#but really it just was a product of my lack of effort in actually learning to draw fat people

[head---ache]

"I don't know how to draw fat people" is not an excuse. Learn.

[potatoofdefiance]

My two cents and a rant on the allegations and Good Omens

(I will probably regret this later)

This has been eating at me for a while now, ever since the news broke that Neil Gaiman was a sex pest (see infamous TERF-adjacent podcast by Tortoise media) and I have been consciously and unconsciously ruminating over it for weeks now, so here goes.

I think the news of Neil Gaiman hit me harder than I was expecting, and certainly harder than I would have liked.

I didn’t (and certainly do not now) consider myself a “true fan”. I was never a hard-core fan, one that goes to signings or book fairs or cons to meet my favourite author. Partly because I never latched that much on any of the authors of the books or movies I loved, and partly (maybe for the best now that I think about it) because I never had the money, or wasn’t located in a geographically favored area. Meaning I never lived anywhere near wherever events with Neil Gaiman were happening.

So, with all this in mind, how is it that the news managed to hit me so hard?

I thought (read: ruminated) about it, and I think it is because of Good Omens. And the latest times. In my life, and I think a good chunk of other people’s lives too, these last few years have been a roller-coaster. You choose which particular scenario the roller-coaster is set into; mine is on fire, running through a sea of shit and we are being slapped by gooey flaming eels hard in the face.

Maybe someone might enjoy this. That someone isn’t me.

But the point is: I have been struggling. With my life, with a mental health condition, with the world and my place in it.

Enter Good Omens. In an effort to actively expose myself to “nice” stuff, stuff that would, if not make me feel better, at least make me laugh, I started tapping more into the fandom.

I’m not a fandom person. Again, never latched onto anything that had a fandom big enough (where are the Ann Halam fans? No one is making cosplays of Sloe from Siberia, are they?).

But with Good Omens, it seemed perfect for me. I wasn’t invested so much, it didn’t make me feel like I was “lacking” something in order to be part of it. I just felt like I didn’t care enough to really be vulnerable to it, I felt like it could have been a nice innocuous hobby.

But that’s the point. Thinking it was innocuous made me let down my guard enough to actually fall in love with the fandom. Fall in love with those two weirdos of characters (which by the way, I’ll say this now: I think Aziraphale and Crowley as portrayed in the series are more a product of fans and Tennant and Sheen than they are a product of Gaiman and Pratchett. And this is not a bad thing per se, I think, but let’s give credit where credit is due).

And let me be clear: I gained so so much from joining the fandom. It has positively affected so many seemingly unrelated parts of my life, and I’m so grateful to so many kind strangers on the internet who have shared such wholesome art with me, and have gifted me so much, that even putting it into words is simply not enough to explain all of it.

And one of the results of this “wave of wholesomeness” is I also started following Gaiman more closely.

Like so many, I loved Coraline. Gaiman seemed a genuinely nice person. An old guy who had wisdom to share, and who seemed to be fascinatingly non-stereotypical? If that makes sense. What I mean is that he was everything my father warned me against. A goth, weird, a writer therefore an artist (and in my family we know artists are fools who end up on the street jobless and homeless). And yet, to me now he seemed such a normal guy. Yes maybe someone who enjoyed that fashion style, but otherwise very far away from the usual excess of a rockstar. Of course I was too young when he was at the peak of his rockstar years. English is not my first language, and when he was 40 I was in elementary school and just learning about him, and you know, they do not write about his fans passing out at signings or his groupies on the back cover of children’s books.

What I mean is that I didn’t have access to all the media and information about him.

So I start seemingly connecting to this writer, whose works I have enjoyed for the most part, and who seems such a nice guy in how he interacts with his fans and people in general. Such an inoffensive, kind person. And kind seemingly to everyone.

I started liking him. To the point where I remember telling my partner: you know, Neil Gaiman is someone I’d take a coffee with (which in Italian culture is one of the greatest honors one can give you. Having a coffee while sitting at a café and chat for hours is what good friends do).

So, in my mind he had a special place now. He was someone I started to admire and look up to.

And this is, I think, where it hurts. It hurts because even if I wasn’t personally victimized, I never met him, he never acted creepy with me, he doesn’t even know me, it still felt like I, as part of the fandom, had been used for his clout. And also, it hurts to feel like someone you trusted because of how they presented themselves has lied to you.

And on top of that: it is so fucking disrespectful. The fact he thought he could get away with it. With hurting so many people (one is one too many by the way), and causing so much pain, while also enjoying crowds of adoring fans, both online and in person.

I find it personally difficult to reconcile my love of the GO fandom with all of this right now. And I think it’s for a number of reasons.

Firstly because the silence of institutions and people around these facts has opened some old wounds and made me angry again towards a system that I perceive as hostile towards me and people like me who might be vulnerable.

What I mean is: I know that Gaiman is a powerful person, and a lot of people need to bring money home and are tied to contracts and what not (yeah I’m looking at our favorite two male presenting british actors here) and I understand it. I do. And this is exactly why this stuff makes me angry again. Angry at the whole shitty system we live in, where if you happen to be in some kind of power imbalance you might end up having to eat shit and shut up while witnessing violence against you or others and not being able to utter a word about it. This sucks. It makes me angry. It makes me angry that Michael Sheen, someone I like to believe would be among the first to shout “I BELIEVE THE VICTIMS” if he was talking to friends at a bar, likely has to shut up and play nicely because Darth Amazon has some fucking clause written in Braille somewhere that says he has to sacrifice his firstborn if he ever dares to suggest he doesn’t like anyone related to the franchise.

It makes me soooo angry that we stay in the dark, and we only know from those people who are brave, and powerful enough to speak up about something that (allegedly) has been known for fucking years in the writing community. That this person was a creep. That he was treating people, mainly women and non-binary folks, if not bad, at least poorly.

And you know, this makes me even more angry because I have been in such shitty situations too! I was a victim of a system where exploitation and borderline abuse were normalized in a work setting.

And it wakes something deep in me to read that “it was an open secret bla bla bla” and again: I understand why people set up whisper networks instead of taking these giants down. I understand it. It still makes me angry because I simply do not want to live in such systems. Systems where I’m either the sacrificial lamb or I’m the one tying it on the table, or handing the axe over to the butcher, or a witness who has no power to stop the suffering.

I don’t want to live in such a system. But I have to. In my real life. I have to put up with so much shit sometimes, shit that makes me feel like I cannot stand up for my values because hey, I need to pay the bills too. And Good Omens was one of those few things where I could escape a bit into an alternative reality, where everything could be a bit better.

And I’m sure the fandom is still like this for most of the fans. I have witnessed first-hand how supportive and cheerful this fandom can be.

For me though, it still makes me think of all this...tsunami of shit.

I want to be able to enjoy the silly fanart, the memes, the wait for season 3 again. But I can’t. I can’t because my brain does not work like that. Good Omens still means Neil Gaiman too much to me. And I cannot go around talking cheerfully about Good Omens while feeling like I’m feeding into the clout of someone who used their power to coerce vulnerable people. Because (and I might be wrong) it feels like the message I’m sending is: my comfort show/book is more important than your pain or your life. And I can’t. This is not the truth.

I feel for the victims. Probably I feel even more than it would be healthy for me, or normal. But I don’t know, I feel like I connect to them. Maybe because I’ve been a victim of abuse perpetrated in clear power-imbalanced relationships, or because I felt like nobody cared about me and my wellbeing for so long, that eventually I stopped caring too.

And it is bad. It’s dehumanizing to a point where you really start believing you don’t matter. Your wellbeing doesn’t matter. There are more important things.

Ok so, I don’t want the victims, the survivors, to feel like this. They matter. They matter to me because if there’s one thing that is going to re-ignate the sacred fire of defiance in me is being able to stop this self-feeding cycle of self-loathing and misery. You matter. We matter. Vulnerable people who have been hurt matter to me. If there is one thing we can do to resist these systems of oppression and these people who abuse their power, that thing is believing that the people they hurt matter. If not more, at least as much as them.

And the way I show myself and others that the victims and their lives matter to me is by distancing myself from Neil Gaiman and his works, at least for now.

I feel bad for people who might have found themselves unwillingly tied to all of this. I feel bad for Sheen and Tennant, for all the wonderful artists and craft-people who have put so much of their work and love in Good Omens and I don’t want to let them down.

My two cents are that season 3 will not be canceled if they see there’s enough traction, and definitely won’t be canceled unless fans start a crusade against it, which won’t happen most likely.

The fandom loves Tennant and Sheen too much, and these are too much nice people to really hold a grudge against them, so I don’t think it will be canceled.

I’m afraid we (I say “we” meaning everyone who loves Good Omens) will be “held hostage” by Gaiman in the sense that he knows season 3 is not going to happen without him, so it’s either “we” or the majority of “we” behave, or it’s not going to happen. Which again, I don’t think he would lose the opportunity to make some money, and he also has contract duties to fulfill, but it still is worth it for him to try to leverage his power.

I wanted to end this rant on a positive note, somehow. But I don't know exactly what to say. Recently one of the things that has brought me laughs and joy has been the Channel 4 series “We are Lady Parts”.

In one of the episodes they quote a very beautiful poem, which came back to mind when I was listening to Claire (the latest woman who has come forward with allegations) on the “Am I Broken” podcast.

The poem is Speak by Faiz Ahmed Faiz, I will paste the version from the show, because I think it’s very powerful and beautiful.

Speak, for your two lips are free Speak, for your tongue is still your own This straight body still is yours. Speak, your life is still your own.

See how in the blacksmith’s forge flames leap high and steel glows red, padlocks opening wide their jaws. Every chain’s embrace outspread.

Time enough is this brief hour Until body and tongue lie dead. Speak, for truth is living yet. Speak, whatever must be said.

[sirfrogsworth]

I have some guys here taking pictures of my mom's stuff. Yesterday I noticed they put a white cloth over our big kitchen light. "Oh, is that for diffusion?" I thought it was a clever hack to get softer light for their product photos. They were surprised I knew what it was for. I told them I was a photographer. I mentioned I actually had a bunch of special plastic that I use for diffusion. One mentioned he had an interest in photography and was curious about my diffusion material.

He told me about his camera and how he wished he had a better one so he could take better pictures of jewelry for his job. I didn't say anything, but his camera was fine. All modern cameras are fine. Smartphones are even fine. If he wants better pictures of jewelry and whatnot, he needs to learn about lighting. I didn't want to correct him, but I thought maybe if I showed him my lighting setup with the plastic he was interested in, that might send him on the path to better pictures.

So today I brought out my computer and showed him some examples of my product photography and my lighting setup with the diffusion plastic. But once he saw my photos his attitude changed very quickly. He acted like he suddenly lost interest. I found this really odd.

The leader of the group asked to see the pictures. He was impressed and wished his auction photos could look that good. I told him my approach would not work for the assembly line style photos he needs to do, but there was a different approach that might work. I showed him the Karl Taylor light cone.

You just put two lights on either side and take a picture through the hole in the top. You get wonderful gradient lighting with almost no effort and you could create a system to take many photos very quickly.

He was very interested and asked his friend, "Have you seen this light cone? You should also look at all of these product photos he did. They're amazing."

He was once again dismissive and uninterested. And it was then I figured out his issue.

Jealousy.

I kept trying to explain the cone and lighting to the leader and the other guy would say, "Yeah, I already knew that. I just need a better camera is all"

The leader then made me show him my photos and I already knew it was a bad idea, but I was kind of stuck. I showed him more of my product photos of bottles and jewelry and he was like, "Yeah, I could do that. That's called a "sexy bottle shot." I've done that. I just need a better camera."

He was in pain seeing my photos. I'm pretty sure he felt like I was showing him up. Asserting photo dominance. And that was never my intention. I just wanted to share what I knew. I was excited to meet another person with the same interest. But that turned into an awkward and jealous dismissiveness and he did not want to know how I got the results I was forced to show him.

And then, despite the dismissive lack of interest, he says under his breath, "What kind of camera are you using?"

After all the awkwardness, he still didn't catch on to the lesson I was trying to teach.

It is not the camera.

"I just need something to get better closeups."

