#i also have mlb the show but i feel like this really isn’t the audience for that

[statuescrumble]

swiftie pride anon here! sorry it's been a while, it's been kinda nuts around here lately. are you coping okay with *gestures vaguely*? I totally understand if you'd rather not talk about it. what are your other interests/hobbies outside of taylor swift? I've been getting back into animal crossing and rereading the hunger games to escape from real world drama and internet drama and it's been really good for me. sending you good vibes, hope you have a great day! 💕

it has been absolutely more than kinda nuts fjskfhdksjdkdk i think i’m still processing everything tbh. i’m just 😳🤯🤨

^ ok so that parts from when you first sent this 🙈 oof but omg i love animal crossing i just got tears of the kingdom and it has rekindled my switch obsession 🙌 and i’ve started rewatching criminal minds what a 180 and am 🤏 this close to starting tvd again… or h2o i cant decide

[stardustizuku]

Woah I absolutely love you analyses on MLB. What do you think of the female friendship in MLB?

This took way longer than originally planned.

Here’s the thing

I don’t think that MLB was that bad in season 1. And arguably, season 2 still has some leg to stand on.

And that carries on to friendships.

You see, we can break down friendships in this type of show into four.

1.- The vague friend group

This is one we see in most stories that DO NOT focus on team dynamics or getting to know a bunch of superheroes. Sakura Card Captor, for example, has the best one of these. They’re not meant to take center stage, but more like provide a sense of unity and calmness around the craziness that’s going on.

And while I cite CardCaptor, Creamy Mami also has it. And Sailor Moon has it in the very first season. Tokyo Mew Mew has two characters that fall here too.

This is where I say most of the characters in MLB fall to. If things had stayed here, I do not see a problem. The lack of depth isn’t a bug but a feature. While we can connect with them, their purpose, narrative wise, is to create fun scenarios and plot outside of the others superheroes.

But as things progressed they tried to make this sort of already bland group of characters into a cohesive united team. And it was never going to happen. Maybe if they had competent writers it could have worked, but it’s still unlikely a competent writer would have tried this.

The way you introduce characters is extremely important in the way that they’re perceived by an audience. If they entered the scene as a Vague Friend Group, it would be so hard for them to change into anything else. This is also why redemption arcs are so hard. It’s forcing your audience to accept a sudden change in the status quo. If that’s what you’re trying to do - it works. But if you’re doing it just to sell more toys…well it falls flat on their face. Not to mention, the classroom is not exactly filled with particularly interesting or cohesive characters. Their attitudes, relationships towards each other and Marinette change drastically from episode to episode. The only noteworthy rships are often time m/f, and the only f/f friendship we have that’s any sort of consistent or interesting is Juleka and Rose…who are dating.

I’m not gonna be the first to shit on a wlw couple specially when it’s probably the most interesting thing in this series - but it’s kinda weird how the only type of decent rship that the writers can do are ROMANTIC ones. Friendship seems like a fucking joke to these people.

Also they’re a LOT. Working with dynamics between characters is super hard, and the less characters you have to juggle with, you’re able to create better and closer relationships with each other. Having such a HUGE classroom be the center of superhero dynamic is plain lunacy. Unless this is the focus, and was intended as such since day 1, there was no way this was gonna work or be a natural transition from the 1:1 chat ladybug dynamic.

They work as a vague group of friends, but utterly fail as anything more. Both because of its size and lack of cohesion, or depth.

2.- The Friend (?)

This one is the civilian friend. The one who supports the heroine but never truly knows the identity of their friend. They’re there to provide support before the rest of the cast comes into the picture.

This is the Molly in Sailor Moon and Hitomi from Madoka.

They’re not really meant to be besties with the MC, even if they are so in name. It’s more of an extension of the aforementioned vague friend group. They mostly provide plot beats with a slightly more personal stake since this is someone the heroine has spent so much more time with.

THIS is where Ayla from Season 1 falls, and why I did not think she was too bad of a friend. She’s here really for providing comforting words when Marinette is down and a fun side story that doesn’t feel too disconnected from the main story.

However. The reason why these two worked was, precisely, because the focus of the show was the LoveSquare and Chat and Ladybug’s dynamic.

Sakura can have a relatively bland side friends (although they’re all fairly entertaining) because the main focus of the story ISNT them. It’s her Card Journey and interpersonal relationships with Tomoyo, Syaoran and Yukito.

Likewise, Molly is allowed to be a not so great friend, because Usagi has other friends.

If you want these characters to be the bulk of your interpersonal rships, you have to adapt them. Kaito St. Tail had only one friend, who actually falls with the Civilian. However, she plays a huge part of her story by being the one to send her on the missions. While her biggest rship was with Astro Jr, Seira provided a huge amount of emotional support and was given enough dramatic weight to be able to earn herself a recognizable spot. In any promo art that features the characters, she appears! Because she’s important!

But what they tried to do was expand upon these characters in a…less than ideal way.

First of all they tried to shift Alya from Friend (?), to Friend (tm)…

3.- The Friend (tm)

A Friend (tm) is the best friend. The gal pal. The one who is always there and even if it’s not outright stated - we know they’re the first one the MC will turn to if something happens.

Think Winx Club and who’s Bloom’s Best friend? Stella. Shugo Chara, who’s Amu’s friend? Either Nadeshiko or Rima (depending the season). They are part of the friend super hero group so the MC Can whole heartedly confide in them. Any problem that arises is one they instantly tell their best friend and they’re the mature one who help them get through.

And Ayla is not this.

Even as she transformed into superhero she did not know Marinette’s identity, so all emotional support she could have provided in that front was essentially flushed down the toilet. If at the very beginning, Ayla had been made aware of it, there wouldn’t have been an issue. After all, it would have cemented her as someone Marinette places a lot of trust into, perhaps even more than Chat, either bcs she was there when he wasn’t or only the fact she knows the “real” her.

Anyways, since that did NOT happen, Ayla failed as a Best Friend (tm), narratively speaking. If they had let it die there, it would have been awkward but not terrible.

But then in season 4 Marinette confesses she’s is Ladybug.

At this point, there’s no real connection with Ayla. Chat is someone who deserves to know her identity more, and someone who’s supported her for far longer in many more forms. It just doesn’t make sense for her to confess.

Except, of course, trying to shoehorn the Best Friend (tm) too late into the series.

This is all entirely from a narrative perspective, and does not begin to touch the fact that Ayla isn’t exactly the /best/ of friends.

Someone who trust Lila rather than her friend she’s known all year, someone who jeopardizes her best friend’s identity over her fucking boyfriend, who in her darkest hours isn’t there for Marinette, and that breeched her friends privacy to satiate her own curiosity over her secrets.

She has no leg to stand on to be the Best Friend (tm).

4.- Rival Friendship

Yeah this was sort of what I talked abt in the big Magical Girl Essay. This is actually, what I would argue, the most important friend character there can be in a magical girl setting. Not only does it serve as playful banter but as a contrast to the main character’s ideals and temper.

I tend to include any character that has a rivalrous rship with the MC, be it the villain or a fellow superhero. They don’t have to be the best of friends or be on super friendly terms, the only condition is that when one is in trouble the other jumps in to help.

Again, Utau from Shugo Chara, Rei from Sailor Moon, Mint from Tokyo Mew Mew, Fate from Lyrical Nanoha, Meimei from Sakura, Rue from Princess Tutu, they’re all good examples.

They bring balance. In some cases the MC already has a vanilla friend who’ll cheer them up by giving sweet advice. The Friendly Rival serves to knock some sense into our MC and give harsh but necessary advice.

This absolutely should have been Chloe, and it’s a role that I do believe is necessary in this show.

The way characters treat Marinette is…weird. In non-Lila episodes, in their eyes, Marinette can never do something wrong. Every decision she makes is the best she could have taken, it’s always correct. Only when Lila comes into the picture is she the one in the wrong to them - but not by the narrative. The narrative is always on her side, even when she’s done stuff wrong. Truly, Lila only serves as emotional torture porn, which is its own Can of worms we’re not touching today.

This is strange because even in Sakura (the most wholesome Can do no wrong MC) has moments where she has to apologize, or is in the wrong. When she fights with Kero, for example, it’s very much portrayed as an unreasoned response from both parties. And while Kero is being portrayed by the narrative as the one blowing it out of proportion, in the end it’s Sakura who makes a compromise by gifting him new “room”.

Marinette does not have this which makes it very annoying that she keeps getting away with things that are creepy or straight up wrong. The narrative is never willing to portray anything she does as anything other than ideal or silly. This is where someone who doesn’t coddle her, but rightfully calls out her actions from a place of love and care SHOULD come into play.

When Usagi doesn’t want to study, Amy happily tells her she’ll help, but Rei is the one telling her angrily that she has to. When Usagi is about to give up, it’s always Rei that yells at her to snap out of it.

Chloe should absolutely be this character. Someone who will tell her she’s wrong, especially in situations or arguments where Chat Noir can’t be the voice of reason - aka who she loves or her secret identity.

The fact that no such character exists is already making the story too saccharine sweet towards her. Even Sakura had Mei Mei, when Syaoran or Kero couldn’t be the ones to tell her to snap out of it (And also, Yue was particularly cold towards her but we’re focusing on girls rn shhh)

But because they ruined Chloe’s character we don’t have this.

And I do believe it has to do with the sexism of Thomas. Unable to picture friendship between girls as anything but unconditional kindness. I’m sorry but I’ve had extremely complex and fun friendship where we are both kinda mean towards each other. In fact, saccharine sweet friendships are the weird ones in my culture. It doesn’t help that the shows tends to portray the world in good or bad, depending on a singular action. You’re either a good girl or a mean girl. Any complexities are thrown out the window (although he’s more than willing to make adult men complex characters with good and bad in them so, yay, sexism!)

They tried briefly with Kagami too…but they fumbled it and it never gave anything. She was a love rival, they were friends, Adrien and her got together, they broke up, Marinette tried to help her and then…I think she joined a cult? I’m not sure I’m not up to date with the series. But it gave us so little of their actual friendship that it almost slipped my mind this was what they were trying to do.

That leads me to the most atrocious example of female friendship.

5.- The Devoted Lesbian

This trope didn’t have a place in Ladybug. None at all.

So, everyone knows the devoted lesbian. It’s the extremely queer coded friend that’s willing to do anything for the MC. Tomoyo from Sakura, Homura from Puella, to a degree Nanoha from Lyrical Nanoha, to a lesser degree Seiya from Sailor Moon Stars.

It serves a purpose to highlight the goodness of a MC, kind and nice to the point people fall in love with them. Sakura is the best example, but the devotion Homura has for Madoka also serves to highlight her status a goddess. In Nanoha, Nanoha’s obsession comes from the belief that Fate is a good person and deserves a better futures. And in Sailor Mook Stars Seiya offers an alternative to the loyal and devoted Usagi who’s still waiting for Mamoru. (I have to say maybe Utena has this too OBVIOUSLY but tbh I haven’t seen it yet so)

This is often a queer story. Even if Sakura and Usagi have heterosexual romances - Sakura isn’t straight and neither is Usagi. The stories play with gender and sexuality, and it’s ultimately about the relationships people have that deviate from the perceived normality.

Yeah, Ladybug has neither.

And they’re trying to introduce Zoe as this. Which is. Weird. Again, she’s supposed to substitute the Rival Friendship Characters, why on Earth is she a devoted Lesbian?

The reason why I call her this, is because inside the narrative she very much is - even if the writers are sooooo bad at writing women that it doesn’t come across as one to the audience.

If we still assume that Ayla is supposed to be the Best Friend (tm), and she still falls for Lila’s tricks - only someone who’s utterly devoted and believes wholeheartedly and unconditionally in Marinette can see through those lies. It’s something as crazy as fighting off Akumatization.

You can either see this as the writers trying to make Zoe the new Best Friend (tm)…but that’s somehow worse. It’s changing dynamics that have been here for close to 5 seasons. And AGAIN because of the weird way the writers see female friendship…I do believe it’s coming off as the devoted lesbian trope rather than the Best Friend (tm). Especially with how what’s little left of the fandom, are all obsessed with shipping Zoe and Marinette. This does not happen with the Best Friend (tm). It almost never does. Because competent writers make it clear that they’re just friends. You don’t ship Madoka with Sayaka or Mami (well you can but it’s not the majority) you ship her with Homura. And you don’t ship (I do but shhh) Usagi with Makoto or Mina, you ship her with Seiya.

Zoe is the Devoted Lesbian right now. The show absolutely does not need her. In fact I would say, it perishes what little hope there was for girl friendships in this series. It again hammers home that the only friends you can have are those who coddle you, adore you, or think you can do no wrong. And anyone who disagrees with you, even a little, is a terrible horrible monster (Lila), has the potential to be one (Kagami) or evil incarnate (Chloe)

I love girl friendships to death, and I’m always down for a good wlw story. But these characters are neither complex enough to have friendships with each other in a way that feels genuine, nor do the authors know how the hell girl friends work. Much less queer ones.

They should have never given center stage to them, not only bcs that wasn’t the focus of CHAT NOIR AND LABYBUG but also bcs they have no idea how to write compelling friendships.

To be honest, if they had been good enough to make this premise work, that’s to say the Chat Ladybug dynamic, there’s a high chance they could have created compelling friendships too.

Like, if they couldn’t pull of a romantic m/f rship with an entire fandom backing them and hyping them up? They could have NEVER pulled off anything. Period. It’s like failing Middle School Maths and trying to solve College level Calculus homework. The problem isn’t the equation, it’s that’s you’re bad it. And even if it were the equation, no one can tell because you filled the goddamn notebook with scribbles.

[carpisuns]

I watched all of the first 3 seasons and specials and extras in 2 days. Needless to say I loved miraculous ladybug and it's still my current hyperfixation.

This is one of the first times I've ever been into a piece of media while it's still being made and engaging with fandom. I have never read fanfiction or comics before mlb. It's opened my eyes as to how wonderful and amazing it is.

Fundamentally I think mlb is a good show with some misfortunate side affects. The predictable format and convoluted plot because of the secret identities and magic can be off putting because it wasn't a full story planned out from day one. mlb has grown so much over time and the plot holes and animation errors are plenty excusable. I think it's a really great show for kids and teaches a lot of good lessons that I haven't seen done in others.

By no means is it a perfect show but it's still a good one. As with watching season 4 it's becoming a great show. I am so thankful for it filling a void in my life during a really tough time but I'm even more thankful for the community and fan works for continuing such amazing ideas like the love square.

It saddens me to read all the salt and critisisms of the show that are unjust. Because of it's style and status as a kids shows it doesn't always seem like it has much depth or plan, but there is really so much packed into efficient dialogue and facial expressions as well as some of the longest foreshadowing seen today. And it's not even over yet!

I am so excited for the future of this show and the fandom surrounding it

aaa thank you for this positivty, it is so good to hear!! big agree with everything you've said! that was also my experience :) as in, this is the first time i've been involved in fandom to this extent and i love it!

i'm definitely not saying ML is a perfect show, but then again, what is? every piece of media has flaws. that doesn't make it trash lol. and if ML's flaws bother someone to the extent that they actually dislike the show, honestly i don't understand why they'd stick around in the fandom ?

and tbh i feel like a lot of the problems people have with ML are simply symptoms of being a children's cartoon lol. sometimes as teens/adults we tend to forget that we are actually not the target audience. this show is aimed at children. so yeah, there is a level of repetition and predictability. there are things that come off as silly/cringey to adults. there are things that seem too obvious or convenient or whatever. that's to be expected for this kind of media. and if you are expecting too much of it, that's not the writers' fault. these things aren't necessarily a sign of bad writing. (not to say there isn't room for legitimate criticism of the show ofc, but you have to give it some grace because of the audience)

i actually find ML to be really fascinating and fresh and well written for a kids' show. there's a ton of depth there that you don't always find even in more mature shows. and like you said, it just gets better! we started out with a very basic monster-of-the-week format in s1 but look how the characters and relationships and plot have developed over 3.5 seasons! the stakes are being raised, the angst is being dialed up, there are a lot of juicy threads going, things are BUILDING and personally im really excited to see what the rest of s4 has in store for us :D

thanks again for sharing!! <3

[crowdvscritic]

round up // MARCH + APRIL 21

March and April were a whirlwind of vaccines and awards shows! A full year after we starting staying at home, the end of this weird chapter in recent history seems like it might finally be coming to a close, and this pop culture awards season—typically a time full of fun and glamour—captured our moment weirdly well. (Emphasis on the weird.) This month’s recommendations is filled with more Critic Picks than usual, so without further delay, let’s dive right in...

March + April Crowd-Pleasers

Double Feature — 2018 Action Thrillers: Bad Times at the El Royale + Den of Thieves

In Bad Times at the El Royale (Crowd: 9/10, // Critic: 8/10), Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth, and Dakota Johnson are staying at a motel on the California-Nevada state line full of money, murder, and mystery. In Den of Thieves (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 6.5/10), Gerard Butler takes on some of the best bank robbers in the world. Whether you like your action with a dose of mystery or the thrills of plot twists, these will fit the bill.

Double Feature — ‘80s Comedies: Caddyshack (1980) + Splash (1984)

In the mood for pure silliness? Take your pick between a mermaid and a gopher! Five years before The Little Mermaid, Tom Hanks fell for Daryl Hannah’s blonde hair and scaly tail, and John Candy was his goofy brother in Splash (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10). And four years before Ghostbusters, Bill Murray was the goof on a golf course full of funny people like Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, and Ted Knight in Caddyshack (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10).

Double Feature — 1980s Coming-of-Age Films Starring Corey Feldman, Kiefer Sutherland, and Challenging Brother Relationships That Influenced Stranger Things: Stand by Me (1986) + The Lost Boys (1987)

Believe it or not, I had no idea these two ‘80s classics had so much in common when I chose to watch them back-to-back. In Rob Reiner’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Stand by Me (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 9/10), four kids (Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, River Phoenix, and Wil Wheaton) are following train tracks to find a missing body. In The Lost Boys (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 7/10), Corey Haim and Jason Patric move to a small California town and discover it’s full of ‘80s movie star cameos and…vampires? One is a thoughtful coming-of-age story and one is just bonkers, but both are a great time.

Spaceman by Nick Jonas (2021)

My love for the Jonas Brothers is well-documented, so instead of going down the rabbit hole I started digging at 15, I’ll talk about how Nick Jonas’s latest solo album will likely appeal to a wider audience than just the fans of the brothers’ bombastic pop records. It’s full of catchy tunes you’ll play on repeat and an R&B-influenced album experience about the loneliness we’ve experienced in the last year and how we try to make long-term relationships work.

Ted Lasso (2020- )

I love stories about nice people crushing cruelty and cynicism with relentless kindness, and Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is the warmest, most dedicated leader this side of Leslie Knope. Be sure to catch up on these witty and sweet 10 episodes before season 2 drops later this summer.

Double Feature — Tony Scott Action Flicks: Enemy of the State (1998) + The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

Tony Scott’s movies have got explosions and excitement in spades. I love a good man-on-the-run movie, and in Enemy of the State (Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10), Will Smith is running through the streets of D.C. after getting evidence of a politician’s (Jon Voight) part in a murder. I also love a tense story set in a confined space, which is what Denzel Washington is dealing with in The Taking of Pelham 123 (Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 7/10) after a hammy John Travolta takes a New York subway train hostage.

Double Feature — Baseball Movies: The Natural (1984) + Trouble With the Curve (2012)

Sue me—I love baseball movies. Robert Redford plays a fictional all-time great in the early days of the MLB in The Natural (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 9/10), and Clint Eastwood plays a fictional all-time great scout in his late career in Trouble With the Curve (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 7.5/10). If you love baseball or actors like Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall, and Justin Timberlake, these movies are just right here waiting for you.

Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American (2021)

Sue me—I enjoy Netflix standup comedy specials that are safe enough to watch with your whole family. That’s exactly the crowd I laughed with over Easter weekend, and while the trailer captures Bargatze’s relaxed vibe, it doesn’t capture how funny he really is.

The Mighty Ducks (1992)

I thought somewhere in my childhood I’d seen at least one of The Mighty Ducks movies, but after watching all three, I think my memories must’ve come from previews on the VHS tapes for other Disney movies I watched over and over again. The original still holds up as an grown-ups, which is why even my parents got sucked in to this family movie while just passing through the living room. Bonus for ‘80s movies lovers: Emilio Estevez is basically continuing Andrew Clark’s story from The Breakfast Club as an adult. Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6.5/10

Double Feature — New, Dumb Action on Streaming: Godzilla vs. Kong + Thunder Force (2021)

If you want something intelligent, go ahead and skip to the next recommendation, but if you’re looking for something stupid fun, these are ready for you on HBO Max and Netflix. Thunder Force (Crowd: 8.5/10 // Critic: 6/10) follows Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer as they train to become superheroes who take on superhuman sociopaths wreaking havoc on Chicago, and alongside Jason Bateman, they do it with a lot of laughs. Godzilla vs. Kong (Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 5/10) is, um, exactly what it sounds like, so I’ll skip a plot summary and just say it’s exactly what you want from this kind of movie. #TeamKong

3:10 to Yuma (2007)

All you need to know is Russell Crowe is an outlaw, and Christian Bale is the guy who’s got to get him on the train to prison. I also watched the 1957 version, which is also a solid watch if you love classic Westerns. Crowd: 9/10 // Critic: 8/10

Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

Marvel’s newest series isn’t nearly as inventive as WandaVision, and it may not land every beat, but it’s worth a watch for the fun new gadgets, Sebastian Stan’s dry joke delivery, and its exploration into themes of what makes a hero and what governments owe their citizens. It’s a pretty satisfying entry in the MCU canon, but I’d also recommend re-watching Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War—the canon is getting expansive, and it’s getting trickier every year to keep up with all the backstory.

March + April Critic Picks

Best of 2020 Picks

As per usual, the months leading up to the Oscars becomes a binge period for potential Oscar nominees. In March and April, I watched many of the films that made my Top 20 of 2020, including Boys State, The Father, Judas and the Black Messiah, Let Them All Talk, Minari, Nomadland, On the Rocks, One Night in Miami…, Promising Young Woman, Soul, and Sound of Metal. You can read how I ranked them on my list for ZekeFilm, plus reviews of The Father, Minari, Promising Young Woman, and Soul.

Bonus: If you loved On the Rocks, don’t miss this feature and beautiful photography starring Sofia Coppola, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, and Rashida Jones for W Magazine. 

