#and it was nice to see these characters get spotlight again after not appearing in the series for a while

[nylaboon]

Hi there!

so, how about some headcanons of the PJSK boys as Shimeji? Those are like tiny characters that walk, climb and jump all over your screen, and interact with apps and whatever’s happing on your screen! Hope that doesn’t sound to complicated, have a nice day!

Lots of Laugh — FANTASISTA SQUAD

— headcanons: fantasista squad as shimeji

note: thank you for requesting!! this took me a while to make since i've legit never heard of shimeji before this LOL, but i had a whole lotta fun with it, so i hope it's good enough for you. have a nice day as well <3

Akito Shinonome:

dude, out of the whole game, akito is my absolute favorite

i can totally see him just sitting there and eating some sort of sweet desert

like if you have google open, he'd sit on the search bar and watch you type whatever it is that you're searching for while nibbling on cheesecake

if you pick him up and try dragging him somewhere, he will throw a FIT

i can just imagine him kicking his legs with a little text bubble above his head and it's just full of censored swear words

"$!@#*" etcetera etcetera

if he's just standing idle, he's going to be glaring at you most of the time

sometimes he'll pull headphones out and start listening to ken's music, just bopping his head

that's one of the rare times he doesn't look pissed off

he'll fall asleep for like twenty seconds

he'll fall asleep standing up or sitting down

you know those big ass snot bubbles that appear when characters fall asleep?

he'll have one of those

and it'll pop once he wakes up

Toya Aoyagi:

second favorite character

please don't pick him up and drag him, he'll get scared

he'll take a book out of his pocket and read for a bit

he'll sit and clean his violin bow

takes out a little console, like a 3ds, and plays it

will mindlessly nibble on a cookie at random times

sorry this is short, i couldn't think of much for him and i feel like shit for that

Rui Kamishiro:

downloading a plugin where rui can mess around with your device is like downloading a virus

seriously, he will fuck everything up

on purpose

'rui' is literally in the word 'virus' if you mix the letters around a bit

expect random mini explosions

he'll build robots in the span of, like, five seconds and only for it to break down immediately after he finished

he'll make various balloon animals

24/7 smug look on his face

he'll move around all your apps and windows out of spite

makes blueprints for shows

falls asleep and drools on said blueprints

he'll just let you pick him up and drag him, no problem

no matter how far he is from the "ground", he'll always stick the landing

he's just like that

builds a jetpack and starts fucking flying all over the screen

again, he's just like that

Tsukasa Tenma:

no shot he doesn't start doing random poses out of no where

every time he does a lil pose, a star pops up and shimmers

he trips over literally nothing

i can just imagine a bug pops out of no where and he just starts losing his shit

running around the screen with a look of despair on his face

poor guy

if you pick him up, he'll also lose his shit

because who are you to pick up the worlds biggest star like that

if you drop him from a high distance, he'll land flat on his face and stay down for a few seconds

fun fact: i originally put that in for akito, but changed it since it was more fitting for tsukasa

will move windows since they're "in his way" and are "trying to steal his spotlight"

multiplies into fifty different versions of himself because who doesn't want more tsukasas in their life?

written by @nylaboon

[kufothewriting]

The Internet Gaslit Me About John Walker: A Marvel Rant

Hey quick thing here but, uh, well, John Walker isn't and was never a meant to seen as a villain.

Ever since Falcon & Winter Soldier, when people get online and act like he's some persecuted saint or martyr, some part of me dies inside because they always fundamentally ignore or misconstrue the way the story (mostly Falcon & Winter Soldier, Thunderbolts is another rant entirely) treats him in favor of being contrarians and saying, "Well actually, I like this guy a lot despite what the writers did to him."

No, you don't. You like John Walker because of what the writers did for him. Walker being sympathetic is not an unintended flaw. It's a feature of his character that was deliberately portrayed time and again. It's not particularly unique to look at him and feel bad or sympathize with him--both Falcon & Winter Soldier and the Thunderbolts go out of their way to make you feel for him.

In Falcon & Winter Soldier, he wasn't portrayed as an enemy or a monster. He was a decorated veteran thrust into the spotlight by the United States government, asked to take up one of the most esteemed mantles in the world during an extremely turbulent time. He was trying his best to live up to the massive expectations thrust on him.

Bucky and Sam hating him isn't some sign of the writers forgetting their core personality traits. Sam worked with veterans, yeah, so what? He's automatically a saint walking, someone perfectly amiable and accepting even he's angry or afraid or slighted? He'd see Walker and salute him with a smile? Try to be nice even as he sees Steve in every movement Walker makes wearing that shield? Stop it.

They would have disdain for anyone picking up the mantle that wasn't Steve Rogers. Their closest friend died and this new guy comes in and takes his shield and starts trying to be friendly with them and you expect them to what, be on board with it? Be nice and friendly and calm? Be professional to what they consider a grave insult to the dead?

Their disdain for Walker might seem unjustified from an outside standpoint but the fun thing about emotions is that they don't need to need justification. Believe it or not, it's not bad writing for characters to be just be legitimately terrible to someone.

Sam hated the idea of a Captain America that's not Steve Rogers and Bucky hated the idea of Captain America that wasn't Steve or the one guy who Steve wanted to be Captain America.

Putting that aside, Walker himself is obviously meant to be sympathetic because the story goes out of its way time and again to make him appear that way. We see his friends, his family, his hesitation and indecision and his sense of inferiority. We see him try to justify himself, be affirmed by his best friend, be comforted by his lover. We see him at his darkest points, and we might be horrified or we might feel pity, but we're not meant to feel enmity for John Walker.

When he gives into his darkest urges and kills the terrorist, it's because his friend, the guy who understood him best, just died violently. And guess what? The United States government does not care at all that he killed the guy. Val literally says it. Why would America care about the life of a terrorist? The point is that it was a terrible look, savagely bludgeoning an unarmed and afraid man in the middle of broad daylight after he'd lost the will to fight. A PR and soft power disaster.

They throw Walker out like he's nothing. After they put the burden of the world on his shoulders. After they propped him up and praised him and fawned over him, they yanked the floor out from under him and acted like he's a madman who they never had anything to do with. It's unfair, and it's meant to be that way. He's obviously been slighted and spurned for one bad moment.

John Walker is good soldier. A great one. He follows orders and executes directives. He does not ask questions. He does not ponder the morals of his actions. He does not seek to understand the motivations or nuances of his enemies. He dispatches threats as he's directed.

Between him and Sam, he's the better soldier, which is exactly why he's the worse Captain America. Sam Wilson questions why the terrorist is doing what she's doing. He tries to engage the root problem and stop the discontent at its root source. John Walker walks in with a pistol and handcuffs and sorts things out the only way he knows how to.

The two are foils. John Walker is America. Violent and dangerous, shooting first, asking questions later. Subjugating his enemies with overwhelming force as he's directed. Steel and gunpowder to solve every problem.

Sam Wilson is what America wants to be. Idealistic, peace-making, solving issues through empathy and understanding. Violence as a recourse, rather than the first and only option. Negotiation, diplomacy, and kindness. Offering second chances, offering olive branches, espousing the ideals of freedom and equality that this country so thoroughly wants to believe that it embodies.

John Walker is not Sam Wilson's enemy or his villain. He's not a dark reflection of Sam, or Steve. He's a man who tried to represent a country as it is instead of what it wants to believe that it is.

He's a victim as much as he is a victimizer. He was meant to be that way. He has issues, and they're well-known. It's not that the writers don't know they're doing or that they treat him badly or that the people around him don't give him enough respect. In Falcon & The Winter Soldier he deals with people who are angry and grieving, and in Thunderbolts he deals with anti-social loners who couldn't care less about dignifying who he is or who he used to be.

No, John Walker is not misunderstood. He's a victim of a system that has well-documented tendencies of victimizing people. He's sympathetic by design, not flaw, and the way that people champion him is precisely because the writers did a fantastic job of creating a good character.

Kay, rant over, bye.

[questionablecuttlefish]

Just to add more context of lc getting targeted…

Smth else that I noticed started this whole rivalry is actually just lux, mind u all of this started on twt, and there were some posts after s2 were ofc jinx was getting all the content because she’s that popular, and arcane jinx fans started saying how she was riots favorite, at which league fans couldn’t resist and answered “umm actually it’s lux 🤓👆” and it generated more posts, they actually mentioned other champs too but lux was always the constant.

This was I think the biggest introduction of lux for arcane fans, they met another champ that gets called “riots golden daughter” and then they got introduced to lc, so I think in a way some league and lc fans hyped her so much that the conclusion they gave tb and arcane fans was basically “once lux gets her own show everything related to her will blow up, including lc”, which wasn’t a good look because before s2 the most popular jinx ship was lc without lux even being there, so I think this answers the question of why some fans feel threatened of a non canon crack ship, i don’t think they are threatened because they think lc is going be canon but because it might become jinx’s most popular ship again… which it’s just extremely silly.

