#i think in terms of the best episode so far my favorite was 2?

[beauzos]

last thing i’ll say about Clone High for now: i know a lot of people hated episode 1 (esp after it leaked online a couple months ago) bcs it was all about Cancel Culture after the 2003 clones have to readjust to 2023 culture, but honestly it didn’t bother me. some of it was kinda ~cringe~ ig but honestly it did a good job not just being like “cancel culture bad!!!” in that boring one-note conservative way a lot of shows do and showed the absurdity of all sides ig?

which is a centrist ass opinion to have i know but it’s a funnie comedy show and thats rly the best we can do in a show like this imo. Abe wasn’t right (they def showed that through Topher Bus and Ivan the Terrible supporting him through it but being terrible people that he shouldn’t get close with), the way the new clones handled Abe having a lot of outdated lingo and opinions wasn’t right, and the way Joan reacted wasn’t right either. funny enough i think Confucius was the one who was closest to getting it right, he just gets bogged down with his obsession with tiktok clout or whatever just to show how apologies / cancellation get wrapped up in this pageantry that’s pretty damn worthless ultimately

the episode could’ve been much stronger but i didn’t find it wildly cringe the way a lot of people did. it was just mad clunky like all the fucking episodes have been.

[avelera]

Oh GOD you, too, are an online lectures geek pls consider this your invitation to talk about favs--ones that stuck with you, current obsessions--the more the better! In trade, I'll tell you the two things I'm currently adoring: Yale's Open Course podcast on The Civil War to Reconstruction done by David Blight (man forgot more than ten other civil war historians know even if he mumbles *constantly*) and A History of Christianity by Diarmaid MacCulloch (so! worth the Prime BBC free trial <3)

Hiya! Don't mind if I do!

So 99% of the lectures I've watched lately are on the Great Courses Plus which was recently and stupidly renamed "Wondrium", which I find profoundly stupid because instead of just saying, "Hey, check out the Great Courses, yeah you can kinda guess what the streaming service offers," I have to instead explain what this nonsense term "Wondrium" means, ANYWAY, they've got lectures about basically everything.

Essentially, it's Netflix but for college lectures. YouTube has become so unreliable as far as what's actual information and what's completely made up or even racist conspiracy theory BS that I find it completely untrustworthy. Also, most documentaries are trying to prove something new, or offer a new angle on something, OR they're SO rudimentary and 101 that even for topics I know less about in history I tend to already know everything they're going to say.

So I pivoted to college lectures because 1) it's a whole series so like, dozens of hours I can just throw on in the background while doing something mindless and 2) I know it's going to be trustworthy, reliable, and provide me a baseline on a topic instead of some "new controversial spin" on it. Like, goddammit, sometimes I just want to better understand the history of Ancient Egypt, not your stupid theory about how they were secretly all space aliens or that we've got the carbon dating all wrong or whatever made up nonsense.

So, here's a list of some of my favorites!

Hannibal: The Military Genius Who Almost Conquered Rome - I consider myself about as near an expert as a non-academic can get on Rome and this lecture actually taught me some things, which is rare, so I recommend it as a fantastic deep dive!

How the Crusades Changed History is a pretty good short version that I recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Old Guard's Nicky and Joe BUT, for the best Crusades lecture, I'd recommend this History of the Crusades podcast. Sharyn Eastaugh is not just insanely informative, but her dry wit made me laugh out loud at least once an episode at the sheer hapless ineptitude of the Crusaders.

In the Wake of the Plague is a fantastic new lecture by Wondrium, the lecturer is amazing and it provides a lot of objective insights into how humans react to plagues that is VERY relevant to current events, BUT their lecture on **The Black Death in general is the one that got me obsessed with their lecture series. I watched it in the first week of Covid lockdown and let me tell you, having this super in-depth, objective look into how people behaved during the Black Death was incredibly valuable (and chilling) going into those years because it all played out with astonishing similarity. Also, anything by that lecturer, Dorsey Armstrong, is awesome. She's a Medievalist of the highest order. I also recommend her lecture on King Arthur.

**The Birth of the Modern Mind: The Intellectual History of the 17th and 18th Centuries - this one wins the award for "Lecture I thought most likely to bore me to tears that ended up being the single most fascinating I've heard in YEARS." Seriously, the way it explores the evolution of how we think in the modern era, through the philosophers who first conceived of these ideas, was jaw-droppingly fascinating. I also recommend it to writers of historical fiction and fantasy for a crash course, by proxy, of how to write people who think differently than you.

The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World - I once had beef with a post here on Tumblr that claimed that academic Classicists don't care about slaves or normal people during the Roman Empire, which is just profoundly absurd. I pointed out this lecture to them if they actually wanted to learn more about the subject instead of complaining that an art history professor may not have been prepped for a lecture about the lives of enslaved people in Ancient Rome. If that is a subject of interest, this lecture is great.

The Real History of Pirates - a must-listen for OFMD fans who want to get an introduction to historical pirates and the history of pirates in literature, which "Our Flag Means Death" owes as much if not more to than the historical figures.

**Turning Points in Middle Eastern History - One of the first lectures I listened to and still one of my enduring favorites. It's the first one I picked up for writing my Old Guard fic, Lights Out, when I wanted to write Joe from a more informed angle and I learned so much.

Understanding Japan: A Cultural History - One of my favorite lectures based on format, the lecturer picks a literary work or cultural concept as the entry point to explore the timeline of Japanese history. It's a fantastic way to give a wider and more holistic look at each era, pairing it with a cultural touchstone.

Shout-out to "The Mysterious Etruscans" because I just think they're neat. The lecturer is also very good and I highly recommend his lecture on ancient cities as well which taught me a lot that I didn't know.

Also a shout out to, "Warriors, Queens, and Intellectuals: 36 Great Women before 1400" for its subject and the lecturer who is great and she also has a really fascinating talk about the history of Spain.

Ok, I THINK that's some of the top ones! ;D

[our-flag-means-love]

by popular demand (aka the 63 people who voted "yes" in my poll (six months ago oops) for whether or not i should do this)

here's why ofmd is a romcom, beat by beat

so for the purposes of this analysis, the ten stages outlined in this article are what i'm using for reference.

(and for the sake of everyone's dashes, i've added a cut because This Got Long. like, genuinely, 1.6k and 24 images. you've been warned.)

1. Unfulfilled Desire: something important is missing from the love interests' lives.

before the love interests meet, both of their lives are lacking in some way, often in a way they hardly realize. and this unfulfilled desire doesn't have to be romantic love in and of itself, and quite often it's not. and the things missing from ed and stede's lives are not romantic love. not at first.

what stede's missing is skill and structure. to put it bluntly, he has no idea what the fuck he's doing as a pirate, and without the guidance of someone more experienced, he'd likely get himself and his whole crew killed soon.

meanwhile, what ed's missing is interest. he's just about as bored with his life as anyone can be. every day is the same, and he needs something new—a new environment, a new challenge—to bring the spark back into his life.

2. Meet-Cute: the love interests meet, and at first, their personalities clash.

now, granted... in most meet-cutes, one of the protagonists isn't like three-quarters dead and nearly unconscious. but, as we know, ofmd is not like most shows.

but when we fast forward a bit to their real proper first meeting, we can quickly start to see how their personalities differ. in many meet-cutes, the love interests start off on bad terms, but in ofmd it's more of a contrast than a real clash, as stede and ed take a liking to each other right away.

in their very first conversation, stede is self-conscious and fretting, while ed is relaxed as can be. and as they talk, ed is in awe of stede's eccentricities, and stede is in awe of ed's powerful reputation.

and nothing exemplifies their contrast better than what they spend the rest of the episode doing—literally switching clothes and switching roles, getting a taste of what it would be like to be each other.

3. Happy Together: the love interests spend time together and grow to enjoy each other's company.

the classic honeymoon phase—not necessarily denoting romance yet, just a bond that continues to grow stronger the more time they spend together.

one of their first, biggest bonding events, just a few days after they met, is of course the fancy french party. while the night ends in disaster, the two end up much closer after the experiences they shared.

however, i think by far the best example of this stage is the montage at the beginning of episode 6, narrated by none other than my favorite (derogatory) terrible little rat man, izzy hands, who will become relevant soon. in romcoms, this stage is often shown through montages, so it only makes sense that that would be a great demonstration of it here as well.

