#but overall I feel more bad for them realizing yeah no this is popular but not as big as Japan

[no1ryomafan]

I think something I’ve fully come to realized now that I’ve finally committed to a Gundam show and peep into the fandom is that Gundam has such a odd popularity as a mecha in the west because it’s ABSOLUTELY more known now but no one really *watches* it.

I think it’s not just cause “some people just got into it for gunpla side” even though there’s absolutely people who don’t watch the show, just build mechs, but because as a whole it’s been more recognized as a mecha and the west for whatever reason really finds mechs unappealing even still unless it’s “one more about the characters and not the robots” despite gundam LITERALLY having characters which once again makes being a mecha fan all the more infuriating.

[yardsards]

This is why I refuse to watch/read delicious in dungeon. The entire thing gives me fatphobic vibes.

see the premise as a whole is actually very body positive (i myself had similar worries that a story about eating "healthy" would rely on fatphobic ideas of "healthy", but was pleasantly surprised). like, its approach to "healthy" is "make sure you're eating enough of everything so that your body has enough fuel. make sure you're resting enough and not overworking." rather than "you must not eat The Bad Junk Food." (like, there's one part early on where they're like "oh, we've eaten too much vegetables and lean meat, we need to eat more fat" so they search for fatty meat and eggs. and then later they eat deep fried food and no one is ever like "oh no, this is too fattening" they're just like "wow this is great it's so crispy and tasty")

and the core message of it all is just like "your body is a part of you, and is the part of you that allows you to do things and reach your goals. don't treat it like a burden or an afterthought." and the series has had a positive impact on the way i view and treat my body

and overall, it's better than a lot of other popular anime series in terms of representing realistic and diverse body types. our two human (or "tallman" as they're called in-universe) main characters, laios and falin, are not super skinny, with no wasp waist or shrink-wrapped abs. i would not consider either of them fat in canon, but they're still fatter than your average popular anime character. certain races like dwarves and orcs are just naturally stout, and are never treated as being unhealthy or unattractive because of their weight. fatness is said to be a respected trait among adventurers, as a sign that you're good at survival and can safely recover from injuries.

however. the show has a few small things that make me raise my eyebrows. one or two iffy offhand comments (glaring at you, That One Conversation about laios's hunger near the end) that in most media i'd just be like "sighhh, normalized societal fatphobia strikes again, as expected." but for this series it's like "god damn it, i expected better from you."

and some things about how body types between fantasy races are handled leaves something to be desired for me. like yeah dwarves are all stocky, but also elves are all slender. it makes sense for the different fantasy races to have different *average* body types, but i wish we got to see more variation from those averages between individuals.

(also, i can fully understand praising laios and falin's canon body types! even medium body types are underrepresented in most media and it's good to see more of them! but calling them *fat* representation just feels inaccurate to me)

it's just like. dungeon meshi is GOOD in terms of body positivity and representation, but it's not PERFECT.

like, i love this show/manga (if you couldn't tell from the content of my blog)

mostly i voice my complaints bc like. i'm tired of tumblr getting it's hands on a piece of media that is good and generally progressive and acting like the media is *perfect*. and then proceeding to treat anyone who points out things the media could have done better as if they personally slayed your firstborn. (and then, months later, after the hype dies down, realize that some of that criticism was actually very valid, and then violently knock the piece of media down from its pedestal. and act like everyone involved in the media's creation are irredeemable scum and that anyone who still likes it should be ashamed)

so yeah, funny dungeon show good, and i strongly recommend it if you like fantasy stories and food and worldbuilding, just don't expect it to be a flawless paragon of representation and fat positivity

(also take everything i say here with a grain of salt bc i myself am thin, i just care a lot about representation in media and body acceptance and dismantling fatphobia)

[neko-loogi]

Okay.. so, episode 5 of season 2 from Helluva Boss just came out. I watched it and honestly I have so many mixed feelings about it. I don't even know how to explain it-

So starting off, we have Blitzo running around doing who knows what, asking random people for his sister Barbie. Which is like the sub plot of the story (that later turns out to be relevant sort of). And since he's "soo busy" focusing on that he completely ignores a client and lets Moxxie be in charge for once.

Since this is Moxxie's first time being in charge, he's all like "Oh, this has to be perfect, nothing can go wrong blah blah" and it's honestly like the stupidest thing ever. Because Moxxie instead of focusing on killing the target (which Millie already knows who it is and tells him) he just does a bunch of dumb shit to show off to random preteens at a summer camp. This is the part where we see him dressing up as a girl, and I fucking hated this part.

I physically couldn't stop cringing while watching the episode, every time Moxxie was on screen with his girl outfit. I feel so bad for Richard Horvitz having to make a really stereotypical Lumpy Space Princess sounding ass voice to make Moxxie sound like a popular girl- it was unbearable to listen to.

Moving on, I kinda like how the episode was a bit more focused on Millie, that's like the only thing that I liked about the episode, so I'll give it that. However, I don't like how Moxxie is still the punching bag of the series so yeah, it feels weird that he's all whiny and jealous of his own wife because she's getting more attention than him. I dunno, it feels off. Also I think it's really stupid that they spend an ENTIRE FUCKING WEEK trying to kill some guy, all because Moxxie is too self centered that he doesn't focus on that.

At the end it turns out that one of the camp counselors was selling drugs with a random lady and that random lady turned out to be Barbie (aka Blitzo's sister). Yeah and also Blitzo shows up to the human world and we get a glimpse of Asmodeian crystal or whatever you call them, so there's that.

Anyway, can I just point out how fucking ugly Barbie's human disguise is? (I honestly hope Blitzo and the others don't look as bad as her in the future-)

I swear her design looks so off to me, I don't know if it's the fact that her hands are really big (which makes no sense because this is her human version, so I don't understand why they gave her weird imp hands). Or the fact that her human disguise has those markings on her arms, including the stupid forehead crest, that could've been replaced with birthmarks or hell, tattoos even. The pigtails don't really suit her either, she could've had a better hairstyle.

I also really dislike her voice, no offense but she sounds like a Texas lady that smokes like 40 cigarettes at a New York bar.

I never really liked her design to begin with but this episode made me hate it more. Not only that but the implied that she's a groomer in the episode which is gross-

Anyway, the episode ends with a really unfunny and unnecessary incest joke (seriously this entire episode has really disgusting "jokes" that aren't funny in the slightest).

