#he doesn't get to have such a terrible tragic ending while SERVING so that's not how this works!!!

[martianbugsbunny]

Me when Loki is alone and Mobius is heartbroken but Loki served the most cunt he could possibly have served in the process

[k-martins]

May i rant?

The way Gege implies that Naoya and Mei were pedos and then never properly addresses it is really disappointing. Why bring up a horrific issue like that? It serves no purpose. He already made Naoya a total dick with a murderous streak and Mei a greedy bitch without regard for people. They were already obviously terrible people without the additional child predator label.

Like if he’s gonna write characters that way then have them face consequences or if he wants them to get away with it at least write more about the victims so the audience can see how tragic their situations are

Better yet he shouldn’t write that at all and just focus on more character development for the main cast

Ah, little anon, I understand that feeling. Mei Mei and Naoya are two annoying little shits and the way Gege wrote them creates this feeling of "these horrible people are always getting away with it, when will justice be served?". It's frustrating, disgusting and unnecessary. After all, as you said, they've already been presented as nasty people, so why add the list of sins to "child predator"?

Actually, this is a very serious question and I'm just a profile that talks nonsense about ITFS.

But I'll do my best to explain my point of view and why I think Gege is doing an interesting job with his manga.

Well, I'm going to talk about Mei Mei because her situation is much more complicated.

She is a jujutsu sorceress who only cares about her own personal gain, not caring much about the situation if it is sending money into her pocket. So far, we have the character established and, although it is a somewhat altruistic attitude, it is not all bad. She's still there doing her job, still exorcising curses, still giving Yuji a choice between facing a high-grade curse or the humans transfigured by Mahito. Mei Mei is a greedy bitch, but a greedy bitch who does her job at the end of the day (which is expected). Until this moment, we can only consider her an eccentric character.

The issue becomes complicated when we observe her relationship with her younger brother, Ui Ui, a 12-year-old child who is subjected to her sister's technique which consists of suicide, from what I understand. It's a strange relationship, uncomfortable to watch and irritating (Yuji's face is the reaction of all of us seeing it). There IS something strange about these two.

Then we have the Malaysian scene.

I have my own opinions about this scene, but let's move on to what most people think happened. Mei Mei is naked next to her brother suggesting they sleep together. If incest doesn't shock, pedophilia does. And it makes it even worse because this scene takes place after Nanamin says how he would like to go to Malaysia and then he dies. It is at this moment that her question comes:

"Why bring up a horrible issue like this?"

Yes, why Sensei Akutami?

Why put in this horrible scene while we're still dealing with Nanami's death?

Why give Mei Mei, the greedy bitch, Nanami's dream and dirty it with this horrible, heavy-handed insinuation?

Why do I have to watch someone horrible live while a good person dies? … Oh.

Well, this is the point.

In JJK, the world is unequal. Megumi said that herself.

Good people like Nanami, Nobara and Yuji are killed and destroyed while horrible people like Mei Mei, Naoya and Sukuna get what they want. Therefore, their depravities have no consequences. That's why Mei Mei went to Malaysia, that's why Naoya didn't take any more damage, that's why Sukuna beat Satoru.

Gege is laying his cards on the table and saying "Good can lose and evil can win. Nanami's die while Mei Mei's enjoy peace."

This is one of the reasons I believe that even though JJK is a shonen, there is a possibility for Sukuna and Kenjaku to prevail. There's this not-so-small chance that we'll see our good guys blowing up while the bad guys rest in a hotel in Malaysia.

Who knows.

Gege Akutami is unpredictable and there are more names to cross out in his Death Note.

So, to recap, Gege is purposely making bad people with terrible morals "win" to show how unequal and unfair this world is. Good doesn't always win.

It is revolting? For sure.

Would you like justice to prevail? Obvious.

Think this could happen? Perhaps. I dream of this moment.

Well, I hope I made my point clear.

I'm not good at writing analysis or playing characters. But that's more or less how I see Gege's script choices.

Sorry if I didn't talk much about Naoya. I don't remember much about his character other than that he was a misogynistic piece of shit and wanted to kill Megs. I need to reread the manga.

Thanks for the question, little Anon! I had fun writing it! :D

[evilbeanieman]

For YTTD's 6th anniversary, here are my

Top 6 Most Iconic Shin Moments

Number 6: Sacrificing himself for Kanna

I mean this moment kind of just. Lays it out for itself. It shows his true nature, gives us the reason as to why he has the 0.0% survival rate. We see the most human side of him, the side that's completely and utterly selfless and kind. It's a great act of sacrifice and love and kindness, while equal parts tragic for what he put himself and Sara through. I could say more about it, but that's best saved for a post by itself.

Number 5: Working Together with Nao

I remember playing through this moment and having this strange feeling of surrealness. I thought, "Was Nao really teaming up with Shin? Could this actually be something good?" And even if it was a brief hope, they still managed to form a great team and get everybody together. I think additionally it's interesting that Nao came to Shin for help. Obviously he was the most reasonable choice, considering his computer skills, but it makes you realize that Nao doesn't necessarily see Shin as a bad person. She knows he's a good guy, even if he's done some terrible things in the death game. Again, another thing to be saved for a later post.

Number 4: The First Case

guys holy shit shin drank the grimace shake first holy shit he ate the grimace shake HE WAS PATIENT ZERO

Number 3: High Five!

Come on, this moment is adorable. You can give him a high five for his good work! Even if it ends a bit awkwardly, it's just such a simple but funny gesture. Shin would be the type to wince when you give him too hard of a high five, but appreciates it all the same.

Number 2: Pleading at the Grave

There's something about this moment that just gives me some goosebumps. It's the way that this is after Kanna dies, after he's sworn to come after everyone who let her die, after believing that he has no control in this death game, after coming face to face with Midori once again. There's so much weight here. Gin has shown Shin little kindness, always wary of him and calling him loner and other things. Their relationship is nothing like the one he had with Kanna, and yet, and yet we get this scene right here. Shin begging Midori, calling him Hiyori, in order to try and convince him not to kill Gin. This is Shin. This is everything he is.