I should have kept my mouth shut after that. I already knew he didn't want to listen to what I had to say. But I also felt bad that this guy was going to buy an entire new camera and lens to get the same results he is getting now. And so I was like, "Have you heard of macro extension tubes?"

"Oh yeah, I know about them."

He did not.

"You can get some of those and put them on any lens you have and get really great close up shots. Works even on a cheap $100 lens."

"Yeah, I've seen those. Not sure they're what I need. I just need a better camera."

Oof.

[ripplestitchskein]

To be a bit clearer about my issue with the tweet that I talked about in this post as I was posting in the car on the way home (I was not driving but had to do it fast because I get super motion sick) and have had some time to expand a bit:

If we’re talking about the general concept “Stolas set the parameters of the initial sexual transaction thus rooting their relationship in sex from the start and because Blitz is too self loathing and willfully blind to see the desired parameters have changed it is Stolas who made their relationship all about sex in large part because Blitz was never going to be in a healthy enough space to be the one to change it” then yes I agree with the sentiment.

Stolas could have simply said “I’ll let you use the grimoire in exchange for a date” instead of jumping straight to sexual relationship and they could have gotten to know each other first, maybe one date for each Full Moon*. So yes, he did make it this way, he set the terms. At the start of the show.

(*Side note: This would be a super cute fanfic premise tbh and if the show did something like that, where they need to exchange something and say “Hey, how about we make a deal to go on a date on the Full Moon” it would be a really fucking adorable way to reconcile them *starry eyes*. Just think about how much that would slap. The narrative circle of that would be *chef’s kiss*. )

My problem with the framing of “Stolas started it that way in Murder Family, was super over the top horny for a few episodes, now he must suffer the consequences despite the fact that he has been trying to change their dynamic since Blitz expressed how he felt in Ozzie’s” is that, the events of The Circus completely recontextualize the deal we see made and Stolas’s behavior.

We, the audience, didn’t know in S1 that Blitz initiated the whole thing and that Stolas was just mirroring that energy, so I am extremely understanding of this perception pre-S2. Even up until Western Energy, but by Oops we have enough evidence to show Stolas has been trying, Blitz is just refusing. So Stolas didn’t “make it this way” for where the characters are NOW. Not in a “It is Blitz’s fault” taking sides in the divorce way, but in a “This is about character growth or the deliberate lack of it within the story” way.

My big issue with the tweet now, and didn’t learn until I read the tags of a lovely person is that is apparently from an individual who actually works on the show. And that is….kinda concerning to me. A bit.

The idea that Stolas’s efforts count for nothing because he set the initial deal and behaved badly at the start, that we the audience should still see the current dynamic as “Stolas making everything sexual” is a problem 8 episodes into the 2nd season. We have many examples of him not doing that any longer, he has changed, we the audience have been shown that change. Why is it still being framed this way by the actual creative team?

I don’t know how animation production works, so I’m not sure if the people who work as animators are given the whole picture or not. I don’t even know they are fans necessarily, or if they get their individual parts to work on and that’s it. I have zero background info on how these meetings are conducted. I am not coming from a position of authority in this regard.

Setting aside the dismissal of Stolas’s character growth this season. framing it this way undermines the journey Blitz is on too. At this point in the story he is refusing to acknowledge Stolas’s earnest attempts, his willful ignorance is not a funny gag but a reflection of his character and state of mind. It is implied his own trauma and self loathing make him unable to believe what has being explicitly told to him. This confrontation is the tipping point for further development in one direction or another. His choice now is to continue to ignore it and lose Stolas entirely or to try and work through it in some way. By implying Stolas is the one who created thier current situation way back in S1 implies Blitz’s ignorance of Stolas’s feelings is not because of character’s motivations and his own choices to ignore it but simply because it was that way at the start and it is immutable. Stolas said “sex for book please” and “jelly sandwiches” and Blitz was just “I’m just doing what he said he wanted, now he’s coming out of nowhere with this feelings stuff” when a huge part of showing the audience that it is Blitz’s self loathing driving the conflicts in his life is that he refuses to believe the truth of the situation which is it wasn’t Stolas making it all about sex at all. That Stolas has been trying and Blitz keeps shutting it down because of his issues.

That just seems like a crucial part of what we’re doing here? Yes Stolas creates the situation in S1 but he went out of his way to do the opposite in S2.

Obviously this individual’s qualifications for interpretation, being an actual employee, trump my “I’ve watched it a bunch and obsess over it constantly” credentials by a long shot. But my concern is to have a meeting of people responsible for creating the show reflect this sentiment after what we’ve seen in S2 so far is just a little baffling to me?

Either those attempts by Stolas portrayed on screen and the change in his behavior towards Blitz after he realizes his feelings are meaningless in the face of first impressions being everything to both Blitz and the audience. If that is the case I’m not sure why they would be included if the end result interpretation is still “Stolas horny. Made it all about sex. The end.”

Or, I am misreading something, either the tweet itself or the canon text. This is very possible, tweets being an imperfect communication tool and myself being an imperfect person. But as I stated in the original post, if we’re accounting for what is shown on screen as being how we should interpret the characters, Stolas has been trying for months to shift gears and Blitz is the one who continues to frame it as “just sex”. So I just find the tweet completely out of touch with the narrative we’re consuming.

[daistea]

Okay, so you know how there's like, canon racism? (I'm not sure if that's the best word) between long lived and short lived species

Short-lived races are often infantalised, and theres even a canon lil manga panel they drew about how interspecies romance is viewed from both sides.

There's a manga panel where the canaries talk about what you should refer to short-lived races as with Mithrun saying they used to just refer to them as inferior back in his day (I love how offended the canaries look and how the fandom started using the "okay grandpa" meme for him after it.)

(I believe you've reposted both of them, so I'm assuming you already have thoughts™️ on this in that brilliant noggin of yours.)

How do you think this would tie with Mithrun either having feelings or being in a relationship with a human? Like, yes, he's just a product of his society, and he would probably try and change, but I feel like there's just a potential for such interesting dynamics and, like, thought disection.

Sorry for the long ramble, this got slightly out of hand

! Hehe

Disclaimer: My intent is to dissect Mithrun’s weird mindset and how the lack of desires affects his view of other races. Saying “it’s just how he was raised” is no excuse for irl people.

Anyway

I think the whole ‘inferior species’ response is a learned belief for Mithrun. As you said, he’s a product of his culture, despite not caring to adhere to his culture’s expectations anymore.

But I also think he truly doesn’t care. Like it’s a fact to him, short lived races are inferior, he feels no particular way about it because that’s just how things are. He wouldn’t give any thought about those social issues unless it was presented to him, then he’d speak his beliefs emotionlessly because, to him, they’re undeniable facts and there’s no issue.

If he fell in love with someone short-lived, though, I think it would set him off kilter a bit. He wouldn’t care what it looks like, or what others or society thinks. However…. It’s a challenge to what he was raised to believe. I don’t think he’d hesitate in the least, but he would be a bit insensitive to your differences at first, without meaning to.

Like, as an elf he views time very differently. You have to remind him how much more quickly things move for you, that he can’t take years to tackle a problem because you don’t have those years to spare.

He would still consider all short lived races inferior, and he’ll openly say that. He’s not ardently racist for the fun of it, but he’d make comments like ‘huh. A lot of those types here’ and you’re like sweetheart what? If applicable to the conversation, he won’t hesitate to call them inferior. Then he’d look at you and say ‘except for you’ which actually just makes things worse. Feels a bit ingenuine.

You explain to him that he can’t say those things. Honestly, he doesn’t really care at first. He’s like ‘well it’s fact.’ But once you express that that sucks and it hurts and genuinely upsets you, he’s like okay. Okay. He doesn’t get it still, but he’ll watch what he says.

I think he’d make an effort, in his own way, to start understanding. He’d hang around your family and friends. He’d connect with them on personal levels. And remember, his beliefs don’t feel personal to him, so it’s not like he hates anyone. He just doesn’t care to sympathize. But he cares about you, and one of his few desires is to give you what you want. So, he’ll try to defy his cultural upbringing for you.

As for falling in love with someone of a short lived race, like I said it would throw him off a little. He’d not think too hard about it, but in the back of his mind he’s like ‘am I okay?’ LOL

But it’s you. You’re you. He wants you so he’s not going to let race stop him.

It’s only when you explain like ‘Mithrun my culture and race has built who I am as a person and you can’t choose to be blind to that just because you like me’ when he decides to try a bit.

There’s also the lifespan thing. That’s his biggest issue. Sometimes, he looks at you and thinks ‘they’re going to die in 50 years’ and he holds you a little tighter, but doesn’t bother explaining why. It is not good for him. He’s attached, and detaching is not an option. He has no idea what he’s going to do.

Poor old man

[justforbooks]

Does it matter if Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows?

A new survey indicating that seven percent of Americans believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows has gotten a lot of media attention, including from NBC, Huffington Post, Food & Wine, and the Washington Post’s Wonkblog. As an example of public ignorance, this is not a particularly worrisome figure. As Caitlin Dewey notes in her Wonkblog article about the survey, “the most surprising thing about this figure may actually be that it isn’t higher.”

Seven percent is actually a pretty low number, and it’s not clear that it really matters whether people know where chocolate milk comes from or not. Some of the seven percent is likely caused by respondents being confused about the survey rather than genuinely ignorant (though some also probably got the correct answer by guessing). Even well-designed surveys have measurement errors that affect a small percentage of respondents.

Sadly, there are numerous far worse examples of public ignorance out there, including many about far more consequential issues. The seven percent figure pales in comparison with the 25 percent who don’t know the earth orbits the sun, the 66 percent who can’t name the three branches of government, and – my personal favorite – the 80 percent who support mandatory labeling of food containing DNA.

Most of this ignorance is not the result of stupidity or lack of information. It is in fact largely rational behavior. We all have limited time, energy, and attention, and so can learn only a small fraction of all the information out there. It makes sense for us to focus on that which is likely to be useful or interesting. For many people, large swathes of basic political and scientific facts don’t qualify.

In and of itself, ignorance is not a problem. It is often rational and is an unavoidable part of the human condition. But ignorance becomes dangerous when individually rational ignorance leads to harmful collective outcomes.

Sadly, that is often the case with political ignorance, and ignorance about scientific issues relevant to government policy. From the standpoint of the individual voter, it makes sense to devote little effort to acquiring information about government and public policy, because the chance that her vote will make a difference is infinitesimally small. But such behavior can lead to terrible outcomes when an entire electorate is ignorant in this way.

We shouldn’t worry much about the fact that a small minority of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows. But we should take the problem of widespread political ignorance far more seriously.

It may be worth noting that 48 percent of respondents to the survey admitted they simply don’t know where chocolate milk comes from, a much larger figure than the 7 percent who said it comes from brown cows. Still, I think there is little cause for concern about this result, because it’s not clear why it matters whether people know how chocolate milk is produced. Most people don’t know much about the production process for the vast majority of the products they consume. It’s not a significant problem unless it leads them to support harmful or counterproductive public policies or ignore some significant safety risk.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[thoughts-of-loyalty]

Plagiarism and You(Tube)

I must say, as someone who is (or was) a fan of Internet Historian and iilluminaughtii (I wasn't a huge fan of the latter, and had fallen off of the content a few months ago, but I did subscribe and have up videos as background noise while doing stuff, so I can't pretend I wasn't a fan at all), I won't deny that it stings to see them be revealed as plagiarists. I really enjoyed their content, because of the way they can really give a good voice to their work, but to see the proof of their theft up on the screen... it sucks.

hbomberguy really put it well well describing *why* people do this: that they're sure they won't caught, figure they can get a lot out of it, and have no desire to put in the effort it takes to truly make it their own original piece or do the research themselves. For instance, you can *see* the production value in place in the visual parts that Man in Cave has, and they're entertaining to watch (I won't lie, I watched Man in Cave at least three times within the first week it came out), but the fact that the words being spoken and the layout of the events described aren't his own is... well, it brings the rest down by association.

