#best spirit animals character 2024

[various-spirit-animals-brackets]

How I'm thinking it's going to work (for now, subject to change):

General:

THIS BRACKET IS NOT ABOUT WHICH CHARACTER IS THE MOST MORALLY GOOD! MORALLY SHITTY CHARACTERS CAN STILL BE WELL-WRITTEN AND INTERESTING, WHICH IS WHAT MAKES A CHARACTER A GOOD CHARACTER. I just want everyone to understand that going in.

I am doing my best to collect every single canon character in this entire series. I will release the full list soon. Having said that, I am only human. It's possible I'll miss someone. If you have an attachment to a very minor character that I happen to miss, send me an ask, either to here, or to my main @dark-night-star-light. Anon asks are always on!

You can only submit canon characters. No OCs allowed, sorry. But you can submit a canon character regardless of how irrelevant or minor they are.

Voter fraud* and bribery** are not allowed. I know, I know, other fandoms allow them. I'm not, because the small-scale size of this fandom means that could actually make a dent in our results. I won't actually know if you do it, but if I find out you did, your vote will be eliminated.

This is meant to be fun! Try not to get too butthurt if your fav gets eliminated in the first round. I know a few of mine will, since they're such minor characters.

The unique tag is #best spirit animals character 2024. So if you want to participate, but don’t follow this blog, you need to be checking that a lot. Everything will be also tagged #spirit animals, #spirit animals books, and #spirit animals series. If you want to campaign, I recommend using the unique tag.

If you have any questions, or disagree with a rule and want to take it up with me, both my asks and DMs are open, both here and on my main.

Propaganda:

I am allowing propaganda. I am going to put it to a vote whether to allow anti-propaganda or not. Stay tuned for that.

I have still not created the full list of characters yet. That may take a while. In the mean time, you may start to submit propaganda to me. Ask box is open!

I will accept your propaganda if you make it about a ship (ex: Vote Shane, he’s so in love with Abeke!!!), but I don’t recommend it. In fact, I discourage it. But it’s allowed.

You can submit headcanons about a character as propaganda. Propaganda doesn't have to have any basis in canon (giving the more minor characters a fighting chance).

You are not allowed to submit links to analysis posts (or any kind of post) as propaganda, even if it's yours. Everything submitted needs to be something you wrote specifically for the bracket. If you send me a link to a post, it's an automatic delete.

Other than the above, there are no restrictions on what can be submitted as propaganda. It can be as short or as long as you want and as serious or ridiculous as you want (you could literally submit, like, "Vote for Rollan, he's so funny and he needs a hug" as propaganda and I would accept it, or you can go deep and start talking about his parallels and arc and motifs and backstory and personality and hardcore analysis stuff, and that would also be fine).

If you're unsure what to write, I'm going to release a piece of Shane propaganda I'm writing soon. Hopefully it inspires you. But again, there are no restrictions! Your propaganda doesn't have to resemble mine.

If I allow anti-propaganda, there will definitely be restrictions. More on that later.

If multiple people submit propaganda for the same character, I'm keeping them all. My goal is to have most characters have at least one piece of propaganda, so in the interest of that, as we approach the beginning of the tournament, I'll make a list of every character with how many pieces of propaganda each currently has. This is so that if a character has no propaganda, it would be a warning to everyone that it's your last chance to submit for them.

Propaganda is submitted through asks or DMs! You can submit for as many characters as you want. You will be allowed to be anonymous or not. If you choose not to be anonymous, you're signing up to be tagged in the poll that features the character you submitted for. So be aware of that. I may decide to open up a Google Form if I'm not getting any submissions. But we'll take it as it comes.

You will be allowed to submit propaganda throughout the tournament! If you decide to submit propaganda during the tournament, it will be added in the next round. Unless the character gets eliminated, in which case it won't be added at all.

This isn't really a propaganda thing, but it's propaganda-adjacent: campaigning. Campaigning is 100% allowed. There are no restrictions on campaigning except "Don't be rude". You will be allowed to campaign, and light-heartedly bash your vote's opponent (just make sure it doesn't get out of hand). You're allowed to spam the main tag or the poll with "Vote for [character]!" posts and reblogs. You're allowed to send people asks begging them to vote for [character]. In the end, it's their choice, but you can campaign as hard as you want. In fact, if you go into a poll and don't immediately know who to choose, because you like or dislike both characters equally, I recommend not voting for a while. The campaigners may be able to sway you to one side or the other.

I will submit propaganda for multiple characters. I may or may not choose to credit myself, it all depends! I will definitely be campaigning for some characters. Hopefully, this will encourage other people to campaign, too. That's half the fun of best character brackets.

Format stuff:

There may or may not be comeback rounds. It all just depends on where we're at and if I need characters to come back to create an even number. Don't count on them, but don't count them out, either.

It seems some people here haven't read the entire series, but I would still like them to be allowed to participate fully. So, I'm going to put an official description for every character, maybe a sentence or so long. This is meant to be objective, canon, and not propaganda (ex: Rollan is the Amayan Hero of Erdas that summoned Essix the Falcon).

Every poll will last one day, then we'll move onto the next for the next day and so on.

There will be preliminaries, because or else we are just going to have too many polls. The preliminaries will cut out the majority of the characters, probably including mostly minor characters.

I'm going to do my best to save the polls I feel will divide the fandom for last. So we won't see any Rollan vs. Meilin polls right off the bat. This might make the first few polls boring, but it'll get more interesting later on. Trust.

*Voter fraud is enlisting non-fandom mutuals or friends to vote for your fav, or voting from two different accounts. (Like I accidentally did in the interest poll. Whoopsie. I promise it won't happen in the real polls!) If you happen to do this by accident like I did, tell me and I will remove the extra vote(s) and you will not be penalized.

**Bribery is where you go to someone, either within the fandom or not, and offer to draw or write something for them (or do some other favor) if they vote for the character you want.

[janmisali]

Super Mario Bracket: FINAL ROUND

"You're about to have a really terrible experience!"

Vivian

SEED: 1 (215 nominations)

PREVIOUS OPPONENT: Daisy

SPECIES: Shadow

DEBUT: The Thousand-Year Door

BIO: Vivian is one of the main characters of Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door for the GameCube and its 2024 remake for the Switch. while she is introduced as an antagonist along with her sisters, she later joins Mario, at a time when all of Mario's friends have abandoned him.

Vivian's arc is one of the most memorable parts of one of the most critically acclaimed games in the greater Super Mario franchise. the 2024 remake of The Thousand-Year Door was specifically praised by critics and fans alike for making Vivian's transgender identity textually explicit in the English-language release, which had been censored in the original 2004 localization.

in the Super Mario Bracket, Vivian has consistently been one of the strongest competitors, from before the bracket even began. in the preliminaries, she received over twice as many nominations as the second most nominated character, Luigi. she has yet to finish a match with anything less than 70% of the vote, as can be seen in her previous matches against Dribble & Spitz, Goomba, Kamek, Count Bleck, Big Bertha, and Daisy.

[Super Mario Wiki article]

"I'm The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens."

The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens

SEED: 38 (17 nominations)

PREVIOUS OPPONENT: Luigi

SPECIES: Human

DEBUT: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!

BIO: The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens is a character from the live-action segment "The Great Hereafter" from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. she is a spirit medium who brings Mario and Luigi into contact with the ghost of their deceased grandmother.

