#he transitioned for strange animal reasons more than recognizable human reasons but still very much trans of gender thank you

[frutavel]

For reasons unknown tumblr filled my for you page with a specific brand of forcemasc post and they're oddly inspiring

[catboycafe]

I Will Now Express Every Thought I Have About Pacific Rim: The Black 

⚠️ spoilers for the whole thing baby

I actually forgot Pacific Rim: The Black was premiering today until I saw it in an article this morning! When I first heard about it months ago, I was decidedly not sold on a Pacific Rim anime. Uprising burnt me the fuck out and I don’t have a lot of trust left in me for new entries to the franchise. But I had heard rumblings of Raleigh and Herc being referenced after going into #pacificrim and I decided I may as well check out to see what was up! I binged it in 4 hours and it sure was a whirlwind, I’ll tell ya

The Plot

I really enjoy the setting and initial concept! We’re so use to seeing Kaiju/Jaegar shenanigans play out within these major cities with helpless civilians everywhere that spending so much time in a lonesome desert and these destroyed civilizations was really cool and indicative of the changes Pacific Rim has undergone in the last few years. I also looooved the Desert Settlement from the beginning!! It seemed really homey and picturesque; I wish we’d spent more time with the other survivors and got to see more of their day to day aside from farming and sitting. 

I also found the first episode set up to be really tight and well written! I was hooked during the initial flashback, Hayley and Taylor’s fight was really poignant and well acted, and the reveal of Atlas Destroyer felt really huge and epic!!

But once we left the Desert Settlement and the plot started actually moving along, the pacing becomes suuuper rough. We spent way too long in Bogan with Shane and Mei; there’s only 7 episodes and we spent, like, 3? 4? within the confines of that camp and I felt it weighed the plot down. Boy is introduced in the 2nd episode and, because the narrative spends so much time on Shane’s evil machinations and Mei’s back story, we still don’t know anything concrete about his origins or purpose 3 episodes later! That felt frustrating to me

The story beats overall were very predictable. I was able to pick up on Mei’s backstory via her dynamic with Shane in their introductions, so her memories felt too built up and too hollow once they were revealed. The same with the reveal of Boy’s Kaiju form; he was in a big green test tube in a PPDC base - I assumed immediately he was a part-kaiju experiment and again his reveal felt hollow, especially after the glacial pace of it’s development. 

Even when events weren’t predictable, they lacked weight. The appearance of several Kaiju Breaches in “Boneyard” felt very cheap for some reason; I wasn’t scared and I didn’t feel tense about these odds mounting against the protagonists. This was just happening and I was just watching. 

The Art Direction and Animation

I’m very obsessed with all the new Kaiju we got from this; I love how Copperhead is rendered, they’re a joy to see on screen!! The Rippers are also very cute and deserve little plushies...i love these neat little dogs. Boy’s Kaiju Form is very intimidating with an interesting color palette and I loved seeing him next to Copperhead’s highly saturated design!

That’s unfortunately all that I liked however; All the human character design is unmemorable to me. Every character looks exactly like another easily identifiable anime character from a different property (Hayley looks exactly like Zero Suit Samus to me, for example. And Mei kept reminding me of both Bernadetta Fire Emblem and Motoko Kusanagi from GitS. The list goes on). 

I can sort of understand why they’re so bland? A franchise going from Live Action to something as heavily stylized as anime is probably a really difficult transition and these designs are probably meant to be more lowkey than more unique anime designs in order to help that transition. But realistically stylized designs can still be recognizable and unique! These feel uninspired and bare bones.

 I have no problem with the switch to CGI animation that modern anime is doing because I know it’s a lot cheaper to produce and it can still be really unique and striking! But The Black’s model animation felt very stilted and inconsistent. I don’t have a lot of knowledge about animating so I don’t think I can accurately describe what I disliked? Wooden is probably the best term. Character movements felt wooden and things like hair and clothes felt plastic. 