I won't pretend I was ever aware of their issues - I tend to stay in my own lane when it comes to the media I consume, I don't spend much time on Twitter, and I don't seek to involve myself on YouTuber drama - but seeing the curtain pulled back sucks to consider, it's a real breach of trust as a viewer too because you want to believe what you're being shown is earnest work that is all their own, or at least properly attributed if being borrowed. I hope they'll actually learn their lesson and improve their work, do their own research, etc etc... but I can't be fully trusting, because we see the number of examples where they get called out and don't learn a thing/spin the story to protect their reputations/deny everything and continue on. A loss of trust like that is hard to reconcile, if it ever can be.

As a closer, I do think an interesting point that wasn't touched on as much as it could've been, in the parts about James Somerton is the topic of discussion, when hbomberguy refers to how someone who was actively supporting him discovered their plagiarized work in a piece of his... it really does indicate the level of lack of consideration these people have for the content creators they steal from. Like, they think so little of what they're taking from, and only for their own success, that they wouldn't care one whit who they hurt with it - this could be someone who actively admires them, and they wouldn't think twice about treading all over that person. Just... sheesh.

[nkn0va]

I really need some Fuuka HCs bc I am FUBAR (Fuuked Up Beyond All Recognition)

I'll admit I'm kinda rusty on Fuuka, it's been a minute since I last played P3 and I don't have Reload yet. Also Mitsuru was my romance of choice.

-Fuuka is very much the type to look up to her S/O. She unfortunately doesn't have the most confidence out there.

-With her being into technology so much which is not considered traditionally feminine, being self-aware of her lack of cooking skills, and being bullied on top of that, she's gonna go into this relationship not feeling like she's enough.

-The ideal S/O for her is going to need to be supportive at every turn reassuring her that she's enough and you truly do love her despite her supposed "flaws."

-That being said, there's certainly nothing wrong with getting more direct as well, particularly with her bullies. After seeing how badly they treat her it's definitely to tell them off in a more aggressive way, especially if you're more of an intimidating type.

-These bitches won't be told off politely that easily, so worst case scenario if you can't do the intimidating act too well, all you need to do is say you'll tell Aragaki-senpai about them. That'll scare them right off.

-Regardless of how it's done she's practically going to be looking at you with stars in her eyes astounded and grateful beyond words that would care about her of all people enough to defend her like that.

-You're unfortunately gonna be Fuuka's taste tester for her creations in the kitchen. It's not nearly of a disaster as the P4 ladies thankfully, she's aware she's far from being the next coming of Bobby Flay or something.

-If you're adept enough in the kitchen to teach someone, it's going to require patience. Don't let the poor girl see your frustration show when she inevitably screws up, she's going to feel even worse than she already does.

-Once she truly hyperfixates all her effort on a recipe she can actually make something pretty solid. That's not going to happen too often, unfortunately, at least for a while. It's going to be a long-time investment to get her to improve.

-Dates involving technology are naturally best suited for Fuuka. She can show you how to repair and do maintenance on both your audio equipment and despite any embarrassment she may feels, this is where she's in her element. It's both enjoyable for her and practical/productive since you're learning something.

-When winter rolls around, definitely go take Fuuka out to see Christmas lights. The tech geek in her will awaken and she'll talk your ear off about the intricacies and specs of all the lights you see, on top of just seeing pretty scenery.

-She'll quickly get embarrassed and apologize for "talking too much", but it's pretty freaking cute.

[arthuluart]

Hiii - wanted to say first thing first I love your art style, it's so dynamic and fun and those color palettes? Stunning ^^

And second thing second, just some food for thought if you ever want to get angsty about Jerry and Dean, coffee by Chappell Roan sounds like it was written about their break up specifically and I can't stop thinking abt it dndnden

*Cue me losing my mind*

Hiii- they say flattery gets you everywhere and turns out with me, it gets you animatics- jkjk but I do appreciate the kind comments ^^

I’ll put up the animatic separately and take the opportunity to leave the preamble here to keep the video post neat bc until someone tells me to shut up and just post art- I’m gonna ramble… So here’s the commentary you didn’t ask for along with my favourite panels:

First off- You turned me into a big time Chappell Roan listener which is great bc I need music recs to fix my listening habits before Spotify wrapped drops. My roundup last year was shameful… Red Wine Supernova is my new dish washing song.

Even tho it’s not the song’s vibe I kept the content as silly as I could for my own sanity. I don’t love getting too deep into the serious/sad side of M+L for a few reasons but I do find it all very interesting. Point being this song was too good to pass up doing something a bit bigger for.

Ngl tho- this did have me pulling out hair at multiple points. I never colour animatics, rarely even tone them- but you mentioned colour palettes and I was determined to deliver so pardon the messy colouring but (that was the tradeoff) I did not have it in me to stay in the lines. I’m choosing to be kind to myself and opt to call it an artistic choice and not midway burnout. And nothing was gonna get me to open after effects/premiere not even the janky ass golf ball OML this only makes sense if u watch the video.

There are parts of this I’m SO happy with and others I hate. I think it’s really obvious which sections I started losing steam on but overall I lowkey like the end product. Nothing I make will ever be good/perfect- this was one hell of a practice in accepting that lmao- but I can still be ok with the work problems and all yknow? I very nearly shelved this completely bc I got so worked up about the maybe 5 panels I dislike out of 106 total. Counting them was eye opening to ask myself: you’re gonna let that small a ratio stop you from sharing this after putting in days and days of effort? The insecurity goes deep and TBH getting asks has been a nice way of working through it since I post the art I make for answers no matter what only bc I KNOW someone out there wants to see it. It might not sound it but it’s actually quite positive.

Also, although I feel I’ve done my fair share of reading, I’m no expert. So if anything is really off point- sorry my bad (I won’t fix it tho bc I cannot physically stand to look at this another second lol)

I tried to stick to real things found in articles/books/photos/interviews etc bc outside of obviously fictional AUs I’m not super into making stuff up about them (and who needs to I mean the legit stuff is already insane enough) Sure I framed the events in specific ways to suit the song and some aspects are fictionalized (mainly bc the referenced written accounts lacked detail to draw 100% faithfully from anyhow) but otherwise I got my sources cited.

ANYWAYS… sorry for hijacking this answer I need to learn to chill out. Irl I’m a pretty reserved talker so you can tell I’m in a comfy place when I let loose and blather on endlessly lmao brevity is not a skill I possess.

You were probably expecting illustrations or smth but I hope what I came up with is still somewhat alright AND please don’t let my complaining fool you, I genuinely loved making this.

One FINAL Relevant Note: the line “nowhere else is safe every place leads back to your place” is gut wrenching. You’re so right about this song perfectly describing the break up. They always came back to each other and there’s something so devastating about that kind of haunting human connection.

OkAY I’m done promise- I thought I’d implode if I didn’t get all that out

[felassan]

Illuminating tweet series by a former Anthem developer [source].

They mention elsewhere in the thread that Anthem was developed in 15 months. Per the tweets, before this period, it spent 5-6 years in pre-production, lacking a clear vision and with an ever-changing vision; in game development this causes a lot of working and reworking. The devs were talented and all passionate about the game, but they were building "a new IP from nothing on an engine that was meant for an FPS with half a team that had never created live service games".

They further elaborate in more tweets that:

EA had their reasons to release it early but were stupid and the devs' team "had to pay the price". EA learned a lot from the development of Anthem but whether they applied those learnings is unknown

Jason Schreier's article (How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong) was all 100% true at one point in development or other, and only scratches the surface

How did they manage to ship it in 15 months? The dev mentions working about 90 hours a week for 15 months. Many other devs on the team were also doing so and they think that others were doing 90 hours a week prior to the 15 month mark. "It wasn't sustainable and not even a position we should have been in." "I'm fine now, but not without damage. Contributed to the cost of my marriage and I needed therapy for a while after that endeavor." "It was a lot of morale hits on a personal level and a team level. Everyone had their own way of dealing with it." "There was a lot of pissed, stressed, rinse, repeat. It was a vicious cycle." "I guarantee we could have put something out in Unreal. Working in Frostbite was rough." After launch the team got death threats because of drop rates

Anthem was delayed as it had missing features, lack of polish and bugs that needed fixing. Another big problem that it faced was that it had lots of scope creep. "There were really high expectations for this game and the team felt it. We always were trying to push for cool features, etc.. So I think we could have done it if we kept our scope creep in check."

The main team was focused on getting the game out in a functional state. "We really needed another 1-2 studios to make endgame content while we were finishing up the game."

After launch it was all hands on deck to stabilize the game. Content and features that they wanted to do consequently kept getting deprioritized. A major focus they were trying to address at launch was all the server issues. "I think the shittiest part about this, besides no endgame and replay ability, was that during development, management was putting in gating mechanics to 'lengthen' the time it took to complete the story. IIRC it was removed from the final version after backlash from devs."

"It was a great team effort to get the controls how we shipped. We went through many iterations and it was super rough in the beginning. I know the team was really happy where the controls landed too. We actually took in a lot of feedback from the EA game changers."

A Twitter user asked "When you say it wasn’t ready, was that always communicated with other members of the team i.e. publishers?". The dev replied "I think it was ignored/denied from leadership. There is a story there, but I will refrain."

A transparent retrospective on Anthem/its development will likely never come to light because of both current and former devs still being under NDA

The dev has an assumption that if they didn't release Anthem, BioWare would have been dissolved. They also observe that BioWare just wasn't good at multi-project development, which is hard. Most people at BioWare didn't believe in "BioWare Magic". There was and maybe still is a lot of stress and politics surrounding Anthem from the development and publishing side (a problem not specific to Anthem). The dev mentioned that it was both an EA failure and a BioWare upper management failure. "I actually don't think it was all EA's fault. A developer and publisher is supposed to be a healthy relationship of trust and transparency. It's a 2 way street which i don't think was satisfied on either side."

Re: who made the decision to release the game in the state it was, some of them left and some remain at BioWare

On Anthem 2.0/Anthem Next, the game was really fun and was going in the right direction. The team had hit a really great milestone, when EA canned it. It was a different development team driving Anthem 2.0. The team were gutted when it was cancelled

(please note it's always best to read tweets and the like in full and in context, from the original source)

[source]

[mdhwrites]

Why Can I Say So Much About The Owl House?