4. Obstacles Arise: the love interests' original lives and obligations catch back up with them.

it's no longer possible to avoid the hard truths their happiness let them ignore. while both ed and stede go through this, i think stede goes through it differently and at different, non-linear times, so i'll talk about him first.

the pre-edward life that stede has been forcing to the back of his mind is, quite obviously, his wife and children back on land. and he's done a very effective job of ignoring it while he's been around ed.

he was fretting about it before—like in episode 2 with nigel's guilt ghost—but it doesn't seem to fully hit him again until he learns in episode 9 that he'd been declared dead. (in my opinion, the dreams/flashbacks in episode 4 feel less about stede's guilt, specifically, than these other instances do. but even if they are, that's still before he properly met ed.) so he does go through this stage, but it happens in slightly different ways and at different times.

ed, on the other hand, has a very specific and concrete obligation that catches up with him: a promise he made two weeks ago.

this is where izzy comes in. just as mary is the personified symbol of stede's old life, izzy is the equivalent for ed. whether ed initially intended to follow through on the plan or only said it to placate izzy is up for debate (and my personal take is that it's somewhere in between, but that's a story for another time), but izzy is going to hold him to it regardless.

and when ed can't bring himself to do it, because of both his growing feelings for stede and his trauma around killing people himself, izzy is determined to carry out the act for him.

5. The Journey: the love interests face and overcome the obstacles together.

what better way to overcome adversity than by getting thumbtacked to a mast by the same Very Angy Little Guy who's the source of the adversity in the first place? with izzy banished, the biggest obstacle to ed and stede's love is out of the way (for now).

stede still hasn't overcome his big obstacle, of course, but as i said, that happens very non-linearly with regard to the romcom structure.

the two also overcome other minor obstacles, like their bickering during the treasure hunt adventure. the key is that they face what's in their path and settle into a new normal with each other.

6. New Obstacles: despite solutions seeming effective, more hardships arise.

the next big issue thrown into ed and stede's relationship has a name, and its name is calico jack rackham, my favorite (affectionate) dumpster fire of a man. which makes sense—after all, his sole purpose in meeting up with them was to separate them before the english navy arrived. and he does a damn effective job of it.

and even once he's gone, they're still faced with chauncey badminton, stede's near-execution, and his and ed's eventual surrender to the english. they may have escaped chauncey's wrath (for now), but they bought it at the cost of their freedom.

and on top of all of that, now they finally confess their feelings for each other and make plans to run away together, and the choice—really, stede's choice—of whether or not to go through with running off to china looms in the distance. speaking of which…

7. The Choice: the love interests have to decide if the relationship can work.

a turning point is reached, and a decision has to be made. can they go through with it? are they really the best thing for each other?

the choice stede makes here is helped along in no small part by chauncey badminton, whose encounter just solidifies the beliefs stede already held—that he abandoned his family, and that ed is better off without him.

so stede makes the choice to run.

he goes home to his family, and ed is left to return to the ship alone.

8. Crisis: the love interests—now apart—ruminate and face the consequences of their choice.

the winter of their discontent. stede has made his choice, they've separated, and they're both worse off for it.

ed is depressed, retreating to his blanket fort and writing sad songs while eating marmalade.

and meanwhile, stede is back with mary and the kids, but learns that they'd all moved on and were much happier without him around. so he's left trying to force himself back into a space where he no longer fits, and all the while he misses ed more than anything.

and of course, ed takes it one step further by going full emo kraken mode. he's so distraught about stede leaving that he too forces himself back into the shell of what people expect of him—of what he was supposed to be before he even met stede—despite not fitting there anymore.

it's obvious that without each other, they're both in pretty rough shape.

9. Epiphany: one or both of the love interests conclude that they belong together and rush to reunite.

think of this stage as the person running through the airport to reach their love interest before the flight leaves.

in ofmd, it's clear who has the epiphany, because we watch it happen in real time. stede sits down with mary and asks her how it feels to be in love, and while she describes it, all he can think of is his time with ed. he finally realizes that what he's been feeling all along is love.

once he knows this, he knows he has to leave his family again, so he can reunite with ed. he and mary stage their fuckery, and stede rows off in a dinghy bound for wherever ed is, because he knows that as long as he's with ed, he'll be happy and everything will be okay.

10. Resolution: the love interests are reunited. desires are fulfilled, and all is well.

sooo… stay tuned for october 5th, i suppose?

[cringefaecompilation]

dorian storm or caleb widogast?

dorian

First impression

instantly liked him in exu and loved his story with the spider queen. thought he got a major downgrade in the main series when he came back with fearne and orym though :(

Impression now

robbie daymond i am so sorry i ever doubted you, thank you for bringing back your exu energy my man. i love him even more now

Favorite moment

ooough fuck. the moment with the crown and orym, the moment where fy'ra gives him a pep talk, every single interaction he has with laudna, his speech to his dad...

Idea for a story

dorian storm growing up in the silken squall backstory novel NOW MISTER MERCER

Unpopular opinion

asides from me thinking his 14 episode stint was noticeably weaker than his exu intro, i'm still so vindicated in my theory that dorian would return with problems of his own and not be bh's therapyboyfriend.

Favorite relationship

exu trio. him and orym alone doesn't hit the same if fearne ain't there. also him and laudna and him and chetney is funny. and whatever the fuck he has going on with ashton (🏳️‍🌈?)

Favorite headcanon

immunodeficient dorian and him growing up sick and kept away from everyone currently has my brain in a chokehold

caleb

First impression

assumed he was going to be my favorite character because i was under the impression he was a way more funny guy and the campaign was far more lighthearted than it actually was. dammit fandom. also scared the shit out of me when liam dropped the accent and used his normal voice for the first time

Impression now

i still like him! not my favorite but i think his story is the most well developed and satisfying in all of cr so far, but we'll have to see how campaign three ends because imogen may overtake him depending how it shakes out

Favorite moment

okay weird pull but him puking on the floor after veth screamed at him that "it was your people that did this! fuck them and fuck you!" and being consoled by caduceus is one of the most overlooked moments in campaign 2 to me

Idea for a story

um. idk put him in a walmart or something

Unpopular opinion

his accent reads way more austrian than german to me. also i sort of disliked how his backstory with the solstryce academy completely overtook fjord's desire to go there and that they never really did... anything with that?

(imogen and fearne kinda have the same problem with being ruidsuborns but at least matt's making sure fearne has a horse in that race with ludinus and zathuda trying to steal her away as of recent)

Favorite relationship

widobrave still the best 2024

Favorite headcanon

he's on good terms with astrid, she and essek just have really petty beef with one another that they keep hidden from him

[raayllum]

I’m sorry how is arc 2 not about aaravos? Everything about the show leads back to aaravos. The whole lore of the show is centered around aaravos. And it is absolutely titled the mystery of aaravos because it does plan on dealing with the mystery of aaravos in every possible way, and that has infact been confirmed by the showrunners on multiple instances. Aaravos is just as, if not more of a main character than rayllum in the ways that count because everything going on revolves around him. 

And since he’s an EXTREMELY important character, how is it not justified for fans of him to want more screen time of him? 

I’m sorry but not everything about the show revolves around rayllum and you shouldn’t call people out just for wanting to see more of their favorite character.

God forbid something about aaravos is actually about aaravos and not rayllum for once 💀💀

Actually I can and do call people out for wanting to see more of their favourite character when it causes them to be entitled / unfair to the broader story they want to tell. If you haven't been doing those things, then that post wasn't about you, but given the way you put your best foot forward here, I might go out on a limb and guess this might be behaviour you display sometimes, and it may be worth reconsidering.

As a bit of background:

My favourite character in a TV show was once a side character who was in 1/4 seasons, and one episode in the final season, and then he never showed up again. which was Okay, because he was a Side Character and it would've been pretty silly for the show to bend over backwards to include him more. Granted, there were opportunities (him and another character were travelling together, then she showed up at a Plot Relevant location without him and it was never addressed) but the show wasn't bad or wrong for not including more. I wasn't owed more screen time just because he was my favourite character, and while any character can Technically be Levelled Up for more screen time and plot relevance, sometimes characters are just there to serve more minor specific purposes, and that's Okay. It's all about adjusting your own expectations and not being an asshole.

Furthermore, given that I posted my personal opinion on my personal blog and only used my personal tags for it, you had two options for finding this post:

It got sent to you, presumably meaning you had someone else to be salty with in a private manner that would've been far more appropriate

You follow(ed) me, in which case you are more than encouraged to unfollow or block me if I have a post/opinion you find annoying or uncouth. Please do so rather than doing whatever This Is in my inbox in the future, it'll likely save you not only time but also embarrassment

The fact you thought going into the inbox of a Virtual Stranger and getting upset about me not thinking your favourite character is the Most Important Character in TDP Ever — because he isn't — in one (1) post is truly baffling to me in terms of 1) curating your internet experience and 2) interacting appropriately with strangers directly online. I've seen a lot of shit opinions in my day, and I vent in private to my fandom friends about it 99.9% of the time, thank you very much, or post about it in my personal tags on my own blog rather than making it someone else's problem.

