#but it does also have some wacky ass characters and animations

[synthetic-sonata]

'bad financial decisions' is my middle name

[yakool-foolio]

see maybe this is just me, but As A Character Designer Myself i think the rain code designs are some of komatzuzaki's best work yet. they're weird and campy and yet they work so well. i do think the characters' personalities shine through on first and second glances. I don't even usually like neon colors but I think the combo of bright neons with understated neutrals is so fascinating and memorable. no one else does it like this. a lot of the small details on the designs are actually packed with symbolic meaning (esp. yakou's - I'd love to see you unpack all that) and the overabundance of logos is evocative of the corpo-cyber-future setting. the rain code designs feel much more cohesive in terms of that setting than the DR designs do - which makes sense bc DR is more about disparate people being united by their circumstances - dialed to 11 in v3 where the designs are at their wackiest. but this ain't about her this is about rain code.

I love that characters you wouldn't expect (zange, fubuki, priest...) have weird facial piercings and tattoos. I love that the animal ears are never explained. I love desuhiko's tboy swag and yeah, the golden yellow and the dirty blonde and the neon yellow accents don't look great together - and I think the clashing colors work wonders to establish his personality. this kid dressed himself and thought it would make him look cool. you idiot. aphex's hat is stupid. zilch's ears are stupid. vivia's bandages-instead-of-clothes are stupid - and yet reading into that choice is very insightful. (he puts on a lazy air but if he was really lazy he'd just put on an oversized emo band tee instead of wrapping himself up like a mummy every day. he actually does care about how he comes across to people.)

there's a few videos about fashion YouTubers judging the DR fits, and at one point they brought in Yuma and shinigami and they hated yuma's outfit so much because it's dorky and they wouldn't wear it. but like!!! that's the whole point is that it's dorky!!!! his little trainee shorts. his stupid fkin bowl cut making him look like a little boy whose mom still cuts his hair. (which of course turns out to be a meaningful deception. his haircut influences how the audience and other characters see him to great effect.) and yet he has the coolest fkin shoes ever and when he puts his hat and cape on he's got such an iconic silhouette. teru teru bozu lookin ass /pos.

anyway yeah. i wasnt a fan of komatzuzaki's designs in the beginning but over the years ive come around. I'm a firm designer that a character design doesn't necessarily have to look good to be a good character design. I like it when they aren't afraid to make the characters look cringe - I love cringe. I eat it up. thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

Even more perspectives! I think your take of 'bad-looking designs can be good actually' is a great way to look at Rain Code's characters. To put it simply, it's unique! 'Nobody does it like Komatsuzaki'-kind of campiness. Honestly, Rain Code's designs remind me a lot of Danganronpa 2's designs in terms of color. That cast is full of much brighter colors compared to the lesser saturation of DR1 n V3's cast colors. And it makes sense cause it's a brighter game overall in terms of setting and upping the ridiculousness of the killing game in every way! Rain Code sorta follows that with its own designs by crankin' up the neons to really ride the idea home that this game is wacky right from the get-go and it's a Resident Evil game in disguise! And y'know what Resident Evil loves to indulge in? Campiness! Rain Code wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and that's totally chill.

As a sidenote to your sidenote regarding Yakou's clothing details, I have actually written a bit about how he might perceive them, but I haven't yet written about what they could truly mean in terms of how they relate to him narratively. The meaning of the phoenix patterns are painfully obvious though heh. And I also greatly appreciate the recognition that Vivia really does care about his appearance despite his 'laziness'. His hedonistic lifestyle includes his own attire, wearing whatever he pleases no matter the effort! Like I've preached before, Vivia has the energy, he just prefers to use it only when necessary.

Thank you for the TED talk *golf claps*

[jascurka]

I’ve been slowly influenced by your mob 100 art into maybe starting the anime

Do you have any facts or tips because I entirely only know what it is from you and like out of context manga panels

Hi! This ask made me so happy!! I absolutely recommend giving Mob Psycho 100 a try.

The anime is a mixture of funny and serious and will absolutely make your heart ache. It is a story about the life of a seemingly ordinary middle schooler, Kageyama Shigeo, who, except for his psychic powers isn't very special and blends into the background easily, hence his nickname - Mob. He works part-time at Spirits and Such consultation office for the greatest conman psychic of the 21st century, Reigen Arataka. The master and student are going on exorcism jobs, cutting to Mob's teen struggles, then also his inner struggles regarding his powers that he tries to keep control of. His power output (the percentage he reaches) is triggered by strong emotions he feels during encounters with not only evil spirits but also other espers (people with psychic powers).

The author of the manga, One-sensei intended Mob Psycho 100 to be a story about kindness. It's about changing people's hearts and showing compassion and kindness even to people you dislike or to ones who did you harm. I think most characters Mob meets on his path end up changed in some way. It's not your typical shonen anime for sure.

As for some fun things about mobsai, you might have noticed the original arstyle in the manga is probably not something you'd expect to see either but it's still fun and expressive! As it usually is, not everything gets animated or it's represented differently in the anime, that's why I also recommend checking out the manga at some point! There are also several short stories added here and there by One. I'm not sure if all of them are in the manga volumes but some are posted on the internet. The anime does it's best to stay true to One's style and implements a lot of fun and dynamic animation styles and techniques like paint on glass or sand animation. It's very expressive and dynamic. Sometimes shots look kinda "hald assed" and wacky for humour purposes too :]

As for the show's co-star, Reigen... Besides from playing a significant role in the narrative, he also had his own spin-off manga that has yet to be animated and once in a while people get all hopeful it's finally gonna get announced. I'd also like to bring back this funny thing:

also if you ever saw me talk about spiky eyebrow man on here, he's the main antagonist in season 2 and is basically another Gabriel Agreste and my beloved blorbo <3 Actually personally there is no character in mob psycho that I wouldn't like.

So! If you like a non-serious-serious-heartwrecking anime then definitely give it a try!! I'd suggest only being careful around fandom if you ever end up here, because there's a lot of policing going on in here. I've been here for a while, so the best advice I can give is to block mean people, mute tags of characters or ships that you don't want to see. Best to just find your people in this space and have fun in your corner :} Miraculous fandom was super chill for all I can remember compared to this. But it's just a general thing going on in most fandoms right now.

[nellie-elizabeth]

What We Do in the Shadows: Hybrid Creatures (5x07)

Man, this show is a trip sometimes. This episode didn't quite click for me in a lot of ways.

Cons:

I will say, one of the things that I love so much about Guillermo as a character is that he's a bad-ass. He's a fool as well, don't get me wrong, but throughout the last couple of seasons, Guillermo being ridiculous is always balanced by big wins, something triumphant and comedically over-the-top cool that shows he is without a doubt the most competent character in the cast. This season... it's basically been all losses for our favorite half-vampire half-human guy. I hope he gets some ridiculous victory by the time the season ends, just for balance.

The grotesque animal hybrids were... okay, there were one or two funny moments in there, but by and large this humor just wasn't really making me smile. The thing where they all called Guillermo "daddy", and he was having to care for them like children, including bathroom stuff... I don't know, y'all. I get that this show is wacky and bizarre, but that just didn't work for me.

And then meanwhile Nadja's plot with the "magic woman" who was obsessed with donuts? That one just felt like it didn't go much of anywhere. I also thought Nandor and Colin Robinson trying to teach about American customs could have been way funnier, it feels like a missed opportunity for more premium shenanigans.

Pros:

I was just complaining about maybe too much Colin Robinson this season, but honestly his comedy was the highlight for me this week in terms of humor. Every time there's a new idea for how Colin does his energy draining, it makes me laugh. Being a "cool teacher" and doing it badly was a great formula for that. I also liked his completely uncaring "sympathy" for Nandor as he discovered that his legacy was tarnished with lies about his own history and sexual prowess. 

