#but tbh I don't think even two more seasons with more episodes and a movie would have saved this trashfire.

[symphonyofsilence]

Okay, serious question, now that Netflix has fucked TUA up so royally by cutting it short, what are they going to do with the time and budget they "saved"?

Because it's definitely not going to any other of their projects because they do it to EVERY- SINGLE- ONE of them!

[1218-814]

Twst Loop Theories/Analyses … (Mostly of Leona Oji-tan's)

Savannaclaw’s the deepest and most mysterious theory I have translated tbh... 

This time it’s ALL of the people that are from the Savannaclaw Arc (Even Cheka!)

Jokes on you if you haven't dissected the op like I have. We (as players) have made a contract with Azul :3

Leona is an important person in the Loop Theory, aka Rapunzel theory. And one way is by looking at his hair.

Leona’s hair is brown, unlike Scar’s black mane. Most characters have a main villain base and other characters as a sub-base. Leona’s is Scar main and possibly Kion as a sub base. (more on that later in the bottom) But a lot of characters have more than 2 bases so what if the base is in his looks? 

Leona’s hair is brown with braids. So, in the Disney’s franchise there's only one specific person, or princess that would fit this description. Rapunzel. These two have a lot in common if you look for them.

Leona is 20. Rapunzel is 20 by the 3rd season of the TV series.

Like I said, looks Rapunzel did have brown hair as well as green eyes. When she has long hair in the tv series, she did braid her hair sometimes. But in the end she did cut her hair again, like in the end of the movie. So Leona might cut his hair in the end. (I will miss his hair)

The Fairy Gala had lilies in Leona’s SSR. In the movie, there are similar lilies when Rapunzel gets out of her tower.

And the buddies of his card are the light trio, Rook, Silver, and Kalim. All three of them have a part that is based off of the ‘good’ characters.

His tarot card is the tower; if the tarot card theory is true, then it does fit in with the description. Especially the part that Rapunzel was trapped inside a tower. In the story Leona (Rapunzel) is trapped in the tower (NRC)

Both of them also share a similar power (kind of not but). Rapunzel has a power that is called the “sun drop”- it came from the sundrop flower. The power of the “Sun Drop” can help slow down aging, heal, and as well as recover what was once lost. Leona’s power is King's Roar. His power “dries up the opponent and turns everything into sand”. (I don't fully believe it because of my last post but this is this) We are going to assume “in the end” it will become sand.

In the world of Rapunzel. There is a stone called the “Moonstone Opal”. This stone is the exact opposite of the “Sun Drop”, and it- kills and takes away life. In the 14th episode of season 2, Rapunzel finds an old scroll and chants the “Reverse Inaction”; it makes the animals decay and the people around hard to breathe. This was only the first half of the lyrics so the power of destruction was probably not complete. Half of the lyrics can kill, but unlike Leona’s power, it can’t fully destroy the shape.

Cassandra, the daughter of Gothel, did use the powers (her hair and eyes became different) and if she touched anything they would decay; like Leona’s powers of drying the things he touched after using “Kings Roar”. And in the end of season 3 Rapunzel did absorb part of the Moonstone Opal’s powers. 

So what will Leona do in the story? If you look at the prologue 0-0 in the end title you’ll notice it either

turns to sand 

or the fire went out.

In the movie of Rupunzle the antagonist, Mother Gothel (Evil Queen is the motif), and in the end, she loses the power of Rapunzel’s hair and drops from the tower and becomes dust leaving her robe behind. I did say this before of him being “The Tower” card. But what if in the end... He uses his magic and makes the person/thing Crowley revived into sand?

(Personally I think there's a chairman or someone that Crowley will revive. Mallenoa? IDK, there's a person or something I think)

But before the soul disappears, Crowley flies into the mirror and uses his magic to rewind time, which is what might happened, and he tries to find his “Happy ending”

But Leona doesn’t lose his memory, and the Messiah, Lilia, is probably the one who knows and is teaming up secretly. It was especially suspicious when Leona purposely overblotted, which I think, was because of Lilia’s words....

It would make sense if it was the fire going out, because it can also ties in with Rapunzel. Leona is probably going to break the loop with MC. 

I did say that Leona does have chess pieces in his room that tie in with the Light trio. (below)

Rook: Rook Hunt’s name

Knight: Silver thinks he has a talent for a sword and “silver sword”. Also Malleus’s knight

Pawn: Kalim is a pawn to Jamil (He tried to use him to become King in the movie and in the arc)

Also, Leona would be the “king” chess piece 

And Leona’s best subject is “ancient curses”, like Rapunzel he can use harmful ones, like his unique magic too. What if he knows a spell that can “go back in the past? 

If he did It would make sense why his memories aren’t lost. So in conclusion Leona is the Rapunzel trapped in the tower called “Twisted Wonderland”

But other than the pieces what gave away that he is the traveler? 

Something with Azul’s contracts and the scar on his eye is still not clear. But, first let’s look at his name.

Kingscholar can be seprated into King (ruler) and Scholar (a specialist in a branch of study). Scholars usually point to social sciences, or humanities. These branches of study study the human values and how they express the feelings; they require knowledge from phycology to history. If the word “scholar” is in his name, then it can be reasoable to think that he may be “observing and analyzing a person or a thing” 

Leona’s best subject is “ancient curses”, and he is good at protection spells as well as pharmacy (the study of medication). Those do require a lot of knowledge to be good at. Why would he need to repeat the grade if he is so smart?

On Youtube (とろちゃんねる), Leona broke the loop in between his second year and third year. 

In the 4th arc, Mickey’s third remark in the dream is the reason the number “3″ is really weird, almost incompatible.

Leona is 20 he’s in his third year for the third time (if the loop theory is true). If I am correct then the time MC came is when the “3″s (triple)overlapped. He also asked how many stones Grimm ate after the third arc.

This is where Jack’s origin comes in. Jack most likely originated from the author of “White Fang” (Jack London), but there’s more. In my other theory, I said that the MC’s body is not there, that Jack may be referenced from the TV show of the Lion King, Lion Gard’s, Ray-ray. In the show, they defeat Scar, who died and came back to life. Maybe this is also a clue...

In a personal talk, Savannaclaw was talking about the King of Beasts (or whatever they called it). People usually thought “Oh, it's about Scar” but, it's not. It’s not Simba or Mufasa either. It's not Kion as well. If I summarize the traits of the king they were talking about then it becomes like this:

He ruled with his power and fangs, and rejected his older brother to become the king in an attempt to great a good country with wisdom and order to change the affiliation of the strong bullying the weak

The King of Beasts does not discriminate 

“The King of the sky that guides the stars” was called “firefly” and “Great King from the Past”

The nephew of the king was not at the king’s coordination ceremony (Leona and Jack’s conversation)

Leona’s scar on his eye and the King of Beast’s scare are the same. But, Leona avoided answering the question when Ruggie asked him when his scare was from. (Ruggie and Leona’s conversation)

The anecdote of the king; he can apperently talk to hippos, giraffes, lions, and monkeys. (Jack and Leona)

The hornbill, who served the royal family, noticed the change in the country and gave their opinion to the king of beasts infromed. The king is very considerate and king and listened to the opinions and advice. (Ruggie and Leona)

Most of it is describing Scar 

but 3,6,7 are far from matching him.

3 is taking about the “ The King of the sky that guides the stars”. This description is very fitting to “Roar of the Elders” from Lion Gard. Yes, there is a time where this kinda happened in the main story. (also Leona’s unique magic is referenced from “Roar of the Elders”

6. We do have a hippo friend in “Lion Gard”, but not any other animals in the original ones. (The giraffe is missing)

7. the Hornbill is Zazu from lion king, who does serve the royal family. He is present from the original “Lion King” and is with Kion in the show. Something seems off to my guts.

“Why are they favoring Kion?”, you may ask. But Kion and Scar have a trait they share. They are both second born. Also Kion’s roar becomes the strongest; there is a story when he got the cobra venom in his eye and became violent and couldn’t control his power. His scar is as the same as Leona and Scar’s left eye. In season three you see Kion with two lines as a scar on his eye.

In conclusion, what the Savannaclaw students were talking about is either “Kion” or “a lion other than Scar and Kion”.If it is Scar the King, number 1 explained, then the flow of the story is too convenient.  It’s also unclear if it is Kion as well; if it's the conversation after season 3 then I would have no idea. 

 The Key part is his Tattoo and Azul’s contract (Bet you didn’t see that coming) 

In “Lion Gard”, the guards all have a tatoo. Leona does have powers and has a tattoo on the same left arm (technically) as Kion. But unlike Kion’s, the tatoo is a different color. We’ve seen this shade of color. Yes, it’s the same as Azul’s ink. 

