#i feel like ive seen so many designs for her where she has the same noseshape as brittany and like .

[fullmoonfireball]

ive never seen a design of Auntie Bea that quite clicks with me so . i decided to make my own <3

[fipindustries]

bojack horse bad again

you know, i was thinking back to this show again, i watched three seasons of it and that was all that i could tomach and you know what? no.

i dont accept it

i dont care, it was a bad show, it was an objectively bad show and i dont accept that everyone else decided that it was good, i dont care, it was a bad show and im going to tell you why.

emotional terrorism

maybe im a simpleton but i am someone who cares quite a lot about catharsis in my stories. this show refused to grant that, adamantly and violently. im not saying i need a happy ending, i am more than capable of enjoying bittersweet or even tragic stories, but i need a sense of completeness, some satisfaction, some release, some sense that things matter or meant something. this show insisted on refusing to give that. all this show was interested in was get an emotional reaction out of you. it was the emotional equivalent of a jump scare. it was convinced that if it made you feel bad enough people would confuse that with beeing powerful and deep. you could get the same reaction by walking up to someone on the street and kicking them in the nuts. and it would take about as much subtlety or artistry.

2. writer led rather than animator led

you could tell this was one of those shows that were made on the writer's room, not by storyboarders or artists, by "comedians". by people with english degrees. so many scenes of characters just standing around and talking. so many "jokes" that were clearly meant to be funny as something you read on a piece of paper or on a tweet and chuckle as you read it but as animation it just gave limp, stagnant scenes. so much dialog that were references and quips and puns and fast witticisms of the type you come up in the shower when thinking of clever comebacks.

there were so many fucking scenes where everything would stop and a character would launch on some stupid profound monologue about life and philosophy and psychology and relationships. it was like the writers were trying on for size paragraphs of their future memoirs or self help books. so much dialog that was begging for an award for writing. so many "mic drop" moments that were designed to be quoted. i find that the best writing is not the one that you can just quote out of context as a cool pithy phrase. a lot of the best writing ive seen in my life is meaningless when devoid of context, is inextricable of the scene and indeed of the entire story surrounding it but in here i can almost see the seams where the writers look at the camera waiting to see if you are impressed

3. inconsistent tone

this show wanted to eat its cake and then still have it. there are stories that manage to deftly weave in and out of comedic moments into serious moments. everything everywhere all at once does an amazing job jumping from the stupidest, most childish jokes into the most profound commentary about human nature, sometimes doing both at the same time and it worked, one didint cheapen the other.

in here though, it wanted to both have a completly absurd world with the stupidest characters ever and then somehow make us care for it all as if the show hadnt shot itself in the foot. it wanted us to see caroline being in love with what is clearly three children in a trenchcoat and then take her seriously as an adult, to treat any forther relationship drama she has as if it werent completly farcical.

4. ugly animation

it continued the blight that is take over adult animation by doing that disgusting repugnant paper puppet rigged interpolated quasi flash animation that only gives you stiff poses and movements and incredibly boring shots of characters standing in 3/4 perspective in front of the camera. it dull and flat and clunky and ugly, and the character designs were ugly. the noses were ugly and the mouths were ugly and the hairs were ugly and the eyes were ugly. it was all ugly. the backgrounds were fucking ugly and the colors were ugly and it was an ugly show to look at. unbearably so. and even the obligatory "weird" stylized scenes put in to shake things off and try to pretend that it was visually interesting (for like one scene per season) were also fucking ugly.

5. it had not interesting point to make

all it could do was insist and belavor and extemporize about how this one guy sucks and also most people kind of suck but specifically this one guy really sucks and he is not going to get better, or maybe he will? eh maybe, but not really, because he sucks. and we are going to make you like him because we are the writers and we are going to make him relatable and charismatic and sympathetic but actually no he sucks, you fell for it! and what does it say about you that you almost kind of liked him eh????. season after season of him, and in case you almost found anything redeemable about him, we are going to make him even worse, painfully unsubtly so, we are going to make him look at the camera and say that he sucks, because that is the level of nuance we think you can handle, dear viewer. this is called "self aware writing" and its postmodern and meta, which means its clever.

i fucking hate this show and the more i think about it the angrier it makes me, and what makes me more angriest of all is that people like it. its popular. it won awards i think. its largely recognized as a good show and its not! it sucks and its bad and if you like it you are stupid.

[luciftixs]

the yi sangela post

I’m having autistic zoomies right now

I want to talk about Yi Sang and Angela because I like them both A Lot and I just think it’s fun to do comparisons. My partner made this lovely checklist with a few similarities I jotted down in a notesapp on my phone before I passed out and I will be cooking a meal thats geared solely to me but ur welcome to try and eat it if u want

Let’s get into it. There is no structure here but maybe we will find it as we go along!

I wanna start w a disclaimer that this is FOR FUN its not actually that serious and ALSO its obviously not a 1-to-1 comparison because these two are also so starkly different in not only their circumstances but also their overall personality when it comes to having deal with said Issues. I feel like tumblr users are more chill these days but after some shit ive seen on projmoon twitter I am covering my bases this is just a Post by a Stranger Online LOL

Let’s take a look at our first point on this silly little chart. That point is:

Bird

Angela’s black dress heavily resembles the feathers of a bird; specifically that of a corvid like a raven or even crow.

Even her head librarian outfit has some bird motifs to it. I’m going to get into corvid symbolism in a second but first

Yi Sang also leans heavily into the bird motifs. His base EGO is named Crow’s Eye View after a poem by the RL Yi Sang, and the narrative draws some inspo from the short story The Wings by the same author.

Wings show up often in some of his EGOS and CGs

Now, it’s not simply generic birds either of them are inspired by; Angela’s black feathers, Yi Sang’s EGO title, they are specifically invoking corvids. Corvidae include many different species of birds, such as magpies and jays, but the most commonly thought of corvids would be the ones with black feathers; ravens and crows. Corvids are incredibly intelligent birds, and they are rich in symbolism and meaning.

Specifically, crows have a heavy association with death and the afterlife. Both Angela and Yi Sang are impacted by heavy losses; Angela is made from a woman who took her own life and is forced to oversee countless loops of people suffering and dying; Yi Sang witnessed his friends being driven apart in a violent manner. His two childhood friends die before him, he wishes he could kill himself and die, and is trapped in a purgatory state with his current coworkers where bloodshed is as common as breathing. Death has marked both of them.

But! That is not the only thing corvids symbolize! In more modern times the birds are said to also symbolize transformation. In a way, that ties into death, as what is death if not the final transformation in life? But neither of their final growths end in their deaths; rather, both learn to find a way to free themselves from the shackles of their past, and to push forward.

THEN WE HAVE

Book as weapon

This one is just silly.

*beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book beats you to death with a book*

Next point

Narrative haunted by a female figure

This one is in that “not a one-to-one comparison” territory, but it’s still just fun to poke at imo. In Angela’s case, she can never truly escape Carmen’s influence over her. For Yi Sang, Dongbaek is a ghost from his past. Both these women are integral to the overall narrative at hand.

Not only do these women haunt the narrative, but they also mirror the person they haunt. Angela’s desire for life is so strong because, in the end, Carmen wished to live. Dongbaek admired Yi Sang and his dream of flying. She yearned to bloom in a way not dissimilar to a bird spreading it’s wings for the first time. Angela’s Lobcorp design invokes Carmen- her hair color is Carmen’s inverted. She wears the hair time Carmen wore. Dongbaek’s hair has become white from the trauma- the inverse of Yi Sang’s black hair. Yi Sang takes up a Dongbaek identity in a mirror world to further drive home the similarities. These women play a major role in the overall identity of these two characters.

And this is just my brain going “hehe neat” but Carmen’s whole like. Brain stem mimicking a tree and its roots. Dongbaek becoming flowers. Visually very similar vibes.

Onto the next point

Loomed over and controlled by a male figure

This one probably seems second most self explanatory. Ayin meet Gubo Gubo meet Ayin ect.

The deal is simple: you do what we want you to do, and we have employed dubious methods to ensure that you do what we want you to do! Both Ayin and Gubo are self serving when it comes to the end goals. The levels of agency at play here are different; Angela truly had no choice, but Yi Sang’s mental state is not Great and that is being capitalized on him to help perpetuate his isolation and dependency.