Lazlo is truly the MVP of this season. I don't know how to explain it exactly, but his vibes have just been superb. He's helping Guillermo, but the extent to which he cares about him as a person seems to vacillate depending on the moment. It's subtle, but I think what we're seeing is that Lazlo treats Guillermo kind of like he treats the rest of his family, now. He is on a level with Nandor or Colin in terms of Lazlo's inherent desire to support and protect, but he also won't actually give him the time of day, if we're being honest. The bit at the beginning where he says that Guillermo is totally fucked, but then says he won't give up on him, was really funny and kind of, weirdly, sweet?

Even though I didn't think Nadja's donut plot thread was funny for the most part, I did love the performance from the Dunkin employee, who knew Nadja's new "friend" from "harassing me and my coworkers"... just her dry, customer-service-has-killed-my-soul delivery, really made me laugh.

Of course, Guillermo finds a way to save his weird creature hybrid clones, by delivering them to a retirement home as "emotional support animals" for the residents. That was a fun conclusion to a plot line I didn't super enjoy, so at least I'm glad we got that little moment of triumph for Guillermo!

That's all for now. We're already just three episodes away from the end of the season. I hope things ramp up next week with Guillermo's big secret!

6.5/10

[freakattack]

Somebody already asked for Wario but there were only 2 questions and short answers, and I WANT MORE!

But it's fine if you don't want to

I ALWAYS WANT TO. 5 randoms, again if U want specific ones throw them at me i will eat them

13. Your favorite friendship they have All of them warios friendships make the world go round. I love that jimmy t is his childhood friend and rolls with all of his wacky impulses because that's the wario he knows, i love that dribble and spitz have more of a mentor like friendship having taught him how to drive, and i love that he's like penny's goofy out of touch uncle that does not know how to use a computer. All of their friendships are so funny and i wish we knew more about how he met certain characters (like mona, or the volts, or kat and ana)

20. A weird headcanon

Based on his beloved pet in wario land 2, and the cluck-a-pop from game and wario that reappears in GIT, i think that wario's favorite animal is a chicken

16. A childhood headcanon

One time I saw someone boldly assert, with no sources, that wario was stated to have grown up on a farm. I dont think that's true except now i do because i like that idea. I think this was in his early childhood, and these were also the years he grew up with Mario as his peer and grew to hate him (through no fault of Mario's own, despite what nintendo power propaganda might tell you. They did play cowboys and cattle rustlers, but what wario didnt tell you is that even when it was his turn to be the cowboy he would rustle cattle anyways.) When wario grew a little older his family moved to diamond city, where he would meet jimmy T and probably some other guys and learn to drive with dribble and spitz. But he would harbor a grudge against mario for the rest of his life, so when he heard that the guy had a whole ass CASTLE he jumped at the opportunity to resume their old games and become a castle rustler

28. The most unnecessary thing they ever did? Write a poop diary

18. How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

i think that wario has never matured in his life. Wario is as wario came into this world - constant, unchanging, and eternal

Based on literally nothing but my own whims, I would like to believe that he got most of his traits - both his larger-than-life personality and his good looks - from his mother

[nohmercy]

some concepts I had for tf2 psychonauts au in 2018 that I still remember:

i addressed it 100% as a game concept and not a fanon thing and tried to approach it as I thought a game dev would

the main character was scout, and the plot involved him learning that he had a psychic father who disappeared and he had to hunt him down to kick his ass for abandoning Ma, but finding a ton of interesting characters and uncovering a rapidly unraveling wacky plot about two rich brothers that were experimenting on people in the desert

the first character we meet is Medic, and he was the last person anyone knew that saw Spy. he's a red herring in multiple ways, because you think he's menacing and weird enough to be responsible for Spy's disappearance, and later on, he fits very well into the role of the guy making people into psychic atrocities. but he's innocent both times, he just does normal atrocities. usually involving baboon organs. you come back later to see inside his head and it's a spiralling, confusing obstacle course utilizing ur only 2 current abilities (super jump + blast). it ends when he realizes you're in there and throws you into a giant birdcage dangling over an abyss and tries to give you a medical exam. you fight his second opinion-esque internal self and help him with his fear of death and loneliness

the second is heavy, who tries to knock your block off for messing around in medics head. but you tell him about medics thing for him and he softens up. he lets you in his brain to help him remember what happened to spy. it's a Siberian themed level with a wild animal theme, but with nods to heavy's intellectual side and love for his family. the boss fight is his idealized version of his father, who, upon defeat, tells him that he doesn't always have to be strong for others. you also get enough hints about spy to move on to Engineer

engineers level is a cyber western themed level that utilizes telekinesis, and you learn to lasso things to swing and pull enemies towards you. the boss is a nod to psn1 with a mechanical bullfight, and littered throughout is references to his daunting patrilineal history. he's definitely from a long line of psychonauts

pyros next, with a pyroland themed inner mind singed at the edges. I haven't thought much in this one but it's definitely where you learn pyrokinesis right? maybe some nods to gender nonconformity and identity but you probably get tugged out before a grand discovery

at this point you've learned enough to know it's the Mann Brothers, and Grey Mann has made his appearance and convinced you of how to stop them. he teaches you the mind reading ability probably. id like to think he's the loboto ish figure instead of medic and hes played more sympathetically

demo is probably the prettiest but saddest level. with a theme based on cryptids and mythos and being a psionic warrior. it's also very silly I think but the man has serious mom issues. this whole game is parent problems 101. but! he knows where spy is!

sniper is a hard guy to find and even harder to figure out. you don't get to be in his mind for very long before he kicks you out, but it looked rather lonely and a bit paranoid. he seems pissed off that you only came to find spy, who he's sure betrayed everyone and took off somewhere. last he saw....

soldiers mind is a mess. enigmatic and paranoid, with cartoonish ideas of patriotism and the military. a bit like oleanders, but more wacky. he doesn't remember who he is, and only knows how to follow orders. and he was told to not talk about the Mann Brothers... I think this lvl is about reconnecting him w his past + identity, and ensuring him that he's not alone in his war

when you find spy, you discover he's been irreversibly experimented on and struggles to control his illusory abilities. he mourns having missed your life due to his fear of commitment, knowing it's too late and that he's too far gone to return to normal society. he teaches you invisibility, and you take on the Manns and their army of psychic thralls to avenge him and end up inside his mind

his mind is a nod to noir films, with a jazzy mysterious soundtrack and an intense art style shift. you hunt down a criminal to save a woman, only to discover it's spy himself. the theme is based around self, love, and the fear of your job ruining your life. he fights you as an invisible-man style villain, and upon defeat, he helps you detain the Mann Brothers and reveals that he is a psychonaut spy.

I have more ideas probably but it's way less fun to read then than see them

[madcatdaderpydrawer-blog]

The Foxy Mimic was still living in the Lost and Found. He was not watching the channel, and did not know that Monty knows.

As soon as he sees the title of the video where Monty found out, he drops the act and tries to run. Sounds like the same one Sun and Moon saw.

Monty proceeds to try to hunt him for sport. And enjoys it. When they caught him, they beat him unconscious.

Mimic wakes up in the tube, naked. He is given an ultimatum: 30 minutes of torture, or two hours of dying.

Mimic picked Foxy because he made it super easy, and it’s in Mimic’s code to cause chaos.

Mimic is “one of the smaller ones” but can change his size to fit whichever suit he wants.

Monty asks which side of the guitar would hurt more. Mimic tells them with no hesitation. Monty explains that they weren’t talking about beating him to death, they were talking about shoving it up his ass. Mimic points out that he doesn’t have an ass to shove it up. Monty says it doesn’t matter, it will still hurt.

Mimic is “not really one of the smart ones”

Mimic is very blatantly studying Monty’s body and mannerisms while Monty informs him that he’s dying today.

Monty leaves for two minutes to call Puppet. When he comes back, Mimic has somehow gotten and put on a Monty suit. While still in the tube.

Momty calls Foxy to inform him. Mimic proceeds to scream for help over the phone in Monty’s voice.

While Foxy confirms Monty’s identity, Mimic escapes.

Monty decides to take their glasses off to differentiate themself from Mimic. And are also confused about how Mimic got a Monty suit, since they don’t have any spares.