(Pull out Azul’s Dorm SSR, after Groovy)

We can’t read the contract, but Lin Channel (on YouTube) is doing gods work and translated into actual words (English cursive) it reads:

Contract:

I am wishing mate 

I wishes senior siring

nephew smiling

inwhere inway amaging waiting

winner winter welcoming

where wide whichever via where wiser anniversary

For all eternity (For all eternity is from the original “Little Mermaid”’s contract)

Let me explain how she’s doing the work, Google (yea, teachers) She looks up people’s hand writings and can conclude things (the long curve after “i” may be the ending “ing”) But, if I clear it up and make it normal English it would look like this:

I want a companion

I wish my brother and nephew a smile

I am ambushing and waiting

Anywhere in the place where

the winter of victory comes

This is just my thoughts, but “brother and nephew” may be Cheka and Leona’s brother, which would be reasonable why such a minor character like Cheka got voice acted. 

Winter could be meaning Hades, who kidnapped Persephone and made winter. So, maybe Idia could be the key to our victory here. And this would expain why Savannaclaw was between Ignihyde and Diasomnia 

Winter could also mean Cheka and Leona’s brother’s heart. They could be lonely (Grim asks Leona about his family, and Grim replies with “They must be lonely, being in a dark cold place” or something like that)

I’m sure that Leona made the contract for Cheka and his brother. He is the only character with a nephew. The tsun-dere side of Leona would explain why he didn’t want to tell anyone about what the contract is about.

Just by the contract and the loop theory we can tell that he is important. But what if he is not based off of Scar... But rather, Kion from “Lion Gard”? If I look into the original characters of what Leona is based off of, then I would forget about “Leona”. Yana Toboso is twisting our brain like that, such as in “Black Butler”, and maybe thats another reason why the game is called “Twisted Wonderland”

So what we all we know about Leona is:

Leona’s tattoo

he is aware of the loop or he is suspicious of the loop

Jack’s position (We don’t know as much as I would like about his power)

Cheka will appear again (he does get Voice acted, and maybe that’s what the second arc will be about. He also said something about having a fiancée so maybe an event?)  

Leona overblotted instead of Ruggie (my other theory)

I do think the tattoo may be made by Azul in the other loop, and he is aware of the loop or will remember of the loop because of the tattoo 