Mind u we don't have concrete information relating new shows, imo I don’t think spin offs with arcane characters in the same format are really happening because at the end of the day it’s a show that didn’t broke even and it didn’t bring new players to league, so I think the future is more uncertain than it seems, though I do think there’s more of a possibility that they explore new regions and maybe lux will appear but this is also not certain, so everything depends on riot tbh, they can make cinematics, comics or movies that can expand lore and are cheaper than arcane $250 budget.

Yeah, probably.

I agree that we're unlikely to see any gigantic ambitious animation projects out of Riot for quite some time, if ever, unless there's a major change of leadership and direction at the company.

We may see Lux in a Demacia season of League, Xin Zhao's prominence in the current one suggests to me they may do Demacia next. But we also may not see her, there are a lot of Demacia champs that also deserve the spotlight and don't get it as much.

You're likely correct about the Lux pushback. I could not give two fucks about what people on Twitter are Big Mad about this five minutes, but in this case, it would be very nice for them to be right for once 😜💛💙😜🦄✨

[justworthlessreblogs]

a further look at the rest of my fanseasons

as i was pulling up images for justice, paradise, and lune last night i came across a bunch of images for my other fanseasons. figured i might as well share them so people can see what they look like as well (at at the very least the prototype ones since i don't have accessible traditional art for most of them curse you past justie for not taking photos!)

shining hearts:

here's the first image of cure harmony, dated december 16 2018. done in the glitter cure maker

from that same day, the prototype for cure sunburst, cure elemental. i didn't feel like making up an entirely new character at the time though and i was already using an older oc for cure harmony so i was like "i'll just take another one of my mlp ocs" (which was sunburst) so elemental ended up being shoved to the side

from june 2019, the team in the happiness charge character creator by hapuriainen (i hope i spelled that right) on deviantart! this was another one of my favorite character creators, and provided the basis for many a cure design before glitter cure came out on dolldivine

we now have cure harmony (pink), cure sunburst (orange), and their midseason, cure spark (green)

time to fast forward, since we have now hit the era of the Precure Art Drought. the next time i drew any of them was cure harmony in january 2022, as one of the ms paint base pieces i did:

base is cure happy by selenaede.

and then we have her again in january 2023, as part of the star twinkle trace that showed up in the paradise & lune post

harmony is in the foreground. her bangs are fluffier now but this is largely the design i've stuck with for her ever since. the blue in her hair is a reference to her days as a my little pony oc - she started out as a pink unicorn with fluffy pink hair and then i got into an argument with one of my online friends over if she looked too much like pinkie pie or not so i added the blue streak to differentiate her

and from january 2024, here's all on them on their second ost cover!

mermaid jewel:

their first appearance, done in the happiness charge character creator in july 2019. left to right is splash, ocean, coral, shell, anemone.

unfortunately, none of them ever got individual glitter cure versions and aside from splash i don't draw them very often (and even with splash it's usually her in her civ form). i do have a drawing of splash in a photo of a draw the squad from 2022 (i believe it was 2022 i took the photo a long time after i drew it). i love draw the squads. i should do another one it's been way too long

borealis is in this one as well, right next to splash (splash is on the right in green, borealis is the blue one), which is a nice segue into our next fanseason

northern lights precure:

as mentioned before, northern lights actually predates the others (aside from moderation) by quite some time! i think what happened was i made them for fun, then forgot about them to focus on moderation again, and then dug them back out once i started making other fanseasons. this image is dated january 27, 2018. left to right we have aurora, shimmer, borealis, and glow

i really liked borealis's design, so she's actually got a few art pieces (unlike the others, who still sadly don't have solidified cure designs aside from their hair)

an in-progress borealis, done the same day as the character creator. i also tried making her a puzzlun cure card but i don't have a photo.

theatrical:

my beloved hacha creator shows up again. this is dated july 11, 2018, which is a lot older than i initially thought it was. theatrical was another one of those "create a team based around aesthetic and designs i think look neat and then do nothing with them afterwards until i shoved them into a lineup once i realized how many fanseasons i was piling up". this one does feature their civilian forms, which is unique! left is cure curtain and the right is cure spotlight. they stay a duo

desert sun:

poor desert sun didn't even get a character creator image. they have finalized civilian designs but not cure designs. the closest i can offer are these:

prototype hairstyle designs from march 2022

more finalized designs from a super smash bros (but it's my precures) character select screen thing i did in april 2024

supernatural:

supernatural has the same problem in that i didn't ever make a character creator thing with the full team. i think the first time they show up visually is from that same hairstyle piece as desert sun:

i unfortunately don't have a photo of moth from this set. she was on the next page. the reason this photo exists at all is because i sent it to myself as a reference for that super smash bros but precure thing, so i could use it as a reference for the hair of the cure i was drawing or go "oh that's kind of ugly actually" and create a new hairstyle. unfortunately for moth, she was on a page that only had 2 other cures and i have hers + those 2 other cures' hairstyles memorized so i didn't bother sending myself the reference

in april 2023, i tried making ghost in the glitter cure maker

and witch a few days later. no cryptid or moth, i think i lost steam after this

BUT they all have traditional art refs from around the same time. which i don't have with me now, because - say it with me - the sketchbook they're in is at home and i was a dummy who didn't think about taking a photo to make sure she always had the references with her even if she couldn't access the sketchbook

they do show up in the smash cures character select!

bonus: modpre in the hacha character creator from july 2018 because at the time no cure was immune to being made in it. i found this while searching for everything else. i'd completely forgotten about it

[fishyishy]

A3! Spotlight Event Translation - Elite Trading Company Employees & Alumni & Seamstress Boys Edition (2/19)

━━━━━━━━━

Banri: I've seen this actor in a lot of ads lately.

Tsuzuru: That's true. It seems like there's quite a few of other popular actors appearing in this drama.

Kazunari: Ah! Taicchan's there!

Muku: He really is!

Kumon: I get to see Tenma-san appearing in dramas a lot, but when I see Taichi-san appearing in them like this, I get super excited and happy all over again!

Taichi: Hehe, it kinda feels like I'm shaking!

--------------------------

Kazunari: That was interesting~!

Kumon: I mean, Dai-san was a super good character, will this really be the last time he appears!?

Taichi: He was a guest character who appeared in episode 1~.

Izumi: Even so, the drama was interesting, and Taichi's character was well-defined and comical, so it was awesome overall!

Banri: Yup. Look, people are social media are getting excited over Taichi's appearance. Tons of people are commenting, and it's trending.

Muku: That's amazing! Taichi-kun, you're really popular!

Kazunari: Taicchan is now a member of the Sumeragi Agency and is a celeb too ~!

Taichi: I'm still just starting out though. Even so, I'm really happy to be getting this attention, it makes me super motivated!

Tsuzuru: I'm curious to see how the drama continues, and I'm looking forward to it next week.

Izumi: Mhm. That's true.

------------------

Taichi: What a nice bath~. Maybe I'll have something to drink in the lounge.

Yuki: Ah, Taichi.

Taichi: Yuki-chan! Did you just come back from your part-time job?

Yuki: Yup. There's kind of a lot of things to do today.

Taichi: Thank you for working so hard.....!

Yuki: Thanks. By the way, the drama you're in was broadcast today, right? I saw it trending.

Taichi: That's right! It was well received by everyone who watched it with me, and it'll be available online later, so I hope you can watch it!

Yuki: Yupyup, I'll see it later.

*phone dings*

Yuki: Is that a your phone?

Taichi: Aaa.... it's a LIME from my mom. Eettoo.....?

Taichi: It looks like Mi-chan and and Ma-kun asked our mom to write a LIME for them! Lookie!

Taichi's Mom:

"Onii-chan, I watched it on the TV! From Mi-chan"

"Looked sooo coool! From Ma-kun"

Yuki: Wow, they sent lots of cute stickers too. They must have been watching the drama too. Thinking about their big bro.

Taichi: Ehehehe.....

Taichi's Mom:

"I want to see my onii-chan, but I also want to see A-chan soon~"

Taichi: That was definitely from Mi-chan.... so it is Aachan after all!? What about Onii-chan's position.......!?!?

Taichi's Mom:

"By the way, Ma-kun wants to see Yuki-chan! I want to meet him too!"

Taichi: Not Ma-kun too.....!

Yuki: Haha, why are you so depressed? Well, it's not like I mind meeting with them...

Taichi: EH, you're okay with it!?

Yuki: It's not like it'd be no good.

Taichi: Uwahhhh, thank you Yuki-chan! Mi-chan and Ma-kun will definitely be overjoyed!

Yuki: Stop exaggerating.

Izumi: Ah, Yuki-kun and Taichi-kun. You two are here together, perfect.

Taichi: Director! What's up?

Director: The thing is---

----------------

Azami: Taichi-san will be a guest at the MIRA Fashion collection.

Yuki: I'm sure you heard it too. The director was talking to me about something....

---------------------------------

Taichi: Ah, on the way home I got an offer to.....appear in the MIRA Fashion collection!?

Yuki: That's a fashion show with famous models and celebrities.

Izumi: Yeah. I guess we caught the eye of the survival show's host.