Overall, I didn't enjoy this episode and I hope Vivzie's hardcore fans realize that her writing is absolute garbage and her comedy ain't shit-

[stormflyblue]

can u tell us more about my magical girl au? I love hearing about aus like that lol

SCREAMS!! YES!!! sorry that it took so long to respond to this, i had to write a lot and im answering on mobile where i cant type as fast!! (also apologizes for my grammar in this, i was in a silly mood) prepare for the massive info dump under the cut!!!

okay anyways! the “magical girls” are wxs (bc im biased for them) and their theme would be “sweets” and “deserts.” their outfits are based around the fluffy dreamland set + other cards that i think suit them. (ex: nene messenger of feelings combined with her afterparty with fireworks(mermaid nene)) but emu is only based off of her smile of a dreamer card bc she’s the goat and it’s her focus. she’s sort of the leader of the magical girls (sorry tsukasa!! youre my favorite but ur not the leader for this au!! i have a lot of plans for you though >:3)

HOWEVER bc rui and tsukasa dont have clear full body outfits in that set im thinking of basing their outfits on different sets. tsukasa is the most clear for me, because he’s going to be an combination of his backstage encouragement card (lilykasa) and his an unexpected classmate card. i dont have any ideas for rui but i want him to be based on a lim card of his so his hair can change during the transformation ueueueuwuuwe (；′⌒`) .

since their theme is around sweets im thinking of naming their “charm” or those things that give magical girls power “___ candy” emu’s would be “sweet candy” since she’s the leader. nene’s would be “mermaid candy”. tsukasa would be “star candy” and rui’s would be “robo candy” or “thunder candy” (IM SORRY RUI I AM NOT TREATING YOU RIGHT IN BUILDING THIS AU 🙏) the names before ‘candy’ is either based off of their cards (nene) or their overall personality or actual theme (tsukasa, rui)

the order of who turns into a magical girl would be emu -> nene -> rui -> tsukasa. emu was the first to recieve her powers and has been fighting against “evil” for a good length of time. maybe around 4-6 months. because of this she is somewhat popular around japan and on the internet. everyone has at least heard of her if theyve stayed up with the latest trends. (saki is a MASSIVE fan of her’s).

nene recieves her candy during a particularly difficult fight she witnesses emu having. (here). in this au nene is more pessimistic that gets resolved soon when she gets to know emu more. the reason she knows emu’s identity in the comic i made is because she soon realized it after emu said something eeriely similar to her magic girl persona. she then confirms it during the battle and as she realizes the reason for why emu fights, she is determined to reciprocate those feelings to her. thus, she recieves her candy.

tsukasa and rui im not sure yet but i want it to be an accidental encounter. maybe during a show they have an enemy appears and they have to fight, thus leading tsukasa and rui to find out their identity. im still not sure how to make the enounter different for tsukasa and rui since i want there to be at least some time for nene and tsukasa to get popular on emu’s level (or at least close to it).

the “big bad” that magical wxs is fighting is called project DULL. it’s…nightcord… yeah. the enemies are n25. they have tragic backstories and i really want to see them snap at someone sooo /lh. haha! no actually though i want n25 to have another secret persona that NO ONE knows the identity to. even themselves. they work together but they have no idea of the real person theyre working with. yes, they still in n25 together working on songs but they also work together as the main “villains” (wink wink. nudge nudge ;3). a few times one or more of them come to their nightly vcs more tired than usual and theyre suspious but brush it off thinking “oh they must have had a more exhausting day than usual, i wont pry but i’ll tell them to take care of themselves!”

virtual singers and sekais still do exist in this au by the way! im also thinking of making each group into a villain fighting group but i have no idea where to start with that and i think my brain would implode trying to think of all of their lore in one go soo no mention of them here lolol.

project DULL wants to reset the world to a state where everything is neutral. no positive emotions, no negative emotions. no sicknesses either! the main reason they oppose magical wxs is bc n25’s “neutral” is tasteless (or at least that how i think) and wxs is based around sweetness and the different flavors of everything.

there are many other things i want to explain about project DULL and others associated with them but that would be spoliers and it would ruin the surpise!!! one last thing about them is that theyre based off their imprisoned marionette set and wear masks. (WINK WINK. NUDGE NUDGE)

this is all that i can think of right now. if i have any more information i want to dump i’ll just reblog. sorry if it’s a lot!! thank you so much for asking!!! <333

[eldritch-nightmare]

Do you have any opinions or headcannons (romantic too!) About the dollmaker. He's not very popular unfortunately :(

-reagan

a/n: thoughts! not a lot, really. i won't lie i kinda forgot he existed for a bit but!! he seems really interesting and i have no sense of self-control so i'm sorta inspecting him under a microscope and taking little notes. because of that, i don't have any general headcanons for him yet but here are some romantic ones for you, reagan! sorry it took so long to get to this fhdjfk

the doll maker headcanons.

warnings: gn reader, night terrors, i can't think of anything else uhm yeah.

He's not at all well-versed in the realm of romance. It's not even something that crosses his mind, to be honest. So, he is certainly surprised when he finds himself developing feelings for you.

You, who never asks him questions about his past. You just accept him as he is, and he finds that to be really strange. Not even one question? I mean, come on, surely you're curious about the glass doll eye, right?

But even if you are, you never cross the boundary. The respect you hold for him is enough to make him pause. If he had any plans on turning you into a doll, then he's a bit more hesitant to enact them now.

He's too confused by you to really stop you from visiting him often, which he finds that he doesn't really have a problem with. It just... makes his doll-making hobby a bit difficult, that's all.

Absolutely does not want you to find out about his human doll collection please for the love of god do not go into the back room. He'll get uncomfortable if you even walk near the back room, doing anything to direct your attention away from it. Just... don't go in there. Even if he's in there, just stay in the front.

He's not particularly insecure about his appearance anymore. He's grown to accept the scars on his face and whatnot, but he can't deny that he gets all happy and flustered whenever you call him handsome.

He likes to admire you. He finds you to be pretty distracting when he's working on, you know... plastic or porcelain dolls. Not that he thinks that's a bad thing, of course. It's... nice, looking up from his work to see you studying one of his many creations with genuine interest.

Definitely seems like the type to want to make a doll of you, if you're comfortable with that.

He's not the best when it comes to taking care of himself, so you always have to remind him of when to take breaks and when to eat.

Very uncomfortable with physical touch when he doesn't realize it's coming, so you need to make sure you get his attention before touching him. Maybe ask for permission as well, depending on the situation.

That situation being his severe insomnia and sleep terrors, of course.

It's not something he's open about. Honestly, he's a bit ashamed of it. He didn't want you to find out about them, but unfortunately, it's not really something he can hide.

You find out about it when you decide to pay him a visit a bit earlier in the morning than usual. Vine had probably gone maybe three days without sleeping before his body basically forced him to sleep.

That situation ended with him putting a pair of scissors to your throat, and a damn near inconsolable Vine as he profusely apologized.

He definitely calls you endearing names in Russian. He defaults and calls you 'doll', but I think he also uses 'my love' and 'sunshine'.

He also definitely seems like the type to give you random compliments and little gifts.

Overall pretty hesitant and awkward at the beginning of a relationship, but he'll definitely gradually become comfortable and open up a bit more the longer you're together. He probably won't talk about his past though, not for a good long while, so even if you were to ask him about it, he'd probably change the topic.

[the-somwthing]

Who wants to hear how I see flower husbands (WARNING: it’s bad. My interpretation I mean. It’s not a good one. Everyone is gonna hate it. It’s gonna look like I don’t take anything seriously except I’m completely serious about it being this stupid. If you care a lot about flower husbands interpretations whether positive or negative you might want to look away)

So 3rd Life starts and Scott is evil. For some reason. Jimmy finds him and he KNOWS that Scott sucks but he decides “I can fix him ❤️” except he DOESN’T EVEN TRY to fix him because he loves him the way he is. For some reason.

