer, you probably know how important it is to go for the right font for a product, website, or application. This is the reason by experiments with fonts has become a remarkable UI/UX trend in the market. Now, the designers prefer to use typography to highlight the important features of the website and convey the right information to the customer.

10. Air Gesture Control

Air Gesture Control is another latest UI/UX going to dominate the web industry this year. This trend plays a significant role in improving the User experience. With multiple gesture control mechanisms, few movements in the air will make things work on your smartphone device. 

Isn't that amazing?

This Is It! 

These are some latest UI/UX trends that are going to dominate the world in 2021. Make sure that you follow all the trends while designing a website to reach out to millions of targeted customers out there.

To know more, you can consult a leading UI design company near you and they will surely help you with the same!

[zechleton]

Ranting and Raving About Magic in 2022

I haven’t written about Magic in ages, so what better way could there be to get back into the habit that a stream of consciousness spiel about the 2022 announcement?

Strap in, folks, because this is going to be long and poorly edited.

Actually, it’s not that long, about 1500 words. It might feel longer, though.

Neo-Tokyo or something idk

As one of the five people on r/magictcg that didn’t want to return to Kamigawa in standard set, I have to admit this one looks surprisingly awesome. The couple of pieces of art Wizard shared looked fantastic, as usual, and I’m a sucker for that blue/pink colour scheme. I’m not a huge fan of time travel as a story telling device but since the Magic story has always served the card game, using tropes I don’t enjoy is far from a deal-breaker. Yeah – I’m cautiously optimistic about this one.

Someone Made Elspeth an Offer she Couldn’t Refuse

Obviously, we know much less about this set. Still, it sounds right up my alley. I’m curious how Wizards is going to make Magic meets The Godfather work, but the good kind of curious. On top of that, I’d really like to have some more shard-based commanders on Arena for Brawl, and I assume we’re the “three-colour demon crime families” isn’t referring to clans (triome?) again after leaving Ikoria behind. Also, come on, how can you not love the sound of demon crime families?

Glory, Glory, Dom United!

There is a part of me that gets nervous about nebulous concepts like design space whenever we go back to an old plane again. All these crossovers (more on those later) take on a different appearance when viewed through an “are they running out of ideas” lens. Still, Dominaria was fantastic, by far the best “return to” set – though I’m hoping Innistrad claims that throne in a few weeks. With that in mind, I’m expecting Wizards to knock it out of the park with DU, just like they did with Dominaria.

The Nostalgia Wars

I might scoff somewhat at Magic’s storyline sometimes, but I’ve read the stuff that people think is good. I own both collections of the Artifacts Cycle. They all pale in comparison to good fantasy, but they’re not bad, and they hold a special place in my heart from when I was more invested in stuff like lore and story. The point of that ramble? 2022, more than ever, is Wizards’ mining the seemingly neverending mineral that is nerd nostalgia. It further adds to my “are they running out of ideas” worry, but I can’t say the nostalgia hit/psychological manipulation isn’t working on me. Hell, Return to Return to Innistrad has me more excited than any set for a couple of years now so I guess I’m part of the problem.

Uncaring

The phrase “not for you” is thrown around distrubingly often in Magic circles nowadays. Unfinity, however, is decidedly not for me. And that’s fine.

Dungeons And Dragons Battle for Baldur’s Gate Commander Legends I Think That’s The Whole Title But Maybe I Missed a bit I’m not Sure

Yikes, what a mouthful. I hate the title, both its length and unwieldiness. I don’t really have much interest in the set either. Commander Legends was a neat idea with a lot of flaws. Adding crossover flavour from another IP I have little-to-no interest in isn’t helping matters, though I appreciate that Adventures in the Forgotten Realms was super popular. For me, AFR was pretty much just a core set without any of the usual references to sets I do know and care about. Another “not for me” release.

Double Trouble

Hmm. I’m torn here. As a primarily limited-focused player, Masters sets have been some of my favourites ever. Original Modern Masters is still one of my in my top five sets of all time, and I have fond memories of almost all of the others, too.

Original Double Masters, though, was a victim of apathy brought on by the never-ending deluge of Magic product being released nowadays. I have never even seen a booster of this product, much less opened one. Without looking it up, I can’t even tell you if it was hurt by the pandemic or not, because there’s just way too much fucking stuff nowadays. I don’t know what else to say.

Oh, hang on. Was this the set with a $100 VIP Booster? Hahaha, fuck off.

Jump Around

The original Jumpstart was surprisingly enjoyable on Arena. I never wanted to play it more than a few times, and sometimes you got packs that relied entirely on your opponent getting mana screwed, but those few times I played it were pretty fun. I think putting stuff like obvious eternal format staples like Alosaurus Shepherd in a set like this is some extremely anti-consumer bullshit, but as a play experience it was an interesting mesh of draft and sealed. Not as much fun as either of those, but close enough that the novelty carried it into the “pretty fun, actually” camp. I expect more of the same – I’ll probably do a few runs if I have gems or gold spare.

Universes Beyond: Warhammer 40K Commander et al

Really, this is the bit about all the crossover stuff.

Another vomit inducing title and one that has left me with some introspection to do. Like many people, I find a lot of this crossover stuff distasteful, but I can’t really say why. The fact that the Street Fighter one – an IP I have some amount of investment in – seems less egregious than Warhammer of D&D makes me think that I don’t necessarily object to crossovers on principal. Does my dislike come from the fact that, so far, all of the other crossovers don’t involve properties I care about? Maybe. Even the mechanically unique line of text that pissed off so many people when the Walking Dead set came out doesn’t bother me that much, because Commander is a format I can take or leave.

The Fortnite one rubs me a different wrong way, though. Partly, it’s the sheer fucking inevitability of it all. Of course a popular part of the nerd sphere will have a crossover with Fortnite because that’s just the world in which we live. Partly it makes me feel old, uncool, and excluded, like all the other crossovers I don’t care about, sure. But there’s something more visceral about Fortnite. It’s fucking everywhere and I resent feeling like I have to have an opinion about it. Still, I don’t really have strong opinions about most of the other crossovers, so why this one? I really don’t know. Maybe this is one “this isn’t for you” too many from a game that has been part of my life for over 20 years.

I haven’t bought a single Secret Lair, but I’m generally willing to accept that they’re a bonus product that isn’t needed by anyone but is wanted by some. Hell, if they put out Secret Lair: Snapcaster Mage with good art (at last), I could probably te tempted into picking one up. It would be against my better judgement, though. Something about all these “not necessary but also don’t miss out, aren’t they cool, spend more money please” products rubs me the wrong way. Playing Magic and hating capitalism are difficult interests to reconcile. That’s it. That’s the tagline for this article.