But it is Yana Toboso sensei so... I may be wrong~

~~~

Posting this after Leona's magic is aeration theory bc his unique magic makes no sense.

Multiverse or Azul theory next?

If you can comment that will be appreciated (likes and reblogs are appreciated.

I also wrote this 2 years ago

Idk if its right but I did make some changes :3

[suzu-kun22]

no offence but it's pretty obvious that they had plans for a different plot from the start. the changes begin from episode 1 and a lot of elements are re arranged long before they deviate fully from the og fma. the issues were more to do with a full season being cut from the show and budget running out than the plot for the show being "made up as they went along".

You're right, it is very clear that they had plans to go with a different plot from the start. However, tbh, 2003 doesn't really feel like it suffers from an entire season being cut from the budget. It feels like it suffers from the second half having a different writer than the first half.

Like, yeah. Considering that the second half of the show is written by someone else, it is surprisingly coherent. However, the tone of the story is completely different in 03. Most of the goofy comedy stuff from the first half of the show disappears after episode 25 (which, even when stuff starts to get more serious, the manga and Brotherhood maintain the comedy throughout.) And the way certain characters' stories end feels completely different and almost unsatisfying to me. Sometimes.

I definitely believe that another season of the show (or at least some more episodes/movies) were cut because like, anime production budgets are often non-existent and despite how good I think it still looks, it's clear that 03 didn't have a very high one. But I don't think that's the reason for 03's problems. At the core, I think most of the tonal/coherency issues just come from the fact that two different people wrote the two halves of the show lmao.

The first half of the show is still absolutely stellar, though. Some (emphasis on SOME) of the anime original episodes are so fantastic. Specifically the Barry the Chopper episode. Fantastic.

Plus I do think the ending of 03 has some really interesting implications. Again, if only the sequel movie(s) had been allowed to actually explore that.

[mare-sanguis]

People i'd like to know better

Tagged by: @andaniellight, @kanronotatsu and @frouponical

Thank you so much for the tag but you guys need to stop tagging me in such little games because then i will never shut up yapping (pls never stop tagging me, bored 24/7) 😓

Last song: "have you had enough" and "vital" by poppy are currently playing on loop (they just perfectly set the scene to that monster of a SCJW fic that got my fingers screaming in pain), "ticki-ta" by the fix, "follow me" and "umm umm umm" by kave

Favorite color: black (cuz i'm a basic bitch, i feel most comfortable in it and as an avid techwear wearer it's THE color) and these specific shades of lavender, purple and blue (upper two remind me of a happy childhood and lower two of the midnight sky)

Last book: human acts by han kang but it's been a while since i picked up that book tbh, i think by the start of this year, as i haven't had much time and motivation to read anything more. it's such a beautifully written and thought provoking book- anyone who hasn't read it yet should. i think i'll continue reading lapvona next (my taste in books is very questionable 😹)

Last movie: venom 3... i cried in the goddamn cinema omg, right next to my a friend (for reference, i never once cried in cinema) who's left absolutely clueless lmao, but SYMBROCK MY BELOVED and i just started "woman of the hour"

Last TV show: the fiery priest s2: god i love the directing this season, the camera work is very entertaining (the staircase scene in ep1 hello???) as well is the editing- they already improved from s1 in such a short time, and don't get me started on kim namgil's insane acting and how he still does his own stunts. miseinen mijukuna oretachi wa bukiyo ni shinkochu: this one already had me in a chokehold by episode 1, what a beautiful JBL that tackles so many issues at once (domestic abuse, child neglect, academic pressure, loneliness, ignoring of own feelings, superficial friendships) the acting is a soldi 10/10 and the editing? oh the editing dont get me started.

Sweet/spicy/savory: what ever doesn't make my tummy hurt 😓 but if i had to choose its savory

Relationship status: situationship with life

Last thing I googled: something about SA (do i even want to elaborate? no... but it's for the fic i promise) and the "it wasn't me it was patricia" meme

Current obsession: i have no original thought so... black out (let me rewatch it a hundred million more times, hmm the taste of autism)

Looking forward to: finishing the 2nd chapter of that (⬆️) SCJW fic (as well as some other 2 fics) and my 7 black out fanarts in the next weeks before the ship and fandom sinks to the depths of the ocean. i especially look forward fo finish this face/blood study painting

Lastly (No pressure) Tagging @senshipluto and @mondscheingarden who's the silent member of the black out fandom and my bestie (as well as @zhivchik @existingingrey @thedevildeer @angeru-hatake and @ikjun ... we're all just tagging the same people atp🏃🏻‍♂️)

[flanzee]

what did u think of the anime ?? thoughts on wallace’s characterization ? seems to be heavily debated. love ur art !!

hello!!! :] thanks for liking my art EEEEEEEE

for a long time i saved my opinion about the anime because the first few days it came out it was a war zone out there and people with a different opnion would've be jumped on hahaaaaaa.... but ANYWAYS To this day I'm still neutral about it. Not what I personally expected. After my first watch I felt so devasted tbh LOL I took me a while to even get closer to it again and watch some of it for a second time. BUT with time, i slowly started to appreciate what I did liked about the show: the amazing animation!!!!! it's one of the things i praise of, alongside side the music (which i still listen time to time) Now everthing else... is something... I don't like how Scott was handled in this show nor The whole plot for the last 3 episodes ifykyk 😭😭😭 like at ALL. And something that people always praise about the show is how the Exes now had more depth and and were fun too watch but imo the only one who stands out was roxie and matthew...everything else felt half cooked... todd just being part of a Gag and istg i feel ike the Twins talked/did more in the comic than the anime 😭?!?! they didnt gaf about them even here LMAOO

I feel like this show could've been so good if the people behind it weren't thinking about "doing everything we can do in 8 episodes and conclude it because we are sure we wont get a season two!" you know?? and these last episodes are the prove of it and that they were running out of time

About Wallace's characterization, back then I've mentioned to my friends once that i felt like he was OOC at first. Him pretending that didn't cared about Scott did hurted a little ahaha. But after Bryan mentioned that he wasn't OOC, wasn't being a dick like everyone else was saying-including me lol-and that we should've be looking at his actions rather than his words[?]I stepped back and think "well Alright if he say hes not I guess i'll go with it. I guess. thats just his way to cope with scott's disappearance. I think. .... Ah. ... I get it now........... I see.......!!!!!!!" and understood that perhaps he's not the kind of person to admmit his real feelings, But Being with Another Scott the day after hes gone, Being in a Movie about Scott's life, Tell the director that there should've be a scene of him and Scott making out just to later have sex with the actor that played Scott and was also only interested on him while he was on his Scott custome WELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's true that actions says more than words!!!!!!!! wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[raayllum]

Hearing that you hate the miraculous movie too makes me so relieved tbh. I don’t understand at all why some people think it’s better than the show?? Like yes I have a lot of problems with the show’s writing, but the movie is actively worse. Every character (except maybe gabriel?) is just so flat and uninteresting compared to their show counterparts, and i feel like the origins episodes just blow the movie’s “superhero origin” parts out of the water in almost every way.

I liked a few scenes (like the abandoned theatre song number) and that’s it. It doesn’t make sense to me why some fans think it’s a genuinely good story (because it has an actual ending instead of dragging too long?? that’s such a low bar).

Anyway rant over, thank you for reading.

Yeah, a lot of the writing seemed Very tell not show even in dialogue (which is also a strength of musicals, where you can get away with more tell but you still should ideally have some show) and the pacing / editing was... not good? Everything felt very unfocused. Which I appreciate they were trying to do a Lot in 2.5 hours... but like, why were Marinette and Alya not friends before the start but Adrien and Nino were? Feels like that should be flipped not only given what the movie does take from show canon but also in terms of characterization (Adrien shutting people out not just as a defense mechanism but also because of lack of opportunity / Chloe is the person he could rely on and that's not gonna hold water)

Even movie!Gabriel just feels like milquetoast Viren without having the understanding or execution that makes Viren work in the variety of ways he does. I also really didn't like how I felt like this version of Adrien/Chat was a Nice Guy™ in ways (as far as I know, I stopped fully watching MLB like 14 eps into season 1 and then just never got back to it) never was in show canon.

Like pacing seems to be a big issue for both the show (too slow, maintains status quo, retcons character development) and the movie (too fast, weak / less effective characterization, nothing gets time to breathe) just in different ways. The movie may 'fix' issues that fans have with the show (Adrien finds out about Hawkmoth quickly, a reveal sticks & holds with the two leads who get together) but it has its own problems. The fact that a few youtubers who Hate arc 2 of TDP (including s5 and s6, which is not the fandom norm at all) but love MLB movie makes me think that a Lot of it just comes down to "I like stories where flashier/bigger things are happening, and don't like set up or character studies writing" and... Touché, it just doesn't work for me at all.

[turboacek-blog]

The Mina Ashido race convo

Never talked about My Hero so I’m a bit out my element tbh…

But basically from what I gathered Mina Ashido has been coded at least by fans as black/blasian (Black and Asian mix)

And in the recent preview of the next episode season 7 episode 18 or ep156 her pink skin is “fading” (overuse of her powers loses her general different appearance pink skin black eyes etc) and we see the more Asian/pale skin tone which “disproves” that she’s black

And some fans aren’t happy from what I’ve seen online

My quick thoughts

Mina isn’t black as I think they would of made it clear if she was supposed to be plus you would be surprised the crossover or things adapted by the Japanese from African Americans but there’s nothing wrong with people wanting her to be and it honestly is harmless in the grand scheme and I think saying she’s Blasian is the best compromise as it allows her to still be of a lighter skin tone but gives both sides their wants

My full(ish) thoughts below as I go into more details of how I reached my final thought

Fan Coding

Mina Ashido isn’t the first anime/cartoon character that has been fan coded to be a different race

Two of the most popular examples are Piccolo from Dragon Ball and Knuckles the Echidna from Sonic the Hedgehog as fans have coded them as black

Which gets reinforced when an actor like Idris Elba voices Knuckles in the movies

Anime and cartoons tend to leave the standard character as the “default” pale/less melanated human skin color but everyone else whether other humans to aliens to whatever that series has that can be different from standard human characters has more non-human colors like green skin, red skin, blue skin and in Mina’s case pink skin