Impacts also had very little weight. The fight between Tayler/Mei and Copperhead reminded me of when you’re in a dream and trying to punch something, but you can’t punch hard. It was simply too floaty and too soft. The final showdown in “Showdown” was better, but not by much. It was very immersion breaking seeing these Giant Robots and Giant Monsters unable to throw a real solid hit!

Characters

My favorite character was unequivocally Joel Wyrick. We love Joel Wyrick in this house! Joel’s character has real charisma and charm. I love his flirtations with Loa, how his cocky disposition is juxtaposed with his drinking problem and later insecurities over his lost memories, and his genuine kindness shown to Mei, Taylor, and Boy. No one ever plays with Boy, they just run after him and drag him around...but Joel has this moment in “Escape from Bogan” where he kneels down to Boy and helps him collect rocks. It was sweet!

So of course, when Joel dies for absolutely no reason 5 minutes later - pissed! I was pissed! I yelled “COME ON” aloud in my studio apartment! I was genuinely so excited to see him interact more with the rest of cast then, poof. No More Joel.

His death felt like it was for shock value to me rather than actual narrative development. Why kill him when we still don’t fully understand his and Mei’s relationship? Why were they so close? Were they childhood friends, or just coworkers that happen to become friends? Why did he specifically know all the details of Shane’s abuse towards Mei before she did? 

What did his death accomplish? It made Mei sad...ok? She was already...very sad. Her running away from Shane already had consequences - the consequences of Shane coming after them for revenge in the future. Why did Joel have to become a causality? 

His death is ultimately tied to Mei’s character arc which is, unfortunately, my least favorite :c I find Mei to be a really one dimensional character with a personality, backstory, outlook, and motivation that I’ve seen done a million times before with a million other characters. She feels very out of place in the franchise as a whole - Pacific Rim is, at it’s core, a story about connecting with others. Her self-centric arc and lack of desire to connect outside of drifting really alienates her from the story at large and it frustrates me how long The Black’s narrative spends on her. 

Hayley and Taylor were otherwise very interesting in the pilot episode, but become similarly one dimensional at the story chugs on. Taylor’s unflinching (bordering on unhealthy) faith in their parents was really interesting next to Hayley’s complete acceptance of their parents’ death. But once the two of them make up their differences, they lack an interesting dynamic and become very passive protagonists.

 Taylor especially has no personality - how would you describe Taylor? He’s...brave. He’s the older brother. He’s a leader? He’s nice? There is nothing noteworthy about him at all, which is sad considering I think he has the potential to be a really interesting way to explore the original movie’s influence on The Black’s story.

Hayley’s grief and self-blame are more interesting than Taylor’s...nothingness, but she still falls into this one-note trope of being the naive, excitable little sister. I guess I feel abnormally frustrated about this flat character writing because Pacific Rim’s incredibly unique cast has always been an inspiration to me! It feels sad that this new iteration into the series is full of what feel like stock characters. 

Then we get to Boy. How come Boy can’t have a person name? It’s specifically written in a dialogue between Taylor and Hayley: “I’m not going to call him Chad or Barnaby or one of those names for a baby brother you wanted as a kid,”

Why?

He’s by all accounts a human child when they find him. Yes, he was found in a big green test tube - but he walks and acts just like a human child. The only difference, seemingly, is that he is non-verbal and engages in strange/annoying behavior (running off, eating bugs, etc). So he isn’t deserving of a name?? I don’t know why that makes me so mad, it just does. it’s like they refuse to treat him as a human even before they find out he’s a Kaiju  - it’s super weird! How can the story sell me on the three of them becoming found family (like they’re seemingly trying to do) if the protagonists won’t even treat this kid like a kid??

Misc. Thoughts

The callbacks to Stacker, Herc, and Raleigh were cool! I also like that Herc is a major plot point! We love Herc Hanson and it’s what he deserves. I also find Loa’s connection to Horizon Bravo very interesting...and the fact we’re getting Kaiju cultist lore! Love that! Love that!

