#i kind of fail to understand what's enjoyable about just saying the same thing that's been said 100 times. in the same way.
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sporkdoesclasspect · 2 years ago
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it is wild to me how everyone seems to almost universally accept classpect inversion as an actual canon thing and not just a theory someone had??
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roguerambles · 4 months ago
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Possibly unpopular opinion but after thinking about it a while, I'm kind of glad Veilguard seems to be going for a "clean slate" of sorts in regards to World States.
I completely understand the disappointment, and it's not what I was expecting either, but at the same time I also understand that trying to implement multiple games worth of choices in a satisfactory way would eventually become completely unmanageable. Some kind of cut off would need to happen at some point, so maybe now in an (almost literally) new era is as good a time as any?
Plus from what I understand the developers aren't setting the past three games on fire or declaring everything non-canon or whatever, they seem to just be selecting what will be relevant to the story they are trying to tell in Veilguard (which, obviously, is heavily focused on Solas and the Evanuris) which tbh is probably the best way to handle it going forward.
For example, consider what we last heard about the Hero of Ferelden - they were on a journey to find a cure for the Calling. That would have huge implications not only for them, but the Grey Wardens as a whole, and personally I want more from that potential storyline than a potential codex entry saying they failed or succeeded or are still out there looking or are missing or have it shoehorned into Veilguard somehow even though clearly a million other things with the Grey Wardens are going to be happening.
(Obviously I'm not saying Bioware is going to do a spin-off game featuring the Hero of Ferelden on a quest to cure the calling - although I'd play the HELL out of that - but I guess what I'm trying to say is something that big would deserve its own focus, you know?)
Anyway, sorry for rambling just wanted to get some of my thoughts on it out a bit. I understand the disappointment, but I hope people remember that the previous games are still there, you have your head canons and fanart and fanfiction, and just because it won't be directly mentioned in Veilguard doesn't mean your experiences and enjoyment of the previous entries "doesn't matter" anymore. It's still there.
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bloodsadx · 7 months ago
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thanks to everyone who has sent me asks and such saying i understand how to draw for being nice and stuff. i'm going to ramble about some influence/process stuff below if you want to read abt it
this might read as some kind of artistic statement or defense or something but i like to talk about this kind of thing just in case anybody can ever get anything meaningful out of my own thoughts and practices. i got to where i am after a lot of careful consideration and spending time thinking about what i like in other people's art, just like anybody else that makes art to any serious degree.
my "style" is very much a deliberate series of decisions that i have honed into being very fast for my own pleasure and enjoyment because i am very inspired by people like king terry/garo magazine/the heta-uma style, keiichi arawi, inio asano, hiroyuki imaishi, toru nakayama, phil elverum (as a cartoonist), gary panter (who was a friend of matt groening and wrote an essay about selling out that is worth reading and did a lot of stuff with RAW magazine which is one of my favorite things to think about), DIY/skatewear brand t shirt cartoons, early MSPA hussie stuff, etc. a lot of my favorite artists walk a line between constant high effort and low time investment art; often contrasting elaborately planned perspective grids or high resolution rendering with simple cartooning. asano and arawi i think are very clear and famous examples of artists that use 3d rendering and photography for backgrounds while drawing very deliberate and expressive characters on top of them. toru nakayama is really inspiring to me because he, like toriyama, has a very deep understanding of form AND cartooning and has a way of making extremely densely crafted cartoons which feel visceral and almost like plastic toys you can pick up and play with on the page. also just one of my favorite colorists. and i think hussie and arawi and imaishi are all fantastic character designers with very strong understandings of designing art styles that convey information very quickly and deliberately; i think bryan lee omalley and jamie hewlett were also big early influences on me for the same thing- they all have art styles with very clear line/negative space proportions, strong shape language, etc, and for a long time in my life i have sought to grasp a similar understanding of these things. and then i think phil elverum's fancy people adventures cartoons and just like skate brands and "shitty" DIY drawings and stuff (the album art for nana grizol's love it love it is like burned into my brain forever; seeing basquiat paintings and poems in a museum when i was 15 made me feel whatever and crazy and etc) are just something that serve as a constant reminder to me that some of the most effective art is art that is simply fun to look at, especially when it comes to making comic and cartoon art. simplicity and joie de vivre are very important to me as artistic concepts.
and i mean, i do fuck with crazy painter dudes and shit too; i was huge into goya when i was 14 and had a print of the witches sabbath taped to my wall until i was like 22, i fw waterhouse & bruegel the elder insanely. i am like a sponge for most kinds of art and i do a lot of art research all the time. most of my first book was heavily influenced by compositional techniques from pre-raphaelite painters and the iconography of egyptian & greek wall art and especially especially extremely crowded gothic art and the concept of horror vacui.
but anyway, im not really insecure about my art, i know how much effort and time and practice and research i've put in, i definitely know my strengths regarding cartooning and stuff, and i'm even more aware of where my work needs "improvement" in order to be "commercially viable." i've been in multiple positions in the past several years of taking art seriously where other people have been dismissive of my art and i've seen other people fail to capture the energy & simplicity that i am able to get in my own art, etc.
for people interested in my Process and the things that i work on to draw the way that i do, the way i have gotten whatever skills i have has been mostly through drawing the same things over and over and over (toenail, cavity, pimple, gunk, making different expressions and doing different poses); i draw in pen MOST of the time, and i have for a very long time, and i make few edits, and i focus on keeping energy and confidence in my lines; i do perspective studies, i've spent a lot of time doing gesture drawings and environmental studies inside and outside. i draw a lot of movie frames and do color studies of youtube videos and stuff like that. i remember reading some kind of criticism of post-KAWS/street art infiltration of commercial art that artists now are most rewarded for drawing literally the same thing over and over and over like their hands are printers and that the main thing artists are then allowed to do within that context is express themselves through minor variations within that key theme; i don't think im THAT rote but it has definitely informed my perpsective on what i do and what i am interested in doing. on some level i have designed my art to be easily reproducible by myself because i want to make comics and sometimes even to animate my characters and that requires me to be able to draw a lot of drawings relatively quickly. this is another reason why character designers and video game key artists are such massive influences on me, takehito harada and akiman and toshiyuki kusakihara being some huge ones i've spent a lot of time doing studies of i didn't mention previously.
and because the main way i make money at this point in my life is through screen printing & reproducing my drawings as items for sale, i spend a lot of time making my art Distinct, Eye Catching, and Iconic, to the degree of instant recognizability even on a t shirt or a sticker from far away, and i try to make my drawings strictly legible and generally focus on communicating ideas and emotions through big thematic and emotional gestures and strong colors that can be easily separated. this is one of the main reasons i havent developed as strong of a rendering/coloring habit; that kind of stuff is difficult to color separate for the purpose of solo DIY screen printing. but i've spent a pretty decent amount of time doing that stuff, and i spend time studying forms regardless, with the lines that i do use. a lot of my sketchbooks are me drawing literally the same thing over and over slightly differently until i have something that i feel is a strong enough cartoon to make into a shirt or patch or sticker design that satisfies a litany of criteria i have for what i consider strong cartooning.
anyway that was a very rambling post but i hope at least people get something out of it even if its just slight entertainment from me blowing hot air out of my mouth for 20 minutes.
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Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials: Number 22 Danganronpa Another 2 Case 5
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//Right above DRV3 Case 6 is SDRA2 Case 5, and I'm honestly kind of surprised that this one ended up getting this low on the list, because as far as I was concerned, it was a pretty decent segment of the story.
//But strangely enough, besides the big twist at the end of the trial, this chapter is honestly not very memorable. I actually kind of had to go back and rewatch it in order to make some notes for this.
//Which, to be perfectly frank, was not very enjoyable, because of all the games that are on this ranking, SDRA2 and V3 are easily the ones that I like revisiting the least.
//But don't get me wrong. From what I do remember of this trial, I do respect what was done.
//I think one of the biggest issues with this trial is that this is kind of where, for me at least, the tie-ins with the previous game really start to come in in spades. And if you hadn't played Another 1, which wasn't as commercially available as Another 2 at the time it came out, there are some things here that kind of end up being confusing.
//But what this trial was able to pull off was pretty amazing, and even though I have never been a huge fan of the way LINUJ writes his characters or his story, this chapter in particular showed the leaps that he was willing to take to tell his story that somebody like Kodaka wouldn't.
