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themattress · 1 year ago

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If you want yet another example of why I fucking hate the Pokeani fandom and the two series they hold up as sacred cows (DP and XY), just take a look at the crap that's up on TV Tropes:

Wow. Notice how literally nothing else about the shows in question (one of which ran for four years and the other for three, meaning there was a lot of content in them) is mentioned at all. Only Ash, and only how skilled/competent/successful as a trainer he is. This single factor dominates the general opinion discourse of the shows in the Pokeani fandom and is what justifies them being named "the best", while other shows like BW and SM (the ones that follow such "tough acts") get constantly put down by comparison. How well Ash works as a self-insert power fantasy is literally all that matters to these clowns. It's so embarrassing.

Oh, sure - SM fans are the myopic ones! And let's check these "flaws" that those fans are "ignorant" about. "Animation and art style being wasted on comedic expressions instead of battles", "shying away from battling in general" and "many questionable writing decisions in important episodes especially the Alola League", which translates to nitpicks about decisions pertaining to - you guessed it - battles. Those aren't flaws. As a wise girl stated yesterday:

Of course SM isn't perfect, no series is....but it is absolute lightyears ahead of XY, period.

More battle stupidity. God, the hard-on these manchildren have for legalized cock-fighting is ridiculous. Fucking Nemona, a battle maniac, is somehow more mature about it than them!

So Dawn is considered better than May simply for struggling and losing more (the exact same kind of thing they scream bloody murder if it happens to Ash) and not getting wins they'd deem "undeserved", in addition to hogging the spotlight at every opportunity even when it isn't called for - usually for fanservice reasons. Her personality is likable and distinct, though; I'll give her that. While Serena is considered better than Iris (who has no elaboration given as to why she's "one of the least popular female companions" as if the reason doesn't make the fans look good, funny that) because............um, she's more feminine, is in love with Ash, and is given the kind of "arc of Character Development" these fans deem acceptable for a female character (read: a copy of Dawn's). Also, she's not dark-skinned.

The only objectively true statement in this entire blurb is the Mega Evolution specials being different and enticing. Otherwise: "improved writing" (read: back to DP style formula and safeness and fan pandering rather than really trying to be its own thing that's comfortable in its own skin), "action and battle animation" (read: fan obsession with battling above all else being satisfied), "a much more competent take on Ash" (read: a boring, out-of-character, Mary Sue self-interest power fantasy extraordinaire), "a better balance on having Team Rocket threatening at times while keeping their comedic traits" (read: Team Rocket just behaving downright psychotic), "a likable group of companions and supporting characters" (read: characters who are deemed uniquely "likable" solely for how they prop up Ash), and "a good pacing that averted Arc Fatigue" (this one's half-right, the pacing was largely solid...but averting Arc Fatigue was kind of difficult when for the longest time barely anything substantial was happening in the arc outside of the routine Gym Quest. Ash had no real rivals, Serena took a year to find a goal to pursue, Clemont and Bonnie didn't start getting significant focus or development until the second year, Team Rocket had nothing going on, and plot points that might have been interesting long-running threads like the Evil Malamar went nowhere. How is that an improvement over BW, which objectively had more going on in its first two years?)

Finally, this one piece of honesty:

Again, I say: I am so fucking glad that Ash has been retired. I get holding an attachment to a character you've known since childhood, but when it gets to this level of toxic where nothing less than that character being worshipped in-universe will suffice, it's time for them to go.

#Pokemon #Opinion #Fandumb #Stupidity #Hypocrite #Double Standards #Sexism #Misogyny #Objection #Correction #Truthbomb #Anti-Pokeani #Anti-XY #Anti-Ash Ketchum #(Sort of)

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otnesse · 5 months ago

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Replying to The Mattress in a separate post because I cannot directly reblog him as I've been blocked by him.

"If you want yet another example of why I fucking hate the Pokeani fandom and the two series they hold up as sacred cows (DP and XY), just take a look at the crap that's up on TV Tropes:

Of course SM isn't perfect, no series is….but it is absolute lightyears ahead of XY, period.

More battle stupidity. God, the hard-on these manchildren have for legalized cock-fighting is ridiculous. Fucking Nemona, a battle maniac, is somehow more mature about it than them!

So Dawn is considered better than May simply for struggling and losing more (the exact same kind of thing they scream bloody murder if it happens to Ash) and not getting wins they'd deem "undeserved", in addition to hogging the spotlight at every opportunity even when it isn't called for - usually for fanservice reasons. Her personality is likable and distinct, though; I'll give her that. While Serena is considered better than Iris (who has no elaboration given as to why she's "one of the least popular female companions" as if the reason doesn't make the fans look good, funny that) because…………um, she's more feminine, is in love with Ash, and is given the kind of "arc of Character Development" these fans deem acceptable for a female character (read: a copy of Dawn's). Also, she's not dark-skinned.

The only objectively true statement in this entire blurb is the Mega Evolution specials being different and enticing. Otherwise: "improved writing" (read: back to DP style formula and safeness and fan pandering rather than really trying to be its own thing that's comfortable in its own skin), "action and battle animation" (read: fan obsession with battling above all else being satisfied), "a much more competent take on Ash" (read: a boring, out-of-character, Mary Sue self-interest power fantasy extraordinaire), "a better balance on having Team Rocket threatening at times while keeping their comedic traits" (read: Team Rocket just behaving downright psychotic), "a likable group of companions and supporting characters" (read: characters who are deemed uniquely "likable" solely for how they prop up Ash), and "a good pacing that averted Arc Fatigue" (this one's half-right, the pacing was largely solid…but averting Arc Fatigue was kind of difficult when for the longest time barely anything substantial was happening in the arc outside of the routine Gym Quest. Ash had no real rivals, Serena took a year to find a goal to pursue, Clemont and Bonnie didn't start getting significant focus or development until the second year, Team Rocket had nothing going on, and plot points that might have been interesting long-running threads like the Evil Malamar went nowhere. How is that an improvement over BW, which objectively had more going on in its first two years?)

Finally, this one piece of honesty:

Regarding the first bit, I myself am mixed on how DP handled the Gym Leaders and how Ash fought them. On the one hand, I AM glad that the rookies in Ash's team didn't get such easy wins unlike in AG, and thus Ash had to actually learn how to adapt to their strategies rather than coming across as a huge Gary Stu, even more of one than his XY depiction. But on the other hand, Pikachu constantly losing to not just Gym Leaders, but even a blatant rookie in the form of Ursaring during Lake Acuity despite taking out a freaking Regice in the immediate prior saga was definitely inexcusable. As far as Unova, quite frankly, I felt they needed to do a far better job at actually retaining Ash's character as a quirky yet ultimately skilled and unorthodox battler without degrading him to basically being an idiot, and apparently treating the Gym Leaders even WORSE than in AG. Though I WILL acknowledge a good thing for Unova was him getting his Charizard back. And it was nice to see some nods to his Butterfree during the Decolore arc. And Sun and Moon, I didn't mind the quirky depiction of Ash as they did a better job actually going back to his roots than Best Wishes did. But I WILL state that they definitely narrowly dodged a bullet by coming close to having his Pokemon Master goal, aka the goal pretty much everyone needed to vest themselves in, the one that literally hooked us into the series as kids, taken away from him (the CoroCoro magazine teaser for Sun and Moon at the time made it sound as though he quit pursuing his goal of becoming a Pokemon Master in favor of "graduating like never before"). In fact, if it weren't for the Alola, Kanto arc (one of the definite positives of Sun and Moon besides Ash winning a league), it would have been very likely Ash WOULDN'T face a league at all.

As far as the bit about Kalos, making him hypercompetent was most likely a mistake, but one thing Kalos did that I ESPECIALLY liked was having him actually be given a challenge by the Gym Leaders, not to mention him actually observing them and coming up with ways to fight them. That did more than anything save for Sun and Moon to outright redeem the Gym Leader profession after AG crapped on them. And personally, if I had to list a series that actually fit that description regarding Gary Stu, I wouldn't even think of DP OR XY, I'd if anything think of AG and his wins against the Hoenn Gym Leaders (with the exception of Brawley and Roxanne, he pretty much handled them the same way Team Rocket was usually handled, and one of the wins, Tate & Liza was a blatant butt-pull).

And quite frankly, I'd argue that if anything, AG was even MORE guilty of the overfocus of battles than DP and XY put together, especially after how they had Ash basically cream the Gym Leaders with a purely rookie team with no real struggle for the rookies barring Brawley. Oh, and managing despite all of that to completely fail to get a rank up (and worse, his Hoenn team failed to beat Brandon TWICE, and instead his Kanto team had to finish the job), meaning even regarding that, it came across as downright pointless.

To be fair regarding Dawn (and this is hardly speaking as a Dawn fan. In fact, I don't even like either May or Dawn and if anything felt IRIS was a step up from the two of them. Her as well as Lillie.), Ash having to struggle in DP, or at least, his rookie team having to struggle, was one of DP's definite improvements over AG (now, having Pikachu struggle is more of a downgrade. Rookies struggling against Gym Leaders is one thing, but having Pikachu struggle, especially after OHKOing a Regice, is definitely not good writing no matter HOW you slice it). As far as Serena, I'm overall neutral to her, but definitely recognize she had extremely bad writing (if anything, I'd argue that she's a marginal improvement over May).