Another thing: Ayin and Gubo are just really fucking mean to Angela and Yi Sang. Ayin actively dehumanizes her and neglects her; Gubo verbally and mentally abuses Yi Sang. Fun stuff.

Now, the penultimate point:

Yearning for freedom

This naturally comes with the territory of being a bird. Angela longs to not be confined to a place (Lobcorp or the Library). She wants to experience the world and be free. Yi Sang is similar; that desire to spread his wings and fly. For both to accomplish this, they have a talk with the ‘self’. It’s only by confronting their pasts, and themselves, that they can finally get that push to live life on their own terms.

MY FINAL TALKING POINT

SEXY

Like wow hot a what? And yes I chose fourth match flame because it ties into the whole post like they’re sharing an EGO that’s basically having your hopes burnt to a cinder and also an intense longing for a better life whoa thats crazy

Concluding thoughts

I just like them both a lot. My little caged birds getting out of the cage and mending their broken wings in order to take flight. Very kino. I love them.

If u actually read this thanks ur pog

[damnfandomproblems]

https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/739064506502791168/fandom-problem-4499-i-think-sometimes-people-get

Thing is op

People like to use "coded" as an excuse to harrass others over a fictional character

"this character is minor-coded therefor if you like them or draw them sexy then you are a pedo"

"this character is gay-coded so if you ship them qith the opposite gender your homophobic"

"this character is autism-coded so if you dont see them that way you are ableist."

"this character is poc coded and if you dont portray them that way then you are racist"

And then they go and rip people to shreds over it. And most of the time they are actually "coded" as anything.

Ill give you a good example as to why coding should just fucking die in fandom.

In transformers (all of them afaik) there is a sentient ROBOT named Jazz. He is often voiced by a black voice actor, even in the early days of Generation 1 in 1984. Though it changes a few times Jazz is well known for his accented voice. Jazz (the music) is also known to be pioneered by black people.

In a way jazz is black coded. He is designed with all these elements related to black people.

The thing is. Jazz is a fucking robot. "Jazz" is the name he chose for himself because his cybertronian name does not translate or cannot be spoken by humans. Jazz is also a type of music he only heard when he arrived on earth and is something he loves, hence why he chose the name. He chooses to express himself in such a way because its what he enjoys.

It does not mean he is black. A white person can do all that because they have a love for jazz music. It isnt going to make them "black coded"

He is also again, a robot. Not human. Not even organic.

However of all the problems ive seen in the TF fandom the one about whether you should draw a human version of Jazz as black or white is probably the one thats sets people who give a shit off the most.

It doesn't matter what characteristics a character has. It doesnt matter if Jazz is drawn as black or white. Cuz he isn't human. Its literally up to fan interpretation and none of them are wrong but people want to shit fling, and react hostile over others not drawing him as black anyway.

Same could be said about a certain more popular pink skinned character (who is also human and japanese but when have people ever viewed japanese people as important.)

You can have your queer coded villains. Doesn't actually say they are queer. Hell in the past it would be done as a way to demonize queerness and traits. But queer people still loved those villains because they could relate to their tragedies.

What "coding" actually is, is a part of the design process to add depth and character. It's an inspiration born from reality. But it's not always that the character is meant to be that thing.

Theres a character from genshin impact i could say is "DID-coded" because when she falls alseep or is so stressed she passes out there is another version of her that takes her place that she doesnt know about.

In the same vein theres the game "At Dead of Night" (recommend it, its a horror game) where the main antagonist is possessed and murders people. They even had to put a disclaimer that the character didnt have DID and the game wasnt made to demonize people with DID or portray them as unstable serial killers. However despite the creators saying that, fans still "DID-code" the antagonist, not out of hatred for people with DID but because some people with DID still relate to the character. Not so much the killing people but the struggle the antagonist has with "being possessed". Having DID can be a frustrating and tiring experience and not many cope with it very well even when they do no harm. Feeling of loss of control is very relatable even without DID.

Regardless the rampant "coding everything trend" in fandom has caused a new "ship war" like wave of harrassment. If you dont view a character this was your a horrible person and you deserve *insert graphic content and threats of harm and suibaiting and more*

coding can be a cool thing to discover while analyzing a character or even creating one. But its become hated with good reason because people have no reason left in them. Coding is a cool way of adding depth and nuance to a character and would actually REALLY help beginners with their "bland" characters. Unfortunately even thats discouraged, since it can be seen as "baiting" or "stereotyping" and sometimes appropriating culture. (But a giant sentient robot making his entire personality about jazz music isn't? Lol)

Posting since this is a response to a previous problem.

[thesonicpunk]

youre so right that the way kishimoto limits sakura bc of his own misogyny reflects the things girls often face irl. based on what ive seen from interviews, kishimoto is the kind of male writer who thinks women need inherently be written differently from and have different types of stories than men, and it creates this weird self-fulfilling prophecy whereby believing he's not good at writing girls, he ends up being bad at writing girls. but somehow it sometimes circles back around to making him good at it? the struggle of always feeling like you're second-best to the men in your life...but by focusing only on trying to surpass them you just end up centering yourself around them even when you've forged your own path...shes so girlhood to me

aaaa anon ur egging me on ahah (i love it, let's discuss euehuhehu, or not u can just ignore me lol) I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, I had a deadline and halfway through writing this i realised i wanted to do it properly and so I had to come back when I had time It does kinda circle around to Kishimoto crafting a portrayal of aspects of girlhood that's, well, maybe not good since its not intentional or well explored/resolved, but definitely accurate in a lot of ways.

I've always thought Sakura's crush on Sasuke being a big chunk of her focus in life is a great example of this. Kishimoto writes it in because that's how he sees women: what else could they want other than a man? And he needs to show how desirable Sasuke is because his audience wants to see it, they're teenage boys after all and Sasuke's the cool anti-hero (Naruto's too goofy and the underdog at this point in the story for her to like him) so of course Sakura's in love with him. But, at the same time, Sakura's crush being so central in her life is quite accurate because, as a girl, you're socialised since you're very young to desire a certain type of man: the man all men want to be, because men want you to desire them. In this case, this is Sasuke: the cool, aloof, powerful shinobi from a prestigious clan, the strongest, top of the class guy.* You're told by all the media you consume, the stories you read, the comments your family makes and the relationships that are modelled for you in society in general that you exist to love a guy, to take care of him, that your biggest dream should be being worthy of that guy's love, because what else is there for a girl to aspire to? And as a girl you don't just accept it, because it's deeper and more ingrained than that: you actually want your life to look like that. Because all the other girls who already have that are so pretty, and when you smile people compliment you, and you're told that's where your worth lies, and you want to have worth and you want people to pay attention because it feels good. (That's why going after a guy like Sasuke, who is emotionally unavailable, is also very realistic: it feels better when it's hard won. it's like, "he isn't affectionate with anyone, so if he is affectionate with me, i've really got worth!" which is something we see Sakura feeling well into her marriage with Sasuke in Boruto, and it's very sad that she still accept such a behaviour after growing up.)