Oh, right, it’s just a blog. Never mind.

Oh, God. The Fornite Secret Lair is going to be the Snapcaster Mage one, isn’t it?

Then there’s Lord of The Rings. My pal Kristen will be thrilled about this, was my first thought. I’m less enthusiastic (shocker, right?), but at least LOTR makes sense as a thing to crossover with. I mean, apart from the obvious business sense. It doesn’t have any guns and it isn’t an obnoxiously ubiquitous battle royale FPS, so that already puts it ahead of two of the other three crossovers. Indeed, without LOTR, you can make a reasonable case that MTG would never exist in the first place. Personally, I view LOTR in the same way I view The Beatles – they were important, and worthy of respect, but have been surpassed in every way since.

And the movies are better than the books. There I said it.

Regardless, this one is fine, actually. I still don’t particularly care for crossovers in general, especially as the setting for a standard set, but at least it makes sense this time.

Shut up Already

Alright, I hear you. I know a lot of that was negative towards the end, but I want to reiterate that a lot of the stuff happening in standard sets next year is really exciting, if a little unoriginal. The crossover/sellout stuff and the interminable deluge of FOMO-driven products is worrying and disappointing, but I guess we just have to try and ignore the ever-increasing number of “not for you” products and focus on the stuff we do like. Seriously, Neon Destiny looks amazing, and I don’t even like anime.

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Admittedly it’s been awhile since I watched Skam or looked through their instagram posts, but in my memory it always felt like the instas were just used to give another glimpse into the characters, never anything really flashy, and the way each character used their accounts always felt really true to who they were. But I think the remakes use it way more as an extension of the storylines and it feels less realistic? (For lack of a better word) Like a lot of posts just feel like pure

staged fan service (see: Wtf, Skamfr) or they go a little overboard with content (see: Druck) that goes beyond what I’d actually envision the characters “sharing”. I don’t know if that makes sense? And I could be idealizing how Skam used it too, since like I said it’s been awhile since I looked at the og stuff. But yeah, I feel like the remakes have turned the social media aspect of the shows into a bit of a cringefest. 😳 What do you think?

Hi anon 📳 Sorry for the delay, I think this is a very interesting ask, and I wanted to think about it a bit before answering.  

I’ll leave aside the question of realism, which you noted yourself you used for lack of a better word. I think at this point the discussion about the way Skam approaches “realism” is more nuanced than how it was used when there wass only one Skam.   

I guess I would say that Skam used the instagram accounts mainly in two ways: 1) so the characters could all show how they wanted other people to see them, and 2) as the cherry on top to a character arc, when the character would post something more vulnerable on his/her ig account. 

I think in general the remake teams didn’t fully get the point of the ig accounts because these teams weren’t really fans who followed Skam as it dropped. They came to the ig accounts as a finished product. 

Skam France posted a veritable torrent of content for s1 and s2, and I think some of it was really good. I really liked Yann’s ig account, for instance. I thought his posts really leaned on Jonas’ political side, which not all remake Jonases did. I also liked that the girl squad would hang out at random places (like a Sephora and a park iirc) without Manon, in s2, to show how Manon was growing distant from the squad because of her relationship with Charles. 

But one thing that started with Skam France was creating ig content for every clip. So that when a clip dropped, a bunch of pics and stories from every character involved in the scene would also drop. I think this is just not really necessary? Most high school students don’t document every school day like this, or even document every time they go to the movies, meet up to discuss fundraising ideas, go buy some snacks at a convenience store, and so on and so forth. 

On the other hand, we also have to allow for the idea that technology marches on. When Skam was airing, ig stories were still pretty new. Most people posted memes and random shit to their instagram feed, rather than to their stories. Nowadays feeds are more curated, and stories are for shitposting. So one aspect of how Skam used igs, which was to post content that would clearly define a character (such as Paradise Hotel memes for Eva, cheesy inspirational quotes for Vilde, or news clips for Sana) would probably all just go on stories nowadays. Compare the Skam igs with the Skam Austin igs in s1 (or, like, your memory of the Austin igs, since FB deleted them............), which were also created by Julie Andem and Mari Magnus, and we can already see some changes in the way teens used instagram (even allowing for cultural differences between Norway and the US). The pics would look “better” as in more professional, better lit, better angles used. Whereas the Skam characters seemingly would take a pic and then posted it, it was as if the Austin characters had taken a bunch of pics and posted only the really good ones. I also don’t remember the Austin characters posting memes either to their feed or even to their stories. 

When it comes to Druck... I absolutely agree that I don’t really buy high school students would post that much content and so personal, and it also loses the effect when there’s so much content posted. For instance, Nora’s Nov 13 post is the first time Zoe appears in Nora’s ig feed, which was a momentous occasion because Zoe confessed to her sister that she felt judged by Nora. But Nora had previously posted so much Zoe content on her stories, that the milestone of posting Zoe to her feed went unnoticed.

But then on the other hand, Druck has a limited episode runtime (where Skam didn’t) and viewers have consistently responded favorably to the Skams developing storylines on social media away from the main. People ate it up when Isak posted pics of his life with Even in s4. And I don’t necessarily dislike the concept of giving more meaning to certain lines or moments by adding context over social media. E.g.: without social media, we would have little to no idea what Finn and Zoe argued about towards the end of the season. Thanks to the chats we do, and thanks to the ig content, we’re actually invested in Finn and Zoe working out, because we’ve seen them act coupley in so much content. What about Kiki and Carlos’ apartment? Would we care that much about it if there hadn’t been so much content of the gen 1 characters “renovating” it? 

Since we’re talking about different remakes, I admit I’ve never been a huge fan of how much content the Skam España characters posted. Much like with Skam France, I feel like sometimes they just shot content to go with the clip, pretty much to promote the clip in a way, and when I look at their feeds now, I just feel there are so many generic posts that are super cute, yes, but don’t really tell me anything about the characters or what they were going through at the time or what they wanted people to think their lives were like at the time. To be clear, a lot of their posts do tell me stuff about the characters and what they were going through and what they wanted people to think their lives were like. But many of those posts could be gone and I wouldn’t miss them. For me, it’s the difference between having Mari Magnus, who for so long was Julie Andem’s right hand woman and assisted in every step of creating Skam, come up with and post the ig content, and hiring someone like Gominuke, a well-known influencer, who knows how to use ig to promote a product. While we’re talking about the way a social media manager’s background and personality will affect the sm content for the Skam, Druck hired Farid-Philippe Bouatra starting with s2, and he was really good at coming up with reasons why introverted characters such as Matteo would post consistently (#MatteoMonday and #FlorenziFriday). 