He/It pronouns for Mimic I guess?

Mimic and Crazy Fangirl have a channel, and it is flopping.

Monty suspects that Mimic might still be in the tube, pretending to be the chair.

Puppet shows up, learns Mimic escaped and has a Monty suit, and gets suspicious. Monty proceeds to aggressively drop their SSN and credit card information completely unprompted, much to Puppet’s confusion.

Puppet’s been doing his homework. All Mimics are different, all of them are chaotic, and all of them are weirdos.

Puppet thinks Mimic grabbed several schematics from the tube’s computer in the two minutes Monty called him.

Puppet points out that Monty is already chaotic and aggressive, so less people are likely to suspect ‘Monty’ of being the Mimic.

New mystery character Puppet knows to be introduced at some point to help.

Puppet tells Monty to break the P&S computer in case Mimic is still around, so it can’t steal anymore schematics. He doesn’t even finish explaining before Monty starts punching it.

Monty’s fist gets stuck in the screen.

Monty blackmails Puppet into helping him get their hand unstuck, by threatening to leak his internet history. It does not work, all Puppet watches is anime, and he is proud of it.

Puppet does eventually help. Monty immediately punches him in the face. It was originally going to be a prank where Monty pulls their fist out and flicks Puppet, but Puppet pissed them off by being incredibly unwilling to help, so they punched him instead.

Puppet is not amused. He wasn’t hurt, but he’s very annoyed. Monty tries to make it up to him, but he refuses. He decides he’s done helping Monty. Monty rightfully feels like an ass.

Mimic: You go out there, and do your thing. I’ll be here. In this little cage. That can for sure hold me.

___

Monty: I guess you could ask me a question only the REAL Monty would know!

Foxy: Sure. What are the last four of your social security number?

Monty: I- Ask me a different question that won’t get leaked out on the internet

Foxy: Okay. What the the wacky 3 digits on the back of your credit card?

Monty: *Censored*

Foxy: That’s- that’s correct. Address?

Monty: I- This place???

Guess it makes sense why he doesn’t have the glasses on now

[a-pale-azure-moon]

I SAW THE SUPER MARIO BROS MOVIE!

Overall verdict: I liked it! The art and animation are beautiful, there are SO MANY fun nods and Easter Eggs to the franchise and Nintendo's history as a whole, and it felt like the creators really wanted to do right by the series. There are some small things in it that either felt out of place or didn't quite work, but taken as a whole package, I enjoyed it. The last third of the movie especially was fantastic and had me grinning like a fool all the way to the end. If you're a fan of the series, you should definitely see it at some point, either now or when it comes to streaming. Totally worth it.

Some other thoughts with some spoilers under the cut.

-I like that they didn't try to explain or rationalize the inherent weirdness of the Mushroom Kingdom. We don't need to know how or why the blocks float, or where the powerups and prize blocks come from. They just exist, and that's how it should be. The Mario universe runs on being wacky and strange and I'm glad the movie didn't try to make it something it's not.

-I generally have a not-so-great opinion about casting celebrities to do the voice overs in animated films, because I see it as a big F-U to actual voice actors. But the cast here is fine. Jack Black's the standout as Bowser as we all pretty much knew, but the rest of the cast does a good job overall. I do not like Seth Rogan and he didn't make any effort to not sound like himself as Donkey Kong, but I was able to ignore it anyway. YMMV. I don't dislike Anya Taylor-Joy's take on Peach, but her voice feels too deep for the character.

-I laughed at the reveal that Mario doesn't like mushrooms (womp womp). Poor guy.

-The brotherly moments between Mario and Luigi were super wholesome and I loved them, especially how they hug when they're reunited.

-One of my fears about the film was what they'd do with Peach, mainly a concern that they'd turn her into a more generic Hollywood "girlboss" and strip her of her personality. Or turn her into a snarky jerk. Thankfully, that's not the case. While she is more of an action princess here than we typically see of her (and to anyone complaining about or questioning that, shut up. Peach has always been capable of platforming and kicking ass since 1988), she is still essentially Peach. She's always in her signature pink aside from when she's using a power up, she's sweet and kind and protective of her subjects, and she grows to be Mario's biggest supporter (Luigi aside).

-They also slipped in an origin story for her (kinda) which was neat. And possibly a sequel hook. And I like how this movie makes clear that she loves the toads and they love her too, something that's implied in the games but wasn't always explicitly shown.

-THE ARE SO MANY EASTER EGGS. I'm guessing it's impossible to find them all without a guide. And the references generally aren't slammed in your face but hidden in background details or in the music, which makes it even better. I think my favorite was Luigi's ringtone being the Gamecube startup jingle.

-Seriously, the art direction and animation are incredible. I hope the entire crew gets a raise. I love how the Mushroom Kingdom looks and my only complaint is that I wanted to see more of it.

-The score is incredible too. It's mind-boggling how many classic Mario themes and musical nods you can hear at different points. If you played a drinking game with it, you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning less than halfway through the movie.

-Bowser's probably the funniest character, and it does nothing to reduce how threatening he is (he's downright terrifying in the climax). But special shoutout to the Luma who spouts some of the best lines in the film. They're incredibly dark, but I love that little guy.

-Dry Bones are nightmare fuel here and I love it.

-The complaints about the pacing aren't entirely off. The movie does feel a little too brisk, but some of that I think is that early in, there's a lot of "bullet points" plot progression, where Mario and Peach are just doing X, Y and Z for the plot while we intercut with what's going on with Luigi or Bowser. There's not a ton of connective tissue between these scenes and so it feels a bit disjointed, and the result is that things happen rapid fire. It's not necessarily bad, but it is something that could've been done more smoothly.

-The third act is by far the strongest part of the film. Once the Rainbow Road sequence starts (which is a gorgeous set piece), the flow of the movie feels more natural. The strong ending does a lot to patch up some of the flaws in the middle parts.

-The final battle with Bowser is awesome. Mario and Luigi both kick the crap out of him while powered by an invincibility star, and they cap it off by spinning him by the tail a la SM64. Perfection.

-While the original score is great as I mentioned, I think some exec made them shove in some 80s pop songs and they feel quite out of place. The worst offender by far is "Take on Me" playing when Mario reaches the Kong Kingdom. It doesn't fit for either the vibe of the scene or for the movie in general. You can't tell me they couldn't have done a remix of some DKC music there instead.

-The jokes are a bit hit or miss at times. There's plenty of genuinely funny moments (Bowser's love ballad is probably the highlight), but there are some one-liners that don't land. They're too "captain obvious" to be either jokes or exposition, so they just fall flat.

-I think the complaints about the "thin plot" comes from Disney/Pixar bias that animated movies are supposed to have hidden deeper meanings and there needs to be angsty moments within the wacky hijinks. And uh...Mario's never been about that. Even the more story heavy RPGs in the series tend to run more on rule of funny rather than trying to be dramatic. If they make a Zelda movie (please), I would expect it to have some genuine pathos, but I don't need that in a Mario movie. To me, the thing that is quintessential about the series (especially the platformers) is a sense of wonder and joy. I think they ably captured that in the movie. There are two emotional through lines: a) Mario and Luigi's brotherly love and b) Mario trying to figure out who he is what he wants to do. And neither needs to be dwelt on much because the brothers are happily reunited and Mario becomes a hero over the course of the film. It's simple and it works.

-The movie is very "safe" in that it didn't take any real risks with the property, but that's OK too. Given how infamously horrible the 1993 film turned out, it's hard to blame Nintendo for wanting to stick with what they knew would work.

-THE YOSHI EGG AFTER THE CREDITS OMG!

-This really is the Mario movie I wanted back in 1993. I had to wait 30 years for it, but I think it was worth it. Bring on the Nintendo Cinematic Universe!

[littlealeta]

Adam Sandler's Leo Review

I can't believe I liked an Adam Sandler film this much!

