#genuinely check it out

[katatonicimpression]

So, the xmen infinity comic is doing this storyline with Mojo and that support group for trans mutants from that pride comic last year. Mojo has made them act out a tv show, as you would expect, and it's called "the morally superior x-men."

I don't think this run is bad at all. It's been pretty funny and charming at times, but there's something that it's saying about this "morally superior" stuff that I want to ramble about

The comic is clearly getting some digs in at what it sees as sanctimonious criticism of x-men series, and seemingly at naive expectations from fans. For the former, it explicitly calls out people for complaining about the violence of X-Men: Green. For the latter, it does this parody where the x-men just talk to all the villains about their feelings and there's no fighting.

It's basically the Marge vs Itchy and Scratchy episode of the simpsons.

So, to the thing I think they're getting at - what I interpret as an accusation that fans often demand sympathetic emotional explorations of villains/antagonists without necessarily considering what makes a story dynamic and compelling - I kind of agree in a very niche way. There is a tendency in fandom to be a bit "narrative-conflict averse" when critiquing stories, and certainly when suggesting fixes.

But I don't think it's a massive issue. Like, yes, fans often suggest fixes that are bad ideas actually. Hardly a big deal.

I also think it was weird to include Magneto alongside Sinister, Apocalypse and Onslaught when making this point. Treating Magneto as sympathetic and talking about his feelings has been the default since the 80s at least. He's barely been a villain in decades.

More importantly, audiences do respond well to violence and conflict in stories. Hell, if we take that simpsons episode, it's Marge and a bunch of conservative parents (i.e. outsiders) who complain about the cartoon. The kids love it. When fandom gets mad at what they feel is unecessary violence and/or conflict, it's not usually because it's violent or conflicty. They love plenty of stories that do that.

So, while "if there was no conflict, it would be shite" is true in the abstract, and is a relevant jab at a lot of bad proposed fixes of storylines, I really don't think it has much relevance beyond that.

Now... about X-Men: Green.

I think it's probably valid to characterise a lot of the criticism of this series as pearl clutching.

Yeah, even a lot of my own ranting.

I'm sorry. Here, have a picture of Pyro to cleanse the palette:

What I mean to get at, is that while I do believe that the duggan-written parts of x-men green are almost entirely garbage, and the Orlando parts are unable to really salvage it beyond a few funny lines, I think it is absolutely fair to characterise a lot of the complaints as moralising and dumb.

Two points that I think I stand by:

Radical political action is valid actually

We say we want stories about mutant terrorists - we sympathise with magneto - but then they write one and we complain about it

For number 1, I've ranted before as to why I think the political messaging of the series falls apart.

For number 2, yeah I've got nothing. That's just straightforwardly true.

I'm also aware that a lot of the complaints from audience are a lot more like Marge than me. A lot of people do just say "it's too violent" or "it's too woke" or "extinction rebellion sucks I should be able to drive over protesters". Casting a wider net, a lot of the complaints about x-terminators, or even maruaders (2019), were transparently motivated by misogyny.

I guess my worry is that while I may have "better reasons" to dislike these things, it's putting me in a club I don't want to be in and perhaps even providing ammunition to those who are in the market for justification of a reactionary opinion.

And to top it all, I've just ranted for a stupidly long time about a GENUINELY COMPLETELY FINE comic run about a group of trans kids. It's the exact thing I'm worried about!

I guess I don't really have a conclusion, I just feel weird about it.