Izumi: I just heard from Igawa-san that he got the offer through the Sumeragi Agency.

Izumi: Hair and makeup will be done by Azami-kun, who I've been working with about the show. And I've asked MANKAI Company to come help with the costumes----

Izumi: I was thinking of consulting you two, but I wanted to hear Taichi's opinion first.

Taichi: ----

Yuki: I'll do it if Taichi appears.

Taichi: ......Do it. I wanna do it!!!!

Izumi: Alright, got it. I'll let the Sumeragi Agency know.

Izumi: .....Ah, that's right.

Izumi: By the way, it seems that he'll be treated as a secret guest.

Taichi: ......A secret guest!?

-------------------

Azami: I heard about it vaguely, but I never imagined that the Sababan episode had such an impact. And that he'd be a secret guest on top of that.

Yuki: It's not like you're a stranger to this, are you? You're the one who helps them walk down the runway, so hair and makeup are essential.

Azami: Right. And Taichi-san's costume will be made by Yuki-san.

Azami: Once you've decided on the direction for the costume, let's discuss it.

Yuki: Got it. In any case, it looks like we're going to be busy from now on.

Azami: Looks like it'll be fun though, Yuki-san.

Yuki: Yuuup.

------------------------------

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[suffarustuffaru]

A while ago someone asked you for your thoughts on Garfiel. I figured the sibling set should be complete, so what are your thoughts on Frederica?

HALLO FINNB!!! interesting question :o my thoughts on frederica are. a little mixed. but ultimately i think what we’ve seen from her so far is interesting and that she has a lot of potential here.

we just dont know all that much about her :(( on one level i get it—rezeros cast is immense and naturally tappei has to rotate through everyone and give every character focus and spotlight at different times. but bc we dont know that much about frederica i feel like shes mostly just Kinda There, yknow? :<< we know way more about garfiel and i feel like frederica being kept on the backburner for so long kinda works against her and the emilia camp in general writing wise just bc she just has to be stuck in I Havent Had My Character Arc Limbo when the emilia camp is the main group we see consistently for rezeros main route ig. or at least thats my thoughts on it atm :<<

plus i was honestly kinda sad frederica didnt get to go along in arc 5 If Only bc she didnt get to see what her mom is up to firsthand. then theres the actual arc 4-5 interlude with frederica and garf trying to bond after sanctuary that i HOPE gets included in s3 :<< frederica is just lacking in screentime and literally almost any info at all for sure. which makes me sad bc tappei LET ME IN I WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT HER !!! >:(((

and again i get it that tappei cant develop every character in existence at the same time. dude has to juggle the most massive cast especially by arc 7. but definitely this has its drawbacks especially with the way tappei writes everyone. bc at the moment frederica is one of the characters suffering the most from it—she appeared all the way back in arc 4 and four arcs later i cannot tell you all that much about her :<

i do think though that what we do see from her so far is interesting!! her insecurity regarding her appearance, like her sharp teeth, her being so fond of petra while also being so dead set on disciplining petra firmly when needed (which is sweet!!!), that one ss where frederica takes care of ram when shes feeling more under the weather than usual (which is Again super super adorable), frederica listening with a smile as emilia gushes about subaru to her. and also her just flatly pitying otto and hearing this guy say hes totally normal and being like “he Literally cannot perceive himself accurately at all” + dropping otto in the anime just to hug petra is fucking hilarious i need fredotto fics to actually acknowledge this.

but also other details like—and ok granted i dont remember every detail on frederica (yet) but leaving garfiel like that is still kind of. a dick move HAH. and i know her reason was smth along the lines of wanting to improve the outside world for demihumans iirc but like whats her Full Reasons for doing all that?? what was she even planning to do?? why couldnt she talk to or see garfiel more in this entire time period?? i think it comes with the interesting implication that frederica isnt entirely as nice and sweet as she looks—or at least that of course she herself is flawed. which is fun!!

also her relationship with clind is. ………..naturally of course i dont trust tappei with anything regarding children and clinds weird shit with children but ignoring tappei for a moment i do at least appreciate the complicated thoughts frederica has about clind. how she had feelings for him once and they still linger but she keeps her distance bc hes like That, you know? that feeling of broken trust and “i cared for you now what do i do with This Feeling” is So interesting to me i just hate clind’s whole thing with children bc tappei will never write it in an entirely serious and satisfactory manner 😭 BUT greed if and the dynamic between frederica and clind and frederica having to help kill / kill clind bc of greedbaru and echidnas shit is SO interesting (and clinds lore apart from being Creepy About Children is very interesting). but also poor frederica……….. ;-;

and poor frederica bc if the rumors about her getting more development by like arc 10 or 11 are true then shes gonna be stuck in I Havent Gotten Development Yet Limbo for a while ;-;

but yeah anyway. the frederica crumbs so far are interesting, the shit going on with frederica and garfiels family is Interesting, and i definitely dont trust tappei with children 👍 but i hope we get more info on frederica and that her character arc slaps really hard !! i Need to learn more about her!!!

im not fully familiar with fredericas side of the complicated family drama but if memory serves me right her birth was. not an entirely happy affair bc her poor mom has been through A Lot of shit and frederica was a product of that. and then her mom later tries to go find garfiel’s dad. like all of that is just so incredibly sad to me and again, i wish frederica was there to see what happened to her mom in arc 5, and also im curious about how thats affected frederica more in depth. knowing she wasnt exactly wanted. having these demihuman features from her dad (im assuming), whos also One Of the people who hurt her mom. knowing that she was born a burden, learning that her mom cant entirely take care of her and isnt in a stable life situation and almost certainly isnt mentally stable herself. garfiel coming along and their mom leaving. frederica leaving garfiel in sanctuary herself. her growing up admiring clind, which is an unfortunate parallel to what couldve happened with her mom and garfiel’s dad. its just so so tragic to me and theres a lot of things you could explore there!!

frederica to me seems like someone whos probably grown up too fast, who comes off as composed and very disciplined and likes taking care of others but also fumbles a little at growing closer and is insecure and uncertain herself even as shes good at being the older and wiser one to petra and later garfiel a bit. but also we dont know much about her so im kinda just spitballing here but she has potential methinks :,) im definitely sad that it seems like the fact that shes a pretty anime waifu or whatever kinda overtakes discussions on her character sometimes ;-;

and also one of my pals is really passionate about animals and gave me a whole lecture once a few years ago on why they think fredericas beast form design fucking sucks and i cant remember all of their points now but like i Will back them up i think garfiel and fredericas beast forms could look better but im not an expert at illustrating animals so HAH i cant speak on that. but def the eyebrows on the beast designs is so…… whaaaaat is that 😭 go FULL beast design or NOTHING. WHERE IS MY EXTRA EXTRA EXTRA BUFF FREDERICA BEAST DESIGN !!!

also ngl i just think frederica looks really cute in this shot <333 ALSO iirc she feels like she cant wear cute outfits bc shes insecure about her body and :((((( GIVE THIS GIRL ALL THE CUTEST OUTFITS IN THE WORLD PLEASE :((( and also i just think its a tragedy just how much shes sexualized :(( and i just think there are. a lot of AFAB specific and girlhood specific themes you could explore with fredericas storyline but tappei is tappei so all the foundation is there but idk if i entirely trust him. but on another level i think its fascinating yeah!!! sad how much it flies over audiences heads sometimes.

in conclusion: i like frederica i hope we see more stuff from her. and im crying about how she reportedly wont be getting development for a wall :<<<<

[wonhuihonwuiii]

Jun + Hoshi (SoonHui)

As mentioned in my previous analyses, I have STILL been seeing people criticize Jun's relationship with the members. I cannot stress enough how adorable and unique each ship is so I have decided to do an analysis.

Here is SoonHui!

Have you seen the way they look at each other? LITERALLY THE CUTEST! I’ve seen several clips (tho I am unsure of which exact videos they are from) of Hoshi watching Jun’s every move as if wanting to take him home (he’s so whipped but honestly same)

To be honest, I feel like SoonHui have SO MUCH in common to not be (at the very least) close friends. They are both part of the 96 line, performance unit, and are called gemini twins. 

Jun is usually quiet so his interactions with most members are typically not as highlighted in their content while Hoshi is the complete opposite! I think he appears to be more extroverted on camera so we see him mostly with those equally as active as him. 

I also think that Jun being a few days older and Hoshi being the leader of the PFU plays a role in their dynamic. I don’t mean this in terms of authority but mostly how they evidently respect one another given these roles. We would see Jun respecting and following Hoshi because he’s a leader. Similarly, we would see Hoshi being taken care of because he’s younger than Jun. I find it interesting how their dynamic is mostly serious but also slightly playful.

 On the other hand, I also noticed how Soonhui is INCREDIBLY supportive of each other! I feel like these aren’t as talked about because of how lowkey these moments are but I’d like to share a few of my favorite examples.