In the nature of analysis / debate, though, let me clear what I meant considering 4+ people got their trousers in a twist about the idea that Aaravos isn't a main character.

That said, a few quick disclaimers: Aaravos is a very interesting character to me, and I like him a lot. I've written a fair bit about him in regards to how he's a thematic opposite to Harrow, his view of children, what I think happened to his chest piece, speculation on his banishment, his parallels to Finnegrin, his mythic connections to aspects of the Fae + Egyptian and Greek mythology, his foil relationship to Rayla, his characterization and motifs/symbols. So it's not as though I don't enjoy him or don't think he's important to the story. He is, he's just not a main character nor the most important. Moving on:

Secondly: it seems maybe my meaning of macguffin is getting misconstrued. A story Macguffin is a plot device that drives the story forward. Sometimes it's a character (R2D2 in star wars has to be transported from one dangerous location to safety because he has blue print plans), sometimes it's an object (the one ring, fetch quests, etc). Either way, the story is centralized around 1) characters competing for ownership or safe guarding of said person/thing and 2) through that competition or competing needs, the characterization of the main cast is revealed.

In Arc 1, Zym is the plot Macguffin. He overall has very little personality even once hatched beyond being sweet, occasionally helpful, and scared. He is the titular character, and his existence matters, but mostly because he serves as a motivational point for the characters. Claudia, Soren, and Viren want to stop Zym from getting back to Xadia; Rayla, Callum, and Ezran, want to help him get back.

Zym himself does not drive episodes forward. He rarely makes decisions that impact the main group. His existence or fears cause them to make decisions (they go looking for help because they dropped his egg; Rayla and Callum have to go after Nyx because she stole him) but he is not likewise making decisions for the group. S4 definitely levelled Zym up into him making 1) more independent decisions and 2) having more of his own interior feelings, particularly about his father, but Callum is the one who decides to send him up into the trees; Ezran is the one calling the meeting for Zym to come to Katolis. A couple of exceptions (he has a mini arc about his mom for 2 eps, he has an arc in s2 with Ezran) do not suddenly make Zym a "I'm making decisions that heavily push the plot forward every episode" kind of character.

You'll also note, if you actually read said post you're referencing, that I specified "'the mystery of aaravos' (esp these past two seasons)" and that I never mentioned lore, either, even if I have likewise written about lore extensively (one of my more recent metas on it was about 4.8k words on lore alone, for example).

Aaravos' plot impact was a lot heavier in S2 and particularly S3 than it is in S4 or S5, as he influenced Viren's decisions more heavily and eventually came into more direct conflict with the core protagonists. This is likewise reflected in Aaravos in S2 and S3 being in multiple episodes (half the season in s2, and almost every episode at least a little in s3).

Meanwhile in Arc 2, Aaravos could effectively, unknown to his pawns drop dead after giving Claudia her final instructions pre-S4, and nothing would be affected plot wise, because Arc 2 thus far has mostly been characters fearing his impending release (the main cast) or dealing with the fallout of his actions from S3 (the Sunfire elf plot line). The only thing we'd lose on that level from a "Claudia believes Aaravos is alive and is trying to free him, but he's not actually" is Callum and Rayla's possession plot line, ironically enough given your apparent dislike of them, until the very very end of 5x09 in which he tries to goad Viren into killing SS.

I'm excited for and expecting that to change in S6 and S7, but that doesn't change what S4 and S5 currently are, either. Same thing for Amaya and Janai more so being main characters, Janai in particular, in S4 and S5, but they were not main characters in the first three seasons. That doesn't mean they're not good, meaningful, and important characters for the story, but I'd be a very poor meta writer / have very poor media literacy if I tried to claim that Janai is a main character in arc 1 over say, Callum.

For another example: everything in Avatar: The Last Airbender revolves around Team Avatar wanting to stop Ozai, but Ozai is not a main character in the show. He's there to be a minor character, an endgame big bad, and to affect his children / embody the conflict the characters are up against. The fact that TDP has so many antagonists that are also Main Characters throughout the whole show (Viren, Claudia) is actually pretty rare in media, particularly for children.

The Legend of Zelda games usually revolve around Link wanting to save or free Zelda, and while certain games flesh her out and make her more developed into a main character, the central character of the narrative is Link, because he's the character we follow the most.

Additionally, the Importance of a character in a narrative has no bearing on whether they're your favourite, or even necessarily whether they're a 'good' / 'well written' character. Rayla, for example, is my personal #1 favourite character in TDP. She is a main character; she is not The main character. That's not an insult to Rayla; she's there to be a foil, one hell of a narrative lancer, and our main elven character. But I can't (nor do I want to) magically change her role in the story to claim that it's something it isn't.

The central main character of TDP is Callum. It always has been, it always will be.

He is the character who shows up in every single episode, he's our central mage character in a show all about magic, he has the most developed relationships out of everyone, he is the POV character we follow the most. That doesn't mean he's your favourite, that doesn't mean he has to be your preference, you don't even have to like him. But he is The Main Character. The majority of the story revolves around him and the people in his life. No amount of liking another character more is going to change that, whether you're clamouring for Rayla, Aaravos, Sol Regem or anyone else.

While there are shows where I think the side lining of characters feels off (Gus and Willow in The Owl House come to mind) that's mostly because 1) that sort of side lining usually happens to characters of colour, as it did there and 2) there's no real reason for the story to sideline them considering everyone lives in close proximity and there's a s1 emphasis that the main character has never had friends before and that she desperately wants some. Therefore, she should be thrilled to have best friends for the first time, but we barely see them. See the disconnect?

Aaravos is a minor character and big bad who is well utilized in the overall minimal screentime he has, especially thus far in S4 and S5. That doesn't mean he's not important to the story, and that doesn't mean he can't or shouldn't be your favourite, but your assertion doesn't miraculously make him our main core protagonist of the entire show, because 1) he's not our central pov character and 2) that's about the only requirement a main protagonist has to have, and 3) that's just not how stories work.

I also have no clue why you brought up Rayllum as a ship, given that I didn't mention them in my OG post at all, but given that you seem to think "this character isn't a main character" is a moral or value statement, I'll assume you said it to ruffle my feathers — that doesn't really work, given that I agree with you that not everything in the show is about Callum or Rayla individually or as a relationship, because it Isn't. Even if I hated them as characters or as a dynamic, however, that wouldn't change the fact that they're two of the core 3 characters (alongside Ezran) and that their relationship has the most screentime out of anyone in the show.

And if the show decided to tone down their screen time to give other characters more time, I'd be okay with that — because I don't need my Personal Favourite to be the most important character in the source material / screen time ever in order to feel secure in liking them, thanks.

[corruptedhyena]

hello to the like 3 people who have been waiting for Bindertales

im so sorry, the next 2 pages are done dw but it's in progress ;w;

in the meantime HELLO NEIGHBOR AGAIN IM SO SORRY the new episodes are making me scream again so please give me a moment to share some doodles whilst i share my thoughts.

SEASON 2 SPOILERS INCOMING!!

firstly, my favorite part of the series: Trinity and Nicky's friendship! i'm really not a fan of romance plots so i ADORE that they aren't trying anything with these two, just leaving it to mosty one-sided Enzo.

so, when the teasers showed an almost direct parallel of Nicky leading Trinity into Peterson's house by giving us a shot of Trinity leading Nicky, it really got my hopes up!! it thankfully didn't disappoint too horribly, but damn if it isn't painful to watch Trinity go from "yeah Nicky you've been through a lot huh ): " in episode 1 to "c'mon dude you're the one who told me to be brave, why are you being so scared???" it was a bit AAAAA

thankfully, it does seem somewhat purposeful, as she is still a kid and seems to be doing her best to help Nicky the way he helped her be brave, it's just really backfiring. as seen when she's taken home from school in ep 2, she's clearly worried about him and is very much aware something is going on, so it's not like there's some sorta character betrayal! i really hope they'll have a chance to really talk things out and reach an understanding. OR AT LEAST JUST GIVE NICKY A HUG FOR FUCK'S SAKE POOR BOY, THAT CLIFFHANGER HURTS SO MUCH OML

I LOVE SIBLING CONTENT PLEASE GIVE US MORE!! some of my favorite bits of background detail in s1 are Maritza's reactions to Enzo being a simp. she's such an asshole and i love her for it. she's also still acting as the greatest voice of the straight man, which is a breath of fresh air sometimes among the children playing detective during MULTIPLE MURDERS AND ACTS OF ARSON!!!