The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! is, among English-speaking Mario fans, one of the most well-known of the Super Mario franchise's non-video game works. its live action half-episodes were either paired with animated Super Show! episodes, or (as is the case for "The Great Hereafter") with episodes of the Legend of Zelda animated series.

The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens is introduced after Mario suggests to Luigi that they should talk to "the old lady with the evil eye that she could tell fortunes and she could tell things before they happen", just before the woman in question rings the doorbell and says her full title out loud.

in the Super Mario Bracket, The Old Psychic Lady with the Evil Eye Who Reads Fortunes and Knows Everything Before It Happens has gained a notable dedicated following, winning new fans over almost entirely from her name alone. her pure appeal has led her to win against Ms. Mowz, Funky Kong, Yoshi, Elvira, Rosalina, and Luigi: a remarkable achievement.

[Super Mario Wiki article]

[link to all polls]

[jedijune]

Jedi June 2024

A creative fandom event dedicated to appreciating the Jedi, taking place during the entire month of June! Each week will feature two prompts, around which people can create fanwork (of any kind – fic, art, cosplay, edits, anything you can think of) or meta focusing on the Jedi and the Jedi Order. All eras and continuities are welcome; OCs, established characters, doesn’t matter – it just needs to be about appreciating the Jedi!

Rules:

If you are participating, please tag your work/meta with #jedi june and/or @ this blog so that I will see it and reblog it here. All work must be your own. Feel free to crosspost it off-site.

This is an appreciation event, focusing on what we love and enjoy about the Jedi – not what we don’t. This is not the place to air your grievances with the Code, take potshots at the Council, prop certain Jedi/certain eras of Jedi up at the expense of others, or disparage the Jedi Order or their philosophy (including the concept of non-attachment) and way of life in any way. You are free to do that on your own time if that’s your thing, but it has no place within this event.

AUs and crossovers are allowed, with caveats: again, the purpose of this event is to appreciate the Jedi as Jedi, so sticking your favorite Jedi characters in something like a modern AU or making them all Sith or Mandalorian is not really within the spirit of this event. However, AUs such as making a non-Jedi character a Jedi, having a character survive their canon death, giving a character a different teacher or padawan, or killing Palpatine off-screen in an unspecified yet embarrassing and painful manner, would all be perfectly fine. Use your best judgement to determine whether an AU fits the spirit of the event or not.

Ships are allowed as long as they’re not between a child and adult, and following the above rules.

Please tag any spoilers up to two weeks after the relevant content has aired.

Following the prompts is encouraged, but not required. Any sort of pro-Jedi content is encouraged all year month long, and if tagged (and following the rules), will be reblogged.

We also have an AO3 collection!

Prompts:

Week 1 (June 2 - 8):

Prompt 1: Fun/Joy

Prompt 2: Comfort

Week 2 (June 9 - 15):

Prompt 1: Advice/Inspiration

Prompt 2: Balance

Week 3 (June 16 - 22):

Prompt 1: Art/Music

Prompt 2: Peace

Week 4 (June 23 - 29):

Prompt 1: Non-attachment/Letting go

Prompt 2: Cross-lineage mentorship

Bonus (any time):

Prompt 1: Eyes Closed/Trust in the Force

Prompt 2: Animal Friendship

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! I hope you will have fun participating!

Static banner credit @independence1776​​

gif banner credit @trickytricky1​​

[bitchy-craft]

Masterlist

Normal PAP's and Affirmations

Affirmation Series:

Abundance Affirmations

Beauty Affirmations

Big And Lucious Lips Affirmations

Confidence Affirmations

Courage Affirmations

Creativity Affirmations

Dream Body Affirmations

Good Luck Affirmations

Health Affirmations

Inner Peace Affirmations

Lucid Dreaming Affirmations

Money Affirmations

Motivation Affirmations

Personal Growth Affirmations

Self-Love Affirmations

Self-Love Affirmations pt. 2 [NEW]

Strong And Beautiful Nail Growth

Success Affirmations

.

Spiritual Animals:

Deer

Octopus

Cat

Time Related | Pick A Piles:

How January Will Go For You

How February Will Go For You

How March Will Go For You

How April Will Go For You

How May Will Go For You

How June Will Go For You

How August Will Go For You

How September Will Go For You

How October Will Go For You

How November Will Go For You

How Your Summer Will Go

What You Should Focus On Next Week

What You’ll Learn in 2023

What You'll Learn In 2024

Spirit Team Messages | Pick A Piles:

Your Next Shadow Work Prompt

Messages For You

Messages From Your Desires

Messages From Your Inner Child

Messages From Your Pet

Supportive Messages For You

What You Need To Look Out For

What You Need To Hear Right Now

What You Need To Work On *HARSH*

What Your Higher Self Wants To Tell You

What Your Spirit Guides Want To Tell You

Who Your Spirit Animal Is

About You | Pick A Piles:

How People Feel In Your Presence

How To Get To Your Fullest Potential

Let's Get You Hyped Up

Let's Give You A Confidence Boost

Messages From Your Future Self

Ten Facts About Your Future Carreer

Ten Reasons Why You Should Love Yourself

What Carreer Field You'll Pursue

What Direction Your Life Is Headed In

What Is Unique About You

What Kind Of Beauty You Possess

What Kind Of Self Care You Need

What Love Will Come Your Way

What Makes You Addictive

What Makes You Beautiful

What People Admire About You

What People Envy About You

What Skill Can Make You Famous

What You Should Manifest

Who Is Thinking About You

Your Next Glow Up

Just For Fun | Pick A Piles:

Are You On Santa's Naughty List

What Alice In Wonderland Character You Are

What Barbie You Are

What Bridgerton Character You Are

What Crystal Best Describes You

What Disney Princess You Are

What Planet You Are Associated With

What Mythological Creature You Are

What Stranger Things Character You Are

Which Princess and the Frog Song You Should Listen To

Yes or No

[thebunnednun]

New profile pic!! Oh and updates 4/14/2024 (Master list too)

Finally, something that looks like me!

Oh, btw the names Angellica or Angie for short. I don't mind being called BUNNEDNUN either babes.

WE ASLO HAVE A COMMUNITY LINK NOW!!:

Now let's get down to business,

An updated schedule will be as follows:

Mundane Monday: The beginning of the week is always dreadful so let's make it fun with some crack fics. Memes, Memes, MEMES galore!

Tearful Tuesdays: Angst posts will be the main thing on here. I'm thinking of some hurt and comfort fics. I'm already working on a Buggy fic for this. I'm not opposed to happy endings but in general, think of an onion cutting itself for these. They don't all have to be romantic and I'm creating something for Trafalgar Law here.