Even when you have other aspirations (becoming a ninja, in this case) you are just confronted with the idea that you will never be as strong/good/powerful as the men in your life (like you pointed out). The system has it in for you in the first place: it hasn't been designed for you to thrive. Your teacher doesn't push you as hard as he pushes the boys, he doesn't pay as much attention to you as he pays to the boys, and everyone always acts like you're defenceless in the batter field, not giving you a chance to prove yourself. So why shouldn't you feel like you maybe are less than the guys? If your teachers and your teammates see you that way, then maybe that's what you are. Can you really fault Sakura for believing that when so many women irl struggle with this immensely too? You're already taking a caretaker/disciplinarian role within your team because you're the girl, and you're only 13, so maybe you should stick to that, because that you're good at, and Kakashi praises you for not being difficult like the boys, because "boys will be boys" but Sakura-chan you're so easy to deal with!!! And then you find your niche, something you're good at (tho, ofc, it's not by coincidence that kishi's strongest women in Naruto are healers - tsunade and sakura - that in itself is already an essentialisation of female nature, but i won't get into it here, even tho it adds to everything) , and you work your ass off at that: you're not from a special clan, you have no special powers like Naruto or Sasuke, but you've become the strongest medic ninja and yet. That doesn't seem enough for the fandom to see your worth, you routinely get called weak and useless because subpar writing didn't give you enough chances to shine (even tho you have all the potential) exactly because your writer is misogynistic. yay When Sakura goes after Naruto to convince him to back down so they can kill Sasuke, of course she uses her womanhood as her weapon. Of course she tells him she likes him instead. It's desperate, it's flawed, it's even misguided, but she's been told all her life that's all she's got to offer, she's been told all her life that's what men will respond to and she's tried to keep up with them but she feels like she can't on her own terms (tho she can!!! she can she can she can), so she succumbs to the default way society tells her she has value. And Naruto defies a lot of things by saying no here, he defies even the patriarchy/comphetness he himself partook in as a child (by crushing on her, by wanting to be like Sasuke), and further solidifies himself as an extremely compelling male protagonist IMO (Kishimoto misses a lot but he didn't miss here, but anyways i'm not analysing naruto rn ahah);

This is just another way Boruto (the show) actively tarnishes Naruto's characters. Unfortunately, there was space for things to be resolved differently. With the ending of Naruto, we could have imagined something else for Sakura: she could have grown out of her crush on Sasuke, realised her worth, that her life doesn't need to revolve around him and invested her time in becoming whatever it is that she wants to become, but instead..... Sakura becomes a housewife who abandons her own aspirations as a ninja to be a sometimes-useful-prop in a narrative about another boy, she's gotten married to an emotionally unavailable man that doesn't really love her and is never around, and yet she still pines over him after years of neglect and pretends to be satisfied (but isn't really, who would be?) by the tiniest slither of affection and of course, A CHILD. Because that's all women are for, and all that they should aspire to in the next stage of their lives: why wouldn't she be happy now that she has a kid with Sasuke? She even says it herself.

Tbh it's all a bit gross! But in a way, realistic, since unfortunately this is the life of a lot of women out there. Also don't come for me for this take, the things i'm saying are informed by my own experiences growing up as a girl. Ofc there's nothing wrong with choosing a more domestic life as a woman, that's clearly not what i'm critiquing here.

TL;DR; She is so girlhood !!!!

*this is damaging to Sasuke too, as we know, because it incentivises a flat, superficial, unkind view of who he is as a person that overlooks his traumas, pressures him to play a role and limits who he is/what he needs and deserves in a friend/partner too. That patriarchy is damaging to men themselves is not news tho, it's the same for men in real life.

[aha-chuu]

I've seen some discourse about Fontaine Act V, specifically some posts discussing misogynistic characterisations and other such things, so I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and air out my thoughts.

Firstly: most of the game up until 4.0 had sexism rooted deeply within the writing. You can look to the actual character designs to see the mistreatment of the female characters most plainly, but it's a gacha game selling waifus - whatever, that's not pertinent. More pressing is the actual writing of the female characters; despite there being several more women than men, the male characters on a whole seem to get more screen time, story presence and deliver more narrative weight than their female counterparts.

Who are the characters who seem like they'll be relevant throughout the game? Which characters are awarded a greater diversity of personalities?

There have always been well-written female characters in the game, but so many are not given ample screen time to explore that. Even more get given interesting backstories with no personality to follow through on the obscure lore.

Even in Inazuma where the quest is dominated by feminine presence, it's Kazuha who has the most voice lines throughout the game out of the Inazuma cast, Ayato (who didn't even appear!) who gets retroactively awarded the title of mastermind. The writing in Inazuma does just suck in general, but still nobody thinks of Yae in the same way they consider Albedo, Scaramouche, Neuvillette. You can make ten million arguments for why Ayaka's demure disposition is relevant to her strength as a character in non-combative ways, but the game's narrative does not capitalise on that, leaving her to feel very samey to characters we've had before.

The point being: the argument for Fontaine being a misogynistic hell hole does have a backbone in how Hoyo has previously dealt with their characters. However, in my opinion, this is yet another case of "trying and falling short is a worst crime than making no attempt at all".

Fontaine has a huge diversity of women characters who all feel distinct. You could read an unmarked line of dialogue by Lynette, Navia, Charlotte, Arlecchino, Clorinde, Sigewinne, Skirk, Furina or Foçalors and you could pretty accurately distinguish who has said it. Now, a lot of these characters are written to be victims - Lynette being child trafficked, Navia having her whole family die around her, Arlecchino an abused orphan, Foçalors doomed to die and Furina is cursed. But in no way does this diminish their individual strengths or leave them without agency.

There's a misconception that a "strong female character" has to be, basically, an 80s male action hero but with boobs this time. If she is feminine then it better be in service of her badassery. In reality, the mark of a well-written female character is her agency in the story to change it - agency here is important, because throughout fiction female characters have often shaped entire stories... By being doormats that you could replace with a sword the hero really wants.

So in terms of Fontaine, how do these characters stack up? Not just in terms of their diversity of personality and depth of story, but also their power and relevance in the Archon quest itself?

Furina is presented as being trapped in suffering, but the reality of the situation is that she has the option to give up at any time. You cannot replace Furina with a cool treasure that the Traveller really wants; she makes active decisions in service of the plot constantly, in spite of her torture and fear and weakness. That weakness is never portrayed as some huge flaw that we the player must fix, it's in fact evidence of how strong Furina has been for centuries.

Navia too - though (by virtue of what the story is about) she has less to do, Navia thrusts herself into the quest in our defence, rallies our team and, yeah, needs saving along the way! Just like Freminet in the primordial seawater in Act IV or Lyney on trial in Act I.

Arlecchino maintains many feminine traits while also twisting them on their head. She is the "Father" of the House of the Hearth - obviously gendered - but she is most defined by her maternal love (feminine). She is never placed into a position of weakness in the Archon quest, always in control and saving others.

I think looking at Neuvillette's ascension to the position of leadership in Fontaine and labelling the whole ordeal "misogynistic" is insanely reductive. If every nation were ruled by a man despite 5/7 "archons" being women, sure. But Mondstadt is presently led by Jean, Liyue by Ningguang, Inazuma by Raiden (& Yae?) and Sumeru by Nahida. If the problem people have is instead that in this process Furina becomes more meek and emotional, then I point again to the wide variety of personalities the female characters in Fontaine display. If every woman is meek and emotional that's a problem, but those are literally only adjectives you would use for Furina (who is severely traumatised). Navia would be resolute and kind-hearted, Clorinde reserved and courageous, Charlotte curious and assertive - the list goes on.

And to pretend like Neuvillette doesn't bow down in many instances to the whims of other characters is a frustrating take. Yes he gets a cool cutscene of fixing all the problems of the prophecy, but that's only surface level; he did that after Foçalors explained that it was all her plan and her sacrifice. He takes Skirk's advice to give Arlecchino the gnosis. Even back in Act II, Neuvillette admits his own weakness of understanding to Navia - in that moment she is grieving and upset, but the narrative never treats her as unreasonable for her feelings. In fact, Neuvillette (who is supposed to seem wise and level-headed) admits his own wrongs and apologises to her!

Anyway. Please try to look at Fontaine with a bit more nuance.

[cannoliparty]

monster highs gen 3 is wrongfully slandered

for SOO many reasons!!! its been like, what, 2 years??? im still seeing people on tiktok that whine about the reboot...

anyway heres a teeny rant on g3 discourse ^_^

first of all, the target audience has changed completely! gen1 was designed for tweens/teens while gen3 is more for younger kids. i dont see a problem with this!

monster highs message has always been about acceptance and diversity. literally a perfect lesson for little kids! this is why the new audience was the same kids who, when presented the choice by mattel, felt pink lagoona was better-looking than blue. and of course theyd listen to their demographic!

(side note: the "her name is lagoona BLUE" argument is the most ridiculous excuse ive ever heard. shes named after the BLUE LAGOON, not her skin color!!)

ill go on tiktok and see the most ridiculous slideshows where its g3 frankie going "im nonbinary" and g1 frankie on the next slide saying "but im a girl...." are you kidding me?? how could you be so insensitive??