Stranger Than Fiction (2006)

What would you do if you started hearing a voice who narrated your every thought and move? If you’re Will Ferrell, you’ll seek out a literary professor (Dustin Hoffman), fall in love (with Maggie Gyllenhaal), and track down the voice (Emma Thompson) who’s making ominous predictions about your future. Stranger Than Fiction is funny thought-provoking, and an unusual but welcome role for Ferrell. Crowd: 9.5/10 // Critic: 9/10

All the Royal Family News

Speaking of stranger than fiction, it’s been a busy few months for the Royal Family. We’ve celebrated 95th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the 3rd birthday of Prince Louis, and the 10th anniversary of Will and Kate’s marriage. We also lost Prince Philip, and we watched the drama of Harry and Meaghan’s interview with Oprah. No matter what happens to their Crown, I don’t think we’ll ever get over our fascination with the Windsor family. A few pieces worth reading from the last few months:

“In Meghan and Harry’s Interview, Two TV Worlds Collided,” Vulture.com

“The Queen’s Man: Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Dies,” TIME.com

“Obituary: HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,” BBC.com

Goodfellas (1990)

One of my film opinions that makes me feel like a phony is that Martin Scorsese just isn’t my cup of tea. He’s brilliant, but his films tend to be long and dark, two qualities that are never my first choice…and somehow Goodfellas still worked for me? Maybe it was the TV edit graciously toning down the violence or maybe it was that Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci were firing on all cylinders, but for some reason this ‘90s classic didn’t suck the joy out of my evening like Scorsese often does. (Bonus: For a Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro I don’t really recommend, head to the last section of this Round Up.)

Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (2021)

Her voice has only matured, so Taylor Swift revisiting her old albums is like upgrading a blast to the past. Plus, the six new tracks make me feel like 15 crushing on that boy in Spanish class again, and her Grammys performance (just before her third Album of the Year win) was magical and folklore-tastic.

Double Feature — ‘60s Action Classics: The Guns of Navarone (1961) + Planet of the Apes (1968)

The Guns of Navarone (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10) follows Gregory Peck and David Niven as they destroy Nazi weapons in the Mediterranean. Planet of the Apes (Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10) follows Charlton Heston as he attempts to escape from, well, a planet full of apes. The pacing of ‘60s films doesn’t always hold up, but that’s not the case with this pair. Both are still full of suspense, and you can’t go wrong hanging with casts like these.

Let Him Go (2020)

Kevin Costner and Diane Lane play a farming couple who unexpectedly help raise a boy who lost his biological father—sound familiar? But instead of a superhero origin story, they’re part of a thrilling Western with performances nuanced (Costner and Lane) and showy (Lesley Manville). If I’d watched this before completing my Best of 2020 piece, it likely would’ve been on my list. Crowd: 8/10 // Critic: 8.5/10

The Oscars

I’m a ride-or-die fan of the Academy Awards, but I’ll admit even I found this year’s ceremony odd. Instead of focusing on what wasn’t so hot, I’ll recommend a few moments you don’t want to miss:

Emerald Fennell giving a shout-out to Saved by the Bell

Daniel Kaluuya acknowledging his parents’ sex life during his acceptance speech (??)

Yuh-Jung Yoon flirting with Brad Pitt and acknowledging she’s just “luckier” than her fellow nominees

Glenn Close dancing to…”Da Butt”?

You can also read about the historic wins and nominations from this year’s Oscar class and why the Golden Globes were an even stranger production weeks earlier.

Trailer-palooza!

Movies are on their way back, y’all! I’m counting down the days until I can get back to a theatre, and even if some of these movies are duds, I’m planning to see all of them on a big screen if possible:

Those Who Wish Me Dead (May 14)

Cruella (May 28)

In the Heights (June 11)

Space Jam 2 (July 16)

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (September 3)

West Side Story (December 10)

Also in March + April…

To add to the Oscars love, you can listen to a conversation about what we learn about family, community, and society in some of the year’s biggest nominees on the Uncommon Voices podcast. I join regular hosts Michael and Kenneth in this episode, and I recommend all of their thoughtful discussions on their “What’s Streaming” episodes.

I’ve previously recommended the Do You Like Apples weekly newsletter, so I’m proud to share I contributed twice in March! I wrote about Love and Basketball, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, and one of my all-time favorite Julia Roberts rom-coms, Notting Hill. (I also tied to win their Oscars pool, but I suppose that’s less exciting for you than me.)

It was a busy couple of months on SO IT’S A SHOW! New logo, new email list, new Instagram, and a host of new episodes about a flop of a Madonna flick, a Swedish children’s TV show, an urban legend turned into a horror movie, one of the best films about journalism ever, and a Martin Scorsese movie about a real boxer.

Most of what I wrote for ZekeFilm in March and April was mentioned in Best of 2020 recommendations…except for The Nest, a film that couldn’t figure out what genre it wanted to be.

Photo credits: Nick Jonas, Royal Family. All others IMDb.com.

[miraculouscontent]

Askplosion #12 4/4:

(I would like to state for future reference that, while I do not mind long/multi-part asks, if you’d like to engage in actual discussion with me over a non-Miraculous topic, my DMs - Tumblr Messenger - should be open; I lost pieces of three multi-part asks this time just due to Tumblr not sending the remaining part(s) so yeah, I just wanted to make that clear)

(like, this askplosion ended up being super long because of this section and that’s not really what I want to have going on since I’m supposed to be a primarily Miraculous blog; I don’t want to have to stop answering non-Miraculous related asks but I might have to if this keeps up:)

.:New non-Miraculous Asks:.

Anonymous said:

What are your experiences with some really rude anons?

It’s partly my fault when it happens. Like I’ve said before, I’m an aspie, and part of what that means is I struggle to understand situations emotionally. I can come off as insensitive or read the mood wrong which often leads to people misunderstanding my intentions or where I’m coming from.

More often than not, what I’m saying will make 100% sense to me but not the person/people reading it. I also stick a lot more firmly to my opinions than I should because people tell me I fold too easily, and I come off as more egotistical than I actually am to cover up my low self-esteem lol.

So yeah, can’t think of any experience in particular but sometimes it might be my fault? At least I suspect that it is?

Anonymous said:

“Killed by kindness” makes me think of an assassin who kills people by giving hugs and compliments to people and the occasion gift that isn’t tampered until thre target does like Conrad Birdie making women swoon into fainting by singing.

omg

yes

Anonymous said:

You're watching Yashahime right now? rip

MARINETTE TAKE 2 MOROHA DESERVES BETTER

SETSUNA HAS SO LITTLE REASON TO HANG OUT WITH THE OTHER TWO GIRLS

IF I SEE ANOTHER DEUS EX TOWA I’M GONNA KICK SOMETHING

(so yes, I’m watching Yashahime)

Anonymous said:

Since someone recommended Remarried Empress, I would like to recommend my own webcomic: Princess Love-Pon! It's about a young girl named Lia Sagamore who becomes the titular magical girl and purifies people's hearts when they're tainted by the Dark Queen! It's really cool due to its diversity, the main character is black and her best friend is Afro-Latina, the villain and her prince son are also black, and there's a Japanese girl, a black guy, and an Indian girl. Plus, loads of pink and frills!

Thank you very much, though I actually don’t take recommendations, even from close friends. The Remarried Empress anon wasn’t a recommendation; they were more pointing something out to me and then I went to confirm.

Anonymous said:

Unrelated to MLB: Which Pokémon are your favourites?

I used a “Favorite Pokemon Picker” because I prefer going by generations to pick favorites and that was the easiest way of going about it. I struggle picking super favorites so here’s what I got form each generation! (my only rule was “one Pokemon per evolution line” with an exception of the Eevee line since they’re different types, and also Alolan/Galarian forms)

(note: the blue-patterned Vivillon is my favorite and I honestly don’t like Charizard normally but the Y version actually slims him down and gives him the wings I feel he should have; it’s an improvement of the design so it gets my seal of approval, I don’t like the X version at all)

(lol I was looking through this after I was done and find it really funny how it’s like, 50% cute things and then the other 50% is just EDGY, there’s very little in-between with me I guess)

Anonymous said:

Bridgerton the Series: Yay or nay? Sorry if you haven’t seen it or it’s not your thing. I was just curious.

Never seen it, though when I brought up to someone, they didn’t recommend it to me at all ahaha.

Anonymous said:

I previously kept having this argument about The Bechdel Test with someone. She keeps insisting that the test is invalid because there's nothing wrong with talking about men and that it was created for lesbians only, and not for feminists, with the implication that being a lesbian somehow means that you dislike men or want them gone. And she also thinks the test is about NEVER talking about men, rather than merely occasionally talking about other things. I keep telling her otherwise, but...

jdfhkgdfhjgdfg “lesbians only”

now all I can imagine is “lesbians only” sections at restaurants and such

Anonymous said:

Have you ever played Akinator, with or without the Miraculous Ladybug characters? Because I played it with Ochaco from MHA and Marinette and he guessed them within a second(can your character control gravity? Is your character a protagonist?). I even played it with myself as the "character" and he guessed "your shadow" lol. How about you?

I’ve played Akinator before but I don’t specifically remember what I was searching for lol.

Anonymous said:

The cast for the newest Power Rangers series got revealed, and I hate that as soon as I saw the Pink Ranger's bio mentioned she was an internet journalist, I thought of Alya. I really hope she doesn't have the same problems as Alya in the series proper.

fhgdfkgd journalists have been ruined for us forever

Anonymous said:

Have you noticed that in many shows, especially shonen shows, people tend to hate the most "feminine" female character? Like, in Naruto it was Sakura, in Death Note it was Misa, in My Hero Academia it was Ochaco(although a lot of people like her so I'm not so sure about that last one?). The most hated character in one too many a shonen is almost always the "girliest" of the characters. They're always claimed to be useless or reliant on a man. And this is within the fandom who should know better!

It probably didn’t help with Sakura that she was decked out in pink hair; that’s an instant girl label for you (or lesbian label, depends on the person :P).

I don’t think I’ve been in enough fandoms to have such an experience but I definitely see where you’re coming from.

Anonymous said:

Rewatching Chat Blanc and Here To Help from Star vs. and hearing Adrien/Marco tell Marinette/Star that they always liked the girls from the beginning makes me so pissed. It's not that I don't ship Starco(I do! But I also like MarcoxJanna), although I don't ship the love square, but I'm so annoyed with writers finding the need to make the audience "know" that the main ship's characters "always" liked each other, as if that makes their love for each other more true, even if it's obvious they had other crushes? Like, what happened to Kagami Tsurugi? Jackie-Lynn Thomas?

News flash: Teenagers are allowed to have crushes on multiple other people before they find "the One". It doesn't mean their love for that "One" is any less valid. And if you still want to pull the "they always liked each other since they first met", at least make it actually TRUE!!! Don't have them have crushes on other people before moving on to the "official" crush and be all like "Oh, by the way, I liked you from the start," when it's dead obvious they didn't. You're doing a disservice to the romantic "false" leads.

I'm willing to forgive Star's crush on Oskar and Tom since she's not the one claiming she always liked Marco(even though she fell in love with him LONG before he fell in love with her, which is a nice turn of events), although her "love" for Oskar was merely an infatuation at most and I personally don't see why it was needed. Why don't they just say that their old crush didn't do it for them???

UGH, I remember watching that show and being so annoyed because I really liked Marco and Jackie and wanted them to be a thing but I knew that they’d pull Starco in the end because of course they would.

It also totally makes it seem as if love is the most powerful relationship there is (aros would like a word), which is so bizarre when there are so many “power of friendship” tropes. Like, a male and female lead have to get together because their relationship is the strongest.

The love square would hold so much more meaning to me without this love drama nonsense. It’s tiring.

Anonymous said:

Have you seen Yuki Yuna Is a Hero? If so, then what are your thoughts on it? I was thinking of watching it but it seems to be another "taking away the empowerment of the magical girl genre by making the girls suffer instead" type story. I read about it on TV Tropes and apparently it's a deconstruction that takes after Madoka Magica which already puts a bad taste in my mouth, but then I got to the examples and they're basically about how girls who get magical powers lose their body parts one by one and that the reason only girls can be heroes is because "young girls have always been sacrifices".

Not to mention it was written by a man and aimed towards a seinen(adult men ages 17-35) demographic, making it torture porn for adult men. Also, both the laconic page for Yuki Yuna and Madoka Magica say "Being a magical girl sucks."(though for Yuki Yuna it adds "Unless you have the power of friendship.") and to be honest that kills any desire in me to watch the show. Should I give it a chance?

Oof.

Yeah, after bringing it up to a friend of mine, it was instantly recommended of me not to watch it, so I’d say, “no.”

Anonymous said:

Let's make one thing perfectly clear. I, love, love, LOVE Sailor Moon. And I love the transformations, too. But if there's one thing I don't love, it's that their outfits all look pretty much the same but with different colors/different lengths of gloves and shoes and stuff like that, and that they all have the exact same body type save for the one fat girl who's made to look bad. I don't like Madoka Magica, but at least they all had unique/different costumes(but they still have similar bodies).

We’re not allowed diversity here. Take your different body types to a show that cares; we’re all about femininity here and how girls can be beautiful and powerful no matter wha--oh wait...

Yeah, I don’t care for the design in Sailor Moon, but that’s because skirts don’t interest me design-wise unless it’s really unique/interesting.

(note that there’s a lot of talk about tomboys, sexism, and TV tropes and such below, and then Madoka Magica after that; that’s basically the rest of this askplosion:)

Anonymous said:

I just saw the thumbnail for a video called "Why You Should Watch Princess Tutu(Yes, I Know The Name Is Stupid)". Umm, why is it stupid exactly? Because it's "girly"? What is with people thinking that in order for a girly show to be good they have to first separate the show from its girliness in order to enjoy it? It's like how men will say a show is good despite it being girly, or that since it's good it's no longer girly. Nobody does this for boy shows, because boy things are "never" stupid.

Princess = girly thing

Tutu = girly thing

girly things = bad

That’s the formula~ They should’ve called it something edgier and manly so that more people would be interested.

Anonymous said:

I'm wary of any woman or girl who says, "I'm a girl, but I'd rather read books about guys" or "I'm a female writer but I mostly write stories about male characters". I feel like those women are the "not like other girls/one of the guys" type who suffer from internalized misogyny and don't like female characters. I also feel like they're the type to not care about female representation, because in their minds, girls shouldn't care about female role models. We can enjoy males just as much! I do!

To be fair, they might also just be writing about shirtless men doing “handsome” things. ;P

But nah, I see your point. Me personally, I try to find a balance of writing both, but I do think there can be bias.

Anonymous said:

Do you think it's okay to like a ship but acknowledge that it wouldn't be safe or healthy or condonable in real life? Because I was just thinking of how a lot of people like some really "toxic" ships like Veronica/JD in Heathers, Yuno/Yukki in Future Diary, Madoka/Homura in Madoka Magica(although some people don't like it because of its toxicity/like it but don't realize it's toxic), almost any villain/hero ship, the list goes on. But they're aware of the fact that it's not a good standard for healthy relationships in real life.

An alternative I've seen is people having a crush on "dangerous" characters like JD and Yuno, or Karma from Assassination Classroom(there's not a single video on YouTube with him in it that DOESN'T have comments full of people saying they want Karma to father their children), but still being aware of the fact that the character is a) not real and b) wouldn't be a good partner if they were real(and that's assuming they even want to be with you. But sometimes there's a good reason for falling in love with a "toxic/dangerous" character.

Take Monika from Doki Doki Literature Club! She's obsessed with the player(not the player CHARACTER, the flesh and blood player themselves) to the point of killing off all the other girls and "trapping" you in a room with her where she talks endlessly about lots of things. But she's actually a lonely girl who's driven insane by the fact that nothing around her is real. She latches on to you because you're the only other person who's real and sapient and has got a mind of their own. You're literally her outlet to the outside world.

She's personally my favorite character in the game due to her actually being a more fleshed out, sympathetic(and not in the idealized "moemoe" way), and realistic take on the Yandere archetype(which, like many moe archetypes, is kinda misogynistic in nature in that it reinforces submissiveness; it's basically animes version of "woman scorned".). So it makes sense that people would sympathize with her and want her to become real, because all she's ever wanted was to be real and to talk to real people. Especially since she really did care about her friends and even returned them back to life because she saved their backup files, taking herself out of the picture.

I read a few "Monika becomes real and lives with you" fanfictions where she's really sweet and not at all crazy and cares for you a lot, and it's never felt the same as all those other "Yandere/psycho lives with you and is your girl/boyfriend" type stories precisely because those stories tend to just glorify possessive partners that kill your loved ones, drive your family members to commit suicide, and tear up your stuffed animals and dollies for the sake of it, rather than go into why they're so crazy for you, and often reinforce Stockholm Syndrome.

Plus, those "things" she talks about in the empty room? They're actually quite smart and make you think about the world for a bit. Not many "crazy" type characters actually get that. They're all about how "I'll slice your boyfriend open with an axe if you don't date me wa ha ha", and even if they're not, it's all the fandom will focus on, to the point of ignoring any and all other aspects to their character. Because that "crazy in love" aspect is the most appealing part of them. Maybe it's due to forbidden fruit/bad boy(or girl) appeal? Who knows? But I'm starting to wonder if it's still as bad if people recognize the problematic aspects of "crazy in love" characters or "dysfunctional" relationships.

Because if they recognize it's not real and don't really want it for themselves, then it's probably not much of a problem. But if they just go on wanting it to be real and never take a step back and go "wait a minute, this isn't real love; they're only together because he latches onto the first girl to show him any kindness and affection and she's a doormat who doesn't want something bad to happen if she leaves him", then that's bad.

Obviously it's not as bad as being in love with literal stalkers, killers, and rapists in real life(which is an actual thing, believe it or not, it's called hybristophilia), because fictional characters will never be real. Karma Akabane will never be real. Yuno Gasai will never be real. JD will never be real. But loving fictional characters who do those things and not realizing the problem with it may cause people to seek out real criminals, so it's best to separate fiction from reality.

I can’t help judging a little internally, but yeah, I think people can ship whatever as long as it has that “not in real life” scenario going for it. It’s ultimately fiction, so just because I don’t like it and/or think that it’s bad doesn’t mean other people can’t ship it.

Anonymous said:

I'm getting tired of all the racists on TV Tropes getting upset whenever a trope has a Japanese name. Whether it's Tsundere, Yandere, Meganekko, Genki Girl, Bokukko, or any Japanese anime name, people will complain that the trope exists beyond anime so it shouldn't have a "cute anime name", and that it should instead just be given a broader(read: English) name with the same meaning. Or that the site is too obsessed with anime. I'm just sick of people saying that anime names are bad.

The other thing is that we don’t actually have English words for certain things? I mean, the whole reason we say, “tsundere,” is because it says everything in one word. It’s easy.

(Also, people are aware the the English language isn’t some unique thing that takes no inspiration from other languages, right? It’s a mix of things, so accept that other languages exist because we literally wouldn’t have English without them.)

Anonymous said:

Have you seen the TV Tropes reviews for "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic"? Holy crap, they are all a perfect example of the "Real Women Don't Wear Dresses" phenomenon that I have mentioned earlier and is so fucking present on this site. While some reviews praise the show for showing that "it's okay to be strong AND girly"(such as Hadles' review, which was really splendid), and that girl shows are no less good, others either insult the show by calling it "girly, saccharine, and stupid" as if "girly" is synonymous with anything bad about a show, or feel the need to distance it from its girliness in order to praise it as if a show can't be good if it's also girly.

Some people were saying things like "the show might seem girly at first, but it's actually a good, brilliant show with intricate plot twists, well-developed characters, and even some scary moments" and "the characters aren't just shallow girly-girls, they have depth!" So what, girliness is mutually exclusive to anything of value? One person even said that the Girl-Show Ghetto was the reason they couldn't get into the show or respect it. Just...wow.

And one review even said "Rarity's pretty tough for a girly girl!" Excuse me? Tough FOR a girly girl? So being a girly girl somehow automatically disqualifies you from being tough? Like "yeah, she's tough despite being a girly girl! Because girly girls aren't supposed to be tough."

It reminds me of the phrase "you're pretty for a black girl", which, while it's never been said to ME, I have heard other people complain about. It's sick and it hurts, just like this. And the few people who didn't say things like that still said that they couldn't get into the show at first because it looked "girly and vapid", before changing their minds and thinking that the show either proved their biases about girly shows wrong, no longer think it's girly since girly shows "can't" be good, or like it "despite" it's girliness.

And there were 70 reviews in all. 70 reviews full of this misogynistic "girly is bad" shit. So in conclusion nearly all the reviews on TV Tropes for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic were along the lines of one of three things. 1) "This show is girly so I looked past it because girly shows are dumb." 2) "This show is good despite being girly/the characters are good despite being girly." and 3) "This show is not girly to me at all because it is well-written and captivating and girly shows aren't capable of such things."

Granted, some people there were able and willing to call out those who judged the show badly for being girly(or gave it the "not like other girls" treatment, but in show form), as well as people warning other potential viewers to get rid of any potential bias they may have against it due to it being girly. But there were still more people insulting its girliness as a reason they think it sucks or denying its girliness to justify their liking of it than the other way around.

I would've accepted it in the form of "If you think this show is bad because of its inherent girliness, then you are wrong!" or "This show is proof that a show being girly or aimed at girls doesn't and shouldn't take away from its value, as people seem to believe." or "A girl can be girly and be a strong female character.", but no, instead I got shit like this. It's especially insulting when TV Tropes is a site that devotes itself in part to critiquing sexist tropes found in media, only to turn right around and reinforce them.

I don’t read TV Tropes that frequently, so I fortunately missed out on all of these complete idiots who associate girly products with being bad.

(that “pretty for a black girl” comment makes me hate all aspects of “expectations of beauty” and it’s like--plz let these die)

I could maybe see an argument for criticizing a girls show for being “saccharine” if it were like, “girls’ shows written by men who clearly don’t know how to write girls are usually bad,” because then it’s not a criticism of girls’ shows exactly but rather who keeps being put in charge of writing them.

Anonymous said:

I get so annoyed when people get upset when confronted with the matter of female representation with "what's so wrong with one show having a male protagonist or mostly men and one/a few women? Why do we have to include women in everything?" These people clearly do not understand that one show doing it is one thing, but when multiple shows do it, it's an obvious problem. It's even worse when they turn around and diss shows with largely female casts for "not having enough men".