Number 1: The Slutty Sprite

Hear me out. Not only is this sprite half responsible for our collective thirsting over this loser, but it also serves a huge narrative purpose as it shows us that he's a victim just like us. He's not the main antagonist. It perfectly sets up the reveal for the later main game and oh my god look at that collarbone I JUST WANT TO MUNCH-

(fun fact- turns out this moment is a "most replayed" moment on the no commentary run by Mono Chrome)

[stardustizuku]

I have never vibe with an MLB critic essay so hard as yours do. People put salt on a lot of different things of MLB, but you hit every point of that really hits home of why the show is a dissapointment for me; from the Love Square wasted potential, the expectation of a Magical Girl show that wasn't delivered, the messy incoherent themes that is not represented well in their powers or villains, the umbalance power dynamics complete with comparison.

Too bad you drop it though (reasonably), I really wish to read what you think of Sentimonster!Adrien or even the Finale.

Something interesting happens when I completely give up on a show. And that's that...I really stop expecting anything from it.

When the Sentimonster thing came out, I genuinely just sighed. I couldn't even form an opinion because all I could feel is "this is such wasted potential".

The idea of a child being created via an object - and having said object tied to them, is such a good one. And it raises so many interesting and profound ideas. It could speak about how parents see their kids as nothing but dolls. It could be a very cool concept of Adrien someone who has the power to DESTROY, not only having a gentle soul but having to protect this object.

All things get presented to us for a reason - even if that reason is purely aesthetics.

Why are the girls in Tokyo Mew Mew animals? Because the creator thought catgirls were cool.

Why do we have witches in madoka? Because witches are the evolved form a "girl with magic" aka a "magical girl". And that's a cool thought.

Why is the Princess Tutu inspired by the swan lake ballet and why does it chose "defying destiny" as it premise? Because in real life, the swan lake ballet has multiple endings, some tragic, some happy. The tragedy aspect of it, enhances the princess tutu aesthetic.

Why was Adrien introduced to us as a Sentimonster?

And that's the thing. I can't even wrap my head around why would you make that creative choice.

It's an interesting idea, but one that feels more rooted on someone seeing a headcanon of it online and trying to pander to the audience with it. A sort of torture porn (which in a vacuum isn't something I'm opposed to), just to hammer home how shitty Adrien's life is. How abusive his dad is. Which, btw, doesn't even make sense when you think abt how he got redeemed in the recent episodes.

My point is, I can't have an opinion on "Adrien being a sentimonster" because I can't see why. Why they did it. And my lack of interest in the series, makes it so that I don't wanna spend pondering the "why".

What's the point? What themes did it introduce? Does it tie to the miraculous stuff somehow? Does it coherently expand upon the known lore?

Like, Katherine from Genshin Impact - it recently got revealed she's a doll controlled by the Fatui. This serves the purpose of allowing Nahida, an extremely kind archon, to have a vessel she can control. It shows insight of Marionette's powers, and how likely the adventurer's guild is to be related to the Fatui or Snezhnayan politics, as well as have an in-game reason as to why there's a Katherine in each region.

While it's also an out of left field bonkers thing getting revealed, it MAKES SENSE. There's a reason why she was made this way.

But with Adrien, there isn't. It's just /there/. Not really related to anything, no foreshadow, or anything. This is all, obviously, tied to the terrible writing of the show. But this is just insane. I do not understand it. I seriously can't.

[piermanwalter]

I had a dream there was a goofy Totally Accurate Battle Simulator type game called The Mirror of Princely Deeds and Knighthood where you play as a squire using overly realistic and purposefully horrendous physics-based controls to carefully dress your liege in every piece of clothing and armor before he goes off to procedurally generated battle you have absolutely no control during, but you can watch play out, where how well you prepared your knight has vital impact on how well he survives and excels in combat. The game's charm comes from the dissonance between feature-film-quality music and voice acting combined with vague nonsensical characters and settings, the terrible outfits you can send your knight out in, and extremely broken physics.

It's normal and expected to spend half an hour to equip your knight. For example, if you wildly swing a helmet around, you can hit your liege in the head so hard he dies. If you forget to put his gambeson on first, and then pull the leather straps holding armor pieces together too tight, the chafing causes open wounds that make him die of infection after battle. Then, after you learn to put his gambeson on, you put the armor plates on in the wrong order, so whole plates fall off, leading to your liege getting stabbed and dying in battle. Then, you put his armor on in the right order, but while on a galloping horse, the plates shake loose and he gets stabbed and dies again. When you finally arm and armor him properly, and he completely obliterates the enemy, it turns out you never gave him a tabard, heraldic shield, or standard, so he can't take credit for his heroism and you lose anyway.

In Sandbox Mode, you have access to every outfit and armor piece and can choose the type of battle, and number/type of enemies and allies. If you want, you can funnel 700 knights down both ends of a joust field and form a horrible ever-growing mountain of human and equine flesh in the middle, or cover your knight in a spherical mass of armor and make him trudge through a storm of arrows. In this mode, you can only serve Sir (Insert Name Here) (you can't pick and choose a name this is literally how his name is displayed and pronounced) with no distinguishing traits and a different randomly generated appearance each time he dies, but speaks of how eager he is to prove himself in the battlefield, making it all the more tragic when you send him out wearing a necklace made from 10 helmets strung on a rope and nothing else.

In Campaign Mode, your kingdom is at war and you aid your liege in seeking glory through 100+ predetermined battles with branching paths depending on how well you do and the whims of your liege. Not only do you have to survive each battle, you also have to undress and apply dubiously effective medical treatments to your knight, as well as fix and replace progressively more damaged equipment. Here you have a choice between serving three different knights: Sir Bernard is fuelled by bloodlust. Skilled and accomplished in battle, he is too proud to complain if you are doing anything wrong or of any injuries sustained during battle, no matter how severe. An inexperienced squire can coast off Sir Bernard's indomitable strength, but you need to be extra careful making sure he doesn't have secret gangrene or is stoically bleeding to death. Sir Bernard takes trophies from noteworthy foes, giving you access to unique equipment.

Sir Leonard is dependent on the favor of his Lady. Every few battles, he receives a new gift, progressively weirder physics items of little or no practical use. Sir Leonard can endure a number of mortal blows equal to the number of gifts he is carrying. If sent to battle with no gifts, or all carried gifts are lost or damaged during battle, Sir Leonard will fall into despair and be reduced to a sobbing meat wall. Easy enough to make him invincible with handfuls of rings and kerchiefs folded beside his heart, but don't be careless with his Lady's gifts lest you are left with a 20-foot embroidered tapestry, a shield-sized crystal dish, and a squirmy spoiled pet white ermine.