"oh theyre completely changing the characters!!!!" and yet you dont understand why they make these changes...... the reboot is to make monster high an environment with more positive diversity in all aspects.

on the topic of the show, i have not seen it... but from others opinions on it, it seems pretty solid!

but i also HATE the cankle complaints.... like im not a fan of the show's artstyle either but its really not that big a deal as long as the target audience of little kids enjoy watching!

one thing i wont defend are some of these outfits though..... i have a mini collection of g3 lagoona dolls going but i am NOT a fan of any clawdeen outfits so far T_T;

PLEEEAASEE feel free to share your thoughts!!! <3 hope the rant made sense lolz

[dontmixpaintinyourcoffee]

Ive been watching Frankenstein movies again (I think I'm gonna have to make some kind of something about it, but I also have never made a video for the internet before so... To be determined?)

Anyways- I have a new recommendation for Frankenstein nerds with time on their hands! And I haven't seen much about it?? Maybe I'm not looking hard enough, but even the 1994 Kenneth Branagh version has something of an audience, and I think this one deserves at least that amount of attention.

Drumroll please!!

"Frankenstein" 2004, Directed by Kevin Connor

Now I think the reason this one is so unwatched is because it's actually a TV movie broken into two "episodes". The whole thing is about 3 hours long. And weirdly enough, aired on Hallmark??? But guys it's like. Really really good. Like, REALLY really good.

Some highlights for me personally include:

Henry Clerval! He's here! He's jolly! He's a little bit of a menace! Genuinely though he has a wonderful sense of charm and charisma to him, which works really well against the naturally more serious and dramatic Victor. Plus he's a history nerd with a bad relationship with his dad who doesn't want him to go to college. So naturally he hops on Victor's carriage mid-ride to Ingolstadt. What a guy

Elizabeth! Her relationship with Victor feels natural, but she also feels like her own person. Also they don't frame it like they're siblings (looking at you Kenneth). It feels more like they're childhood sweethearts who happen to live together, there's never a point where they refer to each other as siblings, there was never an intention from the parents to make them siblings, it just feels way less icky than many other adaptations. (It's still kinda weird though just on principle) I think she could've been explored more but she's fun when she's on screen. She paints, she jokes around, she has goals and expectations, I like her.

The portrayal of Victor is one of the most successfully sympathetic I've ever seen. It is very very easy to make Victor an asshole. Which he is, but it's easy to make him the wrong kind of asshole. Petty and vindictive, eager to run away from responsibility and denying the consequences of his actions. That's not him here. It's more that he's overwhelmed. He's completely over his own head. There's a lot of emphasis put on the fact that Victor is mentally unwell after his experiments. He's completely broken himself down, the minute the lightning thing doesn't work he flies into a rage. And then when the Creature starts breathing, he sees it for a few seconds and then blacks out. As far as he knows, he hallucinated the thing getting up (and he continues to experience paranoid hallucinations throughout the story, it's not a one time assumption). He still abandons the Creature, but it's not because he hates it, it's because he's exhausted and overwhelmed and literally doesn't know what's real. And that goes a long way in making the two feel equally sympathetic, which I think is very important.

This portrayal of The Creature is also one of the most successfully compelling I've ever seen! His performance is very gentle and quiet, which I think makes his rage and torment all the more intense. It's pretty common for the Creature to speak in a deep growl or low-toned monologues, but Luke Goss keeps his voice light and soft, which really really works. Plus I think his makeup and costuming is excellent. They stick way closer to the book description. He has a very pretty well-shaped face, but his skin is dry, grey, and cracked. His eyes are bright but sunken in shadow, and stitches poke out from just under his hairline. At the same time it's believable that Victor designed him to be beautiful, and that strangers would find him unnerving.

It's definitely too long, but it's a good time! You can also just find it on YouTube for free so, bonus points for that

[liquidstar]

do you have any anime recs that don't have the Ick Factor? 🤔

Idk if the pun is intentional but “the ick factor” sounds like a version of the x factor where contestants sing as badly as possible to win. 

Anyway i can think of a couple but PLEASE keep in mind these are all off the top of my head so i might not remember every single scene in the show… These are pretty much the most “clean” ones i can think of but depending on your tolerance there are more that might just have a few “meh” jokes here and there that you can mostly ignore.

a place further than the universe, its about four highschool girls that are friends and go to antarctica.

For something more action-packed, vivy: fluorite eye’s song didnt have anything weird or gross in it from what i remember. This could also be attributed to the fact that most of the characters are adults (or, rather, robots programed to be adults). I think the absolute most that happens still is that vivy fights in a sports bra once or twice

Theres also heaven’s design team, its really cute and its just about a team of angels making animals. Some of the girls wear revealing clothes but again theyre all adults. 

Also cells at work for another edutainment type show. But not code:black lol

For more obvert comedy i dont think nozaki-kun had anything creepy in it at all, especially for a highschool romcom series lmao

Also ive been watching the anne of green gables anime adaptation and anything like that is completely lacking, but idk if that “counts” since its an adaptation of a book. still think its sweet though, very ghibli feel (bc theres staff overlap including miyazaki)

Little witch academia didnt have anything creepy in it from what i remember either especially for a trigger series. also very very gay :thumbsup: same goes for BNA but idk if id recomend that one lol

Zombieland saga is also pretty good, as long as they dont do anything weird w sakura and kotaro in season 3. theres a part in season 2 where a teen character has a crush on an adult but he tells her shes too young so :thumbsup:

Otherside picnic is also pretty good so far, both the characters are adults and also just dress like Normal Women which i find refreshing

For movies there’s a silent voice, I think theres just like once scene where two girls talk about boobs for a second and the main guy gets flustered and leaves and thats it. (edit: be warned this one will make you feel so many emotions tho)

anyway i tried to avoid putting stuff thats blatant kids shows on the list, aside from maybe anne of green gables but come on thats a classic lol.

and im sure theres plenty more that just didnt come to my mind so i dont mind ppl replying w others. sadly its a bit hard to recall Every Show Ive Ever Seen, not to mention ones i havent!

[rookflower]

for character opinion ask thing - what's a random headcanon about cinderpelt you have?

ill just do all i have to answer for her as well lol

sexuality/gender headcanon: lesbian!! 100%!!!! i don't really have one set gender headcanon for her, i can easily see her as cis, transfem, or nb!

rating out of 10: 10/10 that's my obligatory childhood fav

favourite thing about them: i haven't read tpb in a wee while so this is pretty vague but i really like her relationships with the characters around her! she's got a strong personality that stands out in the huge cast. she's also surprisingly consistently written, while she's alive anyways- benefit of your fav having a short lifespan, i guess.

least favourite thing about them: i don't feel like i'm the best person to speak at lengths on the ableism in her character but it is definitely there and definitely the most glaring issue at play. the implications of her reincarnation and the retcon that she was secretly miserable and unable to find happiness her whole life especially fucking sucks

why i first started liking them: latched on pretty immediately, long ago. i just gel well with some characters who start out as excitable and cheery, and she's one of the first female characters in the series who really has anything to them (besides yellowfang, who gets worse later, and bluestar ig) so there was that i guess LMAO

do i relate to/project on them?: a bit!

fav moment: i actually really like her mortality struggles in tnp but tbh that scene in tpb where shes like 14 and she calls tigerclaw a stupid bitch takes the cake

fav ship: cinderpelt is unfortunately very low on ship options. i've seen daisy, fury, and gremlin suggested and those are all cool but very much rarepairs lol.

fav platonic friendship: firestar! also yellowfang, littlecloud, her siblings, sorreltail, etc. girl of many pals

a ship i hate: firestar! firecinder fucking sucks so so bad sorry <3 they are besties. like siblings. mlm wlw solidarity. i wish the erins could talk about cinderpelt without recanonising cinderfire but tis impossible it seems.

do i prefer canon or fanon?: uhhh neither tbh? cinderpelt canon is riddled with issues and cinderpelt fanon hasn't evolved since 2013. i like the version of cinderpelt that exists to me <3

random headcanon: i like to think that she. kind of fucking hates bluestar, having been her sole medicine cat for that tense while before she died, and after what bluestar did to brightheart especially. i love bluestar too but i think cinderpelt deserves to have a little rage and resentment as a treat.