Scott was evil but being given a flower warmed his heart ONLY ENOUGH TO TRY HAVING A HUSBAND. He didn’t actually become any better or anything and barely showed this love to Jimmy.

JIMMY, however, was very happy with Scott being with him. Now Scott certainly did things that Jimmy wasn’t so happy with, but also you’re not a real jimmy solidarity viewer if you think he isn’t into guys who degrade him. He also viewed himself as quite incompetent and enjoyed having someone who was more competent and would correct his mistakes. NOT THE MOST HEALTHY and sometimes felt to Jimmy like it backfired BUT OVERALL HE WAS PRETTY HAPPY WITH IT.

If anyone ever said “dude this is an abusive relationship you’re in” he would’ve been like “yeah Scott’s so annoying” and Scott would’ve been like “BINCH HOW DARE YOU” and they would’ve got into a fist fight. So the other person goes “WOAH okay so you’re gonna break up then” and they go “no ❤️” and start making out. Nobody knows what this means.

In reality everyone who would point out that the relationship is toxic would ONLY be doing it because they have an ulterior motive cuz EVERYONE IN 3L WAS TOXIC AF 😭 also if they gathered all of the couples together they would ALL start fighting each other so even though FH is TECHNICALLY the worst they manage to LOOK like the healthiest couple by virtue of NOT CARING.

Then Jimmy dies and Scott FINALLY goes “WAIT A MINUTE… I loved him 🥺💔” like it ACTUALLY took him THAT LONG to figure it out. The feelings were actually there the whole time slowly growing but Scott couldn’t recognize them. Not until he lost Jimmy.

And so Jimmy, who saw evil scott smajor and said “I can fix him” and proceeded to NOT EVEN TRY doing that, ended up ACTUALLY FIXING HIM. I mean obviously he still has issues but he stopped having pure evil in his heart and started having a more average amount of evil typical of quite a few life series players.

Now Jimmy’s job is done and he must leave. OKAY SORRY. I have a few interpretations as to why Jimmy tends to act off about FH later on. Here’s some, feel free to mix and match idk.

- well feelings get erased between seasons maybe they REALLY FREAKING wiped Jimmy’s clean

- a big reason Jimmy went with Scott was because he saw Scott as more competent, but Jimmy’s slowly started having more faith in himself so loving Scott is just a reminder of how pathetic he used to be, so whenever Scott insinuates that Jimmy loves him Jimmy equates that to saying Jimmy’s pathetic and needs Scott to take care of him. And he’s not.

- Ever since he died in 3L Scott has been suspiciously less violently abusive which turned Jimmy off so now he needs to go find a new toxic bf cuz all Scott does now is give him flowers and THATS NOT WHY HE FELL IN LOVE WITH HIM!!! 😭 (worst option)

- THE REASON I’m not going with the popular “jimmy realized how much the relationship sucked” thing is because Jimmy tends to look back on a lot of FH stuff pretty fondly AND likes being FRIENDLY with Scott he just doesn’t seem to like the topic of them being IN LOVE.

- it could also be because Scott is annoying af and Jimmy would’ve been fine with it actually if Scott didn’t bring it up every single chance he gets

Also a lot of people when talking about 3L FH bring up empires s1 FH but guys I didn’t watch that season 😭 I mean I watched that date episode I don’t really have anything to say on it. I think esmp1 FH is funny tho cuz the uber fancy elf king goes “I NEED that slimy fish from the bog” but idrk what goes on in esmp1. And also I am VERY “separate SMPs” so whatever goes on in esmp STAYS in esmp LMAO I just mean it’s mostly irrelevant to my life series interpretation.

And then future life seasons like eh. Scott typically ends up ruining it by saying “we were married” every time he sees Jimmy like OKAY BRO way to show your ex you’ve stopped thinking about him slash SARCASM!!!

I am still team LIMITED LIFE FH. Limited Life FH is FH if it was good. I really don’t get why people use it as a negative fh thing it was like their most positive relationship in the whole series. I think the only time Scott wronged him was accidentally causing his death one or more times. Then asking him to say I love you back which is really not like the worst thing you can do to someone really LMAO.

Anyways this is supposed to be about 3L FH. I like 3L FH cuz they’re so weird. Is it healthy? No. Should it have traumatized them? Yeah probably. Did it? No. Was everything really under-negotiated? Yes. Did even THEY understand THEIR OWN relationship? Not really. Is this a GOOD interpretation? Probably not, no. Is Jimmy okay? Probably not but he’s a lot more okay than he should be. Is Scott okay? Dude. He’s something.

Long story short my interpretation of Jimmy is a lot more freaky than most others. idk guys JUST saying. WHO does he gravitate towards being gay with? Usually guys who bully him. Checkmate. Now I’m not saying he knows what he’s doing but he certainly THINKS he does.

I don’t know man. You can talk to me about FH like it’s a good relationship or like Scott traumatized Jimmy and I’ll try to match your energy but this is the truth I have been hiding deep inside of me for so long. I think they’re a weird mess that nobody wants to touch. (In just 3L. Cuz Jimmy somehow fixed Scott by standing there and dying. So they became more normal later on.)

[animehouse-moe]

Otherside Picnic Volume 3

Yeah yeah, I'm pretty well behind on having only just read this volume, I know. I'm slow with a lot of light novel reading because I really want to be in it, you know? I want to savor every moment and feel like I don't want to put the book down while I'm reading.

And it just happened that lately I've really been craving for the horror and fear that stems from Miyazawa's expert understanding of net and folklore horror. So imagine my surprise when I pick up the volume and see just how far Shirakaba's art has come. Sure, it was never bad by any means. But my god, this volume's illustrations are amazing. The level of detail has skyrocketed, but at the same time a more clear and personal style appears. Heavy and dark contrast, an overall feeling of weight with each piece of art. Even though they can look vastly different due to moments, the overall feel of it remains. Really, hats off in that regard, truly some outstanding art.

Of course, Miyazawa's writing withstands the shock of this incredible improvement from Shirakaba.

Their perception of horror - what comprises it and causes fear- remains absolutely expert. From the endings of the previous omnibus volume we continue the downwards spiral into Sorawo's personal hell. The types of contact, and the overall fear that arises from it are spine chilling.

Perhaps the biggest proponent is Miyazawa's ability to guide readers to answers. You can connect the dots as things go on, realize that there is something wrong, that there's a heavy feeling in your stomach and that all your hairs stand on end as your mind races to the finish line. It's such an incredible experience, where at times they don't even tell you the answer. Instead, you're left with a lingering feeling and concern for what things are and why.

Personally, it's my perfect definition of horror. Beyond us. You can come up with as many answers as you want to everything that unfolds, but for just as many things there are that Sorawo and Toriko resolve, there are just as many spine shudderingly disturbing pieces left hanging.