And as for people getting upset that "every show has to include women/come with a checkbox nowadays", as if it's bad to include women in your story...look around. Women make up 50% of the population. They're literally everywhere. What reason do you have to not include a substantial amount of women?

These people act like male is the default and women are a last resort. They see no problem with men dominating a cast because it's justified(despite that not reflecting real life), and yet having female characters, or, hell, a female-dominated cast(I know they also don't reflect real life, but there are still female-dominated spaces; most colleges are 2/3 female) is "unrealistic" trying to fulfill a quota, or a straw feminist agenda, as if characters can't be female for their own sake. You shouldn't have to be forced include women because their presence should be a given.

How many stories nowadays take place in the war front in Viking times or whatever? A lot of men just don't want to include female characters or see them represented(well) in media because those who are overrepresented tend to want to stay that way. They likely also have insecurities about their masculinity and are worried about female characters flooding their shows with estrogen and ruining the shows they love, because they can't relate to female characters or enjoy shows about them without negating their girliness(ie. This show seems girly, but it's actually good), since they're ashamed to associate themselves with anything feminine due to looking down on women or seeing them as bad.

Plus they want to be the center of everything so the second a show is about mostly women they get upset and claim it's "sexist against men" because it's not about them. Hence why bronies(bless their souls) are made fun of for the grave sin of enjoying a female-centric show with a female protagonist and largely female characters. Granted, there are some freaky fans, but there's still some sexism at play here.

This reminds me of a post I saw about a boy who actually looked up to female characters because you can pick a role model who doesn’t fit your gender. Crazy concept, I know. ;P

And yeah, that’s how it goes with equality. People who are best/most represented don’t want equality because they think it means less for them and they don’t want that, like a child who doesn’t want to share their cookies with everyone else.

Anonymous said:

I love TV Tropes, but if there's one problem I have with it, it's how often it associates femininity with weakness. The "Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy" trope is a good example of this, but the worst offender in my opinion is the Girly Girl With a Tomboy Streak, as most of the examples there are simply of girls who are strong-willed or fierce or can fight. Because you know, those traits are male. It's bad because there are ALREADY tropes for girly girls who can fight, Girly Bruiser and Lady of War (which TV Tropes even goes out of its way to SAY shouldn't be counted as a "Tomboy Streak" and yet does stuff like this), but it's also bad because ANY girly girl with these qualities, no matter how feminine they are otherwise, will be seen by TV Tropes as having to be at least somewhat tomboyish(read: masculine) in order to have those traits. Because regular girly girls are just weak and fragile and only want to be housewives.

It's even worse when you realize that much of these characters are created with the exact purpose of subverting the stereotype that girliness equals weak, and instead present a new and more empowering form of femininity: that femininity is strong and DOES NOT equal being a passive sex tool for men's pleasure. They're MEANT to show that being a tomboy is not the only way to be strong, and TV Tropes acknowledges that! But then they also go and claim these characters have "Tomboy Streaks" thus undermining the positive message by insinuating that you have to be tomboyish to be strong and that even girly girls have to have some level of masculinity to be deemed respectable and equal human beings, plus manipulating many impressionable folks into thinking strength and bravery is automatically tomboyish.

Worse yet, they often put a character here because "she's a big eater" or "she burps/farts a lot". Gee, I didn't know women had bodily functions? I didn't know women had digestive systems? So basically any time a girl shows that she is a human being and not a pretty, passive doll to be idealized, she is acting like a man. Because only men are fully-fledged human beings. Even outside of that, look at basically any masculinity-femininity contrast trope(Tomboy and Girly Girl, Sensitive Guy and Manly Man, Masculine Girl Feminine Boy, etc.). The "masculine" character will often be described as dominant, assertive, or outspoken, and the "feminine" character will often be called weak-willed, passive, emotional, and timid. It's fucking sickening.

The Tomboy With A Girly Streak trope is similar to its inverse in that a tomboyish girl will often be placed under this trope with their proclaimed "girly" streak being that she's tender or cries a lot or is soft spoken/a doormat. Because being girly is about not taking up too much space, not having any ambition or aspiration, and overall being a weak and shallow waste of space. For a site that claims to dismantle such sexist misconceptions, it sure does reinforce them just as much.

I almost want to stop using TV Tropes based on that and many other reasons, but it's a genuinely informative site that at least tries to avoid these stereotypes(plus it's edited by more than one person), it just doesn't do enough. For example, they made an awkward claim once that women can't fight while on their periods, and even have an Improbably Female Cast trope, as if it's abnormal that a cast could consist of mostly women and demands an explanation. To them, femininity=inferior.

And then in comes the “anti-girl tomboy” characters who basically do everything “girls don’t do;” glares at things like make-up and such, rolls eyes at the subject of “girl talk” or “romance,” drinks anything carbonated and spreads their legs wide open, etcetera.

Guys really don’t get the same version, at least not that I’m aware of? Like, at best, they don’t participate in “guy things” but that’s about it.

Having characters acknowledge it just makes everything more blatant, like if a woman comes by and the guys have to assure “DON’T WORRY, SHE’S LIKE ONE OF THE GUYS.”

It’s like a woman can only hang out and engage in “guy talk/time” (the concept of which I hate but that’s besides the point) if they can crush a beer can against their forehead.

Anonymous said:

OMG TV Tropes called Cirno the Ice Fairy from Touhou a "tomboy"? Why? Because she's boisterous and outspoken and not a "shy girly-girl" like Daiyousei! TV Tropes clearly believes that any girl or woman who is more than just a pretty face(which ALL women are, by the way), who takes up space, who has a dynamic personality and isn't just a weeping wallflower(which I'm not saying Daiyousei is) is a tomboy. Because she's acting like a man that way. Ugh, so over TV Tropes and their sexism.

And all the girls in Touhou(including Cirno) wear big frilly dresses anyway so it doesn't really make sense to see ANY of them as tomboys. But no, apparently any girl who is rowdy or tough or is active and not passive is a tomboy. You gotta be a tomboy to have attitude. You can tell they think so because they often say things like "strong, but still feminine" as if those things are opposites. They even described femininity as "weak and susceptible, vain and superficial". Like, ugh, kill me now.

I legitimately want to see a bullet point list here of what qualifies as a “tomboy.” Like, what, anyone who does one thing that isn’t “girly”?

Can we just throw out all of these terms; not even replace them, just throw them out?

(the below ask is incomplete - the first part is missing - but the asker clarified after I asked them, so clarification is below:)

Anonymous said:

Tropes is because I'm working on a story and I hope when it becomes famous that TV Tropes will write about it, but as it stands, I'm beginning to wonder that TV Tropes undermines most stories or plots to do with women one way or another. I mean, they constantly create tropes with the intent of calling out inherent biases, yet reinforce those biases themselves.

For example, they have a trope called Men Are Generic, Women Are Special, which points out the bias of male being the default, and yet on almost every other page on the wiki describing a trope, the default character will be a "he"(especially if it's a character trope), and whenever they mention "The Hero" or "The Big Bad" it's always a he unless it needs to be female(like if the heroine is in a romance story, or if the villain is a seductress). Female characters at best, can hope to be "The Heart" or "The Chick" of the group(which is often used in a demeaning way).

They even have a trope called "Improbably Female Cast" in which they point out all the instances of a story's setting having an "over-abundance" of women or girls with no men in sight, and claim that such stories have majority female characters when it is "unusual" "unlikely" or "lacks justification". Someone even suggested that the trope should be called "Where Are All The Men?" as if there's something inherently weird or wrong when a story is dominated by female characters, and like the story is in dire need of men, as if only men can be protagonists.

Even if the story has a justifiable reason for having mostly women, the fact that the writer made that choice at all is somehow deserving of mention. The mere fact that there's no "Improbably Male Cast" trope shows where the site's biases lay. They don't see anything wrong with a show being dominated by men with little to no female representation(ex. Death Note), and yet a show dominated by women(ex. MLPFIM) is somehow an anomaly and demands an explanation(even if the story does provide a reason for it, TV Tropes will still list it and presume it "improbable", as if to say "I mean, yeah, but there's no reason why you couldn't just make them mEn instead", as if writers who have mostly female characters are going out of their way to steer away from the "default" males.

In fact, they even admit that "Men Are Generic, Women Are Special" is their reason for having such a trope, but not the inverse. They even say that it's not the trope if the show revolves around a group of girlfriends with no indication of the gender ratio in the wider setting. So any time the females outnumber the males a story it's instantly labeled "improbable" because there's NO WAY any setting AT ALL could have more females than males. That's improbable! You see, this is why when women are 1/3 of the people in a given space men perceive it as "majority female" because they're uncomfortable with women having more of a presence than men.

We'll never have true equality if shows with majority female casts continue to be scrutinized under a microscope and assumed to be of inferior, lesser quality, just because there's no male characters around and it's women who are driving the plot. My problem isn't that they have a trope for majority female casts, it COULD be a testament to gender equality(ie., "there used to not be a lot of shows revolving around women, but now they're becoming increasingly common and well-known), but it's that they single out such stories as "unlikely" and thus discredit them.

And worse yet, they refuse to change the name, because they don't see a problem with it. So now every single show that doesn't have an equal number of males and females or more males than females is going to be called "improbable" by TV Tropes, because there's something(bad) to be said about shows that choose to make most of their characters women. Death Note and Naruto can slide by the radar of having loads of men, but Madoka Magica and Touhou are "improbable"? Because they have loads of women?

the clarification:

Anonymous said:

I started out complaining about how TV Tropes says that boys will watch Star Vs. The Forces of Evil only because of Marco(who's great, but it comes off like boys can only relate to boy characters) and that the show only looks girly but has a deep complex plot with scary moments(as if a show can't be dark and complex and still be girly; girly=shallow, watered down fluff), hence my complaint about TV Tropes undermining girly shows or anything "girly".

Yup, exactly like I said.

Good stuff in “girly” things is the exception. Good stuff in “manly” things is expected.

Which is funny when you consider stuff like “edgy” reboots of things. Like, Disney remakes their original movies and that usually means making them worse (like in Beauty and the Beast - god I hate that remake - where the objects are going to become complete objects when the last petal falls even though the enchantress is explicitly a good person and it comes off as super cruel and unnecessary), but that seems to just be its own breed of bad I guess.

Then there are terms like “chick flicks” and “soap operas” which are usually women-oriented and tend to be considered dumb/over-dramatic.

You know, not like MEN shows with their sexualization of women, guns and MEN things.

Anonymous said:

Remember what I said about TV Tropes being sexist? Well, they also have a trope called "Girly Run". Like, that's literally the name. Girly. Run. Thankfully the first example(which is under advertising due to the forms of media being in alphabetical order) is an aversion from the blessed Like A Girl campaign, but...just reading the page lets the casual-yet-bold-faced sexism speak for itself.

why can’t things just be like the Sims where characters can wear whatever the hell they want and have any personality without any judgment or criticism from other Sims?

(more Madoka Magica talk - and ONLY Madoka Magica talk - below because I’ve unleashed a monster apparently:)

Anonymous said:

I know you don't like Frozen but I saw a theory somewhere that Elsa's powers came from making a contract with Kyubey and her wish was to impress her sister and anyway I can't stop rolling my eyes. This isn't(just) because of my distaste for Madoka Magica compared to my love for Frozen, but if Elsa's a Puella Magi then why didn't she become a witch long ago? How did she make it to adulthood? How did she become emotionally stable? And why do her powers have to come from a negative source?

I think it might just be people looking for excuses to do their crossover fanfiction which--yeah, I’m not crazy about that.

Anonymous said:

Did you know that Cristina Vee voiced Homura Akemi in the English Dub? It's very noticeable, especially during the Cake Song, where I could've sworn she sounds exactly like Marinette. By the way, I'm still not sure what the hell was going on in that song. Could you please explain it to me(if you know)?

Nooooo don’t make me think of Homura when I think of Marinette!! fjkdgjnfdg

lol but seriously, I think the Cake Song is just meant to be one of those “weird but meant to be dEeP” things that shows do sometimes to be cool (not a criticism technically; depends on how it’s used).

I think the cake is the labyrinth and Homura saying that she’s the pumpkin makes her the odd one out since pumpkins are associated with scares and halloween, so it’s “foreshadowing” her being the witch. The things that they say they are... they’re like--ingredients for a meal, but not a cake, so the the cake is the labyrinth and they’re the things that would go inside it.

Homura and Madoka are the only ones who really get descriptions to go with them. Homura says that she’s “full of seeds” (despair?) and Madoka implies that it’ll bring sweet dreams once she’s sliced (which is either referring to the godly freedom given to magical girls before they turn into witches, or foreshadowing Madoka being “split” after Homura stops Madoka from purifying her, leading to Homura’s “sweet dream” of what it’s like when everything is “normal” after her reality twisting).

Anonymous said:

May I ask what you don't like about Kyoko's character? Is it because she was the stereotypical "jerk with a heart of gold"? Or because the writer made her flip from hating Sayaka and wanting her dead to suddenly dying for Sayaka even though she barely knows her compared to Madoka(because the writer doesn't understand how girls' relationships work)? For me it was a mixture of both(though I still don't mind KyoSaya!), but I still liked her enough, she just felt a tad stereotypical. Your thoughts?

It’s both. I just don’t like characters like her at all and the runtime of Madoka Magica can’t maintain all of these characters, “developing” them, and then killing them off. I don’t even have any time to get attached to them because they’re dead within a matter of a few episodes.

And it’s always like, “okay here’s this character’s backstory to make you feel emotionally attached--HA NOW THEY’RE DEAD. SEE??? WE TOTALLY GOT YOU.”

Like, no, you didn’t. I didn’t even have time to care about THEM, much less their actual death.

Anonymous said:

What about the girls in Madoka Magica? Do you think they're strong female characters? Now, obviously the show is not feminist, since it misses the whole point of Magical Girl, which is to empower girls and show them that girls can be powerful and feminine and can find strength in solidarity with each other by instead making them suffer and fight each other and have their power come from their emotions, which are exploited and turned against them because women can't be powerful, but still...

It’s the same way I feel about Marinette; there are some who I want to say are strong characters, but the writing is ready to just kill them off at any time and bully them for essentially having emotions.

Basically, imagine a male writer hands you a character sheet and is like, “AW YEAH CHECK OUT THIS sTrOng FEMALE CHARACTER I WROTE.”

Like, even if they were right, their ego and obnoxiousness about the whole thing, along with what they actually do to said character, makes you not want to give them any credit for it.

Anonymous said:

How do you think Puella Magi Madoka Magica would be different if they had magical boys as well(which can mean either gender-bending canon magical girls or introducing original magical boys)? Do you think the show would be better? Worse? Or would it be just about the same?

Personally I feel like having magical boys would be good and bad; good because there would be no more of the “teenage girls are hysterical” crap and it wouldn’t just be girls suffering because they can’t handle power, and bad because it would still be problematic(for stereotyping all teens as over emotional and deserving to be taken advantage of by the Incubators, and it would still be about kids suffering in a genre meant to empower girls, having some of them be boys wouldn’t help that much).

I also feel like Gen Urobuchi would still make the girls suffer more and have them be more emotionally and mentally unstable. Holy crap it feels like he read up on Aristotle’s views on women while making this show.

It would at least be more balanced I guess? Like, teenage years are a fragile time, so it would make sense for both girls and boys to be taken advantage of. I still wouldn’t like it but it would be nice to point out, “there are emotional boys as well as emotional girls.”

Anonymous said:

Literally all the problems with Treatment of Marinette, Chat's Entitlement(TM), and the sheer sexism in general(ex. all the teenage girls and even women villains being catty and bitchy, while the male villains are cool, suave, and calculating; female villains being irredeemable scum while male villains are "not as bad as they seem", etc.) could all be solved if the show just got some more female writers! You know a show isn't feminist like people claim if none of the writers are women.

That's what I love about Friendship is Magic; the show is written and directed by a woman and actually has a variety of both male and female writers! Plus, Lauren Faust explicitly identifies as a feminist and claims her works are meant to empower women and show them that there's no wrong way to be a girl. And the show reflects that! There's no "token girl" who checks all the boxes; the females have realistic flaws, diverse personalities, and let's not forget ARE THE HEROES!!! Not to mention that the cast is actually PREDOMINANTLY FEMALE. Do people have any idea how refreshing that is?!

And that's why whenever people claim that shows like Madoka Magica are feminist when it's written by men for men while also dismissing actually feminist shows written by women for women as "sexist" or "demeaning", I cringe inside. It's not just what the show looks like, it's what the people behind it say.

And Gen Urobuchi is not a feminist. At all. Just listen to the things he says about the girls, that they're terrorists who are full of hubris and destined to be alone, and that actual magical girl shows weren't his inspiration beyond the show's cosmetics, he just based it off of porn games. He only watched those shows after making Madoka Magica and admitted they were weird to him. Well, maybe they wouldn't be weird if you actually used them as inspiration! Why are you even making magical girl? So basically he admitted that all the suffering the girls go through is because it's his fetish.

I knew I wasn't imagining things when I saw all those weird shots and angles(ex. zooming in on Sayaka's thighs and breasts when she collapses to the floor, Madoka gripping the bed sheets between her legs when agitated, zooming in on Kyoko's ass when she takes her phone out of her shorts' back pocket, it's all for cheap titillation). And yet people keep saying the show is devoid of male gaze and sexism and why? Because apparently men know how to represent women better than women themselves.

you said “Madoka gripping the bed sheets between her thighs” and it gave me an immediate flashback, I hate it

I find that it’s a similar thing with gay anime/manga; I’m more likely to trust a F/F story if it’s written by a woman since they’re less likely to sexualize everything.

Anonymous said:

Homura in Puella Magi Madoka Magica: But Madoka, what's going to happen to you? You'll end up all alone here forever! You'll never be able to see your friends and family! Homura in Rebellion: Haha, screw Madoka's friends and family! Only I am worthy of Madoka's love! That girl belongs to me! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!(I'm sorry for the over exaggeration, but this is how it felt for me.)

Apparently, it was better for Madoka to just have all of her memories and powers yoinked away.

Sayaka is Madoka’s right hand girl so idk why Homura has this idea that she needs to sAvE Madoka. The fact that this whole thing comes out of a misunderstanding (because Madoka doesn’t have her memories) is so irritating.

Anonymous said:

I actually love Madoka Magica, but I completely agree with you on the hysterical women thing. Why couldn’t they just have... both magical girls and magical boys? Like, just mention that magical boys are a thing? They don’t even have to change anything but that, they don’t even really have to show it, just be like “yeah there’s magical boys too but that’s not really what this story is about, it’s about our characters we have here”. I don’t know, feels like that would have at least helped stuff.

Yeah, they don’t have to bother having the magical boys around. Just to know they exist would be enough. I mean, the fact that the focus is on them would still be bothersome (they’d probably do a thing where each girl represents a different emotion that is easily manipulated/easy to control), but it’d be something.

Anonymous said:

One thing that weirds me out when people are talking about Madoka Magica is when people refer to the characters as "little girls". Like, excuse me? They are not "little girls". They are teenagers! All of them are at least 14 years old! I hate when people call them "little", it's just so condescending and infantilizing, especially when the show does enough of that to them already. After all, no one makes that mistake with the heroines of Lucky Star and Hidamari Sketch(who are also drawn by Aoki)!

I feel like it’s the equivalent of when people call women “girls,” y’know? Sort of a “treating females as younger than they really are,” which is probably what gives guys the feeling that they have control.

For a gender that claims to be so dominant, certain ones sure have to delude themselves a lot to make themselves feel better.

Anonymous said:

I was thinking about what you said about Puella Magi Madoka Magica passing the Bechdel Test, and if it counts if there's barely any men to talk about. And while I do agree that it counts, I also feel that it doesn't really matter much in shows such as Madoka. This isn't even about feminism, this is about the fact that if a show has next to no men in it at all then it's pretty much a given that they won't talk about them since it would be impractical to talk about something that doesn't exist.

So because of that, I think there should either be an alternative test which only applies to shows that have a significant or equal number of male characters and yet the ladies still pass the test(making it feel more "real" since the option to talk about men is there), or the test should be rewritten entirely so that it only applies to shows in which the cast is either equally gender-split, or has a majority male cast/significant amount of males even if the females still outnumber them.

Reminds me of how, on TV Tropes, someone suggested that there should be a "Weak" and "Strong" Bechdel Test, where "Weak" refers to the women talking about something other than men because it is literally what's relevant at the moment(such as two female police officers discussing how to catch a female killer), thus applying the Bechdel Test there seems semi-void, while "Strong" is when they could talk about men but choose not to(ie. two female students talking about their grades during lunch).

And just to clarify about the "Strong" one, when I say they could talk about men but choose not to, this isn't to imply that female characters should talk about men, or that something's wrong with them for not talking about men, just that there's nothing stopping them from doing so, but they choose to talk about something unrelated to men. I think this strategy is much better than the test we have because it makes conversations between female characters seem more real since they're discussing things other than men of their own volition, rather than the non-male-centered talk being because they have to talk about it in-universe. I say that because The Bechdel Test serves to show that women's lives don't and shouldn't revolve around men, and they can talk about other things if they want to, but if the conversation is because they have to(like the example I gave), that gives sexists the opportunity to go "Yeah, well, they're only talking about it because it's their job!"

But if the female characters talk about things other than men of their own free will(as in, when the option is still there), then it shows that women really do have their own free will to talk about their own things and that there is NO REASON to not pass the Bechdel Test in today's day and age(I keep hearing people claim the test is stupid and doesn't matter, but then it should be easy to pass). "Oh, but if they had the choice, they would talk about men." No, because men don't sit around and talk about the women in their lives all day so why should women talk about the men in their lives all day? And to the people saying these types of tests are getting in the way of their "creativity", well, now that we know that you think female representation is stupid and something you have to be forced to do, we don't have to listen to a word you say. ;)

I like the idea of adjusting the Bechdel Test for other circumstances and expanding it as such!

You could also extend it to things like sexualization, because--I mean, having two female characters who talk to each other probably doesn’t mean much if they’re half-dressed or the writer wanted to make them bisexual for “The Fanservice.”

Anonymous said:

To be honest deconstructions of Magical Girl confuse me. There are some good ones out there(such as Princess Tutu and Revolutionary Girl Utena, so I know they're not all just torture porn, my only gripe with Utena is the implication that girls who take on the feminine "Princess" role are weak), but at its heart Magical Girl has always dealt with death, gore and pain just as much as female empowerment.

