#i hope it gets expanded on its such an interesting angle

[theresapartysoon]

idk why fang randomly decided to hunt down and shoot at a big bird but this implies he's like a poacher and i honestly love how that could add to sonic's whole environmental message

[agentrouka-blog]

Hey I have a question that you might find interesting. Don't you find it strange that literally no one in this fandom questions whether the Valyrians (including the Targaryens) really were that beautiful and perfect, or whether this is actually part of some „propaganda” in the asoiaf universe? Because it seems strange to me that centuries of incest have not affected anyone at all, and supposedly it can be explained by the fact that "genetics work differently in this universe", but I don't buy it. The other thing is also that Valyria is described as the most advanced, but is it really? Throughout history we have instances where propaganda was used to make a given country or empire seem as good as possible, while the truth may always seems different. So I'm seriously surprised that I've never meet a person who would question the old valyria or even the Targaryens…

Anyway I hope you have a good day and take care!!

I wouldn't say that it has never been questioned in fandom at all? Plenty of fans are critical of the Valyrian empire, especially those who like Dorne and the Rhoynar, and take a look at asoiaf history from that angle.

This post is particularly concise on the subject of exactly why Valyrian looks seem to be considered beautiful by default. (Hint: it's imperialism.)

GRRM himself absolutely lampoons the idea of this universally adored ethereal Valyrian beauty when he gives us Arianne's reaction to a person with Valyrian looks:

"You look… " She hesitated. "…like a woman?" He laughed. "That I am not." " …like a Targaryen," Arianne insisted. His eyes were a pale lilac, his hair a waterfall of white and gold. All the same, something about him made her skin crawl. Was this what Viserys looked like? she found herself wondering. If so perhaps it is a good thing he is dead. "I am flattered. The women of House Targaryen are said to be without peer in all the world." "And the men of House Targaryen?" "Oh, even prettier. Though if truth be told, I have only seen the one." (TWOW, Arianne II)

It doesn't get much more damning than that.

As for their advanced society, they are still famed for their magical steel, which can't be replicated likely because most societies aren't knee-deep in peninsula-destroying blood magic. Which is also where the dragon bites its tail: if your "advanced" technology is essentially all rooted in blood magic that likely had a role to play in obliterating your entire "freehold", your people, and almost all dragons, is that advanced or is it just living large on borrowed time and stolen lives?

Because:

None can say how many perished, toiling in the Valyrian mines, but the number was so large as to surely defy comprehension. As Valyria grew, its need for ore increased, which led to ever more conquests to keep the mines stocked with slaves. The Valyrians expanded in all directions, stretching out east beyond the Ghiscari cities and west to the very shores of Essos, where even the Ghiscari had not made inroads. (The World of Ice and Fire, Valyria's Children)

Seems like whatever they had going for them was bought with the lives of those they oppressed. Either through enslavement or through literally trading their lives in blood magic rituals.

[reallyhardy]

Loren, have you started watching Scott Pilgrim Takes Off!? I'm on episode 5 rn, interested in your thoughts if you have started watching

YES hello!

i thought it was brilliant! i loved the subversion of expectation (i mean i WOULD deffo have been happy to sit there any just watch The Story I Know yet again, but it was SO exciting when i realised they were doing something different.) i love love LOVED the animation, all the action sequences looked so fantastic, and... i loved the addition of the sparks ✨ i thought it was SO so cute. SPOILERSSSS below:

i thought will forte playing older/even older scott was a fantastic choice (channelling phil tandy miller from the last man on earth for sure)

i also adored the scene with kim and knives bonding through music, and all of knives becoming part of the band... the whole thing with todd and wallace was absolutely nuts...

i thought it was nice expanding on all the exes stories and having ramona go in and make up with (most of) them. the story with roxie was particularly good and had me tearing up! and i was absolutely sobbing by the end of the series haha although i think a lot of it had to do with the nostalgic angle for me and how much i'd loved the movie as a teen hahaha and then having the story come back for a third time in my life in a way that felt kinder and more redemptive was really something.

at first i was sad they didn't get into things like steven being gay but then i realised... ofc with it ending in a similar place 'let's try this' but also really it actually ended chronologically not long after the original story starts... it had me realise oh actually there's still so much possiblity for these characters and their lives. they could still have a lot of those adventures and discoveries that happen in the later comics even if we don't see them, it ends on the hopeful note that lets you know they're all going to try, even in the face of knowing that it Could All Go Wrong as shown by older scott & ramona's story, that there is always hope and they may as well give it a shot. BUT i also thought that part with Ultimate Ramona saying "i'm probably going to struggle with this later, so let me tell you this now, i love you" IDKKK i know to that-timeline scott that's early af but to ultimate ramona it's a real present thing since she's got all of that knowledge and history inside her. ANYWAY MADE ME EMOTIONAL also loved the visual reference to the kiss from the end of ponyo :')

.............ramona RE-BLEACHING and dyeing her hair THAT much was absolutely insane though 🤣 i've seen ppl say 'WITH A DEVELOPER BASE!?' too although I PERSONALLY believe she was maybe. mixing with conditioner. that's the only thing i could think of that would make it even remotely acceptable to bleach it that much (but also its a cartoon so ofc not realistic haha)

also i THOROUGHLY enjoyed the nicholas angel & danny butterman cameos 🤣 i was like wait why are these two security guards english.....? oh wait. oh okay. i see.

[devdirt]

Vivizepop wishes that her show is like Bojack Horseman when it’s not even capable considering Bojack don’t excuse away its characters shitty actions and she would never do things that Bojack done such as expanding a character’s abusive mother’s character and backstory to show why she’s abusive while also not excusing her actions like there’ll never be a moment in Helluva where Stella is shown to be more than an evil bitch unlike Beatrice in bojack where she convinces a lady to worry for her own well being and not suffer that she did

That's an interesting take! Bojack has the angle "haha funny quirky Hollywood, but it is a real thing that affects people negatively."