Of course, Otherside Picnic does like to remind readers that it's not just about disturbing and scary stuff. It's a healthy mix of characters that are poorly adjusted in the social sense (among many others), and their attempts to grope through their incredibly odd predicament. All of the characters that appear in this volume are so full. They're all hopeless and oddball versions of the more "simple" characters that they're portrayed as in the anime. They all have very glaring character issues, and present as far less perfect even in spite of how others view them. It's incredibly refreshing, and they all stumble through their interactions in an endearing and believable way that develops as the story continues.

The biggest thing from this volume though is just the sheer effort Miyazawa puts into the horror. It's not middle of the ground, on the spot horror stories they themselves come up with, but a far deeper and darker world that they draw from. Hours upon hours of historical and archival searching of books and webpages and chat forums to produce countless stories that end up interwoven and meld together into a cohesive framework to address the Ultra Blue Landscape via.

It's insane. Not only are we, as readers, attempting to understand the Otherside and its creators and/or inhabitants, Miyazawa is translating it. They're pulling from our reality, adding their own spin and twist to it, and spitting it out in the form of communication. The sheer talent to preserve the original value of the stories used, while at the same time repurposing them is incredible.

In terms of horror, I truly feel that Otherside Picnic stands comfortably separate from so much of what makes up the genre, not even just within the framework of animanga, but of modern media in general. So much of what's popular and talked about is on the absolute fringes of what horror is: that sense of dread and fear. Not 30 seconds of buildup into a single jumpscare reveal that the characters run away from. Rather, the tension building and things seeming wrong, like something is lurking around the corner and you absolutely must find out. Or that there's some terrible figure/creature staring right at you that has you frozen in place. Horror is not thriller, and Otherside Picnic continues to establish that beautifully.

Also, for the best reading experience, the anime OST is actually outstanding for furthering that fear. Plenty of songs that will put you perfectly on edge. You can find the full playlist right here.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Honestly, the more you talk about it, the more I want to hear about Endeavour's PR. Who's on it, like, number of people? What is their main stance before Enji starts turning his life around? What do they fight him on? Which specific thing finally gets him to fire them? Plus, which poor sap finds himself suddenly going from note-taker to head of PR (you know there had to be at least 1 decent person in there that never got promoted, but actually supports what Enji's trying to do).

HONESTLY LIEK

it's fuckin.

Enji kinda has just. Hired PR people in general and gave bare-minimum instructions and trusted them to know what they're doing. So it's a combo of letting them have free rein on things he doesn't feel he has time for (like letting them handle every time the media accuses him of having an affair or having a bastard child, overall management of his twitter page), or taking their advice on ways to improve his image in the eyes of the public(this can range from 'covering gray hairs' to 'fielding which charity events he attends as he can't go to all of them').

But ofc this has kinda swung into the PR team kinda.... either assuming his wants/viewpoints to make statements, and/or them telling him what's 'right' based on their own feelings vs. what he wants. And Enji is just dealing with so much else and the whole point of hiring them was 'handle this so I don't have to' that he rarely checks in to keep an eye on things. (which is how he doesn't know gay people exist even though the last like 4 years have been spent with the media accusing him of having an affair with Hawks lmao).

And I have two thoughts on things where the PR team acts without Enji's permission that leads to a complete 'scrap the fuckers and start over with more checks in place'. Like there's /more/ on the whole, but these are the only two I have specific thoughts on

One is- I have a specific scene planned out for this where it's Enji gets dragged out with Midnight and Snipe's drinking night, and this is post-finding out about gay people which those two are aware of him being queer. So they're suddenly getting notifications of his twitter posting something even though he's right there and not on his phone so they're like 'uh you might wanna check this out'.

Enji's kinda surprised because usually the PR team does get /some/ permission before speaking for him, did kinda say 'yeah just handle certain things without notifying me'. And it takes him a minute to even realize what they posted as, having only known gay people exist for like a month, isn't up to date on subtle homophobic phrases like 'traditional family values'.

ofc he immediately borrows Midnight's phone to use her twitter and post a response video of 'fuck off, my PR team posted that and I will be talking to them because I am here for the lgbt community'.

Which yeah opens up him investigating into that and finding subtle and less-than-subtle things that they've been doing for his image. And while it might have /technically/ helped keep his popularity up, it does against things he thinks are right.

And the second incident is bigger which is. Idk if he finds out through investigation or if Natsuo says it after Enji has worked to gain back some trust but like.

A little bit after Toya first 'died', Natsuo did try to go for exposing the fact that Enji is a bad parent and trying to get that info out to the media and like get cps involved and such. But the PR team caught wind of it and shut it down HARD. Very guilt-tripping, threatening, and even bringing the Commission into this situation to prove to the kid that nothing would be done, and if he continued to try then, well. The middle child isn't usually missed all that much.

Enji is. Very. Very pissed at this. The not telling him, the fact that they threatened his kid to preserve his image. The fact that this contributed to some of the family drama because Natsuo assumed Enji knew and had them cover for him when, again, he had no idea at all and would've taken Natsuo's grievances a hell of a lot more seriously if he did.

It's. It's a LOT.

[thesoftboiledegg]

I wasn't sure how I'd feel about "I Know What You Did Last Xmas" because the holiday episodes were some of my least favorites from the original run. They're not bad; I just didn't care for them and figured this would be Evil Santa Part 3. But nope--this is easily my favorite Futurama Christmas episode.

What first struck me was this episode's cuteness. The whole crew getting their own stockings with tiny stockings for Amy's kids and Nibbler's worms was cute. The Planet Express armor making the building look like a gingerbread house was cute. Fry sitting with Amy's kids and looking at Amy and Kif with teary eyes was adorable, and showing his childlike nature is a good contrast to the "Haha, this guy is so dumb" jokes.

When everyone left for the holidays, I thought "Really? Fry just forgot about Bender?" But then I thought "Well, this is still Futurama, the characters are going to be a little dismissive of each other."

Nope, that wasn't the case. Fry and Leela realized their mistake, and the whole crew came back to Planet Express to surprise Bender and Zoidberg.

The Fox and Comedy Central runs could be cynical and mean-spirited--which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but the popularity of wholesome shows, such as Bob's Burgers and Ted Lasso, shows that audiences are tired of "edgy" TV. People want to see characters being nice to each other.

So, the Futurama writers adapted to the times. The series still has dark humor so that it doesn't get cutesy, but the Planet Express crew isn't a group of coworkers as much as it's a found family. Leela helps Amy raise her kids and Fry hangs out with them; Fry, Leela and Bender all live together; the whole crew is sad when they think Nibbler's about to lose his intelligence; even Bender and Zoidberg start liking each other.

One thing I liked about the Comedy Central run was the unusual pairings (Bender and Hermes, Amy and Nibbler), so I enjoyed seeing Bender and Zoidberg getting in trouble together. I never thought about the fact that neither of them has a biological family. That and the fact that they're both "losers" (one a sad loser, the other an angry loser) gave them something to bond over.

Their personalities blend together so well that I'm surprised it took them this long to team up. I loved their crazy schemes to get rid of Evil Santa's body, like trying to flush him down the toilet--yeah, good luck with that one.