So they’re sometimes not whatever the default race is whether White or Asian so fans usually of the other races like to project onto these characters different races (and various identities)

For a character like Knuckles, his quills can be seen as dreadlocks which codes to black hair even if in reality it just quills and can elude to different hairstyles as well

For Mina people took her curly hair as a similar thing to black curly hair and anything different chalked up to her being blasian and the Asian hair genes or how anime draws hair or other reasons

Amongst other things like her breakdancing, people take her being louder as a trait, etc etc

My thoughts…

There’s nothing wrong with projecting race on race ambiguous characters to me at least

People usually just like finding themselves in characters and when a cast either all one race or all non human characters people latch onto things they have in common

Plus it’s been evident that some characters that aren’t explicitly black or Hispanic or Asian or etc are implied or written to be that way and couldn’t be that due to a number of reasons

It’s similar with lgtbq+ where a lot of characters especially from older shows and movies are lgtbq coded but due to the time period they either have to force the girl to have boyfriend or they can be gay but can’t kiss another man and so on

A recent thing I saw (I don't fully buy it but first thing that came to mind) was Ryan and Kelsey from High School Musical franchise were coded to be gay and lesbian respectfully but due it being older Disney they didn’t do that and constantly gave them the opposite gender partners they even got paired with each other in the third movie

Diversity

There’s been a big push for diversity in all forms of media not just anime. And while I know people have issues with how diversity has been done in recent times. It is still a push a lot of people want, as having the default all-straight white cast or whatever raises some flags

So when you see essentially an all-Asian cast then there’s one character whose race is ambiguous because of the pink skin I can see people wanting her to at least be the token black girl in the show they like

Basically when a show or movie is all one race is it bad to want someone of a different race in the cast for diversity and representation?

Especially when that show/movie is enjoyed by people of all races and identities

For example an anime like Naruto the whole main cast is generally the same race

So when we see Cloud Village ninjas like Killer Bee and Ay they’re technically just super tanned or darker skinned Asian like the rest of the world but in a series with no diversity and when a lot of black people watch the anime I think it’s natural to assume that the anime/manga finally gave some representation. Not even including other factors like the hair and rapping and more

We already have that instance with Mirko as she's darker skinned than most characters but I think its confirmed she isn't black or mixed just tan (don't kill me if it isn't confirmed)

And I'm sure you can find some but you don't see the same convoy when the blonde blue/green eyes character is called white

Race swapping in general

You see this in fan art a lot which I think is mostly harmless

But in the world where we now have a black Ariel (little mermaid), black tinker bell, Indian Velma, etc

The conversation has been getting brought up more and more as more previously white characters are being turned into other races

Like is it weird and funny that basically all previous white redhead (ginger) characters are being turned into black characters

Yes

But is it also weird and funny to think that the redhead was their version of diversity back when a lot of these characters back then ‘Hey they’re not brunette or black-haired or even blonde’ and that every character was white (or Asian in anime) so diversity wasn’t truly a thing

Also yes

The race conversation is a lot heavier than I would like to cover in a Tumblr blog post about an anime character lol

But it’s about the idea that how crucial is the character being white and does it change if they were a different race?

Mina Ashido/Pinky character in particular

So if you do some research on the character Mina seems to be more inspired by Gyaru fashion style in Japan

You can read up on it yourself but yes it appears a lot of design elements for Mina are taken from that

And obviously, she has the alien design elements

So if we ignore her outfit and hair and other things like personality

Does break dancing enough to be black coded

Not really like mentioned earlier Japanese people and people around the world have adapted thing slime break dancing into the culture

A woman from Japan just won Gold in the Olympics for breakdancing

But do want to note break dancing did originate from African Americans as far as I can tell

What does it mean it mean to be black? And does race matter in this form of media?

Basically, this is for both sides the side that wants Mina to be black and the side that says why would they make her black and not leave her Japanese

The question I would just ask is does it change anything?

If Horikoshi (creator) announced tomorrow that Mina is black/blasian would it be a big deal?

It will obviously get the fans talking about it for a bit as it is one of those headcanons that would have gotten confirmed

But in the grand scheme it doesn't affect story or personality or anything in the vain, at most it just asks the question of Mina’s heritage

Race erasure

On the flip side of making her black, you are taking away her being Asian

(it's why Blasian I think is the perfect middle ground for this as even Blasian people aren't dark skin so even if she's super light skin she could still be mixed with black)

I think it is important to note that Mina does represent that category of Japanese/Asian girls and taking that away isn't great as it's understated how much people look towards characters as their windows to different things

Even though some might not like or accept it anime is still going to be primarily based on Japan and Japanese elements

So yes even though there are global similarities like going to school with the energetic girl, the emo boy, the kid with family issues etc this is still a school based in Japan (not even like a fictional Japan-like country they explicitly say Japan) a country with a 2% foreign population and .02% of the total being black

Mina Ashido being Japanese makes more statistical sense

And the one black character we have in Rock Lock does give us that .02%

Even if in the grand scheme changing one of the hundreds of Asian characters might not mean much

So tieing in the black coding, race swap & erasure, and diversity elements

Is Mina Ashido Black/Blasian?

I think she’s a character that like Piccolo and other characters will never be actually black as most anime characters are default Asian/Japanese unless stated otherwise

But in the sense that her race and race in my hero in general doesn’t truly affect anything then why can’t she be black to at least the fans

It’s not like they’re trying to say someone like Uraraka or Momo are black they’re just trying to claim the pink skin black eyed dancing extroverted girl with horns is black

Like if there was someone in class 1-a to was a different race it’s between her, Aoyama as white/European, and Hagakure as being invisible means she could have been anything

And if they were to adapt My Hero in almost any other media I don’t see a reason why Mina can’t be at least Blasian whether in drawing style or casting

Black appearing people have appeared in My Hero so it’s not like the author is not including them and Mina isn’t that highly important of a character that I think should even be having people fight back on this tbh

Not that she isn’t a good character she’s one of my faves of the class personally

As of class 1-A alone of the 20 students, she’s like maybe 10th important and that’s kinda pushing it

(To me you go Deku, Bakugo Shoto, Uraraka, Iida, Asui, Kirishima, and Tokoyami for an easy 8 above her but then Aoyama, Denki, Momo, Jiro, Mineta, and Shoji are all fighting for that 9-15 spot and maybe for totality I would put Aoyama over her but then it’s between her Denki and Momo)

And that’s not even including the teacher's upperclassmen, villains, and other heroes like All Might lol

So even if for some reason in the next episode they show Mina having less melanated skin than some fans want I don’t think it should stop the fans from coding her as black

Quick edit 9/16/24

Apparently part of the discourse isn’t that fans were just head canon-ing Mina as black but some people truly 100% thought she was black and was spreading that info as if it was true therefore it spreads and you have a whole sun group truly thinking Mina is black

And in that sense yeah please keep your headcanons as headcanons, there are inferences or filling in blanks for some character or story element and just making things up which the Mina thing mostly is

It also falls into the space of thinking you can do better than the original creator which isn’t great in most cases

So if that’s the main issue then yeah please don’t let your headcanons run too wild they’re fun but not true and you have to remind yourself it’s not canon

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

Going back to our roots here what’s your brutally honest opinion about lucaya and joshaya if you’re up for some throwbacks

this message physically aged me 45 years 😭

lucaya- like, it was obviously planned from the beginning, but here's the thing: their dynamic was tired as hell. you see it in every piece of media ever. they were BORING. also I just genuinely almost never liked lucas lmfao. there were a handful of lines throughout 3 seasons that got a laugh out of me- and it was always when he was playing the idiot or confused part, if they had just let him be the wannabe eric of the show it could have been amazing. as for maya, I definitely wasn't as attached to her as I was riley, she just kinda got on my nerves a bit, but Dear God Did She Deserve Better. the triangle was drawn out WAY too long. by the end of it both girls should have left lucas in the dust. we see the 'official' triangle plotline start on new years eve, and end in late september/early october. in no world should it have taken him that long, ESPECIALLY when he knew what a strain it was putting on the girls relationship. if he really cared he would have stepped back, like, literally, it is very very possible to have feelings for someone and not date them, oh my God. farkle had the girls fighting over him ONE time and was like 'hey no I love you guys too much to see you upset'. lucas friar you will always be hated<3

joshaya- I need to get this out of the way because I saw it so much: maya was not trying to date josh when she snuck into the college party. the college girls were not telling josh to date maya. one of josh's friends hits on maya and riley and maya said We Are In Eighth Grade. she's not delusional. the whole episode was how she wanted josh to stop ignoring her. there's subtext ladies!!! cory and topanga were practically raising maya since she was 5. even if it's not addressed too well on screen, you have to be aware that maya and josh have known each other practically their whole lives. considering how close josh is with cory, riley, and auggie, that tells us he saw the family on a regular basis growing up (he literally left his parents and took a train at like 4 in the morning just so cory could open his college letter with him). so josh and maya were likely good friends as children! what we see with his introduction to the show is he starts treating her more as a kid, as his niece's friend, and thinks her feelings are silly and she says No. I need you to take me seriously here. I don't want our friendship to change just because you're in college now. my feelings are not stupid and I want you to respect me. (also. side note. they never said josh's age in the show right?? because for him to start college when he did would make him older than he should have been based on the boy meets world timeline...like, I was kinda working under the assumption he skipped a grade or two in high school but everyone else was like Known Grown Man And Pedophile Josh Matthews Asked A Toddler To Go To The Movies As Friends lmfao). anyway. she asks him to respect her and he does!!! genuine shock and awe! lucas friar found dead in a ditch! lmao. their vague 'let's see how we feel in a few years' talk reminded me a lot of the cory/topanga yearbook quote scene, and they had great chemistry! it didn't feel like something I've seen a thousand times before. it's not like they promised to swear off dating and wait for her 18th birthday, she was basically dating zay by the end of the show. they just said 'we've known each other for a while, there's definitely something between us but this isn't the right time for us to explore it, so let's be friends like we used to' (see: what lucas should have done during the triangle). josh had a tiny bit of an edge to him, but with the dorky matthews heart, which tbh was exactly what maya wanted. I loved how maya acted around josh, it lead to some of her funniest and most open moments in the show. I loved how gentle josh was with her even when she was being annoying. I love a good childhood crush to actual lovers story! sue me! lmao I think if the show had gotten as many seasons as boy meets world they really could have been something special