//Now obviously with Rain Code, it's clear these days that Kodaka is not afraid to mass-murder his characters. It's just not something he felt he could do with Danganronpa due to a very limited cast, especially in the latter parts of the game. And yeah, no one actually dies in this chapter besides the victim, but...We'll take this one step at a time.
//I don't feel like going as in depth about this trial as I did with the previous post, because I care more about that trial and it's failings more than I do this one. And I do understand that this is a widely popular trial, but I, personally, am just not that crazy about it besides how it ended.
//I'm personally not too keen on most of SDRA2's trials, as I've already implied, but putting myself aside, the fourth trial often stands out as a fan favorite due to its bold emotional stakes and plot twists, while the final trial delivers climactic, overarching revelations. Sandwiched between these two, the fifth trial can feel underwhelming, lacking both the emotional depth of the fourth and the high-stakes resolution of the finale.
//Which isn't an issue any of the other fifth trials have except for Game 1 Case 5.
//Also, I don't know if this is just me, but for a trial that is supposed to be incredibly climactic, the themes of betrayal and trust, while VERY pivotal leading up to this entire chapter and what should be central to the trial, feel underdeveloped or poorly executed. While previous trials build strong thematic narratives, this one struggles to create the same emotional resonance. It tries to heighten drama through character conflicts, but these moments can feel forced or out of character.
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//What I mean is it really does just feel like the characters got really...dumb...? Which is a big issue I had with Game 1 Case 5 as well. It really kind of feels the cast are just playing a game of Among Us.
//No one even considered the possibility of Iroha being the acomplice instead of the murderer. Just because she did the paintings, doesn't mean she killed Teruya, and since she's a VOID she has to listen to everything Mikado says because it's against the rules to betray VOID, so her being the acomplice was just as likely as the killer, and I kind of saw the trial going in that direction and, lo and behold, I was right. But no, they didn't even consider it
//Everybody spent this entire game always casting suspicion on Mikado, despite the fact that in most of the trials, it's so obviously not him. So what, they just randomly got desensitised to suspecting him of the murder?
//If that's the case, then that's a clever move on Mikado's part. Just that I feel like that could have been explained better. Maybe it's a translation issue.
//And as is the case with quite a few of SDRA2's story beats, the pacing often feels drawn out with repetitive debates and unnecessary padding. Of course, this is NOWHERE NEAR as bad as Trial 2 and 3, but still, this trial lingers on certain points, reducing the overall tension.
//This trial is honestly very hard to review in general because of how intergral it kind of is to the story, so I will say one good thing about it is that unlike quite a few of the Chapter 5's in Danganronpa, this one actually serves as really good build-up for the finale.
//If there's one thing I can give SDRA2 credit for, while the story does feel like it's paced poorly, the plot twists that happen throughout the game are spaced pretty well. Chapter's 4 and 5 really do a damn lot to build up to the final chapter and the events that happen, even though the final chapter ends up being pure information overload anyway, but this is still an insane setup.
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//So let's talk about a few things that stand out. Firstly, the victim of this case is Teruya Otori, the Ultimate Merchant, who is actually a returning character from the original Another game.
//Now, I'm not the biggest Teruya fan, at least not compared to everybody else on the internet, but what SDRA2 did with him in Chapters 4 and 5 is actually really fucking good if you're already familiar with his character in Another 1.
//Teruya has fucked up a lot in the past, but this is a very different kind of fucked up that he's become, and for a good reason: Because you can really see how much Tsurugi has influenced his actions since establishing the Kisaragi Foundation.
//In Survivor, I tend to play Tsurugi is more...chill than he is in the canon games, but as the leader of the Kisaragi Foundation, he's still very much the Malcolm X to Kyoko's Martain Luther King. He will find the truth, and he will protect the world by any means necessary, and that's what I find great about Teruya's character in this latter part of the story; because he adopts very much the same mindset.
//Teruya with a gun is intense if you've already played the first game because you know him to kind of be a fun-loving character, kind of like Hiro in the first DR game. But still, it doesn't feel out of character for him to lose it later in the game, because that happened in the original Another too, and again, his plan to stop the game and take control of things has Tsurugi's name written all over it, and I think that's fucking awesome.
//But still, it doesn't stop it from being a little overdramatic, which generally kind of gave me a negative opinion of Teruya by the time he died.
//However, all in all, him ending up the victim of this chapter was still honestly kind of shocking. Sure, they killed off Rei in the first chapter of the story, but by this point, she was revealed to be still alive outside the simulation. So it automatically gave me the indication that those who survived the first game would also survive this second one.
//And it's not like DR doesn't have a precedent set for that. Besides Ryota and Munakata, everybody who survived the Final Killing Game in Danganronpa 3 were the characters from DR1 who survived. Hina and Kyoko almost bit the bullet, but their deaths were ultimately fake-outs.
//And this twist plays into the main reason why my admiration for LINUJ peaks in this chapter, which, again, I will get to.
//Either way, the point is that not only was Teruya and already established character from DRA1, but he also seemed near integral to the plot in this latter part of the story, and it really makes you think that he might be a survivor of this plot. I mean, Tsurugi was, and his attitude in the latter part of DRA1 was very similar to Teruya's role.
//But no. We got straight up sidelined by this twist. AND that's not even mentioning that there was a fake-out literally just before this, that made you THINK Teruya was fine, and that he might have just gone missing.
//And credit where it is due, I really feel like this should have happened in Danganronpa 3. Ultimately, I'm glad it didn't, because that would have pissed me off with DR3 even more than I already was, but had DR3 been better structured, a twist where you kill off one of the main cast of the first game would have worked. And they almost did it with Kyoko before she miraculously survived.
//To me, it feels like LINUJ took that extra step that Kodaka and the DR Devs were afraid to do.
//But then there's Iroha, who is a bit of an issue.
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//In general, VOID are one of my least favourite factions across the DR multiverse, because I don't really like any of their members besides Hajime M. at least not that much. I might get more into this if and when we cover SDRA2 Chapter 4, but to skip the preamble, this chapter mainly revolves around Iroha, who is the suspected, and ultimately voted for, killer.
//Unlike the rest of the VOID's, who were either revealed to be VOID in the chapter they died, or right before their execution, Iroha was revealed to be a member of VOID earlier.
//I do tend to give Iroha a lot of love for this blog, and I do like her in this blog. But she is easily among the worst characters in the original SDRA2. She was just so unforgiveably dumb.
//Iroha to me was kind of like what would happen if Yasuhiro had somehow turned out to be Junko's sidekick/the traitor instead of Sakura or Mukuro.
//And it kinda doesn't work.
//Like, I get that the VOID's are kind of just a ragtag group of abused children like the Warrior's of Hope, and this kind of bullshit can happen to basically anyone. And it isn't hard to imagine Iroha, type of character that she is, having such a depressing backstory that she could be a member of this criminal group. But that doesn't mean she's cut out for it.
//Literally any other character would have made a more interesting member for VOID than Iroha would. I feel like the only reason she IS one is because LINUJ DESPERATELY wanted to give her plot relevance.
//I'm also fairly sure that when Weeby Newz (pretty big DR streamer btw in case you haven't heard of her) found out about this plot twist, she laughed uncontrollably because of how little sense and how random it was.
//Of all the characters in this game you could have made a VOID, like Setsuka, or in an unexpected twist, Teruya. Why is it THIS fucknugget?
//Anyway, this big reveal happened in Chapter 3, so it kind of took me out of it when we started suspecting Iroha to be the killer, because we already KNEW she was working for the bad guys. So she really wasn't that interesting a killer either.
//...
//But THAT'S when it got me.
//Oh lord, THAT'S when it got me GOOD!
//Okay, so, I know I always preface this with a spoiler warning, and you really shouldn't be reading this blog or these posts if you haven't played the original game, but for me personally, there are two twists surrounding this case that are, without question, two of the most phenomenal twists this game has to offer, and the payoff, as unexpected as they were, was spectacular.
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//First and foremost was the twist of Sora and Yuki's true identity.
//Again, the big issue with SDRA2 is that it was more commercially available than DRA1 was in the west, so if you haven't played the first game, the twist that Yuki is Utsuro, and Sora, more shockingly, is Akane Taira, this wouldn't mean anything to you.