And to be fair to the second-to-last point, most of the points made against XY can actually be made against AG, right down to Ash lacking any real rivals, Team Rocket being grossly mishandled (a complaint, BTW, that Takeshi Shudo himself made about AG's handling of Team Rocket in his blogs before he died, and he voted to keep them in, likely from being pressured by the likes of Hidaka), and ESPECIALLY Ash being a huge gary stu (in fact, I'd argue AG-era Ash was far more of one than XY Ash EVER was. At least XY Ash had to contend with several Gym Leaders that TRULY challenged him, had wins that actually WERE plausible rather than blatantly pulled out of his butt, even had to actually rematch some of them, including the last Gym Leader. At least he didn't plow through the Gym Leaders and reduce them to comparable jokes to that of Team Rocket on their worst days via a purely rookie team). Oh, and also overfocus on battle and action that acted as a HUGE detriment to everyone involved, yes, including May, and even made certain Pokemon of theirs EXTREMELY OP. Heck, XY Ash actually managed to improve from his initial outing by double making back his Unova win to be runner up, while AG Ash by contrast stayed the EXACT same rank as in Johto, and his one true accomplishment in AG, the Battle Frontier, was reduced to a complete joke thanks to Paul, the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, heck, even GARY at the very end of AG.

And speaking as someone who DID briefly come back, what drew me in was Sun and Moon as well as To Be a Pokemon Master, both times to see Misty and to a lesser degree Brock return, and only the latter I actually WATCHED start to finish.

#Anti-AG #Anti-Advanced Generation #Anti-DP (sort of)#Anti-Diamond and Pearl (sort of)#Anti-XY (sort of)

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22degreehalo · 8 months ago

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Sooo once again recently I have been browsing various queer-centric merchandise on etsy and the like, and (as always) been disappointed at the quantity/quality of aspec-focused stuff. Which also ties in to an overall (IMO) egregious lack of aspec... memey stuff?? and general place in, like, actual community everyday conversation, outside of painfully repetitive and boring identity glossaries.

And. It's difficult. It really feels so difficult, sometimes. To talk about being aspec without

a) being sex-negative in really gross, harmful ways (that just as often harm other aspecs btw)

b) being like... super self-deprecating in a way that I feel also harms aspecs and reinforces the idea of us as losers and failures in a kind of 'are they laughing at us or with us' kind of way.

One way is to lean into the silly quirky 'food is better than sex' kind of thing, and also puns. The puns I like but a really shitty and awful part of myself deep down sometimes finds the food stuff actually kind of. cringey...? Which is stupid and I hate it but once again I feel myself being made fun of by allos and also it's just. kind of shallow and a one-note joke that has been overdone at this point (due to lack of other options) for me personally

The other big way I've seen is to lean into the whole confident rejection schtick. Big 'Nope' word art and the like. And that's fine but it often feels a bit too... misanthropic? for me. I like people!!!!! Or it's very female-focused and feeds too much into that whole ideals of 'women who let men touch them are Tainted' and/or 'women deserve better than men' which I. hate.

so I've been wondering a lot if what I'm wanting - memey/funny aspec-focused stuff that actually feels authentic and at least some tiny amount of original - is even possible?

So far my ideas are. a) make it casual/nonclinical by going so fucking dorky that it wraps around in the other direction. like idk a shirt that says 'Asexuality: the lack of sexual attraction to people of all genders. Hope that helps guys!!! Subscribe for more cool asexuality facts :)' I think if I saw that shirt I'd slightly suspect I was being made fun of but would vibe so hard I'd still like it unironically lmfao

Softening the rejection stuff also could be fun. Like 'I love every person in the world!! (as a friend <3)' or something. more eloquent lol

And just, in general non-sequiturs. It bugs me so inordinately when I see those kinds of posts or whatever that are like 'I'm tired, I'm gay, and I don't pay taxes' (theoretical example) and like, you could just as well have put 'ace' or 'aro' in there!!!!!! But nobody ever things to do that with us :( as always my plan is to make really cool things but only for ace and aro so we can get to be the ones with things for once hahaha but unfortunately I do not know how to make cool things. Anyway the whole idea here is to write things that make people on reddit go 'uhh, why did you feel the need to mention that you don't date, here...?'

And to cap this off I guess I should affirm that yeah, the self-deprecatory stuff CAN be done well... with a very very VERY precise hand. By which I mean that I was permanently psychologically online-ified by ace discourse and have the sensitivity of an earthquake detector to non-obvious slights against aspecs' importance or worth as human beings. But self-deprecating humour is just kind of our generation's style, so. There's some level of 'yeah I like anime and don't date B)' that is JUST the right balance of 'this is not at all what society says you should be proud of' and 'but fuck it society sucks lmfao I love freaks'.

IN CONCLUSION more aspecs should have my exact same sense of humour but actually good at art. or writing text posts. Or literally anything other than complaining on unpopular tumblrs. no actually we need them too so I can follow you and feel faintly not alone occasionally when our opinions happen to line up. Your honour I rest my case.

#aspec

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kalosacetrainer · 4 years ago

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Rwby Live Blog Part 1

hnnnng what if I live blogged my rwby rewatch It’s been like several years since I actually watched the show so I might get some stuff a little wrong heh, okay a lot wrong, I remember basically nothing. Starting with Volume 1, I plan to watch the first episode today and another episode every day until I catch up to the current volume, might take breaks if I have work to do, this is just a hobby and I need to prioritize other stuff before this.

Chapter 1: Ruby Rose Damn Red got that good music, I really like her design, it’s cool. So the ginger’s talking about dust, I think it’s kinda like gunpowder in it’s activation? Maybe it takes a spark to ignite whatever spell or something to activate? I really love this dust stuff so far, it seems really cool. OH FUUUUUUU, That huntress lady or whatever??? She has a staff thing and it just like, I bet it’s dust, but like, how does that work??? It started up a storm or something and it’s got point hail raining down??? That’s cool. The dark clouds are in a spirally thing that’s really cool. I also like her purple cloak but I don’t know why it’s all swirly at the ends, still cool. OKAY WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING. MAGIC???? Basically staff lady just used telekinesis or something by directing her wand and also the fire lady, gosh she’s hot, is using destructive fire magic or something, like it has weight to it which I can tell by how it slams into the ground. There’s no wand or anything though so like, maybe it’s like she has dust in her blood or something? And that’s how she can do magic??? That’d also make sense for wand lady, they got dust in their blood is my guess. Okay no I see more of this fire lady and she has glowing dress and that maybe means her clothes is a conduit for the dust magic. Yeah that makes sense. Oooo, so fire lady can deflect with her magic dust clothes too? Is she using the dust to hit the projectiles in the air before it hits or is she creating forcefields which deflect more widely??? Hmmmm. Oh my gosh red, that was adorable to ask your magic cop lady for an autograph, good for you girl, good for you. Hmmmm, so Red’s in trouble now for being a vigilante, is she even supposed to have a weapon like that like, girl looks 15, how can she have a blade gun??? So wand milf is talking about how she’s going to be sent home but then she’s implying that the punishment ain’t up to her, I wonder who’s in charge of wand milf then. Also what’s the structure for these “huntresses” Are they like, the defenders of the city and stuff? They hunt down criminals and those grim things which we haven’t seen yet, but how does the buisness work??? And what’s gonna happen to little Red? Ohhhh, we finding the big boss. Is it gonna be an even cooler milf? Tall vampire lady? Please be tall vampire lady. Damn. it’s an old guy with weird glasses, hasn’t brushed his hair from the looks of it. Also wtf is his fashion sense? Green on Green On Green on Green don’t look good hun, add a few muted colours in there somewhere, maybe a dark gray? Also, is he really wearing a stupid long baggy turtle neck with a brooch under a vest, under a long blazer??? Get it together man, let the milf do your fashion, or rwby or something, if you’re going to go for comfy, go for comfy, if you want business semi-casual, do that. But not whatever the hell you got, throw it in a fire already, I can’t stand to look at it. So Red’s name is Ruby Rose, got it. Wow she’s really going for that Red Thing, I wonder what her family is like if she got that sorta name. All I remember from this show is that ren and nora are my favorite’s, someone’s got an abusive family, there is ship discourse, lesbians, scary people and scary monsters, and the magic system’s fucked. Hmmmm, She got them gray eyes, I know that’s important but I got no idea how. YES! Thank you old man! I knew it was weird that she had a blade gun thing. Also, they be calling these schools weird, I think this is a private school thing, yeah that makes sense. YES GIRL! EAT ALL THEIR FOOD! LEAVE NOTHING BEHIND! Okay so her uncle’s one of her teachers, yeah I can feel the nepotism, so Red’s definitely not the one with the abusive family, now to find out which one it is, hmmmm. RED YOU ARE ADORABLE WITH THOSE LITTLE HAND THINGS ASJHFADLKJHS OH MY GOSH SHE’S RAMBLING, THAT’S PERFECT AHHHHHH Okay so there ARE police, damn, well I guess huntresses are cooler police but as we all know cops are pigs so hmmmm. I really really hope that there’s a corrupt system little red can destroy with her coolness but I’m already scared about how this system works.

