#he literally has 2 minutes of screentime why do i care about him

[somelegobird]

I was bored and felt the need to create some kind of compilation or list so, uh

here's all the scenes (according to the fandom wiki) of this one security guard called Joey because I enjoy him

[charmwasjess]

For the character ask game — Dooku 2, 5, 23! aaand Rael 2, 12, 20, 25!

I'm breaking this ask up into two posts since you were SO, so generous as to give me lots of fun things to talk about!!! :D ❤️ I'm starting with Rael, since he has absolutely become one of my favorite Jedi characters and I want to tell you why.

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

SO MANY THINGS!

I love that literally the first thing he does the very minute he’s introduced is bearhug Dooku. I love that he treats Qui-Gon like a little brother and teaches him to swim. I love that he’s the most overt, direct example of Jedi lineage and Master + Padawan relationships being a family analogue. Not that others aren’t, but the way he outright says it, no metaphors or beating around the bush: Masters LOVE their Padawans, Padawans love their Master. It’s not training, it’s raising. 

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

My favorite is that Rael and Dooku’s early relationship as Master and apprentice was awful. Dooku is, like, this incredibly high strung, anxious perfectionist who is still almost a teenager when he takes on Rael, and has no idea what he’s doing. Meanwhile, Rael is a problem child who knows more curse words than Dooku does, is a LOT meaner, and mouths off to him constantly because it’s funny. Who even is this stuck-up knowitall who is probably just waiting for him to fail like everyone else?

Then one really bad day, in a string of bad days, Rael pushes Dooku too far, and he just… snaps. No, no lightning or shouting. Those big brown eyes slowly fill up with tears and he hurls himself in the refresher and locks the door. Rael knows he’s crying in there; he can hear him. They’re both appalled. 

After that, their relationship becomes the genuinely loving, affectionate one we see in the books. One, because Rael knows Dooku is actually human in there. And two, because he knows how deeply he actually cares about making him into the best Jedi and how desperately invested he is in his success.

20. Which other character is the ideal best friend for this character, the amount of screentime they share doesn't matter?

Rael and Anakin, if they didn’t immediately get into a fist fight, would be amazing. Anakin loves Qui-Gon, okay, meet Qui-Gon’s cool big brother. And since Rael was the oldest kid they accepted into the Order before Anakin (came in at age 5) and has had issues integrating with the Jedi, he could give him some real big lineage brother advice.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I was furious about him at first. He takes the place of Qui-Gon as Dooku’s first Padawan in old canon, and “clueless baby Dooku training Qui-Gon who is almost old enough to be his peer instead of his student” dynamic used to be my bread and butter. So initially, i was pretty put off that now that role is taken by some kind of weird cowboy talking asshole?!

Now, I love it. I’m so here for it. I’ll always love the old version, but I really like this too. He and Dooku are such opposites and it just works. And I love this pattern, between Rael, Sifo-Dyas, and Yoda, of Dooku being this formal, reserved person and the people he’s the closest to are complete playful, deeply affectionate goofballs.

Rael's just a wonderful character. Loving, flawed, complicated, strangely emotionally in tune for this lineage, and he fucks.

[dramashii]

This is Enemies to Lovers; CW: Till the End of the Moon

Youku is on a roll with its fantasy dramas. Earlier this year, The Starry Love aired and that was a hit. This time, I have watched the first 10 episodes of the recently premiered Till the End of the Moon and this is really exciting so far.  

Till the end of the moon is a 40 episode drama starring Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi. The pair have starred previously together in a modern drama called Love is Sweet and I found them great together there. In here, they play star-crossed lovers. Bai Lu's character, Susu is tasked to go 500 years back in time to kill Tantai Jin, the Devil God/Lord played by Luo Yun Xi to prevent him from annihilating the world. Because of this, a 3-lifetime love story starts.

Everything about this drama just screams budget. The costumes, the CGI, the set designs, the styling, all have been invested on which makes this show visually stunning.

The plot has been moving really quickly, but not to the point that it confuses its viewers. The first episode, itself was jam-packed. The show has been utilizing the constraint of 40 eps. There won't be a part 2 anymore, rather the watching time has been increased from 40 minutes to 55 minutes. I do not know yet if this is going to benefit the drama in the long run. To me, there are dramas that are better suited to have more episodes because of the complexities of their plot lines. I haven't read the original novel which this drama is based on, but I know it was long. Hopefully, they chose the best parts for this adaptation. This is going to be really angsty based on the trailers released. There is an enemy-to-lover situation going on which I'm definitely here for.

There are no boring moments when the main leads are on the screen. There are 2 other couples whose love stories are told in this drama. I will admit though, I do not care about them. For me personally, they're not interesting enough. When these other couples have screentime, usually I'm just counting down to the next moment when Bai Lu and Luo Yun Xi appears, because they're both literally the best part of the show.

This drama is a feast to the eyes, but the main highlight for me is definitely the portrayal of the main characters. Luo Yun Xi especially is a scene-stealer. He just fits playing Tantai Jin so much.

The eyes. That menacing look.

Tantai Jin is such an interesting being. The first few eps have really built the motivations of this character and viewers get to see a glimpse of understanding as to why he acts the way he does. He kind of reminds me of Dongfang Qingcang; he's the villain you want to root for. I do think Tantai Jin is more evil. He was literally born with an evil bone. Just when you think he can be redeemed, he does something absolutely sinister and he's not even sorry about it (unless of course if it's with the female lead lol). I've always believed that villains are the more fascinating love interests because they always do the extremes. Love for them is synonymous to obsession. I cannot wait to see how Tantai Jin go crazy for love.

Bai Lu's character is okay. Personally, I find her too cheerful sometimes for someone who literally had to go back in time to murder the perpetrator of the world’s destruction. I think she's not suspicious enough, but then again who can resist a villain with a tragic backstory (I can't.). So, can't really blame her. Bai Lu's portrayal of her is also fine. I really like how they style her. The headpieces are so pretty. I have read comments criticizing her use of a dubber. This is not really off-putting for me.

This drama isn't perfect, but overall, this drama definitely has potential. If this drama stays consistent as it is now, with it’s great CGI, styling, promise of an epic romance, and acting, this is going to be a fun and angsty ride. Can't wait!

[emblazons]

hi marie, its me again <3 the anon with byler doubt haha ... you made such great points! and tysm for such a thorough response.

I am SO CURIOUS how do you think they'll get Mike and Will together? I think that's the aspect that has me doubting the most because it feels so so MESSY and they can very easily mess it all up if they aren't careful.

Explaining Mike's internalized homophobia etc might be something too difficult to unpack in just one season, on top of everything else going on as well with the world literally ending. I also don't know what the point was of having Mike say he loved Eleven if it wasn't true, what do you think they were trying to achieve with that?

Do we truly think she'd be okay with breaking up with Mike? And if the answer is yes, how will that affect Mike and El's dynamic going forward, you think? Will they really not only break up milkvan, but leave elmike underdeveloped in favor of Byler?

I look at the Steve/Nancy/Jonathan love triangle and that has been a mess for seasons now and still no resolution, so I don't know how they'll do it for Mike and Will. I fear they'll go for the "easy route" (aka milkvan endgame) to focus on the supernatural and other characters more. Because if Byler is endgame I feel like they'd need to devote a great chunk of the season to them in order to explain wth is going on with Mike specifically + giving him closure with El.

I suppose something else that gives me doubt is how Mike and Will have been sidelined in these last few seasons to give more screentime/protagonism to other characters and dynamics, so I don't know if I can fully believe the Duffers care THAT much about romantic!Byler if that makes sense.

Hopefully this all doesn't sound overly pessimistic or something, I am genuinely curious about your thoughts in some of these more like looking for reassurance tbh! Especially after reading your response to my first ask <3 TYSM once again!!

hello again!

To be honest, you've got a lot of questions that require separate (and equally detailed) responses, but...let me see if I can briefly explain each, and maybe link to other analyses I've done that might help make sense of why I say.

note: some of these are just my frankest opinions unfiltered, but I do have analytical reasons for all of them. Your questions are also asking things it's taken several rewatches and a year to sort through so...apologies if you just get the simplest version of the idea delineated here haha. also, a cut, because this got really long.

1: How do you think they'll get Mike and Will together? Transparently? I'm not really all that into specifics, because expecting specific things means I'm going to fall into the trap of thinking I'm the one writing it when I'm not and then say The Duffers "lied" or "messed up" because I expected something they never put in there. That said—in terms of plain setup, they will need to address the painting because that was a critical plot point from damn near minute one of S4, and now it's become fully integrated with not only Will's feelings for Mike, but Mike's own sense of El's feelings for him.

Beyond that...I think El will need to be the one to initiate the "complete" breakup, because she's the one who wanted space in the first place, the one who is repeatedly having her romantic partner paralleled to parental and tragic figures, the one refuses to be vulnerable & who built lies into their relationship...and the one whose general arc centers around reclaiming autonomy and choice from the men in her life. I also think Mike will be the one to initiate the romantic aspect, if its not a bit mutual.

2: Mike's internalized homophobia etc might be something too difficult to unpack in just one season - I disagree. We managed to sort through introducing Will's romantic feelings and sense of his queerness in a single season just fine...and Mike has had queer-coding show up throughout every season if you know what you're looking for.

The fact that this boy already has a one way sign into his closet, has repeatedly yelled about "boys only" every season AND shows clear signs of male attraction already has most people (even the supposed 'GA') suspicious of his sexuality, and combined with his devotion to will + the wider context, there are plenty of ways to introduce the idea of him liking boys explicitly that don't require any intense delineation...unless you expect them to say "he's gay" out loud, which they didn't do when Robin came out, and still haven't done for Will either...despite everyone knowing damn well they're gay.

3: I also don't know what the point was of having Mike say he loved Eleven if it wasn't true - I think that most of the breakdowns I've done of parentified!mike make clear that the love he has for her is somewhat genuine...though its being written as misplaced familial love, because he spent so much time believing he needed "a girl" to assuage his insecurities.

While I absolutely lean toward a gay!Mike reading myself, it's still clear even without a label that Mike's love mirrors Hopper's more than it resembles any of the love given by potential romantic partners to other women across the show—and Mike, given that he was being told by Will that El needed him to say he loved her for her to win, did what he thought was necessary to help her.