//But for me personally, it's very reminiscent of the twist at the end of DR2 that Hajime is revealed to actually be Izuru Kamukura. However, even though I love that twist of the Remnants to death, I would state that Izuru's inclusion is the worst part of it.
//The reasons is that before right until this trial happens, Izuru is not an established character, and the concept of created Hope was not properly hinted at. So when it happens, it doesn't have that much weight to it, as shocking as it is, because there is so little build-up.
//Again, if you don't know who Akane Taira is, this twist means nothing, but if you DO, then this twist is FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!
//I would argue that because it gets revealed in Chapter 5, it gives the final two chapters more weight to it.
//Unlike Izuru, Taira was an established character AND established threat. And her inclusion in this game, and that Sora might BE her reincarnated body is SHOCKING, and it really explains a lot of Sora's actions throughout the game and why she's so subtly devoted to Yuki.
//Again, it feels like Izuru's, and arguably Utsuro's from the first game's, twist, but with actual meaningful build-up, and a good time to reveal it, because then that information carries on into Chapter 5's trial, and Chapter 6.
//But of course, that's not the biggest selling point for this trial. If you know the game, you know exactly what I'm going to talk about, because this trial, surprisingly, does something that not a single Danganronpa trial has done before. The closest we've gotten is Chapter 6 of V3, and Chapter 5 of DR1, which...doesn't really count for me.
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//And that is, of course, that this Class Trial ends with an INCORRECT VERDICT.
//This moment is iconic, and again, I will explain why at the end of this post. I've already mentioned that this trial is dumb, from the way that the characters don't even consider that Iroha could have been an accomplice to murder instead of the actual murderer, but the fact that this still happened is shocking.
//See, what happened is everybody believed that Iroha had murdered Teruya using cyanide. But what ACTUALLY happened is Mikado applied the cyanide PRIOR to Iroha's murder scheme, and all she did was shake some salt into the water. This fooled everyone into believing Iroha, including Iroha herself, had applied the cyanide, and that results in everyone voting for the wrong killer.
//And as the rules state, if the killer is voted wrongly, everybody except them dies. And that's damn near what happened.
//I've established before that I don't like Mikado, because I think he fails to live up to the hype around the likes of Junko and even Akane from the previous game, but for me, this is his most iconic moment, and his BEST moment that really made him FEEL like a worthwhile and worthy Killing Game mastermind.
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//His plan is, frankly, brilliant, and any one of the original Danganronpa characters WISHES they could have been this smart with their murder schemes. Even Junko's gambit in Chapter 5 to eliminate Kyoko, and Tsumugi's gambit to stop the killing, paled in comparison to this in my opinion, because both of those actions felt...desperate. Mikado's plan on the other hand, felt meticulous. And cunning, in a good way.
//Having Iroha set up pretty much everything in such a specific way that makes everyone, including Iroha herself, believe that she's the culprit while HE'S the accomplice in the case, really sold this case, and to an extent, Mikado, for me.
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//Again, this is Mikado at his BEST. He actually FEELS like a VILLAIN in this chapter, though he spends a lot of the game acting really jovial, buddy-buddy, and dumb with everyone, to the point that he can't really be taken seriously. But these final two chapters do a lot for him, and although he's still my least favourite mastermind, these moments are standout, even for me.
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//I think one simple reason why this twist and this whole sequence is so good is because...well...we've never GOTTEN the culprit wrong before. There have been several times, ironically in Chapter 5 usually, where the case just seems unsolveable, but one way or another, the heroes still manage to come out on top.
//And yeah, they do, but they WOULDN'T have if not for sheer dumb luck of Syobai pulling them out in time! But you can't convince me we all haven't ever wondered at one point "Hm...What DOES happen when we get the culprit wrong?"
//And man, LINUJ definitely SOLD that idea.
//And this is the main reason why I like this trial regardless, because yeah, it's still not my favourite, but it really symbolizes why these Fangans ARE great, despite all the issues I personally have with them.
//Trial 5 is painfully frustrating because it generally feels incredibly underwhelming and almost too easy, when it's always been established that Trial 5 in EVERY game, regardless of how good they are, tend to be extremely complex cases that shows off exactly why Danganronpa is such a good mystery series. And when Iroha was singled out as the culprit, I genuinely did not care, and being someone who did kind of suspect that Mikado was the killer, it makes me cross at how stupid everyone was kind of acting in this case.
//But again, the final twist of the wrong verdict is the prime example of what makes SDRA2 such a worthwhile game playing. Wheras DRA1 kind of played it safe with its context, clues, mysteries, and characters, SDRA2's main purpose was to do something DIFFERENT.
//As edgy as it can be, what makes this trial great is because it shows that LINUJ is not afraid to do what the canon games wont.
//Besides the island setting that was ripped from DR2, and a few other story beats, this game is LARGELY different from any Danganronpa game that preceded it, and that's why it's the most well-known and hot-topic Fangan on the market. Because it takes the original series, and sprinkles in some creative freedom; telling a similar story from a different angle by a different writer with his own beliefs.
//Some of those beliefs aren't great when it comes to LINUJ, but the point stands. The fact that this trial ends with a WRONG verdict is...awesome! It's really cool and super different, and again, that's what SDRA2 does so well. It does things that Danganronpa has never dared to do before.
//So overall, a pretty crumby trial that I didn't care much about, but definitely with the spectacular condiment of some of SDRA2's best plot twists sprinkled on the side. Enough to make it one of the most standout trials in SDRA2, but not enough to put it higher on this list.
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zoroara · 7 months ago
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So, it is pride month, and I'm Aro-Ace, I'm not really into romance at all and I am what some know as sex-repulsed. This admittedly means a lot of positivity around this especially in fandom is, kind of hard to portray, as strong feelings, powerful loyalty and affection is often seen as tied to more romantic or sexual scenarios(You would not believe how many accusations of being attracted to someone I've had for this, I just care about my friends so much).
I understand why this is, but I'd like to take this post, to sort of talk about my own readings of relationships and head canons based on this, and if you have any similar, I encourage you to do the same and share! But if you start ship bashing I will hit you with hammers(block you) because that's not the point of this post.
For me, though in rare situations I'll ship them, Xanxus and Squalo are incredibly important to me in their relationship. They aren't even friends, and yet there's this powerful tie between them. The loyalty Squalo shows, the enjoyment of watching Xanxus fight. It's great. I do like to say, Xanxus does respect Squalo in the only way he can, Xanxus is built to see himself above everyone. He doesn't see Squalo as an equal to him, but he does see Squalo as above everyone else, and that's the most amount of respect Xanxus can give another person. Is that enough for Squalo? No. But it is a lot from Xanxus. It's so deeply interesting to me that it's probably on Squalo being so willing to keep his word being potentially the only reason they'll even stick together. They both benefit from this, both in ways challenging the other to improve in skill. (by the way, I think it is so funny how Amano continuously tries to imply Squalo is equally strong to Xanxus but flat out fails because of how they treat Squalo.)
Honestly all the bonds the Varia have despite not being quite friends are so interesting to me. They just all mesh in a great way, but they also all are ready to throw down with another. The only thing that brings them into one focused goal is murder and being attacked sometimes. They are so fucking interesting to pick apart and try to figure it out.
This certainly isn't the most analytical post i've made but I also wanted to ramble a bit. But I hope to hear some too!
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cipheramnesia · 5 months ago
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When I talk about media, which let's be honest is mainly horror movies, they surprise me with interesting approaches to a topic, queerness, unique ideas, or simply through being unexpectedly fun and exciting. And that's always a fun entry into talking about a movie.
Sometimes I'll be so thrilled by a movie, or something in the movie, I immediately need to look up the critical response, and that might also be a place to start talking about media - particularly when I see criticism which, to my eyes, failed to understand something interesting about the movie. I might feel like the movie hasn't been seen by many people, or wasn't appreciated, and contrasting my experience with specific criticisms (I think) creates more a more interesting conversation about a movie, and may even prompt someone to watch it when they wouldn't have otherwise. It might even be my own expectations were so wrong, I'm excited about how wrong I was.
On the opposite side of this approach is "critics just don't understand movies are about fun!" What's frustrating is that this is in part true but is also in no way useful to understand if a movie is enjoyable. As a lover of horror, I am intimately acquainted with the tendency of critics to dismiss significant parts of the genre because it's just fun, and to try and put distance between any horror they enjoy ("elevated horror" - kiss my ass). I'm used to most people dismissing the genre as scary, gross, or otherwise just deeply unpalatable.