speaking of, why the hell did Mrs. Bales immediately get suspicious of the LITERAL CHILDREN who were OUTSIDE during the housefire? especially since she herself said her outlet blew? i understand stories following kids have to find a way to write out the parents sometimes, but it's just baffling that it was handled so well in s1 compared to s2. and they also jump on the anti-Nicky train? did they not literally witness that child escape from Peterson's after their daughter told them he was kidnapped weeks ago????? DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND THIS IS A LITERAL CHILD WHO JUST GOT TRAUMATIZED AND WHOSE PARENTS WERE SAID TO BE HARD TO CONTACT??!?!?!?!

i'm

far less agonized, i just thought about how in the world Peterson hid among gravestones as a grown-ass man during Trinity's story in s1, and thought it'd be funny if, as i draw him, he pretended to be a bush behind a gravestone. hunched up so his body's behind the stone and the big flumf of his mane and tail stuck out. logically, a flashlight would catch the red of it despite the dark, but cartoon logic could hand-wave it away.

in terms of s2 thoughts with him, it's cool to see his backstory! i'm still pretty much in the dark when it comes to the whole Hello Neighbor lore, as i only saw gameplay of the alphas and never heard the intended storyline, but i did see that last Matpat video! i can't wait to see what's up with his brother being the shadow guy (i think) and why he's terrorizing Nicky. i'm betting it's not a malicious thing, that maybe he's trying to make contact or keep him safe, considering the flashback! and it seems like the grown-up bullies might be the ones behind the kids' disappearances and Crowface, though i'm not quite as confident about that one. i just know a lot of the adults are suspicious and i think it's a red herring that there's supposedly a secret neighbor. i think it's all of them, and Peterson knows.

still doesn't excuse kidnapping and traumatizing Nicky tho

thanks to anyone who reads this rambling mess, i just have a lot of thoughts about this show and don't have anyone i know who's caught up or into it (:

[destinygoldenstar]

☀️Tom Is The Impostor Among Us☀️ - Total Drama Viewer Reacts to Disventure Camp Season 1 Episode 3 “Mazed And Confused”

Sorry for the wait. I have wanted to get this out sooner. But I had work, + I caught a cold. It’s not fun. Still doing this though.

Let’s Jump Right In:

"Now go find Ellie"

And right off the bat, we get this person again.

Who are you?! Why do you appear so randomly?!

I don't think you have to watch for Grett controlling you Gabby, I think you have to watch for your twin here.

"I'm not in the best position, but at least I didn't get votes."

That's one way to look at it.

"I have an immunity totem, if you ever feel in danger, give me a signal in the challenge and I'll secretly pass it on to you."

No Gabby you can't just do that!

Grett's gonna boot you!

"Would you really do that for me? Why?"

"Well, you were the only person that was nice to me on that team."

Yeah she was. Ellie's cool.

Make it to the merge so you can be besties!

"It's a shame we couldn't agree on yesterday's elimination."

YEAH. THAT WAS ALL YOUR FAULT.

"Ladies, we did what we had to do! That punk had a few screws loose."

Nick...

Okay, in terms of my take for best girls: Grett, obviously, stan the bad bitch. Gabby's also warming up to me and I like her story of her being outcasted for her personality.

Best boys though is kinda up in the air. I'm leaning towards Nick and... I guess Jake. But DAMN did you frustrate me Nick!

But I'll forgive stupidity for one episode. It was a 'stupid for the sake of the plot' situation.

"The can't happen again. The alliance must stay strong and united."

Okay are they gonna work together now?

"Yesterday before the elimination, the alliance was talking and we couldn't come to a decision."

Oh so you DID talk. And you STILL didn't work together to protect your teammate!

SURE.

"For some bloody reason, Lill was defending Will and Ashley preferred to throw her vote on Alec. I obviously went Will. As much as I hate to admit it, Lill is being a bit annoying..."

Nick, you better take that back.

I mean, I get it, maybe he doesn't know how these sorts of things work with his homelife and all that, but he's gotta learn.

"I went fishing!"

"But Jake and Tom went fishing, they took all the fishing gear."

She fished with her mouth like a bear.

And I said this last time, there's other ways to fish besides rods. Buckets. Nets. You can make cages.

THOSE FISH DON'T LOOK SAFE TO EAT

Tom's like "That's funny, all my teammates suddenly died of poison. Oh well, guess I'm in the merge!"

I mean he's a sus ninja hiding shit, he could be a serial killer.

"We have to eat them before the challenge."

*Gets an Inside Out 2 Trailer Ad*

I don't like that context!! I'm gonna be honest!!

OH GOOD GOD WHY IS THE SKIN STILL ON IT AND NOT IN THE POT?!?!

Guys, I don't think you should eat Grandma's cooking if you value your lives.

Honestly, I forgot Miriam was here XD

"I wanted to ask you if you're okay. You've been kind of upset since we got here and-"

"Whatever happened to minding your own business?!"

Okay chill! He was trying to be nice to you!

Come on, he's been a very sweet guy so far and is giving you all a chance. What's there to snap about?

We'll see how well that statement ages. (Thanks for making me paranoid Caleb)

Plot twist: Jake and Tom are both secretly evil. Tom is a serial killer. Jake was a prominent bully back in high school.

"If it weren't for my retirement money, I wouldn't be here."

I'm not an elder. How ass is retirement funds?

"Do you think writing on your hand is a good substitute for a notebook?"

"I know Gabby said she was cool with me using my notebook, but I kinda lied to her so she wouldn't kill me, so I want to take that extra precaution. You know?"

"Today we will test your ability to face your worst fears!"

Oh it's Phobia Factor from Total Drama.

That was actually one of my favorite challenges from that show's season. This should be a fun episode.

And if you want to know what my phobia would be, it would be either walking around dead plants or riding a roller coaster. I HATE roller coasters.

"We've been doing a bit of research on each of you and I have to say we've found some interesting stuff."

So you doxxed.

Yes, what else would you like to confess to the police?

"And since we're here doxing, Grett has a body count, Gabby has a split personality, Tom wears makeup underneath his mask and he wears the mask to not be bullied about it... shall I continue?"

Course they use Queen Grett as the example... but she looks naked with the image cropped like that and I DON'T want that in my head!

(I know this is technically adult animation. I don't care. If I want porn I'll ask for it. And I'm not asking for it.)

Grett's scared of the dark! I knew it!

Queen may slay, but at the end of the day, she's got embarrassing stuff like this. We stan it.

And they use Dan as a bad example. Also slay.

I'm realizing I'm so MEAN to Dan. I'm always bullying him in these posts. And I have, literally, NO reason for it. Man didn't do shit!

And I am pissing off all Dan stans that see these posts.

"The first team to reach the other side gets immunity and a reward!"

We're not gonna hear what the reward is this time?

Oh we do see it. Okay.

"Waterproof Tent" I SURE HOPE IT DOESN'T RAIN NEXT EPISODE!!

Next Episode:

"I'm sure these scares are harmless"

"For your first challenge, you must watch EVERY Five Nights At Freddy's Installment!"

The subtitle XD

"Fear of Sharks; You must swim in a pond with a shark for five minutes!"

I would not do that. I ain't losing a limb!

*Ellie clicks the check*

*Spawns an ad on USAA*

OH NO! THEY LIED!!!

Ellie's real fear is her finances XD

"Fear of Cemeteries; You must go alone and spend ten minutes in the Tipiskaw cemetery!"

That's not too bad. I could do that.

The subtitle just says "What" during his dialogue, I'm dead XD

"Tipiskaw Cemetery? Thought this was the wilderness."

It's for the fish you killed. And whatever other wildlife you killed.

"Maybe it's a pet graveyard."

Gabby just said my thoughts. This is how many times now?!

Stop being so relatable, Gabby! It's scary!

You backed out?!

BOO. VOTE HIM OFF.

Okay THAT is far more terrifying! Come on!

"Don't look at him. Just close your eyes."

"It'll make your death far more peaceful, sweetie! I promise ya!"

"Sharks are harmless."

Alright I love ya again Nick.

There actually are some harmless sharks.

Just be thankful Chris McLean isn't hosting this.

"I feel bad for letting the team down..."

"I wish I could do it, but, it's just... hits too close to home."

OH... HONEY.

"I lost my grandfather when I was a kid and I always went with my mom to visit him and leave flowers. That place caused me a lot of anxiety. Now my grandmother's sick and I know it's only a matter of time before... you know..."

My gosh...

Alright. This guy is my best boy for this show.

He got me way too invested in his story.

"Fear of going bald; There is someone inside waiting to cut all your hair"

OH HI HEATHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!

That HAS to be a Total Drama Reference!

"Why? Hair grows back."

Fiore spitting facts XD

"Fear of being alone?"

Why does he sound confused with that? That's basic introverted life!