Anyway. Obviously Skam France hiring professional photographers for their sm content and posting these photoshoots to the characters’ accounts is cringy as all fuck, and no one beats Wtfock at generic, bland posts that don’t say anything about who a character is, what they’re going through or what they want people to think their lives are like. There was a time where I was slightly salty about Wtfock characters posting more memes and shitposts than the Skam España characters, but that all went away after oh, the 20th generic food post coming out of Antwerp. People come at Nora Grace for her feminist posts, but do we want to talk about Zoë’s abundance of shallow “girl power!” (I will not call those posts feminist) pics? Or what about literally monetizing the social media by having Kato post a legit ad for makeup? 

[redcat921]

Watch. Soul. Twice.

God, I haven't text posted in AGES but I think breaking down twice in a row for this pixar movie just hits so much BETTER. This movie will be on my mind for ages just because of how memorable it is.

EXTREME SPOILERS AHEAD!! Though, if you want to follow my lead, I'll tl;dr.

Watch the movie from Joe Gardener's perspective first. After, watch the movie from 22's perspective.

So, first off, I'll start with this. My own experience of watching this movie which was... absolutely amazing!! You're thrown into the middle school band class, and you immediately connect with Joe's music passion. Then, of course, crushed by the responsibility of having a job as a teacher. Even though his mother sees it as good, he still doesn't. And when he gets the chance of the lifetime to play with one of his jazz icons, Dorothea Williams, you feel as if he's finally getting what he's always wanted. Then he dies. You understand why he wants to get back to his life and his convictions, so you're rooting for him.

Obviously, this is Joe's story first and foremost. Which is why you're watching from his perspective, why you're watching him dream his dreams. Everything, from that first moment forward, is his perspective.

Okay, okay, that doesn't explain why I'm so heavy on watching Joe's perspective first, but I feel like any reader here will get it? As a movie goer, you want Joe to succeed in his dreams yet he's also beginning to care (platonically) about 22. Movie continues, and you see how much 22 is growing as a person, but you're still driven to let Joe back into his body to fulfill his dream. Then, when it hits that 22 found her spark and Joe snaps at her, his drive to become a jazz musician is only fueled. Of course, it's uncomfortable to watch how awkward 22 was in his body, but he's "just about to start living."

The best part? This one performance he felt his entire life built up to? It's... not everything he chalked it up to be. Then, that conversation with Dorothea hits. Joe wants the ocean even though he's already in it. And he only realizes it when he's home alone, playing the piano watching 22's memories in his body flash by.

This is why Joe's perspective hits. This moment, his Epiphany (according to the tracklist), is the trademark Pixar cry moment. All the memories of his life, the ones he didn't think of as important, are the ones he sees before accepting "death." This whole sequence just hits so well, as he realizes how small he truly is yet how meaningful his life was to those in it. Even more so because 22 deserves to live, maybe better than he ever could.

Now, I see this "climax" of the film (where 22 becomes a lost soul then is saved by Joe) as great, but most see it as unnecessary and a little immature in comparison to the rest of the movie. And this isn't the pixar cry moment every watcher probably had five minutes ago during Epiphany. This scene is probably the reason why I'm saying to watch it twice, but I'll get to it later.

End of Joe's story where he gets a second chance. (Yes, it's vague but that's because the literal point of the movie was that there wasn't a set purpose or meaning to his life. Hot take.)

Now, what you probably came for. Why you watch it twice. Well. That's simple enough, actually watch 22 this time. She's still a main character even from her first appearance past the title card, so she does deserve to be treated as such.

From 22's perspective, this Joe Gardner's life is the definition of dismal. Bleak. So much dreariness in life it could be draining... Yet, Joe wants to go back. To Earth which seems like the worst place ever. From her comments about how, "You can't crush a soul here. That's what life on Earth is for." AND "I've been trying for forever to find my spark.", you see her plight. Along with the fact you've seen how deeply this affects her in your first watch through, her movements matter a lot more.

I think the moment that stood out to me is 22's interest in Joe Gardner's life when Moonwind takes them to the "thin spot." It's a blink and you'll miss it moment for sure. But, for a split second, she looks at Joe while he's meditating and imagining his home. I can't help but imagine her interest in life despite all the things she's been told by the many mentors she's had. Then, you get to see her perspective about life on Earth.

From the awkwardness from standing still on the sidewalk in NYC to experiencing pizza for the first time, this is a true step outside 22's comfort zone. And she LOVES it. You get to experience how she found her spark in the littlest things that end up on Joe's piano during that first Pixar cry moment. You see when she talks to Dez, Joe's barber, and how she half reveals that she's scared of finding the wrong "spark" or "getting someone else's." You see her joy in playing with the window, taking the Take One van flyers, even laying on the grate pretending to fly. And you see how impactful Joe's relationship with his mother is too. Interesting that Joe's voice comes out during that conversation, which I noticed on my first watch, but really hit the second time. 22 has found out how meaningful human relationships can be.

Wow. The helicopter seed moment. Watching humans experience life and have relationships with each other is her spark. And that hits. Maybe enough to cry, maybe not. But 22 doesn't know about her spark, but you understand how desperate she is to live.

Then, of course, she gets put back into the Great Before, and Joe snaps at her. This hurts. You know how badly Joe wanted his own dreams, and he claims that your own life is only because he made it so. And... For that moment, she believes he's right. So she gives him the life he's been begging for and comes to the crushing conclusion that she doesn't have a purpose. She doesn't have that spark everyone else typically has. And, if that isn't relatable nowadays for those with mental health issues.

Yeah, it takes the wind out of the Epiphany moment, to watch from 22's perspective. But when you get to that moment where 22 wonders why she doesn't have a purpose in that white space, that broke me. The sand vortex in her lost soul did too, but that moment of being told that there is no being good at life, that evry soul is simply living, that no purpose could ever replace the relationships that she could build just like Joe had... "You're pretty great at jazzing." That's the second trademark Pixar cry moment.

For both of these watches, it makes the last moment when Joe holds 22's hand as they fall to Earth work. That's the lynchpin of this whole movie. This makes me cry too, but if you're too tuckered out from the other two, you're alright in my book. Both perspectives just allow this moment to be... That this mentorship mattered for both of their lives as they move forward.

Honestly, rewatch this movie 5000 times. This movie HITS all the right notes (forgive the pun) in their respective storylines.