I also LOVED the Disenchantment cameo. I don't get all the lukewarm reviews, but that's another story. It's the freshest show I've seen in a while.

Overall, this is one of Futurama's best "feel good" episodes. The characters still argue and tease each other, but the writing hits emotional notes even while Bender and Zoidberg are killing Robot Santa and trying to hide the body. Bender let his guard down around Zoidberg of all people. If he can do that, maybe the rest of the crew can be a little more open and affectionate, too.

[gear65]

Hi! I hope you don't mind me asking a couple of questions about Sense8. English isn't my first language, so please forgive me if I make any mistakes or if anything I say is unclear.I kind of wiped this show from my memory because of that awful ending of Kala, but recently I remembered and now I'm sad again. I would like to know what you think about the ending after all these years, have you changed your mind or maybe looked at it from a different perspective? Do you think Lana was aware that the Kalang were the most popular couple in the series? Did she know her ending wouldn't please fans? Did she realize this after the episode was released? I'm still wondering how people at the premiere reacted to the finale. Did they seem disappointed? Did the cast notice? Is it possible that Lana made the finale in retaliation to Stra*zynski? Maybe there was a rift between them because of those spoilers he revealed on Twitter. I don't really believe it myself. She doesn't seem like a bad person, and she really loved all the characters, this show was very important to her. I wish I could ask these questions to all Kala and Kalagang fans, but unfortunately there are only a few active blogs left, which is both sad and understandable given that the show ended a hundred years ago(yeah, the party ended an hour ago and im still here)

You can sit by me in the corner bc I haven't left the party either😜

It's been a long while, so of course no, I'm not as viscerally disappointed in Kala and Wolfgang's ending as I was when I watched the finale. (And I would have to say I was probably in the minority at the premier, not just bc of Kalagang, but I didn't like how cartoonish Capheus seemed and the overall storytelling which felt very uneven. But I have nothing but love for the cast, and so everyone at the premier I attended -whether or not they liked the finale - just showered the cast with that affection. ) But yeah, when I think about it, it still bothers me bc I was so vested in Kala's character. It's been pointed out before in other people's posts, but the most disappointed fans tend to be the ones that identified with her, and I admit I'm one of them. Do I think Lana did that deliberately? No, I don't. I think after the massive fan campaign to get closure, she did what she did bc she wanted everyone except the bad guys to have a happy ending, and so we got what we got. Unfortunately, the finale kind of tore apart the Kalagang fandom, which is why you don't see many of us on here anymore. (I think I have PTSD from the fandom war that ensued since it was my first lol.)

ANYWAY, I wrote a Kalagang fix-it for myself and others who felt the same. (And if you're interested, I'm linking it here.) JMS later posted something on Twitter saying Kala and Wolfgang would have had a much different and more satisfactory ending, so I feel a little vindicated 😝.

Thanks for the Ask!

[eegasleega-will-change-this-l8r]

Ninten ninten ninten!!!

So this is my version of Ninten haha

God I literally cannot draw him 80% of the time so it's nice to actually have one turn out good (it's so hard to not accidentally make him look really stupid or really obnoxious ><)

He's pretty much entirely based off what I came up with in my head after playing the game and thinking about how I imagined the characters' personalities, so it's pretty different from the usual takes on him

Design details and a flood of headcanons below :D

So I wanted him to be very distinct from Ness!! There's similarities like the black hair and the clothing palettes, but otherwise nobody would look at my Ninten and Ness and confuse them for each other

Personality-wise holy fudge do I have a ton of stuff on him

He does have a hat but I only sometimes draw him with it (unlike Ness who refuses to go anywhere without it :3)

His overall shape is wayyy different to Ness's, very scrawny and straight while Ness is all round and squishy

Shirt's blue with a yellow collar, a single yellow stripe on the middle, and yellow edges to the sleeves

He looks a lot like his great grandmother ;)

and also pee-wee herman but that's not as profound

Ninten is a bright and relentlessly optimistic young boy from rural Eagleland

You can call him Pollyanna, say he's crazy as a loon, but he believes in silver linings and that's why he believes in you :)

So my main thing with how I imagine Ninten is that he's, like, almost the sole source of light in the story. How I see the rest of the world is super drab and bleak, pretty much everyone just perpetually down in the dumps (i'll get into this more when I make posts about the other characters!!) And then this kid shows up, and he's full of hope and compassion, and he makes everyone he meets start to realize "maybe everything isn't so bad after all…?" No wonder the final boss is literally the ultimate case of repressed feelings and angst lol

He started showing psychic abilities from a pretty early age, making friends with animals and moving small objects with his mind

He mostly gets his love of baseball from his Dad, but because he's forced to work away from home almost all the time, Ninten's Mom practices with him and takes him to games instead

He has two much younger sisters, Minnie and Mimmie (half-baked headcanon that her name's actually Mimi and she just doesn't know how to pronounce it XD) who cares about a lot, and he often ends up looking after them whenever their Mom's out

He's a pretty great babysitter because of this, takes a lot of babysitting jobs around town, and he's a huge mom friend to the party

Of course he loves penguins too :3

Mostly listens to cheesy upbeat pop songs and rock music, but there's not really any music he actively dislikes

Favorite video games? Uhhh he's more outdoorsy and physically active but he'd like casual retro stuff like the first Mario

He's not super popular at school, because he's the weird buck-toothed dweeby kid who never shuts up about hope and optimism and penguins, but he's not unpopular at least. The bullies learned pretty quick not to mess with him, and DEFINITELY not to mess with anyone else when he's around!!

He's super friendly and prefers to solve things peacefully but he will absolutely not hesitate to clobber a jerk upside the head with his bat

He owns his own tuxedo that he likes to wear at "formal events" (birthday parties and school picture days)

yeah he's a real goober

He never lets up in his hope but god did the Mountain and everything that happened after take their toll on him

I don't have anything on him during the events of Earthbound haha, as far as I'm concerned he was taking a well-deserved nap and that adventure was all Ness's

I also don't connect him at all to Ness, the only bridge between the stories in my mind is Giygas

And here's the sketch I based the digital art off of ^^

[booksandabeer]

Hello, I hope it is fine for me to ask you about this. I would like your opinion on something. I have just gotten into the steve/bucky community and looking through some blogs that seemed a good starting point to get fic recommendations. Yours is one of them but it seems to me, that there is less drama here, if you know what I mean. The question I have is about two series that I have seen discussed really controversial, people only seem to hate them. One is "Not Easily Conquered" and one is "What I'm Looking For". I appreciate that you seem to be more levelheaded about these things, so would you say it is worth it? And do you know more blogs like yours that aren't so hateful? I trust your judgement, thank you in advance.

Hey anon,

What a message! I don’t even know where to start with this one. Well, first of all, welcome to Stuckyhell™—I hope you enjoy crying about two centenarian super soldiers because you’ll be doing that a lot! I have to say that my experience in the community has been overwhelmingly positive so far. Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but I feel that if you don’t go looking for drama and realize early on that occasionally the best course of action is to privately roll your eyes and simply keep on scrolling, you’ll do just fine and it’s a pretty chill experience overall.