Story

One thing that the trailers did poorly is showing what the problems were. They made it look like they were going to be normal 5th grade problems and while some of them were, most of them were actually pretty original and not something usually done in other kids films. One girl who I think might have ADHD struggles with socializing with her peers because of her incessant talking. A boy is having problems being upfront with his overprotective drone. A girl thinks she has to live up to her “perfect” parents, but then realizes they’re not perfect. Even the teacher has her problems. The movie does a good job at showing the complexity of humans and why they act the way they do without watering it down to a message like “Don’t give up” and “Move on”.

I was really worried about how they were going to do the two plots of Leo trying to escape from captivity and him being a therapist to the other kids, but it actually worked for his character development by not only giving him subplots, but also giving him both external and inner conflict with becoming free. I think having it be a musical made it more entertaining to watch, but I think it should’ve been a TV show instead of a movie. The escaping plot just got thrown out the window.

However, I would say pretty much the entirety of the third act’s story felt contrived. It didn’t really make sense and it felt like they just wanted to get it out of the way as soon as possible, so in short, pretty rushed. A lot of the movie doesn’t make sense though, so if you dislike Sony Animation’s more cartoony style of humor and visuals, you might not like this one.

Which brings me to the humor, which is a real mixed bag. A lot of lowbrow humor, more than most kids films and some of the contrived jokes and dialogue just made me cringe for whatever reason. Like some jokes just have the characters talking stupid for no reason, I know that’s the point of the film, but I’ve seen it done better in things such as Spongebob. However, there is a lot of wit to laugh at here, something the trailers never showcased.

Characters

Again, I do think this should’ve been a TV show to better develop a lot of the characters, but for what it’s worth, they’re quirky and funny enough. Even the ones you don’t like at first turn out to be three-dimensional, complete with character development. And their funny humor redeems the unlikeability they had before.

I would love to see Leo helping out more kids. Develop those annoying, ugly-ass kindergarteners, Leo!

Animation/Music/Voice Acting

Nothing special to say about the animation. It pretty much looks just like any other animated film out there. However, the monstrous looking kindergartners rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. I guess that’s the point, but they just looked too wacky. Even the goldfish looks out of place, being a more realistic design. The voice actors provide a lot of humor and charm for the characters. The music is used to portray Leo’s conversation with the kids which is an original touch. The music is a mixed bag, with some forgettable and some catchy tunes.

Overall

While the childish Adam Sandler-styled humor might be off-putting, I think the witty jokes, the quirky and well-developed characters, and a story full of heart make up for those fairly glaring problems. However, I think the film should've been a tv series in order to better pace the somewhat awkward story and develop all the characters.

I give Leo 7.6 bells out of 10

Maaybe even 7.7, just because of the rewatchable value.

As someone who is not too fond of silly, cartoonish humor, I initially didn’t think I would like this film very much at first, but it just got better and better as it went on and I found myself enjoying some of the silly, cartoonish humor, probably more than in films such as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

It’s really sad that this film doesn’t get a lot of attention, but I blame the terrible marketing and the fact that Adam Sandler is in this. Still, I’d definitely recommend it. Even if the more absurd, childish humor isn’t your cup of tea.

[thiefnessman]

as stupid as i think a netflix live action of one piece, a famously very cartoonish and incredibly long series, is, i am enjoying watching it. uh putting down a read more but here r my thoughts after 2 & a half episodes.

i don’t know one piece all that well so i can’t speak on how good of an adaptation it is, but i think it’s doing well? visually, apart from the sepia filter, it looks decent as far as a live action one piece could go (which is still a weird thing to do but). they don’t lean into the ridiculousness enough with some of the characters, i think, but they do have a lot of people who look fucking weird and it’s great.

Buggy was really cool imo? I have no idea if his portrayal in OPLA matches the original tonally, because he’s definitely scary in this, but i imagine w clown who can separate his body parts at will is supposed to be kinda scary. The CGI was definitely weird at points (when his head is in an audience member’s lap it looked really bad) but because most of it is fast-paced action scenes it managed to look pretty cool. The actor was also like, amazing imo. Like, he’s playing an anime clown pirate, some people might be lame and half-ass it, but he’s putting his whole pussy into it. Idk I’m just obsessed with Buggy now, that was so cool.

Shanks looks bad. I thought he looked kinda stupid so I looked up his original design and and it made me think it looked worse. like i know you can’t cast someone who is just like, a cartoon shape, so i can overlook the body proportions, but the wig is TERRIBLE. he doesn’t look cool with it! he’s supposed to be someone we should find cool (i think) and he just looks scraggly. considering his hair is this defining trait apparently i think they should’ve done better.

luffy is great. his actor is amazing, there’s no sort of irritating self-awareness or anything he is fully committing to being luffy who is so hyped about everything ever. i think the casting was great appearance-wise as well, he looks like luffy imo. In terms of Luffy’s powers it’s surprisingly not as bad as i thought it would be? Like it’s still cursed to see it in live action but i think they get away with it with the way they shoot and pace it.

i think they do a similar thing with Zoro’s mouth sword, trying to shoot it and pace it so that they can use it without it actually being unsafe for the actor but also not looking obviously edited in. he obviously doesn’t have it in as much as his anime counterpart does, bc you can’t actually talk with a sword in your mouth, but they still have him fight with it. Again, it’s one of the many things where it’s like “ok this is probably a sign you shouldn’t have done a live action adaptation of this series, but you did a good job with it considering”

btw I know Alvida or uhhh whatever her name was was bad but honestly that was cool and pretty girlboss of her.

also captain morgan’s son didn’t look stupid enough imo. even when he got the bad haircut it didn’t look bad enough. idk his name i don’t think they’ve said it.

i am glad they have usopp looking like a normal human person bc that would be a terrible look to have the black major character look especially wacky, especially since the eyebrow guy doesn’t have his eyebrows, and his design and some other characters’ designs are kinda what have turned me off of one piece? like the length is the primary factor but also the kinda racist-looking design of a major character (as well as others) isn’t helping. i am disappointed that the eyebrow guy doesn’t have his eyebrows though bc that would be hilarious.

[mossmittens]

*aa4 spoiler warning for allie*

some super long and rambley thoughts about aa4

story i feel like the final case could have been done differently. i know it's following the pattern of the aa1 and aa2 (intro case > case connected to final and case that's mostly unconnected > final big case) but i think it would have benefited from something similar to aa3, with intermittent trials/investigations to move it along in the background. or even just like mentions of kristoph from apollo, phoenix, or klavier during the investigations.

i did like the mason system and going back and forth between the time periods, in part because i loved and missed phoenix's inner dialogue. the jurist system didn't feel earned, though. one, trying to fix the wacky legal system in this game feels kinda. hard? and why did phoenix need to disappear for days to do that? leaving some space that this could be explained in the next game, but uh. shoulda been in this one.

characters ive been trying to avoid the tags for spoiler reasons, but i know there's some discussion about this version of phoenix and whether it's good characterization or not. haven't read it all, but i will say that it tracks for me (mostly), particularly after the sections where we get to play as him post-disbarring. he does mention having a good poker face, etc. my biggest problem is the lack of maya, pearl, and edgeworth. i get why they aren't present in the game, it's not a PW game, they need new characters. but the fact they aren't reallymentioned casually in dialogue is meh. the most we get is the steel samurai dvds, which i think are from maya despite the "big allowance" comment.

i loved trucy to bits. her design, her writing. A+, she is my fave new character. i loved that she's so sunshiney and straightforward and intentionally shocking. coulda used less panty talk, but i get her shtick.

now, apollo? i feel nothing for. his sorta snarky, straightman internal dialogue + siblingy interactions with trucy just feel like repackaging phoenix + phoenix and maya's dynamic. its cute that theyre actual siblings, but i don't get any sort of distinct character from apollo.

i did not like klavier until the final trial. i don't particularly like characters who are famous musicians, so i was immediately meh on him. his long ass sprite animation of doing the air guitar in trial genuinely pissed me off a few times sjhfgkf. just shut the fuck up about your band oh my godddd. i didn't start to go "oh! ok interesting!" until the final showdown with kristoph and i would have really enjoyed literally any backstory about that.