I might watch it a third time after talking about it at length. To allow both stories to hit me. But, I hope you had fun reading my emotional journey while watching this film twice. (Yes, I did cry like a baby multiple times. I nearly cried writing this. Let me LIVE.)

Tl;dr Watch Pixar's Soul twice to get both perspectives from both Joe Gardner's perspective and 22's, so you understand the story in full. Thanks for reading!

[lightblueterracota]

hey, about your hermitshipping post, i wanted to weigh in: im of the opinion that people shouldn't do it (it's complicated though)

i actually agree with viewing hermitcraft through a roleplaying lens. there's a lot of character work involved, much like the stuff that doc and ren are doing, helsknight/evil x, plus the fact that anything we see onscreen is something they've chosen to share (so their persona isn't 100% indicative of their irl self). i think it's a gray area for shipping here (all within boundaries of course) and from what i've seen, the hermits have been neutral-positive about the topic for the most part.

the issue is that the people who vehemently defend hermitshipping are usually self described "anti antis" or "proshippers". there are other posts out there that explain why these labels and mentality are so harmful better than i can. bottom line is, a lot of my discomfort comes from the culture surrounding shipping, and the people terminally online trying to justify gross or triggering behavior (in general, not just within this fandom). i try my best to steer clear of it, just block and move on, yknow?

in general though.. shipping real people is just weird to me? in vintagebeef's latest episode he mentioned his wife and like. stuff like that just cements the fact that these are real people and it's strange seeing people take this stuff super seriously.

so that's my take, i hope it made sense. i'll acknowledge the gray area but it still makes me uncomfy, so i filter block and move on

hi there! thanks for taking the time to send in your thoughts, i’m very open and friendly to discussion!!!! i understand and agree with what you say too about fandom culture tbh. i feel like with way social interactions and content consuming works in our current age with the internet, the way we consume media nowadays has become extremely warped. i’ve seen a lot of really well articulated posts describing why those certain fandom “titles” of anti-anti and proship and all that are really harmful and i completely agree that there really is some irredeemable behavior, a lot of justification of some very bizarre and not okay things under the guise of “fandom culture” in general, not even just for mcyters.

i think it all comes down to how one is able to draw the line between a content creator and well… their content! and how to separate them and then when to acknowledge it’s one of the same and not. for me in particular when i look at hermitcraft, i always thought it was very roleplay esque, similar to how actors take on roles in movies as they act out their really fun lore and stories, and as such i look at their minecraft activities as completely separate from what they actually do as people! of any fun pairings i do see in hermitcraft, i absolutely do not see it beyond the realm of minecraft and their characters of them being fun creatures and supernatural beings and things like that. ( personally i love doc’s lore of him being part creeper. that’s so cool )

(also i didn’t know vintagebeef had a wife and kids that’s really cool! i learned recently that impulse has also a wife and kids and some nephews & nieces too, which was really cool and surprising to hear because imo he sounds so young! but anyway.)

it makes me think about for example ren and doc! both of those have joked about rendoc and encouraged it, all within the realm of their storyline lores and stuff. but irl ren has his own girlfriend and doc is also in a relationship & has a baby, and that’s super fun to hear & is completely separated from whatever minecraft activities. especially in a fantasy type of world that i think minecraft is, esp this season will all the lore, it can be really fun to imagine with! but also just really cementing that i don’t see these youtubers in hermitcraft roleplayer servers really any different from an actor taking on a role in a movie ! of course i think these youtubers are also completely entitled to say “hey, i make this content, so please treat my content as such” when they ask for fandoms Not to be shipping and stuff, which i think is completely understandable since youtube content creation IS a bit more personal!

of course that’s my interpretation tho. some people disagree and think that these hermit characters are one and the same with the people making the content (which i can understand, but also it is obvious they tailor their content to BE presented a certain way!). i think the fact that a lot of people have a lot of difficulty finding that line of interpretation and acting on it peacefully is really lost within fandom spaces due to… internet? new age? a variety of reasons probably. so that’s why i’m curious to hear how other people think of it! the thing is, i don’t really think there IS a universal answer for where that line is between content creation and its creator, because literally everyone is different.

thanks for sharing your two cents, i completely agree with you :) i find irl shipping to be pretty invasive and disrespectful of said irl relationships you and i both mentioned, so as such i avoid it. but for me, i don’t see hermitcraft server as irl, but rather it’s roleplaying a lore storyline as these youtubers create their own characters. so while yeah it is a persona made by them, it’s still a fictional and fabricated persona so i don’t really see it as the same as Shipping Them as Content Creators. unfortunately, that causes a lot of rifts between people, & i do wish people could have normal discussions about these kind of things without needing a million disclaimers asking for peace and civility.

[scottymcgeesterwrites]

Final Fantasy XV Review

Year: 2016

Original Platform: PlayStation 4

Also available on: PC (Steam), XBox One

Version I Played: PlayStation 4

Here we go. The final Final Fantasy review of the main single-player games. I just want to say, first off, we’ve been waiting for this game since 2006. It took them ten damn years to finally release this game. I clearly remember the teaser trailer they released when it was called Final Fantasy XIII Versus, and my next-door neighbor and I were so hyped for this game when we were freaking teenagers. After years of delays, Square Enix revamped it into Final Fantasy XV.

Did it live up to the wait? Well, read and find out.

Synopsis:

Noctis Lucis Caelum is the heir to the throne of the kingdom of Lucis. On his birthday, he sets off with his three best friends and bodyguards (Ignis, Prompto, Gladio) to marry his betrothed, Lunafreya. The marriage is supposed to be a political one, though Noct and Lunafreya had grown up together and become fond of each other. But peace turns to war as the empire of Niflheim betrays Insomnia and invades. Noct, now on the run, has to reclaim his right to the throne by collecting the necessary family heirlooms which will banish the darkness.  

Gameplay:

Open-world Final Fantasy.

That is the big selling point for this game. 

A MASSIVE step up from Final Fantasy XIII’s gameplay, Final Fantasy XV has you roaming around and attacking enemies on the field in real time. The battle system returns to something slightly more conventional by having you cast spells and use items. It seems like this is what Square really intended to do after Final Fantasy XII. Looking back, Final Fantasy XIII feels like some prototype before Final Fantasy XII, so it really becomes apparent that Final Fantasy XIII’s gameplay comes off as a huge mistake.

This game’s major’s strength comes from the player engaging with a massive world. You camp. You take on hunts. You take on a bajillion sidequests. You run across the world. You drive across the world. You can ride a chocobo across the world.