Wonderful Wednesdays: I will update two of the current fan series on this day maybe three if I have the time. So far the list includes:

*Enchanted meeting (Buggy The Clown x Straw-hat reader)

*Shadows of the Blade (Dracule Mihawk x Assassin reader)

*Capturing hearts (Iñaki Godoy x Photographer reader)

*Please Don't Hate Me! (Juan Ruiz x Imperfect reader

*Whispers of the heart (Dracule Mihawk x Maid (Pirate Queen) reader)

*Love Sick (Buggy the Clown x Straw-hat reader)

*Bound by Justice (Sabo x Marine! Reader)

*Carnival Confessions (Portgas D. Ace x Straw-Hat! Reader)

*If you only knew how much I love you (Sabo x Straw-hat! Reader x Ace)

*Make you mine!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Cheeky~ Crewmate! Reader)

*Throw Me Overboard! (Buggy the Clown x Fm! Reader)

*Gone Fishing! (Sabo x Sea creature Straw-Hat! Reader)

*Good neighbors (Farmer! Bakugou Katsuki x Gardener! Reader)

*Dancing Under the Stars (Red-Haired Shanks X Bar/ DanceClub Owner! Reader)

*In the Arms of a Stranger (Charlotte Katakuri x Bride! Reader)

*Unexpected Dinner Guests! (Koby x Straw-Hat! Reader)

*Tempted to touch! One piece Men x Fm! Reader (Multi fic)

*Shadows in the Night! (Trafalgar D. Water Law x Ethereal spirit! Reader)

*Sweet dreams!~ (Trafalgar D. Law x Hot Doctor Wife! Reader (Modern Au))

*Golden afternoon (Monkey D. Luffy x Crew mate! Reader) *LOYALTY (Katsuki Bakugou x Sugar Baby! Reader)

*You're my Coffee (Shouta Aizawa x Pro Hero/Teacher! Reader)

Sanji, Usopp, Nami, Ace, Law, Robin, Boa, Chopper, and Zoro will be loading soon. I have many, many, MANY, ideas but no time right now.

Thoughtful Thursdays: Just some random conversations and ideas thrown out there. I'll try to host polls so you guys can vote on what you want next. Basically a rest day for me though because there's just no way I could write everything in one shot. (/@ ~@)/~* I've tried and it ends with me updating around 3AM or sum.

Follower Fridays: Requests from followers are posted. If you have a story request or anything you want to ask go ahead and do so on this day. Just make sure you send them in early so I can get to it in time. If you send something the day of I might be able to make it happen.

Sexy Saturdays: Send me your best Saturday night requests: ie dancing, funny adventures, or crazy antis with the one-piece crew or another fandom. I'm very familiar with Naruto and MHA (and any other anime honestly I doubt there's anything you could request that I don't know.)

It's all about having fun and having those Saturday night vibes babe!~

Sweet Sundays: Romantic One-shot posts! Any character of age and as long as it's not a child. I would be open to doing a reader insert where they are a parent or parental figure though. I find them to be very endearing.

As always your requests are welcomed and comments are very much appreciated. Sorry again for being gone for so long. I want to pick up my serious especially and make the chapters juicy again.

I also have a spring tee shop for merch related to all the stories!!

Every little bit helps me to pay for my tuition! <33

Thank you guys again for your patience and understanding.<<333

Don't forget to check out my a03 account of the same name!!

My new goals are to keep up with the schedule and get 50 followers by the end of the month! I wanna keep growing our family. :3

Most of all, remember that you are safe here and loved.

Until next time my loves!~

[bembwashere]

ARTFIGHT 2024 GALLERY 🌟🌌

Hey everybody! Been a while, and that's because Artfight season was upon us! but now that things are settled down and wrapping up, It's time to post all the pieces I did this year!

I'll attempt to tag every artist involved (And if they don't have a Tumblr account, I will link their AF!)

Attacks under the cut! vVv

"Ready for battle"

Original character owned by @s0ckh3adstudios! Love me some DnD characters!

-

"Radical!"

Original character owned by @cyberscraps! Best Auntcle ever <3

-

"Spirit Phone"

Humanised Emilia design owned by @genericdragon! I just wanna give you the little fact that the phone was based off the emergency red phone in GLaDOS' chamber <3

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"Pata, Pata Pon!"

AU character owned by @snarlesofthesewers! Grown real attached to this lil' guy <3

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"Fighting with the Melody"

Original characters owned by @tsunamiholmes! I've had this idea for ages and I finally got to get an excuse to do it!

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"Don't Stop Me Now!"

Humanised Atlas & P-body owned by @sp00kysh4rk0! co-op bots my beloved.

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"BFFS 4 EVER!"

Original character (Little 8 Bit) owned by @cherrppi and Bemb owned by... well... me :)

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"Boom, Gotcha!"

Original character owned by @krowberries! It was really fun drawing this kibby :3

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"Come closer"

Original character owned by @c1nn4-bunny! Had to draw one of your characters after attacking me like 5 TIMES???

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"PRAY"

Original character owned by @vinnixe! Having eye-themed chaos creatures 🤝

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"My Property"

AU character owned by @dustedrosedraws! I've been meaning to draw them for a while, so it was really fun!

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"What's with this clingy, lost child?"

Original character owned by @horizonsroyalprince (Ameya) and AU version of Moon Jumper owned by me! I can just image him shaking his leg, of course, this does not work.

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"Bark Bork!"

Original character by @therealmanorman! First (semi) animated attack! 'twas fun too!

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"Death's little helpers"

Original characters by @wander-bunnies! I love afterlife related characters so much I had to draw them!

-

"THE WHEATFIELD"

A MASS ATTACK ON A BUNCH OF WHEATLEYS! (cracks knuckles)

In order, OG Wheatley, @soundsofastar, Mine :), @fihas, @molkshaek, @mintbreeze, @ifthenunless, innocentbeanie, @genericdragon, Hyperiøn, TheCreatorLynne, Hoopity

SO MANY PEOPLE AUHHFD I die...

-

And that's the end of the gallery! Thank you to everyone who drew me stuff, It all means so much to me!

Good luck to both teams, and we'll see who comes out victorious! Hope you guys like the art <3

[amorphous-binary]

RE: Starscream

Everything below the 'read more' may be considered a spoiler for the batch of new episodes (season two, episodes 1-9) which dropped in June 2024.

Proceed with caution!

I. foreword

I recently went and rewatched the new episodes. I had seen a little bit about Starscream being a lil bastard and I was curious.

I did not watch everythin in chronological order though! I went based on my own interest — by how interesting the episode synopses sounded.

II. Season One of Earthspark

A large part of S1 Earthspark was the end of the Autobot-Decepticon War. The Terrans were positioned as a bridge between the two factions and humanity. There is fighting, of course. Lots of skirmishes and such. But by and by, there is no War. Only Autobots and GHOST. The Decepticons are not in a position to serve as an opposition for much of the season. Their forces, like the Autobots' own, are scattered.

Another big theme of S1 was picking up the pieces of the War — good and bad. There was a spirit of atonement. Optimus rounding up other Cybertronians on GHOST's behalf was part of his atonement. Megatron assisting was part of his. The Terrans, per Megatron, also have some part to play in this (and which Thrash is frustrated with). And likewise, Starscream represents another, much more difficult part of atonement: accepting that not everyone will be willing to forgive and forget what was done to them.

Season One went to great lengths to emphasise that Decepticons are not inherently bad, just as Autobots are not inherently good. It did not always deliver this message cleanly or without narrative difficulty, but it was obvious the main anatagonist in S1 was not the Decepticons, but GHOST.

That's why we had episodes which focused on the Terrans interacting with the Cons. On Swindle and his brother. On Bumblebee and Breakdown's friendship. On Hashtag emphasising with Starscream.

Thus far, Earthspark has been a bit greyer than previous television entries in the franchise.

And Season 2, despite being okay so far, has gone against that. The Decepticons, after just one year, are now back to being more villainous than ever. And all for a new motivation that was never hinted at (based on my admittedly hazy recollection).

III. Starscream

S1 Starscream wnated nothing to do with Megatron. His aspiration at the time was escape first from GHOST and then from Earth. Fine, reasonable, whatever.

His scene with Hashtag was very sympathetic; acknowledgement that whatever pain he suffered st the hands of Megatron was a real and valid experience. Heart-warming, yes, but that acknowledgement wouldn't be enough to turn Starscream over to the 'good' side. Fair enough.