I dont know what the message of Helluva Boss is. They show shitty people doing shitty things but then they get redeemed or excused because "someone was mean to me." You are allowed to have a character do bad things then work their way to being forgiven. Instead the show and Viv have to point at the characters and say "hey, you're supposed to forgive them now! They didn't mean it!"

The plot doesn't know what it wants to be either. Office comedy? No, gay romance. No, the family drama show.

I used to have hope in Hazbin that getting an actual writing team would save it, but after learning how controlling she was in development, seeing the content she promotes and reading the audition document I have little hope.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

HII GM!!! i hope u had good worming time ehehe :3 anyway. now that you've spent some time w/ the undersiders & met a lot of the brockton bay wards & some of new wave + the prt!! i wanna hear ur thoughts on them in general + the world so far if u have any!! & also ur thoughts on like.... how powers happen & brian and taylor's origin stories etc if thats also something you've been thinking abt!! eyes emoji eyes emoji..

i am having SO much fun w worm. physically making myself put down my phone and walk away so i stop reading and do the productive things i promised myself i would do this weekend.

I AM SO. WARY. OF THE WARDS. I DONT TRUST THEM. its rlly cool 2 me that they all have powers that i myself would consider like. Bad or Scary. the emotion manipulation thing, the literal warping of time and space etc those are all things that i would be like. this feels overpowered to the point that i almost expect it more from a villain character to build dramatic tension. which. i guess in the meta sense still works bc theyre being set up as antagonists rn but you know what i mean!!!!!

i fully think we've reached the point where taylor is in way too deep to the extent that changing anything now would end horribly bad for her on both sides. shes still holding onto this thought that shes gonna have this dramatic reveal where she puts the villains in jail and the heroes welcome her with open arms. but after that conversation with armsmaster thats just !!!!!!! not going to fucking happen!!! it doesnt work like that!!! also there keep being these little sidebars and moments where she admits to herself that shes excited about villain work or like..a chance to hang out with her new friends. girl you are not going to join the protectorate i can see right thriugh your dumbass.

<< side note on all of this i have a little bit of a theory for this. i think tattletale probably. knows. she joined with the intention of betraying them eventually. im still sort offff kind of unclear as to the extent of lisas powers and how they work but at this point i dont know how she couldve possibly missed that huge elephant other than the possibility that she is intentionally ignoring it.

ANYWAY. IVE STRAYED FROM YOUR ACTUAL QUESTION IM SORRY I JUST LIKE THE UNDERSIDERS A LOT. i have a lot of thoughts on the meta of the story and the role reversal of "villains good heroes bad" that i know some cape media does sometimes and im not exactly sure jf thats what worm is going for but i AM AWARE OF IT . and i think that is playing a little bit of why i am biased like this. but this is not to say i dont like the heroes i wan 2 know everything about them. however i dont trust them. SUPER interested in what Amy's got going on w her dad and the fact that she fucking turned off taylors powers????? despite saying she wasnt gonna mess with brain stuff?????? i think amys gonna get rlly fucked up about something pretty soon. i could see her snapping and turning into some crazy supervillain esp in the last interlude where she talked about how much pressure she and others put on herself w healing everything and everyone.

uhhhhhhh what else. hey powers coming from trauma is pretty fucked up huh!!!!! u know whats rlly funny is like. i sort of expected it to be somethinf bad like that but i was also wasnt expecting the angle that like. the powers are unrelated to whatever the event was??????? like im sure u could find ways to connect each of their powers to their trigger event but its not ljke. obvious ?? i guess?? like taylor wasnt bittem by a radioactive bug that gave her bug controlling powers u know??? im rlly rlly excited 2 learn abt more characters trogger events just to like. expand the data pool and see if yhere is a correlation between the power that they get and the event that happens. or if the power theyre born with the potential of having is just set in stone or whatever. does that makr ANY sense

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Last Voyage of the Demeter (2023)

Blade III sucks for many reasons, one being that Dracula is its main villain. The previous films had interesting, wholly new creations and it felt like an act of desperation to fall back on the most well-known vampire in all of fiction. Maybe if they had found an interesting angle, they would've been forgiven. This brings us to The Last Voyage of the Demeter, which finds a refreshing use for Bram Stoker’s creation. This gory horror film starts with a great premise. Too bad it also fails to live up to its potential.

In July 1897, the merchant ship Demeter picks up multiple wooden crates before setting sail. At first, its journey to London seems ordinary but after all of the animals on board are found with their throats slashed and crew members begin disappearing, the crew realizes they’re carrying Count Dracula (Javier Botet) to his new home.

First, let’s talk about the reasons to be excited for this movie by André Øvredal. In the novel, we know very little about the Demeter’s doomed journey but what we find out is creepy. Expanding that passage is a genius move because the setting is perfect for a horror film. The crew are trapped at sea with a threat they don’t even know about. If you’ve ever been on one of these 19th-century merchant ships, they’re very tight, making the setting uniquely claustrophobic. For everyone but Dracula, who can crawl on vertical surfaces, fly, etc. it’s a death trap. And yet, there is hope because of the vampire's weaknesses and the crew outnumbering him. There’s another aspect of the picture that’s not unique to it but is rare: The Last Voyage of the Demeter wants to make its vampire scary. Credited as Dracula/Nosferatu, Javier Botet plays a monster. He’s not sexy. He’s not tragic. He wants to drink the blood of the innocent and if he lands in London, many people will die.

It’s great that we have a scary Dracula… but we never get to know him, or even get an impression of what he's like. This vampire is just a monster. He doesn’t have an ounce of cunning in his head. Why else would he recklessly give away his presence so early in the voyage by killing all those animals? I guess he couldn't help himself. At the end of the day, it would be easy to do a find-change and replace "Dracula" with any kind of boogeyman. The only significant amount of re-writing you’d have to do concerns the people he infects. In a choice that contradicts the novel, the vampirism in this movie is easily transmittable. One bite and you’ll burst into flames after being exposed to the sun. I’m not saying the film had to follow the original text’s rules 100% but you have to assume that Dracula knows his thralls will combust in the sunlight. At which point, he seems even dumber. Pro-tip. If you’re travelling on a wooden ship, don’t introduce a bunch of flammable elements beyond your control!