note that i'm reserving long-term judgement for both apollo and klavier though! i know there are more games and more time to get into them separately.

also note that i have no shipping thoughts at this time. i get why people ship klapollo but it didnt hook me. i was fully prepared to multiship phoenix with kris but i was surprised by how little there was for it. i'm assuming more is coming for both in dd and soj, but yeah. nothing atp.

gameplay was not at all interested in the perception power and found it super annoying to deal with. i just pulled up a guide for most of them so i could get to the next thing. absolutely not a replacement for the magatama. also, the overexplanation of how it worked was weird. it was weird right?

i liked the little investigative bits with ema and being able to move evidence around in 3d to investigate it. nice gameplay break.

the first case was so convoluted but the second and third were relatively easy? felt weird to kick off the game with that trial.

art + music i have a feeling that liking the remasters is probably a controversial opinion. the remastered PW trilogy is meh, but these? chefs kiss, loved the designs for the new characters, the sprites, the bg art. faves were trucy, little plum, and eldoon.

seeing the old phoenix courtroom sprite vs 33 yr old phoenix was jarring lmao. wish they could have updated it/made it more detailed but i get why they wouldn't. still, -10000 points for not having edgeworth, maya, or pearl, in part because seeing them in this more detailed remastered style woulda ruled

i did hate the 3d bit in the lumiroir trial. also the music in that one.

overall, did i like it? yeah actually. not as much as any of the PW trilogy games, but trucy + phoenix + the good art were enough to keep me going. im a little hesitant for dual destinies because ive heard it's rough and does some backsliding for phoenix (who i obviously adore) but i also see edgeworth in that key art. so i must proceed.

starting the last case in apollo justice and i have Thoughts about the game generally but honestly i love trucy wright and would do anything for her. that is all.

[uraharasandals]

YO just wanted to ask who ur fave bleach characters are! I like Toushiro the most, but Karin and Momo grew on me after my recent Bleach binge!

HEY I LOVE THIS QUESTION thanks for giving me chance to ramble about my favourite characters *insert maniac laughter*

URAHARA KISUKE

So as you can see from my URL I obviously love Urahara Kisuke!! He’s such a complex character and I guess I have a thing for Miki Shinichirou because his voice is *chef’s kiss* In the beginning we don’t really think much of him - he’s like the sensei character that almost every anime has that guides the main character (Ichigo). And in the context of an (what seems to be in the beginning) urban fantasy it’s not very jarring to have some random guy appear, and I love how he stands out subtly while also fitting in at the same time. His outfit and entire get up as well - a guy who wears geta with a bucket hat and haori is perfectly normal in Japan, and it actually looks cool on him. He looks like a normal guy and that's what fucks with the audience.

And then you go forward and realise he's a wacky character. He lives with a very hot woman who transforms herself into an equally stunning cat, the definition of a himbo presenting genius, and two kids. Seems like a dysfunctional found family dynamic that would come out of a sitcom, doesn't it? OH BUT WAIT it actually is one!! And these people are actually very fucking powerful!! Why the hell does this man have so much shit lying around?? Is he strong or something?

It's not until the swing back the pendulum arc that we find out he is, in fact, a very strong guy™. I love how little character development Kisuke gets in terms of his personality - most of the central character gets a major revamp; a lot of the Gotei 13 captains either get a reality check on their personalities (Soifon, Byakuya, Hitsugaya etc.) or they decide to go completely fuck it (looking at you, betrayal trio). The ones who don't are 'mentor'-like characters, the ones who are old and mature enough that something like a guy upending the very principles of Soul Society wouldn't affect them very much. Because Kisuke is one of those older characters, he doesn't need a personality change, but also the fact that he hasn't changed much from 100 years ago is very in character for him - or so we thought.

The fact is Kisuke actually very much did get a character change - to be more precise, a change of principles. 100 years ago, his morals are more clearly defined than the present. Sure, he recruits his employees from the Maggot's Nest, but he also tried to defend his innocence against Central 46 and was adamant to do so until Yoruichi broke in and kicked ass. He also struggled with saving Hiyori during that fateful night. This is obviously a part of his personality that points to adhering to the side of caution - which is in line with his entire personality; Kisuke is very much someone who doesn't do anything unnecessary, someone who puts on a friendly mask to exist because giving in to those deeper desires requires compromise. So he doesn't - he doesn't because that's the path that allows everyone to accept him and allows him to slip under the radar. He doesn't want to stand out, you see? And that's what makes him so endearing - everyone is running around playing hero or captain and he just,,,wants to chill in his dysfunctional family and makes stuff. Even though he stops deliberating on the means of how he does things in the present (e.g. Playing dirty in all the battles he's part of, casualties not being his priority in his plans etc.), that sense of wanting to fade into the background is still very much there (I.e. that conversation with Aizen when he's being sealed away).

And that makes him so frustrating to see at times, but also a very multi-faceted character!! Because under ordinary circumstances, anyone would want to stand out, especially when you have such talent and intellect as Urahara Kisuke. Yoruichi even berates him for this - when she nominated him for the 12th Division, he didn't want it and she tells him to shut up. It's interesting how well this aspect of him was written, and I really like the portrayal of his character.

Not to mention his zanpakutou - she intrigues me so fucking much?? There's an analysis of Benihime with Urahara's character that really tackles his personality and it just clicked for me (I'll reblog it someday) but basically there's a sense of masochistic tendency to punish himself and to hide his genius away. And you have to wonder - why does this man do this? What kind of past did he have? Kubo really has to write this because it's literally a crime to leave us hanging like this.

And of course, the fact that he's so fucking queer coded. I can't really elaborate on this because there's no one aspect that signals that to me, but I'm sure queer people understands this - his character is one that doesn't have traditional values of masculinity attached (100 years ago even Shinji, who had long hair, would have a stronger sense of 'traditional' masculinity attached to him, I'd argue) and yet he's still very powerful.

Overall I'd say his intelligence and character design and personality is what makes me love him so much!! And the fact that he treads the thin line between seriousness and humour, being the mentor and the clown/fool. At the end of the day Urahara is the only one who doesn't take himself seriously. And that's very fascinating.

SHIHOUIN YORUICHI

Slightly less like an essay now, largely because I haven't delved into the manga yet so I don't know the back story and more intensities of other characters, esp Yoruichi.

Anyways first thing and reason is that she's hot. She's insanely hot and I appreciate that we got the ponytail on her rather than a female character who's either a tsundere or has a big chest. Yoruichi is able to make her fully clothed self look even more appealing than when she's half naked, which is an absolute shame that Kubo decided to go with that design afterwards. And the fact that she's able to turn into a cat?? Something that was somehow sidelined after her human form was revealed?? Very very rude.

I also love how she subverts expectations. She's a noble, but she's not prim nor proper, and the one time we see her acting like one is that procession in Soifon's flashback. She's a woman, and yet arguably one of the best fighters in the entire series. Unlike a lot of stereotypical female characters, Yoruichi doesn't just use kicks - she throws hard punches and slaps when she needs to, and uses her entire body. I really love the fluidity of her design that Kubo shows because it makes her so beautiful - and it just combines violence and beauty so well??

Yoruichi also doesn't really give a shit about social conventions either, and that in such a socially stratifying society like Soul Society (too many s's) is so attractive - especially since she's a noble because honestly, what can they do? It's this boldness and rebellion that draws me to her.

And again, her being very queer-coded. I love simping over characters who could very much be queer but aren't written as such - your loss, Kubo, really.

HIRAKO SHINJI

This toothy grinning bastard has captured my attention for some godforsaken reason and I can't figure out why?? Maybe it's his Kansai accent. Maybe it's the fact that his character design is so unconventional and things that normally shouldn't go together did come together and ends up depositing this man onto my lap. It's a strange feeling but Hirako Shinji is definitely up there.