Now as to your fic-related questions. I'm honestly a bit surprised. Where did you see all that hateful talk about these two series? I think I can count on one hand the number of people who have ever dared to utter even so much as a mildly critical opinion on NEC? And I’ve never heard a negative word about WILF at all? Hm.

But you asked my opinion so here we go:

Okay, so. NEC. There's a reason why you won't find any mention of it on my blog. Honestly, I had kind of hoped that I could get away with never having to publicly speak about my, ahem, complicated feelings about this series. Guess not.

Let's just rip off the bandaid: I'm not a fan. Now, it’s not a *bad* fic by any means, not at all. The letters in particular are exquisitely written, and I can see why people go feral over them, but almost everything else about this series leaves me somewhere between cold, uncomfortable, or mildly infuriated. That’s all I’ll say about it outside of DMs because (1) I’m not interested in creating any drama here, (2) trying to understand the excessive popularity of this series just leads to me being frustrated and baffled all over again, and (3) I know that a lot of people—among them some of my most beloved mutuals and fandom friends—really, really love this series and I think it’s mean and frankly bad form to talk negatively about something that they love with all their heart, in a space where they are very likely to see it. I probably already said too much, but you asked, and this is my honest answer.

(And btw, this is also a big part of creating a chill fandom experience for yourself: Just accept that some things simply aren’t for you and you will never understand why everybody is so into it. But publicly & repeatedly railing against it in great detail is very unlikely to change anyone’s mind.  You’re just going to make them feel bad about a thing they love and they won’t thank you for it. Also, people can like different things and still be friends. I know—what a concept!)

So back to your question: should you read NEC? I mean, yeah, go for it. So many people adore it, maybe you'll end up being one of them. Just because I personally don't love it, doesn't mean you won't either. If nothing else, you'll at least know what people are talking about when they praise it or, apparently, hate on it, and you'll be able to form your own opinions.

The other series you mentioned, What I'm Looking For, I absolutely recommend. If you're in the mood for a long, sprawling series that stays very close to canon while also trying to make sense of its often faulty narrative logic and inconsistent characterization, this will certainly do it for you! However, keep in mind that this is a veeeeery slow burn series, so if you want to read something that rather quickly gives you all the fuzzy happy romantic Stucky feels, then perhaps you better pick something else.

As for other blogs that do rec posts. @voylitscope makes fantastic themed rec lists. @burberrycanary occasionally makes rec posts with the added bonus of beautiful "fake" book covers. @sparkagrace and @xoxobuckybarnes put together monthly reading lists, and @hazel-wand and @msilverstar often post individual fic recs. I'm sure there are many more!

And of course, you can always send me an ask if you're looking for fics that feature certain tropes/genres/time periods/etc.

[writebackatya]

✨💞💥

✨what’s a fic you’ve posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

I could talk about Up, Up, and Away! again, but I feel like I’d sound like a broken record; so instead let me talk about The Three Caballeros (and Della)! which is a fic that ain’t exactly popular and is something I desperately want to continue but can’t cause I got other stuff I wanna work on

In case the title isn’t a dead giveaway, the story stars Della and Donald and also features José and Panchito. It’s a pre-canon story that takes place when the Duck Twins are young adults and “borrow” the Cloudslayer to go to Mexico for Spring Break while Uncle Scrooge is away on a business trip

The story is essentially a coming of age story about Della and Donald where they’re at different points in their lives: Della contempt with the adventure life she’s living with her Uncle and brother, while Donald wants to get away from all that and wants to move on with his band mates. Also he wants to get laid

This fic idea came to me after watching The Three Caballeros for the first time and realizing that the story is essentially Donald trying to get laid while his two boyfriends introduce him and talk about their respected cultures. It’s a fun movie, you just gotta watch a lame donkey cartoon before the good stuff finally happens

Besides The Three Caballeros, I’d say some other influences for this story are Don Rosa’s The Three Caballeros Ride Again (the stuff I have planned for later are definitely inspired by this story), A Goofy Movie, Superbad, the War-Time era Disney animated movies, and the song Spring Break Anthem by The Lonely Island

This was the first thing I wrote that wasn’t Indi-Quack! and I remember the first time I posted it, I felt that it didn’t get the reaction I was hoping for. But I learned that overtime, people can still stumble upon your work no matter how old. Every now and then I get kudos for this story and a few times I’ve gotten feedback from people who enjoyed the first chapter and are on board for the story

So yeah, I haven’t given up on it yet. I hope to breathe life into again soon

💞what’s the most important part of a story for you? the plot, the characters, the worldbuilding, the technical stuff (grammar etc), the figurative language

The characters. Definitely the characters. They’re the ones you have to spend the entire story with. They’re your guide for the story. You could have a story with excellent worldbuilding and a well-thought out plot, but the whole experience would be ruined for me if the characters I’m with suck or just don’t feel right

Whenever I write anything the characters’ dialogue and actions are always something I obsess over. If I plan on using a character in one of my stories I try to give them something to do. Whether it be playing a part in the overall story or just having a memorable line or moment

I always tell myself if I’m adding a character tag for this fic, chances are someone is clicking on my fic for that particular character. So do their blorbo justice

💥find your least kudos’d fic - say something wonderful about it.

Okay, now I’ll talk about Up, Up, and Away!. Out of all my stories, I think this is the one where I’m really happy how I wrote everyone in that story. Not just the main characters

I loved writing for both Tuskerninni and Splatter Phoenix. They’re both Darkwing Duck villains I think are a lot of fun and would’ve definitely fit right in the DT17 universe. I loved giving them their respected origin stories, where we see Phoenix before she gets her powers and Tuskerninni is just a working actor like Drake. They’re going to show up again later in the story as villains, but I love that they appeared in the first story of this series and that the other villains I plan on having got a little mention from the other characters in the story. Also the OC villain I made up for the story was just a fun excuse to come up with bad pun jokes so that’s always fun

Besides the villains I loved all the heroes. Della Duck being a supportive mother just doing her best to help her kids out in their respected hobbies. Webby being enthusiastic about making a movie simply because it’s about her own family. Violet and Lena being sisters and just on board with the idea cause they’re Webby’s friends. Huey being a big nerd as well as a good big brother. And of course Louie, I love making that kid plot and scheme while also being a good brother. It’s just fun writing for how he sees the angles of any situation

Also I love the running gag where Louie and Lena fight for shotgun

Launchpad I can’t help but feel sorry for because of how desperately he wants to continue working for the McDucks but also wants to work as Drake’s sidekick which is a lot to juggle for him. Drake is also struggling with a lot of things such as taking care of Gosalyn, getting work as an actor, and being a hero for a city that doesn’t appreciate him and the work does

Fenton is someone I love writing for but struggle with at times. He’s a dummy, but he’s not an idiot. I don’t ever want him to come across as hopeless. For the Fendra stuff in the story I wanted to show the two be dynamic duo where both parties bring something to the table, whether it be doing superhero or spy stuff and I think I did a good job with that

As for the Dewey, Gandra, and Gosalyn; I had a lot of fun with these three and can’t wait for when I can finally have these three together. A lot of setup with this trio and we got some interactions between them in the story. Dewey and Gosalyn text one another in the first chapter; and for the climax Dewey helps Fenton and Gandra with their superhero battle. The Dewey and Gandra interaction is probably my favorite part of the story

I see a lot of parallels with these three characters and hopefully the readers saw them too when they read this story. But it is only the first story in the series. Hopefully I can finish the follow-up sometime in the near-future

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

I read your post about Marianne's characterization and I have to agree, which is saying something since Marianne is one of my top two favorite characters in 3H (the other is Ferdinand). Her writing in the academy phase wasn't too horrible IMO, but it could've been better. At least in the war phase, she does improve. If she had better characterization in the academy phase, she probably would've been an overall better character, maybe even a popular one, but alas. The best we can hope (story-wise anyway) is that during the time skip (if she survives), she realizes that her behavior towards others is wack and tries to do something about it so that by the time the war phase hits, she's grown as a person and doesn't really behave that way anymore.