We get to know the characters well enough. There’s the Captain (Liam Cunningham), his grandson, Toby (Woody Norman) and a few key crewmembers, most notably Clemens (Corey Hawkins) and a stowaway (Aisling Franciosi). You care about them but I don’t think anyone would say they were horrified at any point during the story, though there’s some good tension spread throughout. The pieces required for The Last Voyage of the Demeter to be great were there. There’s mood, there’s atmosphere and a great premise. Unfortunately, the plot is formulaic and ultimately, forgettable. Not helping is that the story is told in flashback (as if we needed a reminder that we already know where things were headed) and that there’s nothing to this journey besides what’s happening on the surface. We don’t learn anything about Dracula, about mankind’s battle against supernatural creatures, or even about these characters. The movie is only the boat, the people on it about to be preyed upon, and Dracula. You might say that sounds like enough, but it isn’t, not for a movie that’s just a few drops short of two hours.

I wanted to love The Last Voyage of the Demeter because I love the Universal Monsters films. Even though I’ve been burned before - I’d say it’s happened a lot - I know a good revival of this “Universe” will come along eventually. The Invisible Man proved it. This novel approach to the familiar story is exactly the kind I wish we saw more of, though it’s unfortunate that in terms of final results, this reminded me a lot of 2010's The Wolfman. It’s not that bad, but it’s as disappointing. (May 14, 2024)

[aquilaofarkham]

HELLO I come from your Twitter account!! I was wondering what castlevania game you thought best to start with!!

I have an OG Xbox which has castlevania: curse of darkness on it!! Is that one worth playing?? :D

hi! i'm not sure which exact games are available on the og xbox atm but if you're interesting in the overall narrative and need a more concrete starting point into the universe/story, Lament of Innocence is technically the first entry in the timeline as it reveals the beginning of the Belmonts and Dracula and how their centuries long feud started. it's pretty similar to Curse of Darkness since they're both 3D except that COD is more involved and has more options with its gameplay whereas LOI is pretty straightforward/basic and has fixed camera angles. it's also one of my personal faves in terms of the games~

COD is a lot of fun! and it's worth playing for hector and trevor, there's just so much going on within the game itself that it kind of overwhelms me personally so i prefer LOI for that reason... it's just a personal preference tho!

however if you want something that's more accessible to new players and will help ease you into the gameplay, definitely check out Symphony of the Night if you can since it's the most popular (and arguably best) entry in the game series. there are 3 main ways to describe a Castlevania game (classicvania, metroidvania, 3Dvania) and SOTN basically started the metroidvania subgenre where there's more emphasis on 2D exploration and RPG elements.

also in terms of other metroidvanias in the series worth playing, i HIGHLY recommend Aria of Sorrow and Harmony of Dissonance which both take what SOTN previously established and expands on those gameplay/story elements.

a lot of these games are on modern consoles, especially the Anniversary Collection which includes the classicvania games, the Advance Collection which includes AOS/HOD, and most recently (i.e. literally just released yesterday lol) the Dominus Collection which includes a lot of the other great metroidvania games. honestly these collections are the probably best ways to experience these games for the first time since you get at least 15 different titles in 3 bundles. unfortunately, SOTN is only on mobile and PS4 along with Rondo of Blood atm :'(

hope this helped!! i know it can feel overwhelming (i definitely felt that way when i was first getting into Castlevania and i still sometimes get overwhelmed by everything lol) but there's no right or wrong way to start! just pick the game that appeals to you the most and go from there <3

[mdhwrites]

My Adventures With Superman Episode 7 Review: IS THAT AN OURAN HIGH SCHOOL CLUB REFERENCE IN THE TITLE!?

I want to believe it is.

Anyways, short, non-spoilery version: We have the show going "You want a comic book show right? Well, let's fucking go then." This is however WITHOUT losing its identity though as we see highlights for each character, them working together, and the personalities we've gotten used to grounding what would normally be an extreme escalation WAY too quickly in most media. This is the payoff for keeping it tech based for five episodes and focusing so much on the characters as now they can expand on their adventures. I will say that I wish the budget for the animation was expanding with it though as I'm still finding the Superman fights somewhat lackluster and so while I liked the episode, I actually wouldn't say it had any big bang moments before the one alluded in the title. So good but I won't be surprised if I remember nouns from this episode more than scenes.

======

+++++

======

Okay, so lets start Myxz (thank you to a friend for introducing that shortening to me). So when I talk about the animation budget, it's probably what makes me the most trepidatious about him in the long term. Discord in My Little Pony was so effective because he genuinely fucked up the world. As a god of chaos, he seemed genuinely as chaotic as he preached. That takes a lot of money and a lot of effort though which is part of why Discord didn't show up too often, or at least I assume that's part of it.

BUT with that said, I do think they did a very good job with him. Not only does he get a couple moments to shine with his powers like turning into the various Supermen, he also works the chaos angle through his words very well. "I told some VERY excellent lies" stands out as just a great line but how he's looking to be entertained, see where things go, etc. like that is very in line with not only god mentality but chaos god mentality as well. By the end of the episode, you know why he's not shifting the portals in a way that could actually kill the league because that wouldn't be any fun.

Speaking of fun: The League of Loises. Fun in a different way. I LOVE the use of multi-dimensional beings for how things like the planet Clark is from and the introduction of Kryptonite is used, but I also want to shout out the separation of information. Lois has the actual substance kryptonite and knows those weapons are designed specifically to beat Clark but Clark knows what they can actually do to them and knows that Krypton is his home planet, while Lois knows Kryptonian is the race he is. It's a fun back and forth that will be interesting to see, especially given their characters.