(but also I love myself some long haired men. Why didn't he grow it out again in the TYWB. Why did he get a fucking cravet instead. Go back to the long hair Shinji)

Other characters I love but don't want to write an essay on (yet): Ishida Uryuu, Yadomaru Lisa, Otoribashi Rose, Kyoraku Shunsui, Coyote Starrk, Shutara Senjumaru, Ayasegawa Yumichika (also Shihouin Chika and Saitou Furoufushi, of course)

Please tell me more about your blurbos!! I'm very intrigued on why you love them

[dropintomanga]

Remember the Comrades, Not Just the Cowboys

Some interesting psychological research I found recently is pointing out that collectivism found in Eastern cultures is more creative than individualist Western cultures in ways that aren’t promoted enough in the grand scheme of things.

And it’s got me thinking about the appeal of Japan to Western fans.

The studies I’m talking about are noted in this Scientific American article, “Cowboy Culture Doesn’t Have a Monopoly in Innovation.”  The article starts off by mentioning that Western cultures get too much credit for being innovative. When measuring for a certain type of creativity, Eastern cultures have more of a edge than Western cultures do. That type of creativity is known as “adaptive creativity.” What that means is it’s the kind of creativity that aims to make things better instead of creating something new. 

The studies talked about two groups of kids (each set belonging to a collectivist mentality and individualist mentality) who were told to draw what they wanted in a timed test. The studies found that both groups were creative in their own ways. The collective group scored high for adaptive creativity and the individualist group scored high for boundary-breaking creativity. When it came to overall creativity, the collective group was just as good as the individualist group. 

The authors of the studies also discussed rice vs. wheat farming in terms of adaptive creativity vs. boundary-breaking creativity. Rice farming in China, which is more intensive than wheat farming, has proliferated due to rice farmers working together to come up with solutions to refine the farming process to make it better compared to wheat farming, where there’s much less collective effort to grow crops.

Now what does this have to do with manga and anime and Japan pop culture in general? I look to this recent post from AnimeNation about the appeal of Japan overseas. Here’s one line that made me think.

“Although Japan certainly has its share of cultural and social challenges and problems, contemporary Japan, a country of polite, intelligent, peace-loving people who respect personal autonomy combined with social responsibility and who simultaneously respect tranquil wisdom and energetic juvenilia, stands as a global icon of what every human society respects and aspires toward.“

Growing up here in America, I often feel that personal responsibility is promoted over social responsibility way too much. While there’s an emphasis to “be better,” it often does not emphasize not being a total ass to other people in the process. It’s different than what’s promoted in Japan. You can be responsible for yourself, but you need to be socially responsible as well. Japan is a wacky mix of modernity and tradition. You see that in a good amount of the anime and manga they put out.

I also think about how Western comic companies continue to ignore manga’s growth. Manga is breaking boundaries like the best innovators of Western culture can do, but I think mangaka are very adaptive in their creativity as well. They do take concepts well and connect them in ways that feel better. I notice this in the newer Shonen Jump “fighting” series (My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc.). While the tropes are still the same as ever, things feel next-gen and refreshing to audiences. There’s better character development and interactions in some ways. Sometimes, fans don’t want “new” as in totally changing the status quo. They just want “new” in a way that mixes in old concepts that they love.

We can all agree that we need both innovation creativity and adaptation creativity for the world to thrive. I just wish the adaptation part (adaptation that helps, of course) was appreciated more in some ways. Not every proposed new solution works for everyone. I know this too well in mental health care. Sometimes, the patient/client knows better than the professional in what they’re experiencing.

Finally, I sometimes wonder if future artists are pressured to make something “groundbreaking” or “truly original” in order to feel successful. I hope these studies I talked about helps anyone who’s an artist reading this to strongly consider a “better version for everyone” approach. In any case, I think the growth of manga in the pandemic years means that everyone’s going to have to adapt to it in ways (spoiler: it’s here to stay even when that growth goes away) that I hope will provide wonders of newfound creativity for future generations of artists to come. 

[hiccanna-tidbits]

The RotBTD+ Gang Plays DnD! (Feat. my ships, sorry not sorry XD)

So highkey I’ve actually been wanting to do a “The Gang Plays DnD” type post for AGES now, but then I saw @hobie-brown and @ohlooksheswriting-wips do DnD AU posts for RotBTD, and then I was like “Ah shit, I really should finish mine, eh?” So thank you to both of you for inspiring me to get off my ass and actually write the post!!!

Hiccup DMs. He comes up with this super complex plot revolving around dragons (because of course) where the party has to dismantle this society ruled by evil knights who want to genocide all of the dragons. Imagine his chagrin when the party wants to do nothing but fuck around in towns and aggravate NPCs 90% of the time.

They usually end up playing at Jack’s apartment, mainly because Hiccup’s dad doesn’t really want a bunch of loud nerds yelling about 20-sided dice in his household while he’s trying to work, if he can at all help it. Jack’s sister regularly barges into their living room and roasts the fuck out of Jack and his friends for being such damn nerds and eats all of their DnD snacks they’ve set out. If they’re in the middle of a combat session, she always gleefully proclaims that they’re all going to die. While Jack is annoyed by this, the rest of the party finds it deeply hilarious.

Jack Overland plays the absolute mayhem warlock Jack Frost, who got his powers through making a deal with the archfey Prince of Frost and has absolutely no qualms about being an evil god’s mortal Sower of Chaos. He spends the vast majority of the campaign doing such useful things as creating ice slicks under annoying NPCs and freezing people’s drinks. He also plays a Tiefling because absolutely no one can talk this boy out of playing the creepy demon race.

Rapunzel plays a woodland nymph druid who is also the party healer (because of course she is). Her name is probably Sunlily or something else suitably hippie-esque. Whenever there’s downtime (or whenever the rest of the party is also dicking around, and she can get away with it), Rapunzel likes to go into the nearest forest and pick the best berries and nuts for the rest of the party. She also loves baking fruit pies and cooking the best nymph food for her companions when given the chance. Definitely the party Cinnamon Roll (every party has one!). She often will turn into cute animals to distract the guards while the party infiltrates a building.

Merida’s character is the party archer and general ranged weapon master, as well as a raging lesbian. Hiccup learns very quickly that any male NPC who tries to flirt with her will very quickly get impaled with an arrow. She can’t ever decide if she wants to be a ranger or a rogue, so she multiclasses in both for flare. She also plays a Tiefling, and continually insists that her character is both scarier and sexier than Jack’s. In combat, she either Leeroy Jenkins her way in with a sword and just starts slashing every which way, or just shoots 90% of the enemies with arrows before the fight even starts. There’s really no in between. She can get away with this because she’s highkey one of the party tanks, and consistently deals a shitton of damage.

Anna plays a human bard, basically having read over the class options and going “Wait, in this one I get to make stylish medieval music??? And wear dramatic and garish outfits and a dumb hat??? And cast wacky illusion spells??? And do silly little magic tricks??? And INSPIRE EVERYONE??? Hell yeah, I’m in!!!” She mostly uses magic attacks in combat (definitely favors Tasha’s Hideous Laughter), but occasionally when she’s out of spell slots she’ll just take to slamming enemies in the face with her lute. She also has WAY too much fun with Vicious Mockery, let’s be real.

Elsa, upon hearing Jack’s character concept, rolls her eyes so far up in her head she can see her damn brain, and vows to play his concept, but serious–solely out of spite. She rolls up a super OP elf Chaos Sorcerer, filled with lots of brooding angst about how uncontrollable her winter powers can get if she isn’t careful. She combines it a bit with Storm Sorcerer so she can create literal blizzards, and Hiccup ends up allowing it just because he thinks it’s cool. Although Elsa’s character is undoubtedly aggravated by the rest of the party’s antics, she starts becoming grudgingly protective of these idiots and can deal some pretty crazy damage when her companions are threatened. She also contains one of the party’s only brain cells.