I effectively got asked this on Twitter and A: If not for all of yours asks, I probably would not even half of the blogs I do about TOH, if not closer to a tenth. B: I’m an analytical person, like talking about things like this and writing is my passion. Above all else is C though. The writers of TOH obviously know what a good story looks like... But they don’t know WHY it looks that way. They understand that character arcs are good so the more character arcs, the better. They understand that rivals to lovers is a great archtype ripe with storytelling possibilities but also that people complain about couples only getting together at the end. It understands that fantasy tropes are mocked so it’s good to mock them or lampshade our own use of them instead of asking if that mocking is in good faith. This one especially rings true for this concept to me because of how many times the show will try to claim they’re not using a fantasy trope before going “OH! We actually NEED to use the trope to make our story function, almost like the thing we’re mocking is actually just a part of fantasy storytelling as much as it’s a trope.” It’s very much so a “What do idiots on Twitter complain about” method of learning writing. You learn it by what people criticize as much as you learn by what is praised. The Cinema Sins approach effectively where there’s no nuance. The point is to attack every ‘problem’ you can claim in a product mixed with the question of “What do people praise the most about Avatar?” And for a simple story... That can work. It’s part of why S1 works. In general, S1′s storytelling is very much so nothing special but it’s done with charm and confidence. The only problem is that the show is setting itself up for larger topics, themes, concepts, etc. that it also isn’t prepared to tackle at the same time because there’s not enough thought put into each element so that they don’t contradict each other. Or, for that matter, function as a whole instead of disparate parts. From a narrative standpoint, this is a NIGHTMARE. You’re in effectively a narrative uncanny valley where all the elements for a good story are there but the skill of the writers, their priorities, etc. like that are NOT equipped to cash the checks their pencils are writing. It’s effectively a mindset that will ALWAYS have a crash happen narratively where things just fall apart and you’re going to divide audience the second that happens depending on where they land on the twin sides of the Uncanny Valley. And while ruinous for a story... It’s amazing from the standpoint of a teaching perspective. Most bad works after all have a core rot to them. Their main character is bad, the concept from go is flawed, the writing is just atrocious, etc. like that. Most have works one or two glaring flaws that tank the rest of the work, or that rot is purely in the form of lack of effort and it’s just boring with little to even care enough about to analyze. TOH IS different in that way. There is obviously a lot of love put into it. A lot of passion and a lot of confidence. It understands ALL of the tropes that work well for the type of story it’s trying to tell. On paper, TOH actually has a really good story and the different elements have a lot of potential for different ways for that story to go. But you need to know WHY those elements are useful for the story being told. If you don’t... You’re making a stew without the meat. There is no core flavor because you’ve shoved everything into it regardless of if it clashes, if it needs to be prepared in a certain way to work, if it needs to be cooked in an entirely different way before being added, etc. like that. It can’t even really have any real inventiveness to it like using bread as a scoop because it’s checking boxes. It’s saying “X is liked so we do X.” You need to know the why before you can give a unique answer to the problem that X solves or the like. This is probably why things most praised about TOH are titles. Swap Luz for a guy and how much changes, especially since Luz is bi? But because Luz is female, she’s heralded as part of a new wave of female protagonists that she is nowhere near the start of. Amity could have been an asshole dude and not much changes with her either but making her female as well gets you titled as the first openly gay, Disney TV cartoon (which god if that’s not a lot of caveats). It’s stuff that is frankly more easily answered in a panel than ever on screen because they’re elements that don’t matter to the show, as much I appreciate it for inclusive. It’s not an LGBTQIA+ story though. It only happens to have those characters. It’s not a story about race and ethnicity and being an outcast, Luz just happens to be Afro-Latina and no one rejects her simply for who she is. It’s not a story about gender because the show steadfastly refused to say racism and bigotry exist outside of just being a part of how we know the bad guys are bad people. It wants to be praised for these elements, it wants to appear smart about and unique for having them... But it’s a basic fantasy story at the end of the day. It’s none of these other things and it hardly wants to be any of them, even as it also won’t commit to just being another fantasy story. And... I guess that is kind of the personal motivation behind this. I LIKE basic fantasy stories. I LOVE fantasy as a genre in general. I think it gets WAY too much shit and that people try way too hard to claim to not be like other fantasy stories, either with gratuitous sex and nudity (Hi Game of Thrones) or constant subversion like The Owl House. TOH giving a middle finger to its genre though, while also not being willing to actually commit the proper care and attention to be something more complex is INFURIATING to me as a writer. I mean... I’m still angry just from a conceptual standpoint that Reaching Out has this setup:

Character A is normally brash and impulsive and energetic. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more reserved, scared and cautious, specifically because he DIED. Character B is normally more reserved, cautious and thinks things through. Due to issues with their father, they are acting more brash, impulsive and putting themselves in danger to prove themselves. And they’re dating. And Reaching Out does NOTHING with what is narrative GOLD. What is usually so hard to setup in a story because you want to show these sorts of contrasts, you want these sorts of changes of pace, you want this sort of reasonable, unreasonable conflict sources because they are such perfect ways to show how characters interact with their own problems, with others, what other sides of them can look like, etc. like that, LET ALONE WHEN THE TWO ARE IN A COMMITTED RELATIONSHIP! And the whole episode the two aren’t actually different from their normal behaviors, including Luz lying since that’s not new behavior for her, outside of Luz showing that despite death and loss being on her mind, she doesn’t give a fuck about that Amity is actively putting her life potentially at risk in this tournament. She literally gets BORED watching Amity fight and so joins herself for the sake of a distraction. Which... Different blog. I’ve made my point on how misguided these writers are but GOD there’s so many reasons why Reaching Out is one of the worst episodes of the series in my opinion. But that is also an example of what I’m talking about. They are trying a LOT. And failing a LOT. And instead of being really basic failures, figuring out what went wrong is an interesting puzzle and it’s understandable why some may not see the flaws, unlike with a more blatantly bad work like The Room or Teen Titans Go. Talking about either of those would be boring and almost pointless because... Look at them. Their flaws are so obvious and blunt and simple that you could teach with them but it’s not exciting and you’re going to run dry pretty quickly because neither ambitious enough not to be making the same mistakes over and over and over again. And for someone who’s brain NEVER turns off... I find ambition that obliterates itself far more compelling than something that is just straightforwardly bad. So I want to talk about it. Talk about the whys that the writers didn’t get. ======== I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead, If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[oliviax727]

I finally gotten to it, I am finally going to start learning a language (Spanish)

Wait, why should I care?

You don't need to care at all. I just want to keep a public record of my progress and see if I can pull off the effort for long enough to achieve my goals.

If you're not interested, there's no shame in scrolling past this post once a month. And dw, these posts will be at most monthly. So if you're here for something else, this won't clog things up.

If you're concerned about the physics, reminder this is my personal account, and there's another one exclusively for those who just want the science without the shitposting/personal/political stuff.

Though if you're like a linguist or something - or are interested in language stuff in general, I'm sure you can find some value in this post perhaps.

What language will it be?

tl;dr Spanish

Also I love putting all this colour in my post. It satisfies my autism so much.

Now, I've come from a very multilingual background. I learned mandarin between age 5 - 13, and latin in grades 7 thru 8.

Mandarin was a language I could never get the hang of.

It probably had to do with some child-like racism combined with a lack of motivation.

Buuuuut it most likely was a consequence of when I moved from Hong Kong to Australia, my new school did not accomodate the fact I was already experienced.

Nevertheless, I feel as if my Mandarin skills have been overshot, and I don't think I'd be motivated to re-learn it unless I overwhelmingly succeed in this.

Latin was just a dud - I decided to do it because I thought it would be interesting, but dropped it after I realised I had too much on my plate heading into 9th grade.

But Spanish on the other hand, well, there are three better reasons why I choose to learn it:

I never really got an opportunity. I stopped wanting to learn from my abuela when I was 3-5 yo, and my Australian high school also didn't offer it either (my high school's curriculum was dogshit)

A big portion of my relatives are tied to Argentina, with my mum being born from Argentine immigrants. She spent her high school years doing ESL as Spanish was her second language

Aspiring to do Astrophysics is likely going to land me in Chile, as the Andes is home to telescopes-a-plenty

I could've also gone with other languages I'm interested in, like:

German (because my abuela was born from German immigrants - no they were not Nazis, they actually fled in 1936 to avoid conscription)

Croatian (my abuelo was born in Yugoslavia and fled in the 1950s)

Greek (I don't know why it was my "latin is cool" phase, so I guess I wanted to do ancient greek but I don't know how much drift there has been over the last 2000 years thanks to the romans)

And thus I go with Spanish.

But what about regional dialects?

I am very aware that there are various dialects of Spanish within Latin America, and generally, most online methods of learning will teach you Spanish Spanish.

But I think it's more important to first learn a bit of basic vocab, and the grammar, before worrying about my regional dialect. I'm still pretty sure that the most common and important grammar conventions are still shared between languages.

And I already know that people will tell I'm a foreigner, because I'll have an "English"-like accent to it. Learning a specific dialect will only make it harder to tell, not eliminate being "language clocked" entirely.

So what's this going to look like?

Every month or two I'm going to personally report, to myself, via tumblr, my progress in learning. I'll list what I learned, what I still need to work on, and what I wish I could do next.

Effectively this is going to be a public journal of sorts, to make sure I feel like I'm doing this productively.

What's the weather like now?

Given that I've already attempted to learn Spanish twice previously, and being exposed to cultural influences, I already know a bit of Spanish.

Most of it is just random bits of vocabulary, that sound a lot less impressive if you were to try and make me say a sentence:

Custom greetings "Hola", "Buenos Noches"

Expletives "¡Ay caramba!"

The basic conjunction "y"

"Niño, niña, hombre"

Agua (with the "con gas" or "sin gas" tacked on too)

Counting from "uno" to "treinta-nueve"

Some month names like "Mayo" or "Diciembre"

Some colours like "Rojo"

Some utensils and tools like "Boligrafo"

Other stuff that I won't be able to recaly suddenly

And I mostly only understand the pronunciation, most of the spellings I had to look up on google translate. Extra I's like in December or thirty, or that there's no "ph" in pen.

There are other simple grammatical rules that I know of:

Gender i.e. words that end with a you tack on a "La" and for o's you tack on "El". More generally you have to pay attention to grammatical gender

As an educated guess from knowing a bit of Latin, I'm sure there are noun and verb declensions that interact with gender as well

Word order, much like English, is SVO

Clearly, I have my work cut out for me. But I also have a head start over a lot of people primarily because I have experience in other languages related to Spanish, which can help inform me on grammar and common vocabulary. I also have some (minor) knowledge in linguistics.

Another one is that I don't just assume that Spanish is a 1:1 translation of English, where you can just swap words for others. This seems like a trivial fact. But you'd be surprised at how much "English-speaking privilege" can blind people who don't require learning second languages.

It can be much more effective to learn a language when you know your expectations.

What are my Goals?

Well, in the spirit of a SMART goal, I don't really know. Because I don't actually know how long it will take me to get to a desired level of fluency.

Sometimes a language can take years to learn, sometimes it can be picked up in just one. And there are so many different "levels" of acheivement.

Which is why my goals in the long term will be more vapid:

At some point, I want to have a semi-fluent conversation with my abuela in Spanish

I want to be able to speak and understand a proper, unbroken sentence within a few months or a year

Now, what I mean by "Sentence" is really finicky. I don't mean "Las mujers leen; ¡Soy una de las mujers!" (see I'm already learning ha ha). I mean a sentence you'd normally say like:

"Hey X, I'm gonna go to the store, what do you need me to buy? Ok see you in half an hour."

That will be a bit difficult. It requires a lot more vocab to get to that level. But of course, I know it's do-able because millions of people have done it already!

What are my short-term goals? And how will I learn?

For the short term, my goals are a little more simpler. Primarily because there will always be a course or an app that will help me learn.

And for the first few months, my goals are most likely going to align with whatever the app has designed for me to do.

The problem is that I feel like most apps will act as if they can take you from no-knowledge to fluent speaker in like 5 months tops, which for an adult sounds a little fishy if you ask me.

When reading through the recommended applications, I came across two that were appealing:

Duolingo, which is more fast-paced and short-form. It gamifies language but may not be great for formal education

Rosetta Stone, which is advertised as better for natural language learning. And requires more effort.

I decided to use both, mainly because I'm lucky enough to afford it ... for now. I don't have much other means to spend my money regardless.

The reason I choose to use both is simply because I want the best of both worlds, and that I can't tell which one is better until I try it. Duolingo makes it entertaining, Rosetta Stone makes it serious. Sort of the balance I'm looking for.

At some point I hope to stop using at least one or the other. But for now I have nothing better to do.

Anyways, that's all I gotta say on the matter for now. Wish me luck!

[vannahfanfics]

One Piece Live Action: Review

Well, I came home after work yesterday and immediately binged the entirety of the live-action One Piece adaptation. Now that it's morning, I thought I would collect my thoughts (which I rambled to several friends and also into my handy-dandy phone notepad app) and write a review, for anyone who's interested. I'll be honest, it's mostly for me; I have so many feelings as someone who actually loves cinematography and the artistic analysis of film with regard to storytelling—because we all know how much I love my stories—that I just have to rave about this honest-to-goodness masterpiece of a show. Obviously, it will be very spoiler-heavy, so read at your own discretion!

So, I'll start with a blanket statement and reiterate that, again, I thought this show was a masterpiece. Given the history of live-action anime adaptations, I was cautious in not having terribly high expectations, even after learning that Oda was intimately involved in the production; I also went in looking to respect it as its own entity, though, and willing to look past certain things provided there were no egregious insults to the source material. And y'all, when I say I was blown away—I damn near had a smile on my face the whole night watching it. It wasn't just the nostalgia; it was the overbearing feeling that so much love was poured into this show, which I find to be unfortunately lacking in a lot of Hollywood films these days. I found myself thinking of the Peter Jackson adaptations of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Though there were changes, some of them large, none of them felt averse to the source material; in fact, the changes felt like they came from an admiration of the source material and a strong desire to bring them justice. I dunno, I was just amazed by the pervading feeling that each and every person involved in making this show had a dream to bring One Piece to life, and they poured every ounce of effort into bringing that dream to fruition—which is what One Piece is all about. This has set the standard for live-action anime adaptations, and I finished this show so desperately hungry for more, to see how they could go bigger and better when bringing the subsequent arcs to life in a nostalgic but refreshingly new way. Goda has delivered yet again, and honestly, I will never be the same. Words aren't going to be able to capture the depth of my feelings about this show, but I must ramble on nonetheless because I am just so awed and inspired and emotional about it.