Fucked up that the only two dark skinned characters were: 1) removed from the story 10 minutes in with no call back yet, 2) Killed after having 1 line of dialogue and fridged for the character development of the blonde white girl. I really need to know what the deal with those 4 characters leaving in the beginning was about - I absolutely thought we’d see them again by now, but no dice

I don’t know how to feel about Ajax and have no clue what their purpose in the story is. They’re cool, but whats the point? 

If Mei and Taylor are paired up together romantically, I’m putting Craig Kyle and Greg Johnson in the time out box. Very tired of seeing random hetero romance B plots in stories that can’t even get their A plots together

Overall, it’s kind of subpar! It has the foundations of a really interesting story, but the pacing and characters really took me out of it. I’m interested in Season 2! I know season 2 is already ordered and I’d love to see how things continue to develop, see if the character writing gets any better - but I’m not too hopeful unfortunately. I really really love Pacific Rim after all these years and I’m happy to still be getting content and world building! There’s just sooo much I would change about this however. At least fanfiction’s free! 

Thanks for reading all this, I have ADHD and just go on and on if u let me. hmu if You Too have thoughts about Pacific Rim: The Black and have no one to talk abt them with

[ecotone99]

[SF] The wires tell me to do things

Growing up, I always dreamed of having a large parcel of land in the country. I didn’t necessarily want to be a farmer, I just liked the idea of a rural buffer zone between me and my nearest neighbors. I enjoy walks in the woods and exploring nature. After saving for a number of years, I accumulated what I hoped would be a decent down payment on some property. I was in for a real surprise at how little my hard-earned money would buy in the financial boom of the past few years. Everyone was relocating to the countryside and land was selling at a premium.

It was a punch in the gut. Once I decided to start looking, I suppose I had my mind made up. I wanted to buy a new home and property now. The thought of having to wait five or ten more years before fulfilling my dream was a crushing blow. It led to a humbling reduction in my personal standards and forced me to widen my search area of consideration. All of a sudden, I was looking at far less desirable properties which had swamps or unsightly cell towers. It was depressing to realize what was available in my price range but I was done waiting.

One day my real estate agent sent me to look at a good sized property a couple miles outside my preferred travel radius. I didn’t want to drive long distances to my job but this was just 4 more miles than I had considered before. At first I couldn’t believe it. It was so much nicer than the pitiful dregs I had considered in the past month. It was almost twice the land and had a nice house and great view of the nearby mountains. There was a large creek in the back I could kayak in, and despite being very remote, it was close to a major road. That meant I could make up for the longer drive to work with less weaving on small country highways.

The catch? Oh, there’s always a catch and this one was significant. The property has high tension power lines running across part of it. Besides killing the scenery and view for a significant portion of the land, those wires have been reported to cause cancer. I’d had a brutal reality check for the past month. Because of that, my resistance to settling for less than I wanted was worn down.

I was tired of looking and dealing with constant disappointment. After a few days to absorb the idea, I told my agent I was ready to sign the paperwork. The rest of the property was beautiful and exactly what I wanted. I hoped I could overlook those unsightly wires over time and move past the singular blight. My loan and closing date went without a hitch. All of a sudden it was for real. I was the property holder.

Country living took some getting used to. In place of road noises and the sounds of civilization, there were numerous wild animal and nature sounds. There were birds chattering all night. Trees swayed in the breeze and cracked from flexing. Sound carries for miles in the open night air. I found it difficult to sleep at times. My transition to country living was also hampered by odd buzzing noises I heard at times. The sound was like a monotone whisper or a nest of angry bees.

One night I was so baffled by it that I got dressed and walked around the back of my property in the dark. With a little searching, I tracked down the source of the strange buzzing sound. It was coming from the high tension power lines. The ‘chattering’ and buzzing was apparently just raw voltage coursing through the thick electrical wires overhead. Who knows how much raw power flows through the miles of heavy copper line? Initially I was relieved there was an explanation but over time I grew troubled again.