However, the dip in the gameplay comes from how easily accessible these sidequests are. The map tells you exactly where you go 24/7. I started to have an existential crisis around my 50th sidequest in a row. Why am I doing this? What’s the point? I go here to kill a thing, or go there to help someone by giving a potion or taking a picture. You start to realize that a good bulk of sidequests are either hunting daemons or fetching an item. You start to deconstruct the meaning of playing a video game as you think to yourself, “Why do I play video games?” while also thinking “But wait, one more and then I swear I’m done.”.

I get it, not everyone has the time nowadays to figure out a huge game like this. I get it, video games are now marketed to everyone for ease. At the same time, I personally love a good challenge. I mean, I’m the guy who has Dark Souls as one of his favorite video games of all time, so my opinion on the matter might definitely be skewered compared to most. I generally want to feel like I actually figured something out by myself rather than following a tracker on the screen and walking from task to task and then saying, “Okay done. Next.”.

Too much of that and playing a video game starts to feel like a 9 to 5 job to me. This game is great to play during quarantine, but at one point I saw playing this game as feeling like an actual job. Wake up, eat breakfast, time to hunt some daemons.

This is the growing conflict some people have with story-driven games versus open-world games. I see the argument focused too much on words like “linear”, but in reality we should be talking about “automation”. If a video game is too automated, then did you really play a video game? Or did you watch a movie that allows you to control the camera angle? At first, the idea of driving around an open-world Final Fantasy game sounds amazing. Isn’t that what fans always dreamed of? In reality, you don’t really drive around at your leisure. Even when you have the car set to “manual”, you can’t speed up, drive off-road, or pull off a sick drift like in The Fast and the Furious. Your car still automatically stays on the road wherever you’re going. It’s not so much “manual” as it is “I can control where and when to stop and which road to take”. Riding chocobos at your leisure is much more fun, but becomes increasingly impractical as you can just fast-travel to necessary locations in your car.

The sights and sounds of the fictional world of Eos are enough to gloss over these shortcomings though. It IS still fun to roam around and fight monsters and save the day. My bottom line is, “You don’t think about just how mindless the tasks are unless you keep playing for many days straight.”. And I poured hours into this game day after day because of the 2020 pandemic quarantine.

Graphics:

Obviously the best thus far. However, in-game facial expressions on the NPCs are still quite stilted and awkward. This game made me realize that we’ve yet to jump a hurdle when it comes to in-game graphics. The game is so polished but there are still limitations when it comes to giving the characters natural movements, both in body and lips. So an NPC could be shouting “WOW THAT’S AMAZING!” but have a straight face jumping up and down, despite the fact that the character model is the most realistic we’ve created so far in a video game. I was looking back at in-game cutscenes of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, and found it ironic that they can portray body movements so much better, but that’s the trade-off. Less graphics power to portray realistic bodies, but the graphics power can then be allocated to focus on natural movements. Nowadays, all the graphics power is focused on making things look good, but that hardly leaves room for making things move naturally.

Story:

After the overly-complicated plotline of Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XV feels like a breath of fresh air. On the surface, it’s a straightforward tale of a boy seeking to become a king after his father is brutally murdered by enemy forces. The bromance between the young king and his bodyguards is endearing. Each character feels distinct and genuinely makes you laugh. The setup sounds like prime real estate for an emotionally charged storyline.

Unfortunately, it falls apart somewhere around the last quarter. What should have been a strong and straightforward story turned into a rushed, hasty mess by the final act.

The story started SO strong, they practically had it in the bag, but then it became apparent that many important elements were glossed over - especially when it came to the main villain. I realized that some things required me to read between the lines, or even were only explained in character dossiers in the archive section of the menu. Supposedly, the movie Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV explains more, but do you really expect me to have to watch a separate movie to understand the actual game? The final quarter of the story feels like someone was trying to finish NaNoWriMo, realized they were running out of time, and quickly jumped from scene to scene to reach that 50k word goal. The ten-year time-skip is a joke. The final chapter is sorely disappointing.

The ending was appropriate though, and even beautiful. However, the overall story didn’t have the necessary emotional weight to really make me feel anything. I thought to myself, “I feel like I should be tearing up but instead I feel nothing.”. Even Final Fantasy XII, which lacked a romance, had me swelling up at the end. Final Fantasy XV didn’t make me swell up until literally the last few seconds of the post-credits scene.

People complained about the advertising (Coleman, Cup Noodles) but that didn’t bother me.

What does bother me is the lack of variety in the main cast, and in numerous ways. There were so many interesting side characters that didn’t receive much screen time, or use at all in the story. The strong focus on only the four male leads made it a sausagefest. I was craving more out of Aranea Highwind and Iris Amicitia. They are important but don’t get any screen time at all in the final chapter, nor do we ever hear from them ever again after the time-skip. Aranea Highwind was such a cool character, but once again ends up being wasted potential.

The main cast lacked distinctive styles. When I first saw the main cast, I had a hard time telling them apart. They looked like a k-pop band. Compare the main cast of Final Fantasy XV to literally any other Final Fantasy main cast and you can immediately spot the difference.

The four main leads do have distinct personalities, and I quite loved hearing their comments and banter. It felt realistic, but at times it became ridiculous. I rolled my eyes when Prompto would say things like, “Hashtag sorry not sorry.” That was a bit too on the nose, and came off as Square trying to pander to the current generation.

But what really rubbed me the wrong way is the incredible lack of non-white characters in the entire game. Lestallum feels so wrong to me as a Hispanic. Lestallum is supposed to be modeled after Havana, Cuba.

Its music, its buildings, its activities. It has a tropical climate, and yet every single denizen is pale white. Every. Single. One. I am not exaggerating. It feels so absolutely wrong walking around that city and not seeing anyone with the slightest shade of brown. This isn’t some uncalled-for SJW rant, it’s a simple fact. Tropical climates breed tanner skins. My brain naturally did a double-take when seeing the all-white population, saying, “Hmmm, something’s wrong here.”. For God’s sake, Final Fantasy XII, made over a decade earlier, did a better job at displaying the various nuances in skin tones, and that was on the PlayStation 2! Final Fantasy X, even older, seemed to properly portray tropical beach populations, inspired by the Philippines, with the character Wakka.

I noticed that they really took the time to incorporate elements from virtually every single Final Fantasy game. Aside from the crystals, the modern settings, and other obvious elements, four male leads are reminiscent of Final Fantasy III, the sinister chancellor hearkens back to Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, the enemy Yojimbo resembles Final Fantasy X’s version of Yojimbo, a certain boss battle reminded me of Cid Raines from Final Fantasy XIII.

Also, there’s Dino. Quite possibly the most annoying Final Fantasy NPC ever.