It makes me feel like the people who write these stories haven't seen magical girl and think it's all just sunshine and rainbows and that just because it's "girly" it's vapid and has no substance, and since the only way to have substance apparently is to be "dark", they go "screw it with all this princessy magical shit! Let's make our show dark instead!" When in reality if they had just sat down and watched a magical girl anime, they would understand that this is not the case.

Not to mention that many of them tend to have fanservice and the idea that magical girls have to suffer, so instead of empowering young girls, they end up misrepresenting the genre and turning it into fetish fuel torture porn for adult men(Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna are very good examples of this; the writer of Madoka says that the girls are terrorists and full of hubris and that he was inspired by porn games). It's not that you can't deconstruct the genre at all, but it's almost never done tastefully and the magical girl themes are just a cover used to explain the suffering the girls go through. :(

Another thing about magical girl deconstructions is that they often reinforce patriarchal themes, like that girls shouldn't want things for themselves and that genuinely doing something for someone while also having ulterior motives that help yourself are a BAD BAD BAD thing, no matter how ultimately harmless they are, even if they help everybody involved. They also tend to reinforce Tall Poppy Syndrome and portray the powers as harmful or a bad thing, implying that girls shouldn't have power.

Honestly, I think there can totally be even more substance in magical girl anime that doesn’t have to resort to “make it eDgY” (which I feel like is a slippery slope that can easily come off as lazy); for example, I’d really enjoy seeing something deeper to magical girl powers than something like, “oh, this magical girl happens to have the power that fits their personality,” such as a magical girl who has a power she feels she doesn’t fit but it’s a matter of perspective/seeing herself differently, or a magical girl who does have the powers that “fit” her personality - like a “fiery” girl with fire powers - and the weaknesses in her powers correlate to the weaknesses in her personality, so she has to either iron out those issues or find workarounds, as true “perfection” isn’t possible nor practical, which is something all the girls have to accept despite whatever pressure they’re under.

.I dunno, I like lore and powers revolving around metaphors. It’s fun.

Anonymous said:

About what you said in regards to "no pueri magi because it doesn't hit the shock value threshold enough", I remember this interesting comment I saw on an article called "The Problem With The Dark Magical Girl Genre"(which I would totally recommend checking out, by the way!) which said that shojo magical girl and seinen magical girl both embrace a different philosophy regarding strong female fighters. In shojo, they tend to embrace femininity as a strength and show girls that they have the power to do whatever they want and undergo dangerous professions. But in seinen, which conveniently enough is more likely to "deconstruct" the genre(ugh), rather than admiring the girls and supporting them in their endeavors, the girls are meant to be pitied(often to the point of infantilization) when bad things happen to them, with the fact that they are girls serving to make everything worse. It operates under the idea that girls are fragile, in need of protection, and shouldn't be fighting at all.

That's why deconstructions like Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna don't sit right with me, and also why I don't consider them feminist series. People can say whatever they want about Sailor Moon and Pretty Cure, but ultimately they also had dark and dangerous themes(to the point where some kids had nightmares), but ultimately allowed the girls to rise above the hell they went through and find the strength in them to save the day. We feel bad for them when they die, not because they're moe girls, but because we were actually given the time to form a connection with them and want to see them succeed, rather than just be expected to pity them because they're cute manipulated girls. That way, when they ultimately save the day, it's all the more satisfying. Princess Tutu was a deconstruction that actually went about it in the right way, because the girls eventually found the courage to defeat their enemies in a way that made sense. Why the hell is it a "good" thing to subvert that?

No clue, but I basically agree with everything there. I mean, Madoka Magica’s entire stick is basically that all the girls are like “uwu” in terms of the style (with Madoka being the “cutest” of them all) and then being put in this dark and edgy plot+setting; it’s for both the shock value and the “contrast” of having “moe” characters be thrust into these situations to essentially die.

And the conclusion doesn’t end up being satisfying (at least to me) because the villain doesn’t have emotions so he’s just like “owo” (seriously, I wouldn’t hate on Rebellion so much if Kyubey had been given emotions rather than going crazy; Homura can basically do whatever she wants and it was SUCH A MISSED OPPORTUNITY) so it ends up being more about the journey getting there like wow look at all the sUbvErSiOnS and dEaTh we had along the way!

Because at the end of the day, it’s still like, “the girls give into their ‘hysterical emotions’ in the end basically no matter what,” even if they get saved by Madoka in the end.

Anonymous said:

Do you remember, in Madoka Magica, when Kyubey said that humans would still be living in caves if not for the Incubators? First of all, keep in mind what Incubators do. Their entire purpose on this earth is to feed off the emotions of young teenage girls as they spiral into despair as a result of their delusions of power. Like wow, let that sink in. Apparently humanity's advancement relies on the exploitation of women. We are literally the punching bags of the universe. Isn't it lovely?

No! You see--we’re so important to the world! If we weren’t emotionally exploited, the world wouldn’t be the way it is now! :D

(kill me)

Anonymous said:

I once saw a tag on tumblr that read "The only good magical girl anime is Madoka Magica because it's gay, and even it has problems." Like, ugh. Really? Has this person not watched ANY other magical girl anime? Such ignorance. So many things wrong with that statement that I can't--and WON'T--even begin to unravel here.

MADOKA MAGICA IS NOT GAY AND I’M SO TIRED OF PEOPLE CLAIMING IT IS

s T O P

I DON’T EVEN CONSIDER YURI ON ICE TO BE GAY. MADOKA MAGICA? NAH MAN.

Anonymous said:

Do the girls in Madoka Magica even have transformation phrases? You know, like how Marinette says "Tikki, spots on!" or how Sailor Moon says "Moon Prism Power! Make-up!" or how Iris in LoliRock says "Iris! Princess of Ephedia!" etc. But in Madoka Magica, there doesn't seem to be any of that. At least in Yuki Yuna they pressed a button on their phones. But how do the Puellae Magi even transform? Just goes to show you how Gen Urobuchi knows next to nothing about the genre he claims to deconstruct.

Transformation phrases are magical and cool and you can’t take that away from me.

Anonymous said:

I had a shower thought about Madoka randomly in bed last night: If a Magical Girl's Soul Gem loses control over its user when 100 metres or further away from it, that meant that when Homura got Sayaka's Soul Gem back for her, Sayaka should've regained consciousness once Homura was less than 100 metres away, even if she didn't have her Soul Gem yet. I also love to ponder why on Earth Homura would even bother retrieving Sayaka's Soul Gem if she only cares about Madoka and Madoka's well-being.

I think it’s just a complicated process of Homura trying to make sure Madoka doesn’t fall into despair herself (in a non-witch way) and is convinced to make a wish.

Anonymous said:

The more I think about it, the more I realize that Sayaka really got the worst deal out of the whole thing. While her story may seem more "mundane" compared to the others(she just wanted the token Ill Boy osananajimi to like her back), she's the only one who somehow isn't brought back when Madoka recreates the universe, loses her Soul Gem on more than one account(and on the second, she starts decomposing and her crush sees her and calls her a monster because he thinks she's pretending to be the REAL Sayaka), is supposedly the weakest Magical Girl, getting swiftly taken out by both Kyoko AND Homura(the latter of which doesn't even make sense, if her body can heal why was she taken out so quickly?), takes a long while to show up in Magia Record, and Gen somehow finds it suiting to single her out as the one who is "destined to die" every time she makes a contract. Apparently the series director wanted Sayaka to live/be brought back, but Gen refused because it just had to be edgy.

Of course, MEN are allowed to have wish fulfillment power fantasies and dream like the sky's no limit and aspire to be all they want to be, but the second WOMEN try to be the strong ones, the powerful ones, or dream of something for themselves and others, they have to learn a lesson about how unrealistic their fantasies are and how they'll never live out their dreams. Hence why Sayaka puts the blame all on herself, saying that she's not a hero and was stupid and selfish the whole time.

"token Ill Boy osananajimi“ dfhbgjhfdgdfg

It was a real shame because I liked Sayaka somewhat (not saying much but still) and she was such a predictable one to go. Like, “oh wow, an angst-y anime all about shock value? so basically the best friend is dead then with no chance of survival.”

I think I do remember being told/reading somewhere (so don’t quote me) that Sayaka is the one that’s hardest to keep alive in the games, so you have to work hard for it. It just sucks.

Anonymous said:

Yet another thing that bothers me about Puella Magi is how the show frames the young ladies as if everything is their fault even though they have no idea what they're getting into because the person who makes the deal doesn't even bother explaining shit to them and all the show's attempts at deconstructing is just taking lighthearted elements meant to empower girls and show them that they can be brave and strong as well as feminine and make them dark and morbid.

Like, I get the whole "having young girls fight is a little unrealistic" aspect, but most magical girl shows actually do touch on that! Only difference is that over time, they become stronger and better at fighting(which is only to be expected, whether you're a teenage girl or not) and become more competent along the way because the whole genre is about FEMALE EMPOWERMENT.

Not to mention how the show seems to forget that the Incubators are villains and even seems to put them in the right and the girls in the wrong, what with the claim that they rationalize with the girls they make contracts with like sentient human beings(yeah, because emotionally manipulating young girls and literally taking their souls out of their bodies and making them liches without their consent is definitely treating them like sentient human beings), and that they always follow up on their end of the deal whereas it's the girls' faults their wishes go sour because they never wish for what they truly want(I'm sorry, but I simply DO NOT buy that. Homura and Mami outright wished for what they wanted. Their wishes went sour because the plot "decided" that they should have wished in a different way; plus, you're telling me that if Sayaka had outright said she wished "for Kyousuke to love her back" that the show wouldn't just "make" him mind-controlled or have Sayaka "outgrow" her feelings by the time he falls in love with her, all the while making it out to be "her" fault he's so heartbroken because she was some kind of tease or whatever, further demonizing girls' sexualities?).

Plus they explicitly claim that every woman in history was a magical girl and that without them, humanity would still be in caves(as in, humanity wouldn't be able to progress without the oppression and exploitation of women, and women can't gain power without going insane because female power is some unhealthy, inhuman, infernal thing.). Even if we take this all as a reflection of patriarchal society(which I highly doubt it was, if anything, it reinforces it), all it does is imply that the oppression of women is the natural order of things, required even.

As for the girls themselves, they routinely beat themselves up and the show makes no effort to tell them they're wrong(up until the massive cop-out of an ending), like how Sayaka's last words before becoming a witch are literally her "admitting" that she was "stupid, so stupid" for wanting a boy to love her and be healed of his infirmity. It just seems like we're supposed to think "you know, maybe the Incubators aren't that bad!" while ignoring that the girls are being treated like the disposable trash bags of the universe. This show already does the magical girl genre dirty but treating it like everything the Incubators did was necessary and like it's all the girls' faults these things happened to them in the first place is the icing on the stale, sour cake. Nothing like a giant heap of sexism to help get you through your day. :/

I’ve noticed this a lot in Miraculous, but Madoka Magica somehow does it worse; this “one (supposed) mistake leads to all of these consequences you never saw coming.”

Like Ladybug calling Lila out. We know that Lila’s pettiness in “Chameleon” shows that it wouldn’t matter whether Ladybug yelled at her or not; the simple fact that Marinette opposes a liar led to Marinette getting expelled, even if only for a while. Then there’s “Miracle Queen” and all that garbage that came with it.

These two shows put their teenage girls through hell for having emotions and there’s no way to undo it.

Anonymous said:

Honestly, the Madoka Magica fandom is basically the magical girl equivalent of "not like other girls" type women. I can't say I'd be surprised if they didn't watch a single magical girl show other than Madoka because they're all "stupid and girly but this one is edgy and dark" just because those shows are written by women to inspire other girls and show femininity as a strength while Madoka Magica is written by men for men who want to see young girls suffer without any actual feminism.

Like, let's go through their arguments one-by-one to prove that they don't hold up. They love to say that Madoka Magica is better than other Magical Girl shows because "it's dark and edgy and shows the downsides to being a Magical Girl unlike other shows where it's all sunshine and lollipops". First of all, other Magical girl shows also got very dark. Princess Tutu and Utena are also "darker" takes on the genre, but even more lighthearted shows like Sailor Moon and Precure had scary moments.

The only difference is, with them, they still managed to critique problematic aspects of the genre and actually provided ways to improve it, while STILL managing to keep their target audience(FEMALES) in mind, without condescending to them and infantilizing them. And they still showed the girls being empowered and overcoming the darkness.

In Madoka, there's none of that, there's no actual critique of the genre because Gen didn't have the respect for it to do his research, it's aimed at men so it doesn't keep female viewers in mind by definition(which is also another reason why it can't be a deconstruction; deconstructions should be done FOR its target audience), and the girls are constantly put down and treated like Moe crybabies by the narrative even when they're not(cause, you know, teenage girls are "emotional"!). And it doesn't offer ways the genre could improve, it just takes a female-empowering genre and twists it to be this system of oppression that the genre is meant to avoid.

Magical Girls tend to have a very strong focus on girls empowering girls and all that awesome stuff, and yet when Madoka and Mami form a special bond and Madoka encourages Mami by telling her she's not alone? It makes her big-headed and overconfident and she gets devoured by Charlotte. See what happens when girls rely on each other? Madoka is Sayaka's best friend, but gets pushed aside in favor of Kyoko, who later dies for Sayaka because girls who want to help each other had better be prepared to suffer and die for their beliefs. Sayaka loses everything, which happens to include her best friend, over a guy. And the whole witch process means that any female solidarity that could be found in the show is thrown out the window since the core concept of the show is girls being forced to brutalize and kill and exploit each other.

People act like Madoka is Yuri when it's not, Gen was asked if Homura really was in love with Madoka and if Kyoko really was in love with Sayaka, and what did he do? He beat around the bush. Naoko Takeuchi and Kunihiko Ikuhara(the latter of whom also worked on Sailor Moon R; woah, what a surprise) both admitted that there was gay love in their stories, yet people act like Madoka is super progressive regarding homosexuality when it's just implied and those shows were MUCH more open! Doesn't stop people from claiming the show is "honorary yuri" and saying that the meaning of "yuri" should be broadened to include any close bonds between two female characters, whether or not it's actually romantic, AND favoring the show(and HomuMado) above actual yuri shows that are made to appeal to women. If all this were actually valid, Sailor Moon would be yuri as hell.

I hate seeing people fap over this show and act like it's so revolutionary for recycling things that the genre was ALREADY DOING, because I know full well that the ONLY reason it gets this wide acclaim is because Magical Girl shows have traditionally been written for women and this show is aimed at men. That's literally it. Because nothing a woman writes is good enough, especially when it dares to go against patriarchal constructs of femininity as weak and docile by portraying it as cool and awesome. It doesn't matter how cool and dark and diverse and inclusive and complex Sailor Moon and Precure and Princess Tutu and Utena are, they're written by/for women with the intention of empowering them so they're automatically invalid, cheap, happy-go-lucky crap where nothing bad ever happens and anything those shows try to do ought to be discredited because they don't appeal to men like they should so what's the point?

But the second a MAN comes in and intrudes on a female-dominated space by doing all of those things but with a very shallow understanding of how they ought to be executed, people are all over it because a MAN did it and now it's interesting and respectable! I have seen so many people say that they don't like Magical Girl because it's girly and shallow and stupid, but then they praise Madoka for things that the girly and "shallow" shows have already done! Men are always taking away things meant for women and distorting it to fit their patriarchal views and yet when they do it it's somehow better and anyone who complains is simply a whiny straw feminist!

The fandom does it all the time, someone complains about the show and why they don't like it and find it sexist, and the response is always "you're just not smart enough to understand it; you have no idea what you just watched". Because obviously since it's made by a man it's sooo much smarter then the traditional sappy stuff made by women. That's why it's so annoying when others praise it at the expense of other works in the genre: they know their reasons for liking it are, more often than not, rooted in sexism against female-aimed and female-empowering works, so the only way they can praise it is at the expense of said works, hence them being just like girls who claim they're "not like other girls" when there's nothing wrong with girls being feminine and in fact many of those girls may like the same things you do!

So while I'm not saying there's anything inherently WRONG with liking Madoka, I DO have a problem with people who act like it's better or more serious than other shows in the genre and simply discard them on the grounds that they're "for girls", since they obviously didn't watch them.

me when I initially watched Madoka Magica: I don’t get why this exists.

me when I learned it was written by a man: ohhh, now I get it.

I also take issue with people comparing things that are made for different demographics. Like look, I don’t care if you enjoy your angst display over here, but also maybe don’t compare it to the stuff not even made for you unless you’re willing to get into a fight over it?

It comes off wrong, like they have to trash on stuff because it wasn’t made for them, y’know?

Anonymous said:

Honestly, I am so sick of people saying that Magical Girl shows are sexist or anti-feminist, when all they do is portray girls being awesome and powerful while also being feminine at the same time, because "Well in Japan it's actually gender conformity because it's telling girls they can only be strong if they're feminine! You're just projecting your Western values onto an Eastern work!".

First of all these shows are made by women for women and often have explicit feminine messages that you literally cannot miss unless you are simply blind or trying not to see them. And they also tend to have a very strong focus on women supporting or empowering other women. Just think of Sailor Moon, which constantly gets this "criticism", and yet there's an episode where the girls explicitly protest against a villain who claims women are all shallow and useless and can't do anything without men's help. Would Naoko Takeuchi put that in the show if she weren't a feminist?

And then there's the fact that she has said that one message she wanted the female leads to convey was to value their relationships between other girls because girls are strong and don't need to waste time depending on men. There's also the fact that most Magical Girl shows tend to treat the powers as something special and awesome that's unique to women and girls, paired with the coming-of-age themes present in the show, and you get a magical equivalent of female puberty, with magic mixed in.

But no, all of that gets thrown out the window because they dare to be "feminine" while doing all of that stuff and the Japanese are forcing their girls to be girly through Magical Girl propaganda. And I just HATE when people act like anything feminine must be societally forced onto girls, rather than girls just happening to like them. In addition, stating that they are simply reinforcing gender roles by being feminine is such bullshit because the whole purpose isn't about conforming to patriarchal femininity, it's about reclaiming femininity.

Too often, femininity is associated with being weak, powerless, helpless, submissive, docile, vapid, catty, bitchy, petty, vain, stupid, the list goes on. Magical Girl saves femininity from a bad reputation. It shows femininity in a new light, as something strong and powerful and, hell, even admirable! It's about telling girls "Hey, you can be strong and powerful and smart, but you don't have to be a tomboy or act like a man to do so". Girls are always told they have to act masculine to be taken seriously because the only way to be respected is to be like a man, which is an indirect way of saying that only men deserve respect.

Magical Girl does away with all that in favor of showing the feminine as something innately powerful, and yet naysayers MISS the point and say that it's just stereotyping girls instead. To see people claim that Magical Girl forces girls to fit a feminine ideal to be respected is just disappointing. It's supposed to be a female power fantasy for young girls that shows them as the ones being powerful and empowering each other.

Take how in Sailor Moon the heroine often says something along the lines of "I won't let you take advantage of girls", which Wedding Peach went on to imitate. The purpose of the genre is for girls. To empower girls. So why on earth would they show them fitting into a "male" mould of power? Do these people think that any time women are shown acting distinct from men that they are doing something wrong?

And the hypocritical part is that nobody pisses on male-oriented anime for reinforcing a harmful narrative to boys that they have to be masculine to be valued and respected. Of course they don't! Because being "masculine" is never seen as a bad thing to be. It's assumed that masculinity is always strong and good and awesome and there's nothing wrong with boys being forced to be masculine because you're supposed to want to be masculine. You're not supposed to want to be feminine.

So of course people will shit all over Magical Girl for embracing, empowering, and reclaiming femininity, because it's not supposed to be that way! You're not supposed to be feminine and also be strong. You're supposed to deny your identity as a woman and assimilate into the boys' club because only boy things are worthwhile! And they cover it up by saying that Magical Girl forces girls to be feminine, when in actuality the WORLD forces girls to be MASCULINE. Magical Girl doesn't force girls to be feminine, It ALLOWS them to. Do you see the difference there?

Another thing I'd like to bring to the table is that the claim is racist and here's why: The claim that "Magical Girl shows are seen as feminist in the US for portraying femininity as a source of strength but not in Japan because it's telling girls they have to be feminine"...what does that mean? Japanese people can't be feminist? All Japanese people are sexists and think girls have to fit in a certain role? Do Japanese feminists HAVE to be anti-femininity? Are there literally no Japanese people who think you can be feminine AND strong(who also obviously identify as feminists?) Because it seems hella sexist to insinuate that Magical Girl shows are sexist because they're made in Japan and they don't believe you can be feminine AND strong there.

While there is some credibility to it since Japan IS, by and large, much more strict with gender roles, hasn't it ever occurred to these people that these types of shows exist to counter that belief? Not only that, but it implies that people aren't allowed to have opinions on works that aren't made in their culture, and that anyone who sees those shows as feminist are just projecting their Western beliefs onto an Eastern work. And even worse, when people say that, they don't have the same opinion of Western Magical Girl works.

Just look at LoliRock, Miraculous Ladybug, Winx, W.I.T.C.H., Star vs the Forces of Evil, and countless other European/Western Magical Girl works. Where are the people saying "They get their power from femininity and that is sexist!"? Nowhere! They're silent! Even though those are very much like Magical Girl works from Japan(although I don't think the genre originated from there), while still being original.

It's because people think that any media exported from Japan is automatically sexist and demeaning and so anything they create, no matter how empowering their intentions, gets twisted into something that's somehow toxic or unsafe for girls to watch. But when Europeans do the exact same thing nobody complains. Because Japan is not allowed to do anything empowering whatsoever; something's always wrong with it, apparently.

So that's why I have a problem with people who say those things; it's so problematic because they think they're being all open-minded and aware/respectful of other people's cultures, but all they're doing is reinforcing negative stereotypes further. It's kinda like what I said earlier(in another ask) about how people love to praise Madoka Magica for being a unique, dark, and interesting take on the genre when all it did was rehash elements of the genre that already existed, strip away the female empowerment, and gear it towards grown men, which is why people like it more. How about instead of speaking for Japanese people you let them speak for themselves?!

I would also like to add that there’s even a limit to women acting masculine because that’s still “not enough” for those kinda of men who would promote those beliefs. Women need to act more masculine to “be taken seriously” but then you have men who’ll tell them to “dress less” or whatever.