I do not think his love for her is a lie—I simply think it isn't romantic, and has now been so conflated with something negative in El's mind that it wouldn't matter if he mean't it romantically anyway. That said: narratively, Mike had to say he loved El because unless the fullness of what was expected (an I love you) was accomplished, it would hang over the story and any relationship Byler might have. El needed to hear it...so she could reject it, which she did.

4: Do we truly think she'd be okay with breaking up with Mike? yes. I think El will be absolutely 300000% just fine being broken up with Mike lmao. She has Hopper back now (who she was mourning the loss of, and therefore looking to fill with Mike emotionally), on top of having Max's "there's more to life than stupid boys" at the fore of her mind saving her.

Mike is also paralleled to parental and abusive figures in El's mind, on top of the fact that she has been keeping him at an emotional distance for the entirety of S4. Given that she and Lucas will probably also get closer in the search for Max...I'm quite sure she's not going to take it as hard as people imagine, especially given the fact that we already know she was happiest in S3 when they were broken up.

I also don't have any expectation of ElMike being super close friends (beyond party bonds + civility) either, which...I mean if you are I apologize but. I don't see that happening in canon, so them being developed deeply as friends before the show ends is not important to me as a plot point, and doesn't really have any canonical backing considering their ongoing lack of platonic connection outside of the necessary + lack of common interest. That's even a note thematically in the show...which means its makes sense for them not to be that close by the end of the narrative.

5: Steve/Nancy/Jonathan love triangle and that has been a mess for seasons now and still no resolution, so I don't know how they'll do it for Mike and Will. Truth be told, that love triangle has a resolution—Nancy has chosen Jonathan, and continues to, even though she flirted with Steve when she felt lonely. Nancy's arc has always centered around choosing something different than her parents and has from S1—her brief flirtation with Steve aside, her loyalty to Jonathan hasn't changed, though they are absolutely not a perfect couple.

If anything, the end of S4 set up Jonathan and Steve learning to be friends less so than anything implying Nancy might choose Steve instead—Jonathan is finally in a narrative position to choose something for himself now which frees him up to be honest with Nancy, and even outside of that, Nancy is far more likely to end up with single than she is with Steve—which is the exact opposite of how they've set up Mike to be with Will rather than El over the course of the season.

6: I fear they'll go for the "easy route" (aka milkvan endgame) to focus on the supernatural and other characters more. I don't agree. The supernatual plot has always been well-integrated with the romantic elements in every couple across the board, from Mike's "first love lost" energy happening when El disappeared in S1, Lumax bonding in S2 in a fight with demodogs, Jancy's bonding across S2-3 happening in the lab seeing the gate, while Will was un-possessed, and while they fought the thing monster in the hospital....and Jopper in Russia fighting a demogorgon in S4.

The Duffers have never slacked in setting up their romances in conjunction with the supernatual plots, and there's no reason to think they're gonna start with Byler, especially given Will's mirroring of Vecna/Henry, the way the day his disappeared is the day the UD is frozen, and how he's the one who can sense him...while now having Mike glued to his side.

7: if Byler is endgame I feel like they'd need to devote a great chunk of the season to them in order to explain wth is going on with Mike specifically + giving him closure with El. The 5th season is going to bring all of the characters together again, and they've already said Will is central to that. I've written before about the reason why they had to sideline Will in their plot to make a narrative point, but regardless...like I said before, if you know how to read subtext, Mike being queer won't come as all that much of a surprise.

Note: I've done several (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) analyses on Mike and his arc, which might help.

Beyond that...again, I honestly don't think The Duffers care much to make ElMike besties like fanon seems to think they should be (they haven't done it with any of the other romantic couples they've broken up) so...closure can include civility and acceptance for them the way it did S2 Steve with Jancy, imo. What Mike needs most is to gain the courage to accept himself and realize he doesn't need a girl to assuage his insecurities—and him being casual friends with El the same way he is casually supportive canonically with Max makes more sense than trying to skirt over all the mess of their relationship for the sake of an attached fandom ☠️

—that was a lot to cover, but hopefully that cleared up my position on a lot of your questions? I would also encourage you to take a look at my ST commentary tag & analyses highlights list (soon to be updated again) and even my asks for more context, on top of maybe giving the show a rewatch in its entirety if you can.

Sidebar: I also encourage you to dig into my Duffer Brothers tag and commentary (see bottom of the page), because knowing who made the show is just as helpful as understanding the show itself.

Its really easy to get caught in other people's wants and headcanons for the show if you don't keep going back to it yourself, so—as lovingly as possible, I really do encourage you to just sit and watch it with the "byler knowledge" you have from users like me, your other fave analysts, and maybe some of the "old guard" like @kaypeace21, who was integral in my own development of opinions before I dug in for myself. If you're ever doubting, that's always your best bet.

That said: It's literally impossible to summarize a framework crossing nearly 37 hours of TV in a single ask (or even 20)...which is why I've got almost a year worth of posts about it (and have evolved my depth of understanding dramatically over time).

The same way you can't spark notes your way through a degree without missing a lot of context, even me saying this with evidence won't help a lot if you haven't dug into it yourself—and doubt will repeatedly creep in if you're trusting me over the show itself, even though the show is where I've pulled all this from lmao.

—this got really long, but....I hope it helped. And again, sorry if I seemed short anywhere lmao. This was a lot to cover. Still, as always, thanks for the ask!

[sonicunleash]

SONIC PRIME SPOILERS FOR SEASON 1 (THIS IS LONG. THIS IS LITERALLY ALL MY INITIAL THOUGHTS.)

OKAY SO FIRST OFF. GOD. Everything with new yoke is so so good. By far out of the universes they made new yoke a very very engaging one-- all the characters feel complex and thoughtful and it's not just a one-off universe. You care about their plight and while circumstances have changed them as people, theyre all still believable and complex like you can see why they've become this way. They dont feel like theyre being forcibly FIT into their roles in new yoke if that makes sense.

On that note, god Nine is so good and CARRIES when he has the focus. He's such a good introspective on Tails, and his deeper feelings and who he is without sonic, who he would be if he had to make it on his own. They do a wonderful balance of showing he's been forced to "grow up" because of the eggman empire, while also showing that he's still just.... a really lonely 8 year old who thinks the world is against him. So when sonic shows up and reaches out to HIM, gives him the first good connection he's had... he clings to it and clings hard. But he's new to connections and friends and doesn't really understand yet how to work them I think. So when sonic doesnt make it to save him, when sonic can't stay in the grim because he has other friends to save, nine takes it personally. It's all just. so so well done and in my opinion, out of all of the introspections they try to do with sonic's friends-- the most faithful, heartfelt, and engaging one. Which, is somewhat a given since it seems like Nine is going to remain a major, overarching character, along with the rest of new yoke.

ANYWAYS. Nine and New Yoke aside, I think another thing sonic prime is doing well so far is building up stakes with its main plot. Its not throwing nonsensical plots twists at you, but just builds in this great steady way that you're putting the pieces together on the situation the same time the characters are, and realizing just how deeply things are getting fucked. It's been REALLY engaging on that front and I'm happy for it.

But uhm. On a different note, the universes outside new yoke were.... lackluster. Both try to delve into another one of sonic's friends, and their feelings and sonic's relationship with them, but I think like... In the writers' heads right now, new yoke is the "main" plot heavy universe, and the others are one-off side universes that exist only as stepping stones to forward it. And you can... tell. Neither of the other universes' storylines are as engaging, and none of the alternates of the characters have the thought and depth that the new yoke ones have. And I think it kind of hurts the storyline, cause, well. You can tell. They WANT to engage you emotionally with amy and knuckles' nuances but they just fall flat and lose that impact theyre going for.

And god dont get me started on thorn and the jungle universe. That was just the biggest waste of what. 2? 3 episodes? I ever watched. I could not fucking care about that plot at all.

Uhm what else.... Well I think shadow is done... alright. He's being helpful, or, well, an ally (kinda hard to be helpful when youre a Void Ghost allowed only like 2 minutes of screentime), rather than a pointless obstacle, and his anger at sonic has reasoning behind it. His voiceacting also isn't as terrible as I thought. It's still not Right but its not kirk thornton-- and doesnt have that overexaggerated roughness. He is still very obviously sonic primes hype man though. He's got something going on, and clearly they want to do some kind of plot with him, but over the course of the 8 episodes he gets a little... repetitive. He kinda just relays the same thing to sonic every time we see him. Like Okay Sonic Fucked Up is Shadow going to just keep telling sonic that or is he gonna like. help.

I guess we'll see. I gotta be honest until that ball gets rolling im more invested in Nine and whatever happened there with Rusty Rose seeing Black Rose. someone please help rusty

[savingthrcw]

-I'm just going to say that I'm at the very beginning and I completely understand Eloise, because honestly, imagine feeling like your only and best friend since childhood has been keeping SO MUCH from you, not just Lady W. but her own feelings for your brother? Which is why she looked so heartbroken instead of straight up mad now (and in my threads before this ep she was straight up mad-hurt because she already expressed the pain before). I relate because my bond with my friends are as strong as a bond can be and it destroys me to lose one, whenever it happens in life

And I'm glad that Pen agreed Colin should know the truth (but to me it's not about the fact that she can't be loved by him if he doesn't know her, it's about him being allowed to consent properly since he has no idea of who she truly is)

-Anthony is just. gone. completely all over Kate. I love him with all my heart for this. I need Kate to be more enthusiastic too because yes I know she's calm because happy but I miss the spitfire from season 2? THEY ARE SO HAPPY I'M SO HAPPY FOR THEM, took Anthony 2 seconds to go back into big brother who has to know everything though

-LOVING Hyacinth and her screentime already

-Eloise spiraling because of Penelope and boring Cressida tho. and OOOHHHH the Lord Greer arranged marriage LITERALLY following my plots of having her parents be absolutely horrible and pick a really old man. This is the beginning of any shippy threads for her in my blog btw, with her running from this

-I adore how Benedict and Anthony were giving SWEET advice to Colin like ?? go tell her???? the nice things you just said??

-I swear I'll ship Benedi.ct with anyone except the woman she's with right now

-oh my god Portia and Pen. My heart is breaking for Pen already. I do think Portia has her best interest at heart, but in such a shitty execution. Also Penelope is stupidly gorgeous.

-Colin fighting for her oh my goood PENELOPE HAS TO GO TELL HIM THE TRUTH NOW. CALMLY. BEFORE HE FINDS OUT. NOW.