Okay so back to the signal academy thing. Ruby has a sister who’s two years older than her, her uncle works at her current school, and she has a huge dangerous weapon on her at all times, uhhhhh, I fear the corruption a lot already, and what I’ve from what I’ve gotten so far, I’m not sure the creators are going to address the whole corruption thing for a while seeing as we haven’t met any good guys that aren’t fantasy cops so far. OKAY WHAT RUBY’S JUST RAMBLING IN FRONT OF HER FUTURE HEADMASTER SHE’S GOT SOME COURAGE. WHAT She’s actually going to Beacon two years early??? wtf >.> Red flags are already happening, this has to be about the silver eyes. Also, the framing of ozpin in the dark and ruby in the light *mwah* I can already tell that this guy has something wrong with him form that repeated framing style. The animation is moving around so much, bee sister’s thingies are just out there and her fashion blazer is wiggling, so weird. Golly, the digital art right next to the 3d modelling gives such a weird vibe. Also Roman Torchwick? Dang guy, that’s a sucky name. Rip my man’s whole vibe, he definitely got made fun of as a kid. Ahhhh, here’s the furries, so they are called “fauna” like, Just Animal??? Wow, Okay. I sense that there will be some pretty sucky metaphors made about racial inequality and stuff, ah well, I’m just here for the action and cool dust crap, oh and ren and nora, I wonder when they come in? Hmmm. “white fang” hmmm, I sense that’s a plot point, dang. “glenda goodwitch” wow they really selling to us that this is the good side huh. Still don’t like the points stuff for her cloak but it’s mostly because of how the art style makes it look.

Also have I made a comment yet about the sky ships? They are weird but cool. I like how they kinda look like sea creatures so far. Or just straight up helicopters but bigger. Both are cool.

So vomit boy is def a main character, wonder how that’ll go.

HOLY HELL THE OP IS SO GOOD! :D well, that’s all I have for y’all today, I hope tomorrow I don’t spend two hours like I did today just watch one episode but who knows? Maybe it’ll take three hours for the next episode. (I hope not, 2 hours is enough for me)

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume one #rambles of an anxious child

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theseerasures · 5 years ago

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Conspicuous Media Consumption, 2019

i mean, everyone's doing these write-ups, right? might as well hop onto the bandwagon

towards the end of last year i had one of my typical existential crises about my media consumption: am i slowly disappearing up my own ass because i no longer care about most of the pop culture people like to discuss ad nauseam? but on the other hand, isn’t it more responsible to find the niche items made by non-mainstream and marginalized creators? on the third hand, wouldn’t i be much happier if i just watched FMA Brotherhood over and over again, preferably while starting a new Mass Effect playthrough at the same time?

the answer to all these questions is probably “yes,” but i decided to try something different going into 2019. for every week of the year, i would try to get through a year’s worth of content for some kind of media, be it comics, video games, TV, etc--they didn’t all have to be recent, or even new to me, but once i was done with that week i’d be done, even if i didn’t finish the content, and i’d make a judgement based what i’d seen on whether i want to continue. mostly, i was trying to avoid what happened to me with video games in 2018, when i was hating every second of playing Uncharted but still felt obligated to finish because everyone and their houseplant liked Uncharted or listlessly doing the Master Hunter achievement in RDR2 because the main quest made me miserable.

the actual outcomes of this Project(tm) are a little more complicated than anticipated--some media i could finish in a day, while trying to play through ALL THE CONTENT OF AN MMO understandably took much longer than a week--but it all kind of evened out. in the end i did 48 weeks of this, and used December as my catch-ups month to follow up on some things i didn’t get to finish. i thought i’d give my thoughts on each of the things i consumed this year as part of this project below in a concise manner--and yes, i know the people who’ve read even one (1) thing i’ve written are probably laughing right now, particularly given how long i took in this introduction just to get to me point, but i really am going to try!! it’s all an exercise in shameless self-indulgence, basically, but hey: if any of you want to chat at length about any of this stuff below, hit me up.

(quick note: you’ll only find media that i chose for this particular project below, so things i watched socially with friends--like certain film properties slorping me back into Disney’s gelatinous monolith--are not included)

Devilman Crybaby (anime, finished 1/5/2019): honestly i should have twigged onto what the year was going to be like when the first thing i drew from the metaphorical barrel was demon tiddies and apocalyptic existentialism. i was determined to dislike it for most of the year due to fundamentally disagreeing with its main thematic thrust, but i kept THINKING about it even months after. at this point i’ve kinda mellowed out. it’s definitely not a must love, but there’s enough queer metaphor and philosophical richness in it to make it worth checking out.

Attack on Titan (manga, 3 volumes finished 1/12/2019): this is the second time i’ve tried to get into this franchise and...yeah, no. i still don’t see the appeal. the fascistic overtones juxtaposed with absolutely no one having a sense of humor wigs me out to no end.

Young Justice (TV, 2.5 seasons finished 1/31/2019): honestly, what even is there to say? they’re my kids. they’re back and grown up and making even more terrible decisions. i screamed when i saw Babs in her wheelchair.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (book, finished 2/10/2019): i tried VERY HARD to like this book, given how much i liked Brief History of Seven Killings, but it just...didn’t click for me. which honestly is fine, since i don’t think it was made for me either.

Dragon Age (3 games, finished 2/28/2019): i feel like there’s always a part of me that’s going to think of this series as “the other one,” but y’know. it’s good. it’s my second playthrough (as a mage for all three) and it’s good! i even went around killing all the dragons in Inquisition because Knight Enchanter was a blast. appreciate the higher queer content vis-a-vis Mass Effect, even though i couldn’t care less about any of the plot. Dragon Age II is the best one, do not @ me

Bitter Root (comic, 4 issues finished 3/1/2019): i love intergenerational dramas and i love stories about vampire slayers, so this was aces. my only complaint is the pacing was a little slow for a story that was going on hiatus after five issues.

Pearl (comic, 6 issues finished 3/3/2019): i know that he’s done great things and grudgingly admit that he’s probably a net positive in the industry but Brian Michael Bendis can suck my entire dick

Lazarus (comic, 5 trades finished 3/ 4/2019): i really thought this was going to clench the position for comic of the year. it’s Rucka doing Highly Relevant Dystopia! it’s a corporate Lannisters AU! it’s a highly personal story about a woman with high privilege and little agency! what more could you want

Immortal Hulk (comic, 2 trades finished 3/ 4/2019): i vibed with the horror feel, but i don’t honestly think it’s THAT exceptional. being set in 616-verse means there was still ton of baggage i didn’t know or care about, since i’ve now swung more to the DC side of things

thank u, next (album, finished 3/5/2019): didn’t Ariana Grande get canceled this year for some reason? oh well, i liked her album

When I Get Home (album, finished 3/13/2019): i vividly remember listening to this for the first time and feeling vaguely disappointed that it wasn’t more like Seat at the Table until i realized that i was covered in goosebumps. still don’t understand the magic but it is Good

The Bird King (book, finished 3/23/2019): pretty much everything you’d expect from a G. Willow Wilson book--spirituality, the female lead finding Themselves and the Answer and learning they’re the same thing, etc etc. i’m slightly resentful that her Wonder Woman was so lackluster while this was so good, but whatevs

Psychodrama (album, finished 3/29/2019): possibly my favorite album of the year? dense and emotionally raw in a way i really appreciate. Dave has a Mercury and he’s younger than me

Mass Effect (4 games, finished 4/7/2019): wow guys did you know that Mass Effect is good! it is. all of it is actually, even the Mass Effect 3 ending, another controversial finale to a big franchise that i will obstinately defend. even Andromeda, which isn’t AS good as the trilogy but still has a lot of heart. all its bugs have been exhaustively patched since launch anyway

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (TV, 4 seasons finished 5/13/2019): i’m...still kind of mad about this finale, but can’t exactly deny that this show is one of the best things to ever happen to me, or television probably. i didn’t even mind new!Greg that much! tho he was probably the nail on the coffin of me jumping onto the Nathaniel train.

Knights of the Old Republic/The Old Republic (3 games, finished 7/4/2019): did you guys know that KOTOR II was my first ever video game? i feel like that...explains a lot about me. anyway, the first game is a classic and the second is a deconstructive classic and playing either of them is basically a fun way for me to turn off my brain these days. even the MMO wasn’t as much of slog as i worried it would be. the Imperial Agent storyline had some nice surprises and i dig the general atmosphere of ruthless pragmatism and crushing loneliness.

Wanderers (book, finished 7/13/2019): Chuck Wendig is a very well-intentioned man in dire need of a strict editor. still good tho! some VERY punchy emotional bits and an ending that still leaves me with vague existential terror.