As we know, Hoshi typically acknowledges the accomplishments of other Seventeen members outside their group schedules. For example in a concert, Hoshi brought up the release of Jun’s song, Psycho. Hoshi also kept talking about Jun’s kissing scene when Junhao were in China. In a GoSe episode, he mentioned how Jun attended a Chinese award show a few days after their concert in Macau. In their God of Music comeback show, Hoshi also mentioned Jun winning in the Busan International Film Festival. In AAA 2023, BSS was also watching Jun’s award ceremony backstage despite being in an award show themselves. Hoshi even posted a selca of himself and the livestream of Jun accepting the award. In short, I just find it incredibly sweet how Hoshi never fails to take care of not just Jun’s screen time but actually give him the recognition he deserves by directing the spotlight onto the latter. This was again seen in their recently released 9th anniversary video where Hoshi asked Jun to speak about how he feels. Honestly, most of the time, Jun is given attention BECAUSE of Hoshi. It’s the simple “How do you feel about this or what can you say about this?” that shows how much Hoshi cares about Jun.

I also noticed how often Jun acknowledges / compliments Hoshi! For example, I’ve seen multiple clips of Hoshi being a bit dissatisfied with a performance despite doing good so Jun would always reassure him that he did so well or looked cool. In one clip (I don’t remember where it’s from), He even mentioned how Hoshi creates, executes, and monitors choreographies even until late at night because he’s that passionate and hardworking. Literally Jun expresses how he finds Hoshi cool every chance he gets!

I also noticed that Jun is actually so supportive of Hoshi’s Horanghae agenda! In a video where they had to design caratbongs, Jun was FEEDING Hoshi all the tiger related designs and in the Huya video, Jun told Hoshi about the tiger character. Even in concerts, when Hoshi says “put your tiger signs up” Jun automatically raises his hand 🥹 It’s the ABSOLUTE cutest thing in the world.

Another thing I’d like to point out is how they make their presence KNOWN by being physically present. Hoshi visited Jun during his filming for Limbo while Jun visited Hoshi during his filming for Spider and Fighting (even had a coffee truck for BSS). It’s nice to know how members make time to drop by each other’s filming sets despite having busy schedules. It shows how much they care for one another.

Other moments I could think of would be maknae Hoshi to Jun (which is a bit rare since again, they’re relatively closer in age compared to others)

In in the soop 1, Hoshi called Jun because he wanted shabu-shabu. Initially, Jun said they should wait for Seungkwan since he was away from a shoot. However in the next scene, we see Jun preparing the ingredients because “Hoshi wanted to eat shabu-shabu.” It’s just cute how Jun had zero intentions of even cooking but because it was something Hoshi was craving for, he gave in.

In one of their God of Music promotions, Hoshi also whispered to Jun about his Epik High collab, wanting other members to acknowledge it. So Jun, with zero hesitation, brought it up in the conversation. After doing so, we could see the two of them giggling in the back, particularly with a happy Hoshi who once again got what he wanted! 

Another SoonHui moment that stood out to me would be Jun’s story about how quick and easy they make up after having an argument. Jun mentioned that after about 30 minutes to an hour after fighting, they would make eye contact, wink at each other, laugh it off then everything would be back to normal. I don’t know about you but the fact that they don’t even need WORDS to reconcile says A LOT about their relationship! This is literally how best friends or siblings would resolve conflicts. (This reminds me of that clip of Hoshi watching a movie in the airplane, specifically when he randomly made eye contact with Jun and the latter raised his eyebrow, making both of them laugh at each other’s silliness)

OVERALL, SoonHui’s dynamic is honestly one of my favorites in Seventeen! They have so many similarities yet are opposite at the same time. I do understand why some people would think that they’re a bit distant because l feel as if they’re ALWAYS together given their similar positions in svt so naturally there isn’t a need to be clingy to each other. However this doesn’t make them any less close. In fact, they act EXACTLY how siblings who are close in age are around one another. They would argue A LOT but in a room with many others, they would find themselves speaking up for each other! 

[therummesoccupied]

IDW'S SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, KNUCKLES' 30TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL - THOUGHTS

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD

It's that time, friends.

The year is 2024, and SEGA has declared it to be the Fearless Year of Shadow, making a big show out of showering the dark hedgie with all kinds of love over the course of the year.

This was certainly done to promote the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 movie, but I can't help but feel that it's a bit unfortunate that the movie's release, and therefore the Year of Shadow, happened when it did, as 2024 is the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Sonic the Hedgehog 3 game on the SEGA Genesis - a game that marked the first appearance of Knuckles the Echidna. And so, where this could have been a year all about Angel Island's lone guardian, instead the spotlight has been dedicated to Sonic's other main rival for the bulk of the year.

Rad Red wasn't forgotten entirely, however, as just as they'd done with Tails and Amy over the past couple years, the folks at IDW gave us a nice little anniversary special dedicated to ol' Knux.

This story is not as strictly dedicated to Knuckles as the Tails and Amy specials were to their titular characters, however, as they also use the comic as an opportunity to commemorate one of the series' more recent releases with Sonic Superstars.

A good deal of this story centers around Trip the Sungazer, a new character introduced in Superstars who was the guardian of the game's setting, The Northstar Islands. I like Trip, if only because she's the first totally new playable character we've had introduced in a main series entry since Silver first showed up in Sonic '06, seventeen years before Sonic Superstars was released. It was really cool to get a new character with their own perspective on the adventure after such a long time, and they even got their own unique Super Form to boot! It was one of those little steps that helped make me feel like the series was going in the right direction again - or at least a direction I appreciated.

The story, penned by Ian Flynn, largely centers around Knuckles offering some one-on-one training to Trip in order to help her become the best Guardian she can be. He's an old pro, after all.

(Side note: I really adore this nod to Tyson Hesse's old "Knuckles is Great at His Job parody comic. That thing is comedic gold and this panel got a genuine cackle out of me.)

It's really interesting to see the comic run with this premise mere months after the Knuckles TV show premiered on Paramount+, centering around Knuckles training Wade Whipple in the ways of the Echidna warriors over in the movie universe.

The difference is this is good, though.

I know a lot of people were somewhat disappointed to see this Knuckles special dedicate so much of its time to Trip, especially after the Tails and Amy specials both put their titular characters in the spotlight to save the day from some kind of crisis, but I really love everything Trip brings to the table here.

Firstly, her presence gives us some really solid worldbuilding. I feel like, before Frontiers, it'd been entirely too long since we'd gotten a solid "Explore the Mysteries of an Ancient Civlization" story, and I feel like Sonic is often at its best when running with that idea.

When you think about it, that's kind of what Knuckles represents for this series. Stories about him are often the ones that do the most calling back to the lost peoples of old, the ones that really put in the work to establish this world's lore. Sonic 3 & Knuckles gives us the Master Emerald and gives us our first real storyline with the Chaos Emeralds at its center. Sonic Adventure tells the story of Chaos and the Echidna Tribe. Sonic Frontiers has Knuckles discovering the connections between Angel Island and the Starfall Islands, home of the Anicents who first brought the Chaos Emeralds to Earth.

This time, however, we're not strictly dealing with some long-lost society...

This was a delightful surprise to me. When playing through Sonic Superstars, I - like many others - thought the Sungazers were like the Echidnas: A bygone people all but wiped out in some kind of cataclysm, presumably related to the Sungazer Dragon, and that Trip, like Knuckles, was the last of her kind. Here, we learn that there just are other Sungazers around! Their civilization isn't gone at all! I think this is the first time we've gotten to see one of these ancient societies still existing in the modern world, and it's a really nice touch!

I do wish there was some variation in their color schemes, however. All of them using the same brown color palette kinda leaves a very... Ken Penders taste in my mouth. Blech.

Regardless, their designs are very nice and I like them, despite their shared palette.

As much as I like Trip and the Sungazers, the comic thankfully does not solely focus on Trip. Knuckles here does get his due.

The comic does a great job at displaying the juxtaposition between Trip and Knuckles, and how they approach their shared role as Guardians - Trip, who is just starting out in the Guardian gig and has plenty of people to help her learn and support her, and Knuckles, who has been a Guardian his entire life and lives alone on an isolated island with no one to help or teach him. Between this and his shared story with Blaze in the 2023 Annual Special, I really love the way IDW has been taking the opportunity to have Knuckles interact with other Guardians and offer his perspective into the way they approach their duties.

Through this, we also get a nice little peak into Knuckles' heart, and the way he approaches social interaction after being on his own for so long.

We get to see some of the difficulties he's faced understanding others after having to fend for himself for his entire life. In turn, we get to see how he's grown, and gotten genuinely closer to his newfound friends as a result.

We see him look back on the lessons he's learned, and use them to help Trip find her way as best he can. It's kind of beautiful that, between Tails, Amy, and Knuckles, Knux is the one most suited to an action story, and yet he's the one out of the three whose anniversary special centers entirely around him opening up and making a connection with another person.

Of course, Aaron Hammerstrom thoroughly knocks it out of the park with his pencils. The man is a juggernaut. It doesn't matter if he's trying to portray a style reminiscent of Yuji Uekawa or Naoto Ohshima, he absolutely delivers every time. I'm so happy we've gotten to see so much out of him lately.