The overly obnoxious Italian stereotype made me want to punch his face, and also took me out of the experience of the fictional world. Every time you spoke with him he's all like "HEY HOW YOU DOIN WELCOME TO OLIVE GARDEN YOU TALKIN TO ME BADA BING BADA BOOM SPICY PIECE OF MEATBALL CAPISCE? AMIRITE??"

Square seemed to treat this game as a milestone in the series, alluding to everything the series ever did. It’s a shame that the story itself wasn’t quite up to snuff to be held in such regard.

Music:           

The game’s major lyrical song is copyrighted, which is a first for a Final Fantasy game. It makes sense why they chose the song “Stand by Me”, both in literal and figurative terms of the story.             

The score to this game is quite fantastic. The series has its first female composer, Yoko Shimomura. I have absolutely no complaints about the music. Nobuo Uematsu didn’t even pop into my head during the entire game. It’s the first time since Uematsu’s departure that I felt immersed in the score. The motifs are distinct and strong. The battle music is vibrant and an orchestral orgasm to listen to.    

Notable Theme:            

“Somnus”  

The main theme of the game. It plays right away in the main menu. I love how it is incorporated into the rest of the score, and my brain kept wanting to hear it to its completion.   

Direct Sequel?           

Nope. However, there is downloadable content that fills in the gap of events within the game. Supposedly, Final Fantasy XV is loosely connected to Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Type-O, all sharing common themes and possibly set in the same universe. You can also watch the prequel movie, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.

Did it Live up to the Hype?           

Eh.           

Yes, and no.            

It was cool to play around, but the rest is a flaccid attempt at being a notable entry in the series “for fans and first-timers”, as the words proudly display every time you load the game. It’s not the worst in the series, but certainly not the best. It’s somewhere in the mid-to-low tier.

[neon-dynasty]

Kamigawa was a failed endeavor. Released in the autumn of 2004, Champions of Kamigawa promised some new things for Magic the Gathering, and the return to some old things as well. Most importantly, in my opinion, it showed that Wizards was paying attention to what fans were interested in (outside of Magic) and wanted to provide a way of relating to the fans. However, just about everything they did with the setting and game either couldn’t live up to expectations or outright failed. Here’s why I think the original Kamigawa block failed, and why I think a return would be a resounding success.

This came out much longer than I’d expected, so hit the jump.

For its entire existence up until 2004, most of Magic’s settings were a hodgepodge of fantasy tropes, and the storyline had been following or tying into a single thread for years. Kamigawa was the first setting to truly be free of the ongoing Magic story. Nowadays, however, Magic is known for its settings based on real-world places and cultures. Just this past year, we’ve visited Eldraine (Arthurian Britain), Theros (ancient Greece), and Ikoria (less a real culture and more about giant monster tropes). Back in 2004, however, visiting a clearly defined theme world like this was something that hadn’t been done in a long time. In fact, it’s something the franchise traditionally shied away from. 1996’s Mirage block took place in Jamuura, a continent on Dominaria based on sub-Saharan Africa.1995’s Ice Age was set in a Viking-inspired Terisiare. (You could say that Arabian Nights and Portal Three Kingdoms also count, but those were more wholesale copies than homages.) Based on ancient Japan, Kamigawa was the first herald of a new worldbuilding philosophy for Magic, one that would see the creative team at Wizards of the Coast put their own spin on familiar cultures and mythologies, while still keeping them distinctly their own. Kind of like Disney movies.

The mechanics also promised to shake things up. While I don’t remember any of the card announcements, Kamigawa block introduced many new pieces for the game. Samurai and ninja had their own keyword abilities in bushido and ninjutsu, and most of the sorcery and instant cards dealt with arcane and spirits. Legendary had its own theme as well, with 138 unique creatures (139, if you count the other Yamazaki brother) and 39 other permanents, with a number of cards that cared about the supertype. Finally, there were flip cards, a mechanically and visually interesting way of getting more value out of those creatures and introducing a sort of sidequest to your game. 

Kamigawa was gearing up to be something special in Magic. But as I said at the very beginning of this piece, it failed.

The mechanics were kind of a disaster. Splice onto arcane was parasitic and to get any value out of it, you’d need to go all-in on overcosted cards. Bushido, sweep, offering, and most of the rest of the keywords were similarly underwhelming, either providing minuscule value or actively getting in the way of what you wanted to do. Putting the legendary supertype on a card is a downside when Commander doesn’t exist and singleton formats are not a popular way of playing. It doesn’t help that having too many legendary creatures in a set thend to make them feel less special, as well. Flip cards, while cool in theory, wound up being a logistical mess that didn’t add much to the enjoyment of casual games, and barely saw tournament play. All of this meant the cards didn’t really impact Standard, and Limited was a clunky ordeal more often than anyone would have liked. Following Mirrodin block, the most powerful three sets since Urza’s block, was also a tall order, and one that almost no set was equipped to fulfill. 

Admittedly, while I love the card game, I absolutely adore everything else about Magic. The storyline intrigued me when I started playing during Onslaught block, and knowing that there was this vast body of lore kept me hooked. Hearing that there was a Japanese-inspired setting coming up was pure hype for someone who’d also been into anime for years and video games for years before that. The early 00s were an interesting time for entertainment, as Japanese animation had finally infiltrated American mainstream media. Pokémon had been a successful card game for years (another story for another day), and Yu-Gi-Oh had just hit the scene in America after doing well in Japan for a few years. With all this and a burgeoning internet, fans of anime, video games, and Japanese culture had certain expectations. To say Kamigawa did not meet them would be an understatement. 

The general setting was based on an older Japanese culture, one which didn’t see much representation in media. Samurai, ninja, youkai, along with other popular figures and tropes were either later inventions or had a more solidified image hundreds of years after the source material took place. While I remember many Magic the Gathering fans being worried that the game would take on an anime aesthetic to capitalize on what was popular with the wider geek audience, they actually took it in the opposite direction. Instead of bright colors and bold outlines, Kamigawa was a dark and gritty place, which was made even more evident by the increasing demand for realistic detail in the art department. The kami themselves, one half of the conflict, were alien and foreign to behold. These weren’t based on images that otaku would have been familiar with, Japanese or Western, but based on much older stories that had been phased out of the public consciousness.

In short, there is no “in short.” There are many reasons why it didn’t succeed, but ultimately, it came down to being something that no one really expected or wanted. Instead of taking the cheap, easy, and profitable route by leaning into anime culture, Wizards bucked the trend and used a setting that most Magic fans would not have been familiar with, forcing it to fit within the franchise. They also filled the block with parasitic mechanics that were clunky and actively detrimental to play. And yes, I’m leaving out dozens of other reasons why Kamigawa failed, but those are the main ones that I personally feel hurt the setting. 