Code Geass (anime, 2 seasons finished 7/20/2019): i feel like this is on the polar opposite of the spectrum as Devilman Crybaby, because i don’t think Geass is GOOD on like, any basis, and i actually find its central moral message kind of abhorrent? but some part of my lizard brain LOVED the High Imperial Family Drama (it’s been a good year for me and Lannister types, hasn’t it? well, with the obvious exception of--never mind), so...yeah. have i discovered the true meaning of guilty pleasure

The Farewell (movie, finished 7/23/2019): how could i not a) watch this and b) love this and c) feel emotionally cold towards this at the same time because the situations depicted were so similar to mine that i ended up feeling kind of alienated

The Nickel Boys (book, finished 8/8/2019): i STILL haven’t read Underground Railroad, but here i am a book late and a dollar short to appreciate Whitehead’s new book. the man’s stylistic versatility is jaw-dropping and i appreciate the plotting in contrast to like, 90% of the litfic out there that’s just “protagonist sad in different milieu”

Durarara (anime, 2 seasons finished 8/31/2019): it’s fucking bonkers and i loved pretty much every second of it? even the second season, where i finally got the BruceNat AU i deserved??? the first anime i’ve seen where everyone was relatively soberly dressed. the answer was love and having feelings and asking your middle school best friend to hurl you like a projectile so you can chop your girlfriend’s head off with a demon katana

Lover (album, finished 9/1/2019): i feel like with all the Discourse surrounding Taylor Swift re: she’s the devil incarnate or re: she’s good, actually the fact that she makes fucking bops gets kind of lost in the conversation. i have no vested interest in her as a person but i liked Lover, even though London Boy was “what if Style but stupid”

Are You Listening (comic, finished 10/2/2019): my actual choice for best comic of the year if i were giving out awards like that. it’s coming of age! it’s grief! it’s queers! it’s trauma! it’s magical realism! it’s cats! it’s expressive gorgeous art! Tillie Walden has an Eisner and she’s younger than me

High School DxD (manga, 2 volumes finished 10/10/2019): i don’t even know how to talk about this series?? i actually kind of came around to the whole “main character is a perv but goes hard for consent” by the end of the second volume, but it’s still...bad. i only can have lingering conflicted feelings about one Japanese adaptation of Christian mythology per year

Ghosteen (album, finished 10/18/2019): much like Immortal Hulk i thought it was fine but over-hyped. it’s Nick Cave doing his Nick Cave ethereal music thing. i still can’t tell what any of the lyrics mean, except Jesus is there sometimes

Watchmen (TV, 2 episodes finished 10/29/2019): i am nOT FUCKING CAUGHT UP so please watch out for spoilers. it is on my high priority list of things to be caught up on tho--i appreciate that the plot is blatantly unsubtle but still manages to give me aneurysms and i appreciate the political overtones just kinda...balances on a razor thin wire and also gives me aneurysms. i wanna say i have no expectations and would be fine if it does a full dive into the horrible bland depths of the both-sides porridge, but i’m sadly a fool who wants to believe in Damon Lindelof

Syllabus/Making Comics (2 comics, finished 12/24/2019): it’s funny--even before Making Comics came out i was like “man i miss Lynda Barry” and then BAM. it’s incredible how her work just makes me feel taken care of, even when we’re wrestling with tough topics or she’s demanding that i draw a Batman in 30 seconds. kudos for immediately shooting to the top of my gift list for my sister also

Allegiance/Choices of One (2 books, finished 12/24/2019): fun and largely inoffensive, but i was honestly hoping for more. the level of Empire apologia going on was too much for me, someone who thinks Mara Jade is the best Star Wars character of all time (still?????? still). it reeked a little of Zahn believing his own hype as the only valid guy in Star Wars Legends of whatever

Aldnoah.Zero (anime, 1 season finished 12/24/2019): turns out i also can only have “trash but my trash” feelings about one Japanese mecha show with higher art pretensions and patriotism verging into jingoism per year, and this one ain’t it. it’s not as good as Code Geass and Code Geass ISN’T GOOD. at least Geass attempted character complexity and moved at enough of a breakneck pace to distract me from its questionable bits. Aldnoah is just...bland, and nothing gets accomplished or revealed in 12 episodes, except the baffling and contradictory motivations of the main bad guy.

Baldur’s Gate (game, unfinished): yet again something i really wanted to like, given *gestures at all the BioWare above*. i think it’s mainly the Seinfeld issue, where it actually predates my own experience with video games and was so formative for the Western RPG genre that what was innovative just comes across as kind of staid now. i didn’t DISLIKE it, and will probably play the sequel since it’s supposed to be more character-driven, but by the time i finished the vanilla campaign i just didn’t have it in me to squint at more tiny avatars on the screen, so the expansions ended up a no-go.

most prominent thing i noticed about this list is that only one 2019 movie made it on the list and ZERO 2019 video games did so. the former i’m okay with because i currently live with two film people with whom i’m happy to tag along to the cinema. the latter bums me out a little more, because there WERE a few things i wanted to play this year, but all of them came out just as my semester was reaching its catastrophic boil, so i had no time. maybe i’ll use my free time after the New Year festivities to catch up on those.

to conclude: this worked out pretty well! i ended up finishing all but one of the things, and only a few were bad enough that i have no interest in seeking out more content. i’ll probably do this again in 2020--we’ll see if the scheduling can withstand a full year of grad school hell

#let's break out a new tag for this since this isn't really meta #conspicuous media consumption

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ingayderzim · 5 years ago

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not to be that person who asks a googleable question but wtf is hazbin hotel bc i googled it and the only “critical” thing i could find was a typo-ridden article of someone saying it has good animation and its haters are stupid. i was able to glean what it is/what it’s about but idk about the discourse lmao

Im actually so glad u asked this. Here's the lowdown, this is my definitive answer to hazbin shit from here on out, unless new info comes about of course.

Hazbin hotel is an independent cartoon by vivziepop. Most people (that ive seen) have agreed that the pilot of the show really isnt that great but the reason it has so many fans is bc of the entertaining livestreams, massive amounts of canon content produced (she has had these characters for years), unique art style, and the characters. (Ass ugly but unique.)

Its haters are totally justified bc of some of the "controversial" (read: bad) things vivziepop has done. Here's the conclusion that my friends and classmates (several of whom are Black, one Hispanic woman, and one trans woman...nellie if ur reading this i 💜 u) and i came to after discussing this stuff. I am NOT saying "well my black/trans friend said it's ok so i dont have to think about it!" this is based on a few different conversations that my friends and i have had about this topic so what im saying is that my opinion was formed by talking about this situation with multiple people affected by the controversy.

One controversial thing is a drawing u can easily find on google (called beastiality.jpg i believe?) It's a cropped (chest and up, but hes obv naked) drawing of vivziepops character, drawn by vivziepop, moaning, with a snake around him. The character is 17. Many people have interpreted this as child porn. I dont think this image is pornographic, i think it's a stupid joke (it was even tagged as a joke iirc) and completely inappropriate but since it's 8 years old on top of not being porn, i think it's just an example of a dumb drawing. That being said, i would NEVER argue that someone who is uncomfortable w the drawing (im uncomfortable with it! It's gross just not porn) or considers it porn is wrong. They are entitled to that opinion and i would never expose them to vivziepops work or talk about her stuff around them if they expressed to me that they disliked the image.

Another thing is that she drew a doodle of two racist TERFs. This is the one where my friends of color, my friends who are black, and my friends who are trans women took the lead. I sat back for this part and here's their and my opinion on this after talking about it and verbally going through this whole situation.

She was following these women (who had done blackface and stuff) and drew art of them. The art was a "quick doodle" that she did apologize for and she said she didn't realize the extent of their beliefs. She knew they werent great but hadnt consumed much of their content in depth. I believe her bc while ive never followed anyone as bad, ive certainly followed some pieces of shit and didnt notice for months simply bc im not online all the time and bc of the volume of people i follow, combined with the non chronological algorithms lately.

At the risk of screwing myself, im going to admit that there was about a year or so of my life where i enjoyed The Amazing Atheist. I was even subbed to him. I was a nonbinary lesbian (2 things he cant stand lmaoo) in catholic school and therefore i strictly watched his videos about theological stuff since thats what was frustrating me at the time. I had no clue the type of evil racist, transphobic, homophobic (yes ik hes bi), misogynistic things he thought, said, and did, bc i didnt watch those videos. I literally only watched select theological ones that could be of use to me while edgily debating my teachers (sorry mrs macdougal but u had it coming). I was about 15 at the time and im 19 now. Im sorry to everyone i hurt by ever having supported him. I had one of his quotes written in the inside of my religion notebook in high school. I regretted it and ripped the page out the moment i discovered the truth about him. I cant stress enough how much I HATE HIM. Thats an example of what i think happened here tho.

One of my friends who is a trans woman said (paraphrasing) "i think the worst thing shes done is that terf art but i believe the apology especially bc it was a quick drawing."

That being said, i would NEVER argue with someone who wanted nothing to do w vivziepop bc of this. That's their right. 100%. I would never expose them to her work after that.

The last thing i remember is something about a pedophilic couple in a comic but i heard it was a 17 year old and a 19 year old. Im 19 and if one of my peers did that i wouldnt say pedophile but id say ur a fucking weirdo, BUT, the kids were fake and being written by an adult so i can totally see her thinking that age gap is much less of a big deal than it really is. Like she forgot what it's like at this age. Idk how true any of that part is tho, i heard that info entirely secondhand.