His art is elevated by the lines of Rik Mack, whom I've been noticing more and more often lately, and the colors of Valentina Pinto, who does a phenomenal job with a comic that almost feels tailor(heh)-made for Reggie Graham. It's awesome to see them getting more opportunities to show their stuff.

All-in-all, I do wish we could get some more intense, action-driven Knuckles stories, but these introspective little bits of worldbuilding are also very nice, as was the opportunity to see Trip expanded as a character after her debut in Superstars. At the end of the day, I'm just glad to see Knuckles' 30th anniversary recognized among the tidal wave of Shadow love happening right now.

I do hope Shadow gets one of these stories himself one day, but it's tough to imagine him getting a dedicated 30th anniversary story when his 30th anniversary would also be the franchise's 40th. We'll see, I guess. In the meantime, we have a Chaotix 30th anniversary special on the horizon!

I'm super curious to see how that'll pan out. Will it be a Classic-era story, ushering the very first reappearance of the Chaotix's Classic designs since their original debut? Or will it be the first of these 30th anniversary specials set in the Modern era? Whatever the case, we're definitely going to be breaking some new ground. Before that, though, Issue 75 drops in about... eight minutes for me. So I'm gonna go get ready for that.

As always, thanks for reading!

[des2dream]

Winx Club Hot Take 6!

What ever happened to these girls?! With how well they're designed compared to other background characters, you'd think they would be somewhat crucial to the story. Meet Alice (the curly red-head in blue & pink), Emma (the red pigtail girl in red pants), Trista (orange dress & purple braided hair), Vicky ( short purple hair in blue), Marzia (a girl with blue hair, yellow head scarf, & red shirt) and Clarice (the one in the middle with the most detail & blonde pigtails). I've seen Clarice, Marzia and Trista make appearances in Season 3 while Emma may have appeared in the film, The Secret of the Lost Kingdom so I assume they were freshman at the time. By the beginning of Season 4, I would assume they're now sophomores with Alice and Vicky being freshman. Season 4, Episode 1 was the ONLY time these girls stepped into the spotlight beyond being background characters....well, mainly just Alice and Clarice. This episode had established that The Winx are now assisted teachers at Alfea having graduated so that means they can't live in their iconic student dormitory anymore.

The Winx find that out when they are met with the background girls I mentioned prior now residing in their old dorm rooms. The Winx were a bit upset by this, but the new residents (especially Alice) were thrilled at the idea of staying in a dorm previously home to the Alfea graduates who earned their Enchantix and defeated previous villains during their school years. Clarice however, isn't impressed. Throughout the first half of the episode, Clarice was more annoyed with The Winx if anything thinking that "because they're Enchantix fairies they think they're all that" since all of Alfea idolizes them. She was so bothered by them that she sabotages The Winx's exercise course as a way to humiliate them, but it unfortunately results in putting Flora in the infirmary. Even worse, Alice was accused of causing this and is going to be sent away. When The Wizards of the Black Circle arrive to attack Bloom, Alice rushes in to get help and participates in the battle. By the end of the episode, Clarice admits she sabotaged the course and apologizes so she and Alice can stay at Alfea.

That's all they contributed to the series. After that, they go back to background characters. They don't even stay in The Winx's dorm for very long because Season 5 decided to write our main fairies back into students again! These girls were such a missed opportunity! Roxy becomes a new student at Alfea so why couldn't she move in with them?! Bloom, Flora, Stella, Aisha, Techna, and Musa are Alfea graduates who now run a magic pet store on Earth while also being Guardian Fairies. They're done with school so I feel like the series would've made for an interesting new arc of Roxy, Alice, Clarice, Emma, Vicky, Trista, and Marzia becoming the next generation of The Winx Club instead of having our existing main six being 16 over and over again from Seasons 5 through 8. It would've been nice to see episodes of Roxy learning how to be a fairy in a magic school similar to Bloom's arc in Season 1. We got a glimpse of seeing who Alice and Clarice are but we never got to see the personalities of the other girls. I feel like maybe the comic issues did this a bit better, but it still would've been fun to see it onscreen.

[rainbowsaber]

So, I’m very excited for the new Kylo Ren/Ben Solo comic and to see what he was up to between TLJ and TROS. There’s a lot of room to explore his mindset during this year; seeing how we felt about Rey, Luke's death, and his place in the galaxy/First Order.

It’s come out that Kylo will be hunting down a survivor of Order-66 in this comic *Just 1 not a whole group* and I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and guess which Jedi that It will be and rank the likelihood of them appearing.

As a Prelude: I’m okay with there still being a few Jedi around during this era. In Legends there were Jedi that survived from the prequels well past Luke and George Lucas himself had plans of incorporating them into a potential sequel trilogy.

Also- who knows if it’ll be an actual Jedi that we’ve met. It could be a brand new jedi or a force sensitive who survived the galactic purge. With that said, let's get started!

Coleman Kcaj- One of the last surviving members of the Jedi High Council, we know that Kcaj had survived Order-66 and went into hiding. He was a high priority target for the Inquisitor but to our knowledge was never found. He’s only been a background character at this point so it would be nice to give him some spotlight. 6/10

Oppo Rancisis- Another member of the High Council that’s served on the council since the High Republic, it would be nice to find out what happened to him. My only hesitation is that he's been mentioned in Jedi: Survivor and it may be more likely that we see him appear in the 3rd game instead. 4/10

Lyn Rackish (4th Sister)- At the end of TOTE Lyn left the Empire behind, rejoining Barriss in the light and attempting to save her life. I assume she may have joined the Hidden Path and aided in saving other force sedatives. Seeing a former darksider who;s joined the light could offer some good story beats for Kylo. 7/10

Quinlan Vos- A powerful and popular Jedi master, fans have been clambering to see Quinlan make his grand return to Canon. As much as i would love to see him again I find it more likely that we see him appear in a hidden path show or comic will Ventress. 2/10

Tsui Choi- a Aleen Jedi who appeared in multiple Legends comics, he survived Order-66 and aided a group of Jedi to assassinate Darth Vader. He hasn’t appeared in Canon yet and it could be a nice spotlight for him. 6/10

Gungi- A Jedi youngling who we saw grow as a jedi in the Clone Wars, he befriended the Bad Batch after Order-66 and went to live on his home planet. Gungi (or any other of the young;ings) would be nice to see again but this doesn’t feel like the right medium for that. 1/10

Reva Sevander (3rd Sister)- My top pick to appear and meet Ben tbh. She’d be quite old at this point but there are so many lessons I think Kylo could learn from her. They both have a direct link to Vader and learn to grow past their darkness. Give her a white lightsaber PLEASE! 7/10

Sha Koon- A keldor Jedi Knight & the niece of Plo Koon, Sha managed to survive Vader’s attack on the Temple and went into hiding. Later trying to assassinate Vader in an attempt to cripple the new regime. It would be a nice way to introduce her into canon and there could be potential for future stories down the line. 5/10

Bultar Swan- We haven’t seen much of Bultar Swan in canon. She briefly appears in AOTC and we know Plo Koon finished her training after her master's death. In legends she’s another survivor of Order-66 that goes on to face Vader and it would be nice to see her make a full return to canon storytelling. 6/10

[stormoflina]

Hello again! It's the same overly talkative anon from the last ask lol

I wanted to talk more about the social media thing, which it sounds like you have a lot to talk about too! I didn't follow Dom when he was at Leipzig but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the spotlight and reaction to him on social media was not as big as it now but I know he's like the king of Hungary (in a good way) anyway I say that because when it comes to the prem the fans and media are a lot less forgiving and love to put players in a box.

For instance Dom is very handsome (as are a lot players in Liverpool) but he's gotten labeled as the pretty boy who cares more about his hair than he does about his performances which is silly because every player cares about their outward appearance that's why they get haircuts and tattoos and etc. It's kind of similar with people screaming from the rooftops that Trent can't defend if he makes one missed tackle.

Anyway I think if Dom was less attractive or less confident people would stop raging about him loving the camera, if anything it's just a reaction to how good he looks on camera. Personally I already know he has a nice face and I still get caught off guard when he pops up on the TV, bless the dinosaurs that made the fuel to bring his parents together 🤣

Hii! 🫶🏼

Apologies for the late answer! I started writing a whole ass novell to you, then lost internet connection and I lost everything. But maybe it's for the better, because I was borderline psychoanalysing people lol. 😭

I admit, I couldn't really stomach following RB Leipzig just for him lol, I only started paying more attention to them (well Domi, and they came with him) after Marco Rose became their manager - I really like that man - so, I don't know tbh how he was perceived by their fans or even in the media really. What's evident is that he was a favourite of the social media team, judging by their insta haha. In Hungary, it's very hit or miss. He is either perceived as basically the Chosen One from the Footy Gods, or very harshly, unfairly criticised hated on for everything. There are a surprising amount of miserable people who are hoping that he will flop hard as a rock in Liverpool, but then again, he is still much more beloved, especially ever since he became the captain. Our sports media, hmm, let's just say, very amateur, and because Dominik is our most successful player he gets his ass kissed ever since he signed for Liverpool. The thing is with that however, is that they try to frame it more like a Hungarian success story, rather than the success story of Dominik, if that makes sense. So it's not really about the persona of Dominik, but rather the Hungarian who did something that not many could in the last few decades. Or at least that's how I see it overall.