I think what it comes down to is that they want women to not be “emotionally taxing” with all those dAmN eMoTioNs of theirs (unless it’s for the sake of their angsty magical girl anime where the girls suffer for having emotions), but they also need to look pretty and be sexualized.

We can’t win.

[darisu-chan]

One-sided Love vs Requited Love on TV: Loving someone makes you deserving of their love and other lies we tell ourselves

I've been thinking about cartoons such as Star vs the Forces of Evil and Miraculous Ladybug recently, particularly about the reception the endgame ships get, about them being "toxic" and how them being with other people is "healthier."

Now, full disclosure, you can hate canon ships because the dynamics are not something you like, or because they're too straight, or simply because you don't like romance at all. But it is interesting to me how when you hate ships now you have to say it is because they're unhealthy compared to the ships you like or compare to a just friends scenario. And how many things that are blunders leading up to character development story-telling wise are seen as unforgivable and a show of how these characters cannot progress, cannot become better people and how, therefore, they shouldn't get together. This is particularly true in the fandoms for cartoons geared towards children and tweens when we get introduced to love triangles. Or, rather, when the protagonists briefly date another person before the endgame ships are revealed.

When I was a kid, and really even now, it is understood that in cartoons when two characters date way before the show is about to end is because they are not going to end up together. I think of the cartoons I liked as a child and how true this rule is. Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, Hey Arnold, and probably more that I don't recall right now, all have the protagonist dating or at least liking someone before the last seasons or the last movie of the show. They don't end up with any of these people. Instead, said relationships not working out show us why the endgame ships are the ones that work out in the end. Because they were too shallow or the characters didn't have anything in common. Or the things that they didn't have in common, particularly values or their identities, created a great divide in the relationships, one from which they couldn't come back from. Kim and Josh Mankey, for example, just liked each other, but it was a crush more than anything. It couldn't work out for them because they barely knew each other. And in the movie So The Drama we see that Kim wanted a relationship with a perfect guy, with all the chemistry and romance a teen would expect from a first relationship. She didn't want a particular guy at the beginning, just one that matched her idea of romance, and the movie illustrates what, exactly, was wrong with that. In Hey Arnold, Arnold is shown to be in love with different girls who tend to all be very pretty and feminine. But Arnold isn't particularly attracted to their personality. What he is in love with is the way they look. They are just crushes and not true love. Even when he gets the chance to date Lila, he is bored with her clinginess, and it is only when she breaks up with her that he is attracted to her. It shows us that a lot of times Arnold likes the idea of girls more than the girls themselves, and that she falls in love with the girls he can't get: Lila, who has already rejected him; Ruth, a 6th grader who would never even give him the time of day much less go out with him; a pretty girl on the beach who was only using him; and even his own teacher, much much older than he is! We know none of these relationships will work out, because the lesson here is that Arnold, who always sees the good in people, needs to fall in love with a girl for who she is and not because of the way she looks, and in this case the girl in question is Helga, who is seen as ugly by her peers, and, though she hides it, she's actually very kind and artistic. My final example comes from Danny Phantom, in which Danny has a very one-sided crush for Paulina, the most popular girl at school. Like Arnold's crushes, his crush for Paulina is very shallow. He needs to learn to see more about a girl than her looks. And he does with Valerie. However, there is a little problem, Valerie is a ghost hunter who hates his alter-ego, and for this reason, a relationship between the two is impossible. Even when she doesn't know about his true identity, Valerie decides not to date Danny to focus on ghost hunting. And this is framed as a problem that cannot be resolved. Danny is a ghost who is lying to Valerie about his identity and Valerie wants to keep ghost hunting because her own grudge is more important at that moment than the possibility of a relationship.

But let's notice something. In these cartoons either the crushes are too shallow to be meaningful or, when the protagonists actually date someone, as in they go out in dates even if they aren't steady, the feelings are always mutual. Perhaps not as strong as with the endgame couples, but mutual.

This isn't a trend in cartoons like SvtFoE and MLB. Sure, the protagonists due like the other characters they date. The problem is that for the other characters this isn't just a crush or, you know, a like-like feeling. They are perceived as being in love with the main characters. And this leads us to two issues: 1) eventually these other characters will feel used and hurt by the protagonists, and 2) the fans will react accordingly and champion these side-characters and how they are better for the protagonists as they are very in love with them, which is either unclear or, for the moment, untrue of the other main characters who will end up with the protagonists. The fact that these side-characters are so in love makes several fans insist the relationship is healthier, already canon, and that the "endgame" couples are distracting and ruining the show.

However, there is one problem that we are not seeing here. And that is how the protagonists feel. Or, rather, that in both these shows we have these ships which are essentially rebounds from the protagonists' side of things, which actually, and with no doubt, makes them unhealthy. Because even though these side characters are in love, their love is not reciprocated to the same extent and are, in fact, being lied to or they are fooling themselves into believing their love is mutual. And the fans see things the same way as the side characters. Both groups believe that the side characters' strong feelings of love are enough to make the protagonist fall in love, not realizing what a rebound even means and not considering what it means. And it is even more interesting when we consider the ages of the fans. They're teenagers who maybe don't have a lot of experience in the love department, which is completely normal, of course, but this doesn't give them the experience to determine how harmful rebounds are.

A rebound is when a person who has been scorned by another person, either by a breakup or a rejection, decides to either flirt, kiss, date, have sex or, in extreme versions of this, formally date another person to get over the person they were originally interested in. It is even seen as a common solution to a breakup or a rejection. "Oh, John didn't want to go out on a date with you? Go flirt with Jason at the party. He seems interested." "Oh Marissa broke up with you to date the hottest person at school? Maybe kissing Jessica, who is hotter than Marissa and also very available, will make you feel better?" That's why you see adults in movies going to bars or speed-dating after their relationships fail. Flirting or engaging with someone in a romantic setting makes you feel wanted. Desirable. But these are not grounds to have a relationship with someone. In fact, it is a very awful thing to do to someone who genuinely likes you. If someone flirts with you or kisses you not expecting a relationship, or knowing full well they're the rebound, hey, it could work. But that's very different to dating someone who is in love with you. That's using them, whether a person realizes it or not. You cannot make yourself fall in love with someone out of sheer will, particularly if you're still in love with someone else. You need to be in a position in which you're ready to fall in love. You need to be on a healthy mindset.

Neither SvtFoE nor MLB have their main characters be in the position of genuinely falling in love with these side characters when they haven't given the main characters time to get over their crushes or accept that they need to get over them, nor do they are at a point in their lives in which they can sustainably have a relationship while they have problems left and right. Being in a relationship with other people is simply not how they will resolve their own personal issues. In fact, distracting themselves by being in a relationship, by feeling wanted by someone, is not unhealthy. And neither is being in a relationship with someone who is not emotionally available. These are hard lessons that we all need to learn at one point, either by personal experience or by seeing someone we love go through this. But I feel that the shows are contributing to teens and, hell, even the children themselves, thinking that by loving someone enough, you will deserve them and they will fall in love with you. Or, that you can get over someone that you like, by dating someone who is already head over heels for you and forcing yourself to love them back.

That's not how life works and it is very dangerous that teens, who may get into their first relationships, think like this. It is a recipe to get hurt and to hurt others.

As for SvtFoE, I do not believe starco ruined the series and not because I ship them. Forcing starco to not happen ruined the series, as they kept pushing back the endgame couple while making them stay in relationships that weren't going anywhere, because we knew they had to break up eventually. They were only delaying the inevitable in the worst way possible. Tomstar wasn't healthy at all because Star lied to Tom from the get go. She told him, point blank, that she had no feelings for Marco, which we, as the audience, knew it wasn't true. She got back with her ex after feeling rejected by Marco dating Jackie and after missing him when they were apart. She decided to be the perfect princess, and that included dating Tom. And sure, she liked him, but she didn't love him like Tom loved her. Star kept lying to him until the bitter end. After she lied to him about kissing Marco, they should've broken up, but instead the writers decided to let them stay together almost until the end, when we knew they were doomed. And Marco and Kelly are even worse, as they decided to enter a "breakup buddies" relationship that us adults realized it actually meant "rebound buddies" instead. When I heard the phrase, I did have to wonder why they had used that term on a kids' show. Like, didn't the writers realize how bad it sounded? Because in real life, adults enter such relationships and it is always based around sex and very rarely do these relationships become healthy romantic relationships.

As for Miraculous Ladybug, Luka knew from the get-go Marinette liked Adrien. He asked her out knowing this and Marinette accepted once she had given up on Adrien, not because she was over him but because she wanted to be over him. Even if it wasn't her intention, she was using Luka to get over Adrien, which I had hoped the writing would show, but instead we had Marinette being too busy to actually date him properly and others telling Luka her secret was being in love with Adrien. I think it would've ultimately been better if they had actually shown that Luka's feelings were stronger and that Marinette shouldn't use him like that. It was also a shame the plot made them break up right away. If we went through all the trouble to get them together, as misguided as the relationship was, they should've had more development. It is the same with Adrien and Kagami. Kagami knew that Adrien liked someone else. And Adrien decided to give Kagami a shot after deciding to get over Ladybug. Yet again, the plot framed it as if Adrien were too busy to date Kagami, when really, the problem is that his feelings aren't as strong as Kagami's, which is exactly how she took it. Making them split so soon ruined the opportunity to explore how Adrien should also have realized he was hurting Kagami by still having feelings for ladybug and how he isn't ready to date. Now what we are being told is that Marinette and Adrien are too busy to date anyone but each other as Ladybug and Chat Noir, which shouldn't be the lesson. The lesson should be that they need to get over the most famous, shinier parts of each other and then learn to love their imperfections. Only then will they truly see each other and achieve true love.

And that is the lesson in older cartoons with romance in them. That the protagonists fall in love with their endgame completely. Because they know each other as friends first or because they saw the worst in the other as rivals first, and then learned to love their other sides. All of each other. And that is truer than crushes and one-sided love. It is healthier. It is what we need to achieve in real life. Not fall for the way we romanticize the other person, or by having an idea that they are perfect, but by falling in love and accepting all of them. By helping them become better people but not hurting ourselves in the process. It needs to be mutual to be healthy. One-sided love will never give you that. You can't love someone enough for both people, it will only leave you empty.

Us older people in fandoms do need to make a point to share this wisdom with younger views. And writers for shows aimed at children, tweens and teens should really, really, hammer down what a healthy relationship should look like instead of so much drama for views. Build up canon couples instead of throwing reasons why they can't be together yet, which are only excuses. Actually prepare and develop your characters for future relationships, not just throw side characters into the mix to avoid the endgame and raise views.

[tokupedia]

Costume Ideas for Halloween 2018: Super Sentai

We did Power Rangers, now it is time to focus on the eastern progenitor of that franchise to seek ideas for Halloween costumes.

Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer  (MLB Team edition)

October isn’t just a time for tricks and treats, but it also signifies the end of baseball season here in the USA with the World Series games airing throughout the week leading to Halloween and sometimes goes until November. So my first choice for a costume idea goes out to you diehard sports fans.

In the 1980s, when Kagaku Sentai Dynaman was being planned out, it was originally going for a baseball theme and went by the name Yakuu Sentai V-Leaguer. Ultimately, this idea was scrapped by Toei as marketing dudes thought that totally gnarly and rad 1980s kids would think baseball was a lame concept and they needed something “cooler”. Remnants of this idea, such as the Dynaman having their helmets sculpted to look like they have baseball caps in them, are seen in the suit designs and the Dyna Rod sidearm looks somewhat like a baseball bat.

For this idea, there are many avenues to choose from. You can either do a full Dynaman suit with patches you bought online of your favorite team and emblems painted on the helmet, go for a budget “casual” approach and wear a team shirt, custom Dynaman helmet and baseball uniform pants and cleats. Or you can do a full custom V-Leaguer approach, with the team’s name proudly on your chest, adorned in the team’s colors and the number of one of your favorite players on the back (or make your own number with your name on it)! 

I think the most amusing one would be for Texas baseball fans, as they would have literal Texas Rangers cheering on their team! XD Also, for more amusement if you are at a game, hold up a sign while in costume that says #DigitalWatches, fans will get the joke.

The Original Battle Fever J

This concept art drawn by Shuuhou Itahashi and Yuuji Kaida, was created to pitch the concept of Battle Fever to Marvel Comics. The two emulated the art style of John Byrne’s era of X-Men comics, and it shows despite being great Bronze Age-style designs. These feel more in line with America’s superheroes than Super Sentai and thus changes were made along the way to make the look more appealing to a Japanese audience.

Some of these even look a little familiar to those of Marvel Fandom, Battle Kenya is channeling a bit of Black Panther, Miss America’s leotard is modeled after Captain America’s costume and Battle Japan has a bit of X-Men’s Sunfire in his look.

Now sadly, this is the only image of the original concept on the web right now, so improvisation is needed a bit when going into the costume design. But that actually works to your advantage, with only a base template, you are free to tweak the look however you want!  All you really need to keep in are the colors of the flags somewhere to keep the nationality theme. I imagine original Battle Kenya and Miss America will be the most popular of the bunch based on how popular their inspirations are thanks to the MCU.

Battle Cossack would have to be updated, since one, the Soviet Union no longer exists and thus dates it quite a bit and two, fur underpants mixed with spandex are a really weird combination (and probably very itchy). 

Maskman (Orignal Fiveman Prototype Concept Designs)

Maskman was a game changer in terms of helmet and costume design as well as venturing outside the storytelling realm of sci-fi and incorporating new mystical ideas into its elements, heralding a sneak peek at what Super Sentai would be in the coming decades. But for a brief period, Maskman was on the verge of being a throwback in design when it was known conceptually as Fiveman, which of course became the name of another Sentai team.

The original suit designs incorporated what came before, most notably Battle Fever J.  X1 Mask, the one-off sixth member of Maskman, is the only “living” remnant of what could have been.

You will need LED lights and circuitboards, cosplay costume material, a custom stencil for creating the black “5″ chest emblem out of the fabric and if you can, find 3D modeling software for aiding in creating the helmets. The female Ranger helmets have a bit of sculpted helmet “hair” kind of like AkibaYellow and Blue, though you can skip that part if you don’t want 100% accuracy to save time. You will also need material to create the costume belts and pouches.

Fake KyoryuRed

One of the pitfalls of being a Super Sentai fan is that a few members of the fandom are quick to gossip and sometimes resort to elaborate pranks to get attention, like most fandoms. One cruel tactic that was put up with is the fake designs of an upcoming Red Ranger. This has recently died down thanks to stronger connections to official sources, but still is a problem that persists as even Kyuranger got the Fake Red treatment last year. In 2013, a rumor spread that this image above was the Red Ranger of the then trademarked Kyoryuger. 

Despite being immediately debunked as fake, it isn’t a bad design, harkening back to Zyuranger with the dino themed helmets that in clearer images had a jagged “teeth” like pattern on the red parts sculpted above the mouthpiece. It also had Dekaranger-like suit patterns with the represented dino covering a portion of the bodysuit in black silhouette with white outlines, “fossil teeth” shoulder pads and a metallic segmented belt with a gun holster and sword holster. 

Commander Hilltop’s “Robocop” crazy outfit

In Episode 31 of LupPat, a Gangler tries to negotiate a plea deal with the police. In a comical attempt of Good Cop, Bad Cop the Patrangers make their boss wear....whatever this is, to make the Gangler uncomfortable (and reference Robocop). It is really bizarre and doesn’t work.

What you will need: a soup/spaghetti pot on your head, metal bowls on your shoulders, a black body suit, oven mitts, 2 grill spatulas, a toy gun, white and orange rain boots, large forks, a pot lid, grill grates or small baking cooling racks and a metal cookie sheet on your back. In other words, raid your kitchen for parts!

Devil Gun from JAKQ Dengekitai

A crook made out of guns, self explanatory. His head is a gun, his chest has 3 cannons, his arms have cannons and more guns are in his fingers, he is a gunstavaganza! You will need a lot of gunmetal gray paint and a lot of patience. If you examine closely, you can see where the eye holes are for the costume. 

Ways to make it really impressive is to replicate the firing effects for the head gun with liquid fog juice, lights and sound effects. Just be careful though, in these troubling times we live in, seeing and hearing guns can make people jittery.

Zeek Jeanne from the GoGo V movie

In an alternate universe, when GoGoV was adapted into Lightspeed Rescue, I like to believe Ms. Angela Fairweather got into the fight wearing this suit instead of PLEX creating a new Ranger from scratch. (*nudges Boom! Studios*) Though the Titanium Ranger is awesome, so it balances out.

Demon Hunter Zeek bestowed his powers to GoGoV ally Kyoko Hase to become Zeek Jeanne before she ultimately lost them to give GoGoV the power to destroy the movie’s villain. One thing I never understood is why the protective face visor just vanished when the suit equipped onto a female hero.

So you have options of face visor on or face visor off. Unlike most Ranger cosplays, your field of vision will be a little better than wearing a Ranger helmet given the large face visor if you do some minor alterations.

GekiBlack

(an unnamed Livedoor artist’s photoshop render of “Super GekiBlack”)

Rio, the main baddie of Gekiranger, eventually learned he was being manipulated by Long and allied with the GekiRangers. Jan dubbed him “GekiBlack” and his partner Mele as “GekiGreen” if they became friends later on. Sadly, it was not meant to be as Long turned into his dragon form and made bite-sized snacks out of both Rio and Mele.

Many fans often wonder what would have happened if Rio had lived and instead of reusing old monster suits, PLEX and Rainbow Zoukei crafted a brand new Gekiranger outfit for him. Most fans know the rules of conceiving such a notion: he must be black in color with gold accents in the suit, and his helmet must be sculpted to resemble a lion’s mane or have lions in it.

What You Need: A GekiRed base template of some kind, black and gold paint and costume cloth, Gekiranger symbol, concept sketches to plan out an idea of what to tweak. Rio’s Kaijin form can also be used as a template. The most difficult part would be choosing a morpher, either make a custom one or make a stylized version of the GekiChangers. For the Super Version, just emulate the base Super Gekirangers but with black and gold added to the white in the bodysuit or just do the ‘shop image above. 

If you have a special someone who wants to Ranger up too, you can be nice and make him/her a GekiGreen outfit and celebrate Halloween as two fated lovers!

[meggtheegg]

could you do a rating/ranking of evan & jared duos too?

Of course! Interestingly enough, I’ve never seen an understudy on for Jared! But, I’ve been able to see a multitude of Evans, so I’ve gotten a decent number of combinations.

MLB/Will Roland - Honestly, these two are my favorite pair. They always worked off of each other so well and their dynamic felt so genuine. You really feel Jared’s desperation for Evan’s approval, and Evan’s inability to see that desperation. When he pushes Jared away, you understand both sides of the situation. You get why Evan is being cold, but you also see how much that crushes Jared. By the time Good For You happens, their falling out already feels inevitable, but it’s heartbreaking, nonetheless.

Colton Ryan/Will Roland - These two work off of each other really well comedically, but you don’t feel the emotional ups and downs quite as much. Where it feels like MLB and Will were close once, Colton’s Evan seems tired of Jared from the get-go. In this scenario, though Will’s acting is pretty much the same, Jared becomes a lot more clueless. Where his teasing with MLB!Evan feels like it comes from a place of intentional social self-preservation, with Colton it feels like he genuinely thinks they are joking around together and just always takes it too far. 

Taylor Trensch/Will Roland - Aaand this may be my least favorite pairing. Again, Will’s acting stayed relatively unchanged. He tends to figure out what he wants his character to be and sticks with it. But Taylor did not work off of him as well as MLB and Colton, comedically or emotionally. Because Taylor’s Evan was so smiley and personable, he never acted like he noticed when Jared made fun of him and some of Evan’s lines that are usually played as snarky comebacks got played completely straight, so the comedy was lost. But, when Evan starts pushing Jared out, there’s no clear build-up as to why he’s doing so. He never acted like he had a problem with Jared, and now he’s suddenly being a dick to him for no reason. I will say, Jared’s anger in Good For You felt the most justified when these two were paired together.

Roman Banks/Sky Lakota-Lynch - First things first, there was something really incredible about seeing an all-POC Connor Project. That felt really special and I am so glad I got to witness it. I will say, though, I’m still trying to wrap my head around Sky’s Jared. He’s really goofy and over-the-top, and definitely more of a class clown than a bully. Will Roland really made Jared an asshole, but he found a way to make it make sense and still earn the audience’s sympathy, because he was just a kid who hid his insecurities behind mean jokes. Sky doesn’t seem to take that route and fully embraces the idea that he’s there for comedic relief. Roman’s shy, sweet Evan felt like he’d probably always followed Jared around like a puppy dog, but because Jared had such a big personality and always demanded attention, he was naturally pushed into the background. The change in their relationship felt more based in Jared being jealous of Evan’s sudden popularity, rather than being jealous of the people he replaced him with. Also, Will Roland’s Jared could easily be interpreted as having feelings for Evan (and I’m almost certain that’s what Will was going for) but Sky’s Jared is almost definitely straight and even if he isn’t, he gives no indication that he sees Evan in any sort of romantic light. He’s just his buddy who he likes to make fun of.

MLB/Sky Lakota-Lynch - Roman took a lot of his cues from Michael Lee Brown, so the dynamic with him and Jared was very similar. The only major difference is that MLB’s Evan isn’t quite as soft-spoken and I’m pretty sure he’s physically taller than Roman, who’s pretty tiny. Where Roman’s Evan seems to look up to Jared and naturally takes on a sidekick role, MLB seems like he’s only the sidekick because he’s so afraid to put himself out there. Once he becomes more confident, he actively rejects that role, where Roman kind of just forgets about it and moves on. He shows more disdain for Jared, because he finally has the confidence to admit that the jokes he thought were so funny actually hurt his feelings and it was about time he cut it out. Jared, who seems unaware that he was being an asshole, gets angry at Evan for seemingly ditching him for no reason and refusing to be his sidekick, all while making him very aware that he doesn’t actually have as many friends as he thought he did.