what colour do i picture them as? solid dark grey, blue or purple tint, paler neck ruff/mane. i do like designs where she has some ginger flecks though.

unpopular opinion: can't think of anything serious but i will say that im dying on the hill of fluffy and fat or bulky cinderpelt designs. slim dainty cinderpelt designs are cute but thats never how ive pictured her so they don't read as the same character to me lmao

favourite map/pmv/amv

[jeromefart]

ok so update, i just found zee and went back to pyloons saloon. i havent gotten very far but i just have so many things to say!!!!

ok so i dont know if i already mentioned this but i loveee the customization. its so in depth and i really like that you unlock small paint collections with a couple different colors/materials. and from there you can change every individual part and choose how polished they are, then you can change the ware overall. i love the vibrant coruscant color set so first, i made a silvery lightsaber with purple and pink accents with a purple blade. and same thing for bd-1. right now, i unlocked some more orangy colors so right now i have a brownish-orange saber with vibrant orange accents and an orange blade. might fuck around with it some more. and i am loving the tactical jacket that has a CAPEE. my boy is so stylish. i made his undershirt the scrapper one (because it has rolled up sleeves and only one glove) in blue. i cant wait to unlock more things and continue to play with customization. only thing is that i WISH you could save designs you make. maybe you can and i havent unlocked it yet (praying)

i really like the upgrades to the camera feature. i didnt mess with it a whole lot in fallen order but i really like how much more in depth it is. heres a picture i took

i really appreciate how much attention to detail there is. the decoration around the saloon is very nice and it feels very homey there.

also i need to mention that the subtle nods to jokes are so good. greez’s salt shaker, cal’s ponchos, THE LITERAL LIVE SLUG REACTION CREATURE (not the same one but you know.). also i must mention that the bathroom in the saloon is really cool? (and i laughed so hard when cal removed that thing from the toilet). ive never seen a star wars bathroom, except the one in disney land 😭 it was so dirty and ugly in there and it STUNK so bad and there were like 30 people in it. also the sinks were really weird and it took me a hot minute to figure out how to activate the sensor lmao

okay characters. mosey? she is so hot im gonna die. i like doma’s design. OKAY ZEE? i will die for zee. i love her so much shes the best droid ever. i love my high republic era droid and will protect her from all harm.

this game really is an upgrade in all categories. especially in cutscenes and story, it just feels much more polished and smooth. the cutscene after cal woke up was a particularly emotional one, what with the first real dig we’ve seen into cal’s emotions. we see him acting rash and emotionally, getting angry. its so interesting to see how he’s changed. and to see the rift between him and cere especially. he’s clearly avoiding it and i haven’t seen much yet, but im guessing that theyve gotten into more disagreements about how jedi should act. cere is very traditional in a lot of ways, where cal is doing what he needs to survive. from the trailers, it looks like cere’s trying to build up the jedi archives again, where cal is working with saw gurera or however you spell his name and trying to hit the empire where it hurts. cal is a man of action and that can’t be reasoned with. its just how he grew up. with the jedi order gone and him having to fend for himself and protect his identity from the ripe age of 10, he’s definitely not going to be a traditional jedi like cere, who became a master with her own padawan before it fell. she’s had more teaching and learned more lessons and overall taken away more than cal. he can’t just settle down. that’s not who he is. he needs to fight back and help others. he’s active and cere seems more passive. so anyway im excited to see where this goes.

thats about it i just wanted to sit and write my thoughts before i play too much and forget these things over more important things i’ll see later on.

[dimidiom]

okay okay so i watched the new alien movie with my family last night (ive only seen the first movie all the way through and seen a majority of the second one and thats pretty much all ive seen of the franchise SO) and i thought it was pretty good.

BUT, i have opinions on the end of the movie and more specifically the final monster, and ive been rotating ideas in my head all day so i need to get it out so im not just continuously ranting about this to myself. so im putting all of that under a read more cause i have a lot to say and want to avoid spoilers for people who havent seen the movie yet (note i only watched the movie once, and i would be the first to admit i have a bad memory so i might be misremembering things) (and i also cant remember any of their names, and i cant be assed rn to look them up lmao)

(also note, i havent read any of this over,so theres probably spelling errors and me repeating myself. i just needed to get this out of my head)

i havent really seen anyone elses opinion on the final monster guy but tbh,,,, i hated it?? like i understand the whole scary idea of 'it looked human, but something was off' (and thats just a trope i personally dislike for no reason lmao) but i feel like if youre making that be what makes your monster scary, give it a new spin? like, i literally missed the first major scare with that monster because i turned to make a joke to my sibling ('oh its a person!') i hate that the design was just a tall gangly pale human that you cant see the eyes of, because ive feel like thats something thats been done SOOOO many times before and ive gotten desencitised to it

and just,,, that coming after the heavy hitters of the facehuggers and the xenomorph was just a huge let down! (i will admit that showing the tail getting longer in each shot, was pretty cool) having a tall gangly pale man being the main monster just isnt scary anymore,, you could have done something original and something super new and scary. youre showing THAT right after the fucking xenomorph?? as the final monster??? its scary cause its tall and its eyes are shadowed over??

my whole thought was if they just leaned into the horror of pregnancy, it could have been so cool??? or something along those lines??? like take notes from RE8!! the baby!! in the doll ladies house!! that shit was discusting and terrifying and awesome! instead of having the monster be an adult male, have it be a scary babyyyy

or like take notes from the boss lady(?) from the second chapter of fate!! have the movie play out the same way, but have the main character hear the other lady screaming from off screen and then have her rush over, and gasp shes not in the cryopod! and have th mc panic and look around, but then sees her friend, seemingly perfectly fine, holding a baby in her arms.

theres some really cool ideas that come from the idea of the umbilical cord not being cut. like with the idea of the lady seemingly perfectly normal holding her baby, and that (those two combined) being the new monster. your still very human looking friend, and the monster that shes now attached to. thats not your friend anymore.

the horror of the idea of a monster wearing the face of a friend you couldnt save thats now hunting you down. her baby, the idea of which got the both of you so happy and excited just a few hours earlier, (who shes still connected to, still holding in her arms) being the monster that also ended up corrupting her that now is hunting you

or even if you decided that you wanted to keep the tall pale man as your new monster, give it a new introduction!!! imagine the first time we see it. it just failed a stealth attack against the mc because its still attached to the dead weight of its mom that its dragging behind it via the cord. and then we can have a visual scene where we can see the monster evaluate the situation (failed a stealth attack) find the problem (not stealthy, dragging dead weight behind it that i has no control over, no way to make it useful) and then find a solution (cutting the cord itself, or for a more visceral scene, destroying the body). so we can see it thinking and rationalizing and making a plan and following through. (and its casual disregard of humanity. of its own mother)

just like,,, fear of pregnancy, of childbirth, of babies. i feel like babies, as something to be scared of, should be used more in horror. that'd be cool.

or like,,,, change the ending up,,, have the movie do the same kind of twist the first alien movie did. introduce the audience to a character, audience assumes that character is the main character, and then at some point, kill that character and have a new character become the mc!!!!! like keep the final three people alive at the end of the movie, but do a twist where the mc dies and the other lady has to find a way out! have her not inject the prometheus fire thing, but have it be known that she lost time in that ship, so something could have happened to her, and play around with the idea of her having new trauma about having that baby. like dont say anything outright in the movie, but like, have it end with her not knowing what she wants to do now thats shed not fearing for her life. does she now have fears about something alien growing inside of her, fears of something mutating the baby? give her complicated feelings on what she want to do with that baby. like,,, would she even want to go through with giving birth after literally seeing a baby alien burst out of the chest of her friend. complicated feelings of 'maybe she didnt get away from romulus scott free, and somehow her baby was affect by it'

theres a post ive seen floating around tumbr about horror movies reflecting common fears at the time,,, playing around with pregnancy being the main horror in a movie,,,, isnt a bad idea,,,,,

[pwnyta]

Genshin character Judgement after all these years of playing. I will judge looks, personality, and say my favorite voice! Starting with 4-stars, alphabetical order.

(under the cut)

AMBER!

Still one of my favorite designs. The distribution of red/brown/white is really nice and well balanced. The rabbit theme is subtle but very cute. Her personality is adorable... I miss her. I MISS YOU AMBER.