Another thing to do with racism is that there's a joke within the show where one character says to the other

"don't get your taco in a twist"

"Was that supposed to be racist or sexist?"

"Whichever one pisses you off more"

I thought that was gross but one of my friends pointed out that vivziepop is of el salvadorian descent so that's her business. Like if i made a lesbian joke of equal or greater offensiveness than that and someone tried to call me lesbophobic over it id be like "that's literally my territory."

Oh speaking of which that character's name is vaggie and shes a lesbian but it's not pronounced w the same G you'd hear in "vagina." Vivziepop seems to name characters weirdly (like how in helluva boss theres a guy named blitzo and the o is silent) so maybe it's a pussy joke but i have no idea.

The animation was.................better than i could do, i wanna say the faces and gestures were good but god i remember there was a part with a car and my gf had to pause so i could laugh my ass off at it. I wouldn't describe the animation as a highlight but i liked the style in motion i thought it was a fun change. Vivziepops style is not appealing imo but i appreciate it as an art student and as someone whose friends all like she ra and steven universe where every character looks the goddamn motherfucking same, and while its chaotic and i dont care for it, the style actually works way better in motion than you'd think.

A good rule that i def use is to assume hazbin fans are guilty until proven innocent. If someone says they dont care about the discourse surrounding it and like it no matter what, RUN! They would support the show even if the creator was in fact a pedophile, or had done the blackface/was a terf herself! They probably support some horrible ppl and are probably "anti antis." A lot of them are minors tho so i'd say block and move on.

So, do i like it or not? Im an art student and all my friends like it so while i didnt think it was funny, i do fuck with it. At the convention this weekend my friends and i had a convo that led to me drawing an ahego hoodie where the faces were angel dust (a character's) face. It was a joke that i could make a killing by selling that in a booth at a con.

Theres really nothing compelling about the show but my friends like it so i join in on their conversations, and i do have a soft spot for angel dust bc he's like a worse, less amazing and gorgeous version of one of my characters, Candy, the love of my life.

A lot of people say the show was edgy/offensive and maybe im just desensitized but besides the taco thing i didnt pick up on that whatsoever??? The Archer episode "Swiss Miss" is worse than helluva boss and hazbin combined and even archer isn't offensive.

Im probably not aware of all the "discourse" (aka people being reasonably uncomfortable by weird and bad shit this random woman has done, and other ppl saying their opinions are wrong when it's literally just an opinion about a show) so if anything she's done isnt included in here it's not to defend vivziepop, this is genuinely all i know. I wouldnt describe myself as a fan of hers.

#hazbin hotel #anon

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tumblunni · 6 years ago

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Man, god, im just suddenly thinking about "ak/ur/oku" and like.. How the fuck did that even become such a huge thing in early 2000s fandom? Dear god so much early gay shipping in fandom was super unhealthy "sinful" bullshit made by straight people for fetishy purposes rather than genuine representation. But a/kurok/u was such a weird one because it was like.. Just globally accepted and never aknowledged to be problematic?? Man i still remember how lil 13 year old me didnt know there was anything wrong with it, like seriously when stuff like this becomes popularized it ends up sending bad messages to actual queer youth. Learning about your sexuality via the internet cos there's no sex ed irl for you, abd you end up stumbling into toxic fandoms before you have the critical thinking skills necessary to know that this stuff is bad and shouldnt be imitated. Like seriously one of the things i worry about EVERY NIGHT AT 2AM THAT KEEPS ME FROM SLEEPING is that stupid lil 15 year old me made a post on deviantart going like "are pedophiles really all bad? I mean it sounds like an illness. I mean maybe theyre just scared and they want help." Like im terrified constantly that someone will find that old thing and judge me as if i still believe that apologist crap, or as if it was actually an opinion i formed from a fully developed mind, rather than from a kid who (as far as i knew) had never met a pedophile, thinking about pedophiles in the abstract, while being influenced by fuckin pedophile-dominated fandoms and having NO IDEA. and of cooooourse i wanted to believe that i was mature for my age, i thought that was a compliment.. Uuuuugh...

Sorry, going a little offtopic there.

But anyway isnt it kinda weird how akur/oku was just.. Not even regarded as pedophilia? And when i was a kid it wasnt just me not understanding the gross parts of the fandom, i legit never thought axel was that much older than roxas. And it was one of the more popular gay ships cos at that point as far as we knew it was the only person axel had any sort of backstory with, and he cared so much about this guy that he was willing to sacrifice his life to help sora even when he knew roxas would never come back. At the time without further context it seemed like a reasonable assumption to make? And it wasnt until Days that i realized axel was intended to be an adult rather than a teenager, and even worse A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO MADE THAT SHIPPING ART KNEW THAT. Uuugh it was so gross in retrospect to go back and see all the clues i missed that these people were fetishizing roxas's inexperience and veey much writing him as underage. AAAAAAA!

Anyway im glad that shit is now recognized as shit and now we have canon evidence of this dude being old as balls. And honestly i love the relationship of him as a big brother/dad to roxas and xion a lot more, even though as a kid i was desperate for any kind of queer representation in kh. Like.. I never really actually liked the ship that much or felt any chemistry? I just latched onto a few bad writing flubs that could potentially be interpreted as Gay Evidence because i was SO damn desperate! Like i felt like i had to support all these gross abusive ships in fandom cos if i wasnt then i was being 'homophobic', i mean they were THE ONLY AVAILABLE OPTIONS, right? :( Its only now ive grown up i can see how wrong that was, and how people just used it as an excuse to make gross shit and get away with it. Like how in Black Butler all these 'yaoi fangirls' kept erasing the rarest of rare things, a canon trans woman, because 'its sexier if its gay'. Ughhhh. And seriously that discourse still exists for poor Grell, and there's still a lot of these shitty bigoted people pretending to be allies, but like seriously this was EVERYWHERE in 2005! And lgbt rights and even lgbt communities at all were way smaller and less available to the poor teenagers who really needed that positive influence while they were figuring out who they are. So man the abusive side of yaoi fandom was WAY more powerful, and wya more.mainstream, with barely any criticism. And the whole content of this fandom was creepy fuckin adults making pedo porn, and kids who just discovered they were queer and tried to headcanon their favourote characters as being like them. Fucking predator heaven! So yeh that ruined KH for me and definately made me scared of returning to Black Butler for almost a decade. And then i found out that the manga itself has none of that pedo shit and that one of the fandom's biggest abusive gay man archetypes was actually a trans woman this entire time, and just gahhhhh....

Also like seriously this is a tad offtopic but can we kill the anime trope of either everyone looking young or everyone looking old? Or creepy things where just one character looks the wrong age in order to fetishize pedophilia? I dont think kingdom hearts was one of those intentional ones, like i mean there's super bad shit where its like 'this 5 year old looking person is really 9000 years old/actually 18 and just hasnt had their growth spurt yet' (somehow its even more insulting when theres not even a magical excuse) Or the other way around and we have a character thats canonically underage but drawn looking sexually mature with big ol knockers so its somehow okay. The existence of those horrible things is why i end up feeling uncomfortable even seeing ambiguous ages as just a trope in completely innocent anime, yknow? Like in pokemon and digimon all the 10 year old protagonists are exactly the same height as all the adults, and all the female love interests for ash have to be early bloomers in terms of chest and hips, while notably Iris is the only one who actually looks her age and also the first non love interest. Its another reason why i prefer the new art style for the latest season, they make everyone look like kids and Lillie continues to look like a kid even though she's the main girl and has all the cute scenes with Ash. The girls even got very normal looking kiddy swimsuits in the beach episode! Why is that so uncommon, to find the bare minimum thing of underage kids not being sexualized at the beach??

Soooooo yeah, thats at least part of why kid me thought axel and roxas were within a similar age range. Like i thought roxas was maybe 16 and axel was 18?? Somehow?? I dont even know, kingdom hearts isnt even SUPER bad with the 'kids look like older teens,all adults look like age 20 at the most' anime syndrome. Its probably more because id been raised on games and anime that followed that trope, before i played kh. And as a kid you just dont really know the exact differences between 'old', like i mean i knew teenagers were tall and boys get a growth spurt, so somehow it made sense to me that axel could be the same age as roxas?? And man even if i knew he wasnt, i was barely educated at all about pedophilia and i didnt know the nuances of it. I just knew 'its bad for adults to marry kids' like man i was really behind the curve in general learning due to my undiagnosed autism and abusive parenting so like HERE'S 12 YEAR OLD ME NOT EVEN THINKING ABOUT THE SEX ASPECT. And i didnt know that adults in relationships with teenagers was bad too, or like 16/17 year old teens dating kids... I was so fuckin dumb... I really cant believe that not only did i believe stupid adults saying 'pedophilia isnt bad if you're non offending, its okay to make cartoon child porn as long as you dont physically abuse real kids' but also i somehow just DID NOT EVER REALIZE that axel was an adult and roxas wasnt even a goddamn older teen...