Sir Richard is a resourceful tactician. He has accurate and extensive knowledge of battlefield conditions, enemy composition, and the state of your allies, which Sir Richard will tell you about as you dress him. Sir Richard is also independently wealthy enough to easily afford new equipment to take advantage of this knowledge. He has scoliosis and is the only person in the entire game with a unique base model, which presents some challenges in dressing him properly.

If you choose one knight, the others will be allies for the rest of Campaign Mode. If your knight dies, you will serve Sir (Insert Name Here), who will always be on the gruelling frontlines, and you will miss out on character-specific interactions and endings.

There are important plot decisions, but these decisions are not made by you. For example, if some knights are conspiring to disobey the king and pillage a wealthy merchant town, Sir Leonard and Sir Richard are unlikely to join them unless your supplies are critically dire, but Sir Bernard can't be stopped. The ruling family of that town are so powerful that they pressure your King to stop the war, and the game ends. The only things you as a squire can do is outfit Sir Bernard so badly that he dies before pillaging anything, or dress him without identifiable heraldry, so the ruling family can't pin the blame on your kingdom. At any point, any of the other characters can die during a regular battle, or even outside of them. Your King's army gets encircled by the enemy and Sir Leonard goes off to rescue him. But if you use Sir Richard's funds to buy out all the good equipment, Sir Leonard and your King both die offscreen and the game ends.

A possible final battle against the enemy King is set on the coast where a ship laden with pepper catches fire and runs aground, causing everyone to stop every 30 seconds and sneeze in unison, with horrific consequences if your knight has an ermine crammed under his cuirass.

There's also Multiplayer Mode, where you have access to any item found during Campaign Mode and either have 10 minutes to dress your knight before sending him out to in whatever state he's in to fight knights dressed by other people in 10 minutes, or have an unlimited time to preemptively dress your knight, then save him in whatever state he's in and instantly send him to fight other knights dressed in an unlimited amount of time.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Barry: wow (4x08)

I mean... "wow" seems like a pretty good word for it.

Cons:

Footage not found, honestly? This was more or less perfect television. The only shot I didn't like was the fade up on the clapping audience towards the end with Sally directing a high school production of Our Town. I think because we'd had a few very iconic, in-your-face shots leading up to it, and that one felt like it pushed over the edge for me, in openly acknowledging, I guess, the theatre of the whole thing? But that's the tiniest of nitpicks.

Pros:

Where to even begin? I think what I'll do is just run down the ultimate fates of the characters we most care about.

Fuches does this final act of services for Barry, absolving him of any wrongdoing in their relationship while doing the most redeeming thing he can in terms of his own role in the man Barry turns out to be. He rescues John for him. It's so interesting that they don't talk, they don't have any sort of final words with each other, and Fuches's final actions are to shoot and kill Hank, and then to pass Barry's son back off to him, a man that he has every reason to believe will just continue a cycle of violence. It's a gift that Fuches gives to Barry, but it's also a pretty bittersweet idea, if you think about it. But Fuches arguably gets the best ending of any character, in terms of escaping off into the dark of night to do who knows what else with the rest of his life. He doesn't seem to play a role in the film adaptation that we see, so he seems to have escaped his consequences.

Hank... I mean, watching him break down as he admits that he killed Cristobal, that final shot of him and the statue... Jesus Christ. Hank has been walking around without his heart for the past eight years, and Fuches forces him to admit the truth of that, then shoots him directly in his literal heart... it's just, it's horrifyingly beautiful. I was really fucked up by it if we're being honest. Hank also made only a very brief cameo appearance in what we saw of the movie, which just emphasizes how pointlessly tragic this story is (in a good way). Everything that Hank went through, all the pain of it, and it ultimately didn't even make the cut for the story of Barry and Cousineau. I love that we are thwarted from seeing any sort of final showdown between Barry and Hank, any final moment of reckoning. Because the truth is, Barry never gave a shit about Hank. Hank gave a shit about Barry for a while, but in the end, he only lured Barry to Sally and John in order to appease Fuches. I love how ultimately they were not really central to each other's stories.

Cousineau serving life in prison, being blamed for Janice's death, is the worse fate anybody in the entire show suffers, I think. It's poignantly pointless and terrible. His ego, his constant grasping for relevance, and at the end of the day he gets a movie made about him that paints him as the villain. He kills Barry not for attention but for pure and simple vengeance. But in doing so he kills the only chance he had to clear his own name, and for true justice for Janice to be found. Janice's father is never going to know or believe the full truth, and Cousineau is going to be remembered forever more as a murderer of not only a cop, but also a vulnerable, traumatized young man who asked him for his help.

Sally's ending is grim in a quieter sort of way. The fact that she never wanted to have a kid, that she didn't want the life she ended up with, has been clear to us these past few episodes. We start this one off with Sally just laying it all out there for John. Telling him they're fugitives, that Barry is a murderer, that Sally is too. She breaks into tears as she confesses that she's not a good person and she hasn't been a good mom. But after the shootout between Hank and Fuches's men, Sally calls for John, looking for him. And once she and Barry talk and she realizes that Barry isn't going to turn himself in, she leaves. And she takes her son with her.

We see her in a teaching role, working at a high school. It's unclear if she still yearns for glory, if she still feels herself reaching for something she'll never attain. The moment when John gets permission to have a sleepover at a friend's house really stuck out to me, because John says "I love you" to his mother, and she doesn't say it back, instead responding to ask him how the play was, seeking external validation for her talents. It paints the picture of a woman who is doing what she can to protect her child, but who never actually wanted motherhood, never mind single motherhood, to be thrust upon her.

And Barry...

Barry won, but he's dead so he doesn't know. Barry got that fantasy reputation, he got absolved of his sins as he requested from God, he got buried with full honors, he got lionized and glorified in film. He wanted to be an actor so he could shape the story of himself, and now somebody else has shaped it quite conveniently for him. That scene we saw of him sitting on the porch swing telling his son about his heroism in the war, that's what Barry was after. He was after someone, somewhere, telling him that he wasn't to blame for his own actions. The whole damn show, he ran from people who tried to tell him to own up. He tried to buy Cousineau's forgiveness, he exploited Sally's own shit to get what he wanted, which was a role as a family man with a wife and son.