Because while they've grown... I don't expect them to dive in deep with each other yet. Now Jimmy will fill in Clark on what they know and I'm hoping Clark talks about the name Krypton with Jimmy and Lois but if he just wants to brush it off as a liar's tricks, I wouldn't blame him. Lois though? Poor Lois. She's made a lot of headway but I can just imagine "I don't want to worry Clark about these other Supermen and this weird green gem so I'm going to look into it myself" as her response. Care while also putting too much on herself, much like what Clark does heroing and putting himself into danger.

Honestly though? I complained last episode that Lois didn't really get a chance to shine in their reconciliation but this is the episode that goes "This is Lois. This is why someone would want to be with her. Take her or leave her." And that is VERY true for her. Everything that makes her the cute, tough girl the internet fell in love with is also what makes her the invasive, brash, nerdy girl who makes mistakes. The good comes with the bad for her and that is GREAT. That is how most people are, hence why someone can theoretically be 'your type' and not be someone you're into at all because people are complicated and messy and their specific quirks can be a NIGHTMARE.

But Lois' heart is in the right place and while she needs to be tempered, she is working on it. Also, it's not always a bad thing, like the fact that other Loises would simply trust themselves but ours? Ours is about openness and honesty. Period. Honestly, it's probably part of why she hasn't gotten a Pulitzer yet. She works too hard to make sure what she's writing is 100% right, instead of 100% what will make her famous.

Last thing I want to touch on is the ending. I said in other places that the most subversive thing about this show is that after a decade of Supermen who were mean or cold or bad or evil (it has been literally a decade since Man of Steel came out) this show has a blue boy scout. A Superman who is just a good person and who will never stop being a good person. The ending with the reveal that a LOT of Supermen have turned evil feels like the show knows that that is its big hook, that is what makes it special in our media landscape, and wants to play with that some. Heck, we even got it a couple episodes back with Lois' line of "That's if you had powers Clark but we're not talking about you." It's kind of a bit of recognition that Clark is an anomaly. A paragon to be an example to all paragons. Just as Superman should be. Is he flawless? No, because he's still human, and that's also why so many are falling in love with this Clark so rapidly. Why we got the confession we got in this episode. And I for one am here for it.

Also, sorry I'm not talking about the romance element. Honestly, with how amazing Clois is written in this show, it feels a bit like beating a dead horse at this point to praise it. I will give a shout out to the difference in nerd attitude to the two though since they are both AWFUL when it comes to first dates but the reminders that Lois is also a trainwreck are always welcome.

But like seriously, can we PLEASE get fanart of Lois in a host's outfit? She'd make such a good Haruhi! PLEASE!

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past.

I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead.

If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

And finally a Twitter you can follow too!

[jazzfic]

a bit of wip-ness

“Spot! Stop annoying the captain.”

She walked over to perform rescue duty. One clinging claw brought part of Rios’s sleeve with the cat as Soji lifted it from the couch. It took a whole minute to separate the two, after which the synthetic beast slipped with a hiss from her arms and scampered from the room, forever wounded.

Rios levelled a look her way. “Thanks,” he said.

“You’d think they might have trimmed the claws or at least worked in some sort of auto-release. No harm upon organics, right?”

She meant it as a sort of joke, but Rios missed it. Or just wasn’t listening. He examined the tiny loop of thread, fraught wounds of the battle, and set to work with blunt fingernails trying to pull it back into place. Soji sat in the swivel chair and watched before her eyes strayed outside again. She wanted to tease him about it, but he’d been waiting forty-five minutes and counting for Dr Jurati to finish her meeting with Altan, and she knew patience had its limits.

The harsh light was doing its disappearing act when Agnes finally wandered into the room. “Oh!” she said, seeing Rios. “I didn’t know you were here.”

Soji hid a smile and pretended to be interested in a PADD that was sitting on the desk. This wasn’t the first time he’d showed up right at that hazy hour before sunset just as Agnes was getting ready to wander home. It was usually at this point in proceedings, with nobody actually saying hello to one another, that the conversation would turn into a silent one, long and lingering gazing at the floor and or whatever minimalist lighting arrangement Dr Soong felt suited that particular very blank wall until Soji, unable to take it any more, pushed them both out the door.

She fully expected things to happen this way again, so waited patiently in her chair, enjoying the show. And in three, two, one...

“No, ah, yes, the old man wanted...” Rios looked around, slightly desperate. Soji held out the PADD. He took it with a thankful look. “This.”

“The partial gene sequence of a green-lipped sea urchin.” Agnes read from an awkward angle as he held the thing in his hands. “Well, that’s very important.”

“It is?” Rios frowned.

“Oh, yes. I can totally see why Picard would need that with his current diplomatic duties.”

“You can?”

“Can you two possibly expand on that a bit more?” piped up Soji. “I mean, this is just scintillating.”

-

(From the Soji chapter of Party!fic. Which will eventually... happen. I hope.)

[mellowgoop]

big spoilers for the entire castlevania super show

So I watched 4-6 (season four must be consumed piece by piece I guess) and like 65% of the series resolved so I have a ton of thoughts...

first and foremost, I think Isaac is one the shows absolute biggest accomplishments! I get the sense that either carmilla losing herself or isaac finding himself was something OG fans did not like about the netflix show, but not knowing their characterizations in anything else, I was pretty happy with both.