Honestly all her voices are pretty similar and I dont really have a preference. Theyre all pretty good!

Barbara! ITS NOT HER FAULT... ITS NOT HER FAULT. Shes the first of a long line of blonde & blue characters.... Since she was the first(/one of the firsts) I wont be so harsh on her. She is very cute design wise. She makes me miss Milk Cookie... I do find her personality a little grating... or I just cant stand the 'GO BARBARA GO!' IDK. LOL Shes a good girl. I dont hate her. Despite my lukewarm take on her personality there is no other character that I feel MORE protective of IN GAME. I hate that she has stalkers and NO ONE IN GAME IS CONCERNED ABOUT IT. Venti excuses it, the nuns dismiss it, not even her sister seems to care... it drives me fucking NUTS.

Voice... Id say either CN or JP are the best but theyre all pretty cute. Some people say her old EN voice was better and those people are wrong.

BEIDOU- My beloved. Shes beautiful. Its hard to miss with black/red and the purplish shading of the reds is really nice too. I think she does sexy in a fun way. Her personality is the same. Shes a ton of fun and tough and adorable. I wish she was used more in the story.. shes a fricken pirate! How has she not been used for a summer event after all this time... Such a missed opportunity!

Her EN and JP voices clear.

God what a mess. Oh Bennett. That sweat-stained colored shirt grosses me out and he looks like a reject Kingdom Hearts character. I think some tweaks to her color palate would help him a lot. Personality is a bit rough too. Though I gotta say... its sorta similar to Barbara... where I feel protective of him although I find him kind of annoying. Please be nice to him. Hes one of the few characters that even I think hes like 12.

CN voice is best IMO. hes also sounds 12. LMAO PLEASE BE NICE TO HIM.

...Candace is so pretty. I remember seeing the leaks for her and being like SHES NOT A 5 STAR?! THE FUCK?! I wish she was. I wish she was more useful at least theres so many fuckin Hydro characters... The only complaint I have for her character is I wish she had darker skin. Ive seen a mod with her where she has darker skin and all her colors look so fucking good... Her personality is also TOP TIER. Her soft dommy-mommy thing was WILD to witness OMG her and Dehya... Shes so sweet... I love her so much. ;0; The only voice Im not THAT fond of is the JP voice. I think it stands out badly from the rest... CN is my favorite. The soft spoken tone is PERFECT.

I actually like Charlottes look... except for detached sleeves. It wouldnt be bad if this was a fucking design trope we see over & over on Genshin girls so its kinda unfair to judge Charlotte for it but IM GOING TO. TBF tho... Im not actually bothered by the pink/red which is my least favorite color combo. I think the red is purple-y enough to not make the colors clash as much. Her personality is fine. Im certainly not the biggest or smallest fan of her. Shes just fine.

Her EN voice is best for me. Her other voices sound SUPER young and I dont think fit her character. (they are cute tho)

Chevreuses design is crazy... shes one of the designs where its clearly sexy over practical and I just think its a bad look for her. IDKY (yes I do) HYV is so resistant to giving female characters PANTS but she'd look better with pants. Also the detached sleeves on this design is one of the MOST egregious. Her purple hair on this is also kinda wacky. PICK A STRUGGLE BITCH. her personality on the other hand... Phenomenal. I really liked the story we went through with her. Hers is the only blue life that matters.

I dont mind any of her voices either! Good job ladies!

Chongyun!!! Chongyun is my lil man and I love him so much. I know hes in his late teens/early 20s but hes my BABY and I love him very much. I really like his design even though Im not sure what is going on with his pants like where things connect... but the colors are nice (even if blue) and... YEAH. LOVE HIM. His personality is super cute. HE IS BABY.

I like his EN and CN voices best. His JP and KN voices sound a little too energetic for him.

Collei is great. I was really excited to see her in the leaks for Sumeru because Ive seen her in the comics. I mostly like the design they chose for her.... detached sleeves aside. I really like the woody color palate I like the references to Amber, I love the purple eyes against the greens of her hair and scarf thing....GOOD STUFF. her personality is fine too! No complaints here! Shes got big LIL GUY energy and I love her.

Her CN voice is by far my favorite. Her EN voice is super squeaky... I dont hate it but its probably my least favorite.

I used to hate Diona... I hate tsundere characters... HOWEVER when you max her friendship she says something that made me cry a little and that line was also incorporated into a limited event which was really good... anyways long story short shes MY daughter now. I love her design too. Shes very cute. I kinda wish her shirt was just white instead of the pink but I dont hate it.

I like all her voices. They all have a very similar tone! I think Dionas EN VA does the little girl voice a bit better than other EN little girl voices.

Unpopular opinion I guess but I like Doris design I get that her being an offensive greedy merchant stereotype might be annoying but I dont think shes the worst character I genuinely dont understand the intense vitriol against her. Criticism is well deserved but her design is SO mild. I love her glasses and color palate. Personality... MEH. We havent really seen much of her in story I feel like... she's a bit one note ATM. She definitely could use a hang-out to flesh her out some more. Shes fun when shes being played tho..

I like her EN voice the most I guess. But I have no strong feelings for any of them. I do like how quickly the CN VA talks tho... at least in the little clip I listened to.

Miku from WISH ass design. I sorta like elements to Faruzans design but it all feels kinda like a first draft. I completely accepted that I wasnt going to like her character in the slightest... but then in her hang out... she was really cute. Shes annoying in a funny way like Fish & Mona. LMAO

I like her EN voice the most! She sounds so dramatic and snooty it makes me laugh.

MY FISHY! I hated Fischl for so long... what a waste of time. It was the 2nd Summer event that made me change my mind on her. I WAS WRONG. OK. Sometimes even I make mistakes... shes IS annoying... but its in a funny way. Her design tho I hate. Why on earth Fish wasnt one of the Mondstadt characters to get a censor outfit baffles me to this day. JEAN got one but FISH didnt? OK... but at least she got a costume soon after (maybe thats why?) Anyways... Love her.

I dont have to even listen to the VAs... i know EN is my favorite. But I did listen to them anyways... I actually really LOVE KN Fishs voice... just not for Fish.

I can never like Frems design as much as I should because I saw his concept designs and they were MUCH better. That said... I guess its fine. I would prefer him be the ginger shark boy tho instead of A genderbent Barbara + Xingqiu. but god forbid HYV make an interesting design. His personality is very cute tho... he was saved by that Penguin event for me TBH LMAO... the way I fuckin SOBBED. Why did they do that... I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY THEY WENT THAT HARD.

All of Freminets voices are really good and very similar. if I had to pick my fav... KN and CN... I guess by a smidge.

Like Frem... GaMing had concept design leaks that were SO much more interesting than what we got. I was particularly interested in the bald one and I liked the bobcat outfit design... but I do prefer the colors they used in this design. His personality & hood hard carries him...

Im fine with all of Gas voices. En and KN are probably the best for him IMO.

Gorou is a lil buddy character. hes very appropriately good dog coded and I love him. He kinda reminds me of one character Tokyo Afterschool Summoners who was a anthro dog who was very proper but would act like a dog if prompted and then get embarrassed (like if you said 'paw' he would instinctually offer his hand)... Gorou kinda reminds me of that. A proper fella who doesnt realize how puppy he is. hes a good boy. His design is pretty good too. hes is probably the most... ero'd male character in the game its pretty funny. RIP buddy.

His JP voice is probably my favorite because it is so fucking funny. It sounds so deep and manly and proper... I think it fits his personality perfectly. All but KN are good tho... why'd KN go with such a baby voice for him I have no idea...

I LOVE all the colors of Heizous design just not together. I hate that Maroon with the mustard yellow... i really wish he had dark brown hair or even maybe a desaturated orange... IDK man... Also im just not connected to his character in the slightest... and he has a hangout. thats crazy.

All his voices are kinda weird for me... IDK what im supposed to get from any of them they all sound so different. EN sounds kinda shady (the way he speaks kinda reminds me of Kaeya when hes being a cheeky bitch), CN sounds a bit more sincere, JP sounds really young, KN is... just crazy... IDK what they were doing there.