I dunno, I could just be biased as she's a favorite of mine, but I like to fill in gaps when the writers don't do as well with a character as they should have.

Yeah, I don't think she's a bad character overall and in the second half of the game she was perfectly fine as a character. It's the first half that really hurts her for me. There's a point where it's an understandable character flaw, and then there's a point where it's over the top in almost every interaction and becomes the focal point of her entire character. Unfortunately that focal point is a very negative trait and it makes her situation a lot less sympathetic to me.

Raphael and Bernadetta had similar issues, and it's a shame because the writers can clearly write better than that. Yuri and Hapi, for instance, have more to them than pretty boy assassin and local underground girl who had experiments done to her. Their supports have different topics that they cover to grow them as a character and it's not the same thing in every conversation. Dimitri and Claude were examples of the writing at its peak, so I know they can do better than what we got for a handful of characters.

Marianne gets the worst end of the stick with Bernadetta for being written with the central aspects of their characterizations being all negative. Felix was handled better, but he had similar problems in the first half of the game where half the stuff he said was an eye roll and made me want to smack him. I love Felix and I'm glad they fixed the bullshit around him in Hopes because most of the fandom takes every single thing he's ever said literally ever at complete face value with not a single thought about it.

You should fill in the gaps! It's fun to think about those missing points in canon and reason out why the characters changed as much as they did and what might've happened in that time. For all we know, Marianne could've had a life changing experience with someone or more than one person calling her behavior her, explaining how she's being hurtful to others and not just "protecting" them from her "curse". Maybe someone made her realize all she was doing was trying to make herself feel better at the expense of other people's feelings and it made her change how she interacted with people.

I also think it's a shame that they tried to tackle depression with her and messed up by making her act like that. I wish they'd made her try to interact with people and be more sunny and more willing to be around people, because I feel like depression gets stereotyped as "sad person who wants to be constantly away from the world and looks like they haven't slept in weeks". If they don't also have insomnia, they wouldn't look that ragged, and not every depressed person just doesn't want to interact. Many such people will reach out possibly even more than normal because they want the human interaction.

Marianne is a popular character, but I also definitely don't see the same outpouring of love that many other characters get. I'm not sure if it's because of what we've mentioned, but the fan content in general for her feels less than how she popular she seems to be?

[amusedunderclock]

Backlog: Talking About Movies - TSS (2021)

Originally I posted this somewhere else May 2023, but I'm trying to consolidate right now. Furthermore, when I originally posted to Tumblr, it's system didn't realize I'm talking about a MOVIE and not about anything personal. Because I don't need 4 private messages about mental health, I'm just posting the title screen and calling it "TSS". Moving on.

So I watched TSS 2021. That is the sequel to the 2016 movie, for clarity. I wasn’t motivated to watch it because of GotG 3’s release. I forgot that the Guardians movie was close to coming out when watching this one.

Preamble:

After Batman V. Superman, didn’t care much to see anything DC Comics movies outside of some online summaries. But after Endgame, there were a handful of movies from that brand coming out that seemed decent so I would eventually check them out. Such as TSS 2021.

“You can’t use summaries as a substitute for watching-” I don’t care.

Some think the 2016 movie’s whatever, but the only person I directly knew going to bat for that movie, was a major asshole. To me, the sequel stands or falls on it’s own merits.

When I heard James Gunn was making this, I was interested. Ultimately though, I guess it worked out for him since he now runs DC Comics media from this point forward. I didn’t see that coming. Don't expect much in terms of how I feel he's doing in that role. I don't feel the need to judge until about 2-3 movies into his reboot.

But where do I start with TSS? Overall, entertaining movie. Would rewatch.

Now…back in May, I said this:

"You want a point in DC Comics’ favor when it comes to movies? Well when it comes to their CGI, from what I’ve seen, it’s been consistently great. TSS is no exception. Everything blends together with the real world stuff very well. They did a good job there."

And while I stand by TSS having great CGI…The Flash has now come out. I have seen clips of that. That doesn't erase what good the DCEU has done in the past concerning CGI. But damn, being worried about future CGI from them is not unwarranted.

Obviously comparing TSS to Marvel stuff would make sense. TSS feels like it has a different tone. Maybe that’s just because of one company being more hands off, but idk how WB really operates. Kinda felt fresh to just have more varying and modern music playing in one of these superhero things.

What set it apart from the MCU was the R rating which…yeah it took advantage of that. TSS 2021 is violent, detailed, uncensored. Offset by it’s comedy. Frankly, it’s a funny movie. A lot of the comedy is the villains oblivious to common courtesies, or just uncaring in general. It works.

Think I saw some complaints about comic book accuracy. A complaint with all these superhero type movies. Look to be frank, most of the comics people are referencing for accuracy aren’t exactly Nobel Prize winning literature here. Even when they are notably well written, movies are only 2-3 hours while a comic story can span multiple issues.

That's what I wrote in May. Since then, all of twitter is nothing BUT complaining that these products not being comic accurate means that they're inherently bastardized, worthless, a crime against humanity, and will lead to their downfall. This line of thinking is just begging for someone to make a 110% comic accurate superhero movie that ultimately flops because people deem it too fuckin goofy, nonsensical, or just not that interesting as the hype suggested. I'm not saying all of comic history is bad or the comics didn't do some things better. And I'm not ignoring the MCU's storytelling flaws. But damn, The Spider-Verse movies aren't 1 to 1 accurate with the Spider-Verse comics and no one is complaining about that because they are well written. The Guardians trilogy took SEVERAL liberties, but is called peak despite them.

Comic accurate does not automatically equal well writen and never will. Hell, one of the most popular comic youtubers, Comics Explained, is a person who goes on for hours about entire comic arcs. And he outright criticized "X-Men: Days of Future Past". Saying something like "Yeah people like Days of Future Past , but that's just because they copy/pasted the story from the comics" and was hoping for something more original in future movies. And I don't agree with all of his takes, but if someone who dedicates this much time to comics is saying these things, I feel it's more valid than people on twitter who I can't confirm if they read the comics they're praising.