in season three (pretty much for every moment since dracula spared him) isaac was the most interesting character to me because I just had NO idea what he was working towards, even though he had the power and the will to get it done like, no questions asked. there were numerous, *numerous* points in season three where I was like youre seriously doing all of this to get revenge on *hector???* the poor sopping napkin meow meow chained up in a puppy kennel right now? it seemed like this kind of. pain projection thing blaming him for the fall of draculas army because of their bond? meanwhile isaac versus carmilla was OBVIOUSLY the more interesting revenge story. I didnt really know if the writers acknowledged that or were just hoping we really did buy him wanting revenge on hector specifically that badly, but now thats one thing that Im preeeeeetty sure they had a plan for. compared to lots of other things. ... more on that later

at the personal level, isaac finding his will to live and "become human" again despite all he's been through is one of the best parts of the series to me. but, as you start to expand it outwards, a lot of other things start to feel a little less good. Like, I haven't seen Lenores final scene yet, but I DOUBT anything is going to change about my thoughts on Hector by the end and that definitely soured. maybe intentionally?? for a while, I felt like he was the most relatable character because he seemed to be the only person with a pure heart left in season three carmillas castle, and was doomed for it. but then one day I was like hey... why did hector join *draculas human eradication campaign*??? wh... why did he do that?? and this last scene definitely threw dirt on this even more like. HUH? you made a last ditch deal with st. fucking germaine to revive dracula for.. pennance?? or no, its because you wanted to throw this at isaac who you were deathly afraid of (rightly) in hopes he would spare you. *maybe???* it just seemed so random. and why did you build a portal to carmillas room of all things?? why do all this for a desperate shot at surviving isaac AND turning him against carmilla? like, it almost holds up as a smart persons self-preservation ploy but its too forward-thinking when its based on a coinflip of isaacs mercy. i think a fucking. teleporter out of the castle would have made more sense, if we are to believe he is a. smart and b. self preserving in a disaster? and as much as i can infer hes afraid of all the god tier people out to get him in this scenario... he ends up thinking of a random way to cut the ring off so .... i think he could have just warped out and ditched the ring and helped lenore leave too.

and thats verrrry granular thinking for character whose motivations werent even clear to me, he definitely went from product of the situation to way too much a product of the situation.

meanwhile. CARMILLA is a fun character jesus christ. In S3, I misunderstood a couple of things and thought I didnt like carmilla and lenore at all. I thought lenore was legitimately so broken she could manipulate someone that deeply on the daily but, thats absolutely not it lol. she was very much earnest and torn up. that concept was significantly more disturbing than the rest of the show to me at first so i was like... swag but what? I didnt like carmilla because I thought we were legitimately meant to emphathize with her or at least get her angle in S3 but... that is very much not the case lol

like isaac, on a character level I really like carmillas downfall because its very clear! yeah no, you lost everything about yourself in the name of revenge and """""ambition,"""" thats clean and it was explained very clearly in her convo with lenore. its a lot like dracula again, and the fracturing of her court seemed like it would be interesting but then that just... didnt really happen? Im not sure why isaacs attack couldnt have waited one more day for these people to squabble? on one hand, I was very afraid for strigana getting bury-your-gays'd and im happy they moved on as a family unit. but like. that DEFINITELY happened too soon, carmilla didnt even know they had their change of heart. and at the least, how did we not get them saving lenore???? i seriously doubt that would change whatever lenore and hectors last scene will be. i buy lenore and strigana moving on from carmilla, thats like their whole point, but i diiiiislike them just assuming lenore is dead. like what?

in the end, it happened a little too quickly and while isaac and carmilla had fitting endings theres a lot of weird in there. It wont keep me from rewatching, but it reminds me of GOT ending things prematurely because uh... life is cruel and things happen. forget about that chara and plot. moving swiftly on!

[titleknown]

...TBH, I think it's because of how focused the debate is on copyright. because, copyright isn't really about material conditions if you actually think about it and how it operates.

Like, there's an old phrase that "The purpose of a system is what it does," and if you look at what it does, copyright is far more about procedure than artists' rights.

Look at all the creators who've had their rights taken out from under them. The creators of Disco Elysium come to mind immediately, as does Jack Kirby.

Look at how sampling was expanded into a "right" which only resulted in a brief windfall for a few artists followed by record companies buying up those rights and most small artists being priced out of it.

If you look at What It Does, in the long term it's far less about defending small artists and more about legitimizing corporate procedure and enclosure.

But, if you look at the rhetoric of most people who defend it in its current form, that material impact doesn't matter. It's all about vibes.

It doesn't matter whether or not the unauthorized use of your work actually had an actual material impact on you; directly or indirectly; if you consider it "stolen" in that framework, it is existentially tainted. It is about the principle of the thing, perceived fairness vs actual impact.

And, given how that lens of copyright and of "theft" is A) Based more on vibes than on actual impact and B) The most pushed angle on this whole issue, it is extremely unsurprising that it goes to existential questions rather than actual questions of material impact.

And, the creepy thing is, that's basically the whole swindle of the people pushing this the hardest, because their goal is not to actually mitigate the material impacts, it's to expand copyright.

Like, Jon Lamb and Karla Oritz were caught liking a tweet saying they hope the Internet Archive gets taken down via that lawsuit against it. Neil Turkewitz is a literal ex-RIAA ghoul.

These people do not care about your livelihood, they care about copyright and expanding its overreach.

Like, I agree with OP that we need to prioritize the labor question, fundamentally and deeply.

Like, online indie artists need an org to fight for their interests yesterday (though today will do just fine) and a lot of that has to do with pushing back against not just AI SEO-spamming sludge; but the broader ways algorithmization has fucked online artists.

Even in pro-AI-art orgs, there's a damn good reason that @are-we-art-yet 's rules include "Don't undercut other artists" and "Don't prompt living artists who aren't okay with it" and most importantly "Never do AI art work for megacorps".

But I also think that when we prioritize copyright, we ignore these questions because, at its core, arguments based around copyright "theft" are not about material impact; they're about vibes; and they drag the rest of the conversation into that space.

i feel like i'm losing my mind why has the AI debate pivoted away from material/labor concerns back to debates about Real vs Fake Art. cannot express just how little i care about relitigating Art and high art and low art and skilled vs unskilled art. what i care about is the treatment and compensation of workers, the power corporations are exerting over intellectual property and creators, the continued extraction of resources, and the omnipresent glut of spam and disinformation with few or no regulations/resources that filter out the SEO AI generated nonsense

[tarynkurt]

sunshine and its drunken haze

what an intense week. i struggled to keep my head clear when the sun came back with such intensity. we went to the park often, i smoked and drank a fair amount. one must find balance - sure i feel guilt for a lack of 'productive' admin and project work getting done in this time, but then again i always catch up and keep on top of things after.

what you ought to consider is what you gained on those days out. inspiration. it's all about inspiration, filling up my cup and gaining new angles on things to learn from and apply in my own capacity. i'm grateful for what i get to see, and for all of the interesting random people we meet on our travels. and for the new old film camera i have managed to find, with which i can document my days in a more beautiful fashion, and both train my eye and my skills at capturing things.

i hope soon i can demonstrate my capacity as an artist across all these medias and directions in my condensed portfolios, and find work and support to continue to expand my mind in this with others. there is so much that can be done.

but alas, i am broke :)

[oliveroctavius]

It's the Harry Osborn fashion post nobody asked for!