[thedndgoblinwholivesinyourwalls]

Lark can I just ask u 1-25 for end of year asks or is that too much? 🤨 if it is then choose the ones u wanna answer the most but if u have the timeeee <3

kelp i'm going insane i love answering questions this is the best thing ever

uh. answers under the cut so everyone else gets spared/silly

According to spotify wrapped it was Nothing matters by the Last Dinner Party but I'd say Good Luck Babe by chappell roan (not that amazing but that was me discovering her music)

...I don't listen to albums...but if musicals count then the Heathers soundtrack lmao

I deleted this question and then forgot if it said solo artists and/or bands but!! Lesley Gore! Yes she sung in the 60's if i'm correct but I love her music

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE that movie makes me ill/pos

Sweetooth because its last season came out this year and I'm still not recovering (you should watch it,,,its rlly good,,)

I don't rlly watch tv shows (i should) so I'd say a podcast episode that stuck with me this year was the first ep of the Peachyville Horror just cuz I love the characters <3

David Tennant. I do not know actors but I questioned my gender and sexuality over that man

Mouthwashing even though I've pretty recently discovered it and haven't even played it myself

I had to go through my photos for this one but best month would be July! Even though it started kinda shitty (breakup lmao), it was Artfight season and thats the most connected I've felt with other artists in agesss

I won't say breakup but I will say The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams made me question my life and sob (its such a good book)

Wear whatever I want in public!! Or just get better self confidence next year would be great

I did make a new irl friend but egh not on good terms anymore so I'd say in online friends literally all my mutuals I talk to now hiii love you guys (this includes you kelp/lh)

It was great!! Some planning issues but I had a picnic :]

besides the book i already recommended, there's An Unexpected Party edited by Seth Malacari which is a bunch of short queer speculative fiction stories set in Australia and it makes me so so happy to see characters like me fr!!! (its way more diverse than I was expecting and covers so many things besides queerness)

skipping school...school attendance DROPPED this year but 2025 will be my year trust

For the life of me I can't remember meals but I can say a food related memory. I'm half latino and I said tortilla in the whitest way possible unironically and I can't escape it/hj

Tbh school! Chose subjects I think I'll really enjoy next year

I learned a lot in artstyle! My art has evolved and I'm very happy about that

Redecorated my room at my mum's so now its more cozy :D

Sydney! Go there pretty much every year to see family but its still a nice place to go

To be prepared for change cuz oh boy past me you have a road ahead of you

I don't rlly keep new year's resolutions cuz I forget most of the time lmao

I DID!!! Most of my ocs became more fleshed out characters and I made a lot of dnd ocs this year

For the pictures questions you get art/silly

One on the left is from exactly a year ago and the one on the right is from two weeks ago!! (not the best example but these are the same characters)

[variousqueerthings]

but what about those things that aren't ghosts?

Under The Lake/Before The Flood. this is just a solid couple of scifi episodes honestly, plus I mean. a bangin Predator-like alien design (last season we had Facehuggers, this season we have this, I feel like someone was doing a little rewatch of those movies, but I'm not mad)

I actually didn't take cohesive notes for most of s9, unlike the seasons that came before it, because. just didn't wanna. I was enjoying the watch, so this will be more from memory from here on out (good luck me)

sexism rank objectification (female character is ogled/harassed/turned into a sex joke by the doctor and/or a lead we’re supposed to root for and/or the camera): 10/10

sexism rank plot-point (lead female character is only there to serve plot, not to have her emotional interiority explored, or given agency to her emotional interiority): 4/10

interesting complex or pointlessly complex (does the complexity serve the narrative or does it just serve to be confusing as a stand-in for smart, this includes visually): 7/10

furthers character and/or lore and/or plot development (broader question that ties into the previous ones, at least two of these, ideally three should be fulfilled): 5/10

companion matters (the companion doesn’t always have to be there, but if the companion is there, can they function without the doctor– and overall per season how often is the companion the focus or POV of the story): 3/10

the doctor is more than just “godlike” (examines the doctor’s flaws and limitations, doesn’t solve a plot by having it revolve entirely around the doctor’s existence): 8/10

doesn’t look down on previous doctor who (by erasing or mocking its importance, by redoing and “bettering” previous beloved plotpoints or characters, etc.): 7/10

isn’t trying to insert hamfisted sexiness (m*ffat famously talked a lot about how dw should be sexier multiple times, he sucks at writing it): 9/10

internal world has consistency (characters have backgrounds, feel rooted in a place with other people, generally feel like they have Lives): 7/10

Politics (how conservative is the story): 8/10

FULL RATING: 68/100 (if I can count….)

See? Solid! although I will be poking at that companion thing, because my main gripe about s9 -- now we've seen the whole thing and we know how it goes down -- is how little it managed to centre Clara on the whole, both emotionally and just... relevant to having the individual plots happen. this is not an issue in every single episode, but I'd say over the half of the season had Clara be largely irrelevant. the episodes where she is relevant show her off very well, but it's just a shame that in her final season she's not put front and centre

I just don't feel like I understand her, still. but, to the episode!

OBJECTIFICATION: As far as I can remember there's nothing in the way of this in this episode. there's three female characters (including Clara) and they're all quite different, Clara is the only one not dressed for the place, but then she's just hopping about in time, not preparing for being chased through an underwater base

Idk, it's been a long time since I last wore a skirt or a dress or heels outside of a little drag, and while I'm quite flouncy in my presentation, I just think if I knew that anything could happen I'd generally veer semi-practical and Clara is consistently not a practical dresser, just as-is, consistently. but maybe that's the pull of skirts and heels -- genuine question, because I'm so far outside of this living, because I just feel like Clara's expression of self outside of a couple of episodes (Time Heist my beloved, and tbh Zygon Invasion 👀) is often just... blandly fashionable in a way that doesn't say much about her character or work for the setting she's in

this isn't the worst episode for it, but it's something I really couldn't stop thinking about it by this point. I feel like every other nu!who companion -- tbh including Amy in her fist couple of seasons even though I didn't like that her wardrobe was often to show off that Karen Gillan was "hot" -- has a far stronger identity tied to wardrobe

anyway. enough rambling on one point, I didn't rate this lower, because she's not being objectified here, I just wish there were less bland choices being made

PLOT-POINT: Clara is largely unimportant to this plot. she doesn't really need to be there, in the sense that there are quite compelling stories for the single-episode characters, and for the Doctor, but she's just. there really

this is also a thing that s9 kind of brought to the fore, although it was an issue from the start, which is that Clara is a very ungrounded character for most of her run. there are episodes where she's more real, and where her interaction with the plot is about her in some way, and in which the tension between her and the Doctor make sense to me, but every season she's in she becomes a slightly different character without the journey being shown onscreen, and her tensions with the Doctor, which can be broadly divided into

s7: the impossible girl question s8: the "making each other worse" season s9: the duty of care

just... don't follow on from each other in my opinion. I keep looking for Clara as a connected character, and there are some things that follow through (which is what I hold on to), but for the most part she just shifts with the plot, rather than the plot in some way interacting with who she is. again, these episodes are not the worst for it, having a few episodes where the companion character is taking a backseat is fine, but this is her final season

there are 7 episodes this season, if we take the doubles each as their own (Sleep No More and Face The Raven being singles), and it takes place after the finale of Clara having lost Danny, having betrayed the Doctor, and having threatened to - and fully intended to - kill someone. there is a lot of potential Stuff to zero in on, but we're just not gonna do that. Clara is just not the character I care about in most of these episodes, because the episodes don't really care about her. she's a secondary or tertiary character in her own adventure a lot of the time

COMPLEXITY: this plot feels pretty Doctor Who, I enjoy it a lot. I like the bad guy, I like the melancholy, I like the scifi nonsense. could it have been done in one episode? maaaaybe, but I enjoyed spending time with these characters, so I'm okay with that. sometimes you wanna spend more time in the world, just cos, and this is one of those times for me. there's a couple of questions that remain, but again, I think that's standard for DW

CHARACTERS/LORE/PLOT: this is pretty much a standalone story in the season. I didn't rate it lower, but maybe I could have, idk. it's Clara again, I wish Clara meant more -- it didn't need to further the Doctor's and Clara's relationship more, but I think because I don't understand it very well to begin with, I would have liked a... something or other that went beyond what was there. this is not an episode issue, it's really a Clara-era issue. I think I'll just never quite get what the writers were going for with her, and it's just that s9 is the season that confirms that for me

COMPANIONS MATTER: Clara spends most of her time running around and waiting for the Doctor to tell her what to do. there's the end of part 1 where they become stuck in different points in time, and I thought "ooh now Clara takes control of the situation on the base" and she... doesn't. the Doctor calls her and continues to give instruction, then the phone gets stolen by the ghosts and her big idea is "hey this guy could go fetch it for us"

she has a few neat lines, I liked her scene with Cass, where Cass is essentially telling her to go fuck herself for getting the man she not-so-secretly loves in danger, and insisting they go after him, but that is kind of my point -- Clara does not drive this episode at any point, except for that moment and it's... not a great look for her. she's the asshole, she convinces someone else to do something dangerous and then has to be convinced to go after him