-Also Colin legit worrying that Penelope's sad face is because maybe she doesn't like their new home and then trying to take care of her like 'is this because we are alone' he's so ??

-I still wonder how comfortable the actresses are with the near constant nudity in this show though I won't lie. I know men are naked too but uh it's a pity I cannot enjoy these scenes the way I know people do, I just want to fast forward to the plot lol I do always where this fixation for 'this will hurt, I can't help it, but only the first time' like guys. I understand if you want them to be operating on the information it's reasonable to have and think it MUST hurt the first time, but then they'd also should know it doesn't magically stop hurting the next ones unless you prepare a LOT and she's super relaxed that fast? yes that's all I have to say but also I'm sorry I'M SORRY I know they were caught in the moment of water, but Pen going as far as risking pregnancy before even telling him who she really is, knowing damn well he'd have a right to say 'no I don't want this anymore' was a weird choice. It will also make the reveal itself worse, I think, for a romantic guy like Colin who is giving his heart again after being almost tricked by Marina who 100% intended to tell him her baby was his, hence the hurry?

-Francesca chatting so much oh my god I love it, if they follow the book it's going to break my heart

-Eloise sitting alone watching out of the window is me after every deep friendship breakup, she really did enter her depression era huh I can't believe they finally let her interact with Kate!

-PENELOPE WAS GONNA SAY BUT GIRL SAY IT LONG BEFORE THEN?? DAMN IT. I want for her to say it and for Colin to need a minute and then ask reasonable questions, her reasons behind the issues against her family, and then they can properly get together with no more secrets

-5000pounds reward… Cressida should claim that book-style but also at the same time, given that Lady W. was a lot more 'mean' in the show she'd risk her life for sure? and reputation, it would be all gone for her so maybe not??

-I love that Colin isn't immediately aggressive to Eloise tho. Because of the whole 'you knew we were at odds and you still went behind my back' which okay, I can see siblings fighting over this.

-Poor Eloise, even now I can see her as a kid wanting to be a knight and being told she couldn't even take sword lessons like her brothers, people really do underestimated how limited she is considering how free she wants to be. And being left "alone" while everyone else finds love, the show!Theo thing must hurt een more.

-Cressida's future husband, they truly picked a ridiculously horrible guy to reflect just how bad HER parents are, I feel like even Portia would be against this by the end of their talk. I will totally incorporate this horror into anyone who wants to write a rescue for her.

-Portia: and here's my son to be I felt Colin's soul just depart for a second

-Lady Danbury staring at her brother with murder in her eyes because he's clearly too close to Violet is insane i love it

-ooohhhhhh FRANCESCA trying to make Lord Kilmarting have a conversation an d it's so awkward and I love them with all my heart, Anthony is baffled by this, I can feel it, especially because Francesca seems thrilled by it

-it's such a strange place to be in, this show, because I can truly relate to each character, I love Pen and I want her to be happy, and I am absolutely on Eloise's side that I'd KILL a woman for trying to get with my brother without telling him she's basically a criminal

-so interested in Cressida being framed constantly alone after Eloise basically ignored her drama

-anthony screams at charades is the most ic thing in the world. LILACS

-please can we keep Lord Kilmartin

-I LOVE that like when I write her despite me being canon divergent and all, Cressida would be willing to never marry instead of marrying someone thrice her age both in the show AND my blog

-I wonder if Pen literally passed out because her clothes are tight because as far as I know a panic attack won't drop you, unless, of course, there are other circumstances like it's super hot outside or you are having trouble breathing for other reasons?

Okay watching 3x05, spoilers and no i won't live-comment EVERY episode, just this one because I had the time. also I cannot hate MORE that all the episodes are out at the same time because I'd like to PAUSE and watch slowly but force binging is the only way to avoid spoilers

[onesheeptwosheepandachicken]

Why do you defend the writers so much? I’m not saying they deserve to be harassed, but criticizing them and their decisions shouldn’t be treated the same way as RWDE harassing fans of the show.

Eddy literally only cares about Qrow. He treats him like a self insert, just like Kerry and Monty treated Jaune in V1. Before V7 started Eddy said his favorite characters to wrote were Qrow and Weiss, but Weiss barely got anything in Atlas. Not to mention how during the Grimm Campaign he played Qrow and treated him like a celebrity. Then during an AMA after V8 he said that Qrow was his favorite, not mentioning Weiss at all, which to me says he doesn’t care about the main characters.

Noah? IT IS YOU.

You harassed me in DMs yesterday trash-talking the writers.

Now you spam my ask box as an Anonymous.

"Eddy literally only cares about Qrow. He treats him like a self insert, just like Kerry and Monty treated Jaune in V1."

1. Jaune repeatedly is shown being useless or unable to keep up with the female characters. 2. He loses nearly every 1 on 1 fight he's in, to where even Weiss gets more Wins against him. 3. He gets rejected by every woman.... 4. He does NOT have a relationship. 5. He has friendships he actually built by being genuinely helpful. 6. He is not cool or awesome. 7. Where everyone has cool stuff...he just has a sword... 8. Last, and I need you to pay attention? HE IS NOT A MAIN PROTAGONIST...that goes to Team RWBY.

Jaune is NOT Miles Luna's self-insert...he's YOUR self-insert when RWDE is making a shitty fanfic where Jaune is the main protagonist.

A self-insert gets most of the screentime...Jaune and Qrow BOTH get less screentime than the main characters who are the women...in fact, Qrow actually gets LESS screentime during v7 and v8 than he did in previous volumes...and Eddie was involved...so HOW is he a self-insert again?

Oh right, neither are self-inserts, but you keep throwing that word around because it feels right in your anti-CRWBY spewing mouth.

"Before V7 started Eddy said his favorite characters to wrote were Qrow and Weiss, but Weiss barely got anything in Atlas."

1. Weiss had multiple times the amount of screentime that Qrow had in Atlas both in V7 and V8....at least 1.5 hour+ of screentime. 2. She got Jacques arrested. 3. She defended Blake from a Racist. 4. Defeated Marrow of the Ace Ops one on 1. 5. Made up with her brother. 6. Helped Design the portals to evacuate Atlas. 7. Coordinated plans with Winter to defeat Ironwood. 8.Helped Ruby and Penny with Amity.

What did Qrow do?

1. Get and lose a male love interest.

2. Get into just two fights that he could not win one on one.

3. Talk to Ruby about Summer.

4. Have some screentime with Robyn, that was barely 15 minutes across 1 volume.

5. Fought the ace ops.

6. He barely had 30 minutes of screentime across two volumes.

"Then during an AMA after V8 he said that Qrow was his favorite, not mentioning Weiss at all, which to me says he doesn’t care about the main characters."

Context my dear hater? If we were to hear the actual question, and the actual answer, your hate would be picked apart faster than a conservative media outlet being called out on its BS. Didn't Eddie help with Writing Weiss, who continues to be Best Girl in V8, while Qrow barely was anything in v8. Dude...You are acting like a Fox News Journalist....

So...WHY do I defend the writers so much?

Because people like you make up so much bullshit about the writers, that it has to be debunked, piece by piece.

But seriously...WHY THE HELL did you say that RT should be held accountable for Vic Micnogna's actions?

THEY FIRED HIS ASS....and others too for those actions.

Then again, so did Funimation and Conventions...

But why aren’t you pursuing them?

Oh right...they’re not Rooster Teeth...so anything they do is Fair Game for somebody like you so obsessed with hating RT and CRWBY.

I pity your Wrath....and your refusal to educate yourself against being a hater....if you can even do that at all.

[garrothromeave]

let’s talk about minecraft diaries rebirth.

and why it’s literally amazing. (warning: this will contain spoilers. lots of them. also, long post ahead.)

i think a lot of people hate mcdr because they were expecting a remake; but the point of rebirth is for jess to rewrite it. it wasn't supposed to be exactly the same.

honestly i went into mcdr with a closed mind. as an og mcd fan, i thought that this was going to suck ass and that i'd rant about how bad it was to my friends later. but actually watching it, i just... couldn't help but immediately fall in love with it.

ik im probably the only motherfucker that likes mcdr, but honestly how could i not? for one, garroth and zenix actually have personalities at the beginning. AND; the villagers? actually amazing. donna made me smile, visher made me laugh and cry, brendan was just bein as good as ever. like... i even didn't despise emmalyn with every ounce of my soul like i usually do?? the characterizations of them were GOOD, man.

and honestly, aphmau like--the way she spoke, her whole thing. it was reallyyy well done in my opinion. she was oblivious to things, but it wasn't overdone and wasn't done in a way to make her annoying. she's a very appealing character in mcdr, a main protagonist i do not mind following along with. her dynamics to the characters are really cool and all very unique.  gonna cut it here so i don’t clog y’all’s feed cuz i got a lot to say :)

the early use of aphmau’s powers was actually pretty cool as well, it also really showed how clueless aphmau really was to everything going on around her. AND UH, THE FACT THAT SHE THOUGHT THAT GARROTH FELT FAMILIAR? GOLDEN. absolutely golden.

AND GENE OH BOY, the early introduction of gene? ik a lot of people are upset about it, but god DAMN i love it so much. his role in the story is very important in original, and i cannot express how much joy this brought me learning that he was actually getting the proper attention for it. and the fact that gene and aphmau were working together?? i mean ik gene was just trying to use her to get back to the "shadow abyss" (pretty pog replacement for the nether, gg) but god DAMN i loved every moment of it. i found their dynamic to be pretty fuckin funny to be honest, would absolutely love to see more of it.

i might be biased considering gene is one of my absolute favorite characters, but i honestly think that introducing gene this early on in the story was a good move. again, he's literally the right-hand man to the shadow lord. it makes you really wonder why he didn't have as much of an important role in season 1 or even 2 of the original mcd plotline. also, we get some of that good-ol-fashioned exposition with seeing early on how vylad and gene interact. vylad’s at a very strange point in the story right now; his motives are unclear, even to the side he’s ‘supposed’ to be taking (aka, a shadow knight.)  another early introduction to a character is zane! this, my friends, is good. really good. i’d say that zane is the main antagonist of season 1 in the original series--and he wasn’t even introduced until like, episode 50. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, but him being introduced this early on really gives the audience a better understanding of what threats are out there and what our protagonist will have to encounter in the future. in the original series, there’s not much explanation as to why lords are disappearing/dying left and right--and while yes, that was supposed to be the mystery of it, having some of that early information is a better move in terms of writing. 