I have seen some people say that the only reason some fans dislike S2 is because Starscream is back to being a villain. I have to disagree. People dislike S2 Starscream because his actions make no sense based on the themes and characterisation of S1.

For me, the callousness of his execution of the Chaos Terrans came out of nowhere. It would be fine in a series like Animated or Prime, but Earthspark showed Starscream to be a sympathetic character who is rightfully suspicious of any haven Megatron offers to him.

Starscream's execution of Spitfire and Aftermath suited Starscream as a general character.

I can see his interpretation of "Take care of yourself". That makes sense.

His wanting to reformat Earth into New Cybertron makes sense, too. The Cons' best scientist (Shockwave) was unable to even so much as confirm that Cybertron still exists. From what we see, no one (Bot, Con or otherwise) has the capability to travel through space. The reformat also makes sense if we presume that Starscream was corrupted somehow — either by assuming leadership (which has been a key part of his general character) or by working with Chaos Energy.

It also makes sense that he would kill others to achieve his goals. He's Starscream.

But for specifically Earthspark Starscream, it is just ... jarring. I would not be so bothered by it if this version of Starscream showed some hint of the sympathetic portrayal from S1. A moment of hesitance. Maybe deciding not to go through with the execution at the last minute because he saw Hashtag or something.

I dunno.

Like, if S1 Earthspark had not gone to such a great length to humanise the Decepticons, I wouldn't be as frustrated as I am now writing this.

Why bother humanisng them if you are just going to fall back on the "They are all actually 100% evil lol" schtick?

I am not saying that humanisation = morally good characters. Soundwave's affection with Ravage (feeding her energon treats and petting and holding her as one would an actual cat) are humanising details, but I have never once went "Hm! :) Redemption Arc! Soundwave!".

Starscream's sudden heel-face-turn was immensely disappointing, but I did enjoy a couple of this drop's episodes.

[ladyloveandjustice]

Spring 2024 Anime Overview: Train to the End of the World and Tonari no Yokai-san

Who knows if poor Whisper Me a Love Song (a cute yuri anime about a girl band... with dire animation conditions so it's currently stuck on episode 10 with the last two episodes delayed indefinitely) is ever going to finish, but here’s some my first post reviewing the rest of what I watched.

Delicious in Dungeon continued to kill it with the second half of the season, kicking into high gear and introducing cranky catgirls, but you can see my general thoughts on the show here.

Train to the End of the World

I love bizarre anime, especially bizarre anime starring loveable weird girls, and Train absolutely delivers.

 A teenage girl named Yoka is bullied by a slimy businessman into pushing a button that activates the 7G cellular network across Japan, but said network warps and changes Japan completely, having bizarre effects on the citizens. For example, all the adults in Yoka's hometown have been transformed into animals and are starting to act like animals.

Shizuru is Yoka's best friend, and she said some seriously nasty things to Yoka before her friend left town. Yoka's been missing ever since the 7G incident and Shizuru is desperate to find her and apologize. So when she sees a picture showing Yoka in Ikebukuro, she decides to drive a train to find her, and her friends Reimi, Akira, Nadeshiko, and also her dog come along. As they travel across the warped Japan, they face many weird encounters and obstacles.

Train to the End of the World is greatly entertaining, as we see the girls encounter nihiists with mushrooms growing out of their heads, screaming goatmen that ram into the train and even zombies on their journey. The dialogue is snappy, and the girls all have a fun personalities. As a lover of girls doing silly violence, I also adored how everyone besides Akira (who is the smart one) has ridiculous combat skills, with Shizuru having her own form of martial art, Reimi being physically unstoppable when she's mad, and Nadeshiko might come off as the ladylike bow and error wielder...but actually she also can beat the shit out of people with said bow as a blunt object. It's fun to watch them go wild.

An example of how ridiculous the show can get is the encounter with the zombies--the absolutely bizarre logic is that since zombies are supposed to be dead to all sensation, arousal will make them blow up. Instead of the girls acting sexy to arouse them like most anime would do, they just say dirty words, and Akira recites a whole paragraph from Lady Chatterley's Lover that she apparently memorized, and they sing a hilariously bawdy folk song. This episode DOES contain the show's biggest moment of sexualizing the teenage girls though- a hyper detailed panty shot that was super jarring considering the show avoided fanservice before then.

And the next episode had Nadeshiko forced to don a somewhat skimpy outfit. Those are the only two instances of fanservice, but that episode also had a joke where this character in this children's cartoon come to life's entire gimmick was that she was suicidal. It was probably meant to be "lol look how inappropriate this would be for children" but it still felt fairly mean spirited at times.

Despite those hiccups to watch out for, the anime works because it never forgets it's core theme or friendship--the relationships between the girls are developed at a good pace, and Shizuru's guilt over what she did to Yoka is explored well too. It's not just a ridiculous anime, it has a heart too. So if an anime where a girl punches a bear in the face and arms herself with vegetables appeals to you…check it out!

Tonari No Yokai-san

Tonari no Yokai-san takes place in a world where yokai have integrated into human society. The central characters are Buchio, a cat who became a nekomata after living to twenty, and Jiro, a crow tengu who is close friends with a little girl he calls Mu-chan.

This is a very sweet, gentle series that has some heartwrenching and dark undertones occasionally.  Mu’s father has been lost to an eerie void, and a lot of the stories focus on grief. The immediate comparison tone and content-wise is Natsume’s Book of Friends, but it distinguishes itself by presenting a world where yokai are very much part of society, to the point where they have to do paperwork  and pay taxes. (There was also a confirmation that one character is bisexual when his backstory involves dating a guy yokai, so that was nice, especially since he's currently in a relationship with a car yokai that's probably meant to be romantic? Yes I said car yokai it is his car.)

There’s also some sci-fi elements mixed in with alternate timelines and what not. I think these elements could be integrated more smoothly, but they are pretty novel. It’s a really solid series.

I do love stories about yokai and I thought it was enjoyable and touching, but it didn’t rock my world the way I wanted it to…it might be that it followed too many characters at once so I couldn’t dig into any of them the way I really wanted to. Still, it’s a sweet, tender and pleasant watch, I definitely rec it.

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

Nisha, did you know I would step on some legos barefooted for you? Anyways can’t wait to read for another fandom I have never stepped foot in and would probably never engage with the canon in just because you decided that’s what to make, and I’ve decided to read it anyways. Home cooked meal. -Rotten Anon

The opening line of this message made literal cartoon anime hearts appear above my head, just so you know <3

Also you have inspired me to post a rundown of my WIPs because I am really excited about what I have been working on. And for two of these fandoms, I know you have said you know nothing about the canon, but for the third, I am not sure, so we'll see.

My Current WIPs April/May 2024

Heaven's Gate (for The Walking Dead) - Daryl Dixon x GN!Reader. Strangers to Lovers/Soulmates/Lovers Reunited. Angst, Fluff, Hurt and Comfort. Set during Season 1 to Season 5. 17k in counting (will be a oneshot). You can find a preview here. In this fic, you and Daryl get separated when the Governor attacks the prison, and though you both believe the other person is dead (or long gone) you find each other at the most unlikely time, in the most unlikely place.

I am super excited about this fic, and the themes of hope that I have woven into it. Because yes, I unironically love writing about hope and how the human spirit can persevere - which is something that my favourite moments in The Walking Dead show. This is first draft complete and just needs to be edited.