I'm no expert in menswear (all info + photo examples come from VintageDancer) so take this as speculation and feel free to correct any terminology. Still, I wanted to ramble about his interesting progression of clothes choices through the classic comics.

Ditko era (1965)

An outdated look even for the time: the bowtie, brown/grey color scheme, and wide high-waisted pants with a skinny belt are all kind of 1940s/50s things. Not to mention the hair.

It seems Ditko's only vision for Harry was Norman Junior. You know those eerie photos of politicians' families where the kids are dressed identically to their parents? Yeah.

Of course, once characterization catches up, there's a lot to be said about Harry's relationship with imagined "good old days" and his father's self-image.

Characterization catches up (1966)

John Romita is here and we get a flashback to baby Harry, who in contrast to his dad looks like an easter egg.

On a practical level, bright colors (1) draw attention to Harry as a new main character and (2) convey time passing. But it also fits with the reveal that he's a mostly sweet kid trying too hard to conform to an aggressively traditionalist role model.

I like that the bow tie sticks around. It has old-fashioned, dweeby connotations (as probably originally intended) but it also has appropriate oddball performer connotations.

Roomates era (1966-69)

Big checkered patterns, vests, and expanded colors; a showy take on the Ivy League 50s/60s style, unless I miss my guess. A bit more modern, but still in the realm of uptight dweeb. I love how Romita made him friendly without making him less weird.

It's a rather slow makeover from monochrome to bright and patterned. On a Watsonian level, it's fun to imagine that living away from his dad lets him gradually rediscover a colorful fashion sense.

The less formal at-home version of this look is a sweater or sweatervest with a collared shirt, a la baby Osborn.

The New Osborn Image (1969. nice)

Eventually both Harry and the editors get self conscious about keeping up with the times, and...

This is so charmingly "repressed young adult finally has their awkward rebellious self-discovery phase halfway through college" to me. Artists love to call back to this look because lol, retro facial hair, but I think its status as a bona fide short-lived Embarrassing Phase makes it sacred.

The New(er) Osborn Image (1970-72)

Exploratory phase over, his new look is something between Mod and Peacock Revolution: long coats, double-breasted tailored jackets, colorful turtlenecks, neckerchiefs instead of ties.

In my totally unbiased opinion this is the pinnacle of Harry costuming. He's found a public-facing sense of style that's fun. It's formal, but not just in a Norman-impressing way—he got here via personal experimentation and peer inspiration. It's the most joyful sartorial self-expression he ever seems to get.

Sure hope he's not about to experience personal-identity-shattering amounts of stress and tragedy!

spice up your mental breakdown by raiding your father's closet (1973)

At least, I think that's Ross Andru's angle. Harry moves back into his dad's townhouse and his clothes are uncharacteristically oversized and formless.

Drop the metaphor, fill your father's shoes for real. The fur-lined coat + leather gloves in particular strike me as unnaturally Normanesque. Earlier periods illustrated his Garbage Mental Health Hygiene with untucked shirts and unfastened collars, though his hairdo is still perfectly in place because everyone knows it just grows in like that.

I think the shirt he's committed in is the first short-sleeved shirt we ever see him wear. Probably too early in history for him to be given a pair of those grippy socks.

back to basics/dadclothes (1975-on)

Harry comes back in ASM 151 with two outfits: a grey suit and tie and a plaid short sleeved shirt with jeans. This split between utilitarian business clothes/simple comfort clothes sticks around into Buscema and JMD's 90s run.

This was probably meant to signal that he's more "grown up" and stable, but after everything else it just feels like a very lonely return to form and a widening fracture between public presentation and personal identity—this time self-enforced.

JMD uses the goblin costume to talk about Harry's struggles with self-image and emotional compartmentalization, but I think it works because that theme was already there in a less dramatic way. Particularly once the colors went back in the closet.

The thing about toxic performative masculinity is that it hates to admit that it's just a performance. Showy fashion can be attractive to people who've been told they flunk out of gender for physical or mental reasons because it's entirely performance (hence the art of drag) (and hence transmascs who joke they dress like silver age Harry). Also, I think it's just a fun personality trait for him to enjoy bright and meticulous dress, dangit.

[arx-aru]

#i honestly think miquellas whole theme of childbirth and unborn stuff is really cool#like i dont really believe it has anything to do with mohg- take his haligtree form for example.#his cocoon was in the womb of the figure and the figure is likely female so that also has gender implications but thats not important#mohg was probably trying to….. replicate. the womb stuff with the pelvic bone maybe he thought it would help in some way??#egh. mohg is weird. but anyway#forever nascent. his butterflies are said to look like theyve just emerged from their cocoon for their entire lives#eternal childhood. trying to rebirth himself. his cocoons in the haligtree. the land octopus and crab eggs.#theres so many like…. childbirth and feminine themes with him and i think its incredibly interesting#like. i dont think it HAS to be thought of in like a. weird sexual way. i think its just a…. positive theme.#my personal little theory is that rennalas rune of the unborn was supposed to be miquellas. it would have helped him perfect his rebirth#hmmm…. i dont really know how to explain it?? it feels like a commentary on how beautiful motherhood and childbirth is in a way??#from what ive heard bloodborne also has themes like this? im not sure tho since i havent played that yet#eh well. theres probably a post out there explaining it. i just make it sound odd and strange#i promise you i do not view those themes as anything sexual. thatd be weird as fuck#elden ring#cw: mohg#i do think he needs therapy though hes got some horrid stress