AND IVAN?? BEING A PART OF THE JURY OF NINE?? I COULD NOT HAVE ASKED FOR ANYTHING MORE LIKE GOD DAMN that was a very pleasant surprise i'll just say that, thank you jess :)

and no i did not loop the 4 minutes of screentime laurance got in that one episode haha who would do that i would never do that anyways

SPEAKING of laurance, im so glad jess actually wrote him in this early :) she totally could have just waited for the first time aphmau visits meteli and meets him there, but no! she put him in an early episode. i dont even care if she did it just to shut up the fans about laurance but man that made me so happy seeing him, even if it was only for a bit.

okay i kinda wanna go over the guards real fast firstly; garroth. ignoring how weird the helmet showing emotions is, i really like how garroth is portrayed. he's under a lot of pressure because the village is putting a lot of the blame on him for malik's death, and he's trying his hardest to keep things running. the fact that garroth utterly refused the to take up the position of lord and even got a little snappy about it was actually really cool to see as well. and while he doesn’t have that same “reserved, quiet, observant” feel as the original mcd version of him had, this version of garroth is absolutely awesome. he’s more direct and blunt, is significantly more sarcastic, and isn’t as stiff or as much as a pushover as he is in the original. he even has a sense of humour. also, no homo, but he’s kinda adorable.  plus, the desperation that he goes through during the whole thing is just--it’s really cool to see how hard he’s trying to prove himself and help the village. my rating for mcdr garroth? 9/10. the helmet... the helmet is the main thing throwin me off, i can’t lie. next, zenix. oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this man. first of all, his and garroth’s dynamic is incredible. when i saw how the interacted with each other, my first thought was: father and son. zenix has this immaturity to him that is so fucking fun and interesting to watch, and seeing how garroth scolds him is so fuckin good man. and! seeing how he interacts with the rest of the village... honestly, if jess ever picks this story up again, i would probably cry when zenix (literally) backstabs garroth. HELL, i hope that’s something that still happens, it’d be heartbreaking to witness this character that we’ve come to love hurting his mentor, the man who took him in. he’s just a really good character all in all, and much more appealing than the original mcd zenix. ...except season 3 zenix. no zenix can be better than that one.  either way, zenix is amazing written to be the comic relief and he’s just an all-out lovable character in this series.  finally, dale and brian. yes i’m going to group them up because there’s not much to say regarding them, but i do want to address them. for starters, we have brian; who’s already 16 when the story starts. good on jess for doing that, because in the original aphmau watched brian be born and age INCREDIBLY quick, haha. THOUGH i do feel like there’s a slight connection lost there--one of the hardest things about brian’s betrayal in the original series in the fact that we watched him grow up in phoenix drop. we were there from the moment he was born, to the second he betrayed phoenix drop. BUT OF COURSE, this version is a lot more realistic, so it’s understandable. i just think that if it’s brian who’ll be betraying phoenix drop again (if it even goes down that same route), it won’t hit as hard unless jess really takes the time to grow the connection between brian and aphmau.  as for dale; gotta admit, love it. and like, i think one of the main things about how good of a call it was to make him a drunkard from the beginning is considering how much the village is struggling. the fact that the second-in-command is literally drunk all of the time really conveys the message of, “yeah. this village needs help.” plus, he’s another good comic relief character. i loved seeing molly and dale’s relationship too, it was very funny.  PLUS. we were blessed with a well scene, in which aphmau had to help villagers out of the well. i don’t know about you guys, but that was one of my favorite nods to the original series. i cannot thank jess enough for that, there was a smile on my face the entire time. another amazing thing--visher’s character. instead of just being introduced to this quirky lil merchant who only had one or two interactions with aphmau like in the first one, we got to sit there and really get a feel for someone worth remembering and worth mourning over. we had a reason to be sad over his death, it wasn’t just some npc getting blown up suddenly. this was different, and this hurt.  one of the major things that i hope is to come out of this is for jess to fix the major mistakes she had when writing the first series. she’d expressed how unhappy she was with some of the decisions she made, and i’m glad that she’s getting that second chance to undo the things she didn’t like. this series also gives her a second chance to really, really dig into characters and their motives. like, gimme laurance backstory in better detail. or like, garroth and zane’s relationship from back when they were kids? or how vylad died and who killed him? etc etc. she’s already done an excellent job so far, and i can’t wait to see where this goes. that is, if she ever continues it. god, i wish there were more episodes so that i could seriously let you guys know how beautiful of a series this is. there’s so much i want to say about rebirth, but i think i’ll stop here. i might say some more shit about it later, but if there’s anything i’d want you to take away from this, it’s: give minecraft diaries rebirth a chance. there’s a lot of potential, and this is a chance for jess to really change things for the better! ... but again, that is if this ever is continued. 

[dragynkeep]

Hi there, ironpines! (Love the name btw, I read a really good fic about ironwood being a father-figure to Oscar when RWBY and co. get to Atlas).

So this is probably going to be very long but I’ve really gotta vent about some stuff.

(Also, first ask. I honestly didn’t know how to do this for the longest time. Just got back into tumblr a bit ago).

1. I hate Jaune Arc (a lot of people do), but I want to know why. Do you think/believe he’s an author’s pet? Also, why the HELL did he kill Penny in the first place?!? Why not Winter, Nora, or Ruby? Why did he have to go to the island? Just- WHY?

2. In the first three volumes I really liked Team RWBY, but now….how did they get so skewed? What went wrong? How can Ruby be THAT arrogant that she point-blank says to Qrow: “we never needed an adult’s help.” Like- yes you did! If not for Qrow killing the Grimm in v4 they would have been continuously fighting Grimm. I’m the fight against Tyrian (one of my favorite characters and favorite fights) if not for Ruby getting in the way Qrow wouldn’t have been POISONED!

3. (This is the one I’m going to get cyber-ly killed for). (I also had just started RWBY when volume 5 was airing weekly.) The beginning of Volume 5, in my opinion was good. I liked the first five-six chapters, but when AU watched ‘Rest and Resolutions’ V5C7, I was so angry! Everything about the conversation between Ruby, Weiss, and Yang felt so out of character and out of place. It was so bad and the next episodes following that were not good either (only the raven v cinder fight was any good). The battle of Haven was a train wreck that I honestly have no idea how I even retained braincells after that. Like- why KEEP teasing Weiss v emerald if you aren’t going to do anything with it. Why tease Mercury v Yang if you’re not going to do anything new and interesting with the two (Mercury isn’t even a character anymore!)

4. I wish we got good rep. I really wish we didn’t get confirmation on LGBTQ+ characters from supplemental material (that’s not even canon). And I’ve gotta ask, why do you consider cannon? Cuz for me, the only things I consider actually CANNON to the storyline are the Red, White, Black, Yellow Trailers and the show itself (Grimm Eclipse just for the sake of more cool lore about Mountain Glenn and the fact of mutant Grimm). That’s it. I don’t consider the World of Remnants, manga (DC or otherwise, those were HORRIBLE!), anthologies, and the DISGUSTING novels.

(This is the last thing, I promise!)

5. I’m working on a quasi-rewrite RWBY fic and I didn’t know whether or not I should post the first chapter on my page or not. I just really don’t want the simps to come for my head (though it might happen anyway). But I’ve been writing this for about a year and a half now and I really want to post it but I’m so nervous about the reception and backlash. What do you think?

Thanks for answering me and indulging the fact that it’s okay to like something and still want it to be better (critics/the Rwde tag is my favorite because I can read opinions that I mused share but are too scared to put as a post).

Thanks, we picked Ironpines because we loved Ironwood and Oscar, and then our friends, being the good friends they are, immediately told us it was the ship name for them so now we can't have anything nice.

1) First off, yes, we absolutely think Jaune is an author's pet. We don't really go for self-insert anymore since everyone in RWBY was a self-insert, Monty clearly based them off his friends. But now, Jaune is absolutely an author's pet and has been since the start of the show.

Just look at Volume 1. Jaune literally had more of a storyline than Yang, one of the girls in the title. He then went on to have a dumb love triangle in V2, only to resolve it with Neptune without any input from Weiss, because why not, and then V3 was Jaune finally taking more of a step back for Pyrrha, who was long over due some character.

Until V4 where, rather than everyone mourning Pyrrha, we focused on Jaune mourning her instead. Nevermind that Pyrrha was Ren and Nora's teammate too, probably their only family since they're orphans, or how Ruby literally watched Pyrrha die in front of her. Nope, gotta focus on Jaune. Add that it stretches into V5 also, adding another storyline about his Semblance while Ren, Nora, and Ruby have to stand in the background and wait their turn, while Weiss literally loses all her braincells so she's injured for Jaune's development, how the confrontation with Cinder doesn't go to Ruby, the main protagonist, but Jaune.

Then we get that stupid statue scene in V6 that took over Oscar finally getting some development of his own. It's not even the whole team, because it's only Jaune that gets to meet the lady who totally isn't Pyrrha's mother, it's Jaune that gets the big teary moment, and how Ren and Nora have to stop and comfort Jaune because of course they have to.

I was glad that Jaune finally took a backseat in V7. I actually started to like him again, because he wasn't sucking screentime away from those who need it. But then V8 happened and now I want him dead.

I've said it countless times before so I don't wanna repeat myself, but Jaune is one of the last people that should've killed Penny. He shouldn't have killed her, he shouldn't have had the big tearful scene because another redhead died, he shouldn't have fallen into the void to join Team RWBY, but he did. Now there's no doubt in my mind that Jaune is a fucking author's pet, because the writers won't let him go into the background where he belongs.

2) There's not much to say about Team RWBY. They just suck now.

3) After watching V8, V5 is no longer my least favourite volume. That's how bad it was.

4) Yeah, RWBY's rep is absolute trash and it's because they keep putting it in supplemental material, and also because they look at the LGBT and only see L. The only MLM we have is Scarlet, and he's a catty fae gay stereotype that is so unlikeable and voiced by a creep. Nevermind the whole Fairgame queerbait controversy because this company can't stop themselves for five minutes.

5) I always say that, when you post work on the internet, whether its art of writing, you have to understand that you will get criticism back. It'll suck, especially when you've put so much time and effort into something, but that's the risk you have to take as a content creator.