I did like when she lost Cass and called out for her, before remembering Cass is deaf and calling herself an idiot. there are these neat little moments I hold onto with Clara's character and that's one of them

“GODLIKE” DOCTOR: the Doctor sorts out the main Stuff and that's fine. I like that this Doctor is afraid sometimes and deals with things via their wits, but also with a bit of "well this might not work, let's fuckn see!" The Fisher King coulda just killed him, but the Doctor just crossed their fingers essentially and hoped for the best and then bluffed to win

also I mean. Fisher King kinda sexy. idk where else to put that. any big big alien that goes "lol Time Lords are losers" is right and sexy

PREVIOUS DOCTOR WHO: there's quite a few little casual references in this episode which I liked. Magpie Electricals, ofc the fact that Prentiss has knowledge of the Doctor via UNIT (UNIT again... they're villains in my head honestly), the security protocol, etc. it just feels very grounded in nu!who canon in a way that's fun and doesn't overwhelm the episode with nostalgia references

“SEXINESS”: there's this bit at the beginning where Clara asks if they can go back to this one place they were where she left behind most of her dignity, and listen, I'm being peevish maybe, but it is a pet peeve, so. maybe if I dig at it more I can say why I don't like it, but in the end maybe I'm just tired of M*ffat-era's way of doing sex and sexual reference. that is also the only reference, s9 doesn't do this a lot, but it also just plays back into Clara as a character. who are you? why are you in space? just to fuck about and have a good time? are you the villain Clara? are you a Space Tourist From England That's Just In It For Yourself? or do you respect the places you go, does this mean anything to you?

overanalyses my pet peeve

but also. so much of Clara is just. quipping. gimme more than quips, gimme substance dammit!

INTERNAL WORLD: it's relatively simple. underwater spooky base. spooky base before it was underwater. did they really build nuclear sites like that in Scotland? genuine question, I have no idea

again, feels very grounded in Doctor Who, but casually

POLITICS: I complained back in *checks notes* s7? I think? whenever Centre Of The Tardis was. that M*ffat-era sucked at putting people of colour in his stories, especially men of colour, without them being villains or stereotypes. I feel like I need to go back and look over s8, and have more of a think about s9 as a whole, but I do note that this episode on the whole was having a much more fun time with infinite diversity in infinite ways than I have often felt M*ffat-era has had. it's not the bastion of representation in the sense that it's something that ought to just belong to DW as-is, it's just nice to simply see people

and obviously Cass is grounded at the forefront of the story, and is very important to the emotional core of the plot, as well as various tensions and plot concepts. I'm not deaf, but on the whole it seemed like it was doing a lot with this episode, obviously by having an interpreter who's also someone she clearly has a lot of chemistry with, and the whole idea that these two characters come as a set, not just because nobody else speaks BSL, but because they understand each other emotionally as well

there's also several parts that go untranslated for a non-signing audience, and I wonder how much swearing one is allowed if it's signed. so she's a great character. I kind of wish there hadn't been the early joke of the Doctor being like "aw yeah I can do sign language" and then... not being able to? Why wouldn't the Doctor speak BSL?

I understand there may have been extra logistics, but tbh they coulda just confirmed it in that scene, but had the interpreting happen anyway, because we know that Twelve wouldn't bother getting anyone else up to speed. just think that was an odd choice

perhaps a tad nitpicky, but I am nothing in this if not picking at nits

FULL RATING: 68/100 (if I can count….)

this is a good episode in my opinion. one of the most solid of M*ffat-era, thoroughly enjoyed myself. I wish wish wish Clara had been more than witty one-liners, I feel like there were several points where she could have been given more to do, but I really like the other characters, and The Fisher King design is... well. this blog likes monsterfucking so obvs it was great for me personally

[cryptidanathema]

raihan

Why I like them: He's that guy that you THINK'S gonna be a total douche but is actually a really great guy once you get past first impressions. Liable to do something stupid trying to impress you. Dragon in human form. Canon fang haver. Brags about himself in the third person and should not be trusted with tapestries. Babygirl you need so much therapy /aff

Why I don’t: That hat that can't decide weather it's a sweatband or a beany. Seriously what is that thing on your head man

Favorite episode (scene if movie): Haven't watched any of his anime scenes tbh, kind of scared to after how dirty they did Leon. So I'll just use this section to show some love to the bit in Pokespe where he tries to take on Eternatus... himself. Not using a Pokemon. 

Favorite season/movie: See above 

Favorite line: ...I'm just gonna put "Especially you, Piers! The way you battled me in the Champion Cup... You really had my Dynamax Pokémon up against the wall!" and apologize profusely. Yes for ship reasons but also the fact that the guy starts hitting on a new rival in the middle of a Dynamax Pokemon rampage just feels weirdly on-brand? 

Favorite outfit: Shout out to that slightly douchey waistcoat ensemble with the Flygon shades from Masters...which he has a matching stupid, stupid hat for. 

OTP: Raihan/Leon/Piers and Raihan/Piers both qualify. Leon just straight up hits the "you don't even have to Ship It, some characters having had sex is just objective truth" threshold and they're often really sweet together, I just have to throw an alt boy in there too to get into it because my brain craves them like a body craves air. And Piers...they get tragically few scenes together but the ones they do get are so weirdly charged? Like someone else said there's a certain "should we be watching this?" energy to them lol 

Brotp: Leon also goes here, mostly because coming up for platonic explanations for the sheer depth of Raihan's brain rot in regards to that man leads to some FASCINATING relationship dynamics. I'm a big believer that romantic vs platonic indicates a relationship type rather than inherently implying a hierarchy of importance and these two are a great outlet for mentally rotating those themes. Also he and Gordie are fun in Masters, I like to think that they became friends while having shared sadboy time in the locker room. 

Head Canon: Probably my biggest is that with the way there's some pretty depressing shit left unsaid about the way he views himself, the occasional signs of anger issues he shows, and how he's the only member of The Rivalcule you don't meet the family of, the guy did NOT have a good childhood. On a lighter note, the guy has absolutely dogshit music taste. Like we're talking Skrillex and below here. The fact Piers doesn't strangle him over it is testament to the depth of his affection. 

Unpopular opinion: Don't really have one? 

A wish: Gigantamax Archaludon whenever the Galar remakes come out in 10-15 years, he deserves to just summon a wholeass suspension bridge (that notably has a weather-related signature move at that). And, well, just more of him in general. 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Same as Piers, please don't throw this man into spacetime GameFreak 🤞

5 words to best describe them: Selfie boy kinda worries me 😔

My nickname for them: Rai, Rai-Rai...💖🐉

[beingfacetious]

please give us the correct negative Ted lasso review

Oh my God. This feels like a trap but I can't help it

update from the other side, this is no joke 2k words long and it's not uh happy lmao so dead dove do not eat

TL;DR:

Bill Lawrence's involvement lessened every season and it fuckin' shows

There were arcs and plot points established over the first two seasons that the writers very obviously just changed their minds about for this season

Takes about this season being dark/ending sad on purpose are MUCH too generous. like giving WAY too much credit.

It turns out most of my feelings boil down to "it's not aggressively bad it's just nonsensical"

How tf was every episode twice as long as in previous seasons but everything important happened offscreen

FIRST OF ALL, since MONTHS before the season started airing, I've nursed a conspiracy theory that Bill Lawrence left the show because of creative differences with Jason Sudeikis and that therefore this season would be significantly less good than previous seasons. This started when I saw Bill tweet that he was going home, basically, and I figured we'd get "season 3 is in post" news shortly thereafter but instead there was that weird stuff about things being delayed because of rewrites...? Anyway, that is mostly to say that I was ready to think this season was worse because I love Bill Lawrence's storytelling and have forever and you should give Cougar Town a shot if you haven't yet it's no Scrubs but it's sweet

There were interviews early in the show in which I swear Jason/Brendan/whoever said they pitched the show to Bill because he's fuckin' good at TV and he basically said "this is a great idea but you're writing to the wrong ending, it should be this," and they were like "wow you're right that is a better ending." I can't find that now but I did find this from a more recent Bill interview:

I ran that show the first year because Jason was still shooting movies while we were doing the writers room. Then, at the end of that year, much like Gary with me, I was like, “Ah, I’ll spend a couple of months teaching him how to edit.” But after like a day or two, he’s like, “Yeah, I got it.” (Laughs.) So, the second year, we ran it together, and I’m only able to do other things now because that guy ran the show himself the third year, as it should be. It’s his voice and his world this season.

Now look, Bill Lawrence is obviously not trying to throw shade here because he's lovely and also this is a Hollywood Reporter article and how immature would that be, but I can throw shade for him and I will: Jason Sudeikis is a talented comedic actor and seems like a very nice man and he had a good idea for a show, and his instincts to involve an extremely experienced showrunner with an insane talent for feelsy found family sitcoms were good and he should have stuck to them!! Telling Bill Lawrence you're good after two days of editing instruction or whatever is stupid!! Insisting on your voice and your world when BILL LAWRENCE'S VOICE IS AVAILABLE TO YOU and also you CO-CREATED THE WORLD whatever gdi

OK fine I'll do Ted/Rebecca next. Obviously I was in for Ted/Rebecca. I wanted them to put their faces together. But look, I'm not a shipper over all else; over all else I want a good storyteller to tell me the story they want to tell. If I expect things or see them coming, that's not bad! That's good! If I'm surprised by things, that's good too as long as it holds together! "Subverting expectations" shouldn't look like spiting the audience, a lie is not a twist, etc. SO. If Ted and Rebecca were meant to be platonic soulmates, that's fine!!! I don't NEED them to kiss!!! But I do not believe these people are even friends in season 3, after season 1 and tbh most of my favorite parts of season 2 were about how much they impact each other's lives. That's a dropped ball and there's NO REASON to have not made time for them to interact meaningfully because every episode was so fucking long. Instead I guess we had to know how super sad Rebecca was about not being able to have children but not need to talk to anyone about it and immediately be fully over it. Also see a lot of lingering shots of Rebecca...looking at a matchbook...