Episode 1: Romance Dawn

First of all, it's a no-brainer to have the first episode of the series titled "Romance Dawn," but it still made me giddy. The opening sequence was sick. Michael Dorman absolutely sells it as Gol D. Roger; his absolute blitheness in the face of his impending death is so spot-on, and his rendition of the "Wealth, Fame, Power" speech was so rousing. I loved that they kept the fact that Dracule, Shanks, Smoker, and Dragon were in attendance, too, and though they were the briefest of blips, their appearances hinted at the personalities and relationships with Roger that manga/anime followers already know well: Dracule, simply intrigued and stoic; little Shanks, distraught at the looming death of his captain; young Smoker, mystified at the downfall of such a legend but not necessarily sad; and Dragon, who is shown only in his green cloak, shrouded in mystery as he is. I liked the inclusion of Garp at the execution, especially given his expanded role in this adaptation of the series, but also because of his close relationship with Roger in canon; it only makes sense that he would be there at the end. I was also pleasantly surprised that they showed Roger's death on-screen. It immediately established that the tone of this version of One Piece would be darker, with the stakes higher, and I honestly love that. Finally, the overhead scene of all the people rushing out of the square to take to the seas was so breathtaking; it really drove home the impact that this one man and his words had on the world, to the point that his legacy is still going strong twenty years later.

I loved the way we are introduced to Luffy, with this new scene of him rambling to the mail pelican while shoveling water out of his sinking dinghy. It was very Jack Sparrow-esque, which was a nice nod to another defining powerhouse of the pirate adventure genre, but also so Luffy. And I maintained that feeling throughout the show. I mean, even down to the little things, like Luffy smiling every time he was in a fight, him holding onto his hat while fighting to keep it from falling off, him cheering and screaming and crowing with glee—all the little nuances were just so Luffy! I'll probably say it a thousand times throughout this, but every single member of the cast is astounding in their roles and how they embody the characters. Iñaki is no exception; he is Luffy, through and through, even if not exactly the same as the anime/manga Luffy that we all know and love. Also, the CGI effects of his rubber abilities are really cool! I imagine that was so hard to pull off, but they really do a good job of trying to make it as believable as possible.

I will scream from the rooftops about how much I love the treatment of Alvida's character. There was not even one single quip of her being "fat" or "ugly"; everything pertaining to how she is "bad" was geared to her cruelty, and I love that we've broken away from that stereotype in this show. Also, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino slayed as Alvida. She was every ounce of strong, brutal, and callous as canon Alvida, and honestly, she looks gorgeous doing it.

Also, I lived for Koby and Luffy's friendship in this series. Morgan Davies did such a fantastic job portraying Koby and his growth, and his chemistry with Iñaki was just so... yes. Every time they are on screen together, I have the biggest, stupidest smile on my face because you can just see how deep their friendship is despite not knowing each other for very long. Their goodbye scene was so, so, so touching; with the lighting, and the music, and the expression on Koby and Luffy's faces... I got misty-eyed in a way I didn't reading the manga. Given how Koby's friendship with Luffy is such a defining part of his character in the manga, the fact that they evolved it after this initial arc made me incredibly happy. If this show goes on, I'd love to see how they continue to show Koby's growth alongside the Straw Hat's adventures, given the pivotal roles he goes on to play in the narrative.

Another thing I love is the fact that the Straw Hat's backgrounds are shown in pieces throughout the narrative at key moments in the present, such that past and present parallel. It's so good and so much more impactful than just having it shown as one big chunk. Since this is largely Luffy and Shanks' background, I'll focus on it. Peter Gadiot did such a compelling job as Shanks. His portrayal of Shanks carried a tenderness and care for Luffy that just tugged at all my heartstrings. Like, his expression when he realized that Luffy ate the Devil Fruit was just so amazingly haunting... The guilt, the horror, the realization that Luffy's life will never be the same, and there's nothing he can do... Simply spectacular. Also, I will comment again on just how amazing the casting was. Even the background characters, such as Shanks' crew, just shined in their brief moments. Like, even Makino—her minimal reactions with Luffy and Shanks were just so her! She and Shanks really had that "husband and wife" energy, and I lived for it. I also have to give a round of applause to the dialogue in the series. The small changes from the manga/anime defined these portrayals of the characters as distinct from those we've come to love, but in the best way. I was on the FLOOR when little Luffy yelled "Why didn't you get his ass?!" at Shanks because it came out of left field yet was so believable and so Luffy with what we'd been shown so far. Iconic.

I loved the introduction to Zoro's character! It was so him, but also, I was amazed by the inclusion of Baroque Works so early on! His fight with the previous Number 7 was badass, and the fact that, again, the show didn't shy away from on-screen death really highlighted how dangerous this world really is. And it contradicts so well with Nami's introduction, which is so playful, with her jaunty little theme in the background. It's just so One Piece, adrenaline-pumping action and high stakes balanced with lighthearted energy and fun. Then, the bar sequence was just... chef's kiss. I love that the original three came together in the first episode; I was so excited to see what it meant as far as changes to the story and how their dynamic develops. The way they wove in scenes from the manga/anime into this new narrative was so clever; we still got Zoro eating the little girl's rice ball off the ground, establishing how good of a character he is despite seeming so ruthless. But also, can we talk about the choreography of Zoro's fight scene against all those Marines? Just... The fact that he didn't even draw his sword once because he didn't even feel them worthy opponents, the languid nonchalance of his movements when he stepped away from the bar interspersed with his crisp agility in cutting them down, the guy he took out with the cup?! Amazing. Mackenyu read the goddamn assignment. Also, Nami using her wiles to flirt with a Marine, then knocking him out to steal his uniform as soon as he's distracted... Classic Nami. And then Luffy, getting super excited at seeing Zoro fight... while Koby immediately crawls under the table to hide, LOL.

Also, props to Aidan Scott for his portrayal of Helmeppo, like, he perfectly captured the whiny bitch energy. Crawling on his hands and knees away as soon as Zoro gets one hit in on him is classic Helmeppo lmao. I also liked that they didn't shy away from hinting at how terribly Morgan treats him, though I do wish we could have seen a little more of it, if only for the sake of rounding out Helmeppo's character to make his growth throughout the show more impactful (and I will rant and rave about his growth because, my gosh, I love what they did with his character!). I died at the infamous naked sword-practicing scene, but like, it was also so perfect? Like, it just gave even more depth to his character, showing that he does desire to be strong and taken seriously, and how much his mistreatment by his father affects him. The fact that Zoro is the one who gave him his curly-bob haircut sends me, though, just... so hysterical. I screamed.

Langley Kirkwood did a great job at playing Axe-Hand Morgan, too; he totally captured his swagger, self-confidence, and tendency to exaggerate his own accomplishments. I liked that they changed the narrative a bit to where Zoro ended up in the yard because he refused to join Morgan rather than just him beating up Helmeppo; like, it just added such a neat spin to his character, showing that he is devoted to being a bounty hunter simply because he is searching for strong opponents for the pursuit of his dream and nothing else.

I also loved the changes to how Zoro, and Nami, end up joining up with Luffy. My heart swelled when Luffy untied Zoro simply because he wanted him to be able to follow his dream, and that's all, not as a means of pressuring Zoro to join him. Then Nami, sneaking around the Marine Base and stumbling upon Luffy, who almost gets them caught time and time again. It's just so them. I was so overjoyed to see Nami get some action with her Climatact, too! It was so nice to not see her overshadowed by the guys, but right there in the thick of it with them. And, speaking of in the thick of it, the fight with Axe-Hand Morgan was so good! The choreography was amazing, and the music accompanying it just made it that much more heart-pumping. I literally starting pumping my fist and whooping when the bandana and third sword came out, like, iconic Zoro moment brought to life.

Finally, Buggy's introduction at the end was so spot-on. The drama. The excessiveness. The madness. It made me so pumped, alongside seeing that Garp going after Luffy was going to be put at the beginning of the series. Some people didn't like the change, but honestly, it made more sense to me that he would go after Luffy immediately, seeing as he was intent on testing Luffy to see if he was ready to take on the world. It's evident that Garp deeply cares for Luffy, and it just makes sense to me that he wouldn't wait.

Episode 2: The Man in the Straw Hat

Honestly, this is one of my favorite episodes, and all because of Jeff Ward's portrayal of Buggy. It was so amazing. But, I also like the beginning segment showing Zoro, Nami, and Luffy's dynamic. There really is tension among them; they are not a crew yet, and seeing them come together over adversities and genuinely beginning to see each other as a crew and a family just gives me the warm and fuzzies. Because trust isn't just immediately given; it's earned, and it takes time, and seeing them slowly realize how special Luffy is and become compelled and inspired to follow him is so special.

Okay, but onto the main act: Buggy. Buggy. BUGGY! I loved the changes they made to this whole thing, honestly. Setting it in a whole circus tent where the audience is kidnapped town members rather than just... a concrete slab in a ruined town, was so smart. Like, as silly as Buggy is, he is still a menacing pirate, and the way they set up this encounter really reminded us of that. And y'all, I cannot praise enough Jeff Ward's Buggy. So amazing. Like, he's so demented yet pathetic in that Buggy way that it blows my mind, and yet, he still brought his own spin to it by really leaning into the fact that Buggy is the way he is because of his insecurities, to the point that he is totally delusional about what really happened between him and Shanks. Like, the personality switch when he realizes that Luffy knows Shanks, and he full-heartedly believes that Luffy was abandoned by Shanks, too, and is an outcast like him, and offers to have him join his crew, but being so spine-chillingly twisted the whole time is just so, so, so good. Also, again, the CGI for his Devil Fruit abilities was so cool and slick. It captured that perfect balance between horrifying and comical that's so Buggy. Finally, again, I love the changes to the dialogue that came with the show. Buggy's "Surprise, shitheads!" is just so him but still had me rolling because I didn't expect it.

And, in true One Piece fashion, Luffy's perilous plight is countered with the relative light-heartedness of Nami and Zoro escaping to rescue him. Seriously, I love the sass that Mackenyu brings to Zoro. The "Yeah, that does sound like me" was just so perfect.

The water tank scene was... oh my gosh. I will say it again and again throughout my review, but it was so clever and symbolic of them to put the flashbacks in places in the present that parallel each other. I knew it was coming, but the scene where Shanks saves Luffy was just so emotional and raw. Again, Peter Gadiot brings such a softness to Shanks that I love; the tenderness when he hugs Luffy and tells him that he doesn't care about his arm, that he's just glad he's okay, looks like it really comes from the heart. I was in tears at the end of the flashback when Shanks bequeathed his hat to Luffy; it was so emotional, and the choice to have Shanks tell Luffy to "Be good" almost killed me. Because it isn't just him telling him to behave... It's telling him to be a good person, and that's the core of Luffy's character: he's just, he's compassionate, he's truly good in a world so corrupt. Literally, that one small moment took my breath away. Finally, just a small note, but God, did I love the way that they showed Conqueror's Haki! I was interested as to how they were going to do it, and it delivered.

Finally, Iñaki has Luffy's "Don't mess with my friend or I'll kick your ass" glare down pat. When he looked at Buggy, I lost my mind with excitement because I knew shit was about to get real!

Episode 3: Tell No Tales

I really like the title of this episode, too. Not only is it clever because it's Usopp's episode, but it foreshadows the horror movie-esque vibe that Kuro's personage brings to the show by bringing to mind the saying "dead men tell no tales."

I love that the episode starts off with another scene of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami on the boat to show how they are coming together. The banter is different, somehow, with an undercurrent of growing care and trust. Also, of course, I love that they kept the janky Jolly Roger and the details of paint splatter on Luffy's face. It was just a classic cute, funny Straw Hats moment. I also loved all their interactions in the mansion, especially the changing room scene. Like, I love that they kept Luffy's acespec overtones by having him totally not react to Nami asking for opinions on how she looks at all.