...Oh Kaeya. My babygirl. I feel like anyone who liked Tony Stark would like Kaeya. hes got that saucy yet tragic air to him that makes him pretty misunderstood to people who dont know him well/dont care to know him. BUT I LOVE HIM. I cant wait to learn more about him... His design is one of my favorites too... and I didnt think Id like a costume on him but his costume is even prettier.

His EN voice is definitely my favorite. Honestly a lot of the KN voices sound so drastically different from the others it makes me wonder wtf they were thinking. Kaeyas KN voice is crazy.

Design-wise Im not that bothered by Kaveh but his personality irritates the fuck outta me. Hes definitely one of my least favorite characters in game. His only shining moment for me was when he was nice to Cyno and gave him the card he won. Im so glad his kit sucks so I dont ever have to use him.

All his voices are kinda the same vibe and I dont hate any of them.

Kiraras base design is SO ASS. Like Chev, her design is very sexy at the expense of design... but at least her personality is great and she recently got a phenomenal costume(even tho it looks very similar to Navias outfit... but if you could look more like Navia wouldnt you want to?). Anyways. Shes very cute.

Again I like all her voices except the KN... whyd KN make her sound so young... she sounds like a baby. She actually sounds a lot like Diona... except MORE baby. LMAO???

OOOH Layla. Babygirl. Im actually not bothered much by the detached sleeve look here since I guess she doesnt really have a top that the sleeves look like theyre supposed to be attached to... but its still like that same design trope... shes also blue THAT SAID. I really like her design overall. I just wish she had a different color. Im so sick of blue...

I actually really like ALL her voices... but this bitch talks so damn slowly... VAMONOS BITCH. I have shit to do!!!! You are very cute tho. If I had to pic a fav.... surprisingly? KN.

Lisa Lisa Lisa... ara ara ass bitch. Lisa is actually great. I love her. Her personality is way more grounded than I wouldve expected early on and I think they played it safe at the start of the game with characters... I think if she was introd later she might have been more like Yae. LOL but shes great. I like her design... although this blue-purple is probably my least favorite shade of purple in the world.

All her voices are great.... but CN is my favorite.

Attached sleeves? In this economy? Shout out to Lynette. Shes very cute. I really like how simple and practical her outfit looks compared to most female characters in this game. Its still kinda sexy but tasteful! I really like her simple boots. Kinda wish she wasnt blue tho... BUT I dont mind it as an accent on the main black. her personality is also great. ... her backstory is deranged... please be nice to her HYV wtf.

I like all her voices... but I dont think her EN voice is good for Lynette specifically. I prefer the more monotone soft-spoken sound of the others.

UGh... Mika.

UGH.

Only his JP voice is ok with me. UGH....

THANK GOD NINGGUANG. Hey beautiful girl.... I love everything about Ning. Shes so gorgeous. I love her personality. I love that she employs the kids in Liyue to keep an ear out for gossip and report back to her, I love her silly relationship with Beidou where they both sorta think the other thinks theyre shady and kinda acts defensively about it... goofy ass bitches. I LOVE HER (I LOVE THEM. Lantern Rite 2 cutscene you will always be famous.)

My favorite voice for her... KN!!! LETS GO KN. I also really like her EN voice when shes speaking normally but a lot of like attack lines and stuff sound kinda off.

Ah the babiest girl. Noelle... Why shes not a knight yet is DIABOLICAL work from the KoF. Theyre praying for her downfall. I know this. Mondstadt is corrupt and they cant have someone like Noelle in the ranks. I think her design is mostly good but the lack of petticoats makes her dress look so flimsy and weird.

I like her EN and Kn voices! Her JP and CN voices sound too young to me. EN also sounds kinda stiff but I do think its a character choice instead of a weird VA. Its suits her.

I think Razors design is a bit off but personality is great. Hes such a good boy... I hope we get to see more of him in the future but yeah i dont have much to say about him other than he is baby.

JP is my favorite voice for him. I actually cant stand his EN voice... I get what they were trying to do but it sounds TOO much like Tarzan but also goofy... and maybe im not bothered as much by the others since IDK the languages... this is similar to how I feel about child voices being done by adult women. Like I know what a child sounds like in English so when I hear that baby voice it just sounds like an adult doing a baby voice and thats so irritating to me.

I have some issues with Rosarias design (detached sleeves)but overall I like it. I like the uncensored version better. I also like her corpsy skin tone. I wish we got more on her character but considering her connection to Varka we'll probably have to wait till then to get more into her life then. Ah well.

Her KN voice is my favorite! but I dont mind any of them.

I was so excited for Sara when I saw the leaks. Her design is so good (detached sleeves aside) but getting to know her in story was so forgettable. It kinda reminds me of Dori where its like... ??? ok. Fingers crossed for a hangout event for her that fleshes her out a bit more.

I also dont like her EN voice much. All the others are great tho.

Sayu is a cutie pie and I love her. I think she looks a little goofy but since shes a baby its fine. her personality is very cute and Enjoyed her hangout event! her and Layla should have a sleepy-off. Who is the SLEEPIEST. We shall find out!

All her voices are good but CN is my favorite.

PART 1 done!

[drawnaghht]

Gotta post about this b4 I forget about it but basically;

went on TVtropes yesterday, found the SRTUC page again, started adding to trivia and though, hmm, I've been getting "earlier anthro action cartoon" vibes from this show for a while now.... wonder why that is?

and guys, adding some of the art peeps there no the TVtropes trivia, I noticed that supervising producer ben jones actually worked on SWAT KATS as a character designer for 3 eps! what a connection to make!

my brain at that moment:

edit 1(27.06.2023) - ok, turns out I just mixed the actual show up with this show.... but it's sorta nice for me bc I like reminiscing about Swat Kats haha xD

on with the old post!!

actually, swat kats is a cartoon I was obsessed with for a while as a kid after we got access to cartoon network and they started airing it here. i think it'd seen a dubbed version of it before but it was exciting to see the english original, . it was fun and rompy as I remember, but also I loved the music and action elements after bikermice ended and I missed it so much, seeing something with similar musical cues felt like a consolation almost, like "oh there's more cartoons like this". now admittedly, i don't really remember that much abt swat kats anymore. it aired alongside other H-B cartoons and there was a lot to watch and pay attention to, so i kinda haven't retained more of it than memories of memories of loving the intro, memorizing the music and feeling cool while watching it. I remember the shift to more "serious" storytelilng (if I remember it right at all lol) and both feeling a bit critical/apprehensive at Callie (bc I'd thought, "why is she the only one who gets a more human-like appearance) and loving her design/fawning over her ("oh no, girl hot") but also it was just interesting to see a girl character given a mayoral role which made her seem more important than I'd seen from other action cartoons directed at boys so far.

like, i need to rewatch this series now that I've seen the cast/crew list, and just see also what it was about this show that I loved so much it left some kind of artistic impression on me.

lol idk what other connection with SRTUC it has, but when I'd read that Ben Jones was on it, I suddenly also thought, "well, not it makes sense why the antrho designs in samurai rabbit actually makes sense" There are so many shows, comics and so on before which have made different kinds of attempts at anthro/furry designs, and they all might make sense within the context of their show/media piece, but what I liked about Samurai Rabbit was how it didn't "humanize" the animal designs *too much*. Resulting in awkward designs where women look much more human than their male counterparts. which might not bother a kid much, but will bother an artist like me concerned with consistency lol. like in the og usagi yojimbo it makes sense how the animals look a little more human depending on their role or function in the story/scene, Stan Sakai is very good at making his cartoony style work with these ideas of "basically human, but represented by animals" but also literally animals. And I like that the show takes this same idea and runs with it in it's own way.

All this to say - Experience builds on experience.

so Ben Jones and many other veteran animators/artists/writers in the field working on it, but also the numerous visdev artists, animators and other visual folk with similar vested interest in a UY adaptation, give this show such an unique flair among other furry/anthro shows.

sdfsdf ill continue writing this later, I am soooo exhausted after work today, but, this was cool to think abt yesterday and ive been mullting it over in my head during quiet hours. so cool to have a brain that keeps noticing all these names and all these similar things and then running with it. like the animated things you like are so connected thru their staff knowing each other or having worked on same/similar things before, you wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it all the time.