[introspectivememories]

was it casual when i sat in your lap in public? was it casual when i said "recently my heart is crying because you're leaving"? was it casual when we decided how your last name would fit with mine? ("yuki tsunoda-gasly" / "no tsunoda, only gasly" / "yuki gasly?") was it casual when we sang adele's "someone like you" together at your going away party? was it casual when i knew it was you just by touching your ass? was it casual when i knew it was you by smell alone? was it casual when "will you miss me?" / "for 2-3 minutes maybe" / "i'll take that. even if it's just 2-3 minutes, i'll take that"? was it casual when that bus was completely empty and we still sat right next to each other, all the way in the back? was it casual when i picked you up multiple times so you could dunk a basketball? was it casual when i begged to come over to your house multiple time and then you finally let me and we cooked fried rice together? was it casual when we played christmas twister together and i said "your big eggplant is touching my ass"? was it casual when we were pressed up against each other on a scooter going two miles per hour? was it casual when-

[sleepsucks]

[inkskinned]

love when men cry about body hair bc "it's hygiene" and yet 15% of cis men leave the bathroom without washing their hands at all and an additional 35% only just wet their hands without using soap. that is nearly half of all men. that means statistically you have probably shaken hands with or been in direct contact with one of these people.

love when men say that women "only want money" when it turns out that even in equal-earning homes, women are actually adding caregiver burdens and housework from previous years, whereas men have been expanding leisure time and hobbies. in equal-earning households, men spend an average of 3.5 hours extra in leisure time per week, which is 182 hours per year - a little over a week of paid vacation time that the other partner does not receive. kinda sounds like he wants her money.

love that men have decided women are frail and weak and annoying when we scream in surprise but it turns out it's actually women who are more reliable in an emergency because men need to be convinced to actually take action and respond to the threat. like, actually, for-real: men experience such a strong sense of pride about their pre-supposed abilities that it gets them and their families killed. they are so used to dismissing women that it literally kills them.

love it. told my father this and he said there's lies, damned lies, and statistics. a year ago i tried to get him to evacuate the house during a flash flood. he ignored me and got injured. he has told me, laughing, that he never washes his hands. he has said in the last week that women are just happier when we're cooking or cleaning.

maybe i'm overly nostalgic. but it didn't used to feel so fucking bleak. it used to feel like at least a little shameful to consider women to be sheep. it just feels like the earth is round and we are still having conversations about it being flat - except these conversations are about the most obvious forms of patriarchy. like, we know about this stuff. we've known since well before the 50's.

recently andrew tate tried to justify cheating on his partner as being the "male prerogative." i don't know what the prerogative for the rest of us would be. just sitting at home, watching the slow erosion of our humanity.

[lucabyte]

i feel like people are sleeping on the occam's razor situation of how buckwild it is to outright accuse a guy of being a clone of your friend even if you DO have a lot of circumstantial evidence. there's other options is what im saying. they could just be like. a guy. that's a sensible deduction. you should explore that deduction. ignore my shirt that reads I <3 RED HERRINGS.

i still think odile has the correct theory on lock but she's smart enough to know it needs like... a real smoking gun to be able to bring it up without sounding insane.

anyway. (mirabelle voice) i know its rude to speculate but has anyone else noticed the grieving? they seem to be grieving. does anyone have any thoughts on the grieving? i have some thoughts on the grieving.

[clouvu]

Mother and Father 🫶

[armandyke]

Now that I've finished cycling through all the stages of grief, let's talk about That ending and why it was not only shit, but incredibly fucked up and harmful.

Spoilers below

At it's core, Umbrella Academy is a show about a group of siblings who survived (or didn't in OG Ben's case) immense trauma, and the different ways it affected each of them. Obviously I can't speak for everyone, but I think the reason it was so popular with so many people was because of it's portrayal of these characters who are incredibly damaged, incredibly dysfunctional, but still good. They go through hell and back several times over, but we still get to see the joy, and the love, and the happy moments. It's about hope and the fact that no matter what you've endured, there will be good moments. There will be joy. You will be loved. Season 3 ends on this message of hope. The family have been given a shot at a fresh start. Yes they still have problems to overcome and issues to work on but they're ready to start on that journey.

But then Season 4 happens, and we're told that these characters we've learned to see ourselves in for the last five years are miserable. They couldn't make it work. They were the problem. We're told that no matter how hard they try, things will always go wrong, and they will be the cause of that. We're told that the only solution for these people, who have endured trauma after trauma after trauma, is to end their lives. What kind of message is that?