The Jaws of Life (for DC Titans) - Jason Todd x GN!Reader. Sequel to Emergency Contact. Lovers Reunited. Extreme Angst, Smut, Hurt and (some) Comfort. Set during Season 3. 21k in counting (will probably be a oneshot - if it needs to be split up, it will be put in two parts, but I hope I can get away with a oneshot). (I highly recommend that everyone go read the original in the meantime, because it is one of my best fics ever.) In this fic, you and Jason struggle with the new meaning of your relationship after what happened with Deathstroke - only for this tentative change to be harshly disrupted by the Joker. And you're still heavily mourning when a red hooded stranger breaks into your apartment one night, seeking medical care because apparently - you owe him one.

Everyone give Jaycen @nctzenkane a big fucking round of applause for this one, because he was randomly talking to me about Jason Todd today (we were having the 'some characters are only fuckable in costume' discussion) - and I got talking about how this version of Jason from Titans makes me so passionate to write about the character. And it is solely because of him that I opened up this fic and took a good look at it - I have been thinking about this fic for months, wanting to finish it because I know I am gonna be proud of it, but I kept hesitating because I thought I had a way bigger mountain to conquer with it. But the conversation I had with Jaycen really inspired me and I wrote 5k on the fic just today, and I realized that with this momentum, I could have the first draft done by the end of this month. So I am promising myself that this is gonna be done soon.

Speaking of which - when The Jaws of Life is first draft done, I wanna host a poll so you guys can decide which of those two ^^ fics goes through the editing process to be posted first. Both will be posted (hopefully) by the end of May, but I do wanna know which one you guys wanna see posted first. Which leads me to:

Nasty (for Stranger Things) - Sub!Eddie Munson x Dom!Fem!Reader. Established Relationship. Smut/PWP. 3k (this is gonna be a shorter fic lmao). In this fic, you and Eddie have been dating for a while, but you don't like that all of his attempts to have sex with you have him taking on a (seemingly fake) dom persona. When you finally tell him that you prefer to be more dominant in bed, he isn't disgusted like you thought he might be - he loves it.

This is one I have been sitting on for a while, and right before it was ready to be posted - my brain lost interest in it like tiktok does micro trends. But I think this is gonna be really great to post while the poll for those other fics is cooking because it's short and sweet and for the past few days, whenever I have seen the cover for this in my drafts, I have gotten excited about it again. So I am excited to finish it and show it off to everyone!!

[amageish]

So, Nico Minoru's in Spider-Man Freshman Year... Let's talk about it.

About a year ago, Marvel spilled some details about the upcoming animated Spider-Man series, Spider-Man Freshman Year. There was a lot of discussion about it, what it was, what it wasn't, and whether what it is is better or worse then what people wanted it to be.

A couple weeks ago, a trademark filing indicated that the show was scheduled for Winter 2024. In an era where companies are killing announced and nearly-finished projects, I was honestly thinking the show was on thin ice... but since it seems to still exist, I want to talk about something that I feel has gotten surprisingly little discussion in all the discourse about the show: the inclusion of Nico Minoru, of the Runaways, as Peter Parker's best friend.

Now, from a Peter-centered perspective, I think this choice makes sense in a very specific way? If you flash back to the original 60s Spider-Man comics, which the show seems to be trying to invoke aesthetically from the little we've seen, Peter Parker had a female close friend who was representative of 1960s youth counter-culture: Mary Jane.

The degree to which Stan Lee's own values undercut MJ's counter-culturism is something that people could/do entire academic essays about, but suffice it to say that she was meant to appeal to the zeitgeist of the era and the character's spirit certainly got through to viewers. Like, there is a reason that she the OTP for Peter for so many people, even if Lee at the time had intended to keep the focus on Peter's more traditionally conservative romance with Gwen Stacy.

Nico Minoru slots into this classic pre-MJ-as-the-love-interest MJ role very well, in my opinion at least? In her 2000s comics, she was cast as a edgy goth social outcast who made her own clothes and did her own thing... In her 2010s MCU show, she was cast again as an outcast, but with a certain amount of doomerpilled depression that she outgrows as the show goes on... In the 2020s game Midnight Suns, Nico is still a devoted goth, but also draws from queer youth culture and has a certain semi-ironic peppiness to her (she calls the player "friendo" constantly - she's just like me fr).

So, honestly, I think picking Nico Minoru for Spider-Man's best friend is a really clever move that slots her into this historical role of the foil to Peter Parker - fun choice!

However, from a Nico-centered perspective, I have a lot of questions about what this version of the character will be like practically... The biggest one being: Why is Nico in New York? One of the core concepts of the Runaways as a team is that they are a response to the oft-asked question "Why is New York always under threat? Why are there no superheroes having to save LA?". While the West Coast Avengers do, y'know, exist, the Runaways introduces another answer to this question: Supervillains cannot operate in LA without permission of the Pride, a LA-based supervillain mafia who made a pact with a demon from Limbo and require a cut of all crime committed in the city. The titular Runaways are the children of these villains, who choose to reject their parent's lifestyle and go on the run rather then be complicit in their villainy.

So... How did Nico get in New York and end up enrolling in a New York high school? That's a big change for her and I hope the explanation is satisfying.

Nico and her team also don't usually appear as traditional costumed heroes with secret identities, at least not for prolonged periods of time. They've used several codenames and several costumes, but it's always bit a touch comedic - Nico goes by "Sister Grimm" because they decide they need nicknames to be superheroes as somewhat-cringy-teens while she later uses "The Gloom" partially at the encouragement of her girlfriend, but she's still largely just... Nico. It's worth noting that both Midnight Suns and Marvel Snap break naming conventions to call her by her first/last name instead of an alias - something Snap mostly does with big-deal characters like Jean Grey and Kitty Pryde, with even other characters more known by their real name like Emma Frost and Danielle Moonstar being called by their hero names instead...

So, I'm curious if Nico will be using her powers to fight crime and, if she is, what codename/costume she has... On top of that, I wonder if Peter Parker will know that Nico is a blood witch and if Nico will know that Peter Parker is Spider-Man - or if they mutually uncover that across the events of the series... Doctor Strange is also set to be in this show - will he be a mentor for her as a budding witch, perhaps even more then he is a mentor for Peter? There's a lot of possibilities there too.

Finally, there's the big question of Nico Minoru's queerness. Now, there's basically two lists of Marvel queers - the characters written as queer by the writers and artists at Marvel and the characters Marvel corporate have actually approved as being queer and stamped with a big rainbow stamp of approval. This is what separates your "did a gay kiss once" characters from your "paraded out every June" characters...

Nico is in the latter category and is potentially one of the most corporate-approved queer characters there are. This girl is BISEXUAL and Marvel is uncharacteristically interested in making sure you know it. She got a Pride variant cover kissing her girlfriend when Pearlmutter was still at the company. Her MCU show is full of gay kisses and has not one but TWO fantasy gay wedding sequences (it also got removed from Disney+ earlier this year, funny that).

Now, uh, America Chavez is basically the face of Sapphic Marvel in the comics and her queerness got reduced to a Pride pin in her movie, so I'm not sure if Nico's bisexuality will be acknowledged in the show given that precedent... but I sure hope it does!!! It'd be cute if Karolina pops in too, helping her girlfriend out with whatever antics she gets into... She wasn't in the initial revealed character line-up, but I could also see them waiting to reveal her and hoping to get hype specifically from shippers who haven't thought about the pairing in a few years since the Runaways TV show ended.

ANYWAY. That was a lot of thoughts, but I'm just very curious what's going to happen here... I love Nico and am eager to see her in this show, but it also just feels like such an unconventional choice... to the point where I am apparently thinking about it this hard a year later.