As I lay in bed at night, the constant ‘electrical symphony’ kept me up. The longer I listened, the less it seemed random. I tried to drown it out but the vibrating patterns gave way to recognizable syllables. It was almost like hearing a human conversation, just out of earshot. First there would be a ‘word’ or two which stood out among the electronic gibberish, then entire English ‘phrases’ became clear. The ‘spirit’ of electrical power was ‘talking’ to me! Initially I hoped I was dreaming. Only that could explain why I was hearing words in the normal transfer of voltage from one place to another.

The words I picked out at first were innocuous and unrelated. ‘Seize’, ‘strike’, ‘zephyr’, ‘certified’, and ‘pull’. Odd phrases like that. It made no sense in the random context of unrelated things but I kept listening. It was incredibly hypnotic and fascinating. Once the sun came up, birds and other nature sounds drowned it out. From then it was impossible to follow any longer. After a few more sleepless nights, my level of comprehension and understanding grew exponentially. I was picking out entire phrases and whole sentences. My ears learned how to translate the dull, monotone pulses and buzzing into words. I was finally in tune with the mysterious electrical entity and how it delivered its cryptic message.

Naturally my employment suffered greatly. I missed a lot of work. I tried to sleep a little bit during the day, just so I could listen to what it was saying when the environment was most clear. I felt compelled to know the wire’s secret wisdom; whatever that might be. I alone was privy to an incredible opportunity and didn’t want to squander it. In the end I did whatever seemed necessary to communicate with the mysterious entity which sought to bridge a relationship with humanity.

In time, the phrases and sentences took on a confusing narrative. They exhorted me to do ‘things’. These controversial actions would be highly illegal but the electrical voice explained why it was imperative that I do them anyway. Frankly, I still resisted. Fiercely. I had grave concerns about the chilling things it demanded I do. Killing people is obviously wrong and no amount of justification could ordinarily sway me to go through with such things but the power was relentlessly persuasive. It slowly wore away my resistance.

The electrical entity behind the dark orders was insistent. It demanded I follow through with the violence, without question. The more I tried to reason against the decree, the more it dug in. I hadn’t slept for days. I was hyper-focused on everything which was said. The more it repeated itself, the more I came to accept the mission. I had to do it. There was no other way. Only then would it let me sleep and share a deeper level of truth with me. I’d long since lost my job and hadn’t paid any bills in months. My savings were almost exhausted. The high tension power lines promised great financial rewards and highly sought answers to the secrets of the universe. All I had to do was comply in full. There was no more resistance left within me. I was completely on board.

I went to gather the supplies it said I would need to fulfill the mission but my credit card was declined. Part of me was secretly relieved. I knew killing was wrong but the wires told me how to get around my financial woes. It directed me to an ATM in town and sent some sort of charged pulse directly into the machine. After a few seconds the overloaded circuitry started spitting out hundred dollar bills! I no longer had an excuse. I took the money and bought the equipment for the next phase of the plan. The wires assured me, my image wouldn’t be caught on the ATM cameras. It took care of that too.

Once I had the supplies and knew the plan, I reluctantly had to keep my end of the agreement. I was just an instrument of this non corporeal entity. I hoped it’s motives were pure and beneficial to mankind in ways I still couldn’t yet see. The electric deity made several other key things happen to facilitate the process. Any doubts I had about it’s incredible power or determination were quashed after witnessing the drawbridge lower by itself onto the passing oil tanker, and when the locks of the dam opened up and flooded the entire valley. I had nothing to do with any of that. The power in the power lines did all of it.

“You can’t be serious with all of this, buddy. We know it was you who robbed the ATM.”; The detective sneered. “How did you do that? How did you make it release all that cash and how did you cause that bridge to lower on the ship? Did you have help from a foreign government? Thousands of people could have died from that forced dam release. We will find out who your accomplices are and there will be terrorism charges for all of you!”

At that moment, the lights went out in the interrogation room. Detective Daniels stood up to find out what was going on but the suspect suggested he stop.

“I wouldn’t touch that door knob if I were you.”; The man offered calmly. “The entity told me I’d be captured for a brief time but the mission isn’t complete. This is part of the plan. If you try to open that electrified security door, you will be electrocuted. Mark my words.”

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