And then Sally leaves him, taking John with him, and Barry has a moment where he says he'll turn himself in. It seems like he means it. We've seen him on the cusp of feeling full guilt and responsibility for what he's done in the past, but this is the real deal. And then he gets shot and killed by Gene Cousineau. He's remembered the way he wants to be remembered, but what does it matter?

God, the shot of Cousineau sitting down on his couch while dead Barry sits in the armchair... that was chilling. That's going to stick with me for a long time.

We get our final dose of... can you call it comedy? At the very end, as we watch John getting to see snippets of the movie made about his father's heroic life and tragic death at the hand of the villainous Gene Cousineau. It's a terrible, wooden movie full of god-awful writing and cheesy performances, bizarre and ridiculous and telling a story that bears no resemblance to reality, while using almost identical scene setups and scenarios in certain key spots, to drive home how the narrative was able to get twisted in such a way.

The best part, the most on-the-nose thing, was having Barry give the MacBeth speech in the movie. "Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." INDEED. That's indeed the whole damn thing, isn't it???

That shot of John smiling at the movie before it cuts to black is also going to haunt me. He is reassured by this. By his father the hero, his father the victim. Never the bad guy. Barry is immortalized in the very lack of accountability that he always sought, and now we have to wonder what John is walking away from this movie with. A belief that everything his father did was actually okay, because Hollywood tells him so? Potential future alienation from his mother, if Sally dares try to be honest about their past, as she was during that brief moment in which they were Hank's hostages? Ultimately, Barry leaving a son behind in his death was such an important thematic element in this show, because it makes us question which cycles might possibly be broken, and which will continue from here.

This is a brilliant episode of a brilliant show. I'm astounded.

10/10

And to wrap up my over-all feelings on Barry... honestly, this show doesn't really have any major missteps. The things I didn't love about it where personal preference things, mostly around the actual treatment of Hollywood, which sometimes felt like the Whole Point and I was missing something, and other times felt like set dressing I couldn't quite understand. This is a show about the narrative, about how we shape the stories (and lies) we tell to ourselves and to others. I think it succeeds on every possible front when it comes to exploring that theme, and the writing is incredible, the performances brilliant. This gets pretty damn close to a perfect score from me, y'all.

9.5/10

[frostknaw]

((Kaeya angst nobody asked for

He feels vile, feels like every breath is stabbing and every step tears his muscles apart. Days like this kill him inside truly. his own carelessness almost cost a life all over some damn fire getting to close, it's pathetic.. he's pathetic it's one of the greatest mysterys how he's made it to 26.

From drinking til he blacks out, pouring over every under the radar criminal and group because Barbatos knows Jean doesn't need anything else on her already overfilled plate. along side with his actual duties as a knight when he's not playing the greatest detective, training Bennet and avoiding the wine tycoon heir like the fucking plague while also keeping up this extremely flamboyant persona.

It's exhausting really.. really makes him wish he did run away to sumeru when he had the chance, oh well he was dealt this hand might as well use it right? But back to his first complaint of his "fire phobia" clearly the best way to deal with it was exposure therapy luckily enough for him, his cottage has a pretty big fireplace and he just so happens to have firewood.

So after a terribly long day good or bad depending on who you asked, he lights the fireplace from a nice distance, pours himself a starter glass to nurse for the first half of the evening and just sits..sits just a tad bit closer to the flames then he probably should be and drinks. Sometimes in silence, sometimes while rambling about anything and nothing, sometimes while crying and cursing as he tears at himself but always sits nice and still for the most part.

Never for less than a hour never more then three unless he wants to take a sorrowful trip down memory lane. Always sitting while the heat makes his mind almost pleasantly empty and the flames serve as a reminder of a constant potential ending to his quiet tragic tale.

[writingaboutdisney]

This will get long, so I decided to reblog instead of just comment. Because I disagree with pretty much every point up there. Also, under a readmore because of how long it is. I'm sorry to subject you to this lol.

There's certain things that I think are a matter of opinion. That means that even if the youtubers are backing it up with facts, what they're saying won't apply to everyone, but it's still a valid criticism for others. Especially without more details to some of your points, it's hard to get into specifics. That's why I was just focusing on the box office numbers, and that even though the critics don't like it, most of the audience does.

I'm not going to cover every point. Some of these I'm curious about, some I can chock up to differences of opinion. So like, Valentino being annoying? If you don't like the goofy side kick type characters, yeah you'll probably find him annoying. But if you do like, say, Olaf, you'll personally enjoy him. I actually found him to be less annoying than Olaf, personally.

Other points that fall into the "Depends on a person's tastes in film" category would include the music being okay at best, too many references to old movies, and the animation style being lackluster (Which i'll still bring up later because there is some more to talk about with this imo.)

As for what I'm curious about, why is Asha considered boring? I've seen some criticism for her, mainly people thinking she's "adorkable," but I haven't heard her called boring yet.

I have seen more criticism for Magnifico being "boring." I think he's a lot more complex of a villain than a lot of people give him credit for. In fact, I'd argue he's the most complex villain we've ever got in Disney. We see he has a tragic backstory, and we see how that might influence his actions, but it also does not excuse them. He's not trying to grab power for power's sake, nor is he redeemable just because he has understandable motives. It's a rather fresh take on a villain that I was excited to see. But a lot of people seem to miss this about his character and not understand his character arc, which is why I think they find him boring.

Which leads me to the point about them sacrificing story for easter eggs. I will say this, the story felt a bit rushed. But, if you watch older Disney movies, like Snow White, Sleeping beauty, etc, they feel slightly rushed too. They're shorter. Yet, they can fit the entire story into the movie, and while you're left saying we should have had more ... did we really NEED it for the story to work? And I'd argue, no. Wish is able to give us enough details about the characters that the story holds up and can be followed. Extra run time to explore things further would have been nice, but it isn't needed. It goes back to some of their old habits of storytelling, where objects in the background can help tell us about a character, lighting in a scene can help set the mood, etc. It's a more subtle method of storytelling. And it may not be everyone's favorite, but that doesn't mean they did a bad job. They were just doing something different than what they've done in their recent movies. I enjoyed it, because I like the older Disney movies. It may not be for everyone, but that doesn't make it terrible.