I love the changes they brought to Syrup Village! Like, it was so clever to make it a shipwright's town with Usopp having a job in the shipyard, which gives more weight to his abilities as a shipwright and inventor plus the deep bond he develops with the Going Merry. Also, I adore Jacob Romero Gibson's rendition of Usopp! He makes his character so funny, so charming, so lighthearted like the comic-relief Usopp we know, but with some slight changes that really define him as a distinct Usopp. His chemistry with Kaya is so good; I loved the treatment they got in this adaptation. You could truly feel the love and deep bond between them.

Again, the side character casting is amazing. Celeste Loots makes the sweetest, most adorable Kaya. Her look of inspired wonder when Luffy was talking about a pirate's love for their ship and how it's a home was so simple, yet so defining for both her and Luffy's characters. I also loved that she and Nami bonded! It was a clever way to give insight into both of their characters. Alexander Maniatis played such a great Kuro; like, the instant I saw him, I got chills down my spine because he seemed such a prim and proper butler yet had such an edge of malice about him. Also, he nailed the Kuro glasses gesture. Also, Sham and Rika were so well done; they really nailed that whimsical horror vibe going on. Finally, Merry was done well, too! Though I adore him, I was glad that they chose to actually kill him this go-around. First of all, from a medical perspective, it's hard to survive that kind of wound LOL; but also, it again showed just how high the stakes are and how frighteningly ruthless and cold Kuro is.

I was fascinated to see the addition of the Marines to this arc, but honestly, I loved it. The scene of Usopp running through the streets screaming for help was so heartbreaking; Jacob killed it, especially with the expression of disbelief, terror, and desperation on his face as he slowly sat down whispering "Why won't anyone believe me?" Again, so clever to superimpose this with the crux of his backstory, with the reveal that his chronic lying stems from the trauma of his mother's illness and believing that if he just kept up this ritual every day, his father would come home and everything would be right again in the world; sympathy for Usopp hit me more than it ever had. Then, for it to pan to Koby leaning over him earnestly saying, "I believe you," I got chills. Absolutely stupendous way to end the episode.

Episode 4: The Pirates Are Coming

This one is also one of my favorite episodes, for multiple reasons, all pertaining to character development.

The scenes of Zoro in the well will haunt me forever in the best way. It was just such an amazing choice, symbolically, to parallel his scenes of backstory with Kuina with him struggling to get out of this well, a deep, dark hole from which he seemingly cannot escape, just like the deep, dark hole of insecurity he struggled to climb out of with Kuina, and the deep, dark hole of trying to honor Kuina's memory that he struggles with early on. Him slipping each time he is defeated by Kuina or something happens to knock him down... Him climbing higher as his childhood self grows and bonds with Kuina... It was just so artistic, so beautiful, that I still get chills thinking about it. The amazing score that accompanies the scenes also has a lot to do with it. I haven't touched on the score much, but honestly, it's so amazing too. Also, shoutout to the actor who played Kuina's dad. Like, the way he delivered the news of Kuina's death to Zoro was so powerful; him trying to be the stoic sensei, but still crying a tear, and them embracing at the end... My heart hurted.

There is a lot of good Koby growth in this episode as well! This is where we really see him struggle with his sense of "justice" that he gains and grows throughout the anime/manga... Wanting to follow orders, but wanting to follow his heart, but not yet having the courage to stand up to authority, all foiled by Helmeppo, who is jaded by the reality of the Marines and lacks empathy for others secondary to his own self-hatred... It's so good, and a wonderful addition, in my opinion, because I hate that a lot of the growth of the other characters in One Piece happens behind the scenes sometimes.

Again, I love the changes to Usopp in this adaptation, and it peaks with him choosing to stay with Kaya in the mansion. It just gives a glimmer of the Usopp we come to see, the one who refuses to run away when the things he cares about are truly threatened, and drives home the fact that Usopp loves Kaya enough to face certain death for her, despite his cowardly tendencies. Just amazing.

But again, I have to give props to the actors of the Kuro crew, and the whole team behind this sequence. It was so creepy! Like, it had such a maliciousness and element of horror that the anime/manga just couldn't capture. I knew what happened in the end, but I was still on pins and needles the whole time because there was just so much tension! I did laugh at the Zoro and Luffy moment out in the woods, though, referencing Zoro's nonexistent sense of direction. And Zoro's fight with the lackeys was amazingly choreographed, as always, with Mackenyu really nailing Zoro getting enraged when Kuina's sword was stolen.

The ending scenes! What a way to end such a tense episode! I screamed at the UsoKaya kiss; it was so unexpected yet delightful! But also, the Straw Hats' reactions were so them. And then, the bliss and exhilaration as they sailed away on the Going Merry, while notes of "We Are" played in the background. Even the small details hit me, like Zoro finding a place to sleep and sleeping with Kuina's sword, and Luffy and Usopp arguing over who's captain, and all of them laughing together... just really captured the world I love. Then, an amazing cliffhanger with them being attacked by Garp and Luffy dropping the "Grandpa?" bomb. Perfect.

Episode 5: Eat At Baratie!

I was so hype for this episode because Sanji was my first One Piece love, and I was so excited to see the takes on his character and arc. I was not disappointed.

I liked howGarp's relationship with Luffy was given slowly over the course of the series. The flashback of him destroying Luffy's boat and hauling him off, with no regard to his dreams, really hit home because of how much value had been placed on dreams up until then. Garp as a character really started to shine here, with him hurling a cannonball with his bare hand, then laughing when Luffy bested him (because we all know how intertwined laughter is to the One Piece narrative, especially with regards to Luffy). The simple bit of Koby saving Helmeppo's life, too, and the look of bewilderment he gives him that heralds the change in his character and impending growth, was just so good, too! And of course, the interactions of the Straw Hats were great; they are coming together, but they still have a long way to go, and that just makes what follows in the Baratie arc that much more meaningful. They aren't a crew yet, but they will be.

So appropriate that Luffy's nose and gullet leads him to the Baratie. And, oh, I love what they did with this set! It's the most magnificent, in my opinion. I love the addition of a lighthouse, since the Baratie is supposed to be a refuge for hungry sailors of all kinds. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about the crew and how they interacted in the restaurant, too; it had so many good moments of them bonding. However, I have to take a moment to acknowledge Usopp, who just killed it throughout this episode; like, strutting into the restaurant tits-out? "I can't eat anymore, but it's so good?" The fishbowl? The dancing? The blabbing to a complete stranger only for it to turn out to be a legendary badass here for his captain? Iconic behavior. But, seriously, so many good character moments here. Luffy ordering milk like the innocent cutie he is. Zoro struggling to sit in the booth with his swords but refusing to check them. Nami being totally unimpressed with Sanji's flirting. The boys teasing Nami for Sanji's flirting. 10/10. And Zoro and Nami bonding by trying to learn more about one another! The shift in her character really is fantastic; Emily Rudd did a bang-up job of showing that Nami truly is a good person, but is so damaged by her childhood and is scared to get close to anyone because she inevitably hurts them. I loved that she called Zoro her friend while trying to dissuade him from fighting Mihawk, and the switch that happens in her debating on betraying them in secret comes from him rebuking her by throwing her own words back in her face.

Also, speaking of Sanji, I adore Taz Skylar's Sanji with all my heart. Like, first of all, I love that they toned down his flirtatiousness. It's still there, but it is at such a more tolerable level because it isn't overbearing or uncomfortable. Then there is his smile. My God, every time he smiles, my heart sings. Like, he just captured the essence of Sanji that is part dapper gentleman badass, part snarky, foul-mouthed asshole, and part pathetic wet beast of a man. I have fallen in love with Sanji all over again. I also loved his relationship with Zeff. It was so them; bickering incessantly, antagonism belying the genuine love they have for each other. Finally, I adore the relationship he gains with the crew. Like, it is so obvious how much he comes to care about Luffy after them talking about dreams and later while helping Luffy process what it really means to be a captain. Also, it's so badass that he did all his own stunts. Him fighting so screams Sanji! I just cherish this Sanji, I really do.

I knew going in that they condensed this arc, and honestly, I'm pleased with how they did it. I thought it was so clever to introduce Mihawk differently, with him absolutely decimating Don Krieg's crew single-handedly and calling it "Killing time." Also, he's so hot, it's honestly unfair. Again, the amazing casting shines through, because Steven Ward made such a spectacular Mihawk, totally encapsulating that devil-may-care attitude of his and his interest in powerful people. Phenomenal. And to pair this with more Koby growth, with him being appalled by Garp using pirates to do his business and that the World Government has the Warlord system. I had to laugh at Helmeppo's "You don't know shit about how the world works" because it was just a funny line in general, but funnier coming from him, who also doesn't know shit about how the world works in a different way. It was sad not to see Sanji shine in combat against the Don Krieg crew (though I loved the Gin appearance and that he lives this time!), I think it was a smart narrative choice to have this episode center around Mihawk vs. Zoro, given what follows. Speaking of, that fight was amazing. It was a dead ringer to how it goes down into the manga, down to the pose at the end when Zoro points his sword at the sky and vows never to lose again. I also love that Nami didn't flee in secret like she did in the manga; she stayed, and there was that tender moment of her holding Usopp's hand for comfort. I just think it does so well to illustrate how Nami is changing, but also, the sheer power that Luffy holds in making people who have given up all hope believe again. Nami stays because, deep down, she has hope that she can be a part of this crew, that she can have the courage to tell Luffy the truth and have him help her save her home, that she can be free of Arlong, and that is so powerful in a way that is different and new than the way things originally go.

Episode 6: The Chef and The Chore Boy

I love that there is so much weight in this episode on Zoro's injury. It was glossed over in the manga, honestly, but this adaptation goes into how grievous it is and uses that as the crux of Luffy's growth as a captain and how they come together. It's amazing, narrative-wise, enough for me to be content with the large plot changes they made to the Baratie arc.

The Mihawk and Garp interaction is so gold, honestly. It really captures Mihawk's thing about doing whatever he wants despite being a dog of the World Government, and the keen interest he takes in Luffy. Also, again, Garp laughing while losing his shit at the fact that his grandson is out there tearing up the East Blue as a pirate is so awesome.

Sanji's backstory is the only one told as a full, uninterrupted narrative, and the fact that it's different because of the circumstances and the fact that Sanji is telling it to show Luffy, who is obviously doubting himself, what it means to be a captain is again so clever. Again, Sanji is one of my all-time favorite characters, and his backstory was always the most gut-wrenching to me; seeing it come to life was so heartbreakingly beautiful and sad and inspiring. Props to the kid that played him, like, he did a stellar job. The way he attacked Zeff with unhinged rage over his food; the way he slowly unraveled throughout the time on the rock, starting out as determined to survive and having the optimism that only a child can have and slowly transitioning into the terrified little boy he is, curled up and sniffling as the days drag on; the look of shock, guilt, and disbelief when he realizes that Zeff gave him all the food and ate his own leg (especially with knowledge from the manga, knowing the way Sanji grew up and how he has never known any sort of love, so the idea that someone would sacrifice for him, especially as a stranger, just shatters his entire world view)... It's simply spectacular. And comparing that to the present Sanji, who is so full of energy and life and hope for finding the All Blue, is just so impactful.

But, seriously, I love the whole thing of the characters' growth revolving around Zoro and his recovery. I was touched by Nami reading the story of Noland to him (and also excited by another crumb for potential sequel seasons), and Luffy struggling with what to say because he is struggling with himself and his ability to captain.