So yeh im making a lot of excuses for why my stupid younger self was blindly parroting bullshit, but im not trying to excuse how goddamn wrong and bad it was. I still wake up ashamed in the middle of the night for crapoy decisions i made as a dumb kid, and in terrified that some shreds of it might still exist out there on the internet and maybe someone else could read it?! Gahhhh! Seriously could i have accidentally helped spread that bullshit brainwashing to other kids? And seriously when people say this shit is harmless they just need to look at this, look at how being into problematic yaoi is such a common 'phase' for ACTUAL CHILDREN. Like its not fuckin NATURAL for kids to fall into this stuff, they do it because they dont know any better but the people making the goddamn founding blocks of the fandom are fuckin grown women fetishizing gay men or grown men fetishing lesbians. There's people who do know better who actually conciously decide that a/kurok/u is a good ship while knowing all the goddamn details of what it actually is and exactly what theyre supporting by shipping it. Ughhhhh!

So yeh fuckin Please Stay Safe In Fandom, Kids

And pedophiles have absolutely none of my sympathy, please ignore that goddamn shit i wrote as a little kid being fuckin groomed by a fandom without even knowing it.

This also applies a lot to the rest of LGBT+ aside from just gay shipping, like seriously it took me til age 18 to find any positive representation of trans people or even a proper explanation of what being trans is, yet before i was even 8 years old i'd seen a million 'lol gross man in a dress who gets sexual gratification from wearing women's underwear' jokes in kids shows. And when i was 12 i'd already been exposed to the fuckin hell of m/pre/g thanks to its prevelance of untagged n/sf/w shit in the kh fandom. And by age 15 i'd been exposed to pedophile apologists arguing whether child porn was okay if they only got off to that and didnt personally abuse that kid with their own hands. All of that shit but actually learning about homosexuality and gender in sex ed would have been 'too much' for someone my age...

God what a fuckin mess. Fuck im really really fuckin worried that any of my ignorant comments at those ages could have been read by other ignorant kids and contributed to that disgusting fandom atmosphere. Fuck i think about this so damn often im so damn ashamed of how ignorant i used to be yet i know the adult fuckfaces making pedo shit never reel one lick of shame any damn day of their life. I used to excuse their shit as an actual kid cos i just ASSUMED they would be ashamed and want to seek help! Gahhhh..

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ixnova · 8 years ago

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Discourse already on Villainous needs to stop.

all these people shitting on villainous for stupid reasons like

“the people working on it are problematic!!”

“The desgins look like deviantart ocs”

Rant under cut.

1. The creator is apparently not problematic at all, they have 1 story board artists who apparently was a “pedophile” but need I remind you aged up characters and not taking interest in actual child porn and being able to tell between reality and fiction is NOT pedophilia.

Plus this person also issued a formal apology and its trying to change, cause really back then they just used to make really offensive jokes if anything?? Give them a break people can fucking change, the world won’t get better if you don’t forgive and forget.

2. Y’all edgy fucks really gonna complain that Markiplier is in the show? The man’s trying to presume acting over gaming if the various shorts he releases on his channel is anything to go by, and honestly, hes a really nice dude? What the fuck is there not to like about Markiplier other than you people just can’t have nice things? This is awesome.

3. FLASHY OR STYLIZED CHARACTER DESIGNS ARE NOT A BAD THING. IT’S A FUCKING CARTOON, THE DEVIANTART OC STYLE FITS. FUCKING DEAL WITH IT YOU SHITBAGS.

Personally the art style and character design is right up my alley, consider the fact some people like these kinds of desgins? also just because you don’t like the art style doesn’t mean its a bad show. Steven universe has gone down the shitter lately with character desgin and art, but the storyline is still pretty fucking good and y’all wont complain about that show?

Need I remind you Villainous is being produced by the same company that produces SU.

4. You gotta give them fucking credit, they did really good with the humor and even the desgins tbh, “Well, Black Hat is edgy and cool and some people will find him hot and fawn over him.. OH I KNOW LET’S CANONLY MAKE A FUCKING FAN GIRL FOR HIM, BEAT THE FUCKERS TO IT, FUCK YOUR MARY SUE, OUR MARY SUE IS CANON.”

LIKE THAT’S FUCKING HALRIOUS IMO?

And on top of that if we had more than shorts, Dementica will probably actually develop a character and personality?

5. “The fandom is so cringey-”

What fandom isn’t cringey?

6. “The animation is terrible I can’t watch this-”

I honestly don’t know how the animation is terrible? Can you do better, can you? Apparently this shit is done in traditional animation (unsure if its paper or the traditional digital, but im gonna assume digital traditional.) so this show looks fucking great actually? It’s smooth, its curvy, and the characters aren’t stiff looking like new cartoons that use that 2D rigging thing and reuse assets to animate. I had to use that shit in animation class and I fucking hated it cause it was so stiff, I prefer traditional frame by frame animation.

7. The shipping oh god the shipping already. THERE’S ONLY 3 CHARACTERS TO SHIP WITH, you could consider Black Hat and Dementica canon I guess the same way Sonic and Amy is “canon” in the Sonic series, and then there’s the only gay ship with Dr. Flug and BH.

Let people ship what they want, don’t start shipping wars people jesus.

“But Black hat is abusive!”

He’s a cartoon villian, he’s going to be abusive to some extent to show he’s evil, and its done for comedic effect, if you’re going to complain about “shipping abusive relationships-” it doesn’t work here because of the nature of a cartoon. He’s not actually meant to be abusive even though it comes off as that because of the style of how cartoons operate and how the classic villian/mean guy operates, He’s meant to be scary, in charge, “don’t over step your bounds” and intimidating. like “do what I say or else-” because he’s a fucking villian.

He’s not actually hardcore an abuser because of cartoon logic, deal with it. IF you try to make cartoons realistic, well then have fun with all the terrible shit in other cartoons.

Also, I bet your ass if they make this a full show they will have the classic episode where his “friends” get in trouble and he saves them/is protective over them against a greater force, and although he wont admit it you can just tell he’s gonna be that cheesy character that actually cares for his friends and misses them when they are not around, no matter how many times he says he hates them.

8. DON’T BYCOTT THIS SHOW BECAUSE OF STUPID SHIT LIKE “PROBLEMATIC PEOPLE” WORKING ON IT OR “BAD CHARACTER DESGINS” AND DON’T YOU DARE TELL OTHER PEOPLE NOT TO WATCH IT JUST BECAUSE YOU DON’T LIKE IT, BECAUSE THIS IS ALSO ONE OF THE FIRST FULLY MEXICAN ANIMATED SHOWS CN IS ENDOURCING, AND YOU’RE REALLY GONNA FUCKING LET PETTY SHIT LIKE THAT RUIN THIS SHOWS CHANCE TO GIVE MEXICAN ANIMATION A GOOD NAME? YOU’RE REALLY GONNA CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR ON OTHER ANIMATORS AND BEING STUCK WITH THE CLASSIC WHITE WASHING TM IN SHIT, BECAUSE OF THESE PETTY LITTLE THINGS?

WOW.

rant over.

#villainous

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mitsuhasnolifebutwatchesanime · 7 years ago

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Anime Styles- Why unique styles, new and old, can make for a better overall anime experience.

Hello, I’m back from the dead with a rant. Recently, there have been a lot of posts floating around Tumblr about anime styles and why “old anime/new anime is garbage because of these stylistic choices” which usually have something to do with the obsession with nostalgia, or the abhorrence to the old, or even… *sigh* the push of the anime industry appealing to pedophilic otaku. It’s complicated and watching these posts float around and continue to gain more interesting discourse and additions to it had definitely made me want to share my views. Oh, not on that argument-- just on style. I have eclectic tastes in anime, and I’ve been watching anime for a long time. In my free time, I even go back to watch shows as old as 30, or as young as five years old, because first and foremost I am interested in the story presented. Once you layer upon that character designs, a cool soundtrack, and yes, good animation, the show becomes deeper and more interesting.

I don’t limit myself to one single style or genre, because without that I’m unable to see the historical and cultural effects all anime has on the industry and what’s coming out that’s new. When I first watched anime, it was 90s anime: Sailor Moon, DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, Pokemon, and Card Captors were a few. Stylistically, those are COMPLETELY different anime, but aesthetically, they all fall into the same vein of what’s now just “90s anime” with their more matte tones, cell shading, and exaggerated shonen/shoujo styles. Instead of just going by genre nowadays, there are many overlapping styles in several different types of genre anime. For instance, you may have an anime that bleeds stylistically into several genres, while it may not resemble many other anime in that same genre.

What’s wrong with these posts coming out is that they’re cherry-picking terrible examples. They’re choosing THE BEST (not really) of 80s/90s nostalgia anime, and then the most generic of generic modern anime, or vice versa. The moral of the story is style is a fluid thing, that may have a major influence on any particular era of animation, but every era has their good and bad examples, and cherry-picking is *stupid*.

What I want to tell you is that if you start looking, you will find cool anime with styles that entirely subvert the genres you’re most used to seeing. Shows with styles that you might be surprised to see, or maybe even turned off by, but you should totally watch, are shows like Katanagatari, The Eccentric Family, Tatami Galaxy, Dennou Coil, Flip Flappers, Gatchaman Crowds, Kyousougiga, and Little Witch Academia. These shows are good, not only because they’re well written, epic at times, and even because they might be a little weird. It’s because their styles and breaks from convention are much needed, refreshing perspectives on visual story telling.