I'm so used to all that, in fact, that I want to try and go a little deeper when I'm trying to tell people about something interesting than just "critics don't understand movies should be fun." And that's what I'm actually complaining about today. Both the instance that fun is a primary quality attribute, and contextualizing something as misunderstood because somehow critics are all stuck in the no fun zone.
It would be one thing if "fun" was meant in a general sense. I find some pretty harrowing films fun, some really grim stuff fun. However, it mainly comes up with large budget movies, widely distributed movies, that generally are already being seen by plenty of audiences and which receive a large amount of promotion. And a lot of them are fine, they're fun, and that's about it. Plenty of critics out there have the same response, and generally that's what goes on the posters and in the trailers and everyone just goes on about their way until anyone runs across a criticism comes up like "I don't think it was very good / I don't think it was very interesting" and it gets a middle of the road critical score because it's a middle of the road movie not meant to be interesting.
That should all be fairly normal stuff, but there seems to be some disconnect between "this was a regular movie that was a lot of fun and wasn't necessarily world changing, but I am a big fan," and "critics didn't like this movie because it was not filmed or written or directed in a particular enjoyable way, but rather for general consumption by anyone with no specific need to be treated as intellectual." When someone like Martin Scorsese or Jamie Lee Curtis says something negative about something like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it seems to turn into this huge reaction of "Critics Just Don't Understand Fun" but now it's a kind of angry monster demanding atonement to fun. And on the one hand, for a lot of critics, those movies aren't for them. I think they know it, but their job is to analyze films, meaningful or otherwise.
But what I'm not sure everyone else knows is that sometimes criticism of your favorite fun movie is not for you. Critics can and do miss things that make a movie interesting, or dismiss a good movie because they think the general topic isn't worth analysis. But also like, when "critics don't understand movies should be fun" is pretty much exclusively leveraged at criticism of big expensive mass marketed movies, and also pretty often as criticism against movies which are making distinct choices which deviate from what is established as the expectation by mass marketed large budget movies, what happens is that I see that sort of phrase and I find I don't really trust what comes after it. So often, the context of that idea is a sort of film criticism equivalent to people who throw themselves in front of Elon Musk to protect the poor defenseless billionaire. And like, I don't know, maybe someone rushing to the defense of a huge movie release doesn't have the same idea as fun as me.
So I'm not gonna spend my time or money on the exciting big budget movie that critics don't understand is fun. What I'm gonna do is, I'm gonna just jump down into another scuzzy horror flick I never heard of and see where it goes, because that is what's fun for me.
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heretherebedork · 1 year ago
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Do you think that Mew thinks Ray is a failure because Ray professes to love him but doesn't stop any of the destructive behaviors that he wants him to stop?
Top stopped casually sleeping around because Mew asked (ignore Boston for a second). Top stopped using drugs. He's known Mew for less time than Ray. Top has told Mew his trauma. So does Top's "love" mean more to Mew because he changed everything about himself that Mew saw as a flaw?
Meanwhile Mew was THERE for Ray's lowest moment and should know the depths of Ray's self-hatred. Mew knows the reason for his behavior first-hand. He's only ever heard about Top's trauma, he didn't experience it like he did with Ray.
So Mew literally cannot distance himself from Ray's problems and wish them away like he did with Top. He's a part of them. That's why, to me, he's a much better character (not person) when he's with Ray than with Top. With Top, Mew got everything he wanted without having to do a damn thing. So does Mew think he's in love with Top because of that? Because he can distance himself from any truly messy aspect of being a person and being in love? Does he allow Ray to continue to self-destruct because there's nothing he can do to stop it? Has he even tried?
This got away from me. This is all to say, Mew would be a much more interesting character if he was pulled away from Top and had to actually get down and get messy and get real with people. If he couldn't escape to his fantasy land where he can control people and make them into who he thinks they should be instead of who they truly are. Mew needs to accept that real people have flaws and he can't just ask those flaws away. He can't just "fix" people because they aren't broken just because they don't fit his moral standards. If he wanted to truly help his friends, he would actually support them with what they need and not what he wants.
I mean, I definitely agree. Mew sees all of Ray's issues and doesn't understand why he doesn't just... stop. I think that's a big aspect of Mew's character. He can stop drinking, he doesn't want to have meaningless sex and he doesn't understand why other people maybe can't stop or want that kind of thing. To him, his way is the only way and the correct way and the right way and Ray and Boston's inability to do that is a character flaw and a morality flaw that he wants to see them fix.
Ray doesn't stop his self-destructive behaviors and Mew watches him fall down again and again and Mew sees that as Ray not loving him, or anyone, enough to actually change. And that is especially strong now that Top has given him that. Top stopped. Top followed Mew's suggestions and changed. Top proved that Ray wasn't trying hard enough (he didn't because these issues are different but that's what Mew thinks.)
At least until he finds out Top cheated on him and Top shatters that illusion. But Mew's anger at that also shows that he feels the same way about Top's faults as he does about Ray's... he sees those faults as something to be instantly overcome rather than worked for and rather than fought for.
Top fulfilled Mew's literary dreams. They are living, breathing archetypes of characters and character arcs. Top gives up drugs and sex and his position as a 'top tier' for the sake of his relationship with Mew and at his first request. He fixes himself for Mew to become a better person in a way that Ray never did or could because Ray's kind of broken is a different kind of broken than Top ever was because Top pursued most of those for enjoyment rather than a desperate need. Or seemed to, at least.
I think Mew views supporting Ray the way that many people do, honestly. As telling him to fix himself and be surprised when he doesn't. Because, to Mew, all those are things that are easy to stop doing. Mew simply does not understand why Ray struggles to stop drinking, stop doing drugs, stop having casual sex. Mew sees all of those things as Ray's failures and faults and his not overcoming them as a personal failing.
Mew is a friend to Ray in that most interesting kind of way, in believing that Ray could be better if he just tried more and that Mew wants to be friends with the Ray who tried more but not exactly the Ray that is right in front of him but that's the Ray he has and so he'll be friends with him but he'll keep pressing him for him to be better.
But Top is everything Mew believes Ray should be. Top stopped everything when Mew asked and Mew didn't have to anything but ask. Mew never had to do anything but ask. And so Top proved that he was better than Ray could ever be, that Top could be the one to fulfill Mew's love fantasies and the books he's read and the romance he always believed could be true.
Only now Top has proved that, you know, people don't change on a dime and now he's going to have to work for Mew but the work is basically what Mew doesn't want. Mew wanted that instant, magic change and the work isn't what he's interested in.
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sp-ud · 5 days ago
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Genloss is a tragedy. No not the actual content, but how hard it fucking fell off.
Now, I know there are still people who enjoy it, even enjoy the new things and are excited with each new release of the founders game chapters.
And if you are one of those people, good for you. Genuinely, good for you. Don't let me being a hater ruin your own enjoyment. So I'd recommend maybe not reading this post cuz im not gonna be sympathetic to genloss or ranboo. If you couldn't guess by my opening sentence.
Anyways, I don't know it's just. Sad. To see something that had so much potential just fall flat so quickly. In retrospect as soon as the founders cut took more than 3 months it should have been obvious the whole project was kinda fucked.
And tbh I do not care about any thing like "ranboos just one guy", "it's their first project", "their adhd medication wasn't being properly supplied" etc etc. Like 1) ranboo literally isn't the only guy credited as editing the founders cut in the version that did end up releasing. 2) okay, same with like. 99% of other indie horror things. And those guys usually don't start out with enough money to rent out malls and buy expensive props that can only be used for one thing. 3) we loop back to the team thing. I'm someone who genuinely can barely function on days I don't take my adhd meds btw
Back on topic instead of countering arguments I've seen before but haven't actually been brought up to me.
It's just, there's this lack of cohesion and planning in what we've gotten since TSE that is just. So strange. I would say it comes from ranboos perfectionism but everything that keeps coming out is half-baked shit that sure seems unfinished.
Like, the founders cut was so fucking unpolished which is insane for something that took over a year. And we can't try to make it an in-universe thing, be for fucking real. Ranboo wasn't thinking like that.