Again, I really enjoyed how they handled the transition from Baratie to Arlong Park. First of all, I loved that they kept Buggy a part of the narrative. It encapsulates that spirit of One Piece in which events and characters hundreds of chapters back can still return to have profound effects on the narrative. Also, Buggy is just downright hysterical in this show, and I enjoy his presence. The fishmen are so intimidating, and I like how they used the Baratie to set that and Arlong's motivations up. Getting to see Sanji really fight was great, and when he lost his shit because Zeff got hurt... Yes, just yes. Finally, I love that Nami just "betrayed" them in person. The fact that it went down like it did made Luffy emotional intelligence and his belief that Nami isn't just a traitor that much more impactful to me. Emily Rudd did such a good job of showing Nami as someone who is callous on the surface but clearly has that undertone of hesitation and guilt about what she is doing, though she knows she is doing it to save their lives. Also, Sanji being shirtless while saving Luffy? Like, I will take the fanservice, but it was just so funny to me LOL

But the end of the episode was so hopeful! After everything going wrong, Luffy finally finds the words he needs to say because he knows now what it means to be a captain; he needs his crew as much as they need him. And Zoro waking up at that moment, and Luffy being so excited to see him that he crawls all over him and flings his arm around LOL, it's so Luffy. And I loved that we got official acknowledgement of Zoro as his first mate! It was so good! And finally, Sanji and Zeff's goodbye. It was so emotional, Taz's voice breaking as he thanked Zeff for everything and putting up with all his shit over the years... I cried. TT.TT And of course, ending it with the twist that Buggy will lead them to Arlong is just so exciting LOL

Chapter 7: The Girl With The Sawfish Tattoo

I was so ready for this episode because some of the scenes in the Arlong Park arc are still some of my favorites. I'll admit that this is the arc that had a few changes that I wish weren't there, but overall, I still like how it was handled, and it kept the spirit of the manga.

Again, I like how Nami's backstory is interspersed with key moments of the present narrative. The initial scene of childhood innocence with her and Nojiko and Belle-mere, so light and happy, and coming to a jarring end as she snaps to reality in Arlong Park... Perfect. Also, I thought it was cool that they turned Arlong Park into an amusement park; it's a clever nod to Arlong's twisted notion of making the world a "paradise" for fishmen. Again, I have to commend the casting. Arlong is so savage in this. He practically radiates bloodlust, and it's so good, even though I know what happens, I was worrying for Nami the whole time because he could so easily turn on her on a whim. Then, pairing the conflict of Nami having to go collect money from her village with the conflict with Belle-mere, her hating that she's poor and weaponizing the fact that they aren't a "real" family, as a frustrated child would... So clever. I will admit that this is where the changes that I don't like come in. I really don't like that they made it to where the town had no clue about the fact that she was trying to buy back the village the whole time, and they pretended not to know to try and keep Nami safe. Like, they kept the idea that Nami felt sh deserved to be hated because she felt guilty for not cherishing Belle-mere as she should have and somehow responsible for what happened to the town, but still, what was special about Nami's arc is that she believed that she hurt everyone around her and that she didn't deserve to be loved, but she had been loved the whole time, and this show completely abolished that. In the same vein, I hated the cuts they made to Genzo's character. Belle-mere was her mother figure, and Genzo was her father figure, and that was largely unseen here. They had the nods to the pinwheels (it was cute that they used the tangerine skills), but, again, I felt it was a disservice to Nami's story and character to make changes like this, and I honestly don't know why they felt the need to do it at all, aside from maybe driving home the fact that Nami felt she deserved to be hated and so let the village hate her.

Again, very interesting how they wove in the Marines here. I honestly loved the dinner with Garp and Zeff; them talking about the old days, and Zeff hinting at the times changing and the upcoming generation that becomes a crux to the overall One Piece narrative, is so good. Also, love the Helmeppo and Koby bonding. Their friendship has become so important to me.

But, seriously, props to Iñaki, and the scriptwriters, for just perfectly capturing Luffy's emotional intelligence. Because Nojiko has no idea that Nami is trying to buy back the town, the cast is left believing that Nami genuinely betrayed them, but Luffy just refuses to abandon his gut feeling that there is something more, and he won't stop until he hears it directly from Nami, whom he knows is not being honest with him. Though I don't like the changes to the story, I do like the scene of Nami and Nojiko's reconciliation. It's very heartfelt and heartbreaking, especially when followed by Nezumi arriving to take Nami's money away; everything finally seems to be going right for Nami, and then it all falls apart. I loved the cinematography of her running through the tangerine fields; it truly captured the desperation, all the way up until her falling to her knees at the sight of her village being razed to the ground. Emily Rudd and Iñaki truly nailed the next sequence, which is my favorite in all the manga; Nami's screaming with rage as she stabs her tattoo, Luffy standing there, waiting for the ask for help that he instinctively knows will come, Nami turning around and whispering a broken "Help me," and then, in a perfect parallel to the manga panel, the rest of the crew, despite still not knowing the full context, all immediately being there for her... It will live in my head rent-free until I die.

Chapter 8: The Worst in the East

A good conclusion to the masterpiece that is the adaptation, but again, I am starving for more. Despite my problems with the changes in the previous episode, I thought the condensation in this episode was pretty all right.

The battle of Arlong Park was much shorter, obviously, but I still enjoyed it a lot! I like that they kept Usopp's first solo fight, and all-in-all, it lined up well with the manga. I am, however, so deeply disappointed at the omission of Usopp Hammer and Rubber Band of Doom. Like, I remember the first time I watched this episode of the anime in dub, and I had to pause it for five minutes because hearing Usopp trill "Rubber Band of Dooooooooom!" had me in hysterics, on the floor, laughing until I cried. They kept him pretending to be dead with hot sauce "blood," but not that? How could they do my boy like that? I did laugh at the whole, "I did it! ... Aaaaaaaaaand there was no one there to see it." That aside, the Zoro and Sanji team-up fight was awesome. The ZoSan banter really begins, and it was gratifying to really get to see Sanji shine in a fight since he didn't get to in the Baratie arc as much, as well as Zoro clutching at his wound throughout the fight! Also, I love that the singular "fuck" in the show went to Zoro, and it was directed at Buggy, "that fuckin' clown." Like, so iconic, so perfect, 100/10 moment right there. And, of course, Luffy's fight with Arlong. The teeth-shedding thing was so horrifying and gross, but again drove home the savagery behind Arlong's character. Obviously, they made some alterations to the fight because it would be hard to replicate in live action, but I was more concerned with them keeping the core of the fight: Luffy bringing down Arlong Park because it was all built upon Nami's pain and sacrifice, and that was rendered beautifully. I loved the shot of Arlong Park collapsing. It was so devastating and destructive in a way the anime wasn't, so the horror of the crew looking on as it came crumbling to the ground, wondering if Luffy was okay, and Luffy emerging from the rubble to validate Nami as their friend and a member of their crew gave me goosebumps.

Of course, it won't be a Straw Hat story without a party. I love that they used it as a way to tie the loose ends of the story together. Koby not only reaches the crux of his character arc by finally standing up to Garp and what he believes in, but Helmeppo begins to, too, but joining him, really cementing their friendship. We finally get to the meat of the tension between Garp and Luffy, and I loved the scene where Luffy grins and laughs, and Garp sees Roger in his head. It's a recurring theme in the manga/anime, and to see it here was gratifying. Also, the fact that Luffy got totally bodied by Garp was a good reminder that Luffy still has a long way to go; he will encounter stronger and stronger enemies henceforth, but will face them with a smile and unshakeable confidence and determination.

I loved the ending. I cried tears of joy at Koby bringing Luffy his wanted poster and them hugging and saying their true goodbyes... Luffy telling Koby to be a good marine, and Koby telling Luffy to be a good pirate. It was just so satisfying, so powerful, so solidifying of the friendship that will persist throughout the manga. Then, of course, it was exciting to see all the little scenes with the poster: Makino reading it, Kayagushing over Usopp in the backgriund, Zeff hanging it on the "Employee of the Month" board, Buggy seeing it and voicing that he'll kill Luffy and Alvida chiming in, hinting their team-up... And of course, the scene where Mihawk brings it to Shanks and they all celebrate. So nostalgic, but also so dripping with the overtone that the adventure doesn't end here; that the Straw Hats are only beginning. And that's paralleled by Koby and Helmeppo, too, beginning their training under Garp. And all of it topped off with the crew sailing forth on the Going Merry, with their sail unfurling to reveal the Jolly Roger, them making their vows on the barrel with it flashing back to their childhood selves... I truly felt like I had been a part of something special and was setting out on a new journey with the Straw Hats, and I can't wait to see where they're taken next, even if that never makes it to the screen.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Raven, helloooo i’m doing a runaround tumblr to showcase my admiration for my favorite writers on tumblr, and you get one~!

Can I just start off by saying you're incredibly insightful and intelligent?? Your ability to grasp onto character qualities and understand each of them is incredible! Your characterization is always on point. I'd think you are a script writer from the original! I love coming across any of your theories on a character, analysis which always seem canon, or your writings! Romantic or just daily shenanigans between characters all of it is so amazing!! I love each of them! Your writing style is so smooth and fun to read! Its both detailed and telling, but also shown and displayed with the characters actions. You give them life and I love that!

You're also so incredibly patient with your audience! Your willingness to learn is also endearing and I think in general you're a really good person I enjoy seeing come up! Your content is very re-readable in my opinion and I think your blog is wonderful aesthetic wise too! It gives a sense of curiosity and liveliness. Also I adore your oc too~ I love seeing the content of her!

To conclude, I really enjoy seeing any and all of your content and keep up the wonderful work <3 be sure to take breaks as well!

For some context, I recieved this ask towards the tail end of TWST’s third anniversary (around March 18th). Back then, I was very stressed between writing Sebek’s birthday one-shot, alt!dorm headcanons, and general irl business… so the timing of this ask was coincidentally perfect 🥺 It was a nice little pick-me-up to help me through that mentally demanding period, so I’m really thankful that it came when it did!! (If I seem a little more emotional than usual, that’s why 😅)

The next thing I want to say is thank you very much for the highly detailed feedback!! 🙏 I appreciate it when my readers let me know what they think of my work—and while I’ll always like seeing a “good job” or a “you write well”, it’s the very explicit feedback that I enjoy the most. “You did a good job with X! You wrote this well!” It lets me know what specifically my strengths are, and gives me ideas on how to improve in the future or where I may be lacking or not as strong.

I’m glad that you like my works (creative writing, theories, analyses) so much!! TWST has become my hyperfixation these last few years, so I’m grateful that I have a space where I can just shout about it and overanalyze it to heck and back. It feels so therapeutic to be able to share this passion with others!

dhscuwxnks It’s an honor to be told that my stuff seems canon or that it makes you think I’m actually a writer on the dev team 😭 I feel like it’s usually hard for fans to see how much time and effort content creators put into their craft; they just see the end product, consume it, and then wait for the next product to come out only to repeat the cycle. It’s really nice to know that people notice all the work I put in to tru and capture the essence of the TWST characters and their canon. I basically try to wiggle into their mind spaces 😳

We hold TWST near and dear to our hearts, and I want to have others experience that same fondness when they read my works. The smiles and the sobs we’ve had with the NRC boys are universal experiences; I’m glad that I’m able to share such a thing with my readers. I think people sometimes underestimate just how much forms of art can touch us at our very cores; they can be so memorable that someone reading your fic or looking at your art can remember exactly where they were when they first consumed your work. Creations can leave an impact on the world and the people who look upon it!

Sometimes I’ve been told I’m too patient 😂 but I’m relieved that it seems like my patience is seen as a virtue?? I’m used to giving advice and being the voice of reason to others, so I guess that extended into my fandom life. If people find that useful, then I’m happy to be of help and that I didn’t step on any toes! I want my words to guide others into making determinations that feel are right to them, not tell them how they “should” feel or think.

I like to learn because I realize there’s a lot I don’t know. Just as I give knowledge and advice, I’d also like to receive it 🎵 If I think about it… the patience makes me one part Trey, and the curiosity and willingness to learn makes me one part Lilia?

Not gonna lie, I’m still struggling to find that “perfect” blog theme for me… but I’m happy that you also like the little technical things like how the blog is laid out and looks. (I’m very invested in my blog’s theming and Alice in Wonderland motifs!! 💪)

I’m also working on getting more comfortable with sharing content of my OC 🥲 I’ve mentioned this before, but I feel guilty when I mention Miss Raven because some part of me realizes that most people are here for general TWST stuff, not her. Even though this is my blog and I can do whatever I want with it, this still makes me feel like I’m somehow being selfish… which I know is a ridiculous way of thinking, so I’m trying to combat it!!

Once again, thank you for this valuable feedback, I hope you didn’t mind me rambling 🥺 I’ll definitely be looking back on this to reflect!! And I’ll try to take breaks, but no promises in case I can’t keep it—

[mamabeatnik]

Separation of Church & Fate

This year apparently has been about learning self-validation. 