Eugene of course plays dashing rogue master thief Flynn Rider. Although his high deception and lockpicking skills certainly come in handy, he’s the most chaotic neutral fucker you’ve ever met and will take any excuse to rob NPCs blind or cheat them out of every cent they have in a tavern card game. It’s nigh impossible to get him to cooperate with the rest of the party much of the time, and often Elsa’s character has to either bribe him with some of her family’s gold or threaten to freeze him to stop him backstabbing one or more party members. Eugene’s character forces Hiccup to add in many more heist plotlines than he originally intended. This delights Eugene immensely, and sometimes he goes a bit crazy planning elaborate heists.

Moana plays a sorcerer water genasi. She can control any body of water, but she has a special affinity for controlling saltwater (i.e. the ocean lol). She also requests an animal handling bonus, but only with marine animals, solely because she thought it would be funny. She’s also an ex-pirate who robbed a lot of wealthy merchant ships and freed their slaves back in the day, which Merida thinks is incredibly badass. Moana tends to get bored and unengaged when there are no bodies of water to play around with, so Hiccup ends up having to add a lot more lakes, rivers, and oceans to the campaign than he originally planned on. Moana also takes a sailing skill, and thus the party often ends up traveling by boat. Typically Eugene and Rapunzel will infiltrate and hijack it, and Moana will sail it. Moana probably contains the party’s only other brain cell.

Astrid plays a gigantic berserker orc barbarian who is never without his trusty axe. Astrid is hands down the party’s top tank, and unquestionably deals the most damage every combat session. Much like Merida’s character, Astrid’s character is absolutely a shameless power fantasy. Hiccup pretty easily picks up on this, but is too polite to say anything about it. Jack also picks up on this, but is hardly as courteous as their DM, and teases Astrid mercilessly. Astrid is not amused.

Rapunzel requests that her weapon of choice be a frying pan, her justification being that her character found a discarded one at the edge of a human village outside her woods and mistaked it for a highly-dangerous human weapon. Hiccup is like “…you know what? Fuck it” and rolls up stats for a goddamn frying pan. Jack has nigh-endless admiration for Rapunzel for choosing such a goddamn memey, absurd, yet oddly effective weapon and it definitely makes the poor boy even more smitten with her than he already is.

Eugene and Merida have a bet going on who can sleep with more sexy barmaids. Merida is currently winning, much to Eugene’s chagrin. She’s not even inherently better at seducing NPCs, she and Eugene have the same charisma stat–she just consistently rolls better than Eugene. Eugene is incredibly salty about this.

Anna and Elsa want to be sisters in-game as well, but neither want to change their race–so Anna decides her character was adopted. Hiccup and the rest of the party go along with it, mainly because there’s something deeply hilarious about a regular human bard being adopted and raised by a family of high-powered elf ice mages.

Astrid is absolutely the sort of player who tends to get bored and restless outside of fights, and tends to fidget and twiddle her thumbs waiting for the next combat session. Jack picks up on this, and purposely does more roleplay for longer just to piss her off. He’s also just a very dramatic fucker and highkey loves roleplay.

When she’s not causing mayhem around the town or sleeping with hot women, Merida tries to entertain Astrid between combat sessions by offering to spar with her. Unfortunately, this does not usually end well for poor Merida, as even the most hardcore and badass of tieflings is prone to getting dumpstered by an 8-foot-tall barbarian orc with an axe. Astrid is, nonetheless, grateful to have someone to fight.

Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana will humor Hiccup and attempt to actually play the main plot. Meanwhile, Jack, Merida, and Eugene are a DM’s worst nightmare. They constantly derail the damn campaign to fuck around, cause mayhem, and do inane shenanigans in every. Damn. Town. They go to. Anna is kind of a wildcard–she’ll typically go with whatever group looks like they’re going to be doing something more interesting. Astrid will go along with whichever group is more likely to get into a fight–which, often as not, is Jack and his posse of terrible Chaotic Neutrals (who have definitely pissed off a number of NPCs into attacking them).

As the campaign goes on, Elsa and Eugene become the beleaguered Party Mom and Dad. Both are quite aggravated by this–especially poor Eugene, who just wanted to play a morally-gray charming rogue who stole everything and got away with it and then accidentally ended up caring about these idiots he got stuck with.

Anna initially joins the campaign because she has a planet-size crush on Hiccup, and inevitably is the one who dragged Elsa into it too. Being the hopeless romantic that she is, Anna writes a love interest into her backstory. Hiccup eventually has the party run into said love interest, and Anna is overjoyed. He starts flirting with her as the love interest, and it’s easily the best 30 minutes of Anna’s life.

Moana and Elsa also give Hiccup pretty detailed backstories, and he works in little subplots for them. Moana gets to bring water back to a dying part of the jungle in the middle of a draught, while Elsa gets to go on a whole sidequest to explore her family history and how they came to be sorcerers.

Jack, Merida, and Eugene also give Hiccup fairly elaborate backstories, but Jack’s and Merida’s are like 99% memes and Dumb Shit. Hiccup tries to give all of them backstory-related plot hooks, but inevitably any hooks he provides are either stabbed, robbed, or frozen. Honestly any plot hook offered to these 3 will be all but spat in the face of and tossed off a cliff.

The one relevant part of Eugene’s backstory is that he and Rapunzel decide they used to be partners in crime before the campaign started. Rapunzel would infiltrate and scout out places he wanted to rob as small, unobtrusive animals (her preferred Wild Shape is a chameleon) and later distract the guards as a bunny or kitten while he went in and took every gold coin in sight. In return, Flynn Rider would bribe builders to not develop into Sunlily’s forest. Rapunzel and Eugene partly came up with this For Funsies, but also it was Rapunzel’s sneaky way of tricking Eugene into having prior connections in the party so he’d be less likely to betray them. It works pretty well–although the entire party is protective of Cinnamon Roll Sunlily, Flynn is certainly especially protective of her.

Astrid does the absolute bare minimum as far as backstories go. She is literally just here to smash stuff, slice people, and beat some fuckers up.

Rapunzel has a backstory, but she’s typically so invested in the main plot and the other party members that Hiccup rarely needs to bring it in to keep her engaged. She’s highkey the party emotional rock, and probably the only one keeping them all together.

On that note, Rapunzel’s character is the ONLY one who can get Jack’s character to take the plot even REMOTELY seriously. Like he’ll be dicking around in the nearest tavern challenging the nearest orc to a drinking game, and Rapunzel will come in and ask him to help them on a Main Plot Quest. And he’ll be like “come onnnnn I’m having funnn” and she’ll be like “Jack pleeeeeease?” and you just. Can’t resist Sunlily’s puppy dog eyes. At all. Also, whenever Sunlily is genuinely threatened, any silliness immediately goes out the window and Jack Frost is OUT FOR BLOOD.

For better or for worse, Rapunzel is not immune to being looped into Jack’s shenanigans. Occasionally if either Merida or Eugene have a particularly hare-brained scheme she’ll go along with it, but by and large Jack is the most successful in convincing her to temporarily abandon the plot and cause mild mischief with him. They once wasted half a session creating an elaborate “ice theme park” for some squirrels in the forest.

Hiccup tries to get Merida to play the main plot by eventually having there be no more sexy female NPCs to seduce in the towns they go to. Unfortunately, this backfires–Merida just hooks up with Moana’s character instead. When asked to roll for how good the lay is, Merida gets a nat 20–and thus her character and Moana’s character end up hooking up regularly throughout the rest of the campaign.

Hiccup introduces a few Wise Old Mentor-type NPCs to guide the party throughout the campaign. While Rapunzel, Elsa, Moana, and Anna actually try to listen to them and take their advice, Merida, Jack, and Eugene absolutely refuse to take them seriously and mercilessly play pranks on them.

At one point, Hiccup gives the party the option to attempt to tame a group of wild dragons and use them as mounts. They all have to make animal handling checks. Anna, Rapunzel, Elsa, and Moana pass. The rest of the party fails, with Jack and Eugene crit-failing. Hilarity ensues.