However, all this vain, egoistical gimmick is not something that has been present in his usual criticism until recently. I mean it makes sense, the media needs characters, easily noticeable one or two traits they can give to players to sell the stories and the narrative better, and let's be honest, Dominik is a very easy target for that. For one, yes, that he is objectively a handsome man, but what I think is even more important is the way he carries himself. I think he is not someone, who will 'bow down' if that makes sense, he has a strong personality, a strong trust and sense of himself and his abilities, and he is very honest about that. The media loves underdog stories, especially for people like Dominik, but it's very evident that he doesn't lean into that. Even in Hungary, he asked the journalists multiple times, to stop listening to all his achievements, calling him the nt's best player, trying to sell the story of the 'poor hungarian lad who somehow did the unthinkable'. He seemed pretty rejective towards these underdog PR questions they tried to do with him in the start, which honestly from a straight PR point turned out to be a mistake for him, for sure hahah. But I can respect the dedication to be true to his morals and character, rather than playing the well-crafted PR character.

This turned out into me, rumbling I'm so sorry. I truly can talk a lot. 😭😭 Please, don't be shy to do the same, I absolutely love reading all your options!! 💗

[magentagalaxies]

still feeling shitty today but i also watched the movie "dream scenario" (2023) for the first time and feel the need to write a review of it so that's what you're getting today!!

general plot overview: a biology professor is suddenly thrust into the spotlight when he inexplicably starts appearing in people's dreams

spoiler free thoughts:

first off - i found this movie via the youtube video "ten movie recommendations for fans of the truman show" and i definitely see why the comparison was made. it's not the same in the "person realizes they're in a false reality" way, but the "average guy suddenly is regarded as the most interesting person in the world for reasons outside his control" stuff hits a similar theme. (tho the truman show is way better)

also the fact that the main character is named "paul matthews" which is the same name as one of the protagonists in the hatchetfield series was very surreal

also this is definitely in the "good" category of nicholas cage performances lmao

spoiler thoughts:

i thought the first half was strongest - the pacing was great with the slow reveal why everyone's treating paul differently and him coping with the sudden fame. i also liked a lot of the dream-scenes, i thought they were shot well and had a nice sense of dream-logic.

i even liked the meeting with the PR people trying to get him brand deals, though i think that scene (and the scenes following it) went on way too long and started to throw off the pacing

however, the film started to lose me when paul's actions in the dreams started to change. for context: when paul starts appearing in dreams, he's just this random guy walking through the background while the person dreaming is in a perilous situation. people see him as a meme, and paul seems increasingly insecure over how his dream self is never helping anybody. this changes after the PR meeting when one of the ad executives reveals she had a sex dream about him and attempts to get him to recreate it irl, cheating on his wife. it's never explained why her dream was different, but after almost-cheating the dreams change and everyone starts dreaming about paul being extremely violent

and like. i think this shift kind of works, as the way he perceives himself is fundamentally altered. but paul doesn't seem haunted by his guilt and the connection isn't really textual, it's like "oh yeah paul's fame made him almost have sex with this other woman but we're never gonna think about that again bc we have bigger problems". to be fair, i like that the dreams are never explained, but in this case it confuses the point

i also hate how heavy-handed the allegory gets once we shift to the nightmare. like the "average man becomes famous because he starts appearing in people's dreams" thing is obviously an allegory for internet fame, but oh my god the namedropping of "cancel culture" and even worse namedropping jordan peterson and joe rogan as the only people willing to interview paul after the nightmare turn is just SO heavy handed. it made it feel like much less of an escapist "what if" scenario, and more of a "oh you want to complain about cancel culture so you're gonna find-and-replace this rant to be about being in people's dreams"

i like the recurring motif of the zebras (an early scene has paul talking about how zebra stripes are an adaptation to make them blend in with the herd bc they're easier for predators to pick off when they're singled out. and there's even a beat where he asks when standing out is a positive adaptation for animals and the answer is "mating", which does fit with the cheating plot beat)

however, i think if they wanted to tell a "fame has unintended consequences" story they could have done a more powerful version without the nightmare stuff. like, play into paul's insecurities about how he's never helping in the dreams. maybe people thought it was funny at first, but they pick up on this and start to associate paul with these bad things he's not causing but also never helping them with. i think it could be an interesting comment on the bystander effect and make paul's victimization even more tragic since not only are they "cancelling" him for something he didn't do irl, but they're also cancelling him for not doing anything. it could also play into "superstition" - people aren't afraid paul's actually going to harm them, they just know that his mere presence means something bad is about to happen

also, the whole point of "people hate paul bc he's acting evil in their dreams" is confused by the fact that the plot beat of someone trying to murder paul happens before the nightmare turn. and is not acknowledged aside from "yeah this guy probably had mental problems, maybe lock your door from now on". like??? no, you build to that, and sure maybe that guy was mentally ill but wouldn't it be more interesting to explore why paul's bystander-presence made this guy feel the need to rid the world of him???

the commercial for the "dream-influencer-marketing" should have been the ending. granted, it would be a very dark ending if we never find out what happens to paul after he accidentally hurt someone irl, but the idea of this company harnessing this collective-unconsciousness that paul stumbled into in order to show people ads while they're asleep makes such a great satirical point about the nature of these viral internet phenomena, especially as they're profiting off paul's image but still throwing him under the bus. i just feel like that would be a good final thesis statement.

instead, that ad is followed by more scenes of paul being "cancelled", and it's like, haven't we done all this already? it's nice seeing paul attempt to repair his relationship with his wife (who never finds out about the cheating), but the end tries to sell the idea that this was a relationship story and it just wasn't.

also i don't think the dream-travel technology should have been available to the public if they wanted to pack the biggest satirical message. they establish this beat where the dreamer has to give consent to have their dreams entered, i assume only to make the plot beat of paul trying to reconnect with his wife in her dreams but being denied until the last scene more romantic, but if they wanted to make this a dark satire it doesn't work. advertisers irl never ask consent to constantly blast us with ads (i mean, sometimes there's scenarios like "watch this ad to get an extra item in this mobile game" or skip-ad-buttons, but even those aren't real consent). the ad promises "no more nightmares", which would be made more haunting by the constant invasion of your subconscious to sell you things being a nightmare on its own.

in the end, i'm glad i watched dream scenario bc it had some interesting concepts and good performances, but i just feel like the screenwriter got bored halfway through and wanted a different movie. i wanna see the version of this film that doesn't take the nightmare turn and instead is more focused on the internal conflicts of overexposure. that being said, i'd still give this film a 3.5/5

[paulagnewart]

RIP Pauline Newstone

10th December marked 25 years since the Beast Wars episode Other Visits: Part 2 aired on Australian TV. Taking a moment to reflect, I vividly remember watching it (along with much of that season) on a small wall-mounted TV in a dimly-lit hospital waiting room. Hardly my idea of a grand way to spend multiple afternoons, but the prospect of more checkups and needles paled compared to the swelling dread of how, as the credits rolled, I might never see my favourite character again.

When Candice Santora announced three days later that Airazor's voice actor Pauline Newstone had passed away, that all-too familiar dread seeped its way back.

Beast Wars was far from my first foray into the world of those warrior Robots in Disguise, but certainly played an integral part of my life during the latter half of the 90's. Its writing and expansion of the Transformers history was captivating, its animation at the time second-to-none, and its voice acting nothing short of immaculate. Vancouver's finest breathed life into what could've easily been written off as another 20 minute toy commercial, but it excelled. They made the characters memorable, raw with wild, well-rounded emotions and truly raised the bar for future actors.

From the moment she burst onto the scene, I adored Airazor. Smart, sassy, more than strong enough to fight tooth and claw in battle, refused to put up with Rattrap's antics, and mistress in the art of dry wit. A welcome addition to the Maximal cast with a plethora of potential to grow. Granted the good times weren't to last; she was swiftly demoted to cannon fodder and later the role of "Mrs. Tigatron", but I was happy just to have her around. Whenever roleplaying our favourite scenes or making new adventures at school, Airazor was always my first choice. The original (and Transmetal figure a cherished Easter gift the following year) continued to have imaginative adventures after the show ran its course. For a time, something as trivial as a cartoon alien robot bird meant the world to me.

And it all came down to how awesome Ms. Newstone performed her.

It's a feeling the Aussie public clearly shared, as her video pack became one of the top 10 selling boys' toys of Christmas '98 (or maybe it's because the VHS repaint was, and remains to this day, the only version of her basic-class toy to see release here. But I digress). Yet Beast Wars proved a tip of the iceberg for Ms. Newstone's career. She lent her voice to shows including G.I. Joe, Mummies Alive!, Inuyasha, Monster Rancher, X-Men Evolution, Ninjago, and I certainly can't go without mentioning her portrayal of big baddie Frieza during Ocean Group's tenure on Dragon Ball Z (The infamous "Caressing the Balls" meme? That was her. Iconic).