I also didn't find Amaya to be useless. She was an interesting character in her own right. She helps the heroes take on Magnifico. She's someone in power who sees how things are going poorly and is there to support her people, which contrasts nicely with her husband as he goes off the deep end. She helps Dahlia get access to the magic book she needs to research how to defeat Magnifico. At the end of the movie, she's the one with experience ruling the kingdom who can help everyone heal after what happened. I won't say she has the biggest role in the movie, but she's certainly not just sitting in the background serving no purpose.

As for the magic system, this is the point i'm closest to agreeing with. I don't think the plot holes are too big to be excused, however, because things feel a bit rushed, some things pop up in the middle of the story when it would've been nice to know them before. For example, Magnifico is the only person allowed to use magic in Rosas, and that's not something I realized until the middle of the movie. Other forms of magic are illegal. It kind of came out of nowhere, but it does fit with his personality and the world itself, so again, it wasn't such a big plot hole that it was inexcusable. I'm not sure what other plot holes people are talking about when it comes to magic, but if you give me an example I could give you my thoughts on it.

Star was not only made for merchandising. That is actually just ... blatantly untrue. Star was always meant to be in the movie long before he was the small, adorable, merchandisable thing we ended up with. I have the art book and I could show you some pictures later if you like, but they went through a lot of different design options for him before finally landing on the one they picked. A lot of them are far less cute, some have him looking human, some more like Jiminy Cricket. That's who he was inspired by btw, he's supposed to be a guide for Asha like Jiminy was for Pinocchio. And he does work in that compacity. He contributes a lot to the story. The story wouldn't exist in anywhere near the same way without him. So I'm not sure why people are saying he's just for merchandising.

As for the animation ... like I said, i got the artbook. And while it's an opinion on whether you find it to be better or worse than other movies coming out, I do know the team put a lot into this. This is Disney's first stylized CGI movie. It's the first time they've blended 2d and 3d animation into one medium like this. I'm not saying it's everyone's cup of tea, or it's perfect, but I do feel like people are being extremely hard on it. Again, if it's not your thing, that's okay. This is just a point I disagree with and I personally find the animation to be beautiful. I'm really glad we got something that wasn't the giant heads and eyes we've been getting ever since Tangled lol. I think this was a step in the right direction animation wise.

As for the teens, I don't really see it as overcrowding. THis might also be a personal opinion I suppose? But they're based off the seven dwarfs from Snow White, and just like Snow White, while they do play a role, they're side characters. They're not meant to steal the show. THey're meant to be Asha's friend group who helps her out when she needs it. I thought they struck a nice balance of giving them unique personalities while still making sure they didn't take up too much time since the movie was about Asha. But maybe that's just me.

TLDR: I think a lot of people are taking personal preferences and using that to say the movie is a bad movie in general, when really it was just a bad movie for them personally.

So Wish came out...

I haven't seen it, but with so many videos on why it's terrible, I'm starting to hear some of the same stuff pop up.

Music is okay at best. Lyric pacing is terrible.

Too many references to old movies, not enough attention to the story.

Asha is a boring character.

Overcrowding. Having the seven dwarves as Asha's allies made for seven characters with no real purpose.

Magnifico is a boring villain. Which is a shame, cause as someone who has no intention of seeing the film, he seems like he's the most interesting character.

The queen has literally no purpose whatsoever.

The magic system is never clearly defined and creates plot holes too big to excuse.

Valentino is annoying.

Star was only made for merchandizing purposes.

Animation style is lackluster compared to other movies made by other studios coming out today.

Honestly, I worry that this is going to become one of those cases where "bad press is good press". So many people are talking about the film, and the people who made the videos obviously went to the theater to see it. I hate to contribute to that, but I felt like summing it up. I doubt Wish is going to make the same comeback as Elemental did, but who knows? Even if it starts making more money in the box office, I don't see its ratings going up.

[francofolle]

so night of my birthday, monday night, after having dinner with my parents, i went to a wine bar to have a glass or two by myself. i ended up sitting at the bar rather than at a table bc it was unclear when or if i would be served if i just sat at a table. enter, of course, man asking if he could sit in empty seat next to me. we had good conversation about wine and soccer and he seemed nice enough. as i was getting ready to head out, he offered sharing a bottle of wine with me that he had back at his place. that makes me put my guards up, but when i turn it down, he backs off. we do swap numbers at the end bc why not, i enjoyed his company and would enjoy hanging out with him.

the next day he texts me about this tragic french film he watched over the bottle of wine he'd offered to share with me the night before (not that i was expecting him to save it for me, but in hindsight feels a little, hmm, like look what you missed out on? idk maybe im reading too much into this). he also invites me to a tasting and dinner thursday night. i see these messages while at a sports game with a friend. i get back home after midnight. i sleep in til noon the next day, i have an hour to eat and get ready for work, im at work til 10pm, and im knocked out again once im home. today i get my period and have terrible cramps all day and only manage working two hours before going home to collapse in bed. for the past two days i keep remembering at bad times that i need to respond to him to let him know its not gonna happen but thanks for the invite. ultimately i forget and it doesn't happen.

10pm thursday night he texts again saying "at least tell me to go fuck my self!" with three of the monkey hiding his face emojis. i responded apologizing for not replying, but also clarifying why i hadn't and explaining that i am notoriously bad at responding.

honestly, i know why i acted the way i did but i don't know if that makes me in the right. he did text me about specific time sensitive plans, that i read as 'hey join if you're free, if not its fine' but apparently that wasn't the vibe, and i try really hard when its time sensitive to respond. but to send such a harsh text after only having chatted one night at a wine bar (where honestly i'd have preferred to just have been alone) and texting me low key last minute plans after i know i told him i work retail nights...

idk im torn between feeling like my slow response rate will be keeping me single, and feeling like he's interested and im not so much and that's not a bad thing, and maybe if he hadn't responded so strongly (sorry the monkey emojis don't soften the message as much as you'd like) we could've gotten along more. but now im on edge and don't wanna talk to him anymore. i dont want to feel like there's expectations or pressure.

ugh there's many very good reasons the only men i like are fictional or completely unavailable

[mwolf0epsilon]

I want to know more about your other star wars ocs (the not clones ones). I'm especially curious about the Kwinde brothers. What's going on there?