[photolover82]

The Masked Singer Season 3 Episode 15: The Semi-Finals (Commentary & Guesses/Clues)

Hello fellow Masked Singer lovers! It’s that time of the week aka Ana’s Masked Singer recap time, my favorite time of the week especially now during quarantine. Wow, we are now at the semi-finals with only 4 contestants left, I can’t believe it, we are almost to the end of these recaps & I am not gonna lie, I am a bit sad about it. Anyways, again, we will be honoring the judges with some trophy emojis because they are getting there and I am kind of shook, but this time I am also gonna give the judge with the worst guess ever a poop emoji because it was a horrible guess. This segment is called “Panel Spotlight.” Ok, so having said that, let’s get started! (Disclaimer: Spoilers ahead, proceed with caution.. don’t say I didn’t warn you)

Alright, to begin, we have the masked contestant who came in 4th place which was: 

*DRUMROLL PLEASE*

THE RHINO 

Alright, am I surprised? Nope, not at all. Am I a bit upset? Yup, a little bit, but again I saw this coming so not that surprising. However, if it were up to me, he would’ve left after Frog, but I digress, I don’t control these things. Anyways, about his performance of Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw, it was one of his best performances I feel. No, it wasn’t super performance/dance heavy but it was really strong in terms of vocals & he played the guitar which was amazing. No, he wasn’t the strongest, but I also don’t feel like he was the weakest. 

Anyways, the Rhino was revealed to be... 

BARRY ZITO 

Yay another one that I figured out woo hoo!! I am not a baseball fan myself (not a sports fan in general haha), but my dad is & through some Internet research I kinda figured it out (also thanks to CinemaBlend’s clues & theories... the guy who hosts it knows a ton more about sports than me especially with how the clues match up). Anyway having said that let’s look at the most recent set of clues & how they match up to Mr. Zito:

In the clue package, he was talking about a monumental event that happened recently, which was the birth of his 3rd baby boy a few days before the performance. 

#9 in toothpicks= he was 9th pick in the 1999 MLB draft 

For the after performance clue, it was called the “closer look clue” where the clues were on the contestants & they had to go very close to the judges for those clues to be seen. Rhino’s was a baby elephant pin which again alludes to his baby. 

Now time for the PANEL SPOTLIGHT:

Alright so yay we are giving 2 🏆 to two panelists, Jenny McCarthy (not surprised) and Ken Jeong (very surprised). Also, never thought I’d say this, but Ken nailed it with saying he appeared in JAG season 9 episode 9 (even though that’s not what the 9 meant but whatever let’s give the man some credit for once in the season) 

However, the worst guess aka the 💩 was the guest judge, comedian/former SNL cast member Jay Pharaoh, who guessed freaking Blake Shelton. His legit logic was um idk any country stars but I do know Blake and he’s tall so yup that’ll work. Terrible logic if you ask me. 

Alright, we finally have our 3 finalists going into next week’s finale. To honor the finale, I am going to put them in reverse order as to where I think each of them will be placed (and no it’s not based on how much I like them, it’s more objective with a dash of subjectivity... you’ll see.. I’ll explain as I go): 

3rd Place: Night Angel aka Kandi Burruss    

(Side Note: These guesses are so obvious that they are making side to side pictures of them when you search the contestants on Google Images... These photos are not mine, I didn’t make this, it was already made, so even the media is catching on) 

So, as for why I put her in 3rd place, I feel like she’s good and all but Frog gets hyped up way more than she does for some reason so he might go farther than she does in terms of placing. If it were up to me, she would’ve been runner-up, but objectively Frog is probably going to be placed higher because he’s an audience favorite. 

As for her performance, she sang How to Love by Lil Wayne (aka Robot) and honestly it was one of her best performances. It was her most energetic by far and it was very memorable that she took a risk by performing a song that is way out of her typical bubble (aka vocally challenging songs by strong female singers) so I commend her for that. However, I wasn’t wowed with her performance as much as like Jenny was (she hyped her up way too much like damn). 

As for clues, here’s what I got: 

In the clue package, she mentioned someone she lost, calling them a guardian angel. Kandi lost her brother Patrick when she was 15 in a car accident, so that’s who she’s referring to since she has stated that he is her guardian angel. 

Her closer look clue= a moon pin = featured in Rashida’s song from 2012 “Legs to the Moon” 

Now time for the PANEL SPOTLIGHT:

Alright so yay we are giving the 🏆 to her hype beast, Jenny McCarthy who has guessed her for a while but I am still going to give it to her because she kept insisting.  

However, the worst guess aka the 💩 goes to Ken (unsurprisingly) who guessed Ciara (even though that would be cool for her to be on a future season) who is (or was when the show was being filmed idk) pregnant & Night Angel isn’t pregnant as you can tell by the above photo. So, ya that’s a no on that Ken, but hey at least you got Barry Zito. 

2nd Place: Frog aka Bow Wow 

Alright, so pretty much I put him at 2nd place because the dude gets a ton of hype on the show, but he’s not my favorite by any means so no way in hell am I putting him in 1st place even though he might win sadly (I genuinely don’t think he should win, but whatever... it is what it is) 

As for his performance, he sang Naughty by Nature’s Hip Hop Hooray and ughhhhh this again... I’m sorry I sound like such a hater, and if you like the frog, I’m so happy for you, but like he keeps doing the same thing over & over again, it’s starting to get annoying. He keeps performing such similar songs every time & he isn’t a strong singer/rapper, so I personally feel like he should have left ages ago and he is way overhyped on that show. 

As for clues, here’s what I got:

In the clue package, he was playing basketball with the Men in Black & also got strike by lightening= he starred in a basketball movie called Like Mike where his sneakers got strike by lightening & he gained Michael Jordan’s skills

1000 on an album= he was on the Millennium tour 

Her closer look clue= mom pin= mom upside down is wow like bow wow get it? & also he is very close to his mom, she was his manager when he started his career as a kid

Now time for the PANEL SPOTLIGHT:

Alright so yay we are giving the 🏆 to Robin Thicke & guest judge Jay Pharaoh (who took me on a rollercoaster ride with his explanation) for guessing Bow Wow (Robin is persistent & did that mom upside down is wow thing so I gotta give him points for that) 

However, the worst guess aka the 💩 goes to Jenny (yup I said it) who said Chance the Rapper, which like what? Seriously? What clue made you think that? 

1st Place/Predicted Winner of Golden Mask: Turtle aka Jesse McCartney 

Ok, ok here comes me being a bit subjective here... yes I have a soft spot for the Turtle/Jesse McCartney, but I have literal reasons why I think he should win that aren’t “I am just in love with him & he gives me the feels,” I swear they’re legit. First, he has an amazing voice, falsetto on point man. Next, he can stand toe to toe with the Frog because the dude can dance. He just has the whole package while Frog can only dance. Can Frog hit those beautiful falsetto/high notes? I don’t think so... mic drop, case closed, Turtle’s winning! (I predicted Fox last season, and I feel good about this one) 

As for his performance, he sang Jealous by Nick Jonas and it was full of falsetto (how many times can I say that word without sounding snobby?). I freaking loved it, it was fun, energetic, and dare I say sexy... yes, I just called a guy in a Turtle costume sexy, I am embarrassed for myself as well. 

As for clues, here’s what I got:

In the clue package, he spoke about his love for Robin Thicke, apparently he is a Robin super fan = well Mr. Jesse McCartney did cover Robin’s song, The Stupid Things on his Beautiful Soul album in 2004.

Back street sign= he did tour with the Backstreet Boys in 2005 & 2013, but he isn’t a member of the boyband (we will get into that in a second)  

His closer look clue= a big diamond ring on “that finger” = he got engaged to his girlfriend, Katie Peterson, on September 2019 

Now time for the PANEL SPOTLIGHT:

Alright no  🏆 for the panel because everybody was way off, and I am annoyed at how way off they were because they kept getting caught up with the whole Backstreet Boys clue. 

However, the worst guess aka the 💩 goes to Nichole, because even though she guessed a Backstreet Boy like everyone else (her guess was Nick Carter), the fact that she guessed Jesse last week & then changed her answer irritated the living hell out of me... like girl you were right for a split second & now you are so wrong. 

Anyways, that's it for my second to last recap (damn, I can’t believe it). Stay tuned for next week because we have not 1, but 3 reveals that we will be talking about so no more guessing, just commentary... I am very excited for the finale. Do you agree with my predictions? Let me know in the comments. See you guys next week for the last time (until fall because season 4 starts around then). 

[galaxyfar-faraway]

Dear Evan Hansen 9/2/17

So. Um. I needed a couple days to gather my thoughts after finally seeing this show. 

I included a lot of my personal story and why this show resonates with me, and this is an incredibly long post, so I’ll put it under a read more in case someone doesn’t want to read.

Michael Lee Brown was on as Evan, Olivia Puckett was on as Zoe, and Asa Somers was on as Larry. I just…don’t even know how to describe what I saw on Saturday. Like, I knew from listening to the music and reading the book that I connected heavily with this show, but seeing to performed live in front of me just took it to the next level. I laughed, I cried, and I left a changed person. I know the show isn’t perfect, and I am aware that there are many problems with it, but that doesn’t change the fact that without this show I never would have admitted to anyone that I needed support. I’d still be alone with all my feelings instead of connecting with people who understand me and feel the same way I do. I’d still be internalizing my emotions and trying to convince myself that I was fine when I wasn’t. This show brought my mom and I closer together. I will be forever grateful for this show for letting me be able to see that I am not alone and I will be found. Anyway, on to the show: - I’ve heard other people say that all the text/notification sounds playing before the show are really jarring, and I agree. The first few minutes of it were fine, but as it kept going it did get really unnerving. So much so that after the show when my mom and I were on the train back, I’d flinch every time someone’s phone went off. - MLB’s Evan is so awkward and anxious and small. I felt for him from the first moment he came onstage and started his monologue. - The first scene with Evan and Heidi really hits close to home for me because my mom and I had the exact same conversation very recently. About how I always am by myself in my dorm because I don’t have many friends, and her telling me I need to branch out and meet new people. At intermission my mom told me she started crying during that scene because it was a mirror image of the conversation we had, and continue to have. - I got teary-eyed during every song in Act 1 besides Sincerely, Me. I think it just kept hitting me that I was actually in the Music Box seeing this show instead of just listening to the cast recording. - It’s no secret to anyone that I love Mike Faist with all my heart. My heart stopped when the Murphy’s table moved onstage and he was sitting there. I loved Connor when Cynthia was like, “Tell me you’re not high,” and he just lifts his head up from the table and stares into the audience with that smirk on his face. - The choreography for Waving Through a Window is my favorite thing in the show. When Evan is in the circle surrounded by the other characters, and when they’re in a line and keep turning away from him. There is nothing overly elaborate about any of the choreography in this show, but it’s still incredibly impactful. - You can really sense Evan’s hesitation and apprehension when he meets with the Murphys at their house for the first time. Before he starts singing For Forever, you can really see his internal struggle as he weighs whether or not to go along with this lie. - Oh man. Sincerely, Me is something else. I knew there were motions that went along with the “I rub my nipples…” line, but I didn’t realize that Connor is “stuck” for like 30 seconds with his mouth wide open, mid-orgasm face while Evan interrupts Jared. That image will be forever burned in my mind. Connor’s little knee wiggles during the first chorus are just subtle and satirical enough that makes it especially hilarious. Then when it’s Evan and Connor, the way they interact is just hilarious. When they grab hands and drop down on the “all you gotta do,” they sing “do” really deeply and it’s really funny. And then at one point Connor kinda jokingly punches Evan’s shoulder and starts messing with him, and then when Evan does it back he’s so gentle and awkward and at one point he just like awkwardly rubs Connor’s chest?? Like?? Anyway, this song is a treasure. - Jared Kleinman. Fucking Jared Kleinman. Every time he comes onstage he steals the show. He’s such a dick to Evan, but you can’t help but laugh. His commentary is exactly what the audience is thinking. I’ll go into more detail later about how he changes in the second act, but for now I’ll just leave it at that. - Requiem. Okay, I will fully admit that I love Laura Dreyfuss with my entire being, so I was absolutely devastated when I opened my Playbill and the little sheet of paper said that Olivia was going on as Zoe. I will also admit that I know very little about Olivia’s characterization and performance style, so I didn’t know what to expect at all. All my doubt melted away when she started singing Requiem. Her voice is absolutely angelic. Her Zoe doesn’t really get angry at any point during the show, but you can tell she is hurting and struggling with the feelings of Connor being gone and whether or not she should be upset about it. You can definitely tell she is so broken and hurting so much while trying to make sense of everything. The part in Act 2 where she tells Larry, “You tried to punish him!!” in regards to getting Connor help absolutely broke my heart. At that moment you can tell she really did care for him and wanted him to get better. - Okay. In general, I like Evan as a character. His struggles and feelings are something a lot of people, especially myself, can relate to. I feel for him through the entire show. I understand why Evan does the things he does and his reasoning behind his actions, but that doesn’t change the fact that all the lies he told and the whole situation he put himself in and what he did to the Murphys is incredibly fucked up. It really hit me during If I Could Tell Her. Zoe is literally hanging on Evan’s every word because she thinks her brother actually might not have been such a bad person and he might have actually felt some sort of affection toward her and even maybe cared for her. And Evan is using it as a thinly-veiled way of telling her he’s in love with her. Like I said, the plot of this whole show is really fucked up when you think about it, and I think people need to take a critical look when they say that Evan is the innocent protagonist of this show. Anyway, enough of my preaching. Back to the show. - Wow, so Evan’s speech at the assembly. The stage is completely empty and dark except for Evan standing at the edge of the stage with a spotlight on him. So it’s like he’s actually speaking to us and we as the audience are there at the assembly listening to his speech. Michael Lee Brown did an incredible job of portraying how nervous and on the edge of a breakdown Evan was. When he dropped the notecards and fell to the ground and just couldn’t. get. up. He was on the ground for so long, it was so painful to watch. The audience was completely silent and it just created for a really tense environment and you could feel Evan’s struggle. Like, damn, goosebumps. - You Will Be Found. Just, wow. This song holds such a special meaning for me, and seeing it played out in front of me is indescribable. I love how the choreography is the opposite of Waving Through a Window, in that everyone is facing Evan and noticing him instead of ignoring him and turning away. - I don’t care if I get hate for this, I’m saying it anyway. I like Larry Murphy. No one in this show is perfect, and Larry is no exception, but he’s not the complete dick the fandom makes him out to be. The whole To Break in a Glove scene is really touching. You can tell Larry tries to be a good person, saying Evan’s father must be proud to have a son like him, and he is overwhelmed with what to say when Evan tells him his dad wasn’t there for him. Larry definitely isn’t a saint, especially with how he treated Connor’s mental illness (Re: “You tried to punish him!!”), but I don’t believe he’s a completely bad guy. Everyone deals with emotions and loss differently, and it takes Larry a while to come to terms with his son being gone, and he definitely has a lot of internal struggles with facing the fact that he wasn’t as emotionally supportive as he should have been. You can pretty clearly see his realization that he failed Connor and his subsequent guilt over it. - Only Us is such a beautiful song. Still with the underlying feeling of “wow this whole relationship is built on one huge fucking lie,” but it is a gorgeous song. MLB and Olivia’s voices are so great together. - It’s actually incredible how quickly everything goes to shit with Evan’s lie. And how at first he scrambles so desperately to preserve it. His confrontation with Heidi is especially jarring. After the whole dinner scene at the Murphys’, you can see how much Heidi was hurting, between Evan lying to her and her feeling like the Murphys are trying to pawn her off as a charity case (in her perspective at least). She finally lets all of her emotions out instead of trying to stay strong and pretend everything is fine.   - Wow. Good For You is wild. How it seems like literally everyone is coming after Evan all at once. This is the point where I think Evan realizes that he’s going to have to tell the truth soon, whether he wants to or not. The confrontation with Connor in Evan’s imagination is chilling. Before Connor even comes in with the, “Did you fall, or did you let go?” line, you kind of know where it’s heading, and it just brings up so many more emotions and gives such a greater depth to the whole situation. - I guess I’ll stick in my thoughts on Act 2 Jared here. So no sugar-coating this, Evan starts acting like a complete dick to Jared. From the, “Hey we don’t really need your help with the Connor Project anymore,” to telling him not to change the story and include him in it, to guilting him into not saying anything because then he’ll be known as the kid who pretended to be Connor Murphy. It is true, however, when Evan tells him he’s only doing this because he doesn’t have any other friends. Jared used the cool dude, kind-of-a-dick demeanor to hide the fact that he’s just as insecure and lonely as Evan, he just handles and copes with it in a different way. - And Alana. Oh my god, Alana breaks my heart when she says, “Because I know what it’s like to be invisible.” I think that’s the most prominent theme of this show: everyone knows what it’s like to feel invisible, they just cope with it and portray it in different ways. People aren’t open to communicating about their struggles, and as a result everyone suffers alone. Not just in this musical, but in real life. - I still don’t know how MLB manages to sing so well while crying and with snot dripping everywhere. A true talent. All sarcasm aside, Words Fail is a crazy powerful song. Evan just doesn’t have an explanation for why he did all of this and why he thought it was okay. Watching the Murphys leave him one by one, and then watching the light fade out on Connor was a beautiful way of showing how Evan begins to feel alone again, right back where he started. - Heidi and Evan’s scene absolutely broke me. Again, because it hit so close to home with my mom and I. Evan is so broken and he just looks so small when he curls up into Heidi and hugs her. - I really love how toward the end of the Finale, the house lights come up gradually so it looks like the sun is shining through the theater into the audience. The show ends really poignant and hopeful with Evan’s final letter. This show is truly beautiful, and everyone really needs to see it.

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets 14 February 2020

Hey There! 

Thanks for reading! If you like what I’m doing here with the newsletter, please share it with folks. They can sign up here.

I’m doing a quick survey so that I can deliver more relevant ideas and content to you. 5 questions. It might take you 5 minutes!

I will be in Philadelphia and New York City this week!

Have you had a chance to download the new ebook, What Matters In Ticketing Now?, created in partnership with Booking Protect we gathered 40+ thought leaders from around the world to give their opinions and ideas on what matters in tickets now! Join us for a free webinar on February 26th at 10 AM Eastern where we cover trends, takeaways, and actions that will help you get the most from the ebook.

FYI, I’m not including the story on Google’s ticket plans this week because I don’t really know enough yet to have formed a realistic opinion on the topic yet.

To the tickets!

———————————————————————————————————— 1. The Premier League is floating the idea of starting a Netflix-style subscription service: 

Everyone is trying to get into the OTT game, especially after the successful launch of Disney+.

At a certain point, saturation has to become a serious consideration. And, we also have to think about what does this mean for folks selling tickets and trying to get folks to come to their venues.

Seven League put together a good list of trends that they think will impact sports in 2020. Some of them seem like obvious things, especially the fact that “customers don’t want to be owned.” And, as we keep trying to think digital-first, we have to ask ourselves what does that mean for the customers we are trying to guide?

First, we have to consider if this is even the right strategy. ESPN is losing subscribers at a faster clip than ever before and the revenue from their OTT platform won’t be able to fill the gap in revenue in the near-term.

Second, how will this continued quest for folks’ entertainment spend impact the live event experience? I’d be a prime target for this Premier League OTT product if Tottenham Hotspur wasn’t already on most weekends, to begin with.

But if you start asking whether or not I’m going to pick the MLB OTT over going to a game, that’s where the challenge becomes a lot more interesting. Or, NBA TV or NFL’s offerings…on and on.

How do we keep the value proposition high? Especially when it is already a challenge.

2. Touts found guilty of fraud in the UK:

This is breaking news as I type of this week’s newsletter. So I’m sure there will be new details emerging over the next day or so.

This is the first case of its kind to be tried in the UK and it illustrates some of the differences between the US and the rest of the world in the way that the secondary market is thought about.

Where this story gets really interesting is that it comes on the heels of the Competition and Markets Authority sent out an Initial Enforcement Order against the Viagogo and StubHub merger this week.

Considering the state of the rule of law and enforcement in the States right now, I’m not 100% sure if this will have any impact on the merger going through in the States or not.

For me, keep an eye on this story. Will there be more lawsuits? What will the secondary market associations have to say about this?

After I finished writing this section, another article popped out showing how much money was being made on reselling football tickets in England…which is illegal.

3. The Australian Football League are crushing it right now: 

The first story is about how David Stern contributed to the growth of the AFL into a national sport in Australia. Which, obviously, coincides with remembrances of his life since he just passed.

It is an interesting story because it shows how sports business ideas travel the world so fluidly.

The second story that caught my eye this week isn’t a story but a piece of content.

My friends in Melbourne, Oli and Tom both sent me this video “To Hell and Back” from the pre-season of Melbourne FC. (The team that heavily recruited me to be a fan when I was speaking at the AFL in November.)

If this isn’t the best piece of team created content I’ve ever seen, I can’t quite remember what beats it.

I’ve watched it twice.

It is raw, compelling, and gives you access to the team in a way that you may only see on Hard Knocks.

And, if I’m being honest, it is much more authentic than other behind the scenes productions I’ve seen.

Finally, the AFL announced that they were freezing prices and eliminating ticket fees at Marvel Stadium in the Docklands. 

This is a really strong move by the AFL to ensure that their fans feel like they are being listened to and cared about. The AFL Fans Association has been concerned that the game was losing appeal to its core fans for the past few seasons in the rush to maximize revenue.

While this is only 1 stadium, I think having it be such a high profile example may start a reaction of changes around the league.

There are  lessons here for all of us from the AFL:

1. You have to tell stories. Melbourne FC’s story is powerful and I can’t imagine that it won’t have an impact on every aspect of their business, especially coming off a season where they didn’t perform up to expectations.

2. Your job as a business is to create and keep customers. With so much TV money flowing into sports, it becomes easy to lose connection to your customers. The reality is that all of this TV money and all of these other monetization opportunities flow out of the fact that you have fans and customers that care. You have to always put them first or you are going to lose them, once they are gone…there is no guarantee that you can get them back. 

4. The XFL kicked off to a solid start: 

The opening weekend saw decent attendance and ratings that were pretty close to the launch of the AAF last year.

The promotion around the kickoff was pretty strong, as you might expect from something led by Vince McMahon.

While tickets on the secondary market spiked to around $130+ in DC for the opening game, it seems that a lot of the games were loaded up with a lot of comps as well…which will be interesting to watch heading into week 2. (FYI, I’ll likely take the boy on Saturday to see the DC v. NY game at Audi Field, if anyone is around.)

Where do y’all think the ticket sales and ratings will go this week?

For me, 2 things to think about:

1. Is pricing going to be an issue for fans?

Get-in face value is $24 in DC, but I saw parking was $40 and I can only imagine that beers are $12+ and who knows about merch and other things.