I've seen this ending compared to other trainwrecks like Supernatural and GOT and while, yes, those endings were a joke, I have honestly never known another show to, in its final hour, tell its viewers that the only way out is to end it. It's dangerous and it's fucking disgusting and I have no idea how it was ever greenlit. I don't think it's overdramatic to say that I think this ending could actually hurt people. Could kill people.

And if you're reading this and you're feeling the same shitty feelings that me and so many other people felt after watching that, I need you to know that dying isn't the only option. You are not the problem. You are loved. You will be loved. There will be joy. I promise you.

[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

one of my favorite things about zedaph is that on a server full of people that find strange and oft-overlooked minecraft mechanics or rare events and then see just how far they can push them in the name of spectacle or efficiency or world-breaking, zed is over here finding these mechanics in order to do the weirdest things he can think of in as entertaining a manner as possible

like i 100% have faith in zedaph's theoretical ability to be just as efficient or spectacular or world-breaking. if he wanted to do that stuff, i trust that he absolutely could. but thats so far from being his priority. instead, hes going to spend around a week of irl time focused entirely on eventually having the good luck to spawn in something insanely rare so that he can convert it into something even rarer, the result of which being something that 99% of the server reacts with complete and utter shock that it even exists in the first place, just because its zany and funny and he wanted to. and i love that

[courtmartialme]

woag .. otp

[starsandnoodles]

Getting over my fear of posting this was CRAZY but here we go

MARX RPG

I’ve been working on this for days, made an accidental (The nova itself) and purposeful reference (the background) to Birth of a Wish by itsquakey (you should go check em out their art is SICK /pos)

- More ramblings below -

I wanted to make an RPG type thing with Marx for a while. Originally I was going to make an actually playable one but then realized I don’t have the time or knowledge to actually do that so I turned around and made it a video. Marx actually wasn’t the first idea I have for who the video would be about.

The first character I’d considered was actually Taranza but then… I’d have to draw Taranza and I was not in the mood. So I went with Marx.

The reference to Birth of a Wish (via the Nova specifically) wasn’t intended but someone I’d shown the video to pointed it out and I couldn’t leave it out in mention. The actually intended reference (the background) was specifically placed there because original all the video was going to be was some sample text and audio and then I got carried away and by that point I was over 200 images in on CapCut and unwilling to turn around.)

Where the plot was gonna go from here included the Nova having something to do with the rain in dreamland and being a small part of one of popstar’s larger moon’s or something of the sort meaning Kirby and Marx would have to find all the pieces to this “planet”. At least that’s what I imagined LMAO 😅

Note: Itsquakey if you ask me to take this down because of the references to your work I will without questions!

Last thing! I wanted to mention two posts I’ve seen that have done something similar that I think you should also check out!

Marx’s Fun Shop: while working on this I found that video and thought “wow! We even used the same music! That’s super freaking awesome!” The art here is amazing, the way Marx is written is also cool! You should go check this out!!!

Magolor’s Item Shop: A series of images in an RPG style that feature Magolor specifically! These are really cool and also what kinda struck the idea! They’re definitely worth checking out!

[art-is-kayos]

A Hypothetical.

[eff-plays]

Sure, bud

[columboposting]

genuinely insane to me that Torchwood gave Jack a secret evil brother and somehow he is the least interesting character in the entire goddamn show. No character traits allowed. His one outfit is BEIGE??? What if Hayden Christensen like, actually couldn’t act. Sucking black hole of charisma. Jack having a fucking secret evil brother should be the campiest wildest shit imaginable and instead its like watching fucking paint dry. Unreal. (It does not help that John Hart is standing next to him the entire time serving cunt). How did they fuck that one up that badly.

[knucklestheenchilada]

When I’m finally able to give the polite immortal stone dragon gifts and make him fall in love with me it’s gonna be all over btw

[cormancatacombs]

When an aesthetic blog you like starts posting AI shit