Oof my dude, a lot of family drama.

That's what's going on there...

Vikerius Kwinde and Zedediah "Zed" Kwinde are perhaps two of my oldest Star Wars ocs, and also two characters I don't get to talk about very often. Mostly due to them having been in the background of a ton of my other characters's stories (Especially Mae's).

They are two mixed race human Force Sensitives (both exceptionally strong Force Empaths) ailing from Jedha, who had their paths in life chosen and carved out for them by their parents who wanted the prestige that came with having both a Jedi and a Guardian of the Kyber Temple in the family (a rather selfish act on their part which caused the crux of Zed's resentment towards Vikerius).

Continue reading...

---

Starting with knowing his strengths and his limits.

To Vikerius the Jedi life was all he ever really knew, and he took it very seriously.

This was the destiny the Force had in store for him.

The purpose of his being. And he'd honour it without faltering.

Due to his high affinity for sensing the emotions of others, he preferred to concentrate on introspection and inner-peace/balance, rather than pursue conflict, as he thought immersing himself into constant combat or emotionally compromising situations might lead to his fall.

Zed on the other hand, was never happy serving as a Guardian of the Whills. On top of feeling like his identity was not his own and the constant body dysforia, he also felt like he'd been robbed of greater purpose.

As such, in terms of aspirations, it seemed like his main goal in life was to become a Temple Guard rather than become a Jedi Knight or Guardian...

Something which tragically never came to pass as the Clone Wars began with the death of hundreds of Jedi, and the need for skilled fighters commanding the various clone battalions was of a higher priority at the time...

So he ran away.

He couldn't understand why he wasn't sent to be trained as a Jedi, when he was just as strong (if not stronger) than Vikerius.

It also didn't help that, due to lack of training, he couldn't control his ability to sense the emotions of others... Something which caused him great anguish when the Clone Wars got more and more ruthless.

Sensing the suffering of literal billions of sentients was tearing him apart and he wanted to put an end to it.

He put aside his old identity (quite frankly killing the person he'd been before), and remade himself both literally and figuratively.

And, while the cybernetic enhancements didn't dull his connection to the Force as he'd so desperately hoped they would, they did give him an advantage out in the field.

The reason why is... Not one Zed knows the answer to.

Naturally both brothers eventually met out in the battlefield.

Zed even came close to assassinating Vikerius out of pure jealousy many times.

Hoping to destroy what he perceived as someone who robbed him of something he'd so terribly wanted.

But he never could bring himself to pull the trigger.

Even when he knew for sure he'd be able to kill him before Vikerius even realised his life was in any danger.

It could be that he didn't kill Vikerius because of Mae...

Or maybe because of the clone commandos that so clearly needed his guidance...

Or maybe... Just maybe... Zed didn't really hate him as much as he claimed...

Who knows?

He certainly doesn't.

Once again he'd been robbed of something, and this wasn't as easy to replace as a poorly lived life.

It's not like it matters anyway.

Grievous eventually killed Vikerius, so it's not like either of them ever really had a chance to get to know each other all that well.

That one-sided bitterness remains between them, and if anything Vikerius's death only worsened the conflicted emotions Zed felt.

[brienneevenstar-main]

From TVTropes, on why “But Voldemort and the Lestranges are evil so it makes sense that they would enslave WoC” is a terrible argument against those who criticize JKR’s tone-deaf use of racist tropes

From my understanding, Misaimed Fandom is when the fans of a work take the opposite or otherwise differing interpretation of what the author/creator intended. One of the examples I\'ve always used is Walter White from Breaking Bad being a violent sociopath who by the end of the show is pretty much dealing drugs because it makes him feel powerful, but fans still love him anyway. (Do please correct me if I\'m wrong).

That\'s not quite what\'s going on here, and it\'s a little more complicated than I think mixtape3022 is understanding it.

\"These people are reading into the subtext and declaring racism.\" - No, they aren\'t. They\'re pointing out problematic tropes that have been employed in the past or have otherwise Unfortunate Implications. Racism can be implicit or explicit, and in this case it\'s the former. It\'s not as simple as \"ehrrrrmergerd RACISM\".

\"I highly doubt that a person who wrote novels condemning bigotry and supremacy intended her work to be viewed this way.\" - This is essentially the equivalent of saying \"I can\'t be racist, I have Black friends\", and I hope I don\'t have to explain why this is wrong. I haven\'t seen a single person who thinks that J. K. Rowling sat down to write a racist screenplay, or that she intended for all this backlash against something she clearly loves very much. What people are saying is that, despite her best efforts, the tropes she produced in her work were racist. That\'s not to say that she\'s a horrible person who should never write again, only that she should maybe do more research into these kinds of things, or think about the implications. Characters of colour - or of any minority - have stereotypes attached to them, stereotypes that are harmful, and that\'s what makes them difficult to write. For the record, I love Rowling, her books, and her as a person, and I truly think she\'s committed to diversity and representation. I just think she missed the mark here.

Onto the examples themselves. You said that people were upset that a Korean woman was cast as Nagini, and that they\'re wrong because the movie presents this as a bad thing, and that she wasn\'t caged because of her race. Which is all very well and good - except people weren\'t complaining about her being Korean exactly, and absolutely nobody thinks Nagini was caged because of her race. I don\'t even know where you got that from. The problem is that one of the few women of colour in a franchise that has been historically bad at them has her destiny tied to two villainous white men. She will then lose control of her own body, turn into a snake forever, and serve a genocidal monster for the rest of her life - until she is murdered by Neville Longbottom, who in the chronology of the book releases, has retroactively murdered a human woman who may or may not have had a choice in her predicament.