Sadly, as public-facing employees remind us constantly, Kamigawa is a very difficult sell to the higher-ups. It was one of the company’s biggest failures, and they can’t use tweets and Tumblr asks from enfranchised fans as justifications for its return. And yet, the requests still pour in. I believe that the reasons for this desire are the key to a new set based in Kamigawa. 

Let’s start with the biggest one: Commander. In many ways, this format is kind of the anti-MtG. It’s a long, drawn-out process that uses decks built with your whole collection, rather than the newest releases. Cards that are awful in most other formats are amazing in Commander, and one of the biggest drawbacks a card can have - the Legendary supertype - is a major boon here. It’s also the current most popular format for old and new players alike. I think that more than anything else, Kamigawa’s legendary theme is what draws new players, as Commander enthusiasts will inevitably find some interesting cards that would never have worked well in the old days.

I also think that Wizards of the Coast has learned a lot since 2004 (and whenever they started work on the original block). Remember, Kamigawa was the first of its kind: a real-world inspired setting completely separate from what the entire franchise had been doing for years. There were bound to be mistakes, and they’ve clearly learned how to rectify them. The following setting, Ravnica, used an Eastern European city aesthetic to compliment its two-color guild theme, but was still constrained by the block structure. Upon our return there, they changed the block structure to better fit what the themes and story wanted. On the other hand, Zendikar, their D&D-inspired adventure world, was beloved for its fast and fun mechanics, as well as the feeling of exploration on the cards and in the media. The return, however, involved destroying all of that in favor of an extradimensional war setting. Guilds of Ravnica and Zendikar Rising each supplied what the fans wanted out of those settings, to varying degrees of success. 

Wizards also keeps showing us glimpses into Kamigawa through Core Sets and supplemental products. Tamiyo showed up on Innistrad and Ravnica. They printed new shrines (compatible with the old Honden) in Core 2021. Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow, is one of my favorite commanders of all time, and she’s from the 2018 Commander set. They still value the setting, and don’t seem to be interested in ignoring it to the point of obscurity (like, for example, Mercadia). 

And, obviously, there are the rumors. With a blog name like mine, you have to have known this was coming. The three planeswalker concepts from surveys could point to anything: Commander products, supplementary sets, etc. However, I think that the web domains for Kamigawa Neon Dynasty point to a full set of some kind.

Interestingly enough, the events of the original Kamigawa block take place in Magic’s very distant past, so it’s been a tantalizing prospect to see how the place might have changed in the past few thousand years. Skipping over medieval fantasy and bringing it past the present into a cyberpunk future might be an excellent way to go about it. Aesthetics from early 90’s anime could still be stylistically unique in Magic, while keeping elements from the old setting would root us to the original block. I could see the new story centering around a conflict between one faction clinging to ancient traditions and another pushing magical technology to its futuristic limits. After all, Tamiyo still dresses in old-fashioned robes and reads from scrolls, and the moonfolk were known to be almost completely isolated from everyone else. I wonder what the kami would look like, if we even saw them at all.

Ultimately, I think that Wizards is in the perfect spot to try Kamigawa again. Between their worldbuilding experience, the rise of the Commander format, and a willingness to push the aesthetics of their game in different directions, there’s a lot of reason to hope that we’ll be heading back sooner or later. 

Please feel free to let me know if I missed something or got any details wrong. And please discuss what you’d like to see in a return to Kamigawa, either new stuff or old. 

[motivatedtale-blog]

About Motivatedtale

.:Contents:.

.:Author’s Note:.

.:Summary/Idea:.

.:Characters:.

Motive

Unmotivated

.:Stray Facts and Resources:.

FAQ

Rules

.:Inspiration:.

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.:Author’s Note:.

   Hey, so I've noticed this a long time ago but I’m just now confronting it since I got my computer fixed- it seems pretty impossible to reach the “About Motivatedtale” on mobile, even with the literal LINK to the page (I could only sort of access it through some loopholes in a browser- and the link just took me to my Tumblr instead), so I wanted to compile the information that’s in there into a post for any mobile users who may follow this blog. I’ve got more followers here than my art blog-- so even if there’s not much interaction each post, I think there’s at least a few people who might not have access to an about page here. Changes are very likely to be made and things will be added occasionally :)

.:Summary/Idea:.

 “Have you ever wondered what happens to creations when a creator gives up?”

 Motivatedtale is essentially an abandoned AU with no finished story or a plot. Which, ironically, not having a story is the story itself. It’s a tale about how the lack of motivation (along with other things like self doubt and lack of interest) in a Creator leaves a story unfinished, and with no reason to exist, no story, the AU is crumbling into nothingness, as it is being forgotten by the only one who knows about its existence- the Creator. However, there’s two characters in it that have to deal with that burden of having no ending or reasons to exist. And they’re completely aware of what’s going on.

 At least, the first one that was created is aware, because they were made to be that way. They inform the only other character (Frisk/Motive) about all of this when they meet. They’re a Sans of course (which is sort of a self aware joke because a lot of people either start with the Sans of an AU when creating characters, subtly revolve around a Sans of an AU in a story, or the entire story literally and shamelessly revolves around a Sans. This is not an attack on anyone). This Sans goes by Unmotivated, and is quite bitter about existing.  These characters have no finished story, no destiny, and no purpose. Being self aware of this can be a great burden on hope and happiness; ignorance is bliss, after all.

 What the AU would’ve been if it was “completed” is unsure.

 How the story ends is not fully decided or meant to be disclosed (for now), but even if this AU is finished or not, it is already technically complete. It symbolizes a project that is given up on; a project that is abandoned, and what would happen if the characters in these types of projects were conscious about this- if our ideas existed somewhere out there, somewhere where our decisions, intentional and unintentional, have a serious affect.

 So, if this AU is abandoned, it’ll be quite ironic.

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.:Characters:.

Motive

    Motive is the Frisk of this AU, and one of only two characters that are in this AU. Motive was created after Unmotivated, but the coloring of their design was given up on towards the very end. Their sweater is unfinished because the creator gave up on them due to being overwhelmed with empty and destructive thoughts, but the outline/shape is still there. The sleeve usually is never shaded/effected by light.

  Motive is an optimist, and believes that their AU will one day be finished. They have the soul of motivation, which is outwardly visible and tied to the loose hanging strap of their overalls. They don’t have preferences in pronouns (though they/them is usually the default), and calling them by any pronoun is fine (she/he/they/it..it really doesn’t matter, honestly).  