sfjbkfgs early in the season they very obviously established that Rebecca's arc was going to be realizing she actually loves the team and wants to support them and see them succeed because of her own heart and not to spite Rupert, and I guess that happened but why didn't it happen gradually in ways I could see, why did it happen in an episode in which I'm supposed to have known all along that this has to do with her childhood self ?? and in which Rupert has a FULL personality change to facilitate her sudden realization. In what fucking world would he invite her to that meeting, because she's smart or because she brings ~diversity or because maybe he wants to sleep with her again? None of it tracks at all lmao but it was also the episode in which I really enjoyed Tony Head so whatever

speaking of not tracking, Nate.........I've never been invested in Nate especially but he was SO cartoonishly evil at the start and then kind of never again. I was braced for a redemption arc I wouldn't care about but that didn't even really happen?? he got a girlfriend and realized Rupert was a bad role model? it turns out his dad thinks he was a prodigy and always just wanted him to be happy, which, lmao WHAT where????? and what am I supposed to believe about Jade changing her mind about him btw because she's seen people be terrible to him at that very table before AND she has to know he loves the place and the food because he's there all the time, so what was the revelation that turned her from relatable-via-Nate-ambivalence to suddenly heart-eyes just fdslelugatw so much of my feeling about this season isn't even like it's bad it's just it's nonsense

One of my big complaints about the season is just Keeley's whole deal. Separating her from the team/rest of the cast was a wild choice. Barbara is fine but I also would have been perfectly fine without her and none of the other new characters for the PR side story added anything to the show. Especially if at the end Rebecca is just going to write Keeley a check for the chump change she needs to run the agency. Why didn't we just do that to begin with??? I guess this season I'm supposed to think Keeley ~learned to be independent in various ways but, again, I don't ?? And her needing to not be with Roy I guess as part of that and then get back together offscreen but then not really be together maybe but then also possibly having throuple vibes later that never get acknowledged feels, whatever, like something Bill Lawrence didn't write sdfjlsefaj,lwte I know this is my unsupportable argument that post I RBed was making fun of but idc

also Jamie wanting to be with Keeley at the end of the show feels extremely Harry Potter epilogue to me lmao Jamie you don't have to marry someone you went to high school with there are so many people

Roy was fine this season. He didn't have much to do but that's probably for the best lol. Him taking Ted's job is probably the only main character ending I feel like makes sense for this season and the overall show. Him training and begrudgingly becoming friends with Jamie was always funny.

OK one of the wrong reviews was basically like if you don't appreciate this season you don't appreciate classic tragic structure. Fuck off with that. First of all this was a sitcom about soccer so even if they were going for a classic tragedy in season 3 that's stupid and they shouldn't have been. But I also just don't think that's what was happening ??? I think I'm supposed to believe everyone gets a happy ending and I just don't. Like the whole oh it's sad that Ted ends up where he started and it's about how persistent optimism and kindness can burn you out or whatever, that's...if that's what they were going for, again, why tf, and also could we have seen that like. at all. Ted barely Teds for anyone this season (frex the previously mentioned never talking to Rebecca). ROY Teds more than Ted in season 3. If we got to see Ted trying to Ted even, like, twice, and either not being able to dig down and find the positivity or I guess noticing that he needs someone to be that for him, OK, fine. A Ted/Keeley scene would have been a PERFECT vehicle for this. Didn't happen. idk if we're supposed to think he's getting back together with Michelle but that would be so...so bad ??? like what about Tan Lines??? why even have Tan Lines??? even if not, we just left completely unaddressed her starting a relationship with their marriage counselor, which is also BAD lmao. God why did I have to see so much of Michelle this season. Michelle video calls every other episode and two lines for Dr. Sharon. Nonsense. lol one of my friends summarized Ted's ending as "yeah going back to the unfulfilling life that didn't work before the show started is a victory for our protagonist"

Even the soccer of it all re that whole thing was silly. Oh marriage counselor boyfriend is a bad guy because he doesn't care about the soccer game. Oh Ted is happy now because he's coaching Henry's rec league soccer team. like it's fine that EVERYONE is still together in Richmond but he's "home" now and still around soccer which is good because we definitely saw him learn to love soccer during the course of the show. sure Jan

(to be fair I am not the audience for "it's about the kid" plots so even if I felt like it worked from the start of the show for Ted to choose moving back to where Henry is, which I don't, I wouldn't care for it, so maybe those criticisms aren't especially valid) (I didn't care about JD's kid either)

speaking of the soccer though every single scene that revolved around the actual soccer team was essentially perfect. Great use of so many of those boys. Very few notes. Sam in particular had a few nice things this season and of course Colin. Another incorrect review by a critic I actually like very much was complaining about Colin's story this season and it being tired and overdone and not caring about Trent's or Isaac's parts of it, but I actually really disagree! It was well done and it was nice to see in the context of professional sports where, sorry, coming out and being received well is not a cliche thing that happens a lot! Also, hot take! Zava was a good part of this season! Nice contained little story that impacted some characters I actually care about plus he was legit funny! Sometimes things in a comedy should be funny! I'd honestly watch three more seasons of Richmond-focused half-hour episodes with idk probably Brett Goldstein in charge

I haven't mentioned Beard because I just never understood what I was supposed to think about him lmao. By far the funniest character overall but I never felt settled on whether he was meant to be a manic pixie comic relief BFF or if he was like...a real person?? It strikes me as potentially bad that he was so worried about Ted's mental state all the time and never really mentioned his own and that was sort of a thing in the weird s2 episode but then not again? I felt so much ire about so much else I didn't have any for him marrying Jane lmao but I do understand the people who are upset about that because that sure seemed pretty toxic, but wasn't it supposed to be played for laughs? Does that fit in a show that's supposed to mainly be about people treating each other well because we're all we've got? idk, RIP Beard, sorry your best friend in the world wasn't at your wedding because it would have been narratively underwhelming to see him leave and then see him back at a future major event or whatever

idk idk, season 1 Rebecca was one of my favorite characters ever and I was so angry in the middleish of the season about how much I felt like she was being wasted, but by the end I was just like...I mean, what's to be mad at. She's not even her anymore. Ted wasn't Ted anymore. Nate I guess literally reverted back to season 1 Nate which also is that...okay...him ending up lower than he started out feels not great

Good for Mae and the bar boys though, used just the right amount this and every season and always a damn delight

OK this is ridiculous I'm going to be done now. I do want to say I enjoyed several episodes this season a lot! A couple top 10 potentials! I really enjoyed the Amsterdam one actually because it reminded me of like a Nancy Meyers movie, very nice and warm, but it feels worth noting that that is not a feeling I would describe as being struck by fucking lightning :))))))

in conclusion maybe we as a nation can move on now from giving SNL alumni we find charming huge budgets and ethereally talented casts and collaborators and letting them get us emotionally invested in their midlife crises sandbox playing

[sportsthoughts]

15 people 15 questions

thank you for the tag @couthbbg !!

1. are you named after anyone?

depending on which of my parents you ask either lucy pevensie (chronicles of narnia) or lucy in the sky with diamonds (beatles) i'm kind of good with either tbh

2. when was the last time you cried?

lol i watched the makeover episode of canada's drag race this afternoon while i ate my lunch and it had me in bits. this season has been a*

3. do you have kids?

not yet. hopefully in the next two years. my inspiration is my sister who has a newborn baby and is still plugging away writing fanfic. best believe if i'm fortunate enough to have a baby i'll be on here doing night feeds and shitposting.

4. what sports do you play/have you played?

very keen gym goer and pilates doer but no fun team sports. did some dance as a kid. i love literally every sport though and will watch and enjoy any sport as a spectator.

5. do you use sarcasm?

does anyone answer this question with no?

6. what's the first thing you notice about people?

physically - hands. not sure why

7. what's your eye color?

what's YOURS

8. scary movies or happy endings?

happy ending. i am not joking when i say you could not pay me to watch a horror movie.

9. any talents?

i am the best houseplant gardener i know. i have never met a houseplant yet i could not revive or make thrive. at this point i maybe have like 50+ houseplants. hmu for gardening tips seriously. its a passion

10. where were you born?

England. not being more specific although if you followed this blog 5 or 10 years ago i actually used to have the name of my HOMETOWN in my blog title. I actually shudder to remember this. what was i thinking. at least i don't live there anymore lol

11. what are your hobbies?

watching sports obvs, pilates, walking, gardening, digital photography, reading, really want to do more crafty stuff but at the moment i struggle to make time for it even though i've hoarded a ton of art supplies. husband is trying to get me into gaming but honestly have 0 patience for it.

12. do you have any pets?

besides my houseplants no. not in a pet friendly house atm. would love a dog but i have to vicariously live through my sister and her cats.

13. how tall are you?

5'4

14. favorite subject in school?

call me crazy but legit all of them. my high school experience was actually pretty positive and i didn't really hate any of school except maths. favourite at a push was probably history although that was mostly due to a very foxy teacher

15. dream job?

feel like most of you know what i do for a job anyway and yeah, it's my dream job. wish i got paid slightly more for it but the work is a dream.

Tagging any of my followers, feel free to say I tagged you! Aaaaaand @heartsoftruth @carlando @geooooooorge @malkinse @queeerkings @cornerihaunt @prettyhockey @ferperss if you're in the mood!

[iammialua]

What I think (tbh, hope is the right word) is gonna happen in XO, Kitty S2:

◇SPOILERS below

◇ Biased towards my favorite ship, sorry ;)

• First of all, Kitty is obviously going back to KISS with Yuri's help;

• Dae will be back too, not sure if because they're going to excuse his 2nd place (it's way too stupid for a scholarship to demand 1st place every single time) or if they're gonna find out that Florian cheated/Florian will tell himself;

• Probably not the first option, or else the whole drama will be for nothing;

• Also, whatever happens, Florian will stay at KISS, even if there are new complications regarding his parents or the fact he cheated;

• I think Florian and Q are going to break up at some point, maybe Q will even have a new love interest, but will probably end up with Florian;

• Dae, too, will have a new love interest (most likely a "definite" one) and their main drama will be about him getting over his past with Kitty;

• On this topic, I really hope Dae and Kitty's friendship solidifies and that they're able to overcome the awkwardness of their break up;

• Now that Juliana is back, I think she's gonna share dorms with Kitty;