[satoshi-mochida]

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Worldwide Beta Test Demo for Switch launches March 28, fifth trailer

From Gematsu

The Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road Worldwide Beta Test Demo will launch for Switch on March 28 at 4:00 a.m. PT / 7:00 a.m. ET / 20:00 JST, LEVEL-5 announced. It will support English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Portuguese (Brazil) language options.

Here is an overview of the beta test, via its official website:

Competition Mode

Enjoy competing online or against bots, and train up your players! A spectator mode is also available to watch online matches!

Team Formation Tips and Tricks

All characters have their own Team Passives. Think of how to combine them to bring out the best in all of your team members!

Increase Rarity via Spirits

The higher a player’s rarity, the better they are! To increase a player’s rarity, you’ll need Spirits, which you can acquire by playing matches!

Player Selection

You can select up to 48 players for your team! Assemble your dream team! Teams include Inazuma All-Stars, National Champs, and Alius Masters.

Victory Gallery

Win matches to flip over the panels and reveal concept art! There are plenty of pieces of character art and scenery to find. 100 in total!

Story Mode

Enjoy the main story! The main story, featuring Destin Billows, our new protagonist, will be added soon! It will also feature a wealth of animated cutscenes !

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is due out for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, PC via Steam, iOS, and Android in 2024.

Watch a new trailer below.

Trailer #5

English

Japanese

Traditional Chinese

Simplified Chinese

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck Week 2024

Day 4 - Favorite UMA: UMA Ghost

This is a really tough one since the majority of UMAs don't get much character development. Thus far, Spring and Clothy are the best explored, and the Master Rules are most likely going to rocket to the top pretty soon, but at the moment, I have to go with which UMA made the biggest impression on me, and that has to be Ghost

Not only does Ghost have, in my opinion, the absolute sickest design, he also facilitated one of the coolest fights. Andy vs. Nico was wildly upsetting in the best way; we got so much insight into Nico when up to that point it kind of seemed like he was just supposed to be a support character. We didn't know yet how impressive it was that he beat Language solo, and it kind of gave the impression that both of them were pretty weak, but the Ghost fight completely negated that impression

Unforgettable seems like it's not the most impressive ability, but the way that Nico was able to utilize it to master martial arts and recreate combat data of his fallen comrades suddenly made it odd that he was only the Eighth Seat! As we learn in his bio, Juiz kept his seat low on purpose so he wouldn't be obligated to leave the lab too often, letting him cling to Ichico's memory as much as possible

Ghost and Nico also are just an amazing combo. Memories and lost souls go together fantastically, and Nico's sunken, haunted eyes and aging emaciated body give him a simply ghoulish aesthetic that pairs perfectly with the gaping maw of Ghost's burlap cloak and skeletal limbs clinging to him

Loss, grief, memory...so long as we remember, people don't die, and the addition of Ghost perverts that very idea. The memory of those who have been lost is used to force them back into our world, and to force them to behave in ways they certainly wouldn't accept. Maybe Void would want to slug Andy, but there's no way he and Gina would ever allow themselves to be used to betray the Union

This same perversion is applied to Ichico as well. Ghost manipulates Nico with the promise of the memory of his wife. In Nico's heart, Ichico is dying, as all of his memories of her were before he became Unforgettable. If the accumulating memories overtake and crush what came prior, then Ichico will truly be gone. To preserve her memory, Nico strikes a deal with Ghost and kills all of his friends, endangers his daughter, and sells out the very world itself. Ichico would never be happy with that decision, but for Nico, it's all he has. Despite being Unforgettable, Nico cannot retain the one memory he wants to keep, and thus is haunted by a ghost that grows ever fainter

And of course, we can't discount Ghost's personality as well. Ghost claims to have always been lonely, likely because many people don't believe in ghosts even after his addition; many people manifest as generic spirit orbs rather than retaining their shape. When Andy acknowledged his soul, Ghost found him to be someone he could relate to and offered to be his friend. What exactly this means to him isn't delved too far into, but a UMA desiring friendship is very compelling. I doubt we'll get to interact with him again in L101, but I'd certainly appreciate it if he came back during the Soul fight

Honestly, if there's one fight I want to see reach the anime, it's the Ghost fight. How they would convey the difference between the hollow and soul-powered Astral Dolls, how they represent the silver glow of the soul, Nico's ever-mounting anguish as his personality slowly erodes and gives way to Ghost's possession...there's so much about this fight that I can envision would be so sick to watch, and if this season was any indication, there's a very good chance that they wouldn't disappoint

[sapphyreopal5]

Now Jared will appear in Season 5 of The Boys. I wanted to ask you if you think he decided to accept because he really wants to do it or because he feels obligated. And why kripke wants him on the show. I just hope he didn't take the role against his will and that he won't regret it in the future.

Hello Anon, thank you for the ask. So as of today 6/19/2024 I haven't been able to find any confirmation that Jared is 100% joining The Boys yet. I've so far read this and this about whether Jared is going to sign on for The Boys. I've said in multiple places I think it would go against his family man image he's going for with his brand but whatever I guess ha ha. The highlights I've read from both of those articles include the following quotes.

Funnily enough, I will start with what Kripke said before back in 2022:

"I would love a Jared [Padalecki] cameo! He’s always welcome on the show," Kripke told Variety back in 2022, although there are currently no concrete plans for Padalecki to appear on The Boys. The Supernatural creator surely has a strong relationship with his former stars, Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, the latter of whom has since appeared on The Boys as the Captain America-wannabe Soldier Boy. Kripke cited Padalecki's busy schedule as the reason for his absence, but noted that "if he was free and found himself currently unemployed, I would put him on The Boys in a heartbeat." Now seems like just the right time.

Now that Walker was cancelled:

With the news of Walker's cancellation, Eric Kripke has spoken further about reuniting with Jared Padalecki sometime down the line on The Boys. "I feel like it would be a bummer to not have Jared on the show one way or another at this point, even if it’s just the one-episode thing," the showrunner explained. "He’s been shooting Walker, but with that show wrapping up, maybe he’ll have some time to come in and play with us." Kripke noted that there have been conversations about Padalecki jumping over to the Prime Video series, and that "texts have been sent." Of course, Walker itself has done fairly well on the CW, with Padalecki exercising his acting chops in a role that couldn't be more different from Sam Winchester, so whatever role he'd have on The Boys would have to be just as unique.

Interestingly so, Jensen did say this about his and Jared's careers after Supernatural:

Of course, Kripke isn't the only Supernatural alum to call for Padalecki to jump from the CW to Amazon. "He and I laugh," Jensen Ackles told the media outlet. "We were just talking about the fact that we thought after Supernatural, things would be smooth sailing and we would just be sitting back with umbrella drinks. And it has proved to be the complete opposite of that." Ackles echoed Kripke's statements about Padalecki being too busy to make an impromptu Supernatural reunion happen, but that hasn't stopped the star from continuing the Winchester saga on his own. In 2022, Jensen Ackles produced a spin-off series titled The Winchesters, which follows the parents of his and Padalecki's Supernatural characters in the 1970s.

Perhaps the most annoying quote of all:

“But now, unfortunately, [‘Walker’] got canceled — but the good thing is he’s free,” Kripke said. “And I feel like I have to complete my game of ‘Supernatural’ Pokémon and I have my one big one — very big one — left to catch.”