Again, when people are making these decisions on going to a game, we have to ask the question: “Is this a good value compared to X?”

2. Will people continue to tune in?

The rationale has always been people can’t get enough football. Is that true?

If it is, what does that mean to other sports?

Or, will the NBA All-Star weekend drown out week 2’s games?

I think the advantage that the XFL has going for it is that Vince McMahon is a better marketer than most folks and he understands the need and power of storytelling, which is a powerful tool in building an audience. 

5. Be More Chill and Dear Evan Hansen can teach us a lesson about reaching younger audiences:

Everywhere I’ve gone in the world the last year or two I’ve had people talk with me about reaching new audiences.

In Australia, the concern that despite the population being incredibly diverse that audiences were getting “older and whiter”.

This week, I saw an article about how the Flyers audience is getting olderand they are working to bring in a younger audience.

And, I built a workshop called “Fans For Life” around the idea of managing the lifecycle of a fan in a way that enables you to do a better job of bringing fans to your venue.

The example of these two productions and the continued success of Hamilton in markets around the world shows that people still love theatre and are willing to check out new shows, we just have to be willing to allow the art form to reflect how people view art today and recognize that the internet and mobile devices have changed the ways that folks are going to engage with our content.

The lesson here is that we have to have a strong POV about what we are creating and why, but trust that our audiences are going to engage with our shows and productions in the way that they want to, not necessarily the way we want.

So to continue to sell tickets, we are going to have to continue to think through the ways that we deliver our content to our audiences. Be that online through chats, groups, and forums. Or, video, movies, and soundtracks. Everything is fair game today! 

———————————————————————————

I posted my 100th podcast episode last week. New episodes will start rolling out in the next day or two. Do you have a suggestion for a future guest?

I’m hosting a workshop in NYC on April 1st. I’m bringing “Fans For Life: Creating and Keeping the Modern Fan” to NYC. 

I’m doing a FREE webinar on February 27th at 1 PM Eastern called “The Language of the Sale “. This webinar is built off of lessons learned during my sales trainings with sales teams around the world over the last 6 months and my own experiences creating new business opportunities. 

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets 14 February 2020 was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[miraculouscontent]

Hi! I read your analysis and criticism of MLB in your other blog and let me tell you that I really love them!

Gabriel/Hawk Moth is what I’d like to call “a mess of ideas.”

Gabriel started out in Season 1 as just kind of a neglectful dad. He tied down Adrien as much as possible, but there were also hints in episodes like Jackady and Origins that he has at least some sympathy for Adrien’s wants and desires (even if that sympathy needed to be forced onto him). Still, he was redeemable, even is unlikable; you could blame at least a few of his traits on his wife “disappearing”.

Then, you had Hawk Moth, who was a devious yet somewhat campy villain. There wasn’t much to his character aside from the fact that he knew Emilie and wanted the ladybug and black cat miraculouses for his own goals. He wasn’t really on the “redeemable” spectrum, as there just wasn’t enough for him to show that he was sympathetic. After all, he took over people’s minds and twisted them into supervillains for his own ends, presumably not caring about the consequences since taking their powers away doesn’t negate what they did. It’s Miraculous Ladybug that restores everything, which can’t be used if he takes that miraculous away.

And then… Gabriel and Hawk Moth were revealed to be the same person, which brought along a whole new host of problems.

[Gabriel the Father]

Suddenly, Gabriel was no longer just a neglectful dad. Gabriel was someone who willingly caused akuma near his own son. Even in episodes where he didn’t akumatize one of the students in Adrien’s class, he akumatized people who would go after him (as in Gabriel), which already puts Adrien in danger since someone could so easily use Adrien as a hostage. Take Jackady, for example, which had him akumatize someone who was in the room with Adrien at the time. Even in Season 2, which had already had revealed him as Hawk Moth by Episode 1, there were episodes like Style Queen where the person he akumatized sought him out and Adrien was in the room. Then, he’s surprised when Adrien gets turned to gold, simply not having the foresight to text Adrien away before the akuma takes hold of Audrey.

And then, there’s Riposte, where Riposte actively seeks out Adrien. It’s not like Hawk Moth tries to coerce Riposte into going after Marinette instead; he just lets her chase after Adrien. Yes, he tries to stop her once to remind her to get the miraculouses for him first, but that’s about it. Riposte essentially tries to murder Adrien and there’s next to no response from Hawk Moth.

Natalie even calls him in Style Queen to say that he took a risk with Adrien and Gabriel admits that he wishes he could tell Adrien because Adrien would understand, but we don’t get why he can’t. Narratively, we know it’s because Adrien is Chat Noir and him knowing Hawk Moth’s secret would throw a thorn into the show, but the story doesn’t give a different reason. Adrien would just be so much safer if he knew, and even then, Gabriel still doesn’t take countermeasures to keep Adrien safe except for Catalyst, the second to last episode in Season 2.

And wouldn’t that have been a nice hint to Gabriel being Hawk Moth in Season 1; him trying to sneak Adrien away whenever the akuma was harmful and close by? Sure, not many akuma are after Adrien directly, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be harmed by others or the destruction those others cause.

The show only decides to focus on the danger Adrien is in when it’s “plot time”; it’s handwaved otherwise. In fact, it was one of the reasons why people didn’t think Gabriel was Hawk Moth before The Collector aired; because he’d be putting his son in danger a lot if he was.

It’s not even as if Gabriel just doesn’t care about his son; then it wouldn’t be a problem. Yet, we’re shown multiple times that he must care, given how long they always hold on scenes where Gabriel hugs Adrien. He only cares when the show wants to have a touching moment. Any other time, the show just shrugs and hopes you don’t notice.

[Gabriel the Villain]

Gabriel and Hawk Moth being one also affects the villain side. In the show, we’re given more moments of Hawk Moth reacting to things, but it’s very infrequently that it relates back to him being Gabriel. Gorilla and Style Queen, for example, show his Gabriel side very clearly when he’s commenting about something concerning Adrien.

It’s not like they try to retcon him either. They still have him laughing maniacally and doing the typical Hawk Moth things that Hawk Moth does.

Otherwise though, we just see more of him, and “more of him” isn’t exactly what we needed. Because of the Hawk Moth reveal and a heavier focus on the Agrestes in general, Gabriel/Hawk Moth gets a lot of screentime, mostly just to increase the angst factor in the show.

And it’s not as if we get the bonus of seeing him really laying out his plans. On the contrary, in the Season 2 finale, quite a few people in the fandom were confused as to where his plan came from. We get a hint of it in Anansi, but with all the time they spend on him, you’d think we’d get more information.

Because, yeah, we still don’t know that much about him. Season 2 revealed his secret identity as Gabriel, but most people expected that already and we just got it confirmed. We already knew that Gabriel owned the grimoire and the peacock miraculous, and just by the fact that we saw “Hawk Moth” staring at Emilie’s picture in Origins, we could gather that his wish involved her even before Queen Wasp confirmed it.

Anything else is learning about his powers or who he can akumatize (ex: Robostus); not really about Hawk Moth as a character.

And heck, if you want to take it a step further, what’s his plan if something happens to Adrien yet he gets the miraculouses? Does he plan to don the Ladybug miraculous temporarily and do a big Miraculous Ladybug onto everything? Does he know if that’ll even work? Does he care? He shrugs Adrien’s “gold-ization” off in Style Queen and goes ahead with his plan anyway, so he either doesn’t care enough about Adrien as long as he gets his wife back, or has a plan but won’t tell us because mystery.

Also, speaking of Adrien, why does Gabriel keep him on such a short leash? It seems like a small thing, but the reason is very important for his character (and how we feel toward him by extension). The only excuse we get is that it’s “too dangerous”, which isn’t valid because Adrien still goes out for photoshoots and fencing.

It’s an especially huge problem when it comes to “sympathy”.

[Gabriel the “Sympathetic”]

Gabriel, in combination with his role as Hawk Moth, is not a sympathetic character. Yes, out of context, his “feel sad” scenes are very well shot, but when looking at him in the grand scheme of things, I just don’t see how this guy is sympathetic.

Without Hawk Moth, sure, I could see Gabriel being just a neglectful father who has the potential to be sympathetic. Yes, he has to keep learning that trapping his son inside is not good for him and we keep having these hug scenes that are supposed to show he’s improving even though he has statistically kept Adrien inside more in Season 2, but sure! I see a redeemable man here.

But, as Hawk Moth, Gabriel has done awful things. He takes advantage of people in distress, turns them into his minions, and doesn’t care who gets hurt in the process (unless it’s Adrien and only if the plot demands it).

And that would be one thing. I mean, the basic concept of “people are sad and are given the power to do something about it” is not inherently evil.

It’s the way it’s carried out.

Look at just about any episode and watch Hawk Moth’s emotions. He might have a “good” motive in bringing his wife back to him, but look at how much he enjoys what he does. Look at the wicked smirk he gives at the end of his transformation that just screams evil. Look at how much glee he takes in finding a new victim.

From a visual standpoint, he’s not just doing this because he “has” to; he loves doing it.

And talking about sympathy, he laughs like a pure evil villain. He has The Villain Laugh™. You know the one. They don’t even retcon it, because he does it again in episodes like Anansi.

It’s just really distracting to see Gabriel keeping his son at home, part of the time with NO EXPLAINED REASON IN-EPISODE, even loving being Hawk Moth so much that he laughs maniacally in a dark room over the potential defeat of two teenagers, but then turns around, hugs his son a few times, and laments the current state of his probably-pretty-darn-dead wife.

These things do not mix. There is such a thing as a “complex redeemable villain”, but Gabriel doesn’t feel like that, especially because his and Natalie’s relationship (something that plays into his sympathy, as some of his “softer” scenes are with her) is either a retcon or something we never got to see in Season 1 (so, basically, a retcon; Gabriel and Natalie’s relationship should’ve come up at least once, even if his reveal as Hawk Moth to the audience hadn’t happened yet).

[Gabriel the Mess]

This is why Gabriel/Hawk Moth is a mess of ideas. It’s like the writers threw as many ideas as they could at this guy and hoped that everyone would enjoy at least one of them. I’m fine with them going through any of the routes they’re trying to go on, but not when they try to go on all of them at once.

Not Hawk Moth Routes:

Sympathetic - Gabriel loves his son, but is distraught by his wife’s death. He keeps his son close by keeping him “trapped” in the house whenever possible, out of fear that Adrien will leave him now that Emilie’s not around anymore. He does hug Adrien, but only after Adrien has been in danger from an akuma attack, as Gabriel fears getting too attached only to lose Adrien anyway. Down the line, he’ll realize how harmful this is to both himself and Adrien, and thus will give Adrien more attention. His arc involves him letting go of Emilie and no longer letting past experiences interfere with giving his son what he deserves.

Complex - The death of his wife has sent Gabriel into a confused despair. He throws himself into work out of a desire to escape the reality of a world without Emilie, but it’s caused him to have a love-hate relationship with his son. He loves Adrien dearly, but seeing him just reminds Gabriel of Emilie and the fact that she’s not around anymore. He works with Hawk Moth out of a determination to get her back, willing to cause akumas as long as they’re not harmful, but insists that Adrien never be a target. Regardless of whether Emilie comes back or not, he’ll end up with weekly therapy sessions to help him cope with his issues.

Unsympathetic - He’s just a completely neglectful father, only keeping his son around because he reminds Gabriel of Emilie. He works with Hawk Moth as well, but even if Emilie did come back, she’d want nothing to do with him. He’d end up in jail for coordinating with Hawk Moth.

Hawk Moth Routes:

Sympathetic - Gabriel dislikes his role as Hawk Moth, but feels that it’s the only way of getting Emilie back. His inspiration has plummeted since Emilie left his life and he fears losing everything if he doesn’t get her back. He doesn’t see akumatizing as making supervillians; rather, he sees it as sympathizing with the problems of others and giving them a way to fight back. While he neglects Adrien (mostly out of having too much on his plate now, burying himself in work and also being Hawk Moth), he actively makes plans to ensure that Adrien stays out of danger, even calling Adrien to take care of an assorted task right after sending his butterfly off if he knows that Adrien is near the person he’s akumatizing. This will make it seem like he’s loading Adrien with things to do at first until his reveal at Hawk Moth. He has multiple plans when it comes to protecting Adrien (if Adrien DOES get affected, he will actively stop speaking to akuma and let Ladybug take care of it) and tries to keep damage to the city minimal. He even treats Nooroo with respect. Things like the fashion contest are actually future plans to find an heir to his brand as, if he IS aware that a sacrifice is needed to bring Emilie back, he plans to sacrifice himself as repentance for his actions.

Complex - A complex Gabriel is neutral to his role as Hawk Moth. He’s well aware that causing akuma is wrong, but sees it as a means to an end with getting his wife back. He neglects Adrien, but with a knowledge that it be best that Adrien have a poorer opinion of his father if he were ever to find out the truth about him causing supervillains. He still loves his son dearly though, so things like hugs tend to leak through his stoic facade from time to time. He makes plans when it comes to akuma or Adrien staying out of danger, but can make sporadic and illogical decisions if he feels that he’s close to getting the miraculouses. An end for him is therapy at best and jail at worst.

Unsympathetic - Losing his wife has driven Gabriel insane. He can maintain a serious outlook if needed, but takes immense joy in causing akuma and wreaking havoc, blaming the world for the loss of his wife. He doesn’t care for Adrien and keeps him only because Emilie liked him. A lifetime in jail or death is the only end to his story.

(the campy evil Hawk Moth we know from Season 1 would probably be the non-Gabriel Hawk Moths and also Unsympathetic Hawk Moth)

Regardless of any of these (though, if you’re curious, I’d pick a mixture of Sympathetic and Complex Hawk Moth, presuming that I have to stick to the show’s reveal of “Gabriel is Hawk Moth”), I’d make his relationship to Natalie consistent between Seasons 1 and 2. I’d also give more foreshadowing for his plans and further explain his EXACT wish in terms of Emilie. In addition, I would’ve elaborated on the precise terms of Emilie’s “disappearance” sooner. Unrelated to Gabriel himself (but crucial to making us feel more for him in his quest to get her back), I’d show flashbacks to Emilie’s character, because it’s been two seasons and I don’t know a single thing about this woman except for the fact that Gabriel and Adrien both cared about her very much.

Gabriel isn’t like my post about Chloe or Adrien, where I only had to change a few episodes/arcs or go back to a certain point and then run it from there. Keeping in mind that he was going to eventually be revealed as Hawk Moth, he was doomed from the second he denied Adrien a party and the moment that Hawk Moth laughed like your typical irredeemable bad guy. “Fixing him” means changing so many pieces about him that it’s essentially re-writing his character.

I’m weirdly interested in seeing what they’re going to do with him, but saying that I’m confused about exactly what that’ll be is an understatement. Without retcons, I honestly don’t know if this is a mess that can be cleaned up.

[dwtspd]

Dancing with the Stars Season 24 PREMIERE!!!! recap

Yay! It’s mid march and that always means DWTS IS BACK and once again, I come home after work or classes to look at a lot of glitter, regardless of the Mark Ballas-shaped hole in my heart.

This was supposed to be their 400th episode? You wouldn’t guess it, since it just seemed like any other premiere episode. The opening concept wasn’t their best, but it was something new, and that I Wanna Dance With Somebody/Someone Who Can Dance mashup was hot. Because I read spoilers before I watched the show, I’ll say that if you rewatch, you’ll notice each celeb’s little opening portion clued us in to how good they would be.

Normani Kordei and Val - Quickstep Normani is from the girl group Fifth Harmony that recently became more accurately described as Fourth Harmony. She has a cute speaking voice! And used to watch DWTS with her grandma. I liked the jazzy moves she was doing at the start but yes it took a while to start. Also her footwork was weird at times (but good at other times) and she was leaning forward when they were in hold. She has potential though. 7-6-7-7 T27 Val said something about “lowering his average” and I think he meant it in jest, referring to Grandma’s Log Book of Everybody’s Scores, but dude that sounds wrong, it should be Normani’s average that counts.

Nancy Kerrigan and Artem - Viennese Waltz Nancy is a former Olympic figure skater who got injured at one point, but still pulled through to get a medal. Her abilities include minimal freaking out when confronted by a shirtless zamboni rider. Like Normani her footwork was kinda hit and miss, but she has BEAUTIFUL lines, which Artem made sure to highlight. Also she and Artem look great in royal blue. 7-7-7-7 T28

Chris Kattan and Witney - Cha cha Chris is an actor and comedian most well known for his roles on Saturday Night Live - which Witney does not watch (and neither do I, unless it’s Kylo Ren on undercover boss). Also he broke his NECK (!!!!!!) before, which gives him some coordination issues. He gave us a GREAT show. I love how WItney added the quirky head thing to the dance. Actual dancing though...... Poor guy, he looked kinda sad with his scores. Nice to see the cast being supportive though. 5-4-4-4 T17 but he gets a twenty for making everyone ache with laughter

Bonner Bolton and Sharna - Cha cha Bonner is a professional bullrider who about a year ago had a horrible accident leaving him paralyzed for some time. Is Sharna the go-to pro for Good Looking Survivors Of Fatal Injuries™️? That said, Bonner is no James Hinchcliffe (RETURN ME MY CUTE CHARISMATIC CANADIAN PLEASE) and he seemed to be unsure of his moves. I can see him becoming a late frontrunner. Also, showmance warning. 6-5-5-6 T22

Charo and Keo - Salsa I’m not sure I understand half of what Charo says, but she is hilarious! Also I had no idea who this “pop culture icon” is - way to make me feel young and immature. The dance style fit her perfectly. She seems to know the steps, but needs to really get the technique and styling. Also she screams a lot. No wonder Keo had a season off - he had to prepare for this. 6-5-5-5 T21

Nick Viall and Peta - Cha cha So, I’m not the biggest fan of Bachelors or Bachelorettes being on the show. I think The Bachelor itself is a stupid show. Also this season didn’t seem to end well for fans. But Nick seems like a nice guy. Also welcome back Peta!!! Hope you get your abs back and also don’t burn yourself out as a NEW MUM. Nick was actually not bad! His limbs were a bit messy but he knew his choreography and kept on time. 6-6-6-6 T24

Heather Morris and Maks - Viennese Waltz Heather was Brittany Pierce (and a dance coach) on Glee, and former Beyonce backup dancer, so we all knew this would be good. Yes it was good, very smooth, very nice. Heather also looks really nice in yellow. I don’t really get CAI’s comment about personality. Hello Maks “I’m a father now” Chmerkovskiy, hope you don’t stress yourself out too. 7-7-7-7 T28

Also we had this amazing conversation that I have abridged for you:

Maks: I know my kid is cute but he is my kid too can I share half the votes for the kids

Erin: yeah because you carried it and gave birth right?

Maks:...

Erin: Hello I love my job of making fun of my ex-partner

David Ross and Lindsay - Quickstep David is a newly retired MLB player who recently won the world series with the Chicago Cubs so naturally, he is paired with our go-to field sports athlete pro Lindsay. Another one with an enjoyable personality, David put on a decent performance. He stayed level throughout - totally worth skipping spring training. The song wasn’t the best for the style though. 7-7-7-7 T28

Erika Jayne and Gleb- Salsa Erika is a singer and Real Housewife of Beverley Hills, and she comes across as very conceited but she’s also quite quotable - “Who doesn’t wake up wanting to win in life?” She has a point. And she brought a UNICORN on stage. I don’t think it was too raunchy - maybe it would have been if she had better hip movement and she was a better dancer. There wasn’t too much salsa content but Erika was another good performer. And ABC, Gleb isn’t your resident sexpot. He is MARRIED for god’s sake. 6-6-6-6 T24 I don’t think that was as good as Nick, honestly. In response, Erika simply fires a fake bill gun. Uno Attack must be dying to get its hands on that.

Rashad Jennings and Emma - Cha cha Rashad is a football player who is poised to join our list of Surprisingly Good Football Players. Holyy crap, he can move! Although I didn’t see his hip action from rehearsal translate entirely into the dance, but it was definitely the best dance at this point. And Emma! Good to see you again. 8-7-8-8 T31

Mr T and Kym - Cha cha Mr T is a film star from Rocky III and The A Team, amongst others. Also the first person who danced with live vocal effects. He seems very dedicated and determined to do well. You can tell he is trying is very hard. Nice hearing him talk about working with kids. Tough Guy With Heart always goes well with the audience. As an aside, Kym Herjavec, formerly Kym Johnson, one of many reasons why DWTS is a better is a better match making show than The Bachelor. 5-5-5-5 T20

Simone Biles and Sasha - Tango can I just say - DREAM TEAM!!!!! Thank you of fulfilling my dream of seeing Sasha tumbling alongside a gymnast. We all know Simone - artistic gymnasts, Olympian, lots of medals, even more cute giggles. This was another Electro Tango With Lasers. At least their costumes weren’t black to make it Dark Edgy Electro Tango With Lasers, which we usually see. There wasn’t as much attack as I expected, but it was a good dance nonetheless. Great technique was expected and Simone delivered. 8-8-8-8 T32

[laceyeb]

DWTS Season 24 - Cast Announcement

For anyone new around here/to me... 

Years ago when I went off to college, my mom and I would send facebook messages back and forth as we continued to watch DWTS now without each other. It has evolved today into very long recaps at the end of each week plus my thoughts about the cast at the beginning of each season. Then I always post it all to tumblr because I like to share! Just keep in mind that my intended audience is her, so if something is weird or confusing, ask and I’ll clarify. :)

------------

OMG! I just realized I never typed up anything for you after the cast announcement! I was so excited about Bonner and Sharna that I completely forgot!

What do you think?! I think it’s going to be a really good season! The problem is that there is already so much talent on the female celeb side and it’s not going to easy for anyone to beat that.

Here’s what I think so far! I’m just going in alphabetical order from the wikipedia list…

Simone and Sasha - I’m sooooo happy she has Sasha, but that was just because I hoped it would lessen her popularity a little bit. I don’t think it’s going to make a difference though. I’m sure people are going to love her. I am happy for Sasha! He had such a good season last time and it’ll be nice to see him with someone as good as Simone. Do you think people are really going to want gymnasts winning twice in a row? I don’t know… Obviously they’ll make it very far, but I don’t think they’ll beat Val and his fan base. I’m curious to see if Simone is as popular as Laurie.