I could totally do that!

The subtitles again XD

"I thought I'd never have to see the inside of one of these again..."

GABBY. IS THERE SOMETHING TRAUMA BASED YOU WANT TO SHARE TO THE CLASS???

Cause that's concerning!

She's doing it. She came to SLAY.

Grett taught her well.

Hey Queens, you dropped this 👑

"All my life, I've worked with girls Fiore's age and I feel that something's not right with her..."

Lilly. I owe you one.

Props to Lilly to be the one smart one in this alliance.

"She looks like a little baby piglet."

THOSE ARE THE DEVIL'S EYES

Oh hey, she's not alone! She has... Blabby.

That's terrible.

"How dare they do this to you again?"

Yeah, Gabby is definitely traumatized.

"Yay! I made it!"

She's served her time in prison.

"Fear of confronting your past; YOU. MUST. BAKE. A. CHEESECAKE."

OOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOO THE HORROOOOORRR!!!!

I was always terrified of setting the kitchen on fire!

"What's so painful about cheesecake?"

Colesterol.

"What the hell was that?"

*Gets a Grammarly Ad*

The ads I'm getting today are cracking me up XD

MONTAGE

SLAY GRETT. YOU DO IT!

*Nick's fear*

... I think I'm gonna get flagged for this one. So I'm not showing it.

Drew's is the most terrifying.

Fiore's phobic of moose?

Okay, no, Dan's dead.

Lilly is also dead.

"Fear of fires; You must wear a thermal suit and enter a small cabin that we have behind the door. Which will burn in flames for fifteen minutes."

At least she gets a suit, so it could be worse.

"We couldn't find much information on you"

He is SUS as I will get out!

"You must take off your mask!"

OVER A MASK?!

BOO. VOTE HIM OFF.

Goddammit Tom.

"I just can't reveal to everyone that I may or may not like wearing makeup, okay?! It's personal! You don't know what I've been through!"

This is a joke btw. I don't think it's actually that. It might just be some facial scar under there, or he has to hide it for his job.

"I haven't always been afraid of fires. Two years ago, a heat wave caused one near my family's farm. We lost part of the house, the animals, and the crops. We haven't been able to fully recover after that."

HONEY. OMG.

We ANOTHER character motive that's very sympathetic! LET'S GO WITH THE TRAUMA!!

Not Fiore ACTUALLY being scared for Ashley!

Also Alec looks bored with every situation.

"It's suspicious. Don't you think?"

SUS.

TOM IS THE IMPOSTOR AMONG US.

YES ASHLEY FOR THE WIN!!!!

Tom can't be going. He has too much story for them to boot him now. Right?

RIGHT?

"Numbers are key in this game and I'd rather be with him than against him."

Oh thank god, this team DOES have a brain. Unlike the Purple Team last episode.

"I'd rather vote for Grett."

"How about Gabby? Sometimes her attitude is somewhat erratic."

DON'T. YOU. DARE.

Grett has a brain. She knows what's going on.

"Maybe I could convince one of the guys to vote with us."

We love a smart queen.

TOM IS SUS

WHERE'D YOU GET THAT?!

He just threw the walkie talkie XD

"You caught me ordering KFC!"

"Someone here has been watching you."

"Two people actually. The first is me because I'm currently stalking you. The second is that fruity boy."

"Drew."

"Drew the third. He's fruity for you, AND he's stalking you."

OH THE NOTEBOOK.

I was thinking that would be leading to something!

"The boy doesn't trust you very much. You can read it yourself."

"I saw Tom vent in medbay. Vote him out."

"Guys it's Drew. Drew is the Impostor."

I can't show the images of the votes this time because of Tumblr image max.

We already know who's going, right? This is not a shocking elimination at all.

"The boys alliance will get me further in the game."

Dan really just said "I don't work with women."

NOW I have a reason to bully him.

"I may have messed with Drew's notes just a little."

What did you do exactly?

Also her handwriting's pretty.

This isn't a shocking elimination. We already know who's going.

'GABBY'

Yeah, yeah, we know.

'DREW'

It's gonna be 3 Gabby. 3 Drew.

'GABBY'

'DREW'

'GABBY'

'DREW'

And this is the part where Tom flips.

Yep. Bye bye.

He was fine. I just kept forgetting he was there.

Thought Dan was gonna be more mad about that. "ALRIGHT WHO'S THE FLIPPER?!?! SOMEONE HAS TO EXPLAIN THEMSELVES!!"

"Drew was ejected"

Alright, that's the episode.

That was a good one. I'm actually enjoying this show quite a bit so far. A lot of people said I wouldn't like this show at all. So I am, so far, pleasantly surprised.

I think it's gonna be a bit before we get to eliminations of characters I actually really like.

I'm a bit more interested in Miriam now. I'm curious what her trauma with cheesecake is in particular. But I feel like it might be something worse than that.

My best girls are Grett and Gabby. Again, I don't stan characters as in "They did nothing wrong" I just plain like them as characters. I KNOW Grett is someone to not be liked. I'm NOT routing for her to win. I just think she serves her role with dignity and she's playing the game really well. I also want to learn more about her.

Gabby is really growing on me, and I'm interested in her isolated background and why she acts so erratically. She's also a really good balance between sympathetic and borderline annoying with her behavior.

The boys are kinda more iffy with me. Dan is Dan. Alec is... boring, as of right now. I like Tom, and I know he has story going on with him, but it's also kind of obvious what the twist with him is just from his design alone. That the point out multiple times.

So I guess my best boys are Nick and Jake as of right now. Jake especially, I'm actually really liking the story with him. I like how he's empathetic towards the elders because of his close relationships with his own grandparents who understood him (whatever that means), and how the death of one and critical state of another had an affect on him. I do think he and Ashley have the most sympathetic motives for being here, with Ashley helping her farm and Jake helping his grandma. He's also really sweet and caring so far, especially with Miriam this episode.

Nick, again, I like his story of him wanting to prove himself to his parents but being delusional on how to handle this circumstance he's in. He IS kind of fading to the background though, so hopefully that is fixed and he gets the character development set up for him.

Can't wait for you all to laugh maniacally at me hearing that cause you know of any derailment that happens later this season! Can't wait!

If you guys want me to continue these reactions, be sure to let me know.

[7grandmel]

Todays rip: 27/02/2024

Beautiful Dreamer

Season 7 Featured on: The Year of Grand Dad Sound Selection [Side B] Also on: Now That's What I Call Quality! 3

Ripped by minindo

Over the course of this month, I've been having what's best described as an inner battle with myself over which rip from the One Direction takeover of Season 7 to feature, which was really not something I was expecting when the event first began. The timeframe around 9/11 on SiIvaGunner is typically where some of the channel's most subversive and fun events happen, such as the Metal Gear Rising-themed event of Season 4 Episode 2 as described in SUNGORE, or the Not Funny Didn't Laugh day of the Season prior that gave us Sex - Steve Harvey. To just dedicate a day to One Direction instead? To me, it was a little bit of a letdown.

And then, I heard the rips. Oh LORD, the rips.

A lot of my disappointment really came from without giving it a chance, since I lacked much of any connection to One Direction as a band - like Justin Bieber in BELIEBERDANSEN, like Sean Kingston in Crazy Noisy Beautiful Girls and Take You To The Desert, these pop sensations were names I'd probably heard whispers of now and then, but didn't really have any sort of emotional connection to. But over the years, the SiIva rippers have gotten so EXCEPTIONALLY good at twisting my perception of preexisting music completely on its head through their sheer creativity and proficiency - and it was those factors that, after a LOT of rumination, has led me to pick Beautiful Dreamer as the debut rip for One Direction on the blog. To say that it blew me away would be an understatement.

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: Lucid Dreamer is a track using the 3/4ths time signature, a far less standard rhythm than the 4/4th time signature that most pop music, What Makes You Beautiful included, uses. This difference in time signatures between songs makes the mashup process far more of a challenge, and overcoming that challenge is thus a sort of accomplishment. Hoopache back in Season 1 garnered quite a bit of attention back in the day for this very reason, and time signature manipulation in general is what makes rips like He4rt4che and 4SGOR3 such fascinating listens. This isn't even to mention how Touhou music in general, and Lucid Dreamer not excluded, has a very distinctly hectic, melodically rapid-fire feel to it - one that ripper minindo has shown excellent understanding of prior with rips like Nostalgic Blood of the Gregg ~ Old Source, but now had to take to a whole new level.