Back to what I said in May, TSS is good without being exactly like the comic. I don’t understand how Starro being mustache-twirly evil would improve the film short of nerds checking off a list of comic accuracy. And him being Death Battle fuckin "He can blink the universe out of existence" powerful is outright nonsensical. Starro was good for what it was.

Interpretation needs to happen sometimes. That said, actors.

This is the first time I’ve seen Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. It’s not entirely like TV versions, but she made it her own and it works. She was in the role for 6 years, it’s probably expected she knows what she’s doing.

Idris Elba, he’s always been a cool actor. Not entirely something I've publicly talked much about on the internet short of him playing Knuckles and I think Heimdall, but he has good performances. Him being the main character was a good choice. Replacing Will Smith? Yeah, but unlike Smith, Elba is more willing to add more grit to his villain character and it's greatly appreciated.

Cena Peacemaker works here. You really do forget he’s a wrestler and for once in about 20 years, he plays a decent heel. Apparently this is a controversial statement, but I guess I've just not seen Cena all that much in the past decade to really focus on his past during the movie…..

…which is what I said last year.

In 2024, after seeing his lacking comments on Vince McMahon, I don't feel much need to praise him or focus on him in the future. Someone put it aptly.

How his Peacemaker solo series went, I have no idea and now I don't care. If he comes back in the reboot, I can at least see why but I still don't care. Harley and Waller tho? They should be priority to return. Especially those two. They're just THAT great.

The rest of the team are convincing enough as villains.

Although…Ratcatcher 2.

Don’t get me wrong. She is a good actor. It makes sense that she’s in jail for her crimes. But like, remove the rat communicator and isn’t she just a person? Can someone else use the communicator?

I don’t think that’s explained. My attempts to google didn’t answer that. If there’s some TSS interview explaining that the Ratcatcher family can only use the communicator, cool. Otherwise, I question how she’s on the Squad to begin with unless they're (likely) short on villains.

To anyone who may take this out of context, Ratcatcher 2 is a good character, good for stealth, & the payoff in the end is great. Just seems like she wasn’t exactly a nemesis of Green Arrow or something. I feel in another context, the communicator, more than the person, would've been Waller's priority.

Like I said, Amanda Waller is solid. Davis really read that character description and said “Easy”. Her character should show up more in future movies beyond TSS.

Rest of the cast is good. Even if they’re still fucked up for betting on lives, I liked Waller’s people turning on her in order to save a city.

Think only thing left to say is that the story for what it is, comes together nicely. These people are not the Avengers/Justice League, they’re forced to work together and are convicted criminals. The interactions they have feel unique as a result, and not everything works out.

Even some of the dead characters in this movie do have development. They do advance/achieve as characters even if it does cost them their lives. Plus it's a cool movie when it has people both cheering that a monster is defeated, and then has you feeling bad for said monster.

I said this movie should stand on it's own merits and it does. TSS 2021 is a great standalone movie. Usually I would sit here and talk about broader lore, but it's unnecessary. Aside from maybe the Captain Boomerang thing, you can just go into this movie and enjoy.

[snekdood]

😬

the "leader" is more like "leaders". normally one might think of stalin or something, but hes just a blueprint, the actual leaders are the ones at the top of the social pyramid within these spaces, such as popular tankie blogs

this ones obvious. i dont feel like i need to say anything. we've all seen how ppl act on here when you question any of their beliefs or the effectiveness of them, etc. and if you challenge them at all or say you dont agree, suddenly you're a horrible person or even a bigot of some form

i underlined "denunciation sessions" bc theres a big emphasis on here to denounce the old "unwoke" parts of your life. not so that ppl should change for the better, but because there's a pressure to change immediately and throw all your old beliefs out the window without even really unpacking them. its their way or the highway and you have to choose right now and its not a multiple choice test. i also underlined "debilitating work" bc theres an emphasis on reblogging things to "spread awareness" or whatever as soon as it pops up on your dash, and if you dont, you're a horrible person, etc.

while i dont really think many of the options given necessarily apply, they sort of do. you dont need "permission" to date, but you'll be berated for dating the "wrong type of person". you'll be told to change or quit jobs if the job does something tumblr communities dont agree with, even if you need the job, and usually they'll call it "boycotting" to make it seem more legit. they'll discourage you from moving to any state or country that they deem isnt progressive enough.

this one goes without saying. instead of it being some random air of superiority, it's "we're the most moral, correct and progressive people" superiority

this one also goes w/o saying, people on here think incredibly black and white all the time, its definitely encouraged.

this one ALSO goes without saying

this one is obvious as evidenced the past two months. everyone saying "believe victims" and that "rape is always bad" in the past but then coming in to defend hamas' actions at every turn and deny the rape or even say that "if it did happen it was justified". which is a fucking wild way to think about the world and you should be locked up.

also obvious. tankies love to guilt trip. nevermind if it backfires on them and makes ppl resent them and move to the right after. i mean, after all, all they cared about was the power they had in telling ppl what to do, not actually giving a fuck about anything or having any convictions.

yes bc if you interact with anyone ppl on tumblr generally dont like, you'll also be shunned. if you have family members who aren't "progressive" enough and you still accept them into your life and hang out with them, even if you dont necessarily want to or dont necessarily like them fully, the fact you still interact with them at all is bad, apparently.

obviously, bc who would want to stick around a place like this once they realize whats really going on. its why they demonize ppl like me or anyone who questions them too much and pushes us to side, to use us as examples for the new, younger people coming in that they get to manipulate and tell them to avoid you and avoid being like you, since you ever dared to question them. they'll call you whatever they need to, make bullshit up about you, JUST to lure ppl in and tell them how much better they are than you, or that if you listen to them they can avoid being like you.

i mean. yeah? maybe it doesnt seem that way but. ppl asking for money all the time through paypal or whatever? or the overall goal of "taking the billionaires wealth and redistributing it", while its a statement i generally agree with, i dont trust that the people saying it will be that responsible, and would probably just hoard money for themselves, and deprive it from people they "dont like" on purpose, almost as revenge for a real or perceived slight, or just bc they dont like someones "bad vibes".

yeah you're apparently supposed to take having tumblr mutuals very seriously, treat them like best buds even though you've probably never messaged eachother or messaged eachother twice about inane things you saw on tumblr. its not a total stranger bc its someone on tumblr so its fine actually! see, they say they're queer and a leftist in their bio, totally safe! thats all it takes! also activism is reblogging or something ig

if you go to other sites, you're looked down upon. if you make friends outside of tumblr communities, you're looked down upon.

people feel like w/o the communities they've built on tumblr, they have no safety net elsewhere, probably bc they've cut contact with WAY too many people, probably plenty of people who didnt even deserve to be, and probably bc they disagreed on like 1 or 2 things. regardless, they cling to the tumblr "safety" net for dear life. "if no one else got me, i know tumblr got me, heres my paypal" essentially. you cant trust the world outside of tumblr to take care of you never of course, its all bad and horrible and can never be fixed or useful in any capacity, etc. burn it all down and start it again with tumblr users in charge and then it'll be perfect, or so they think.