And ngl when ranboo was reacting to that fnaf timeline video and like, praised "community storytelling" (aka when u throw a bunch of shit out, seen fans theorizing and go "oh wait ahit that's smart, yeah that's what I meant haha") it just. Made me feel so defeated cuz that kind of storytelling isn't fucking good.
It works well enough for fnaf but that's cuz it's fnaf. Look at how little attention generation loss gets outside of its initial and constantly shrinking bubble.
Admittedly it was gonna always be hard to follow tse, those kinds of productions are pricy. No shit. But the next steps being:
1: Twitter acc that kept going on hiatus because ranboo hadn't even fully planned it out before ranboo just decided to scrap the Twitter acc and just vaguely promise zero will return somewhere else
2: a slapped together cut of tse that completely fails at being a quicker introduction to the series compared to watching the original streams that clearly doesn't understand any of the elements that made tse charming and enjoyable even if cringeworthy at times
3: a second person pov book disguised as a choose your own adventure where not a single choice has actually mattered, not even the ones that were voted on and had to wait a whole week to find out what happened next.
Is just kinda insane to me. Like idk how u fumbled it that hard.
Yall remember how ranboo gave us a generation 2 Spotify playlist? Oh or what about "generation 0: the story of lostfield" which they showed off the title card for at twitchcon and vidcon? Where the fuck is any news even about those. I'd at least like some clarification about if the founders game is tied to literally either of those.
Getting off track here but tbh this is just me collecting all my annoyed/frustrated generation loss thoughts into one post.
But it's just like. Idk it's just weird that it took over a year after Tse for ranboo to get enough of a team to keep them on track and producing things consistently. And then for that thing to be. Literally none of the things we were expecting.
And now that we're 7 weeks in, technically 8 if we're counting the skipped week. 9 if we include the week we waited for after inputting the password. I'm just tired man. I'm tired of waiting for genloss to be good. Of trying to trust the process.
"Letting ranboo cook" only for Tse to finally be what we got did work, but it just. Really doesn't feel like ranboo gets why tse worked for so many people. And no, it wasn't just the inclusion of other popular ccs although that did certainly help if we r being blunt.
Tse had a story that left you guessing what was intentional and what wasn't. Only for the final reveal to be that it all was intentional, it was us the audience that was being experimented on, being tested. And that was cool as shit!
But, nothing has been able to get even close to that yet. This newest chapter of tfg's did briefly give me an "oh shit" moment at the start. But then the chapter just. Went no where. It was empty. And now we have to wait another week for the payoff. Another week on top of 7/8/9 weeks.
And listen, I get good stuff takes time. I get that many other indie horror things go months without updating. But like. There's just nothing aside from a small sense of obligation and vague interest to see if it's finally interesting or if I'll just have something to complain about with my friends that keeps me coming back.
It's not engaging, it's not something I'm really all that invested in. I keep fucking forgetting every week that a new chapter is coming out cuz there's just nothing to be excited for.
Im not even excited that we will be talking to the founder or whatever in the next chapter which is crazy cuz I feel like I used to be pretty invested in the founder specifically. Like I was the guy who constantly brought up the merch site's about page that was a message from the founder when no one else did.
Anyways that kinda wraps up my frustrated thoughts on genloss at this current point in time. Sorry it might be hard to follow.
Also, if ur someone who genuinely has still been enjoying genloss and/or the founders game who actually did read through all of this, I'd be genuinely interested in hearing ur opinions. I mean, you read through all of mine so its only fair. And also I just. Genuinely want to know what other people r finding fun abt the recent things as pretty much everyone in my direct sphere has roughly the same opinions as me.
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inklore · 1 year ago
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hi my love! do you have any writing tips? and words of encouragement when fics flop :(
hi darling <3 i feel like i always suck at giving writing tips but i'll try my very best for you ok. i hope some of these help! also very honored you'd even ask me 🤎
first and foremost: don't compare your writing to anyone else. everyone writes different, everyone has a certain style, a niche. if you're worried you don't have a 'style' don't, because you do. everyone does. it's not something you can make yourself have or take from others, it comes naturally with how your brain works and how it curates words and prose and scenes. that's why no book, no writing, is ever the same even if it's the same source material. it's a beautiful thing so don't stress about trying to make your writing sound or 'read' like other writers. it'll only ruin the enjoyment of how you write!
if you want to write more detailed just remember that not everything in a scene needs to be put down. the more you give the reader room to fill in the blanks and set the scene themselves the better experience for them (at least that's the case for my brain, others may feel different, but doing it this way makes me feel like i'm not adding too much detail or being repetitive). but visualizing, setting the scene for yourself through music or daydreaming is another great tip to write more detailed.
when it comes to smut i am a huge stan of you don't have to say the anatomically correct part they're using (like the p words or c word), and describing what it feels like to have that part touched, grazed, etc is really great. i struggle with fear of repeating myself so i try to find creative ways to describe body parts without actually calling them like flowery/nouns/different synonyms. i hope that made sense lmao.
don't worry about edits or making everything flow completely well in the first take. i highly rec everyone editing their own work and reading it back to themselves, yes it's tiring but it helps you find flow mistakes, add more detail, take something out that you thought fit in the moment but doesn't really. that's why i get everything out the first get go in a kind of fever dream manner and then when i go back to edit it then i buff out everything, add more, take away something, add more details that will make a scene pop off more.
now for the encouragement when it comes to flops: it's going to happen. there's no secret to making something do amazing or something failing. there really isn't and someone who says there is has just had a few lucky posts. because having a big following means nothing, writing a long fic, a short one, only using small font, being super aesthetic, really means nothing. i've seen writers with the most amazing aesthetic and beautiful prose with 100 followers write something and get 2k notes and then get 90 notes on their next post. same with someone who doesn't have a big aesthetic but a big following and writes short fics get 100 notes on their last ten posts but then that eleventh post randomly gets 1k. like it's really just up in the air on here if something is going to do good or not, unfortunately. so that's why i don't let it get to me when something i post gets 100 notes or 1k because i'm happy with both, less, or more. i don't expect anything anymore because that only leads to disappointment and i'm here to write and to have fun.
that's not to say i don't rec curating your own little community on here. make friends, block ppl with bad vibes, join discords of supportive friends. talk to writers who encourage and understand your feelings and discourse and who keep you going, give you inspo, etc etc. if only my friends ever rbed and read my stuff and there was only 10 of them? i'd say hell yeah and that'd encourage me to write more. having a good space of friends and community is amazing and can do a lot to fight off the writer scaries and the feelings of obsessing over numbers and success.
now this is just something i do but it always works for me; i post something and then force myself not to look at it for a day or two. i post it and move on to the next thing i want to work on. i do not dwell on how it's doing. i may q up some rbs for it but i don't even look at the notes when i do that. i deliberately never look at it because yes while it matters in the sense that we love encouragement, we love seeing people love something we spent hours on, we wrote this for ourselves but hello we want that validation too and that's okay, but like i said above and i'm going to say again notes mean nothing in regards to talent. these notes are not simon cowell judging you on your performance. so when i finally do go back to rb comments and reply to things, or if i just want to look at how it did, and the number is low i'm just like ok shrug at least those 20 people enjoyed it and that's better than 0. and if no one commented or rbed yeah that sucks and is disheartening but i can either dwell and be sad on it or i can continue to do what i love and write more. why let the annoying little brats on here who refuse to show their love on a work they read get you down? because there's a dozen of them out there and they're not going away. and you may have made someone's day for this little fic even if they didn't say something about it. it does suck that content creators on here don't get the rbs and comments and credit they deserve, and unfortunately if you want to keep doing what you love you gotta work around it and remind yourself why you're creating, continue to feel that joy. it's hard, believe me. but don't let your creativity be repressed because of it, because you'd be doing a disservice to yourself!
i'll say it again though: a high note count / following doesn't mean the fic is good or bad, neither does low notes / no following. no one's talent is ever in question here. we are here to write, have fun, fill the void of the rl scaries.
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gale-dragon-writer · 17 days ago
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Okay, doing something I usually don’t do, but I watched “The Chipmunk Adventure” recently on Youtube and I decided to give my thoughts on the movie now that I’m an adult in a Movie Review.
I remember having this movie on VHS when I was a kid (Yes, I am a 90’s baby, so yes, I had that kind of media growing up) and loving the movie at the time. So, I decided to re-watch the movie now to see how it holds up against the test of time.