With Beautiful Dreamer, minindo came out fucking swinging, and left several of his fellow SiIvaGunner members/contributors in absolute awe in the comments. "i think this rip just created a new genre", says current channel manager MtH, while the team's very own Touhou expert Princess Sylvyspirit of NIGHTMARESCAPE 〜Unrestrained HyperCam 2〜 (Final Boss Phase 2) fame declares it her favorite Touhou rip on the ENTIRE channel. Her own analysis brings up several excellent points I agree with: compared to the days of Hoopache, the adjustment to 3/4ths time done here feels incredibly seamless, with several small manual tweaks to the instrumentation of What Makes You Beautiful that obscure its 4/4ths origin incredibly well. But the most important part Sylvy points out is of course the the highlight of Beautiful Dreamer; the additions minindo made to make the rip truly go above and beyond.

Sure, the rip already bangs as a mashup on its own terms, One Direction's vocals going from a solo to a quintet with the chorus of both songs, as well as becoming pitch-shifted to Lucid Dreamer's melody at the same portion, creates a fantastic sense of buildup and energetic release, a hype that drives the first chorus - but past that chorus, the song suddenly comes to a slower-paced section. A section COMPLETELY new to Beautiful Dreamer, an addition of flavor done by minindo himself. The section is impressive in its own right, but its utilized here as another form of tension buildup for the second chorus, whereupon it practically SOARS back into the song with an added heaviness to the volume and mixing compared to the first chorus.

Again - all of this, was for an event where the expectation was One Direction mashups and melodyswaps. Beautiful Dreamer not only fulfills that goal on a baseline level, but manages to be a full-on musical journey, almost as a flex on minindo to show just how good he's gotten from his time on the channel. I don't know for sure WHY he chose One Direction Day to be when he revealed his true power to us all, but I'm immensely happy for it - it, along with a few other What Makes You Beautiful Rips that I may cover in the future, have given me a newfound affection for the song that I didn't know the event would bring me until now. Its the second-coming of the Sean Kingston effect, but with SiIva's most cracked rippers of today at the helm.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Sort of answer to your other anon, but feel free to add to it if you want hehe. For now I only know the show and only ship loustat, but that's because I think it's the most developed pairing so far. I kind of need a little time to get into ships, but I'm down for any and everything. I agree ships don't necessarily need to be moral, but I do believe they need to be compelling and help each other in a way, even if it isn't with every single thing. I have OTPs that had terrible moments, but grew into their best selves together. Loustat is usually a dynamic that I hate, because it happened too fast, it got problematic and dark pretty fast (in terms of number of episodes, not the years they spent together), they had other people, they spent a whole season apart... Reminds me in a way of those toxic, even abusive on-and-off couples, that always treated each other poorly, made each other worse, could never work it out, but for some reason kept going back together because "it's sexy" or whatever networks tried to sell. But Loustat subverted my expectations. They're not entirely like that, but I do think they have some of those characteristics. But in their case, it's explained because they both lived shitty lives. And the series show why they're that way and that they're sort of at war with themselves too and genuinely regret their actions. And unlike those other ships, they're a differently species that don't completely function like us and have forever to redeem themselves. Those other couples just felt like a repetitive waste of time without any depth. But the writers really do a great job. And we did see Loustat bounding, Louis trusting Lestat in a way he didn't with anybody else, smiling, having fun and a happy life as well, so we know the connection is there and it isn't just angst and sex. And there's the actors, who have some of the best chemistry I've ever seen anywhere. I'm down for any ship if they have that too, because I trust the writers and so far every duo seems to have amazing chemistry. Will the writing and chemistry be on Loustat's level? I don't know, but I'll have fun with whatever they give me for however long it lasts. This is the first time I feel like I don't even need to think or worry too much, I'm just waiting for more and to be surprised because they always exceed my expectations and I hope that never changes. I was pretty into Loumand at the beginning, I thought they had an ease, sensual, flirtatious vibe and it was exciting to see. But that was mostly the actors than the script and, after the first kiss, we don't see much of it anymore? No scene laughing, comforting each other, going out etc... We have the museum and bar scenes, but I wouldn't call them a Loumand moemnt because they were most about Armand's backstory and betrayal. I never shipped them as much as Loustat, I could have, but before it got to a point I could, it turned cold and distant so I moved on. On the other hand, Lesmand, is something I don't ship yet, but I'm excited because of 1) simply curiosity, everything I hear from the books sound like that's a pretty heated relationship, for better or worse 2) I also hear they're kind of mirrors and understand each other in ways others can't, so even with all the bad history they still sort of care for each other? And if that's true, it's a really interesting and unique dynamic to explore that we don't see that often 3) Sam and Assad really sold their chemistry to me on that scene they shared blood 4) relationships that are extreme as theirs seem to be, tend to result in great, intense, emotional, explosive acting and that's my favorite type... My favorite scenes on the show are the church scene and the hug and those are very intense moments as well. So if they can do something like that in their own flavor because I wouldn't want a Loustat copy, it should be fun to see. Even if it turns out to be like "omg, they're so terrible and I don't want them together not even for one episode" and I won't ship, I'll probably still enjoy it for the writing and acting.

:))

As said, shipping is a personal preference (thank you for detailing yours 🥰).

I am very sure the show will do something very distinctive for each pairing, and this is the only thing I‘d add here now - all these “ships“ are actual relationships in the VC, with their own history, and importance.

Personally I think that is amazing ^^ and I cannot wait to see them.

If I will write and/or read them? We‘ll see. But I think we‘re blessed that way, whether it fits personal preference, or not. 🥰

[aletterinthenameofsanity]

i am here to ask dw questions! favorite and least favorite series? and which is your favorite and least favorite of the male companions? :)

-ninthdoctorr (sideblog)

Alright, I am so down to answer this!

Favorite series is a tie between 3 and 1. I cannot decide. You cannot make me decide. They are both absolutely brilliant in terms of season arc, character development, and the fascinating companion/doctor relationship. (Plus Jack swings in to contribute to what are far and above my two favorite season finales in the show.) Nine/Rose and Martha/Ten are my two favorite doctor & companion pairings in the show because of the way that they affect each other and push each other's characters forward (both for the good in both cases and the bad in Ten/Martha's case). Nine is my favorite Doctor but Martha is my favorite companion and so it's so hard to choose. So I won't :)

As for least favorite season of the show, well, it would either be Season 7 or 13. Though both have redeeming value (I love the new characters in both seasons- Karvanista, Bel, Vinder, and Clara all have their merit), they're dragged down in different ways. Season 7 has some absolute STINKERS of episodes dragged down by Moffatisms or sexism whether overt or not (asylum, dinosaurs on a spaceship, angels take manhattan, time of the doctor, name of the doctor, day of the doctor) and even though there are some good episodes (A Town Called Mercy, Hide, Cold War, Journey to the Center of the TARDIS), they can't make up for the bad beginning and ending to the season. Then 13 is just...I'm sorry, it's not for me. Jodie is acting her ass off, but there's so many exposition dumps and the villain is threatening but not emotionally tied to the main character (yes, they took her memories, but I always struggle with amnesia plots when they're retroactively fitted in to a character's backstory rather than part of character development going forward, if that makes sense). Plus, the shortness of the season really hurts it, just as it does the 60th anniversary specials (which are a conversation of their own).

As for favorite/least favorite male companions...that's a complicated question. If you take Adam out of the running for least favorite, then I think it might be Dan. Sorry, the actor is very good, and he's funny, but he's got so very little character development going on other than his brief moment realizing his worth/leaving in the finale. He's fun but he's not interesting, if that makes sense?

And as for favorite...god, I love each of the male companions for different reasons. Mickey has the best character development. Ryan & Graham are a fantastic duo and their relationship development might be the best thing from Thirteen's era. Rory is a caretaker, possibly the most loyal character in all of the show, and is the voice of reason/kindness in a lot of his episodes which normally male companions don't get to be. Jack's vibes with Nine/Rose and Ten/Martha are unhinged and really need to be studied under a microscope but his tragedy is unparalleled in the entirety of Doctor Who (fight me on that, I dare you). Danny DESERVED to be an official companion because he was the best thing about Season 8 and had a lot of that same kindness/voice of reason as Rory did.

...where was I going with this? Right, I think I'd actually weirdly enough have to go with Mickey on this one? It would have been Rory if it weren't for some of the Moffatisms that kind of bring him down for me (making the Doctor ask permission to hug Amy twice, the lack of agency in his leaving, the sort of...puttering out of his arc in 7a) and just the fact that Mickey's character arc through season 1 and 2 gets better and better every time I rewatch it. The way that he interacts/grows to trust Nine fascinates me, from World War Three to Boom Town to Parting of the Ways. The fact that you can see the tension in him with his love for Rose/the fact that both are nineteen and making mistakes and figuring shit out/and his understanding that she found someone and something better. The fact that he jumps to help her and the Doctor in Boom Town/Parting of the Ways. The way that he finds his confidence and more importantly his purpose in Season 2 and is one of the only people that ever stepped away from the Doctor on his own terms. (Martha and Mickey make so much more sense when you look at them as the only two characters to find their own purpose on their own terms outside of the Doctor...I've written about it in fics because that one detail makes them work so much more for me). I love his dynamic with Jackie and the way they start off at odds but get so much closer to the point that his final goodbye in Journey's End is with her and not Rose. I like his dynamic with Jack. I think Mickey's seriously underrated as a companion.