Rowling\'s problems with characters of colour have been noted - there are barely any, especially women of colour. Cho Chang\'s nationality is never confirmed, and she basically disappears after Harry dumps her. The Parvati twins also stop being important at some point, and Angelina Johnson is only important because she married a Weasley. So the idea that Nagini\'s purpose - again, despite Rowling\'s intentions - is to serve Wizard Hitler and then die are pretty bad enough. But since Nagini is now a person Horcrux, like Harry, it throws the original books into Unfortunate Implications because while the narrative acknowledges Harry\'s personhood and it\'s driven home how bad it is to make a person a Soul Jar, Nagini is treated like a just pet. We don\'t even know how she gets to that point yet. Does she have any agency, or any choice in what she\'s doing? If she doesn\'t, it\'s bad enough, but if she does, even if she is cursed, why does she stay with Voldemort? And even then, the problem is with Rowling, the producers, and the casting people seeing nothing wrong with a Korean woman being Wizard Hitler\'s pet for the rest of her life.

Then you said that people were complaining about Leta being a child of rape and were saying it was racist, even though it wasn\'t a statement on her race. You\'re right, it wasn\'t, but again, that\'s not what people were complaining about. They were complaining because a powerful white man raping a black woman after stealing her from her helpless black family simply because he was sexually attracted to her has very, very harmful links to slavery, because slavemasters did that to their slaves all the time. There is simply no way to sugarcoat that. And that\'s before the \"Tragic Mulatto\" trope, which Leta Lestrange is a perfect example of. Her father raped her mother but he didn\'t love Leta herself, people at school bullied her for being a Lestrange, she did something that got Newt thrown out of Hogwarts, so everyone in present-day except her fiance also hates her, her other half-brother hates her too, and then she sacrifices herself to save everyone and \"atone\" for her sins. She doesn\'t belong anywhere - Grindelwald even says this in the movie! - so she dies.

Nobody thinks Rowling was promoting racism, but these tropes are problematic. It\'s not Misaimed Fandom because Rowling\'s views and intentions aren\'t really the point here, so we\'re not misinterpreting them. The plot points are not bad things in of themselves, they\'re bad because of context, the history of women of colour in her works, and the wider implications of representation. I don\'t think we should have them up there because it\'s a little silly to say \"these fans are complaining about nothing\", but then later on down the page say \"actually here\'s proof of what they were complaining about\" in the Unfortunate Implications bit. The characters aren\'t racist, I don\'t feel Rowling is racist, but these tropes are.

[i-am-a-green-rock]

ok so i am engaging bc i genuinely want to understand why people don't like the quest and if i did this on twitter i would have to deactivate probably (fuck twitter)

i think instead of talking about a nebulous they (who's they anyway? the writers?), you should analyse scaramouche's character to see if him wanting to erase himself makes sense with his character. we've seen time and time again that he does not want to exist, has not wanted to exist, and as such, when given the opportunity to fulfill that desire he's held for so long, he will take it with his bare hands. the end of the quest points out that what people remember is not the same as what actually happened, so yes, he still did those terrible things, but no, people do not remember. i don't understand what you mean by copout. as i understood him erasing himself, it was something he has wanted to do since he left tatarasuna and that nameless child

him learning about niwa is important, i concede that, but do you really think that someone with such intense self worth issues wouldn't immediately blame it on himself? as he says later in the quest, he's hard on everyone, including himself. he has been blaming himself for his entire life, from the day ei abandoned him onwards, so he'd have internalized this instinct to blame himself over the 400 years or so of his existence.

there are a couple reasons why the traveler went to great lengths to see what the effect of scaramouche erasing himself from existence would do. the first one is to see if their friends are still the people they remember them to be, while the second is to see what people think the past is without scaramouche. but there are a couple of ways you can go thinking about the fact that the past didn't change all that much. the first is that it's fated to happen, which is what the story explicitly states. the second is that retroactively changing the past like that cannot occur in a way that somehow destroys the person you are today. it's the grandfather paradox. for these two reasons, scaramouche would never have succeeded in erasing himself, but it's also for these two reasons that the traveler needs to ensure that the past didn't change enough to affect the future. however it does not absolve his guilt or justify his actions because it's still unclear whether or not scaramouche's past existence would have affected those tragic fates. this is by design, but it's also what happens when you try to retroactively change the past (sorry I'm also a doctor who fan so i know a thing or two about time travel)

stressing out about him erasing himself is a you problem that i unfortunately have no good response to. i was quite happy for the traveler to realize that such an action is impossible not just in the laws of teyvat, but also the laws of time travel. i am of the opinion that more people would be dissatisfied with this quest if he had gotten amnesia because that feels like a much cheaper and lower stakes trope for such a highly anticipated character. discussing predictions for this quest with other people have shown me that there are definitely people out there who don't want him to have amnesia, especially as part of a quest that serves as a proxy beginning for a semblance of a redemption arc. also, we did get amnesia and reliving his memories. it was the basis of his quest domain

his death is up to you

nahida did say where she got those memories. the sages backed up his memories for leverage and she also kept her own records separate from irminsul before she prepared scaramouche to search irminsul. that was explicitly stated in the quest dialogue

given his background with his self worth issues and trust issues, i don't think it'd be realistic for him to suddenly realize that his mere existence is enough to prove his worth. it's not that simple. people in the real world struggle with similar issues, and it doesn't take just one conversation to get them out of that mindset. if you know more about cbt, you would know that one session isn't enough for a patient with symptoms as severe as scaramouche's. simply telling him that without forcing him to act on it or think on it will not be enough for him to change. but then again, this isn't actual cbt nor is nahida an actual therapist.

i think the point of the archon quest was to establish what wanderer needs to repay for and also improve upon, and that is a solitary pursuit. it's interesting to me that childe or kazuha not remembering him is a concern for you because it doesn't strike me as a particularly integral part of the quest. this quest was wholly scaramouche centric, which it should be. the ships you have have always been secondary. if you're sad about no more canon content, make your own content. who said you needed to follow canon to ship

but i digress

does it matter that there's no one to forgive him? does it matter that no one else can shoulder the burdens of his mistakes with him? does it matter that anyone but the traveler and wanderer himself notice that he changes? i don't think the answer is yes because he has never wanted the opinions of others like that. you could also argue that this is a subtle way of fanservice because the only person who can do any of that for wanderer is the traveler, but you have to remember that this is a gacha game. the point of this game is to sell you anime pngs. i think the point of that aspect of the quest was to make you, the player, be that person to notice his character development, remember his lore, and eventually decide whether you want to forgive him or not.