The good thing is that AO3 has features that let you manage what you see properly. If people just want to hate without giving proper criticism, you can always remove it and ignore it, but I personally believe that people aren't entitled to criticism when it's only said nicely. Sometimes, people will get annoyed and say it in a meaner way, but that doesn't make the criticism any less valid.

Either way, decide based on how you think you'll react to it. If you don't want the stress of criticism, be careful, but if you think you can handle it? Then go for it, the world's your oyster.

[dalasteller]

shadow and bone spoilers! malina/mal fans this is not for you but it’s not pro-darklina either. i’m an alina x alina supremacist

so, somehow, the show made me like book!malina more than show!malina after weeks of thinking the opposite would be true. i don’t even like book!mal/malina, but my neutrality towards them is nothing compared to how much i detested show!malina.

I WANTED THE TV SHOW TO MAKE ME LOVE THEM. the trailers made me think i would!!! i'd heard screeners and reviewers talk about this epic love story that transcends everything—these two people who would do anything for each other—and i don't disagree, they definitely would. i just wish they would shut the fuck up about it.

sorry.

looking back, i'd rather the show gave us mal with flaws, who wasn't perfect to alina, who would die for her, but still said the wrong thing and flirted with other girls and was afraid of her power at first. archie did a great job. he just couldn't make me love mal, and neither could the writers opting to make him main character no. 2 and alina’s prince in shining armour who supports her endlessly and has never done anything wrong in his life ever. writers, please, why did you think that was a good idea? when i said i wanted a more likeable mal, i meant i wanted his flaws accompanied by positive traits, by compelling backstory, by personality outside of being alina's hot best friend who never noticed her. i didn't mean i wanted a guy who could be wrapped in a gift box and sold as a robo-boyfriend designed for romance.

no, i mean, they really did write him that way.

what i definitely didn't mean i wanted was over an hour of the show dedicated to watching mal’s perspective of hunting the stag and making besties with his military bros and writing letters to alina and getting shot at a bunch of times instead of letting the book characters who were already beloved by fans get the screentime they deserved. what i wouldn't do to have gotten more genyalina and well-written zoya instead of mal dissecting deer shit...

you would think with how much talk about malina basically being soulmates, childhood flashbacks, fighting and nearly dying for each other at least four times (and did i mention more narration about being soulmates?) that i would take the bait and just let malina set sail. but this show held me at gunpoint for eight hours straight and told me that these two are going to have the same cultural influence as new romeo and juliet and that if i disagree i am going to be killed on the spot. because of this, i have now died.

don't tell me what to do, narrative, because i'm not going to do it!

i am also annoyed that they took the time to redesign mal in perfect childhood-friends-to-lovers dreamboat fashion but refused to retcon zoya's stupid misogyny-fueled bitchy YA girl arc and instead made it even worse by having her be racist to alina? what was the thought process there? they seriously fucked her over. i tried to pretend it didn't happen moving forward but why do they want to use racism as a tool for developing a "bully" character anyway, especially a woc? am i meant to forget about it? they lost me there. i feel like the female characters, with the exception of inej, generally weren't given the same care the male characters were. there was a lot of sidelining in favour of mal's redemptive rewrite and the darkling's 15 minutes of half-assed backstory and crying in every scene for some reason. “make me your villain” .... okay, simpboy, i’ll try my best.

i've already talked about why i hated mal's role (i clarify his role, not his character, because there was literally nothing wrong with him and that’s why i hated him so much) but i'm going to address it from the perspective of my love for alina and why i think this decision was so disrespectful to her. alina in the books was already in need of more characterization, time for herself and her internal development as opposed to her relationship with the three male love interests she acquires through the series. somehow this show took a main character already underused in her own story (though at least the books are told from her pov) and neglected her even further. alina is tied almost entirely to her male counterparts, mal especially, but i'd say the darkling is used as a narrative rebound. i think they both have chemistry and can serve a purpose in the story but the emphasis on codependency is impossible to ignore.

in the first four episodes, every scene that could have been alina struggling to settle into a new life and dealing with the emotional weight of her pressure as a saint was instead about mal. she writes him letters, and cries over him, and slips him into conversations that have nothing to do with him, and gets sad after slipping him into conversations that have nothing to do with him, and can't use her power because she's thinking of him, and then only decides to fully accept her power because of his absence.

alina's feelings are lended to nothing but her missing mal. he isn't just her best friend and love, he's this colossal piece of her identity that she doesn't get to exist without, even when he's gone. the show's exhaustive attempt to make mal loveable and make malina an epic love story turns our female protagonist into a sulking, miserable shell of a character everytime he's mentioned, which, by the way, is like, every two minutes. and apparently it's necessary to draw parallels to the same three flashbacks in all of them. i knoowwwwwwww, they held hands and now they can't anymore, i knowwww. they ran through a meadow, i knowwwwwwwwwwwwww.

watching her scenes almost drove me to printing out a bechdel test and ticking off as many boxes as possible.

i hated it. it made me sad.

i wanted more alina. i want her power to be her own. i wanted that tension between her and mal in the books because his flaws gave her a chance to stand up for herself and say that she liked being powerful. that summoning is a part of her and she would never give it up. that there was a tinge of corruption, of greed, of wanting to be the sun summoner, and it was intriguing! mal's issue of not accepting alina's power allowed her to express how much it meant to her. i wanted the alina who said "the night was velvety black and strewn with jewels. the hunger struck me suddenly. i want them, i thought." i wanted a hint of the sun summoner who decided when it got dark and relished in it (yes i know this can be expanded upon in s2). alina has a cocky side, her insecurities are explored and she finds strength in her new gift and eventually has to find strength outside of it, but in the show the catalyst to her powers is mal. always. is it romantic? sure. but it's hard to enjoy the romance when all we see of alina is her romantic connection to mal. can't she be more than that?

[bon-nii]

There's literally no stakes in the anime at all. Its so bland and emotionless. I don't feel anything for these characters. Everything is being handed to them. Give me back my son, Adam. He is far more intelligent than any of these anime characters. They all drank stupid juice.

Yeah, I definitely agree. I'm just watching to see where this ends up at this point (and also to shitpost lmfao)

Every Thursday me and two of my friends (one has read most of the manga, the other is anime-only) watch it on discord, or talk about it on discord and man... my friend who is anime-only is like "yeah, this sucks ass, I need to just read the manga" and is confused with stuff. We just kinda clown on it at this point. It's basically just someone's shitty canon-divergence AU playing out on screen.

Random assortment of thoughts:

I can sympathize with Manga Norman. I can understand WHY he is doing what he is doing and what his motivations are. It is, quite frankly, completely disgusting what he wants to do, but I can get why he wants to do it and I don't hate him. He is a very complex character, trying to make sense/live in a very complex world. Anime Norman on the other hand? I feel nothing for him like, I just Do Not Care. Norman is, imo, the best written out of the three mains and my personal favorite, but they've completely squandered his writing... ugh

I've held strong by this belief: If you are going to adapt TPN, there are 3 major characters who you *cannot afford* to mess up. Isabella, Yuugo, and Norman. (I'd even throw Peter and Leuvis in there as well) Well, Yuugo's gone and if they *do* decide to have him show up his character is completely different (i.e. the out of character note he leaves at the bunker). Norman has next to none of the depth he had in the OG story (I can't remember, but didn't Cislo or Barbara say that he saved the kids at the mass production plants? Uhhh, what?!?!). And Isabella is being built up as the big villain YET AGAIN which does not align with her development at all (though I do think they will still pull a bait-n-switch on us like in the manga) so there goes that.

Peter and Leuvis oh where do I start? Leuvis is my personal favorite villain of the story for multiple reasons (I think I will write an entire post on him sometime) and Peter is the epitome of everything Emma stands against and is essentially the Big Bad. Leuvis is gone, Peter is in the op but has had ZERO screentime thus far, not even any fucking hints to his existence at all. There's 5 eps left so he has to show up at some point, right? He's in the opening soooo... where the hell is he? How are viewers supposed to give a shit about him? He's pretty fucking dangerous and has been influencing the plot since day ONE, but whatever I guess??

Anime Ray is the only one I vibe with rn, and even then he's meh. Anime Emma is on thin fucking ice, and Anime Norman can be fed to the Dropkick Murpheys for all I care.

Infodumps. My god. These bitches be talking like they're reading a wikipedia article.

The literal butchering of Emma's character. Goldy Pond would have been the ep 19 of Demon Slayer of this anime season if they had adapted it, and I stand by that. The amount of HYPE on social media that would have happened after Emma pulls herself from the brink of death to challenge Leuvis would have been insane. There are so few strong, well-written female shonen protagonists... damn shame that the brilliance of Emma is relegated solely to s1 and the pages of the manga, she is a husk of herself in this season.

No character growth. Trio is separate for 90 chapters. That's literally half of the entire manga. There's no feeling of separation, no feeling that they are wildly different people now. These three have spent their entire lives together. Ray and Emma have to struggle without Norman, and Norman has to struggle without Ray and Emma. It's so important. This dynamic *literally* dictates how they grow as characters. When they are finally reunited it is so emotional and amazing, but also a bit unsettling because Norman is *clearly* not the Norman we remember... but in the anime we don't feel any of the impact of those 2 years.

Yuugo and Lucas. Contrasting the love Isabella gave to the kids with the love these two dads give to them. Adds a lot to the story. RIP.

Also RIP Adam and the Gold Pond kids... jeeeeeze there was so much potential.

Anime sacrifices extremely hard-hitting and emotional moments for cheap shock factor (namely, bunker raid and the trio reunion)

Speaking of the trio reunion, why the FUCK does Anime Norman not give a shit about Anime Ray? Hes completely ignored, and it's not like in the manga where he came in later no, like... he's there, seeing Norman at the same time Emma is. There's like, a solid minute and a half of Norman and Emma crying over each other while Ray just stands in the back like 🧍‍♂️and then is added as an afterthought. Emma's like "oh yeah, I brought Ray" GIRL??? And Norman is like "oh hey Ray.." BITCH?!?! YOU KNEW HE WAS GONNA FUCKING KILL HIMSELF AND HAD NO WAY OF KNOWING WHETHER OR NOT EMMA WAS ABLE TO STOP HIS SUICIDE, FOR 2 YEARS??? AND YOU JUST IGNORE HIM?? AND THEN ACKOWLEDGE HIM AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT?? I--okay!

Manga Norman: Emma and Ray are my best friends and I love them more than anything in the world, but Ray understands me in a way that Emma doesn't. They are both important to me.