Bonner and Sharna - This is the most excited I’ve ever been for a couple after the cast announcement!!!!! OMG!!!!!!! I CAN’T WAIT!!!!! I’ve been looking at every picture and watching every little video they’ve been posting and I love them so much! Obviously I had never heard of him before I saw his name rumored and I looked him up. I’m worried about all the other more well known celebs, but people are just going to fall in love with him and I can’t wait!!! They’re definitely going to be the showmance of the season (but there aren’t really any other good options so it makes sense) and I have no problem with that if it brings in more votes! I think he’s going to be good, too! But at long as he can move even just a little, he’s going to stick around for quite a while. I hope they dance to some good music, too! Looks like it could be Luke first thing in week 1! It seems a little early for them to already know that though. But maybe a cha cha? That’s a typical week 1 dance. I was hoping for him to start with a foxtrot, but we’ve still got over 2 weeks to go. Things could still change. Could this finally be Sharna’s chance?! I hope so!!! I feel like I’ve been saying that for about 5 seasons now! Again, it’s not going to be easy to beat Normani and Val. Aside from maybe Rashad Jennings, Bonner is the only male celeb that has any chance at all.

Charo and Keo - I forgot that Keo wasn’t on last season. Jodie was his last partner and that already feels like it was so long ago. Poor Keo. The only thing I know about Charo is that she’s definitely going to overstay her welcome…

Erika and Gleb - No idea who she is. Never even heard her name before. Apparently she’s a singer?! But wikipedia says “dance-pop diva” which I guess is why I’ve never heard of her! I don’t expect her to last too long more because of lack of popularity than anything. That’s a shame because Gleb had such a good season with Jana! But maybe Erika will surprise me…

Rashad and Emma - OMG!!! I’m almost as excited for Emma as I am for Sharna! A FOOTBALL PLAYER FOR EMMA?! It’s a miracle!!! FINALLY Emma gets a real contender! FINALLY!!!! From the little I’ve seen of him, he seems excited to be there and I’ll sure he’ll do pretty well, especially compared to most of the other male celebs. I don’t see them winning I don’t think, but this is going to be such a good season for Emma and I can’t wait to watch! I love switch up week, but I hope there’s not one this season! If there is, I want him with Sharna! I’ve already decided! And he probably would be. Or maybe Nick since he’s with Peta.

Chris and Witney - I don’t know this guy by name, but he looks familiar. He should be somewhat entertaining and Witney seems awfully excited about this season, so that’s good I guess! I’m sure she knows they’re not winning so she’s just ready to have fun. I don’t really have much interest in them. Much more important things to worry about!

Nancy and Artem - Back in the day, she probably would have had a real shot at winning a season. Not anymore. But she’ll be nice to watch and I think Artem will be perfect for her. They’ll probably stick around for a little while, but I expect she’ll be eliminated earlier than she should just compared to some of the other big personalities and more popular pros.

Normani and Val - This is going to be Bonner and Sharna’s biggest problem! They are going to be good. And with his fans and her fans, they’re guaranteed at least final 3. In fact, I fully expect them to win and I’m already bitter about it. I don’t really know much about her except that she’s in Fifth Harmony and apparently they’re way more popular than I realized. Like you were saying, they’re on a world tour right now. So Val’s going to be flying around with them all over the world and they’ll be going back and forth to do the show. (We’ll be hearing about that all season…) The one thing they have against them is that Val just won, so maybe more casual fans will be looking for someone else to win this season. Plus with both Maks and Peta back, maybe some of the votes will end up split between the three of them. Nick and Peta might not last to the end for the votes to matter, but Maks and Heather might. Votes could end up split between Val and Maks. We’ll just have to wait and see. I also don’t see Normani gaining a lot of new fans throughout the season like someone like Bonner will. But I still don’t think any of that will really matter. They’ll do very well.

Heather and Maks - I think I’ve already said everything I can about them. Plenty of people come into this show with some sort of advantage and experience in performing and different forms of dancing. It would be impossible to fill a season without anyone having some sort of advantage. But that’s people like the ice skaters and gymnasts and singers who have experience with dancing, but aren’t actually dancers. It’s just part of what they do. But Heather is a dancer. That’s literally her job. She has been paid to be a dancer. It’s what she does. I just don’t understand!!!! And they’re going to spend all season saying that she’s never done this type of dancing and that’s true. But I don’t care! She’s a DANCER! It’s that simple. The one good thing about all this is that most people seem to feel the same way. But that worries me about Normani and Val. Because if people don’t like Heather and Maks, they’ll be voting for Normani and Val. Ok. I figured it out! I need a Maks, Val, Sharna, Peta final 4! Can you imagine?! Normani and Val can be the shocking 4th place elimination. Then Heather and Maks can be third because who wants a professional dancer to win this thing. I think Val fans would sooner vote for Sharna over Peta. Maks fans will vote for Peta, but no one likes Nick the Bachelor anyways so it won’t make a difference. Then Bonner and Sharna win! I’ve got it all figured out!

David and Lindsay - I hadn’t heard of him, but that’s just because I don’t watch much baseball. I can’t believe he’s the first MLB player to ever be on the show! That’s crazy! Lindsay seems pretty excited about this season and so does he from the little I’ve seen of him. So he was with the Cubs when they won? I think that’s what I read. Wikipedia tells me he played 11 games for the Padres in 2005 so that’s interesting I guess…

Mr. T and Kym - I don’t even care that Kym is with someone who doesn’t have a chance. I don’t need her to win. I’m so happy with how her last season went, so I’m fine with her on to just have fun. Obviously she’s not going to top last time! But I actually think he’s going to really try and work hard, even if he’s not going to be that good. The best part of all this is that I’m sure Robert will be at the show all the time! I can’t wait for that!

Nick and Peta - I would be more excited about them if I didn’t care about Sharna and I didn’t miss Jenna so much. (I almost forgot about Jenna not being there and now I’m sad all over again!) I expect him to be about as good as all the other Bachelors (Jake Pavelka (I think that was way back in season 10), Sean Lowe, Chris Soules), which isn’t saying a whole lot. But they’ll be around a while just because of Peta. Those other three placed 7th, 6th, and 5th place (in that order) and I won’t be surprised if Nick and Peta actually end up 4th! I’m definitely excited to see Peta back! It’ll be fun to see her again.

Long story short, all I really care about is Bonner and Sharna. The rest can just stay home.

[hollyhark]

Yes, why not! I actually like this better than I remembered but ultimately the Ben POV fizzled for me, maybe because I’ve written so many/too many MLB player POVs already :B 

[Snoke owns the team and is Hux’s uncle. He brought Hux in to deal with a PR crisis and has dismissed him now that the crisis is averted]

**

Ben’s mother has always accused him of being a romantic. She would argue that it’s not an accusation, and he has argued that it’s not the right word. He defies description and doesn’t like labels, though he has to admit that his tendency to obsessively envision important future moments in his life might qualify him as ‘romantic-leaning.’ For most of his childhood he vividly envisioned what it would be like to sign a contract with an MLB team, which didn’t involve vomiting after making the decision to start in the minors instead of going to college. He also spent a lot of time picturing his first start in the majors, which didn’t involve giving up a grand slam and taking the loss after pitching six scoreless innings. In addition to his dreams of athletic success, he’s spent a not insignificant amount of time imagining what it would be like to ask someone to marry him, and none of his fantasies about this important moment in his life involved a surly English asshole who lifts his lip in response to the proposal and says ‘Don’t be absurd’ before forking another section of grapefruit into his mouth.

“Why is it absurd?” Ben asks, as harshly as possible, as if the reiteration of his marriage proposal is a threat.

Hux swallows his grapefruit and looks at Ben from across the breakfast table, blinks twice, then eats another section of grapefruit.

“Answer me!” Ben demands, and he pounds the table with his fist, rattling the dishes.

Hux is not rattled. Nothing gets to him. Not even being asked to marry the most promising young pitcher in major league baseball.

“I was complaining about my visa situation,” Hux says, looking up and to the right, as if he’s addressing a sympathetic audience in a balcony-- as if this is a play. “And in response to my remarks you said, ‘why don’t you just marry me?’ Do I really need to itemize all the things that are absurd about that statement? Even for you?”

“If you marry me you don’t have to go back to England,” Ben says. It’s a simple solution to a world-ending problem. How Hux doesn’t see this is a testament to his alleged genius-level thinking having some serious loopholes. “Problem solved,” Ben says when Hux just stares at him.

“Setting aside the fact that I’ve only known you for three months,” Hux says, “And that we’ve only been fucking for two of those months, and the fact that you’re a professional athlete in a sport where the majority of your fanbase wouldn’t look kindly on--”

“I don’t care about that,” Ben says, snapping at this at Hux like a whip, because he should know it already. “I’m here to pitch. Not to be some kind of golden boy, bullshit fake asshole--”

“Oh, I assure you, you’re not seen as a golden boy, or as fake, though perhaps asshole isn’t such a stretch--”

“I don’t care how I’m seen! Fucking listen to what I’m saying!”

Ben didn’t mean to say so quite that loudly. It’s just that Hux takes his marketing crap too far. People are still people. Ben wants asses in seats as much as any other ballplayer, and he thrives on the knowledge that thousands of people watch him pitch every night, but he’s not an actor and this isn’t a goddamn play. Hux underestimates the fans. He sees them as dollar signs and not as complex individuals who might be just fine with the rising star on their favorite team marrying the stuffy publicist who lifted the team’s image out of the ashes after their former manager made certain remarks in the press and then steered Ben’s rookie season straight into the toilet, team-wise.

Meanwhile, Ben was amazing last year. Hux emphasized that, marketing-wise, when he arrived. Ben appreciated it. He spent an entire month trying to get Hux into bed, as a thank you.

“Look,” Hux says. He pushes his mostly-finished grapefruit away. “I understand that you have this vision of yourself as a noble knight who throws himself into battle for a good cause--”

“This isn’t some cause! I’m not asking you for charity, or to send a message. I want you to stay here. Forever. With me. So marry me, and we can do that.”

“Do you care to hear what I want?”

“You just said you don’t want to go back home, to your father’s firm, that you want to stay here and do work and start your own firm, and you can’t because your visa is expiring--”

“And that ends in me marrying you, in your head?”

“You like me,” Ben says, sitting back. He sometimes forgets how to feel confident and then puts it on again like a tailored shirt. He’s not that dorky, unlovable kid he was in junior high, before he took his rage out on pitching and became a noted local athlete, then an exceptional one, and now a famous one. People now think his looks are good. That changed when he showed he had some talent to back them up. “I know you like me,” Ben says, holding Hux’s unblinking stare.

“Like does not a marriage make.”

Ben huffs and stabs his spoon back into his bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Hux more than likes him. Hux has spent the night here four times in a row. Hux shudders like a supernova when Ben comes inside him. Hux kissed Ben’s jaw so soft last night, when he thought Ben was asleep. Hux got Ben a fancy shaving kit for his birthday last month, with a fucking brush made from what Ben understands to be boar whiskers. Hux can’t go back to England. Ben has never liked anything as much as he’s liked his life since Hux laughed against his mouth and said, ‘fine, we’ll go to your place. I’m curious.’

“So that’s a no,” Ben says, and he shovels an angry spoonful of cereal into his mouth while he waits for Hux to officially crush him.

“You’re twenty-three years, old,” Hux says. As if that’s an actual answer. Ben snorts and stuffs more Cinnamon Toast Crunch into his mouth, wiping at his chin with his wrist when he feels milk dribbling there. His eyes are burning. Hux doesn’t deserve to see him cry, though somehow he already has, three times. Once before they were even fucking.

“Fine,” Ben says when he’s swallowed. “You won’t marry me because I’m twenty-three and-- Wow! You’re twenty-seven. What a fucking impassable distance that is.”

“I’m twenty-seven and even I don’t feel ready for marriage! That’s the only point I’m trying to make here.”

“Okay-- okay, great. I’m not trying to make a fucking point. I’m trying to ask you to marry me. For real. And you’re not taking it seriously, because you don’t take me seriously. I’m not even a person to you. I’m just this fucking-- punchline. This billboard. Something to get on a magazine cover.”

“Everything about this conversation evidences why we can’t be married.”

“More like why you’re afraid of it.”

“Excuse me? I’m afraid? Of what? Marrying a twenty-three year old athlete who will later blame me for ruining his career when his impulsive decision backfires? I suppose, yes, you could characterize that as fear, though I’d prefer to call it self-preservation.”

“Fine.” Ben stands, picks up his cereal bowl, and drops it into the sink so that it clatters loud and hard. “Go back to England, back to Daddy, and hate your life again, and don’t tell me I didn’t tell you so when you’re fifty years old and you realize you could have done something great instead of something cowardly.”

“Doing something great is also not a reason to get married.”

“What is a reason to get married, huh?” Ben says, whirling on Hux. “Tell me, go ahead. I want to hear your personal good reason to get married. What would that be?”

“Love,” Hux says-- Dryly, angrily.

It takes Ben off guard. In more ways than one.

“You don’t love me?”

Ben hates the way his voice sounds, suddenly: small, weak, young.

“I think a better question,” Hux says, “Considering that you are the one proposing marriage-- A better question would be do you even love me?”

“Are you kidding?” Ben says, shouting. “I loved you before we even kissed! I loved you-- That night when you put your hand on my arm and whispered ‘it’s okay’ in my ear and kept me from snapping at that reporter--”

“That’s infatuation, Ben. Not love.”

“Don’t tell me how the fuck I experience love! Infatuation doesn’t exist for me, okay? It’s all or nothing, and you’re all, you’re everything, and you can’t go back to goddamn England because I won’t let you.”

Ben’s body seems to make decisions before his mind can catch up. It’s always been this way, and it’s why he’s good at pitching. He’s all instinct, and the older he gets the more his instincts are right as opposed to reckless, so he’s not surprised when Hux lets himself be lifted out of his seat at the breakfast table, when Hux opens his lips for a hungry, possessive kiss, or when Hux’s legs tighten around his waist as his back hits the wall near the table.

“You’re such a child,” Hux says, eyes flashing. This always gets Ben-- Gets him angry, gets him wanting to prove Hux wrong. He doesn’t fuck like a child, and Hux knows that well. “You think you can have whatever you want,” Hux says, tugging at Ben’s hair. “That you’re entitled to not only fuck me but to bloody marry me.”

“You love fucking me,” Ben says, stopping himself from saying You love me. He’s not sure he believes it, for one.

“And you think I’ll go the rest of my life never loving it so much with anyone else?” Hux looks worried about this himself, suddenly.

“Yeah,” Ben says, again taken off guard. “I do think that.”

“Well, that’s very arrogant.”

“Arrogance goes a long way in my line of work.”

Hux smiles slightly, as if he can relate to that. There’s something sweet and a bit sad about it, and it doesn’t fit with the moment Ben is trying to build up to, which involves fucking Hux over the kitchen counter, so Ben kisses that look off his face.

**

[placetobenation]

BACK TO THE THEATER..OR NOT

So movies are trying to claw their way back into theaters, and I for one am all for it. I don’t want to be a prisoner of this virus until vaccines are created and distributed. Wonder Woman 1984 has set a new date to be released this Christmas, 2020, and I get the feeling that some other big blockbusters will be jointing her.

So many summer blockbusters were shelved, we are definitely going to be having our pick of the liter when things open up again. I think the theater business will be booming for quite a while. 

For the movies that have been released, like Mulan and Tenet – the news is good and bad. Mulan was released in America through Disney+, but it was released in China to the theaters. China is the second biggest draw for movies after the USA, so Disney was hopeful to make money on both ends, and see which one came out on top. So far, for Mulan, it looks like a tie. 

Streamer usually pay off about 25 – 30 million for a movie for a restricted viewing experience. Mulan made less then that in it’s opening weekend in China. China box office came out to be around 20 million in it’s first three days in theaters. Now will it make more, sure – but the number will surely drop and it’s not going to get dramatically higher in any sense. The final prediction for Mulan in China is about 40 million over all. Not great, but then again, this is not America. Should Disney have waited? Well their slate is kind of full of movies already waiting, so maybe this is the one they decided to test the waters with, who knows. It was a gamble and it was not a complete disaster, but it wasn’t exactly a success either. 

Tenet is another movie that is being tested. Christopher Nolan is all high and mighty with his films and he always dresses and suits and he never lets people sit down and blah blah. Well Warner Bros and Sony are keeping the film’s numbers a secret. 

Apparently they are not releasing numbers by the day, but rather by the week, so no one knows if Tenet is slumping, staying the course or increasing. I’m sure they wish to keep the shroud of excellence wrapped around Nolan for as long as possible – but industry insiders say Tenet maybe falling and falling hard. 

NFL DIPS AND DABS

The NFL saw a dip in their ratings this week – down about 13 percent from last year’s opening kickoff game. Researchers say there is nothing to worry about – since NBA, NHL, and US Open are all happening at the same time, and MLB is about to go into their playoffs – fans have a lot more sports than they can handle right now. 

BRUISED TERRIFFIED HALLE BERRY

The gorgeous and talented Halle Berry has made her directorial debut with a movie called Bruised that is making it’s world premiere in the Toronto Film Festival. “I was scared shitless. And if you’re not having any sense of worry, I don’t think you care, I don’t think you want to do your very best” Halle said to reporters. 

In Bruised, Berry plays a disgraced MMA fighter, Jackie “Justice,” who has to conquer her own demons and face one of the fiercest rising stars of the MMA world to become the mother that she thinks her son Manny deserves. That role isn’t the first dark horse character that Berry has played during her Hollywood career, which includes her Oscar-winning role of Leticia Musgrove, a dirt-poor widow, in Monster’s Ball.

“You know I’m always most drawn to characters who are fractured, broken, who are fighting to survive. Every time I get to play those roles, I get to have a cathartic experience and I get to have some healing for myself,” Berry explained.Despite the cachet an Academy Award trophy brought to her Hollywood career, Berry says there’s sadness in not seeing other Black women follow her and win the industry’s biggest best actress prize. “Every time when Oscar time comes round, I get reflective and I think maybe this year, maybe this year, and it’s heartbreaking that other women haven’t stood there,” she revealed.

BILL MAHR BACK IN STUDIO

Bill Mahr is moving from his backyard and headed back into his studio for the first time in months. “There’s real people. Thank you jesus. Thank You People!!” he exclaimed. The show is filmed in CBS Television City’s Studio 33. HBO is bring back only 25 people for now, to be in the audience, but Bill says that will be loud enough. “This is interesting, you can hear people laugh individually.” The host said.

QUENTIN TARANTINO VS BRUCE LEE

Jason Scott Lee has become the foremost expert on the immortal Bruce Lee and has spoken out, as so many have, on how Quentin Tarantino decided to portray the martial arts legend. 

Jason is known for being the boy in Jungle Book, for playing Bruce Lee in Dragon and currently the villain in the new rendition of Mulan. When confronted about what he thought about Tarantino’s Bruce Lee fighting Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood – he certainly had a strong opinion about it. 

One of Lee’s most memorable roles is that of the aforementioned Bruce Lee in 1993’s Dragon, which is based on the book by Bruce’s widow, Linda Lee Cadwell. Since he did rigorous martial arts training with Bruce’s former student Jerry Poteet, Lee developed even more respect for the revered martial artist he was playing. So, needless to say, Lee, like Bruce’s daughter, Shannon, wasn’t too pleased with Quentin Tarantino’s portrayal of Bruce in 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

“While I was training [to play Bruce Lee], I started learning his system of fighting and actually feeling the motions that he taught his students. I realized so much about the precision and the discipline of a person like that, and that’s why it was very hard for me to watch that scene with Mike Moh portraying Bruce,” Lee admits. “Granted, Mike’s a great actor, but I think being put in that position to portray Bruce Lee that way was really hard to take. I kind of winced. Yeah, he was boastful, but he was one of those guys that could back it up. He wasn’t challenging that way, you know? So [Tarantino] took a lot of creative leeway in presenting Bruce Lee in that manner, and he got a lot of flack for it. And it’s not justified the way he did it.”

Lee also mentions that Poteet, who became his longtime sifu after Dragon, would have objected to Tarantino’s depiction since he had a close master-apprentice relationship with Bruce.

“My sifu, Jerry Poteet, who was a student of Bruce, has since passed away, but I know he would be rolling over in his grave,” Lee explains. “He had direct association through a long term teacher-student relationship with Bruce… So, through the years of knowing Jerry and hearing all the stories and details, I’m sure it would’ve pissed him off.”

This scene will not just go away. Like I have said before, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is a love story between Tarantino and Brad Pitt. Tarantino wrote the most amazing, awe inspiring, coolest character for Brad and even made him beat up Bruce Lee. Cmon. We all know a washed up stunt man could never ever even touch Bruce Lee in his prime while he was filming Green Hornet. I think everyone is realizing this now and really taking offense to it. If Tarantino made the martial arts character anyone else in the world, but Bruce Lee – it would have been fine. Bruce Lee took his fighting extremely serious and like Jason said, he boasted, but he always backed it up – the guy was a certified martial arts champion and revolutionary. Anyway – don’t get me started. I’m glad the professionals agree with me as well on this. Tarantino went a bit overboard in his cinematic love letter to Brad Pitt.

THE END OF THE KARDASHIANS

Yes after 20 blissful years on the E Network, “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” is airing it’s final season in early 2021. The choice was made by the family and announced recently. “It is with heavy hearts that we say goodbye to ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians,’” the famous family said in a joint statement, signed by Kris Jenner, Kourtney Kardashian, Khloé Kardashian, Kim, Rob Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, Kylie Jenner and Scott Disick.

“After what will be 14 years, 20 seasons, hundreds of episodes and several spin-off shows, we’ve decided as a family to end this very special journey. We are beyond grateful to all of you who’ve watched us for all of these years — through the good times, the bad times, the happiness, the tears, and the many relationships and children. We’ll forever cherish the wonderful memories and countless people we’ve met along the way.”

20 years is a lot. I mean, a lot. Hopefully this will end Kanye West’s craziness and Kim’s craziness and all the other crap that happens with this family. I mean let’s face it, they weren’t a bunch of intellectuals. They have so many sources of income the show’s salary probably became their lunch money by now. This kind of reality show was a guilty pleasure and really wasn’t doing society any bit of good. Kanye got a God complex, and Kim thought she could be a lawyer of all things.

I am glad this is ending, America has been in a weird kind of fantasy state and had rejected reality for too long. Problem is, someone like Paris Hilton will probably step in and take their place. 

Catch me here every Thursday. Have a great week!  @paulieb2003