yes it is an evil ending for wanderer. yes it is objectively a depressing quest. but in the end, why do you think that is? i think it's because unlike ei, wanderer's story is supposed to be one where the only person that wanderer needs to forgive him is himself. with the rest of the world forgetting him, the only person left to forgive him is himself, and that, i think, is what makes the ending to this story so powerful to me. he is finally free

quest spoilers below

quite literally why the hell did they do that. like why did they do that. it felt so unnecessary. like, erasing his existence from the world. i dont know whether it actually altered the timeline, and he genuinely did not do those things, or if everyones memory of the events including his own were removed and replaced with a different story. but either way, it felt like such… a copout. like ohhh, he didn’t actually do these horrible things to people.

him learning about what actually happened to niwa… that WAS ENOUGH!!! like it was enough emotional manipulation from dottore to understand why scaramouche went back and killed everyone. ??? like , it felt so unnecessary to do all that.

BUT LIKE ??? oh my god. i know that it shows how scaramouche was fine with quite literally killing himself to correct his mistakes, and i understand that the quest is ultimately exploring how even if he tried to change the timeline, the events in tatarasuna could not be undone or avoided. but also… it just felt like such a freaking random, convoluted way to express that. i think it also… doesnt work to do that? because if anything, it’s like. “oh, it was going to happen anyway. even without my hand in it, it was going to happen. “ and almost CAN absolve guilt because it didnt matter what scara did or didnt do in that moment. like the evil thing he did… just didnt matter. which is awful, imo, bc the point of a mistake is that if you had not made it, things would have been different. like wtf??? like??? WHATTT ..

like, he couldve just as easily got amnesia or something after the fall. we couldve relived his experiences through him slowly remembering his past. and we couldve just extended kindness to him after learning about his past. like idk the whole erase myself from existence thing had me stressed. it reminded me of that horror game soma… where people copied their consciousnesses into computers and things and it was pretty clear that where that consciousness began was a completely new person, even if it was an extension of a past person.

i was like … did we just watch scaramouche *die*. I WAS LIKE DID MY BOYFRIEND JUST DIE IN FRONT OF ME????

i would also love to know how the hell nahida was able to restore his memories. did she ever say?? bc like how did she have all those memories if everything about him was erased by irminsul. WREAAARGHHHARGAHRH.

this would have been such a good story of scara learning that he has worth simply by existing nd that he doesnt have to be useful to anyone and that although he may be useful to the fatui and the fatui may be useful to him , that isnt enough to substantiate a real relationship… and a real relationship is what he wants. not the worship of being a god , not the power of a harbinger, bht just to have actual meaningful connections. he did these things because he wanted to b respected, to be valued. he tried to do it through being kind , and then he tried to do it through fear. i just want him to learn to do things not because he feels indebted to you or because he needs to make up for past mistakes. not because of a ledger of give and take in a relationship.. i want him to know that he HAS VALUE SIMPLY BY EXISTING. tbey just BRUSHED PAST THATT. they just TACKED IT ON AT THE END. its literally just nahida being like “ohhh… have you tried simply Not doing that? not thinking that way???”im so f ukign . ….. shit was like cbt. The therapy AND the cock ajd ball torture.

:( childe doesnt even remember him. a kazuha x scara meeting would mean NOTHING bc kazuha doesnt even know who he is. Im sick. what tf was the point of it all. What was the point of anything. not only does he have to shoulder every mistake he made, but he has to do it alone because no one remembers. no one can offer him forgiveness, no one will recognize the change in his character and tell him that theyre proud of him for coming so far… because no one remembers. that is so evil. Im tired yall . What was the point.

[worstloki]

You can't say he speedran the development by watching a few badly chosen snippets, and even if he did you're saying Show Loki is where Infinity War Loki was... which is where his dormant development should've been kickstarted by being beat up and manipulated further...??? You say he's raw/exposed/vulnerable but that literally doesn't serve any purpose in the show nor changes through it. He didn't learn to inspire, everyone around him began to side with Sylvie's goal to take down the TVA the same way he was inspired to. Except Loki being inspired comes from no personal conflict with the agency but because of the romance arc.

His "genuine friends and allies" are literally non-existent, so I'm not sure who you're referring to here... is this about Mobius who got along better with and issued an apology to Sylvie but not Loki or is this about Sylvie who constantly put him down and then didn't listen to him, which is a recurring factor in his life, or about the group who were rightfully skeptical about his plan and defected to Sylvie's the second she showed up (aww but look Kid Loki gave him a sword and told him he'd need it <3).

He didn't do anything to inspire his older self, and if he did what he did was limited to being a terrible horrible no-good worthless distraction for Allioth.

Loki didn't want the throne in Thor 1 and he was giving up the chance at the throne of Asgard in Thor 2 and he didn't try to lay claim to it once Thor returned in Thor 3. His "preference to save the universe" was annulled for Sylvie's right to revenge because his appeal to her in the last episode failed. Even if she still made the terrible mistake, there is no argument for him inspiring any change of mind. Sylvie wanted revenge because it was personal to her, she killed Kang regardless of the multiverse, the only thing he could have inspired here was any introspection which would have happened anyway once she had gotten her revenge in a mad dash of fury except that wasn't shown either, since that's where the show ends.

Please expand on how inspiring people cannot be taken away from him. So far what I'm getting is the show skipped developing him to show us a 'reformed' version while continuing to repetitively tell us Loki is Bad despite him not doing anything Bad.

His attempts at manipulation/lies/storytelling in the show if I recall correctly were all tragic failures while he himself kept falling for the worst version of him being painted by the words of others. His magic was used trivially or in instances where his removal from the story would have had no impact, even in comparison to other characters.

Loki has many titles in the comics but I do not believe God of Lacking Agency In A Narrative is one of them. If he's becoming the God of Stories I do hope it's done better than whatever pitiful scaffolding the show has left behind.

Wandavision retconning: while the Maximoffs were still experimented on, it’s revealed they were the only survivors because of deeply hidden magic abilities relating to the infinity stones, and doesn’t break the canon of the MCU

Loki retconning: the regal yet witty prince who’s been in 6 movies has actually been a clown all along, and if you think he has depth that’s your problem