Anime Norman: who the fuck is ray

Zero suspense. Minimal world building. Very minimal lore building. No mystery.

What the fuck is up with the William Minerva part of the plot like... uh, that's pretty important??? He's been completely dropped and there's zero reason for us to connect him with Norman. Like, he had his phone call in ep 3 and then any mention of him dipped. Disappointing as hell. Don't get to see the parallels drawn between him and Norman. Man...

Yeah idk what else... am I being too critical? Honestly, not sure. I think my criticisms and frustrations are well-founded, but I am definitely basing most of this off of the anime's failure to adapt the manga. Though I suppose, looking from an anime-only standpoint who has no idea just how much of the story has been axed, it might be okay or it might not be? Or it might depend on the person... in any case, I cant fathom how anyone could look at this season and go "Yeah, this feels like the same show as season 1!"

[we-are-inevitable]

guys oh my GOD i just found my newsies rants from the first BIG night of my hyperfixation and. hng. there's so much good content in here

*messages copy and pasted under the cut!

NOTE: all of these messages are from April 19, 2020- the first day of my newsies hyperfixation!

listen racetrack and crutchie are some of my babes and i fucking love them

BEN TYLER COOK IS THE ONLY VALID RACETRACK AND I DESPERATELY NEED THEM TO REDO THE CAST ALBUM TO GIVE HIM THE SPOTLIGHT HE DESERVES

I CANT LISTEN TO KING OF NEW YORK ANYMORE BECAUSE. IT ISNT RACE. dont get me wrong racetrack from the soundtrack is like. really good but he ain't livesies racetrack good

also everyone ships race and spot which is valid but idk I just feel like race and albert have more in common?? like. spot is a great character and all of the Brooklyn Newsies deserve so much more screentime and so much more content but i just feel like the only reason people like race × spot is because of the Inner-Bourough Relations and the territorial stuff (bc the brooklyn bois are pretty spooky) but race × albert is so much cuter ?? like they're both Manhattan newsies and they share a lot more screentime and they have a lot more in common and like !! their interactions throughout King of New York makes me cry so hard i love them so much

something is telling me that if i dont learn All Of The Newsies by tomorrow i'm gonna scream

so i think later today i'm gonna rewatch livesies, then watch 92sies, then make myself a google slides presentation with a pic of each newsie and their name so i can figure this shit out

JACK AND CRUTCHIE ARE BROTHERS BUT WE STILL STAN THAT JACK/RACETRACK DYNAMIC

if anyone tries to tell me that racetrack ain't Jack's #2 Dude i WILL bite i dont care

like??? we literally see race kinda take charge after the bulls bust up their strike and jack fucks off to be Emo On The Rooftop (which is still valid and i love him for it) but race steps in and lifts everyone's spirits again and god i love him for it

it's real "Loving Racetrack Higgins Hours"

OH OH OKAY SO THE EMO ROOFTOP SCENE

LIKE. FUCK. people kinda got on Jack's case for leaving after the big fight breaks out and the bulls take Crutchie, but what else can he do? jack is 17. he's scared. he's dealing with his own trauma after what happened to him at The Refuge (which is never explicitly stated, but his reaction leads me to believe there was definitely some kind of ab•se (and its canon that the officers at the refuge don't feed the kids as they should)). he's seen as the tough guy, as the leader, as the father figure for all of the newsies, but he's a kid. he put his life on the line for them, but that's too much responsibility for a teenager.

jack got thrown in the refuge- a jail for kids- because he stole food and clothing for the other boys. he did everything he did for everyone else, without ever taking his own feelings into consideration; it was never a case of "what's in it for me?", it was always "will this help the guys i love?" and that is Jack's biggest quality i think.

anyway- so, he disappears after the fight because he's guilty. he watch his best friend- no, his brother- get taken by the bulls and watched the others he loves get hurt, and he couldn't stop it. again, this is a 17 year old we're talking about. his whole Santa Fe scene is the most pivotal part of the show in my opinion? like- we see Jack having a breakdown, essentially. "just be real is all i'm askin', not some paintin' in my head" is such a painful line because he's holding onto the hope that somewhere he's never seen is good enough to risk leaving his life behind for, and we see the struggles between wanting to stay and help his friends and wanting to get out and live and be able to have a life where he doesn't have to live with such a huge responsibility on his shoulders.

ALSO THE WHOLE THING WITH THE GUYS THINKING JACK IS A SELLOUT BECAUSE HE GOT MONEY FOR TRYING TO CONVINCE THE NEWSIES NOT TO CONTINUE THE STRIKE HURTS MY HEART

like Pulitzer basically said "if you don't tell them to stop this, i'll personally make sure all of them end up in the refuge" and even used Davey as a plot device, since Davey is one of the few that has folks and a little brother, and Pulitzer essentially said "you wouldn't want your pal Davey getting separated from his family, would you?"

Jack believed in the Strike, and he believed in the Newsies, but he couldn't handle the risk of more of his family getting beaten and thrown into The Refuge, and it kills me to see that he couldn't tell the others why he suddenly had a "change of heart", and that they all think that jw just gave up on them until they realize later on that Pulitzer manipulated him right where it hurt most

I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT NEWSIES AND NO ONE TO TALK ABOUT IT WITH SO UH,, IM SORRY YOU GUYS GET THE SHORT END OF THE STICK

listen i could write an entire essay over Santa Fe and i love that song and it's just such an iconic "I Want" song and !!! fuck !!!!!! it's so sad but it bops!!!!!

"folks are fightin, bleedin, fallin, thanks to good old Captain Jack! Captain Jack just wants to close his eyes and GO"

and then theres a really long pause and his voice cracks and the next line just ?? hurts me ??

"let me go, far away, somewhere they won't never find me, and tomorrow won't remind me of today"

HE'S SO SAD AND STRESSED AND HURT AND GUILTY AND JUST WANTS TO LEAVE THE SITUATION TO PREVENT ANYMORE BAD THINFS FROM HAPPENING ADN I JUST WISH I COULD HUG HIM

i just realized ive been ranting for 30 minutes i love u all goodnight

[kuboism]

Bleach Canon Vs. Studio Clown Episode 1 (Part 2)

So in the manga Ichigo, Number One Oniichan In town, Kurosaki arrives first to rescue his family, in his fancy silly socks and armed with a bat.

This scene is also missing, and I’m slightly saddened because you can also see the little tray of food with the label “For Ichigo-oniichan” which is clearly Yuzu delivering on her earlier promise to bring him some food since he decided to skip dinner bc of his dad.

Ichigo also catches a glimpse of a hollow for the first time. Tensions are high.

You sure sound nonchalant for a person trying to stop him from literally ripping his soul apart. Manga Rukia had some urgency in her smh.

I will admit - literally being “bound” by “words” of a spell is clever and a cool visual. Doesn’t improve the rest of the episode tho....

I’m also very mad that this encounter is changed in the anime. I guess since anime Ichigo had already seen a hollow he rushes in, but this brief moment of fear and hesitation is literally the theme of Bleach.

We fear what we cannot see. What we cannot see we don’t understand. Ichigo is encountering a hollow for the first time here, he is afraid, hesitant to face it. But his love for his family helps him overcome it. He is afraid - but he still has to protect them. He fears what he cannot see, but even so, he continues walking. Ichigo decides, in this moment, to be “brave”. (If you know - you know).

Anyway, Anime fishbone talks again, absolutely ruining the slow reveal of the “nature of the monster” that happens in later chapters, but what is Pierrot if not “subtle” lol.

This part is also removed for obvious reasons.

Some of the dialogue is changed for brevity which is reasonable, but some is also changed to adapt to that fuckin filler “previous day”.

(Not exactly but go off?)

(a brazen assumption)

Manga Rukia just builds up to the reveal.

Again, manga Ichigo’s Reiatsu wasn’t “completely” suppressed - it’s literally what prevented Rukia from finding Fishbone and stumbling into Ichigo’s room. (As per Aizen’s plan, but anyway). It’s unstable and underdeveloped - but like, there. They removed Rukia’s little comment about “unseen filters”, but she still stumbled into his room, and Grand fisher headed towards his house without detours.  Pierrot can move and change dialogue all they like - doesn’t mean it’ll add up lmao.

GIRL THATS SOME BOLD CONJECTURE......

Huh?

FDHGDF DO YOU NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR FAMILY?? SHES LITERALLY FINE!

YEAH SAME, YOUR FAMILY LITERALLY GOT ATTACKED TOO DIPSHIT!

OH good YOU REMEMBER. Why start with a random ass girl THATS DEAD, YOUR SISTERS ARE ALIVE REMEMBER!!!

Anyway Manga Ichigo supremacy:

WHY IS HE CHARGING TOWARDS IT!

Instead of having Ichigo charge into battle like an idiot the manga gives Rukia an extremely human moment which changes the tide of the battle:

She didn’t mean to blame him. In the short time they’ve knowne each other,s he already feels for him, and doesn’t want him to get the wrong, self-deprecating message. She knows how it is. Her momentary sympathy towards Ichigo is what takes her out of the battle.

Which forces Ichigo, who now having seen the danger and fearing it and doesn’t charge in like an idiot, to feel responsible for the mess and get involved in the forefront of the battle. Albeit suicidal he plays it off like he can win. Which later on develops in his battle ethos - no matter how hopeless the battle, he won’t win because he’s stronger, but because he has to.

(viz translates this to “so come and kill me” completely missing the nuance of his actual line “Try and get it if you can kill me!” - It’s a brazen challenge. Ichigo, no matter how hopeless is stubbornly not suicidal. Again, it’s not about “can he win” - he “has to win”.)

Anime Ichigo is looking for a quick atonement suicidal fight 

and Rukia has to save his clown ass.

Injured manga Rukia saves a stranger that reminds her of her guilt.

In the manga Rukia’s own carelessness leads Ichigo to be forced into battle - him having to overcome fear in a really desperate position just to have a chance at saving his family. Rukia, similarly selfless, and later on as we find out, ridden with guilt, goes beyond her duty to protect him. 

Also funny how this moment is excluded in the anime, where it’s completely Ichigo’s fault that Rukia is injured, while in the manga both slowly contribute to their downfall and yet Ichigo still apologizes, coming to his senses, but ok....

Wish this moment wasn’t this bland in the anime, especially Rukia’s eyes softening, like she’s resigning that she’s about to do something extremely illegal and desperate, potentially fuelled by Ichigo’s emotional whirlwind at the moment.