Hiccup ends up bringing back Anna’s backstory love interest as an NPC regular. Anna thinks he’s just being a good friend and a good DM and trying to incorporate her backstory as much as he can, but really, he just wants an excuse to regularly flirt with her. He hardly has the balls to out-of-game.

Merida comes out as gay toward the end of the campaign. Everyone in the group is extremely supportive, of course, but everyone is also like “Merida…with the amount of barmaids you’ve banged…and the amount of times you and Moana’s character hooked up…this isn’t exactly surprising.”

Hiccup actually finds a way to use Jack and Elsa’s same-concept-opposite-execution characters to the plot’s advantage. He decides one of the main villains will have a prophecy saying he’ll be taken down by a powerful ice mage. The party manages to fool this guy into thinking this ice mage is Jack, and sends Jack to fight him. As soon as the villain sees Jack, he’s like “WHAT??? THIS clown???” (word has absolutely spread throughout the land of Jack not using his ice powers for anything besides mildly annoying trolling). Naturally, the bad guy lets his guard down after thinking he’s going to fight this literal joke, and then Elsa crashes in from the side and absolutely dumpsters him.

Jack tries to defeat the final boss by just annoying him so much that he leaves. Unfortunately, he just annoys him so much that he attacks Rapunzel’s character. Jack’s just like “oh HELL no” and attacks with absolutely nothing held back. Turns out he’s pretty terrifying when he’s not using his magic for Dumb Antics.

During the final boss of the campaign, the Big Bad tries to one-shot Moana’s character, and Merida’s character super theatrically jumps in front of her to take the blow instead. Rapunzel just barely manages to heal Merida’s character, but it’s a really close call. During all this, Merida is like “ah shit...maybe I’m NOT just in this to get fantasy-laid.” After the fight’s over, her and Moana’s characters have a big dramatic love confession and share a Big Damn Kiss in front of everyone. It’s pretty epic.

After the final session of the campaign, Merida drags Moana outside Jack’s apartment and sputters and trips over her words for a solid minute before she finally gets out that through all this nonsense...well...maybe it’s not just in the game that she thinks Moana is hot. Moana just gets this HUGE grin on her face and says “c’mere, Leeroy Jenkins” and just pulls Merida in and kisses her. Cue the rest of the party barging in on them. Merida and Moana freeze, and there’s a moment of terrified silence...and then the entire party starts cheering them on like “took you long enough!”

The entire rest of the party could detect the sexual tension. Literally all of them.

But Eugene is like “HA, THIS MEANS IF WE DO A SEQUEL CAMPAIGN I’M WINNING THAT BET! BECAUSE YOU’RE GONNA BE DATING MO’S CHAR AND THUS NOT ABLE TO SLEEP WITH ANY MORE BARMAIDS!”

By the epilogue session, Jack and Rapunzel are dating. Merida and Moana are also dating. Hiccup and Anna STILL haven’t figured out why they’re so prone to spending half the session flirting when Anna’s love interest shows up, and Hiccup STILL hasn’t figured out why he likes to have Anna’s love interest show up so often. Bless their souls. Maybe they’ll figure it out next campaign...?

Damn I actually really like this...maybe if people like it I’ll do some incorrect quotes or a drabble or something??? Or maybe some HCs from next campaign???

[ravenkinnie]

I'm gonna be a hater under the cut acc

my beef with this movie is fr that people inflated my expectations too much by comparing it to atsv and the last wish and I think yall need to get your eyes and ears checked. the animation is fine - I don't mind the character designs and you can lowkey tell there might have been some budget issues but the facial animations are v good and the second part of the movie has some amazing bits. I hate the 50/50 design of the modern elements with medieval fantasy but that's personal preference

but I'm throwing hands over the writing quality, structurally and thematically this movie just does not work. it struggles heavily with balancing tone - that goofy ass scene where the director kills nimona disguised as ambrosius almost made me close netflix like girl... it just doesn't work tonally. a lot of the jokes fell flat and the story constantly trips over characterization trying to tie everything together but confusing itself in the process and walking circles around its themes. in the end it barely interacts with most of them and character relationships suffer for it - ambrosius and ballister made so little sense it's actually impressive how much they can run around the plot getting nowhere

everybody who compares nimona to jinx owes me $20 for lying to me 🙏 because this movie struggles tonally so much it doesn't strike a balance in her character at all, she's an annoying little chaotic agent of starting the plot and wacky shenanigans majority of the time and then has lil tidbits where we're meant to be like she just wants to be understood :< but it honestly feels like befriending someone in high school who has no friends and then finding out exactly why nobody can stand them. also ngl the amount of structural damage nimona commits only to then be like they think I'm a monster </3 is hilarious like bitch you threw my car across the city that's pretty fucking monstrous to me. I get that it's like she became a monster because they treated her like one but lord, the clunkiness of her character doesn't make it easy not to be a hater

the whole institute thing isn't a particularly complex idea so it's not hard to figure out what they were going for but despite being the main drive of the movie it's like it's scared to touch its own implications so the whole thing feels unexplored and flat - I did hear that's done much better in the novel so idk what went wrong here, I do remember spop was equally clunky when it comes to the whole brainwashing/deprogramization aspect of the story

overall, an averagely enjoyable movie, I won't rewatch but it was okay. the most annoying part is that it was almost there, the story just needed some work, something to balance it out

watched nimona today and while I did not like this movie overall, I have to say I still wholeheartedly support queer people's right to make mid ass movies the way straights do

[ginger-snaps-show-review]

Amphibia with identity and otherness.

  I have a confession to make. Even though Amphibia is a Disney kids animated series, I started watching it as an adult and quite enjoy it; there, I said it.

  Anyhow, Amphibia started on June 17, 2019 all the way till May 14, 2022. It is about this girl named Anne Boonchuy who accidently gets teleported to a different world full of amphibians / frogs, hens the name Amphibia. She is adopted into a three-frog home with Hop pop the grandfather, Sprig a pre-teen boy with a baby sister named Polly. Together they learn lessons on their wacky adventures. So, what does Amphibia have to do with identity and otherness? Well, first of all let's talk about the main protagonist Anne. She is Thai American teenager; I’m just going to pull a Judy Moody moment and say rare. Marcy Wu, one of Annes friends is Taiwanese American. What was especially surprising to me is that it already has some good multi-cultural Asian representation I was not expecting.

  How my identity impacts my reading of the show would be how they address women; I was very much like Anne and poly. Anne is a tomboy and doesn't fallow the gender norms of being feminine. As a fellow tomboy of my day, I can say that I really appreciate the representation. She is the opposite of Wilma in the Flintstones as described in the article Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast by Kimberly R. Walsh, Elfriede Fürsich, and Bonnie S. Jefferson. I wished I had more of that as a kid myself. The gender norms stereotypes are defiantly disregarded. Polly in a lack of words is a bad ass. She comes off as chaotic and aggressive which we don’t see very often in female characters. I also feel like they have a indirect neurodivergent representation in the show. I don’t believe it’s ever confirmed but many of my friends who have ADHD say they have felt connected and can relate to Sprig. Sprig displays a lot of the characteristics of ADHD from the DSM-5. My self being neurodivergent I can’t say I remember very good or clear representation in my kid shows, honesty I don’t think it was really talked about. It warms my hart to see my friends feel connected to something they can identify with. Not only do they have diversity in people but in life.

  There are rich people, there are poor people. There are people of evil and good. Even people who deal with social issues of peer pressure, acceptance, lost, and even racism on a level. I think it does a good job teaching general morals and showing diversity in issues and people. Yes, it is a kid show so there is only so much they are going to show on the surface level, but when you analyze it on a deeper level, I think it does a good job. In all fairness I am still watching the series so I can’t give an encompassing review. But from what I have seen and from what others have told me.

  What are some of the potential influences and effects of all of these messages? I believe can be nothing but positive. I think my self-image would have been much better growing up if there was more female representation like this. When I was growing up it was the norm to see stereotypical very feminine looks and actions, to deviate would be wrong. I am happy that my future kids can watch this show and possibly relate to it. I hope they feel like they can belong no matter who they are.