Ms. Newstone was one of those voice actors I always hoped to meet someday. No means an easy feat, as she preferred to keep away from the spotlight in a fashion not dissimilar to the late Christine Cavanaugh. It would've been nice, but I understood and respected her desire for privacy, and commend the extra effort Pete and the other organizers went to adhering her "no photos" request at BotCon 2006.

Learning of her passing, let alone nobody reporting it until fellow actor Garry Chalk saw her name over six months later at the annual UBCP/ACTRA Awards, is a sad reminder how none of us are getting any younger, and each day those little things which used to give us joy slip further into the abyss of time. Cherish those memories and the ones you love, while always leaving room to create more tomorrow. Fiction generally doesn't last forever, but I like to think her memory and legacy both as a voice actor and person will for many out there.

The above image was taken back in 2011 while in Lithgow, but never made public until now. Far from my best work (assuming anything I do can be considered good to begin with :P ), but a decent day. History repeats itself, as that particular Airazor figure went on to appear in many more photos, accompanied me to multiple BotCons, a college graduation party (!), and most recently appeared on the official Oliver Brown social media page for their Rise of the Beasts promotion.

RIP Pauline Newstone. May many glasses be raised in your honour. You came, you stooped, and you sure as hell conquered.

[eloquentgifs]

I'm going to say things bc that's how I cope.

As a person who thinks that if you're going to do something you should do it right, I can't help it, it bothered me how sloppy this season felt. Of course I fully blame HBO and their cheapness, but it stills bothers me. Not only we got two episodes less than s1, but the 8 we got were shorter, and you can tell. I also blame the budget cuts for the constant yet unnecessary flashbacks, and the weird editing, and the anticlimatic pace. In any case, I want to highlight the things I did like, because I fucking love this show and Im sure that after a rewatch or two I'll be less angry, so let's stay positive:

Since it seems they were having trouble to get the complete cast together in one plot, I do love they kinda let them have their spotlight one by one. Like, Frenchie in the first episodes, Wee John as Calypso, Lucius with his PTSD in ep5... It's not the same as s1, but it's something.

I've seen people complaining about this, but Im happy they didnt invest too much time on the forgiving process. I like it better when everyone gets along fine, and in the end they're pirates and they never seemed to be the kind of people who hold grudges, so yeah lets skip to the nice part.

I did like a lot what they did with Izzy. I don't care if it happened too quick or what, I used to feel indiference towards him and this season I actually enjoy his scenes a lot. I still dont know how I feel about his death tho. It bothered me a little that the whole scene was more about Ed than Izzy himself, but in the end I always saw Izzy as a narrative tool in Ed's arc more than as a character of his own, so I guess it makes sense.

Super happy with the music choices, and also the new outfits.

Really, the first five episodes were absolutely brilliant.

It made me so happy they got Bronson Pinchot as Ned Low.

Huge fan of Zheng Yi Sao and Auntie.

Im so fucking furious at Taika Waititi for his pro-Israel shit that seeing Pop Pop attacking him gave me some sort of inner peace.

Now, things I wished had been done differently: - There were a lot of paralelisms with s1, which is good, but I'd like they brought back more actual elements of s1 into play. Like, the lighthouse painting, the secret wardrobe, the pink robe, a third Badmington (he would have work better as big bad than this prince ricky guy I dont really care about?). Frenchie singing again. This oneis a reach, but I would love to have Mary Bonnet back. And I was really hoping they play with the fact that Stede is "dead". The guy doesnt even mention the Master Fuckery from ep10.

-On that note, I was a little dissapointed on Jim's arc. I was never that invested on them or their plot in s1, but it feels weird how this season it seems like none of that even happened. Even Jim felt like a different character. I feel it would worked better if some of the conflict was related to Siete Gallos stuff, so at least it would feel all of that subplot wasnt a waste of time.

-Little missing opportunities of making me happy: Anne Bonny and Mary Read mentioning Jack (to insult him, mostly); they kissing when the house is on fire; Ed finding not just one letter but the whole pile of them; a better narrative use for Seagull Buttons (well, any narrative use, really); developing the bombclocks thing in a way where Auntie was not deprived of her superhuman detective skills; having Ned Low as bigger villain, with several appearances.

-The general development of Ed/Stede in the final episode... It's just confusing to me. My reading of Stede's mind state was that he was on autopilot since he killed Ned Low, and being abandoned by Ed and having his ass kicked by Zheng would wake him up a little, but this episode he's still in PROBLEM SOLVER mode, zero regrets about anything, still hasn't talked anything through EVER, he's just fine. With Ed I dont even ask for coherence bc he's always been a wtf guy, but I dont understand the "just do whatever you're good at" thing in the beginning of the episode, and he claiming back his leathers and his pirate-self and going on berserker mode and fighting along Stede as equals and blablabla if at the end he's still chosing to be a fucking innkeeper. Also, having a shitty inn in the middle of nowhere sounds too close to the antique shop in ep4, didn't they learn ANYTHING from Mary and Anne? I mean, the innkeeping was a predictible outcome, but the setting up of the episode was really aiming to the opposite, so it feels weird to me. In any case, I'm happy they're together and if being absolutely on their own in the loneliest house in the world doesn't get them to improve their communication, idk what else they could do.

-Still think they should have been lighthouse keepers instead.

-Next season Im totally muting every OFMD tag as soon as they announce the trailer release, because the promo and bts content was absolutely TOO MUCH. Those fuckers had been showing us stuff from the very climax of the fucking last episode since weeks before the season aired. I get it's a me problem, but I do believe it ruined my experience a lot, so fuck that.

And well. That's it. Good season, could have been great. Im happy but sad. Let's just hope that, if there's a season 3, they gave them more money and time to do it properly.

And before I post this and run away from tumblr, Im checking out how much of my wishlist had been fulfilled: - LUCIUS IS ALIVE - Stede Bonnet, berserker era [Not as I imagined, but hey] - The Queen Anne’s Revenge, either being captured or coming back as the ship Ed left behind when he went to The Revenge - The Blockade of Charleston (and make really absurd) [Still might happen in the future?] - Anne Bonny and Mary Read(as middle aged women who kinda mirror Ed and Stede, but they did it right) - Since he was already mentioned in s1, it would make sense introducing Hornigold, maybe as a new antagonist or something. - A rip off of that wwdits episode with the Vampire Council, except this time is the Pirate Council and its members are pirates from other movies and shows [I was really dreaming big here] - On that note, a really weird episode with every person who has played Blackbeard in recent years [Fully tripping] - More women and more asian characters. And more people speaking their mother tongues [So many Chinese gals, not one chinese word :(] - Ed finding out about Stede’s death and believing it [It did happened but not how/when we thought] - Ed meeting Mary and getting along [Never losing hope on this one] - Frenchie adopting a cat (and singing a song about it). - More info about everyone’s pasts. - I would LOVE having Bartholomew Roberts in the show. [YES PLEASE]

[sashi-ya]

Hiii Sashi! It’s me again! My first step to see if Bleach is worth watching will be obviously to read your spicy stories about the characters (like any normal person would do it). Also I was afraid of using my user name in my asks back them, but I remember when you appeared on tumblr with your blog and one piece requests, and before I knew it I was already sending requests (I don’t even know if you will remember, but the first ones you did for Law and Ace, the ones about taking s/o virginity and the aphrodisiac ones, It was me in anonymous, because you looked so eager to write and I was so eager to read your writing but I thought was rude to send two requests almost at the same time), and a lot of time passed and you became a pillar and I remember of your strength every time I see a new post of yours, it is weird, because a lot of things changed in my life (for worse, I’m going through the worst things that could happen to a soul), but every time I open tumblr, you are there, and every time I think the same thing (sashi is here, she is saying something abou bleach or one piece, nice, she is writing, well, at least after all, she is here). I panic when you say you might leave tumblr, because your write is wonderful, you are wonderful, and because you won’t be there anymore, don’t know why I’m telling you this now, maybe I just want to have no regrets, but I think I just wanted you to know, you have impact in peoples lives, you are this beautiful. Thank you and sorry for telling you all this!

edit: I am beyond ashamed to say I found this in my drafts. I apparently thought I had answered and posted it BUT NO, I SAVED IT IN MY DRAFTS!!! I'M SORRY.

PLEASE DO READ MY BYAKUYA AND AIZEN ONES ABOVE ALL. now, kdjsfkfjsd if you end up watching bleach because of my fics I will feel the proudest mf ever!!! KUBO COME SEE THIS PLS!!

omg. OMG. I owe you absolutely ALL my success in here BECAUSE THOSE 2 REQUESTS (BELIEVE ME I REMEMBER THEM TOO WELL) were the ones that put a spotlight on my blog and made me gain A LOT of followers. Thanks to those two fics -that I still get daily notif of- I felt like I wanted to keep going!! I AM MORE THAN GRATEFUL!!!! 😭😭💖💖💖

There was one thing I wanted to do when I started posting, and it was to give people what I didn't have myself: to know someone is there, for you and to make at least the people that read a little happier. And believe me... you have made me tear up a little... thank you, thank you thank you... Believe me I am here, and I'll always be here for you. Do not say sorry for telling me this, it is for me the best thing I've heard about my blog. It's all worth it.

you are wonderful, and just as you said "you have impact on peoples lives". You did the same for me. for real... thank u 💖🥺

[fruitsofhell]

I'd like to add to the "Why did Cinderella marry someone she just met" because it speaks to a lot for what I love about the film and dislike about Disney movie criticism.