Anime Ichigo seems mildly troubled by this situation.

Also didnt you like worry about a random girl’s life before your family’s, what’s with the sudden “OF COURSE I WANT TO SAVE MY FAMILY”.

This whole page of explanation 

is reduced to 

Which I can understand pacing wise, but like....I’ll take it over those 6 minutes of filler that derailed the logic of this episode so....? Also would’ve loved to hear Ichigo’s heartbeat overwhelm the scene.

Ichigo’s fear is ignored once again, and this heartwarming scene where his resolve is finally made is like, non-existent

Manga Ichigo supremacy.

They basically just skip to it in the anime lmao, thanks.

Also...confident much, Ichigo? Why??

Anime Ichigo can never live up to manga Ichigo’s charm sigh...

Sir show some emotions (nitpick)

Anyway yeah. End of episode 1. 

I didnt think this would be this draining, but here we are. 

If you’ve followed along you can see how in a world where the Bleach manga didnt exist...the anime would be fine. Yet at random ass steps they make these needless changes that just ripple throughout into nonsense. Those 6 minutes of screentime that they dedicated to Rukia and Ichigo meeting earlier could’ve just been used....for literally anything else they cut out. 

I’m so tired, thank you for reading this far!! Bye!!

[kachinnate]

,,,,okay i know i just said i wasn’t going to talk about the deh movie but actually yeah imma talk about it for just a sec bc y’all actually make me legitimately distressed sajkfndsmjkgds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLQ_A0H1otc i dont have the braincells to do a shot by shot analysis right now but here’s what we’re lookin at

under a readmore because ghhhhhhh

firstly, let me lead with this: yes, from what we know, there’s a lot of things wrong with this movie. 

the worst, in my humble opinion, being the bts treatment of the (very few) actors of color, and the lack altogether of any production team members of color. that’s something that should be acknowledged, talked about, and fucking dug into especially at the current fucking period of time we’re living in. it’s unsurprising, but disgusting nonetheless, and it set this movie up for failure from the very beginning. i’m a white person so by no means so i feel inclined or like i have any authority in saying what one should feel wrt all of that, however i will say if there’s to be a boycott in not watching this movie, that should 100% be the reason why. it’s fully poc’s choice whether or not to forgive the production team or give this movie a chance for the irredeemable shit it did in regards to handling the movie’s production. the movie imo definitely doesn’t deserve their forgiveness, but again, that is not for me to say. 

there’s some little things too that i can’t fully think of off the top of my head - like, the whole making larry connor’s stepdad thing fucking irks me, for example, but, like...... listen.

if you know me like at all, you know my favorite word is nuance.

so, i’m going to say it outright: the way you people are approaching this three minute trailer shows literally.... none?? no nuance ??? is it no-nuance november over here or ???? like i’m begging you i’m BEGGING YOU to put aside your pre-determined prejudices against this movie and like stop pretending to be a renowned film critic for ten seconds because it’s really not as outright fucking abysmal as you are saying!! and also it’s possible to have opinions that aren’t completely fucking polarized to one side because guess what, the deh movie? a piece of media! what is the shit y’all are constantly preaching about having the ability to consume media critically ? because you’re trying to cancel a fucking trailer based on the contents of the trailer alone !!!!! hello !!!!!!!!

media is bound to be problematic. if y’all were as quick to judge any movie as you did this one, guess what you wouldn’t be watching any movies like ever <3 

anyway lets get into the parts that are probably going to get me cancelled lmao 

ben platt - listen. LISTEN. listen i know he’s too old to be reprising evan we ALL know he’s too old to be reprising evan i’ve heard this same argument since the announcement was made we get it we all know. haha he’s a grandpa yes bestie ur so right ur so funny wow. i do agree that we should’ve maybe had a not-ben-platt evan moment but here’s some things to keep in mind: the arguments of “oooh ABF is right there !!!!!!” 1. who’s to say he was available? 2. the environment of a movie is so, SO much different than that of a musical -- as much as you wanna pretend you know everything from just a trailer, there’s no way of knowing what scenes were added that might’ve made the movie like.. idk possibly more intense story-wise not even COUNTING the fact that just inherently a movie set is different than a musical one? like yes ben platt might be just being used as a device but that’s probably not the sole and only reason. Also, if i see One (1) more comment about his FUCKING HAIR 😃 first of all it’s not that deep like... if you’re so distracted by an actor having their hair different that’s on you, but going as far as to call it bad or distracting or being like Vehemently a way about it? y’all i know it’s most likely not your intention but that is literally just ben platt’s natural fuckin ETHNICALLY JEWISH hair sajknfgkjds!!!! i’m not the first to make this point, but like dsjnfkjdsg!??! y’all are being so mean about it and for WHAT? again, maybe not intentional, but it reads as like high key Very antisemetic and you should.... maybe not 😳 be that way

connor. the thing about a trailer is that they don’t show you all the scenes because they want you to come see the movie. right? can we agree on that? all the connor scenes in the trailer had SEVERAL hard cuts, omitting a lot of the scene -- like the computer lab scene! we see the beginning of it, there’s a VERY obvious hard cut, and then he’s running out! in my opinion my first watch through of this trailer i had a very like “:// hmm all these actors feel a lil like dry”, but man oh man the comments ive seen about connor. holy shit guys. this boy gets 7 minutes of stage time in the actual musical, and the whole thing is we DON’T KNOW VERY MUCH ABOUT HIM. not to burst your bubble, and i by no means hate connor, i love me some good connor lives fics and stuff, but everything we write with connor being alive? that is !! speculation on our part !!!! those are headcanons and us using the little context we have!! connor doesn’t have any significant development IN THE SOURCE MATERIAL that is being adapted into a movie !!! you 1. can’t fully judge a character with already limited screentime in a 3 minute trailer, 2. can’t really call what connor has canonically in the musical as in depth character development !! what is his arc then !!!! he pushes evan, goes to the computer lab, has an outcast loner kid moment, gets upset, takes the letter, DIES. sorry stans, that’s just how it is !! and, AND, everything in between, all the idiosyncracies, that depends on the actor playing connor! speaking of, you know who the actor is playing connor in the movie? that’s right, colton ryan! so, i don’t know, maybe... have some trust in the process, in an actor who ALREADY has played connor on broadway???? and also trust that you will get more connor content then u are seeing from a 3 minute trailer!! dhgnijsdg and some of the comments on like his appearance specifically? like are you really made that he doesn’t have long hair?? they kept his nails and his rings but nahhh the hair was apparently a MUST HAVE (even though like.. not all connor actors on broadway always had/have long hair but w/e).. REGARDLESS. tldr on THAT , the movie would have to do a pretty shitty job if they want to take something from someone who doesn’t have much to begin with and i think y’all are being extremely harsh on this point 

jared. honestly i’m a bit worried too about the like... name change, because it does have the potential to be taking out some representation, but... they did change the name to fit the actor’s ethnicity? it’s a really [hmm] topic because, again, from a trailer and from what we have been told we don’t KNOW a lot of the context, but i think it’s important to remember that uh.. jewish people aren’t just? always white ?? there’s a possibility they changed the last name to fit with the [ethnicity] while keeping him jewish?? ofc there’s the possibility that they Didn’t and ... again hm that’s its own thing altogether but just reiterates the point that you can’t knock a whole movie just based on the trailer. you can’t talk about things you know nothing about. 

alana. same thing as before, you can’t.... completely bash a character based on a 3 minute trailer. there was discussion about how she seemed ‘shy’ when talking to evan, which like.. maybe she is but also that scene was them talking in a library like if u actually take notice of what’s happening in the scene jdskngsd though i do share the general consensus with many others that she won’t get a lot of screen-time but that’s neither here nor there 😔 moving on

scenes and the setting. one of the things i was most like.. tentative about in regards to a switch from a musical to a movie was how they were like... going to do certain scenes? naturally, a lot has to be different when we’re going from a minimal stage set to an entire movie with like.. settings. there are going to be new scenes because a movie lends to have like, physical places that aren’t just [evan’s bedroom] and [murphy kitchen] and [implied school]. so new scenes, new conversations, slightly different pacing.. this is all to be expected right like are y’all geneuinely surprised here or ........

there’s a lot we aren’t seeing yet because this is a TRAILER. again i already mentioned this re: connor but like... again, y’all are making some Claims that just... fucking outlandish. there are so many moments in the trailer that are very obvious Hard Cuts. you don’t have all the information yet. you are angry at a tiny fragment of something that is confusing you because you don’t have all the context. is there a chance that some of this shit is just genuinely Bad? yeah but you really cannot 100000% say it with your chest and gauge it without seeing the movie and understanding what that scene is in context. lowkey uhhh saw some jokes about the zoe scene in the car and :’))) ? jesus? christ????

concluding thoughts because my brain hurts but like. you don’t have to like the movie. you don’t have to WATCH the movie. like all media if you choose to consume the movie you should do so with some CRITICAL THOUGHT. but, just like the novel (and i do not want to have any discussions about that i don’t care if you think it’s good Or bad that’s not what this is about) you guys are going in this WANTING to believe it’s bad and completely polarizing your thoughts on what this is going to be. yeah, maybe there shouldn’t be a movie. i genuinely think we could’ve gone without. but it’s just a piece of media, it’s not a progression like all your (musical is good, novel is bad, MOVIE IS WORSE OH NO) posts are suggesting. they are all just. different pieces of media stemming from a source. at the end of the day it’s just a fucking movie. if you already hate it so much, guess what? you don’t have to watch it! you don’t have to put so much needless fucking hate into a 3 MINUTE TRAILER. you can stop being performative and dissing it for its poor treatment of POC while then going on to make fun of ben platt’s hair and just targeting a different group like! please !!!

i’m not trying to be a fuckin’ advocate for this movie because there’s so much opportunity for it to suck, i do Not have high hopes for it, and i’m not even really sure i want to watch it (i bought the novel when it came out and have yet to read it, and i’m sure the movie will like.. elicit very similar vibes from me lsdngjkdsg like im just not uhhh feeling it) but y’know what? watching the trailer did not bring forth the fucking onslaught of hatred in me that apparently has fuckin posessed all of y’all and like djnsgjksdg plagued my dashboard for this whole evening. don’t come into my inbox trying to like.. argue with me about this (preemptively im turning off anon because i like i Can’t lmao) this is just like... a rant i needed to get out of me real quick. 