@solpuff yeah!!! I get it--I think I absolutely agree from a similar angle; Miquella in of himself, I feel, is definitely like. very connected to motherhood/reproduction/renewal, and I think it is in a positive way. The vibe I get from all the stuff that does associate those themes with negativity seems very much a point of outside interference, every time. I kinda read his depicted "struggles," where all that is concerned, as another discussion of disability, plus obviously a ton of trauma, cuz, like...

the crab eggs are definitely like. completely fine, in of themselves. that's just how crabs do! it's that people prey upon them, and--with how the description is phrased--almost fetishize the consumption of them. It's not the crab or the eggs that's "gross" here, it's how they're explicitly seen/misused by a third party.

the octopuses are forced to require outside nourishment for their own reproduction because their biology just isn't set up right. It's not really their fault, but the twisted circumstance that surely affected their ovaries such that they don't function "normally." which ties in, I think, with how Miquella's and Malenia's afflictions are implied to be largely thanks to Marika's selfcest. (i personally find it pretty meaningful cuz like-- needing to reckon with bodily issues stemming from forseeable-but-ignored complications by parents is relatable stuff for me)

the singing bats! little fellas are sad they can't reproduce. they're literally and actively expressing the trauma of their infertility through art. combined with how they tend to be near flowing water or an overabundance of rain, it's definitely like-- they're really really sad. and it's not their fault they have to deal with this.

the mohg stuff can make it all super uncomfortable to approach for obvious reasons like you mentioned, but in spite of that it is absolutely like. pretty important just to miquella i think-- and i don't think it detracts from the basic, pre-mohg "reproduction-as-a-good-thing" idea. it's just kinda. real. cuz that happens--his pre-existing trauma and struggle got amplified and compounded because somebody tried to force him to do something he couldn't do(in the worst sense imaginable, in his case, ofc).

since it's really common for disabled ppl to be put in similar situations, it does feel meaningful that the game explores that part of disability/vulnerability/trauma...

i just hope that the dlc expands on that reading in a positive way, and that FromSoft doesn't like. do what they did to ds3!Gwyndolin again. I'm pretty hopeful about it tho, since the twins are currently a big improvement and sign of growth in terms of narrative handling of these heavy themes as compared to their myriad soulsborne predecessors like Quelaag and her sister, Lothric and Lorian, Gwyndolin, and so on. (and I think there's good themes and very real and positive aspects to those representations too, but improvements are refreshing and exciting for sure)

Also yes!!! there's already a ton of connections between Miquella and Raya Lucaria, where Rennala is--which is super interesting because the rune of the unborn is surely of unique and extreme interest to the twins.

There's all sorts of Miquella items & mobs around Liurnia--which is flooding!--, and the nearer you get to Raya Lucaria there's more and more Trina items specifically instead, which I think suggests he(she, here? they? i like the idea of the trina thing being indicative of like, genderfluidity but that's neither here nor there lol) was subtly trying to get nearer--or at least investigate--the rune of the unborn or rennala's studies of it. although that's equally likely to just be more of him looking into "heresies" to help malenia after abandoning fundamentalism (that said--he seems to have moved towards 'faith' rather than 'intelligence'(fundamentalism being split int/faith) by the time of the Shattering??? unclear tbh). i like to think it's at least both though--hopefully in the future we get to see a bit more what the deal was with miquella's hypothetical on-off alliance/association thing with the carian ladies.) bah

trina lilys like big crabs fun fact

"wow miq rlly likes crabs that's cute :)" wrong.

it's another. reproduction thing. ):

take note of the how weird that last sentence is. and that it's trina(sleep) lilies rather than miq lilies in this case.

can somebody please get miquella therapy

[animebw]

Oh hey, the first three episodes of RWBY: Ice Queendom are out! And as you might expect, I have Thoughts(tm).

-I’m happy to say that my concerns about the show lacking visual style were mostly unfounded. It doesn’t always look the best, but there’s no shortage of creative camera angles, neat lighting effects, and just interesting ways to block out a scene. Plus, when the action kicks up, it’s every bit as exhilarating as Monly’s legendary choreography. As long as Shaft doesn’t get behind on the production- which, sadly, is a fairly strong possibility- this show is gonna look damn good.

-Storywise, these episodes were mostly just a speedthrough of Volume 1 with some new bits planting the seeds for what the story will eventually become. As you might expect, condensing all of Volume 1 into just over an hour means a lot gets left by the wayside. Definitely don’t check out this show as your first exposure to RWBY; it relies on your prior love for these characters to keep your investment through its sped-up plot beats.

-Team JNPR suffers the most from this cut content. There’s basically no time to get to know them as individuals or as a team, and all their best moments from volume 1 are completely absent. A necessary sacrifice, perhaps, but still a sad one.

-That said, props for at least completely rewriting Jaunedice. Taking RWBY’s worst arc and repurposing it into an introduction for this anime’s new story concepts- not to mention removing Cardin from the equation entirely- is the smartest thing they could’ve done.

-Also surprising? I think the godawful Weiss Racism subplot is handled a lot better here. It’s established earlier on so it doesn’t feel like it comes out of nowhere. Weiss is overall more reasonable in her stance (well, as reasonable as unfair bigotry can be), and the rest of Team RWBY does a much better job calling her out for her bullshit and forcing her to re-evaluate her position. So that’s the two worst parts of volume 1 made much better by this re-write. Not bad!

-It looks like the main story is going to involve diving into Weiss’ AU dreamworld, and I am very down for that. Here’s hoping Ubukata proves up to the task as  writer now that he’s done relying on volume 1 as a springboard.

-In retrospect, it should’ve been obvious that Weiss would be the one to do the Shaft Head Tilt:

-It’s interesting how the first episode repurposed the White and Black trailers to expand the original first episode to an anime-episode length. It made me realize just how damn efficient the first episode of RWBY was. Got right to the action, said everything it needed to, didn’t waste a second, and left us eager as hell to find out what else this world had in store.