Throughout the film Cinderella is established to be a very romantic character, which can be easy to take for granted with how ingrained in us that is for a Disney Princess, but in the context of the film, it is a properly established trait. (Along with her kindness as defiance, which is another aspect taken for granted).

The ball is this one night in nearly her whole life where she'll see anything but the dusty corners of her house, and you can tell just how much it means to her by how she reacts to it in the lead up. To her gladly accepting an obvious trick from her step-mother at the opportunity, to her failing to convince herself that she'll be fine missing it, her once again naive joy at the mice's dress, and her despair when it's destroyed.

When she arrives literally by magic she is utterly star-struck; she literally just wanders around the castle bright-eyed not even with any objective. Then, from out of the blue, this incredibly handsome figure appears and whisks her away to dance in the spotlight as a gentle waltz plays, they then walk through a lush moonlit garden under the stars, yadda yadda - it's that Disney magic.

But what I'm getting at here, is that that Disney magic is diegetic, Disney artists have written and drawn that charm into this films TO SERVE THE NARRATIVE, not just because they're Disney and there must be sparkles and music. Cinderella feels those sparkles and music after a life of nothing but hay, and laundry, and brooms, and it's instantly a life-changing experience to her that culminated in dancing with that beautiful man.

The day after when she's reacting to the news of the Prince's search with her step-sisters there's this great shot where they're scrambling to throw their laundry at her, and she is just standing their in an absolute dreamy daze, thinking about how she had danced with a Prince who was now doing anything to find her. So dazed, in fact, it becomes her downfall as she then neglects her duties to merrily hum and dance away to prepare for him, setting off Lady Tremaine.

The film very much does everything in its power to make the fairytale make sense in a feature length film context, and this includes rather strong characterization of Cinderella and why she would follow in fairytale logic. It's still because she is a fairytale character, but as a more grounded actor than a damsel in a 5 page story, she manages to bring that magic with her mixed with a fleshed out bittersweet naivete that the film wants you to understand the power of. How important it is to dream and imagine a better life for yourself in face of everything, the importance of not letting abuse turn you cruel and spiteful to others (specifically those she has power over such as the animals of the house, the film is fine with her anger towards those who abuse her), and how spreading kindness will be rewarded. Very basic nice things like that, but executed beautifully and magically.

I feel as though a reason why some of this characterization is lost on people - besides cynicism - is due to the animation of the film, and how heavily rotoscoped Cinderella is in body and face. Rotoscoping can help make a character feel realistic, but if it's too juxtaposed with cartoonier figures (like the step-sisters, the King, the Duke, even Tremaine a bit) that acting instead become stiff in comparison. I won't go into that theory, but it did take me 3 watches and hyper-awareness of that to notice many of the characterization details I did.

After watching Cinderella (the original animated movie, which was my favorite as a child), it strikes me how it solves many common problems people have with this fairy tale. Like:

Why did they try to identify the mystery girl using her shoe size? Because the bullheaded king's only clue to her identity was the shoe the Grand Duke picked up off the steps.

Why didn't the prince recognize her by her face? Because his father wouldn't involve him in the process at all, and wasn't the one going around trying to find her.

Why did the prince want to marry a lady he only met that night? Because his father was going to force him to marry someone, and he genuinely liked this woman.

Why did Cinderella want to marry a man she only met that night? Because marriage was her best and most secure way to freedom. Fucked up, but you can't say it's unrealistic for the setting of a fairy tale. She also genuinely liked him.

If they're using the slipper to find her, wouldn't it be more sensible to search for the person with the other slipper? Yes. The King is purposefully nonsensical and the Duke is purposefully terrified enough of him to carry out his orders to the letter. Furthermore, they end up doing that in the end anyway, because the Duke's glass slipper is shattered, and Cinderella brings out the one she has to prove her identity.

Why didn't the stepmother and stepsisters recognize Cinderella at the ball? Because they were dancing too far away, and then left the party to dance in private, which was possible because the King wanted very badly for his son to hit it off with someone and tried to arrange the best conditions for that to happen.

Why didn't Cinderella save herself? Because in real life, abuse victims should not have to shoulder that responsibility, and usually can't. In real life, you need and deserve an external support system. Asking for help, in this kind of situation, is very important. She is saved by others because she is loved. Because she is not alone. Because she has friends who love her, and want her to be happy and safe and free. Because in real life, people who want to help someone who is suffering are like the mice. We can't pull out miracle solutions, but we can provide companionship and if we're in the right place at the right time, we can help the person find a better life.

Why didn't the fairy godmother save Cinderella from her abusive household, or try to help her sooner? Because she's magic, and magic can't solve your problems. Quote: "Like all dreams, well, I'm afraid it can't last forever." This (and Cinderella's dream of going to the ball) is a metaphor for pleasurable things in bad circumstances. An ice cream won't get rid of your depression, but it will provide you with momentary happiness to bolster you, as well as the reminder that happiness in general is still possible for you. Cinderella doesn't want to go to the ball so she can get away from her stepmother and stepsisters, or so she can meet someone to marry and leave with. She wants to go to the ball to remind herself that she can still have things she wants. That her desires matter. This is important because the movie does a very good job of illustrating Lady Tremaine's subtle abuse tactics, all of which invisibly press the message that Cinderella doesn't matter. While going to the ball and fulfilling her dreams may not be a victory in the material sense, it is still a victory against Lady Tremaine's efforts.

Why is Cinderella's choice to be kind and obedient framed as a good thing, when you are not obligated to be kind to your abuser? This one walks a very fine line, but I think the movie still makes it make sense. Lady Tremaine never acknowledges her cruelty. She always frames her punishments of Cinderella as Cinderella's fault. Cinderella is interrupting, Cinderella is shirking her duties, Cinderella is playing vicious practical jokes. Cinderella is still a member of the family, of course she can go to the ball, provided she meet these impossible conditions. Lady Tremaine's tactics are designed to make Cinderella feel like she must always be in the wrong and her stepmother must always be in the right. If Cinderella calls her stepmother out on her cruelty, or attempts to fight back, Lady Tremaine can frame that as Cinderella being ungrateful, cruel, broken, evil, etc. If Cinderella responds to her stepmother's cruelty defiantly (in the way she's justified to), she's not taking control out of Lady Tremaine's hands. Disobedience can be spun back into her stepmother's control. She wants Cinderella to be angry and sad and show how much she's hurting. So since Cinderella is adapting to her situation, she chooses to be kind. Not only because she naturally wants to be and it's part of her personality, but because it is a form of defiance in its own way, and it allows her to keep a reminder of her agency and value. Her choice to be kind is her chance to keep her own narrative alive: she is not obeying because her stepmother wants her to and she has to do what her stepmother does, but because she wants to. It's a small distinction, but one that makes all the difference in terms of keeping her hope and identity. (Fuck, I wrote a whole paragraph about how this doesn't mean you can't be angry at people who hurt you or that you need to be kind to deserve help, and then deleted it by accident. Uh. Try again.) Expressing anger and pain is an important part of regaining autonomy and healing. Although it is commendable to be kind while you are suffering, it is NOT required for you to get help or be worthy of help. If Cinderella's recovery was explored beyond "happily ever after" she would need to let herself be angry and sad to heal. Cinderella is not only kind because it comes naturally to her, but because it's her defense against the abuse she's suffering. Everyone's story and experiences are different, and one does not invalidate the other.

Bonus round for answers that aren't part of the movie:

Why didn't Cinderella run away? Where would she go? Genuinely, in hundreds-of-years-ago France, where would she go if she snuck out of the window with a change of clothes? With her step-family, she's miserable and abused, but she's fed, clothed, and in no danger of dying or being taken advantage of by anyone other than her stepmother and stepsisters. Even if she escapes and manages to find financial security, her stepmother might be able to find her and get her back.

Why didn't Cinderella burn the house down with them inside it/slit their throats in the night/poison their food/etc.? Because that's a revenge fantasy, and this story is a fantasy about being saved. There's nothing wrong with making Cinderella into a revenge fantasy. That's perfectly fine, as long as you acknowledge that the other type of fantasy is also a valid interpretation. (I mean, the original fairy tale features the stepsisters getting their feet mutilated and all three of them getting their eyes pecked out, so go for it.)

Why isn't Cinderella more proactive in general? Because she's a child who has been abused for the back half of her life, who has had to be focused on survival because. you know. she's an abused kid.

How did she dance in glass slippers? Gotta agree with you there man, that's weird.