I love these shows because they look so damn good. Simplistic art styles and character designs allow for more crazy and nice looking animation. Even stuff like giving different faces and body types to the characters allow them to be expressive and emote more. The shows I picked out earlier all have cool stuff. They have cool character designs that vary, sometimes to the extremes, interesting experimental animation styles, and varied and beautiful settings where the characters aren’t just superimposed into a boring background they don’t quite fit into.

The is done more elegantly in shows like Shingeki no Bahamut, Fullmetal Alchemist, and My Hero Academia, where the variety in body type, exaggerated emotions, and a variety of palettes and settings allow for more variety. Even just a variety in character designs, like what we see in MHA, make for a wider audience appeal than Moe McBigTit Sameface who has existed in anime FOR DECADES MY GUYS. MHA’s variety in designs make for more body types, more color palettes, more expressions. I was so glad to watch the first ED for season two where the main girls of class A are all side by side and they all look so different in height the way their eyes and mouths are set, not to mention THEIR FACE SHAPES ARE ALL DIFFERENT. Stylistic choices like character design, even down to making a very stylized silhouette can make for a unique anime. Anime like the Eccentric Family and Tatami Galaxy (both by the same author, but by different animation studios) just showcase the character designs in their opening themes because they’re so damn good. They draw in the viewer, who in turn, is excited to see these static, but interesting, designs animated.Sometimes I feel like some animation companies take some of their designs too far, and too anime, if that makes any sense, by pushing the envelope on “here’s a special boy” haircuts, and obnoxiously colored and cut clothing, but some show use exaggeration to their benefit, like Shiki and especially JoJo’s.

Nothing pisses me off more than a cool, aesthetically pleasing anime, with an interesting premise getting thrown into a boring and plain looking school setting, the biggest offenders being Owari no Seraph and Makai Ouji. Also, nothing makes me want to rip my hair out like taking COOL looking character designs and neat world building and dumping ugly on it, like how Rokka no Yuusha tossed its Inca inspired setting into FUCKING FOG FOR 10 EPISODES. One of the cardinal sins that I try to avoid nowadays is the high school anime. Occasionally a show like Orange or Tanaka-kun is Always Listless will catch my interest, because they do something interesting with that boring setting. The anime needs to be set in a high school if it is relevant to the plot. You can have characters of high school age, like in Natsume’s Book of Friends, or Yu Yu Hakusho, but the story isn’t set in high school. Shows like Myriad Colors Phantom World, or your typical Run of the Mill™ high school anime, find themselves trapped in a land of boring settings and endless tropes, whereas anime like My Hero Academia and LWA not only use that school setting as a theme, but they make it into something interesting and new.

Smear frames are also becoming more common in anime, as they were originally in traditional western animation. Smear frames make for smoother, more fluid looking animation, and really fun expressions, like we see in Little Witch Academia and Mob Psycho 100. This is also thanks to simplistic character designs. You don’t have to worry about a character being a block of on-model pretty boys with lips flapping, or worry about making them ugly when they start doing action sequences. Simplistic character designs lend themselves to better animation, and more interesting characters.

I think I’d like to showcase Kyousougiga especially for its interesting style choices. Every character looks wildly different, even the background characters. Each scenery set both feels bizarre and otherworldly, yet lived in and nostalgic. On top of all of that, this anime does a disgustingly beautiful job of balancing its animation, story, style, and tone. You’d actually be doing yourself a disservice by not watching this anime at least once, just don’t watch episode 0. It has nothing to do with the anime and will only confuse you.

No matter what anime comes out, or if you’re more into new or old stuff, there’s always something that is stylistically challenging the norm. There’s always a show out there that’s overlooked because it’s style isn’t “pretty” enough or it looks too out there. Always take a chance on anime that isn’t quite your aesthetic if you want to find truly interesting shows.

#katanagatari #eccentric family #tatami galaxy #denou coil #flip flappers #gatchaman crowds #kyousougiga #little witch academia #anime #anime styles

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supremefracture · 7 years ago

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#ugh i totally lost steam for this and i completed like a third of the questions #god who does this for fun #oc

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meringuebones · 7 years ago

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011.

1: How tall or short do you wish you were? I’m fine with my height. 2: What’s your dream pet (real or not)? A mabari or a nug from Dragon Age.