• Unless Yuri decides to stay at the dorms too, to be closer to Juliana, then she will be the one sharing dorms with Kitty (her mom won't allow her and Juliana sharing the same dorm);

• Juliana will notice how close Yuri and Kitty are (specially if they share a dorm), she's gonna get jealous and will break up with Yuri;

• Yuri will realize she has started to develop some feelings towards Kitty;

• Kitty and Yuri will notice their feelings for each other soon after;

• They're gonna date and we will have some very cute scenes but, in the end, they'll break up and realize they're better off as best friends, just as how their moms were;

• And part of the reason for the break up is because Yuri is still in love with Juliana, while Kitty, once again, fell for someone else;

• If it wasn't obvious before, I'm talking about Min Ho here;

• Taking off from the last episode, he and Kitty will kinda ignore his confession, not forget it completely, they'll just try to act normal and keep bantering with each other, but there's also gonna be somewhat of a tension between the two of them;

• Not sure if they're gonna show much of Kitty in the US before KISS, but, either way, I don't think they'll see each other during the winter break;

• So, as soon as they're all back to KISS, the awkwardness of the confession is still kind of lingering between Kitty and Min Ho, and Q is the first to notice ofc;

• Then it's Dae, and that will result on some drama between the two boys, with Q in the middle not knowing what to do;

• But it'll all work out at the end, and we'll be able to see more of the boys' friendship;

• Then, as times passes, Kitty and Min Ho get closer and closer, and she starts to fall in love with him too;

• But she just started dating Yuri, and she likes her, so Kitty does her best to act like nothing changed;

• Until the moment Yuri notices that Kitty and Min Ho's relationship dynamic has changed, and decide they have to break up;

• And they do, and there's a little bit more drama, but we end the season with Yuri and Juliana as a couple again (or working towards it), and Kitty and Min Ho realizing they relaly fell for each other;

• Which gives way to a third season, paralleling the three movies for TATBILB;

◇Some extra notes:

• I hope Jina divorces Yuri's father;

•Also, that she, Yuri, Alex and Prof Lee get closer, like a real family;

• We're going to found out more about Simon and, idk, maybe he's the reason why Eve Song always told her daughters not to go to college while dating someone?

• Also, maybe a quick appearance of Lara Jean and Peter, please

Anyways, let's see how much (if any) of it is going to actually happen :3

[marshallpupfan]

IDK but if the show really want that "girl power" in their episodes, then they should've used the girl pups more often in regular episodes than giving it all to Skye unless they had a goal on why they're giving Skye more roles. Clearly Everest and Liberty are there but like they're only in a couple of episodes and probably don't do much (I think that non Mighty Pup Liberty Episode in Season 10 is a girl power episode). But I guess they can't use their other girl pups without them being inside a certain subseries and at the same time can't think of anything for Everest or Liberty. (TBH I think Liberty was only added to the show just for the 10th anniversary and to promote the movie)

To be honest, I think that's the confusing part of all of this. If they truly want to focus more on female empowerment, then... yeah, why don't they use Everest more often? I believe even Tracker appeared more than she did in season 9, and that's especially true so far with season 10. I know that leak claimed she's going to get her own mini-movie, but you'd think they'd build her up a bit more to lead us into it.

Truth be told, the writing, or the writers, can be kind of weird like that. A part of me thinks they don't use Everest and Liberty too much because they feel they always have to justify it. Whenever those two do show up, it's usually always something like "Jake needed something in town so I thought I'd hang out for a while" for Everest, or "I was just visiting from Adventure City and wanted to hang out" with Liberty. They're almost never there just because, unless it's a sub-series, like you said. Honestly, who cares, just let Everest be at the Lookout more often! We don't always need a reason!

With that said, the latest episode kind of makes me wonder if they don't actually care which girl pup gets called in, so long as there's at least one of them out there. "The Big Chill / The Mighty Cheetah" didn't use Skye at all, and I don't even recall her gtting any lines, whatsoever... which certainly seems to clash with how the franchise has been treating for these past seasons. However, Liberty was called in during both segments, thus that girl pup quota was fulfilled. Making Skye's treatment in this episode was the writer's subtle way of saying "yeah, we're tired of using her so much, too". Once again, it makes me think that, had they actually made one of the other main pups a female when the cartoon was first created, we wouldn't see Skye get used so much... but of course, that's anyone's best guess.

[diesoonandsuffer]

I FINISHED TNG!

please clap.

i never actually did an update on my thoughts post since season 3, so i figured before i watched the movies i'll do a summary of my thoughts on the show.

first off it apparently took me over a year to finish it since i started in july of 2022, and it's now august of 2023. this isn't because i didn't like it or anything, i just kept doing other stuff and unlike with tos, i wasn't watching it WITH someone, so i wasn't on a schedule of any kind. however i did enjoy the show, i grew to like the characters quite a lot and i was invested in their stories. it was definitely a different vibe to tos, while tos is quite episodic, campy, and a bit dated, tng is less campy, a bit less episodic, and slightly less dated lol. it did kind of annoy me that we would start to get these longer arcing plots and then they would be abandoned or forgotten. for example at the beginning of the show it seemed like riker and troi were going to have a lot more "drama" in the show but nothing really happened with them, and then at the very end of the show they put her with worf and don't really explore that fully. i don't just mean romantic pairings but that's an example of what i mean. there was also just a general quality difference in episodes, maybe it was more noticeable here than in tos since tng was longer, but towards the end of the show in particular we got really good episodes followed by quite shit ones. by the time the show ended i didn't really feel like it was ready to end, if that makes sense. i feel like it was always toeing the line between being episodic and being a show with long plots. in general -- was fun. i had a good time. i've forgotten a lot from the beginning but oh well.

here i'll give my thoughts on the characters since that's what i used to do. in no particular order:

picard: i really don't have many strong opinions about him, some episodes he definitely was more entertaining than others. i think i would have liked to see him fail more often because generally he seems too capable at times. i do enjoy the rare moments where he loosens up. despite the longer screentime he had i weirdly feel like he has less depth than kirk? let me know if this is a crazy take but i don't feel like picard is a particularly complicated man, he doesn't seem like he has a lot of inner turmoil or conflict about things, meanwhile kirk is going through it at all times. not to constantly compare the two but. well, i just did

troi: the most beautiful woman in the world i'm such a whore when i look at her. when she got a real uniform i whooped and hollered and when she become a COMMANDER bitch?!?!?! i really do wish they did more with her character she had sooooooo much potential with being half-betazed and they never really give it the exploration it deserves, they use it when its convenient and forget when it isn't. i feel like if we had gotten one more season she could have really shined but they were like i know let's spend the last couple of episodes we have with her making her date worf i guess. also why did they give her mom so much trauma. that wasn't nice.

worf: i grew to like him more and more as the show went on, like whenever i would realize the episode i was watching was going to be a worf-focused episode i would get excited. he's one of those unintentionally funny characters which makes him entertaining, but i also find it interesting seeing the way he balances his klingon heritage with his role as a starfleet officer. i love how much he loves being a klingon, and how he always wants to teach other people about it and let them, in turn, learn more about him. he cares deeply and he tries hard even if he doesn't get it right. i know he's in ds9 so i'm happy to see more of him when i finally get to that

riker: we didn't get enough of him tbh. it felt like there would be multiple season gaps between his solo episodes. like for someone who is the first officer he didn't feel very relevant to the show, they stopped caring about his character after a while. he would have maybe a small arc in certain episodes but he was mostly there because he had to be? maybe the sporadic way i watched is effecting my memory on this. but i really like him, i think he's funny and i like his rogue tendencies.

geordi: we also didn't get enough of geordi. i love him but i feel like i barely know anything about him. but i love how genuinely kind and caring he is, and he's also in the scotty position of "the ship would fall apart without him" i feel like every episode picard would be like geordi fix this! help! also i wish he would have kissed the android.

data: hey it's the android. i love this dude. however i am getting a little overexposed to the dude and i know the movies are only going to continue that. idk why by s6-7 they were like "we're out of ideas for data. what if he liked killing and hurt his crewmates and was maybe evil" which is so lazy. like it would all somehow get resolved by the end and everyone would just move on like data wasn't a genocide machine two minutes ago. the finale reminded me of the way data used to be, where he would constantly ask people questions and say obvious things, and i realized i really missed that. he has dreams and shit now he's not really as compelling. he's been a human to me from day 1 so they didn't need to do all that. however brent spiner continues to be very funny.

beverly: um she certainly was there. don't get me wrong i like her but i feel like i never had any strong attachment to her. she didn't get many solo episodes and the last one i can remember (with the fucking. ghost?) was not good. yeah i can't really think of anything else to say. she's fine.

wesley: ok i know he like left the show after a certain point but i would be remiss to mention again that his arc did not end in a good way and he should get to take a NAP why does he have to keep being SO SPECIAL. also why does anyone ever hate this kid he was like 12 he literally was so non offensive to the show. but i did really like every time he came back after wil wheaton left i feel like wesley brings a new perspective to the show that is needed.

honorable mention ro laren: she's my icon right now so i feel like i have to mention her. i would have loved to see more of her in the show, i found her character really compelling and complex. i liked how she was always a bit of a bitch. i'm on the fence of how i feel about her arc ending, i feel like the episode with geordi and the one where she was turned into a kid both were made to help her feel more like the enterprise could be a home for her. they didn't give me much reason to believe otherwise? i don't care about her leaving, i liked that both her and wesley left starfleet even if the show didn't have the time or capacity to explore it, but i didn't fully believe her reasoning. but i loved every time she was there.

i have probably forgotten. many things. i was in the sun all day and maybe have heat exhaustion. but i'm starting generations in like 10 minutes and i realized i needed to make this post before i watched it. thank you for coming along on this year-long journey of me watching tng. we did it boys