I’ll start with the negatives of “The Chipmunk Adventure” and then the movie’s positives. I shall try to avoid as many spoilers as I can.
Cons of The Chipmunk Adventure:
Oh boy! Did the bulk of the representation of the other countries that were featured NOT age well! I get that this movie was released in 1987 and clearly their research was rather limited on those countries, so I’m not going to be as harsh on this part. (If this movie does somehow get a remake, I honestly hope that the representation get’s fixed).
The whole Girls vs Boys thing… Again, this movie was made and released in the 80’s, so… Yeah… I don’t think I should linger on this too much, but again, product of the time. Plus, the whole Girls vs Boys thing really only applies to Alvin and Brittany because they’re the only ones who actually care about it, since Simon, Theodore, Jeanette, and Eleanor were more dragged into the race and are chilled with each other.
According to the 1980 media, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore are 8 to 9-years-old. And I assume the Chipettes are the same age-range. So… Why are there multiple panty shot scenes with the Chipettes 😖? And what’s with the whole ‘attire’ change after both groups got caught? (How come they didn’t think to change back to their og clothing after getting out of their situation? Especially given where one of the groups went to after that 😑 ). Not to mention one of the songs was “Getting Lucky” with some snakes 🐍 😬… Yeah… I don’t know why the animators and/or writers of the movie added those, however… The Chipmunks and Chipettes are Literal Children!! 😡
The actual villains of this movie are… A little underwhelming 😞. Granted, their personalities are good for the types of baddies they are, but they didn’t really do much other than be kept posted on the “progress of the race”, at least until close to the end of the movie. Also… To keep the spoilers to a minimum, I will only say that they more or less sabotaged their whole grand plan.
There were some animation errors regarding some of the dolls, but that’s somewhat a minor complaint.
Now for the pros of The Chipmunk Adventure:
Let’s get this one out of the way, because it’s the most obvious one… The music 🎶 was great, songs were on brand and catchy (Except for one given the context, but it’s not enough to bring the enjoyment of the music down and it was technically well executed, now moving on). My only technical complaint about the songs is that there should’ve been more than one song with both the Chipmunks and Chipettes singing together. But it’s a minor complaint.
The “Adventure” part of the movie is/feels like an homage to “Around the world in 80 Days” given that the main task is to be the team to travel around the world in a hot air balloon 🎈 the fastest. The Chipmunks and Chipettes do take two different routes to complete this goal and have to exchange their respective doll for the doll of the other team to prove that they reached each check point they’re supposed to hit. It does somewhat feel like a relay race given the check points part, but it does play into the plot very well in a logical way.
Of course, the main characters are in character and work well of each other in an organic way.
Miss Miller is a chaotically good character that is comedy gold and never failed to make me simultaneously laugh and cringe at the same time 😅.
The overall plot of the movie was pretty good and easy to understand. Plus, I do give this movie points for not just going with the obvious tourist drawing locations when planning the teams’ routes.
There is a plot twist in this movie that as a kid I didn’t see coming, and as an adult with vague recollection of the movie, I still think that it was a well executed twist that really puts things into perspective given what was going on. (Yes, I am NOT saying what it is because I promised to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible).
Now that that is done, my overall score for The Chipmunk Adventure is…
6.7/10, and it’s a pretty decent kids movie despite some of the parts that didn’t age well. The overall plot was a great draw for me and I ended up watching the entire movie through w/o pausing or skipping over anything.
If you want to watch The Chipmunk Adventure, it’s on Youtube, but Idk for how long given copyrights. However, there are some physical meadia of this movie, but they’re VHS and as far as I know it didn’t have a DVD re-release. (But it might be on other streaming media’s or online somewhere that’s not Youtube).
And let me know if you want me to do another movie review in the future. (Not going to be taking movie requests, but if this is something you want me to do occasionally, let me know.)
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cryptidanathema · 10 months ago
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if not already asked, leon for the character ask :) basic but opinions vary!
(Also asked by @shinekittenace)
Why I like them: I fully expected this guy with his John Cena-esque go getter attitude and aggressively marketable ace to annoy the shit out of me, but the truth is is that hating Leon is like hating a puppy. You just can't. He's just a nice fuckin dude that wants to keep everyone safe even though he's just one man. There's also the fact that he's essentially a grown up ex-protagonist which the game delves into a little with his complicated emotions surrounding losing the title he's had since he was eleven by the end of the game and the fandom's done some FASCINATING psychological deep dives with. 
Why I don’t: I feel like GameFreak failed a bit with show don't tell with him. Some of the ways GameFreak try to make him seem really intelligent and capable are...a little on the nose to say the least. Like for instance him estimating how much Hop has grown during his introduction scene COULD be taken as a hint they don't get to see each other often but nah I really do suspect they wanted the kiddies to be like WOW THIS GUY IS SO SMART HE CAN DO MATH lol. I do kiiiind of suspect the fandom put more effort into analyzing the guy and the kind of havoc being a massive celebrity since the age of 11 can wreak on your personal life than GameFreak ever did but that's very much not a bad thing IMHO. I'm not one of those IF IT'S NOT STRICT CONFIRMED CANON IT'S OF THE DEVIL people (and honestly rather detest them) 
Favorite episode (scene if movie): I...don't think the Anime showcased the better sides of his personality well (he loses the protective streak and just kind of comes off like a self-absorbed manchild that everyone loves because he can defy basic Pokemon battle logic in the same way Ash can. He's a protagonist But Annoying This Time) so I'm not terribly interested in seeing more. 
Favorite season/movie: See above. 
Favorite line: Tbh I don't have one particular standout one immediately coming to mind and I'm feeling too lazy to go through his quotes page rn. His catchphrase IS fun to meme about I will say. 
Favorite outfit: He absolutely kills everything that's not the Sponsorship Cape tbh. The guy has GOOD fashion sense despite the memes, corporate was just holding him back. 
OTP: Raihan/Piers/Leon for reasons I already went into in the Raihan response lol (the vibes between him and Rai are interesting and pretty damn hard to deny but Piers is holding up 90% of my mental health on his bony little shoulders rn and also I wanna see him and Leon interact more) I'd also love he and Sonia to work thier shit out, they are cute as FUCK together in Pokespe 
Brotp: The platonic Raileon enjoyer strikes again. Id also certainly take he and Piers being bros too. Also he and Nemona would be absolutely insufferable together and I'd love to see it someday lol 
Head Canon: One thing that was inspired the anime and a certain infamous wall punching scene is that through no real fault of his own he and Raihan's relationship was actually dangerously close to fraying for a bit. He WANTS to be a good and supportive friend to his favorite person but he's gotten fame and empty adoration pretty much handed to him for long enough that he can't REALLY understand what's going on in Raihan's head, the immense pressure he's putting himself under and the frankly unhealthy behaviors he's starting to develop. It's gonna take the pressure of the championship being gone for Leon to stop being the impossible standard Raihan's harming himself with and start being an uncomplicated source of companionship again. On a brighter note he's a good enough guy that once he becomes Chairman he's gonna prove he deserves that position by taking steps to reverse Rose's power consolidation to make sure no one person can cause that much trouble for the nation of Galar again. He'll prove his worthiness to rule by NOT being a total corporate dictator. 
Unpopular opinion: I've bitched about finding him annoying in the anime enough so instead I'll say I actually don't mind how involved he was in the game plot, it's honestly kind of weird other adults HAVEN'T been like "why are we letting random ten year olds go into very dangerous situations unaccompanied" before if you think about it
A wish: The same as the others, I'd love to see him again IF he's not miserable or acting like an ass. 
An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Don't get lost in spacetime my neurodivergent king you've been through enough 🤞🤞🤞
5 words to best describe them: The tragedy of Superman, Pokemonned. 
My nickname for them: Lee suffices.
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archivalofsins · 7 months ago
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Honestly, I think if somebody just dislikes a Milgram character enough to vote them guilty off of their vibe or appearance alone like they know nothing else- Like I mean nothing. It's just a personal kneejerk reaction and gut feeling that they don't even want to think about. More power to that person. That's such a simple reason to decide to ruin a fictional person's life honestly. Like your vibes repulse me Guilty is such a mood we should do that more when it comes to fiction.