...sorry for the rambling. You give me an opportunity to infodump about my current hyperfixation and I definitely will! Please feel free to ask more questions- I'd love to answer!

[thevindicativevordan]

Hey there 🙂 why do you think Alan Moore agreed to write a WildC.A.Ts book for Wildstorm in the first place, considering his open disdain for edgy 90’s cheese (heavily influenced by Watchmen/Rorschach, much to his chagrin) that was all the rage in comics at the time? I mean, I’m personally a big fan of his WildC.A.Ts run, but it does seem like a weird fit, no?

Money dear boy.

"I can write this entire six-issue series in a week, as opposed to all this brainy stuff that takes me months to write an episode. It's not at all fair; it's quite ironic really. Things like Big Numbers, From Hell, Lost Girls - this as far as I'm concerned is the best stuff I've done in my life. It will not make a tenth [of the money] of this frankly brainless garbage that I'm doing for Image comics; but it will support it." - Comics Forum #4, Summer 1993, when 1963 was first rumored.

"The Image stuff is very lucrative and a great deal of fun. It's been a real breath of fresh air amongst the other projects. After wading through entrails in Whitechapel for a month, writing an episode of From Hell, it's really nice to do something...silly." - Hero Illustrated #7, January 1994

"In terms of future comics work, in terms of the serious comics work, by which...all right, I'm doing various stuff for Image, for Extreme Studios, for WildStorm Studios which I'm having fun with and which I still think of as being very valid in their way. I'm trying to create an interesting realm of the imagination for teenage, adolescent, or even younger boys. And that seems valid. But, in terms of the serious work, the next serious comic work that I'll do after concluding Lost Girls will almost certainly be a history of magic." - Feature Magazine Volume 3, Number 2, Summer 1997 (which shows how long we've been waiting for the Bumper Book of Magic!)

"Doing the work for Image, after being away from mainstream comics for a long time, was different. Image was everywhere and everybody wanted comics about super-heroes with a pin-up every three pages and no story. I thought that this is a challenge, so let's see if I can write comics like this. I worked at it for a while. At the time, I had a lapse in consciousness where I thought it was my job to work out what the readers liked and luckily, around about the time I started doing Supreme, I worked out that it's not my job to work out what readers like; it's my job to tell readers what they like. My job is to do what I like and then readers will like it. So I started doing what I liked again and the readers have liked it as well." - Comic Book Artist #25, June 2003

"the whole Awesome Comics experience wasn't a lot of fun; there was a lot of messing about and stuff like that dealing with Rob Liefeld, but I enjoyed the work that I did there. I thought that I'd done a good job on Youngblood; I thought I'd done a good job on Supreme, on Glory, you know? Some of the other things - I mean, Judgment Day - I did the best job I could." ... "But, you know, Rob Liefeld never seemed to put any enthusiasm into any of these drawings; he wouldn't put enough backgrounds or anything like that. It was pointless writing scripts for him because he'd just ignore most of them because he wanted to do the easiest, simplest thing. So, there were limitations, but yeah, it was fun to be on Supreme, on Youngblood, like I say. But by the time that Awesome fell apart, I was starting to get a bit frustrated because I was starting to see how you could actually put together a really, really good mainstream comics company." ... "I'd some great fun doing the various bits that we got to on Supreme, you know. Working with Jim Mooney, and working with Rick, with Melinda and Jim Baikie and - a lot of my favorite people. It was an interesting experience. I don't think that the ABC books would have turned out the way they did if we hadn't had that sort of springboard or that kind of rehearsal that we were able to get for ourselves with the Awesome comics." (then, apparently talking about Rob Liefeld again:) "Well, it was just so - I just got fed up with the unreliability of information that I get from him, that I didn't trust him. I didn't think that he was respecting the work and I found it difficult to respect him. And also by then I was probably feeling that with the exception of Jim Lee, Jim Valentino - people like that - that a couple of the Image partners were seeming, to my eyes, to be less than gentlemen. They were seeming to be not necessarily the people that I wanted to deal with. I was quite happy to carry on doing Supreme as long as it was there, as long as it was providing work for people that I wanted to work their way and work with, and we were getting to the stories that we wanted; I was quite happy to go along with that." - The Extraordinary Works Of Alan Moore, July 2003

Even wizards have bills to pay.

[le--fruitcake]

In the meantime while I anxiously await your plentiful truths, might I ask for what cartoons you might recommend my humble self?

Ah, my vassal! I am neariy finished writing that essay, I promise. Just a while longer, I need to be sure my sources are accurate.

I will say you should watch Samurai Rabbit, despite it being almost painfully cringeworthy at times. It's surprisingly well-written, though! It's only on Netflix.

In terms of TMNT, the only one I can recommend with my whole chest is Rise of the TMNT. I like the others (mostly— 2012 is on Thin Fucking Ice with the Donnie/April thing), but Rise is the best by far! I am Extremely Biased and am going to say you should watch the Usagi crossover episodes of 2003 (S2E23-26, S3E01 [does not contain a whole lot of Usagi, but he and Leo uh. Exchange swords], S3E22-23, S4E13, and S7E13 [no speaking lines, appears as a background character only]) and 2012 (S5E15-17). The 1987 ones (S3E32/34) aren't as good, but you do get to watch Mikey slap Usagi in the face with a pizza. Fucking LMAO. All the TMNT is on Paramount Plus, but far be it from me to tell you not to hoist the colors, matey.

The Amazing World of Gumball... exists! It sure does. I really like the way they play with animation and art style, and it has some honestly amazing physical comedy, but it's very, um... 2012. I think it popularized a lot of tropes you see in more modern cartoons that make them borderline unbearable, but I found myself watching the entire thing and kind of wanting more! It's pretty good if you just want some batshit insane cartoon nonsense, but it has no story to speak of, really. The episodes are both startlingly interconnected and purely standalone. Anais is my favorite character, followed by Nicole, and honestly the men in that family are trash lmao. I think I watched it on Hulu, but it might have been HBO Max.

I like Star Wars, too, specifically Visions, Clone Wars (both 2003 and 2007), and, though I haven't finished it, Rebels. (I like the movies, too! Real shame they never made any past Episode VII. Had so much potential. Smh my head.) Visions S1E8 is my favorite thing Star Wars has ever done btw. Very Heavily Biased. All of this is on Disney Plus.

I have of course seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Legend of Korra, and recommend Avatar if by some miracle you haven't seen it, but tbh I don't know if I would recommend Korra. It has very interesting concepts, but the execution is um. Bad. Watching the Straights™️ frothing at the mouth over Korrasami was an Experience! "we poppin' the biggest bottles when Makorra happens tonight" is a regular part lo my vocabulary. Both are on Netflix, I think.

I like Teen Titans! I used to have the first two seasons on DVD. There are a lot of jokes I didn't get as a kid, and so rewatching it as an adult was interesting. I also didn't appreciate Cyborg enough as a kid, man has the best jokes. Robin was always my favorite, but on rewatch, I really can't say who's my favorite. I like Beast Boy's power the best, but Raven is p cool, and Starfire is wonderful, and Cyborg is funny. This is available on The Max Formerly Known as HBO.

I also watched all of the original animated Batman. Batman: The Animated Series, I think it was called? I really really liked that one, it was the perfect mix of edgy and funny, and is my favorite Batman iteration. Mark Hamill Joker also! That interpretation of Two-Face is my favorite, and made him my favorite Batman villain. I still want a silver dollar btw! I already have a $2 bill and several dollar coins, so if I get one of those and a half-dollar, I'll have one of every kind of defunct American currency. I think. I believe this is also available on The Max.

If you count anime as cartoons, Bleach and Fairy Tail are good, if you skip the filler. My Hero is... Pretty good. Mirko is of course my favorite character, and I am now only invested in the show for her sake. Crunchyroll is kinda the go-to for anime, but Hulu also has all three of these. I think Bleach might not be on Crunchyroll anymore also? Very Odd if so because it's one of the Big Ones, but I couldn't find it when I looked last.

Little Witch Academia is adorable! Lesbians abound, and features a surprising amount from actual Celtic lore. It's also quite possible the only anime featuring high school girls that doesn't make any blatant attempt to sexualize them, which is a breath of fresh air. The official anime is a Netflix original, but there apparently exists an OVA that I have not seen, and a movie, that I have, also on Netflix.