I started school this year, and turns out - I’m not dumb and i’m really good at time management, unlike what i was telling myself. 

I was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD (combined type) at the very start of the year, and it turns out those are fuckin REAL and so are the issues they bring to my life. I’m not just a lazy asshole, like i was telling myself.

It’s also been about recognizing old patterns and navigating the essential inner growth. 

Why do i feel these things about myself? Why is my self-confidence destroyed this year? I KNOW i’m not bad, or dumb, or manipulative, and that i am always putting effort into growth within relationships and myself. I like to ask questions because i’m genuinely curious and i want to know what people think and i like to solve problems in ways that benefit everyone. 

So where am i getting this negative self feed-back loop? And why was it missing for a few years but suddenly has come back full-strength?

Turns out that the negative thought patterns i allowed to creep in are not actually my sentiments at all. They’re the reflections of very difficult years in harsh environments built up over time, strengthened by the perceived notions of people who have no fucking clue what’s actually going on. My inner awful dialogue wasn’t something i struggled with as a kid, until the church came along. This would be partially a product of simply being a child, but also being an AUTISTIC child. Most children are who they are, they like who they are, and they don’t realize that there’s anything wrong with them until someone doesn’t like them or misunderstands them. Essentially, all children are taught to be self-conscious and learn that they are ‘weird’ or ‘bad’ or ‘dumb” from social peers and triggered adults and the cycle starts there.

This is true tenfold for autistic children. 

Up until the point I was introduced into a society that isn’t built to include me, i had no frame of reference to believe that i was any better or worse than anyone else. I was ME. I liked being me, until i encountered a religious environment that told me i must acknowledge that i’m a bad person in order to participate and get any social ‘perks’ with my club membership (my father also told me i was 'stupid', an 'idiot', and 'dumb' on a daily basis but that's a story for another time).

This seemed arbitrary. Listening to someone preach love and forgiveness every Sunday while also casting hellish aspersions on non-club members, sanctioning domestic abuse and violence, subjugating their female members, and publicly flogging and banishing members who didn’t adhere to the exact script - none of it made sense. It sure seemed everyone was getting away with something, but because they’d stamped God’s name on it, it wasn’t hypocritical. 

My blood would boil, my blood pressure would rise, and I would daydream about stabbing myself in the neck with my pen, listening to these men preach on and on and on. Which didn’t seem constructive or conducive to personal growth. I wanted to get rid of that part of me that spent the mornings in the pew viscerally angry. Because, as i was being told, the problem was ME. 

I started asking genuine questions because i was confused how such GOOD people could be so hypocritical and lack so much self-awareness. Why would these men tell my mom she had to stay with a man who pushed her down stairs and beat her children and why would they say God wants it? Why would they take it upon themselves to discipline grown adults like they were children and treat children like livestock to “train”. Why would there be a spiritual entity that wants any of this? 

These aren’t ground-breaking questions that should shake the very foundations of a sturdy, well-built religious faith that’s predicated on genuine love and forgiveness. If we were truly involved in the spiritual practice this cult claimed we were, there would be inclusiveness. Kindness. 

Support. 

Grey areas. 

Honest and difficult conversations. 

The ability to share your experiences and have them be received with curiosity and understanding. 

There would be space for mistakes, apologies, and proper conflict resolution. 

Turns out, this was too ideal and not the environment in which i found myself. I quickly learned that asking tough questions and trying to have a dialogue relegated me to the status of “questionable” and “dangerous” - even if I took accountability and apologized. I didn’t understand that. 

Years later, i realized i’d already been marked as dangerous by this community when i was 8. And while it sounds too self-victimizing to be true - it was simply because I shared some info and asked a question. 

My father’s anger was ramping up. He had started taking it out on my mom in physical abuse form, and if i stepped in, it was my turn. Being a problem solver, i figured sharing this info with some older girls at the church might yield positive results. Perhaps their dad could say something to mine. What actually happened was difficult to process. 

The girls went to their mother, who went to my mother. I was pulled aside and reprimanded by this other woman for sharing personal family info and instructed never to do it again. She had dragged my mother over with her and lectured both of us on…something - probably encouraging us to get our feminine tongues under control. Years later, this woman’s husband would recommend that my beaten mother skip the divorce she so badly needed on the premise that God likes faithful and submissive wives. But that's another story.

So this is where I learned that my naturally questioning and problem-spotting brain was THE problem. If you see something suspicious, you will get swatted. If you ask questions, you will be banished. If you speak up for yourself, you will be punished. It doesn’t matter how obvious the problem is, how kindly you try to say it - it doesn’t matter if you’re not contributing to the dialogue in a way that sweeps things under the rug and bolsters the bullshit. 

I had assumed this was only an issue within church structure. Once i left, the pattern seemed to resolve itself. A non-religious social hierarchy built on the same non-friction and passive double-standard principles didn’t seem like it should exist. 

Unfortunately, au contraire. 

This year was about learning that people everywhere feel attacked when you suggest something in the social structure is off and try to have a dialogue about it. In a less aggressive sense, this situation mimicked the one from my childhood - misrepresentation, misunderstanding, an entire group of people telling me i was wrong and insecure, and several others clinging to the idea that i tried to control their lives.

(lol - why are they pretending i have that much power)

The difference this time was that i'm now an adult. I have endless experience being treated this way for asking questions.

i also now know that people - esp women - on the spectrum are treated socially poorly bc they're easy targets due to our trusting nature and our communication disability and inability to understand or be passive aggressive. So we are labeled confrontational and aggressive. Dramatic and rude. This time around, I can observe it from a more secure vantage point. i don't have to let it rule my life or destroy my self-confidence. Or convince me that my intentions are bad or my perspective invalid. I can simply remove this dynamic from my life altogether. I can stand up and leave that pew behind.

What surprised me wasn't that i was encountering these accusations of being dangerous again. What surprised me was that it was a social structure of people in their 30s, who should know better. What surprised me was that the church structure i'd worked so hard to leave behind exists alive and well, but on a social level.

Certain social groups it turns out, can  also be built on rules and certain ways of doing things. None of this is the more ‘correct’ way, it’s just become whatever is easy and more acceptable by a majority. There’s even a game element to it - and as long as you play by the rules and don’t upset anyone - even if their behavior has negatively impacted you - you have a club membership! Don’t rock the boat! Please be sensitive to others but the minute you ask them to be sensitive of you, it could end poorly for you and only you! If you have a mental breakdown because of years of hiding an unknown disability, you will be accused of trying to take advantage of someone financially! You're not a partner! You suck! This social construct hates consequences, but we definitely have some for YOU!

This provides a nice set-up for people that lack self-awareness or good intentions - or have yet to sort through their negative patterns of behavior. People who aren’t BAD per se, but also aren’t trying to grow or take accountability. Charismatic people who charm the pants off friends but gaslight and stonewall their partner behind closed doors. People who haven’t learned conflict resolution. People who don’t understand boundaries. People who are blind to the fact that most of society functions around using your friends to get the attention and validation you want rather than learning to get it from yourself. And these don’t make them bad people. No one is perfect, and we all have blind spots and struggles. 

The distinction lies in whether or not they’re willing to accept responsibility and pay attention when someone shares negative feedback or says “hey…i think we have a problem.”  The only bad person is someone who makes a mistake and does not apologize or learn from it, but chooses defensiveness and projection instead (at the end of the day, that will affect THEM negatively the most). No one likes to hear they’re wrong or fucking it up, but it’s a necessary part of being a human if we want to grow and improve. It’s a personal pattern to break. Humans are here to communicate and help each other.

Reliving an experience adjacent to my church upbringing as an adult has been eye-opening.  This year, i realized this is where my personal responsibility to breaking this pattern as an Autistic person comes in. Because of the autism, I will be dealing with this in some form for the rest of my life. The pattern contains many things - my participation, my willingness to trust that most people have good intentions and want to be better and will listen when someone speaks up, my effort to fit in with everyone else, my desire for connection. In certain environments, these expectations will be true. Recreating my experience as a child of witnessing fishy behavior, boundaries being crossed, and trying to step in for someone that was not my responsibility was my fault. I willingly chose to do this. That's my shit to work through.

And while it is not up to me to accept the blame for how people respond or their behavior, my responsibility, in order to avoid putting myself in these witch-hunt situations, is to learn how to recognize in which environments asking questions and solving problems is accepted, and to pursue relationships within those. Because, based on how my brain works and my communication style, no matter how much responsibility I take for my side of the street, other people will find some sort of problem with how I am.

However, I can complain about how i’m being treated for speaking up for myself all i want, but if i truly want growth and a healthy environment, i’ll stop choosing social spaces that label me as insecure and controlling, and i’ll stop choosing people who play the victim and misrepresent me and gossip.

If i am in a place where i cannot open dialogues with people and learn and grow with them, then i must seize the opportunity to trust myself, my intuition, and my emotions. Time to practice the self-validation that i have struggled so much with over the years and learn the warning signs of this particular pattern, so that i don't have to play this game again. i can validate my own experiences. I can seek environments where deconstruction of social norms is encouraged, and where my question-asking brain isn't THE problem.

Because if all it takes is one person challenging the "way it's always been" to topple a social or religious structure and wreak havoc, then what was that foundation built on? Certainly something that was already false and unsustainable to begin with. If the structure of whatever i'm questioning is truly sound, it shouldn't result in defensiveness and fear and gossip. It should add to foundations and be embraced as another unique nail that holds it up.

In a sense, I'm grateful to be confronted with this strange dynamic again. These experiences teach me how NOT to be. I don't want to live my life unable to take responsibility and unable to embrace different points of view. That's where we lose growth and accountability and stay the same. That's how we are adults with a child's conflict resolution skills. That's how we tell ourselves that our point of view is THE one and we harm and ignore the others.

Be respectful. Speak up for yourself. Ask questions. Point out problems. And if people don't like it, that's their problem.

[poiseandprogress]

Poise & Progress: Update

It's been a few days since I last posted but I promise I've actually been being productive. But this makes me very aware of my lack of time management. So that's another thing that I need to work on.

But in the meantime, here are some updates on my progress as it relates to my level up journey.

Spirituality: So far, I've been pretty good with daily Bible Study. I've been trying to do it the moment I wake up. (which is supposed to be at 5am but I've been struggling there honestly. But 6:30 isn't so bad) I did, however, intentionally skip out on reading the Bible one morning. I just needed more sleep. But I won't be too harsh on myself there.

Skills: I currently have an 18 day streak on Duolingo learning Italian. I find it easier to squeeze that into my day during breaks at work or little moments when I'm waiting for something else. And I think I'm retaining a lot which is good. I want to elevate this by listening to Italian music or podcasts though. Maybe I'll create a nice little playlist.

Side Hustle: I've been working on creating my website and social media pages to start a social media agency, specializing in Social Media Marketing and Social Media Management. I also subscribed to a Social Media Management Course on Coursera to increase my knowledge (and credibility) in the field.

Exercise: Not doing so well here honestly. I need to be more disciplined in getting out of bed early enough to do a mini workout but I have not been doing that. I tried a 20 minute pilates at home video one morning and only did 7 minutes of it before I got back into bed and caught a few more minutes of sleep. (Rome wasn't built in a day) I promise I'm going to try harder. I also think I need to determine which is more doable for me, working out in the mornings before work or in the evenings after work.

Nutrition: I have yet to go to the grocery store and purchase what I need to start meal prepping and eating healthier. I'll get there.

Finances: I've been adding quite a bit to my savings accounts which I'm proud of. And I've also been making more frequent payments to my credit card bill (I managed to let my depression get the best of me a while back and that credit card was my therapy - which also means I'm in the process of rebuilding my credit score, even though I no longer live in America) This is also forcing me to be more responsible with my spending considering as soon as I get paid, most of the money goes towards my savings and I'm forced to spend way less. Once I build up a proper emergency fund and reach my savings goals, I can start investing.

Appearance: I really want to get new clothes and build the wardrobe of my dreams but I'm trying to make do with what I have for the moment so that I can focus on my financial goals first.

All in all, I'm proud of the little efforts I've made thus far. I know that if I can keep it going and push a little harder, I'll be my dream self in no time.