Plus, Milgram let's people vote based on any biases. So, it's completely within bounds. Now time for the not so fun oh Gunsli you're being a killjoy take-
I feel like we should kind of interrogate how that sort of understanding of media can impact the lives of real people.
Not to sound too naïve but media in my opinion is a space to explore and recognize are own biases and flaws from a safe distance.
This is why I don't particularly agree with the mindset of keep politics out of media. Because this is usually said by people who don't wish to discuss politics in real life or in media. So, they're not saying it like hey can we just keep it out of this, can we just keep this one place stress free and devoid of any political conversations. Like does it have to include x marginalized individual all the time. It's politics everywhere all the time now it's tiring.
I feel Milgram whether it sought to or not cultivated a demographic that perfectly encapsulates the can't we have fun it's not all that serious media consumer. The everyman of media consumption who's too tired from all their other stressors in life to really look for more issues in media and only wants to see fun takes about their favorite thing. Ones that don't force them to think to hard or view this thing they get some enjoyment from negatively.
Viewers that will even lash out at the creator if the series fails to cater to them specifically.
In a way I think Milgram is a good dissection of the media industry in the modern age. How frivolous engaging with it has gotten. How it's just one thing to the next. It's even gotten to the point that things can be thrown out mid run to remain incomplete forever if they don't hit their audience engagement quota.
Milgram was completely expected to be this underground passion project. No one working on it expected it to take off in the ways that it did. Yamanaka and Deco have said this enough.
It's not hard to think of it being a critique of modern media consumption on some levels. Especially with how Yamanaka has discussed media idolization and demonization before. Or the weight of being perceived by that many people in general.
I feel like this is especially apparent in Backdraft most notably in this line,
"Holler-holler from safety, so worthless. The fight’s up here! Come up to the ring and face me!"
As viewers we are in a position of safety. We have the option to stop viewing at any time. To tune out. Yet that's only for now. Once the shows over it's over and there's no tuning out or pausing real life. At the end of the day when Milgram is over everyone will have to be actors within their own lives. Where it will be possible for any of us to make the same mistakes as the prisoners or at worse end up in the same position as their victims.
Media all media is meant to give us the chance to engage with circumstances we've never seen before. Things we're unlikely to ever experience in our lifetimes or things that may just always be impossible.
Through looking into how we interact with these more fantastical elements along with analyzing the more mundane parts that may we can come to latch onto... Such as the ways we relate ourselves and our own experience to the media. We may be able to find out more about what encourages us to engage in the real world around us and it may even at times show us how the ways we engage with reality are harmful to not only ourselves but those around us.
So, when I see people go,
"Ahn I just hate that character no real reason. I just don't like their energy really. They just give off a bad vibe. I'm just not feeling them they're kind of sleazy."
I have this conflicted feeling of alright judgmental of you but okay... Like this kind of grimy feeling of ugh yeah more power to you. Like I could have learned more about this hypothetical person in their values but they just simply announced to me that they have none or don't want to think about them.
Which is at best fine in fiction and at worse a general issue when engaging with people in real life. To me and sorry in advance but stuff like that that just gives off the same energy as say someone crossing the street or getting on a different elevator because a poc is there. It's the sort of baseless judgment that makes me think huh it really is that easy for people to just go I don't like this person. Saying it was just their vibe is like such a copout like damn I didn't know you were walking mood ring got me a walking vibe check here.
So, good at it they can read someone before they even speak oh my gosh so cool what a talent. Someone get this person in every talent competition stat we've found the new national treasure. In fact put this person in the police academy because they're giving stop and search. They're giving I know a thug when I see one. Ugh skip the academy they're ready to be a cop now. That's how they just gave me a feeling sounds to me when uninterrogated.
Gives bootlicker, gives I like to discriminate don't ask me why I'm just so quirky and radical. I don't even know why I don't like them they were just weird ya know.
Like no I don't because you fucking explained nothing. You absolute- Mmm never mind. Sometimes you just have to pull a Yuno and go oh that's nice walk off then never talk to that person again.
Sometimes people who feel like this will even go off and tell others not to like that person. On their gut feeling that they don't have the guts to interrogate- Interesting maybe their gut just might be a coward.
I've garnered a lot of unwanted first hand experience with this concept too.
How people will make snap judgments based off my posture, if I'm smiling, if my hair is pressed or not etc. Or even in online settings the way I word things, how I handle people excusing their own ignorance than bemoaning others for doing exactly the same thing or having the same exact issues.
Then I think to myself for a moment,
"The problem really isn't the vibe of the character but the perception of the viewer. Along with said viewer's willingness to think about what made them have this perception."
Then I think,
"Hm, well maybe if they weren't taught to hate so easily maybe they wouldn't be getting so wound up about a fictional character due to vibes alone."
Again no one needs a reason or justification to not like someone fictional or real. It's perfectly fine to dislike. Everyone should do them and be their authentic selves. Yet, if someone is disliking to the point of triggering themselves then going well their vibes were just off that's a bit- Well, some people just lose the plot sometimes.
The same can be true with people liking a character too. Like it's goes both ways. Don't be mistaken it goes both ways. However, I think not really interrogating what causes us to like or dislike to extreme degrees is the real danger here. The thing that media can help help us tackle within ourselves without harming anyone.
It's easy to hate or like something. It can sometimes just be as simple as that thing being good to you or not. Plus, tastes change rather easily and none of us ever know when someone or ourselves will end up stepping over another person's line intentionally or not. I personally like to make all my slights direct because I'm the pettiest bitch here and I always will be.
We can be in the dirt together or out it it's the other parties choice. But honestly it's three strikes and a person is usually out with me.
Fiction has always been my escape from reality. Yet I feel if your escape isn't teaching how to cope then it just becomes a form of avoidance. A trap where a person can never leave and as it gets tighter what was once an escape will simply become and extension of their torment. Fiction will become too realistic, too political, just too much of everything.
It will be difficult to get it back to being that low stakes area that can allows us if we so choose to look at these things (that many of us have to deal with in real life) without fear of judgment, being misunderstood, but as something that can in small ways help us learn. Learn how to articulate oursleves to others better, stand up for ourselves, see when we're being mistreated, see when others are being mistreated.
Fiction gives us this space where we can create an opinion outside of a public setting. Become more aware of the dangers and troubles we may face in our real lives someday.
We can holler from safety about what character is good or bad. Because we're safe and that's how fiction is supposed to be. That's how experiencing and engaging with fiction should be. Yet, people who are quick to judge fiction tend to be the same sort of people quick to judge others based surface level factors rather than what they do and who they are.
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1yyyyyy1 · 1 year ago
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Before you leave this account, you should take the time to tell us why you like Dishonored so much. The pictures and gifs you reblog are mesmerizing in aesthetic. I am contemplating watching a walkthrough/playthrough of either that or one of the Assassin's Creed games, and an advertisement would do wonders to help me decide. :3
The first thing that comes to my mind when I think about Dishonored is that it is extremely immersive. I fell in love with it when I was still a kid and much of my enjoyment can be attributed to nostalgia, but, having replayed the game, I understand why I liked it back then and have come to appreciate it even more as an adult. Thematically, the story has a lot going for it: technology, magic, religion, the occult, assassin syndicates, covens, dystopian themes, gods and people trying to comprehend godhood (and failing which is both realistic and funny). Dishonored has one of the most interesting and aesthetically pleasing deity characters I've personally seen in a series, the rest of the cast is well-written as well and makes the game feel like an interactive book more than anything. What I like about this game is that it has a "show don't tell" kind of storytelling where you get bits and pieces of the worldbuilding through dialogue, books and radio announcements, the zones feel organic to explore and the story is not in your face with huge walls of quest text. The environment is responsive to the player's decisions and your choices matter a LOT, it has a stranded feeling to it where you are left to fend for yourself but never alone with how lively the questing hubs are. It is also designed with both combat and stealthy playstyle in mind so you can choose to play it in a way that you want. This is just me listing my positive impressions before getting to the actual gem of the series - its visual design, because it is amazing. Every frame deserves recognition, it is even more relevant to the second installation which, in my opinion, a rare case of a sequel surpassing the original. To say that architecture in this game is impressive is not to say anything, the Clockwork mansion alone has beaten all of my expectations when it comes to level design. The same can be said about the game's soundtrack which is memorable and at times eerie, a perfect fit for a grim world like Dishonored's. It is an engaging universe with interesting characters and balanced storytelling, so I definitely recommend playing this game if any of this resonates with you.