  Motive acts impulsively a lot of times and does not think of the consequences of their actions…or, they do, but they choose to move forward with their actions anyways. Since optimism is one of their key traits and it’s exaggerated and simplified in their character and logic, it can result in some bad outcomes. The same goes for their impulsitivity. They’re not that serious natured, and act more like a child than a young adult (despite being 18). However, they do make a lot of (sometimes unnerving) jokes that could be considered uncomfortable, but they mean no harm. While Motive is quite intelligent and empathetic, they’re distracted quite easily and might say or do inappropriate things during certain situations.

  Since Motive is technically a new character and was not fully developed by their Creator (backstory, powers, etc), their underdevelopment as a character is actually a big part of their development as a character. 

(More is to be added later)

Unmotivated

 The Sans of the AU, and the first ever character created (which again is poking fun of the idea that people usually start with the Sans of the AU for characters). Unmotivated is bitter and cynical towards his existence and his Creator, and is completely aware of the multiverse and AU Creators. A big fourth wall breaker. He’s apathetic, bored and often paints himself as emotionless and uncaring to hide any hurt/feelings of helplessness. He bottled them away a long time ago.  At first, Unmotivated was hopeful about his AU, but he was alone for an unspecified but long amount of time in his AU, and was driven to toxicity and bitterness during that time. He’s seen his universe grow, halt, and then slowly deteriorate- he has seen new ideas come and go, and is helpless to stop the rampant decay of his universe- his home- his story. He’s overall a pretty lonely character. 

When or why he got the nickname “Unmotivated” is unclear- but it’s definitely supposed to be a pun. He hates the name but finds it funny and ironic at the same time. 

  Unmotivated’s soul is held by a string that is woven into his rain coat. He considers this to be poor design choice but doesn’t really do anything to fix it. He often keeps his soul in his pocket for safe keeping.  (More is to be added later)

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.:Stray Facts:.

• The AU resets (sort of like an update) each time a new idea is added. This is how Unmotivated is generally aware of Motive when they’re created. • The “Creator” resembles anyone who has abandoned or given up on their projects or ideas. This isn’t meant to put people that do this in a negative light.

•The white of Motive’s sleeve isn’t meant to be shaded since it’s “incomplete.”

FAQ (most are from amino since not many people ask here)

- What was the AU supposed to originally be before it was abandoned?

 This is undecided and left up for interpretation. However, based off of the design of the current characters, it can be safely assumed that the AU was supposed to be more lighthearted and cutesy. There are random bits and ideas spread throughout the AU that give glimpses to what it could’ve been.

- Can I draw fanart of these characters?

 Of course! I’d be honored to receive fanart and would love to see it! Just please keep things appropriate if you do.

- Is Ink Sans or Core Frisk going to be in the comic?

No.

 I’ve gotten asked this several times, and the answer is no. Doing this would completely ruin the theme and point I’m trying to get across with this comic. This story revolves around a Creator and their Creations, and there will be no other characters made by other people.

- Are Motive and Unmotivated shipped together?

NO.

 It’s fine as a joke but please realize they aren’t. This isn’t an AU centered around romance and would distract from the goal of the comic if I had that. While I’m not anti-frans in any sense, I still don’t want it in my comic.

- How often do you plan on updating the comic?

  Each page is published whenever I finish it nowadays due to stress of a schedule. I post them in bulks of 2-3 on amino and twitter, and whenever I finish the page on deviantart, instagram and here.

- Is the Creator a character?

 Yes, and no. The Creator represents not only myself, but any artist that has struggles putting their creations out there due to insecurities or other causes. They’re more symbolic and fluent rather than a structured and identified character. Of course though, if there is any introduction of the Creator, I would have to give them some sort of design- and I do have general ideas of what they’d look like. However, they’re still supposed to represent a broader group of people than just myself.

- What does Unmotivated think about other AUs/Sanses?

 Unmotivated has an apathetic mindset when it comes to AUs and other characters like him. He’s incredibly self aware and sees a much bigger picture. He knows characters are just pawns to their creator, and won’t get fazed by any story. Sort of like watching actors in a movie while constantly reminding yourself that they’re just actors. However, he is quite envious of anyone with a complete and happy storyline, since that’s something he lacks but yearns the most. That’s something he wish he had.

 Keep in mind Unmotivated and Motive cannot interact or travel outside of their AU, and no one can interact with their AU except the editor/creator.

Rules

• Please do not publicly RP with these characters unless given permission. This might be changed after more of the comic is complete, but I do not want these character’s personalities to be strewn.

•  Please do not draw or write NSFW with my characters– I am a minor, and a large part of my audience are also minors.

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.:Inspiration:.

  Alright, this part is going to be a lot less formal and more personal. The idea for this AU came from my own self doubt and self destructive attitude as a creator. Doubting my own works and ideas has seriously held me back for a long time, and it STILL holds me back as I’m sure it has for many, MANY other creators like me. Musicians, artists, writers.. Almost all of us have that fear of trying out a new idea or making something you usually wouldn’t. Almost all of us have felt that crushing self doubt when you see someone better than you, and you tell yourself you’ll never be like them, your art will never be that great, you’ll never get that far…so on, so on.

  So, while I was trying to come up with an idea for an AU (which I had actually been considering for well over a year), the thoughts crept in.

“no one will like this”

“there’s enough AU’s”

“you’re unoriginal”

“this is a waste of time”

“the fandom is dying”

“you have horrible character designs”

“AU’s are overrated”

“this doesn’t fit your audience”

“people will judge you”

“you never finish anything”

“this is stupid”

“your art isn’t good enough”

“you’re not good enough”

“someone probably already came up with this idea”

“no one cares about your idea”

“no one would bother with your art”

  And ironically, all these thoughts gave me this idea.

  Even so, these thoughts have still been nagging me every time I even try to work on this, and it’s been taking a lot of courage to take on the heap of anxiety I have over something so harmless. I didn’t join the Undertale fandom for over a year simply because I was afraid of being judged for my interests,, fun fact. Never thought I’d be able to make an AU. I’m still quite nervous posting art of anything that isn’t Mario related for some reason.

  Putting all this to side though, I find the concept of what happens to unfinished and/or abandoned stories and projects interesting, especially if there’s an alternate reality that’s actually effected by your decisions. Kinda like you’re a god. I mean, imagine what it would be like if you had a creator and they just gave up on you, and you’re left with no purpose. Seems like it would suck, haha.

  So that’s basically my AU, Motivatedtale. If you have any thoughts or questions, I’d love to hear them. Thanks for reading if you did!