Well, at least the other castmates would be onboard with him coming on:

Kripke was speaking with Variety ahead of “The Boys” Season 4 premiere, in an interview alongside “The Boys” actors Colby Minifie (Ashley Barrett) and series newcomers Susan Heyward (Sister Sage) and Valorie Curry (Firecracker) — who were all very on board with the Padalecki casting conversation. “As a childhood fan of ‘Gilmore Girls,’ I would also vote for that,” Minifie said, referencing Padalecki’s role as Rory (Alexis Bledel’s) first boyfriend Dean on another iconic CW show. “That would be great.”

Spirit Animals, The Boys and Manta Rays

My best friend and I were talking yesterday about spirit animals as we have been a good bit lately. I mentioned that Jared's secondary spirit animal pair (yes, spirit animals can be pairs AND there are secondary ones too!) is the bat and manta ray. She then brought up the interview she saw the other day where 3 of The Boys girls castmates were asked "Which adorable animal would be terrifying if injected with Compound V".

Karen answered the manta ray. Erin said she was thinking of her dog (Colby Minifie said this was her answer). Claudia said a bunny in which the video featured a white bunny photo but other animals were mentioned by Erin like "Instagram monkeys", butterflies and highland cows by Claudia, and highland cows both in their indecision to pick one. Susan Heyward mentioned squirrels (hello Jensen! ha ha) as her answer and Valorie Curry said "pigeons, pigeons like New York pigeons". Interestingly enough, the question is exactly 10 minutes into the video and ends at the 11:44 time mark.

Manta Rays as a spirit animal from this website is said to represent as a brief synopsis:

Associates with the energy of the East and the element of Water

Connects you to oneness, wonder and self-reflection

Helps to release non-beneficial emotions

Aligns you to new opportunities and change

Opens you to connect to a deeper authenticity and truth in yourself

As Karen was saying in the video not all rays are poisonous. This is because she was trying to make the distinction between manta rays and stingrays. Both animals are considered rays so to speak but there are some differences. Manta rays do not have a stinger at the end of their tails unlike the stingrays. Manta rays also have a more elegant ritual than stingrays for picking a favorite male suitor, which involves making them go through a series of acrobatic twists in turns following the female and picking which male ray has the best moves. Male stingrays on the other hand will bite a female's fins in which he will stop when she essentially consents. Funnily enough, I was thinking about a Super Mario 64 star "The Mantas Ray Reward" when I read about the courtship ritual for the manta rays, which is apparently the 72nd star and is found in the 9th course Dire, Dire Docks where you have to go through all 5 rings in order to unlock the star from the chest near the whirlpool (appears above it when unlocked).

It was in fact a short-tailed stingray that stung the "Crocodile Hunter" known as Steve Irwin in his heart about 100x (not intentionally of course) who was 44 years old at the time of his death on 9/4/2006. Those who know Steve say that should he have survived being stung, he would still be advocating for these animals today that are generally not aggressive and tend to hide in the sand or swim away from threats. He is the 17th person known to have been killed by being stung via stingray.

From an astronomy standpoint, there is the Stingray Nebula located in the constellation Ara (The Altar) whose central star is the fast-evolving star SAO 244567 and is about 18,000 light years away. Interestingly enough, it is also a notably fast-fading nebula. Below is an image of the stingray nebula from a photo taken in 1996 and 2016 (Steven Irwin died in 2006, 10 years before 2016 and 10 years after 1996).

The Stingray Nebula is the youngest known planetary nebula. For half a century astronomers have witnessed its formation, and now they’ve noticed something strange: it’s fading away. “This is very, very dramatic, and very weird,” said Martín A. Guerrero of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía in Granada, Spain, one of the co-authors of a new study on the Stingray Nebula. “What we’re witnessing is a nebula’s evolution in real-time. In a span of years, we see variations in the nebula. We have not seen that before with the clarity we get with this view.” Between 1996 and 2016, successive Hubble images of the Stingray Nebula revealed that it’s getting weaker, dimmer, and less prominent. It’s a shadow of its former self, and getting weaker by the day. As an example, the brightness due to the presence of ionized oxygen dropped by an unprecedented factor of 1,000 in the twenty years between observations. What’s going on?

As for my best friend saying "what if that's a sign he's going to play an evil supe or something?" This would be a pretty cool twist, as Jared has often played heroes like Sam Winchester on "Supernatural", Cordell Walker on "Walker" and Clay Miller on "Friday the 13th". He did however play a bully on the movie "Cheaper by the Dozen". Still, it is an interesting idea but it seems to me he may have just a 1 episode role but I could be wrong, since Jared is no longer doing Walker. I do know with Jared's higher self being Poseidon it's interesting to talk about the spirit animal business because in the Aquaman comics and movies, Black Manta is a supervillain and Aquaman's arch nemesis. According to the DC Fandom's Black Manta (New Earth) page:

The boy who would become Black Manta was an autistic youth who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and loved to play by the sea. As a youth he was kidnapped and forced to work on a ship for an unspecified amount of time. At one point he apparently saw Aquaman with his dolphin friends and tried to signal him for help but was not seen. Finally, he was forced to defend himself, killing one of his tormentors on the ship with a knife. Hating the emotionless sea (and Aquaman, who he saw as its representative), the boy was determined to become its master.[1]

In Underworld Unleashed:

Black Manta later sold his soul to the demon Neron in exchange for more power, and transformed into a human/manta ray hybrid creature.[10] He took to wearing a new costume that completely covered his appearance, and inexplicably stopped tormenting Aquaman and instead indulged in drug smuggling from his new base in Star City. Here, he was opposed by Green Arrow and Aquaman.

As for Poseidon's connection to Aquaman in the comics:

For example, in Aquaman Vol. 1, #17 from 1964: Poseidon, Olympian god of the sea, peers into the future with the help of Proteus, his court sorcerer, beholds Mera, and wishes to take her for a wife. Proteus provides Poseidon with “time pods” that allow him to travel back and forth in time. When Poseidon abducts Mera, Aquaman steals one of the Olympian’s time pods and follows him. Zeus proposes a contest to retrieve a golden apple beneath the sea, with Mera going to the winner. Despite Poseidon’s cheating, Aquaman manages to win the contest. Angered, Poseidon takes Mera and flees to Aquaman’s time. Aquaman and Aqualad follow, with the help of Zeus, and save both Mera and Poseidon from a berserk creature created by Mera. Poseidon vows to mend his ways, and Aquaman gives him a pod with which he can travel back to his normal era.

For the movies however:

Aquaman’s abilities to communicate with sea life, control the ocean and swim at superhuman speeds all resemble traits associated with Poseidon. Poseidon is well attested to communicating with (and even creating) sea creatures, and the nereids and oceanids – nymphs of the ocean – by which he is surrounded. In Homer’s Odyssey, Poseidon is a capricious, dangerous deity who delays Odysseus’ return home by ten years.

and also the Trident:

Aquaman’s weapon of choice - a trident - has always been associated with Poseidon. Homeric poets noted that Poseidon was gifted his trident by the elder cyclopes, the one-eyed giants of ancient Greece, to help him in the war against the titans - the previous generation of deities. In the comics, Aquaman’s trident is often referred to as “Poseidon’s trident”, or otherwise a trident known as “Neptune’s trident” is portrayed [was called Atlan's trident in the movies] (Neptune was the Roman equivalent of Poseidon.) Much like the trident of the Olympian Poseidon, Aquaman’s trident can create water.