-Overall the dialogue feels more... obvious? than the original dialogue in volume 1. Some of that’s definitely because of the time constraints, but it feels like everyone’s conversations are stating along what the original show left unsaid, up to implication, or to be revealed at a later date.

-And last but now least, I think I have a new profile picture:

I missed my idiot failson so much, lmao.

[makeste]

Question. Do you think BNHA has been too fast? Like. Everything that's happened, from Deku not having a quirk, to gearing up to taking on the big boss who even his mentor - who no hero has previously been able to surpass - wasn't able to defeat at full power. Has happened, pretty much, within a single year. That's... an incredibly short time-frame honestly. Would it have been better if there was more timeskips and training involved before the final battle?

a lot of this actually depends on what you mean by "too fast." because the thing is my answer changes depending on what the question actually is.

do I think BnHA has been too rushed at times? - yes.

do I think BnHA has been too short/would be better if it was longer? - no.

let me start by saying that I'm often curious about what portion of BnHA's readership has actually read the three iconic early 2000s-era series which collectively used to be known as Shounen Jump's own "Big Three" -- Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece. all three of these were long-running flagship WSJ series much in the same vein as BnHA, and in fact BnHA is often seen as a spiritual successor to them. and all three series ran for a very long time. Naruto and Bleach each ran for 15 years and upwards of 600 chapters (Naruto actually ended on chapter 700, and Bleach came close, clocking in at 686). One Piece, meanwhile, is somehow actually still running, currently at 1031 chapters. all three series include all of those bucket list items that readers of BnHA are constantly clamoring for:

loooong, long arcs with plenty of room for the plot to breathe

numerous one-on-one showcase fights for all of the main characters, and a good chunk of the supporting casts as well

training arcs where we spend time watching the heroes learn their new upgrades

and last but not least, timeskips

all that stuff. and all three of these series had one other thing in common as well: they all fell completely off the rails after about five years, and spent the next decade afterwards lingering on as shadows of their former selves. (OP is maybe the one exception, because it still has fits and bursts of energy from time to time, and actually seems to be moving steadily (if very slowly lol) towards some kind of thoughtful, actually-planned-out resolution. that said, it has absolutely had a sharp decline from its glory days, and I will stand by that hot take even if I still enjoy the series.)

there's a gap, I think, between what people imagine a long manga will be like, and what it actually is like. actually it's less of a gap and more of a chasm tbh.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to explore all those interesting plot threads and angles that he keeps glossing over and never elaborating on"

what it actually is like: you know that cool side character/sideplot thing we got introduced to a couple chapters back? here's an entire arc focused on them and their life story! unfortunately this means that we won't actually get back to the main plot and characters for approximately six months. but hey at least we're expanding our worldbuilding.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to focus on character development"

what it actually is like: FOR EVERY. LAST. CHARACTER. including all of the characters that you don't actually give a shit about, unless you're one of those miraculous but lovely people who are genuinely fond of every single one. either way, once again I hope you're good with saying goodbye to the main cast for half a year or more.

what people imagine: "a longer story would give Horikoshi more time to write realistic training arcs and develop the characters' abilities at a more reasonable pace"

what it actually is like: do you know what training montages are. do you know why they were invented. I will tell you why: because realistically-paced training arcs are actually the single most boring thing on the planet. training is literally just repetition of something. the process is always exactly the same, every single time. there's a reason why most writers tend to avoid focusing on it, realism be damned.

what people imagine: "a timeskip would make it more believable for the characters to be at the level that they're at, and would make the story more mature"

what it actually is like: we miss out on months or even years of character development. the characters for some reason always split up over the timeskip period, and so they miss out on months and/or years of relationship development with each other. every single battle suddenly becomes "here is so-and-so's shiny new upgrade, now watch as they either effortlessly win their fight, or else struggle to do so thus making us question whether all that time spent training was even worth it." and also suddenly the series is inexplicably trying to be more mature, which for some reason always seems to mean (1) more character death, and (2) romance!! and not the kind of romance tumblr actually likes, lol. we're talking that good old-fashioned forced heterosexual EVERYONE NEEDS TO GET PAIRED OFF WITH SOMEONE romance up in here.

what people imagine: "a long series would give Horikoshi more time to breathe so that he doesn't feel pressure to keep rushing everything"

what it actually is like: imagine being forced to continue doing something for literal decades of your life, long after all of your motivation and inspiration has dried up, all because your work is continuing to bring in $$$ and the fans don't want it to end. imagine just phoning it in each and every week, pulling new story arcs and new characters out of your ass until the plot has become so convoluted that there's no hope whatsoever of ending it clean, and no chance in hell of every character getting a satisfying resolution, because your cast has simply grown too expansive.

that's what long-running shounen series are like. that's what Horikoshi is trying to avoid (and in fact some would probably argue he's already reached that point lol). yes, the series has been rushed lately. a lot of people have been saying that Horikoshi is burned out; I personally have gotten more of a vibe that he is close to being burned out, and so he's trying to rush to the ending before that happens so that he can give the series the send-off he feels it deserves. I think he has a clear plan for the endgame, but the path to the endgame isn't quite as thought-out, and so he's chosen to fudge a lot of it simply because he doesn't have enough fucks left to waste on stuff that ultimately isn't important. which might not be ideal, but it is what it is.

but just to be clear, no matter how rushed things are, or how rushed they continue to be, I will always, 10 times out of 10, take this over the Naruto/Bleach/OP route. because I have seen that play out more than enough times already, thank you very much lol. and honestly, if the latest arc has taught us nothing else, it's that history would easily repeat itself with BnHA given half the chance, because Horikoshi is just as human as those other writers, and has already spent the past seven years throwing all of his best ideas at us one by one. and eventually he's going to run out, you guys.

so yeah. all good things, etc. this may be one of my most unpopular opinions, lol, but I stand by it.