3: Do you have a favorite clothing style? Ninja-goth and street-goth are cool to look at. If I had a ton of money, that would be how I dress. But I don’t, so... I just wear plain black clothes. 4: What was your favorite video game growing up? Final Fantasy IX, Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, Crash Bandicoot trilogy, and Spyro the Dragon series. 5: What three things/people do you think of most each day: My husband, money, work. 6: If you had a warning label, what would yours say? That I’ll sacrifice them to the almighty Dark Lord if they cross me. I don’t know. Whatever. 7: What is your Greek personality type (Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, or Melancholic)? Choleric. 8: Are you ticklish? Very much so. 9: Are you allergic to anything? Not that I can think of. I used to be allergic to bananas. 10: What’s your sexuality? Hetero. 11: Do you prefer tea, coffee, or cocoa? Tea. 12: Are you a cat or dog person? I like both, but I’d go with dogs. 13: Would you rather be a vampire, elf, or merperson? Elf, like a dark elf from the Elder Scrolls series. 14: Do you have a favorite Youtuber? No, I don’t watch any specific YouTubers. 15: How tall are you? 5′2″. 16: If you had to change your name, what would you change it to? I’m fine with my name. 17: How much do you weigh? Like 135 lbs. 18: Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Yeah, definitely. 19: Do you like space or the ocean more? The ocean. 20: Are you religious? Not really. I consider myself Agnostic. 21: Pet peeves? People who don’t use their blinkers while driving, people who are rude to cashiers, people who steal art/writing/whatever and claim it as theirs, when the weather says it’s going to rain and then it doesn’t, silverware scraping dishes, interrupting me when I’m talking, and many other things. 22: Would you rather be nocturnal or diurnal (opposite of nocturnal)? Diurnal. I like sleeping when it’s dark outside. 23: Favorite constellation? Osiris. 24: Favorite star? Altair, just because of the name. I don’t care for the star itself. 25: Do you like ball-jointed dolls? Uh... sure. They’re kind of neat, I guess. 26: Any phobias or fears? Roaches, the dark, the paranormal, mirrors and windows in the dark, someone I love dying tragically. 27: Do you think global warming is real? Definitely. 28: Do you believe in reincarnation? It’s interesting, but I’m not sure if I believe it or not. 29: Favorite movie? I can’t name just one. It’s way easier if I were to be asked, like... what my favorite comedy, horror, animated, etc. movie is. 30: Do you get scared easily? Yes! Not as much I used to get, but I still manage to get easily scared by little things. I torture myself by reading scary stories when I’m home alone. 31: How many pets have you own in your lifetime? Eight were officially ours—two fish, two rabbits, a guinea pig, a dog, and two cats. One cat is still alive and with my parents. Then there’s, like, a million feral cats around that neighborhood that love being around their house. 32: What is a color that calms you? Gray. 33: Where would you like to travel and/or live? I think I’m fine with where I live for now, but I’d like to travel to Iceland, Bolivia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, France, Romania, Ukraine, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. 34: Where were you born? Rome, Italy. 35: What is your eye color? Brown. 36: Introvert or extrovert? Introvert. 37: Do you believe in horoscopes and zodiacs? Not at all, but I do like reading the lists people come up with, like the zodiac signs as types of Pokémon or Greek gods or whatever. 38: Hugs or kisses? Hugs. 39: Who is someone you would like to see/visit right now? No one in mind. 40: Who is someone you love deeply? My husband. 41: Any piercings you want? Nah, I’m good. 42: Do you like tattoos and piercings? I do, but not on me. 43: Do you smoke or have you eiver done so? I have smoked, but I don’t regularly smoke. 44: Talk about your crush, if you have one! Uh... I’ll talk about a celebrity crush. He’s an annoying, bald Swedish dude who’s an exceptionally talented guitarist and music producer. Extra emphasis on the word ‘annoying.’ 45: What is a sound you really hate? Silverware scraping dishes, the vacuum, the blender, really heavy footsteps, the sound of vomiting, pots and pans clanking together. 46: A sound you really love? Rain, thunder, ocean waves, fire crackling, strong wind. 47: Can you do a backflip? Maybe. If I want a trip to the hospital right after, sure. 48: Can you do the splits? I can do a front split, but not a side split. 49: Favorite actor and/or actress? I don’t really have any. I mean, I have some I like and find attractive, but I don’t pay too much attention to them. 50: Favorite book? ”Death: A Life” by George Pendle. 51: How are you feeling right now? Tired. I also still feel blah from that ramen I ate earlier. 52: What color would you like your hair to be right now? I’m fine with its natural color. 53: When did you feel happiest? Mm, probably when I got married this past Monday. 54: Something that calms you down? Usually laying down is enough for me. 55: Have any mental disorders? General anxiety and ADHD. 56: What does your URL mean? Bones made out of meringue. 57: What three words describe you the most? Mischievous, tired, creative. 58: Do you believe in evolution? Yes. 59: What makes you unfollow a blog? They haven’t updated in forever, they start reblogging too much fandom discourse, or they say some stupid offensive bullshit (e.g. racism, classism, homophobia, etc.). 60: What makes you follow a blog? They mostly post what I like seeing on my dash. 61: Favorite kind of person: ... Someone nice. Which I figure is what most people would say is their favorite kind of person. 62: Favorite animal(s): Rabbits, hares, bears, bats. 63: Name three of your favorite blogs. Let’s not. 64: Favorite emoticon: The ghost or pile of poop. 65: Favorite meme: Any Kermit or DW reaction image. 66: What is your MBTI personality type? INFJ. 67: What is your star sign? Cancer. 68: Can your dog roll over on command, if you have a dog? My dog’s dead and she never obeyed commands. She was way too hyper. 69: What outfit out of all your clothes do you like to wear the most? Plain black zip-up hoodie, random t-shirt tucked into a black tennis skirt, black thigh-high stockings, a pair of black/white low-top Vans. 70: Post a selfie or two? No. 71: Do you have platform shoes? I have a couple pairs of wedges, if that counts. 72: What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? I can walk backwards like Regan from The Exorcist. Now... can I do it on stairs? Probably not without breaking my neck. 73: Can you do a front flip? I can on a trampoline. 74: Do you like birds? Sure, they’re alright. I think puffins are super cute. 75: Do you like to swim? I do. 76: Is swimming or ice skating more fun to you? I’ve never gone ice skating, but I feel like I’d still answer with swimming. 77: Something you wish didn’t exist: Donald Trump. 78: Some thing you wish did exist: Fifty large sacks of money right in front of me. 79: Piercings you have? None. 80: Something you really enjoy doing: Sleeping and daydreaming. 81: Favorite person to talk to: My husband. 82: What was your first impression of Tumblr? I don’t remember. That was back in like 2010. Obviously I must have liked it enough if I’m still here. 83: How many followers do you have? Negative five. 84: Can you run a mile within ten minutes? I’m not sure. I could back in high school when we ran timed miles, but I weigh a bit more, so... Hm. Maybe not. 85: Do your socks always match? When I actually bother to wear them, yes. I hate mismatched socks. 86: Can you touch your toes and keep your legs straight completely? Ah, something I can do! Yes. 87: What are your birthstones? Ruby. I’m not sure if I have more than one... 88: If you were an animal, which one would you be? A shark, possibly. Or a hare. 89: If a flower could aesthetically represent you, what kind would it be? Black velvet petunia. 90: A store you hate? I don’t care enough. 91: How many cups of coffee can you drink in one day? Like two. Not much. I prefer tea. 92: Would you rather be able to fly or read minds? Fly. Reading minds would be shit with my anxiety. 93: Do you like to wear camo? Not really. 94: Winter or summer? Winter. 95: How long can you hold your breath for? I was bored and timed it right now. A minute and nine seconds. 96: Least favorite person? Any evil dictator. 97: Someone you look up to: My parents. [/cue ‘aww.’] 98: A store you love? Barnes and Noble. I can feel as if my wallet is mad at me every time I shop there. 99: Favorite type of shoes Vans. 100: Where do you live? The U.S. 101: Are you a vegetarian or vegan? If so, why? No, because I don’t want to be. 102: What is your favorite mineral or gem? Sapphires, rubies, azurite. 103: Do you drink milk? Sometimes. 104: Do you like bugs? Not really. 105: Do you like spiders? I like some... like the plush black spider on my bed. 106: Something you get paranoid about? The paranormal. 107: Can you draw?: I can. I even went to school and made a career out of it. 108: Nosiest question you have ever been asked? Anything very sexual, like related to kinks, fetishes, or whatever. 109: A question you hate being asked? I hate when I’m tired and someone asks if I’m okay, and then when I say that I am they say some stupid shit like, “Are you sure? You don’t look okay.” 110: Ever been bitten by a spider? YES. I still have a big scar behind my knee from being bit by one a long time ago. 111: Do you like the sound of waves at the beach? I do. 112: Do you prefer cloudy or sunny days? Cloudy. 113: Someone you’d like to kiss or cuddle right now: My husband. 114: Favorite cloud type: Google calls them cirrus clouds. 115: What color do you wish the sky was? Like naturally? Gray, all the time. Or maybe pastel purple all the time. 116: Do you have freckles? Nope. 117: Favorite thing about a person: I suppose the little traits and interests that make them wholly them. 118: Fruits or vegetables? Fruits. 119: Something you want to do right now: Take a shower. 120: Is the ocean or sky prettier? The ocean. 121: Sweet or sour foods? Sweet. 122: Bright or dim lights? Dim lights. 123: Do you believe in a certain magical creature? Kind of. I mean, there are parts of the Earth we’ve yet to explore, and we’re constantly finding new species every single year. Who’s to say something ‘magical’ doesn’t exist and it really isn’t magical? 124: Something you hate about Tumblr: Hive-mind mentality, especially when it comes down to someone being called out. 125: Something you love about Tumblr: There are so many things to pull inspiration from as an artist. Also the roleplay community is pretty sweet, depending on what fandom you join. 126: What do you think about the least? I’m not sure. 127: What would you want written on your tombstone? A curse of some sorts. 128: Who would you like to punch in the face right now? Why would I want to hurt my hand? Pass. 129: What is something you love but also hate about yourself? Hm... Maybe how much I care about certain people/things. 130: Do you smile with your teeth showing for pictures? Rarely. 131: Computer or TV? Computer. 132: Do you like roller coasters? They’re alright. 133: Do you get motion sickness or seasickness? I used to when I was a little kid, but not anymore. 134: Are your ears free or attached? They’re free, but barely. 135: Do you believe in karma? I’m not a buddhist, so no. 136: On a scale of 1-10, how attractive would you say you are? Maybe a 7. 137: What nicknames do you have/have had? I have too many. We’d be here all night. 138: Did you have any pretend or imaginary friends? I never did. 139: Have you ever seen a therapist/shrink? Not repeatedly. I saw one a couple times so they could diagnose me and give me meds that I don’t take, but that’s it. 140: Would you say you are a good or bad influence to others? Mostly good, I think. 141: Do you prefer giving or receiving gifts/help? Giving help, mainly because I hate the idea of receiving it in any way. I don’t like admitting I need help. As for gifts, I like both giving and receiving about equally. 142: What makes you angry?: A lot of things. 143: How many languages do you speak fluently? Honestly, one. Kind of sad. I can’t speak my native language fluently anymore. 144: Do you prefer boys, girls, and/or non-binaries? Boys. 145: Are you androgynous? No, I don’t think so. 146: Favorite physical thing about yourself: My hair and ass. 147: Favorite thing about your personality: My creativity. 148: Name three people you would like to talk to right now in person. I don’t want to. 149: If you could go back into time and live in one era, which would you choose? I wouldn’t. I’m fine reading about them. I don’t need to experience their pains. 150: Do you like BuzzFeed? I don’t really have an opinion about them. 151: How did you meet your spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend/partner? Short story, mutual friends. I’m too lazy to type out the long story. 152: Do you like to kiss others’ foreheads or hands for platonic reasons? Not really. I give a lot of nose and head kisses though. [EDIT] Okay, so earlier whenI took this survey my eyes just seemed to skip over the word ‘platonic.’ I don’t give platonic kisses. 153: Do you like to play with others’ hair? Nope. 154: What embarrasses you? Remembering embarrassing things I did like ten years ago and curling up into a ball. It’s an endless cycle. 155: Something that makes you nervous/anxious: Being out in public. 156: Biggest lie you have ever told: No idea. Maybe that I liked someone. Or that I was working on a project when I wasn’t. 157: How many people are you following? On my personal Tumblr, 956. I can’t follow anyone from this particular blog because it’s just a sideblog. 158: How many posts do you have on your blog(s)? I’m not going into my roleplay accounts because I don’t feel like signing in/out, so I’ll just do my main and sideblogs. Main (cyberpunk + fandoms) is 6,073. Cute sideblog is 2,194. Nature sideblog is 1,615. Reference sideblog is 212. Brown/tan aesthetic sideblog is 322. Then there’s two sideblogs I don’t know the aesthetic of, but one has 230 posts while the other has 110. 159: How many drafts do you have on your blog(s)? I don’t feel like looking anymore. 160: How many likes do you have on your blog(s)? 331 on my main. 161: Last time you cried and why: I don’t remember. 162: Do you have long or short hair? Very long hair. 163: Longest your hair has ever been: It’s currently the longest it’s been, and it’s about an inch above the base of my back. 164: Why do you like, dislike, or have neutral feelings about religion? In short, because I don’t care. 165: Do you really care how the universe and world was created? Not really. I mean, I think it’s interesting to read about, but I don’t care when it relates to religion. 166: Do you like to wear makeup? Sometimes. 167: Can you stand on your hands or head for more than thirty seconds? Probably not anymore. 168: Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? I did.

#survey

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