[ode-to-spring]

hello!! ive seen a lot about the recent discourse on sumeru and all it's characters, most especially kusanali nowadays, and felt the need to clear some things up for my own peace of mind. though i should put a disclaimer that i'm in no way from any of the countries or cultures sumeru was originaly intended to represent, though i am a POC who knows what colorism, orientalism, and blatant lack of representation feels like. if anyone from the real cultures finds something wrong in whatever i say, please point it out and educate me so i can adjust! I might not be in a place to speak and have a very little platform, but I promise you, a few minutes of research and a little empathy can go a very long way.

cw for the topics i mentioned above (orientalism, colorism, subtle racism, etc etc.) very long discussion utc!

A common excuse I see people making for aspects of Kusanali's design (her skin color, her size, etc.) is that she's allegedly based off of Kusanali Jataka, from a Buddhist collection of poems as a fairy living in a clump of grass. This much is true, she very much is named after that, and the nature-esque inspiration matches up. However, that changes when many fans on tiktok, twitter, etc. have been claiming the original poem to mention that Kusanali Jataka had "skin as pale as the light of the moon."

This specific description pertains to an entirely different diety, one going all the way to Hinduism backgrounds. She who that quote was originally used for is known as Sarswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, wisdom, art, speech, music, aesthetics, and learning. For the record, here is what common portrayals of her look like, as well as the description of her appearance:

See? Sound familiar? To compare, here is what a portrayal of Kusanali Jataka looks like:

These two very separate dieties were definitely mixed up, most likely in a way to simply excuse how utterly far away the dendro archon looks from the real life people her country is meant to represent. Previously we've had Zhongli and Ei, a dragon accurate to real Chinese myths, and a samurai with cultural ties even to her name, her titles, and other various inspirations such as from the Vision Hunt Decree. Yunjin proves that Hoyoverse is capable of making accurate and in depth research of real life cultural aspects. Kusanali, however, has no obvious cultural background to her design except her name and perhaps the quote of "Let great and small." Other than that? You could've told me that she's just another kid from Mondstadt and I'd believe you entirely.

It's one thing to like a characters design, but another thing to entirely erase the problems there are with representation, among other things. The problem in her is not that she has a child model, it's that she, as Sumeru's archon, is meant to represent their whole country, but at the same time she has no indications of references to SWANA or ME culture what so ever.

To add onto that, the argument of "but im from this race and im pale" is not valid at all, because just because you or your family or friends are not, doesn't mean the rest of your people don't either. In my country, we were taught as kids to bathe with some kind of papaya whitening soap, not to stay in the sun too long or we'll get tanned, that we need go "stay indoors more to get whiter," and I'm sure this isn't only a problem in mine. The few times that the people of these underrepresented cultures get a chance at the spotlight, the very least Hoyoverse can do when they'll make truckloads of money from them either way is to do it right. They deserve that much.

Hoyoverse is a multi million dollar company that is perfectly capable of making designs that aren't stereotypical and all lightskin if not paper white. They honestly dug their own grave by making the exact mistake many have made before when it comes to representation specifically in these regions, such as Aladdin, where they threw many different and diverse cultures together and thought it would end up nicely without either five different things happening at once, or an entirely whitewashed version of everything. They should not be able to cherrypick and make money out of whatever bits of these cultures they want only to leave out the outward appearances of the people that they belong to. That is colorism.

I am making this post to at least try to raise awareness on the misinformation going around about Kusanali, as well as shed light on how condescending all the pale and at most light brown characters feel as a POC. That said, however, I can't speak for the people from South Asia/North Africa/Middle East on this issue, and therefore if you have time I'm *begging* you to listen to what they have to say. If you're from those cultures and don't have any problems with Sumeru, thats okay! But it doesn't mean that everyone else doesn't either. If you're white or from a different culture and are therefore unaffected by all of this? If you want to ignore, don't say a word. Don't shut the voices of the POC that should be in the spotlight in the first place. But if you want to help? Do your research. Uplift the voices of those who are affected. Listen to what they have to say. Orientalism and colorism aren't easy topics to be brushed off easily, and they have every right to be reacting in opposition to what Hoyoverse currently has to offer.

If you're interested in what I've just mentioned, here are a few links I've found of people from these cultures that you should consider checking out ::

https://twitter.com/dorobor1/status/1553151372308135938?t=QfJI9jXKDVvPO86eqGgyGw&s=19

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR2pcbVC/?k=1

https://twitter.com/dailynahida/status/1538609206621790209?t=JRPUQ5Z8kn_nJJ2McShbag&s=19

https://twitter.com/Altochameleon/status/1553623114650509313?t=nDhSJyZ167HqP_eR4byqEg&s=19

And many more! So many SWANA & ME people are speaking up about this but get drowned out in all the arguing when they are the ones in the right. The goal isn't to speak over them, it's to let their words be heard. So please, stop the unnecessary ignorance and disrespect in every aspect of all that's going on with the discourse going around about this topic. It isn't hard to be respectful, it isn't hard to research, it isn't hard to be decent human beings.

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR2pT61E/?k=1

https://twitter.com/Bitanees/status/1562903344553013252?t=CyBbIxBG3IFGWM98bZYADw&s=19

[thepictureofsdr]

so ive been seeing a LOT of controversy lately over the new art and i wanted to throw my two cents in as someone who has experience drawing the lady of the hour

am i a leading artist of this fandom? no. am i an expert on drawing people, skin, or colour theory? no. am i perfect at portraying poc? no. (so far no one has had an issue with me but i hope that if i ever do something wrong someone would call me out) the examples i have aren’t even my most recent design of cordelia. but even someone like me can grasp the basics of skin colour.

im someone who exists only to wake up and use dramatic lighting, which is why i feel i can say something here. ive seen people defending the whitewashing saying its the lighting. but that’s not how that works. yes, some poc skin may look white under certain lighting, but that is ONLY in the area directly hit by the light, its no explanation for the rest of skin. lets look at isabela madrigal as an example. she’s very pale where the light DIRECTLY hits, but the rest of her skin is a brown tone, and her shadows are especially dark since she has darker skin to begin with, the consistent base tone for her design is a brown. now if we look at the cordelia art, she’s light where the pink sunrise hits, but the REST of her skin is LIGHT. this is because the base tone used was very light, her darkest shadow is almost a neutral tone on isabela. now look at the tone difference between matthew and cordelia. this is NOT the difference you’re supposed to see between a BRITISH WHITE PERSON and a person of colour. some people have brought up that cordelia is mixed but that has no place in this discussion as she’s been described as having inherited her mothers dark skin multiple times.

there have been some brilliant posts already, one by @youngreckless with a wonderful addition by @have-a-holly-jolly-angstmas in the notes, but i just wanted to pop in as someone who has spent a year drawing these characters, theres absolutely no excuse for this. sometimes filters and lighting can change a piece, but we’re not talking a shade’s difference here this is literally changing the base tone of her skin. and even if it’s lighting or filters, its your job as an artist to fix those things before posting, especially when being posted by the AUTHOR. its also the authors job to commission art that sticks to the canon. the inconsistency in cordelia’s skin tone and features in recent art has been ridiculous. we’re not talking fan artists who are still getting the hang of drawing these characters we’re talking professionals who’ve been paid to do this. most of the little alastair art we’ve gotten seems to be decently consistent, in that he has his fathers jaw and nose and his mothers hair and skin. but cordelia is all over the place, one second she has a strong jaw and nose with dark skin and the next she’s all soft and light, the difference between two pieces of one character is ridiculous, it’s genuinely embarrassing.

how can you look me in the eye and say these are the same person. you can’t. my friend thought the first one was TESSA until they realized the boy was blond and not will. this goes way farther than style or individual interpretation, these are three different women.

excuse the old art but ive drawn alastair far more than cordelia and once again, its very easy to draw lighting while respecting the actual skin colour of the characters you’re portraying. the characters deserve better than this, but more importantly, the people who read these stories and see themselves deserve better and consistent representation.

this isn’t a full discussion, there are many things about cordelia’s whitewashing that i didn’t speak about this isn’t intended to be a full discussion of the topic, just a point from someone who is so fucking sick of the lighting argument, please go look at this post and all the notes for some wonderful points.