SO. tldr for now: have critical thought about shit you consume, there’s no ethical consumption under [the film industry], you can’t judge a movie entirely on its trailer, and y’all need to calm the fuck down 

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

I have now rewatched half of season 3 of Violetta and here is a summary of my thoughts:

I do find it interesting to see the parallell between how Priscila treats Ludmila and how she treats Violetta. When Priscila’s real self slips out around Violetta, she immediately tries to apologise. Violetta however, sees through this rather quickly. I find it interesting to see the difference between a child growing up with a loving parent and one with a manipulative one

Also, GERMÁN SEEING SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH LUDMILA 😭 AND CARES SO MUCH ABOUT HER 😭 IT’S SO SWEET SHE REALLY DESERVES A FATHER LIKE THAT

I know everyone says Diecesca is their otp couple or smth but ????? I’m sorry! Listen, they are a lovely couple! They are cute! But... I also feel like Diego put a lot of pressure on Fran

She was VERY clear she did not want to hide the relationship and he was like ”We have to hide it” and then suddenly says ”Ok we have to tell it’s not easy for me either” and then GOES BACK to telling her ”We can’t tell”.

He also told her multiple times they could just break up if she didn’t like lying?? Which is????? What

But Fran also did the same sometimes. It was like, when one of them didn’t want to lie the other one wanted it, and vice versa.

I have the same opinion on Roxy and Fausta as I did when I was a kid: I like the idea of them dressing up and acting crazy and I like the idea of them having secret identities. I do however, not like the spying on Leon plot. I’m sorry, but it’s kind of ooc for Violetta to do that. She has broken up with Leon before, dear god girl JUST GIVE HIM SOME SPACE AND I PROMISE YOU HE’S GONNA RETURN

BECAUSE OTHERWISE HE WILL BE SO CONFUSED HE WILL CHOOSE YOUR ALTER EGO OVER YOU

The Leonetta scenes in the wedding ep was cute

Priscila and Germán did not waste a single minute, they REALLY had a fastburn romance

This happens in every season but PEOPLE DO NOT KNOCK ON VILU’S BEDROOM DOOR, THEY JUST BURST IN?!

Same with lies. People really try to tell the truth but something ALWAYS happens

But unlike when Angie waited like 70 episodes to tell Vilu she was her aunt, I actually feel bad for Fran. Maybe because she, again, was very clear on not wanting to lie

I have concluded that Naty is, most definitely, in love with Ludmila. It has always been clear but this girl tried to kiss her

Also I kind of ship Cami and Naty now thanks why do I ship the crackships more than the canon ones

I find it hilarious that Leon compares Violetta and Roxy to how Vilu felt about him and Tomas. Because, actually, that’s kind of accurate?? (No hate on Tomletta shippers but when I rewatched season 1 I got the feeling that Vilu always picked Leon first and then when they were on bad terms she drifted towards Tomas. Much like how she drifted towards Diego in season 2)

Everyone has lost a braincell this season except Jade, who somehow has gained one

I was always confused if Federico still lived in their house this season or lived somewhere else, and I have realised he still lives with them, and it’s kind of awkward because HE NOW HAS TO SHARE A HOUSE WITH HIS ON AND OFF GIRLFRIEND

I also wondered the reason why the main students had another kind of scheduele, and then I got my answer very early on: They have another scheduele and is kind of the special class

Ok - Gery is NOT as annoying as I found her as a kid. She was just fine before she started hanging out in Leon’s garage

I do however love how Violetta and Leon friendzone Clement and Gery all the time

I actually think Gery and Clement take just the right amount of screentime. Unlike Jade and Matias, who I feel just take up time we can spend on others, Gery and Clement have, at least right now, just about the right amount of screentime.

THE SEASON 3 SONGS SLAPS. I KNEW THEY SLAPPED BUT THEY REALLY SLAP

The ”Violetta not seeing Francesca and Diego kiss in the background” is my new favorite meme, and it’s EVEN FUNNIER in motion

Look, I recorded it:

(Swedish dubbed)

I love Camila, knowing everyone’s secrets, having no secret herself, and just vibing with everything

Angie is BACK <3 AND I realise more and more how she should’ve ended up with Pablo. She literally admitted she came back from France just because Pablo was sad

The Alex plot is a bit weird. It’s Violetta in season 1 but taken to the next level. It’s just another uneccessary lie. He is still the exact same person even if he’s named Alex or Clement, so just be Clement and hide evidence from your dad’s stalker driver for godness sake.

Antonio 😭

I don’t care much about the Ramallo/Olga/Beto plot but they are cute

I also skip Jade’s scenes, I do not care. But I do like that she is getting better

DID FRAN EVER FIND THE DIARY VILU GAVE TO HER

Yeah and that’s all I got this far

[smokeybrandreviews]

Fly By Night

Black people don't care about Superman but making him Black in the next series of films, isn't going to solve that the problem. It's his upbringing, the cultural touchstones which define him. Clark Kent is intrinsically White. He looks White, definitely, but he was raised in Kansas, too. That's a Heartland State, places notorious for their aggressive intolerance and laughably disproportionate ethnic breakdown. Eighty-four percent of the people who live there are White and, while that's a stark cry from, say, Idaho's Ninety percent, only five percent of the populace is Black. How the f*ck can Clark BE full-on Black; ethnically, mentally, and culturally, when he's surrounded by so much White?

The short answer is that he can't. He doesn't have those values or experiences. How can he? He'd be part of five percent in two million. What is that? One hundred thousand, spread out across an entire state? I mean, at that point, he's more Kansas than he is Black so what does "fighting for truth, justice, in the American way" mean to someone from Kansas? A State as Red as a baboon's ass? A State where Trump won fifty-seven percent of the vote in both 2016 and 2020? A State that seems to support the same people that refuse to accept Joe Biden won that race, even after several recounts on their terms, several court cases lost to their judges, and a whole ass attempt to overthrow the government because they didn't like all those L's piling up? Never mind the question of raising a demigod with those incredibly problematic "values", how can a Black person come up in that level of racial animosity, cultural alienation, and abject disdain based solely on how he looks, possibly be all of America's Superman?

At the end of the day, JJabarams wanting to make Clark a Black man in this next run of films, is just a tone deaf, performative, dog whistle for all the little Blue Checkmark, fake woke, twatter asshole to fellate themselves over. I don't know a single Black person who is gassed that Clark will look like us. Dude basically represents everything wrong with America, to us. Clark is an out-of-touch White guy, born with unheard of power he didn't earn, imbued with a f*cked up savior complex, raised on a steady supply of zealous Patriotic ideals which borders on straight up Nationalism, in the cultural vacuum of Smallville, Kansas. Turning him Black without fixing that origin is tantamount to throwing Blackface on some White actor to play T'Challa instead of casting Chadwick Boseman. Imagine how THAT should would have gone over with the Blacks. Exactly.

You can't separate Clark from his cultural identity as the Whitest motherf*cker not from this Earth. You can't. It literally defines his entire worldview. Clark's Whiteness is intrinsic to who he is as a person. However, there are alternatives to that which ring truer to a Black Superman, to the Black experience, one of which has a dope ass backstory. Val-Zod, son of THAT Zod, took up the mantle of Superman in nu52 Earth-2. That version of the character could work because his race is intrinsic to his character on both sides; The Kryptonian and the Earthling. He is vague enough of a character to play around with content wise but recognizable enough for literally everyone to not lose their sh*t over Blackfacing Clark. Another lesser known option, the one i would personally pass on, is Kalel of Earth-23. He's a blank slate because no one remembers anything about the dude. Calvin Ellis' last appearance was in 2009 so, you know, have at it, i guess? Both of these options are much better than forcing a White Kent into a Black Peg.

I'm not usually one to be so uppity about bent characters, be they gender or race. They're just another take on an established fandom and i think that's great, as long as that alteration is respected and adapted into the character properly. Superficial sh*t like turning all of the ginger characters into Black people, just because they're going to be onscreen in some form or another, is f*cking ridiculous to me. Sometimes it doesn't work out all that well, like Iris West in the DCEU. Kiersey Clemons had, like, a minute of screentime in The Snyder Cut so why the f*ck was she even in there? I get you need to establish her as part of The Flash's lore but wait for his actual film if that's all we're going to see of her. Other times, it works very well, like with Mary-Jane and Zendaya. That case was a little more tricky as, at the time Homecoming was in development, Marvel didn't have the rights to the Mary-Jane character so they had no choice but to create Michelle. She's a brand new character who fills the role of MJ but in a completely unique, standalone, fashion. I adore that chick. She and Pete have this adorkable energy together, chemistry attributed to Zendaya and Holland. Ms. Coleman really sells MJ as a proper “MJ” and that's because her MJ is her own “MJ”. And, while we're on the topic of Spider-Man, Miles Morales is exactly how you racebend an established character with any hope of success.

Mile Morales is the blue print you need to follow in order to make your ridiculous reach at altering such an established persona, in such a drastic way. Miles is, from top to bottom, Black as f*ck. Every ounce of that character resonates with the culture. Early on in hi genesis, it was a little iffy but, as the character has grown, his swagger and identity has become much clearer. It's more defined and rings truer to what we, as Black people, see in the world. Hell, his movie, Into the Spider-Verse, is arguably the best Spider-Flick ever made and it is properly Black as f*ck. From the swagger, the cultural language, the music, the animation style, the tagging; All of it is too Black for words and the country ate that sh*t up. I saw SO much of US in that film and it really lent itself to giving comic Miles the boost necessary to really come into his own. Not to slight his Puerto Rican heritage at all, you get a bit of that, too, but, for all intents and purposes, society at large sees Miles as Black and Spider-Verse leans into that, heavy. Because Miles has no choice but to so as well. Pete had a lot more going for him growing up in Queens thank Clark's halcyon experience in f*cking Kansas, so he was already accepted in the community. You don't do the numbers Spider-Flicks consistently do at the box office without them Black dollars, but Miles was whole ass embraced by the culture. No one is mad at kid now that he is finally himself in the suit. He's not a legacy, he is a Spider-Man. That's how you do it. That's how you make racebending such an intrinsic character to the American zeitgeist, work. You don't dress Michael B. Jordan up as Clark and tell me he's my Superman. That's a lie and everyone is going to see through it. Everyone already has. You don't need x-ray vision for that.