YMCA in Instastory

So I see you sent this ask around 5:02pm EST. I noticed in Jared's Instastory from around 8:05pm EST he included in the second part of the story he had the song "YMCA" playing. The end of the song and video in Jared's Instastory ends with "the boys". Funnily enough, I listened to that song play this morning right before I walked out the door to go to work around 7:15am EST for the first time in a good while...

Is it possible that Jared will be in The Boys? I believe a lot of signs are currently pointing to it, even if it's just a one episode appearance as Kripke suggested in one of the quotes I mentioned above. If he does end up on The Boys, I hope he doesn't go on just because Kripke has been nagging him about it.

[rainofbrasspetal]

Inuyasha: The Stitchy Retrospective

Started Inuyasha January 26 2024.

Finished Inuyasha May 24 2024.

Stitchy's Score: 6/10

As a huge fan of Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2, it seems almost sacrilege to have never read or watched Inuyasha in all my years on this earth. A series revered and loved by many anime fans. Yet, here we are. I decided to pick the manga up this year just to say I did, plus it's probably Rumiko Takahashi's most famous work. I went in excited to see how Takahashi Sensei would handle a long running over arching shounen plot. The chapters of Urusei Yatsura that are a lot more plot focused are really strong! Especially the last bit of the manga and when she first introduced Inaba. Unfortunately I left Inuyasha very underwhelmed, especially for something as revered as it is.

The main plot of Inuyasha is constantly hurt by how rough the pacing is. In my humble opinion, this 558 chapter manga feels more bloated than something twice as long like One Piece. It's meandering and it feels like a lot of the time, it doesn't really know what direction it wants to go exactly. It feels to me that all the people remember is their OTP. Now, there's nothing wrong with that but, it is quite telling to me that nobody really talks about the plot on the stan accounts. By far the worst part of this story is Kikyo. She constantly grinds character growth to a halt. Every time this woman is around, it's always the exact same song and dance. Inuyasha is understandably still working through how he felt about her, especially because he spent 50 years thinking she betrayed him for no reason. Kagome gets understandably jealous and even has the very normal reaction of worrying if Inuyasha likes HER or likes her because she looks like Kikyo. These are great tools for character arcs, in truth, Kagome is very young and Inuyasha is very immature. We want to see our characters grow and change in a story like this. 300+ chapters in, however, these arcs should be long behind us. Yet Kikyo, the dead woman, sticks around for SO LONG, bogging and slowing down the plot. Her long presence in the story also takes a lot from Kagome herself as well. I was really excited to see Kagome was the ace in the hole. She can see the shards, she can shoot light arrows, her ancestry is just really strong. I wanted to see her grow as a priestess and really make the power her own but, it really just ended up being she's a worse Kikyo until an arc that comes way too late in the story. Inuyasha and Kagome also have just an okay romance. It would be a lot better if Kikyo was not around bogging everything down. It was so hard to get through and I really wanted it to end about halfway through. Naraku is actually a fine villain but he too gets exhausting.

What about the good? The art is, as always, fantastic. Rumiko Takahashi is one of the best manga artists to ever do it and she really shows it off in Inuyasha. The horror elements are all incredible. Our four main characters all all distinct and very cute. Her expressions are fantastic. Shesshosmaru and his character arc were interesting and he proved a good foil for his younger brother. The real OTP for me was Miroku and Sango, however. Maybe it's my firm love for sleezy characters with hearts of gold, like Ataru Moroboshi or Spirit Albarn, but every time they were together was cute and fun. Sango ending up a homemaker was a little dissapointing but I'm very happy they ended up together happy and healthy.

Overall, I think Inuyasha was pretty mid. Now that's mid as in okay not as in grabage, like so many use as short hand. It was an okay story with great art and lovable characters (except Kikyo) and overall I'm glad I read it. Will I again? Most likely not but, again, I'm happy that I have read it to say I have. Think this manga would have really benefited from being a lot shorter or with some better pacing.

Hopefully her newer series, Mao, fixes some of the problems I had with Inuyasha. Especially since from the description, it really just sounds like Inuyasha but again. We will cross that bridge when we get there, I suppose.

[zalrb]

"At best, the show serves as a constant reminder of how amazing the original Nickelodeon cartoon was. At worst, it makes M. Night Shyamalan‘s 2010 The Last Airbender film feel like a mercy because at least that poor effort was only 2 hours long. [...] This feels like a show made by an algorithm catered to the kind of fans that hate filler and side stories in animation and hates when characters make jokes. It tries so hard to be more adult than the source material that it ends up playing much safer and less complex than the cartoon made for kids!" (https://discussingfilm.net/2024/02/22/avatar-the-last-airbender-review-netflixs-adaptation-is-like-the-ember-island-players-but-worse/)

This review expresses exactly what I feel watching the series now, I'm still on the fourth episode and MY GOD how I want to see the animation again

Where’s the nuance? The complexity? The development? The humor? Everything is so explicit that it ends up being simple

And I think it's funny how Kyoshi told Aang that nothing would be easy for him, but then she makes everything easy for him and fights for him on the island, and gave the answers without him having to make an effort, she simply handed them over like lol?? Aren't things supposed to be difficult?????

LOL initiumseries sent me that review too and it perfectly sums up everything wrong with the live action. Kinder reviews have said that it isn't perfect but it pays homage to the original and captures its spirit and it's like, no it doesn't, it does a superficial acknowledgement of source material things like having Iroh say jasmine tea here and there and maybe Aang rides an air ball into a wall har har and one "my cabbages!" scream, but it absolutely missed the essence of the animation. And exactly?? Nothing is difficult! They even skip over Aang trying to learn how to fire bend?? But we can have a drawn out Bumi episode that misses the point of the original Bumi episode???

[thegayhimbo]

2024 Academy Awards Thoughts:

I was pleased Oppenheimer won Best Picture. TBF, it was a well-done film (and one of the best movies of 2023 IMO), and since it swept the other award ceremonies, I figured it had a chance tonight. I also would have been happy if Barbie had won.

Ditto for Christopher Nolan winning Best Director. I'm still irked about Greta Gerwig getting snubbed, but I don't begrudge Nolan his win. He deserved it.

I expected Cillian Murphy to win for Best Actor, but I was caught off-guard by Emma Stone winning for Poor Things. I had expected Lily Gladstone to win the Award for Killers of the Flower Moon.

I'm glad RDJ won for Best Supporting Actor. He did a brilliant job in Oppenheimer playing a character who initially seems like a well-meaning ally, only to reveal just how petty, hypocritical, and self-centered he truly was.

I am so grateful 20 Days In Mariupol won for Best Documentary Feature Film. With everything that's going on in Ukraine, as well as the fuckery of Republicans holding up essential aid for Ukraine, this is a documentary that needs to be seen. It's disturbing, powerful, and does not shy away from the horrors and atrocities Russia is committing against Ukraine. You can watch the documentary here.

Wasn't surprised Oppenheimer won for Best Original Score. Or that "What Was I Made For?" from Barbie won for Best Original Song. They were both deserved wins.

Ditto for Oppenheimer getting the awards for Cinematography and Film Editing.

I haven't seen The Boy and the Heron (it's on my "To Watch" list), but considering Miyazaki's track record of beautiful Japanese animated films (Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, etc), I expect it will be just as fantastic as his other movies.

Jimmy Kimmel was a good host for the Oscars. I didn't have a problem with him compared to other past hosts who've tried to be edgy and controversial, only to fall flat or straight-up embarrass themselves. Not all of his jokes were funny, but he still got some good laughs.

Overall, a decent award ceremony.