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cosmicjoke · 11 months ago
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It's very interesting to see how people are so quick to condemn others for having different views from them. It's one of the biggest problems and social media only seems to be making it more extreme. Demonize "the other", while creating more division and lack of tolerance. It's more than a little disturbing to see people view things so black and white, like we're not all just people, usually with good reasons from our own background that cause us to make the choices we do. We don't have to agree with one another but the least we can do is try to be a little more understanding and respectful. We'll never be able to unify and make better choices for everybody if we're constantly seeing "the other" as completely wrong and our own views as right and always just.
I also find it interesting that so many fans of AoT act this way. A good chunk of the story is about how we're quick to demonize "the other", painting things as black or white, right and wrong, and not taking into consideration why "the other" is acting the way they do and what's driven them to make the decisions they do.
In the end it's compassion, empathy, a willingness to be open and listen and learn, and understanding that will help start to mend the rift. Not intolerance and judgment. You can empathize with and understand someone's actions and choices without agreeing with or condoning them.
Anyway, sorry for really rambling. I appreciate your more nuanced take on things and although I don't always agree with everything you say, I still find you to be an awesome addition to the fandom community and you bring a little bit of enjoyment to my days. Especially with your AoT and Levi content. <3
Hey there, and thank you so much, truly! Given the last few days, and all the crap I've had hurled my way, I appreciate the support and kind words more than you know!
I completely agree with everything you said. It really is genuinely disturbing, and disheartening, how quick everyone is to just condemn and dismiss anyone and anything that doesn't align with their world view. And yes, there's absolute irony in the fact that so many of these people claim to be fans of AoT. As you said, AoT deals largely in themes of the shortsightedness of condemning others without context or understanding, and how that sort of assumption and black and white thinking leads to tragedy. It's a theme that runs throughout the story, yet we see so many readers of it miss the point entirely while also failing to recognize in their own behavior much of the same foolhardy judgmentalism that plagues so many of AoT's characters. Again, it's ironic. Lack of introspection and self-awareness is a serious problem.
Anyway, thank you so much again! I'm glad you enjoy the content of my blog! And once more, I appreciate the support so much!
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idontmindifuforgetme · 2 years ago
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Hello, Cianna
Lately I've been dealing with an issue and I really have no one to tell them about it. In the last couple ou months I came to the realization that I've been represing my sexuality and that I might not be straight (I don't really like labels, I just know that I like girls, maybe even more than guys). The problem is, I feel like this puts a barrier between me and my group of friends. You see, they are all straight girls, with the exception of one, who is bi, but dates a guy and is pretty much a confident outsider on many occasions. I don't want to feel like an outsider, as I really like my friends (and don't really have anyone else, but them), but I end up not sharing enough about my self, as most of the stuff I like is pretty queer (shows, art, music, style I would like to adapt). Any advice? I am just scared I will subtly start to feel rejected by them, as we have different views on the world (they are not homophobic, but they are pretty traditional tbh) and don't relate to the same things.
first and foremost i think you should proudly be who you are, bc life is too short and it ends faster than any of us think. constantly suppressing yourself leads to cognitive dissonance, which leads to chronic unhappiness (been there). you should be hanging out w people who bring out the best in you, not force you to lock it away. so no matter what you decide, it should be w the goal in mind that you need to be who you are.
i think communication is always worth a shot. people surprise you sometimes. maybe they’d care enough to be more kind and understanding of you. unless you think it’s a lost cause, in which case like… i don’t want to say it means they’re not your friends, but if you can’t look past your heteronormativity to make your friend feel welcome, that is so shallow. like it takes a special person to be that way. my friends are all a mixed bag of sexualities, and not once did any of us make the other feel alienated about it. that’s just so juvenile and close-minded. not something adults would (or should) do at all.
if all else fails, i think i’d just silently demote them to enjoyment friends—not friends i’d consider to be actually close to me, but friends i’d hang out w to fulfill my social quota. if you really care about these girls, and don’t think they’re coming from a malicious place, then maybe just adjust your expectations. accept that they might not be very understanding of your sexuality, but hang out w them whenever you feel the need to fulfill a social quota/if you like other aspects to them. and ofc, be on the lookout for people who’d actually accept you for who you are. you can even cut them off if it becomes too much, bc suppressing yourself like this—it will lead to resentment. it’s not a sustainable thing.
whatever you do, i think you should be honest about who you are/your interests. you will be so unhappy otherwise
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alovelyburn · 2 years ago
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I try to understand the reasoning with cycles and generations but I actually fail to get why would that be in any way meaningful? Griffith already got his cycle in a way didn’t he? would him having a child have any narrative purpose? And the fact that it would come from relationship this miserable is just awful. I cannot see how it would affect this story in any positive way
I mean, to be clear here, it's not like I'm championing the cause of Griffith and Charlotte having children. Whether or not it happens has absolutely no impact on my interest in or enjoyment of the story. So, I'm happy to answer, but at the same time, I promise I don't care.
SO OKAY THEN.
Berserk has often and always had a fair amount of emphasis on child characters - from Rickert all the way through to Isma, there's just always been a bunch of them around. But more than that even, it has an emphasis on child-parent relationships, the perpetuation and breaking of cycles, and the question of the I guess next generation (often but not always through Some Kid).
Also, many major turns for the characters or the plot are pushed by child characters and things that befall them, from the deaths of Griffith and Guts' respective (individual) golden ages due to the deaths of children to the Moonkid becoming the route to Griffith's return and Schierke becoming the anchor for Guts' continued stability. Griffith's own self-image is and has always been a child, as well.
I'm trying not to go on and on and on about this, but basically what I'm saying is, in a story that is as concerned with generations, childhood trauma, cycles and breaking or repeating those cycles, it does not strike me as unrealistic that Miura might have considered Griffith leaving a kid behind when he presumably shuffles off this mortal coil would be an appropriate coda to his story.
And even beyond the specific way Berserk in particular uses child characters, children within the context of a narrative (or the end of one) are often used as a pseudo-redemptive mechanism for a character who could be perceived as having gone the "wrong way." The character is... bad, or gone, or dead or whatever, but the child remains. Now whether you think Griffith in fact went the wrong way is another issue, but if we're saying he did then it would not be unusual for a story to do that.
And to be clear, I'm not saying they would literally have Charlotte sit there thinking, yes Griffith was a bad man but HawkBaby will redeem him! It's just kind of the implicit purpose of the trope.
And I don't think Moonkid counts as his cycle because Moonkid isn't generally presented as his son; he's more presented as Casca's son (not even Guts' really, tbh) and Griffith's… host body, like yeah it is in some ways the child of the three of them, but he isn't really presented that way within the context of the story. Also he might not survive the ending anyway.
Ultimately though, the question of whether a kid would have a narrative purpose depends on what they did with it, doesn't it? Something that doesn't exist has the potential for any purpose they're written into.
It also depends on when such a hypothetical person were brought into the story; personally, I usually assume that if it DID happen, it would be coda-level stuff: the kind of thing you find out in the epilogue/final wrapup chapter or something. I tend to doubt that that there would literally be another child walking around the story doing things. There could be, I guess, but it doesn't seem like the timing would work very well, again without another timeskip. Anyway, if it just showed up in the last chapter, then it maintains the aforementioned thematic purposes, but wouldn't need a narrative purpose because its purpose would be be pseudo-redemptive, and to make readers go "aww" at the end of the series or I guess to be happy for Charlotte if they like Charlotte.
Which brings me to my last thought, which is also the only one I can say is a true statement of opinion and not idle speculation:
I don't really think Griffith's relationship with Charlotte could be fairly described as miserable. Charlotte is actively happy, and Griffith is…. fine? Neither of them are really stewing in pain and misery and it's not the first lopsided or semi-political match ever, especially among royalty.
…or, well, Griffith may be miserable but if so it seemingly has more to do with his unresolved emotional issues than Charlotte.
ETA: Oh yeah one more thing. If Griffith dies, leaving an heir would allow his accomplishments to stand without Griffith himself having to hang around in the world ruling like a God-King. He comes to kick start a new era, he brings humanity into one nation, but he does so through means that leave his hands dirty, so to speak. But his kid would have the ability to guide that world without carrying the baggage of Griffith's guilt and the associated actions.
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