Castlevania is extremely good, but I guess it's technically an anime? It's originally in English and has some of the best lines I have ever heard come out of someone's mouth, ever, but it is heavily gorey, and S2 has some Unfortunate Rather Graphic Heterosexuality. Fortunately, one of the characters is confirmed bisexual! It is also a Netflix original.

This was a doozy to answer! I don't watch too many cartoons, per se, because I wasn't allowed watch most of them growing up. Never seen Spongebob, Powerpuff Girls, Phineas and Pherb, etc. etc. Despite that, I am a fan of animated shows over live-action shows, generally speaking, due to the liberties one can take, and the fact that you aren't limited by what you can achieve with human actors and such. The same goes for video games— I prefer heavy style to realism, though the GameCube/PS2 era games had the best of both worlds.

[ensemblesongs]

!!! user ensemblesobgswhat are your favorite enstars stories !!?

I have to think for this one, hmm... My favourite stories have to beee...

In terms of enjoyability, and attempting not to have too much character bias, not in any order. Boldened are absolute favourites!

-Daydream & Lionheart are my all time favourite pieces of ansta writing, with an emphasis on Daydream. Lionheart has at least three translations online. I'm planning on re-reading two of those again just to compare them. I love an unreliable narrator. Sena really has been Leo's living unreliable narrator the whole time he's known him, hasn't he? Blackbird was good on a writing standpoint, but felt like a desperate attempt to get people to like and be normal about Wataru & Eichi, as well as telling us what we already know. At the same time, it did provide more insight into their mentalities, at least. Clown, Crown or whatever it was called was really nice also. - Both original main stories which I think every average ansta fan should read regardless of their length, although, the ! one is certainly of it's time. EnBasic: Element, Marionette, Crossroad, Meteor Impact, Checkmate, (Sorry for no Rocket Show! we're gonna read it for my friend's birthday!) Showtime, Dragon Fruit (Note to all viewers: don't read Marionette alone & think you know anything about Ex-valkyrie. PLEASE!), Easter Night, EP:Link, Christmas Live, Starry Night Festival, Beasts, Human Comedy (people focus too much on the valkyrie side of this and ignore rabits and it is disheartening, even if I understand why, from producers of them, given that rabits is far more unpopular in comparison, unrightfully yet understandably so. But what of the rest?), Book Fair, Victoria, Liar's Idol, Rainbow, Eccentric, Pleiades Night, Wonder Game, Biblio, Blood Banquet, Butler Cafe, Shinsengumi, Bouquet of Desire, Devils, Horror Night Halloween, School Festival ☆ Tamayori's Haunted Dollhouse, uum... those are the only ones that come to mind. I've read about 2wink and ryuseitai but scatteredly. In another universe, I produce them. EnMusic: Date Plan, Motor Show, Tempest, Night Club, Conquest, Next Door, Hot Limit, Neverland, Feather Touch, Bogie Time, Merry Xmas, Antique Legend, Burning Azaleas, Shinsekai, Obbligato, Astraea's Atelier, Romantic ? Date, Myriad of Colors and Flowers, Shards of Time: Black, Cruise, Grand Slam (I know it sounds crazy. The shotabait foot fetish event. Yes. But it has so many fucking good parts, and the epilogues are some of my favourite things ever.), Portrait, Nighthead, Stormcloud FUMBLE, Poltergeist, Parallel World, Xday (best climax), Absolute (I'm reading it with my dearest friends & I like it a lot so far! But I haven't finished so I won't embolden it. Mixed feelings about Raison d'être but generally it's so good I really love it. ALTERED CHANGED MY LIFE & KILLED MY GRANDMA. Bite-sized mix of both: -Aira: Episode 1 (Idol story), Do The Norm ft. Midori & Chiaki (I love you Midori! I love Noritama), -Tsumugi: This Senior is Prone to Worrying, Switch's introduction: "episode one", (Tsumugi FS1) Blue Hour's Spinning Song, Tsumugi's FS1 4☆ Story which recently came out on Eng, the eating one, "Delicious Happiness" ft. Midori, Episode 1, 2 & 3 of his idol stories, Go Basking in The Sun 3☆ story ft. Rei & Ritsu. -Others: HiMERU stuff. Episode 1 Chiaki Idol Story, Hiiro Idol story 2 ft. Aira, Black Swan ft. Mika & Tsumugi. (Madara FS2) Fates and Feast, Natsume FS2 4☆ Story. The 3☆ where ex-fine play together, Rinne's FS1. MANY Yuuta idol stories & 4/3☆ stories, especially in relation to his growth & Rinne. I like a lot of Anzu's monologues in the novels. I love this Natsuhokke 3☆ story. I like the early idol stories in general honestly. Baah!

Fun fact, I watched the anime before reading anything. My first story after the main story was Easter Night :-) though already interested in them, it cemented my love for switchvalk & their parallels in a square or even a more convoluted shape, each pointing at each other. I really recommend people read 3 stars of their favourites, you can find them with ease if you look them up, especially if they're from popular units. There's a lot of Really Good stories I haven't read but know all the context to and just have to get to, and good stories I have read that I just haven't mentioned whether purposefully because I don't think about them that much or because they slipped out of my mind (or blended together, or I technically didn't read them and just know everything that occurs or read a livetweet thread and I don't want to say a story is my favourite when I haven't read it in full even if stuff I really love comes from it, or I have mixed feelings that are too mixed for it to be a favourite).

I really adore Ansta's writing in spite of all of it's flaws, that's why it's not easy for me to give a simple response. Thank you for the question, sweet thing!

[yourfaves-a-pokemaster]

So...that new fallout show huh? Arceus help me I'm back on my bullshit. I'm only like three episodes in but I LOVE it. And of course my pokemon loving ass couldn't resist this. So far The Ghoul is my favorite character, so I've decided to do his team first! I'm actually gonna do two teams for him, this one being the Ghoul and the other being Cooper. Without further ado:

Team Ghoul

1. Mudsdale

This one was the first one I decided on for him. If you think he wouldn't have horse like pokemon on his team, where is your head? Not to mention Mudsdale is pretty tanky and can take a hit like it's nothing. I imagine this is probably his oldest pokemon from his current team (probably the last surviving one from his previous team). Mudsdale is deeply loyal to his trainer and does his best to help when he can.

2. Flygon

This one was a little last minute but I actually think flygon would be really cool and really convenient for him to have. Little dude is good at retaining information as well as keeping tabs on targets. Flygon is rare in the wasteland, as many trapinch don't survive long even in those harsh conditions. I actually headcanon that this was a reverse catching: Cooper got caught by a trapinch and was like "welp, I can't get you off so you're coming with me". Flygon is a little speed demon as well, which is also very convenient.

3. Kabutops

Okay so this one I had to actually think about. I'd imagine fossil types would be impossible to bring back now but this is my blog so if I want Cooper to have a kick ass kabutops he's gonna have one...okay, okay...look dude needs a water type pokemon and I actually forgot kabutops was a water type. I feel like it would blend in and adapt pretty well to the wasteland. Being water type is incredibly useful. The fact it looks cool is just a perk.

4. Steelix

Caught as an onix, this pokemon is mudsdale's rival in terms of strength and loyalty. The first pokemon to be caught for this new team, he evolved it after searching every-goddamn-where for a metal coat. Steel type pokemon are rare in most places, most having been hunted to near extinction for scrapmetal/parts. I'd imagine this particular steelix feels lucky...

5. Mightyena

Coop likes dogs.

That's it. That's the whole thing...

Okay maybe it isn't. Alright so we all know he likes dogs, and I'll admit it was a challenge to decide what dog like pokemon he'd have. Packs of mightyena are common, so I Imagine coop was able to snag a poochyena from its pack and raise it as his companion. He knows ice fang, which surprises folks who dare challenge this thing. Mightyena is also an excellent tracker and doesn't give up once he's on a mission to hunt with his human. He tends to have a sour attitude and sometimes picks fights with mudsdale and steelix.

6. Banette

Going into this, I knew I wanted to give him a ghost type. Babette is just a freaky little dude that just wouldn't stop following him around. Every team needs a gremlin who causes problems on purpose and this dude is definitely it. He's a pain in the ass but he's a mostly loveable one. Not to mention he's an expert at stealing drugs that coop needs. So he's a lovable, useful, pain in the ass.

And that concludes today's team. I may do cooper's team before the bombs dropped, which will probably be a mirror to this team. Let me know what you guys think ^.^

[snorlaxlovesme]

this is called giving Live Action Avatar a fair chance

the Netflix live action Avatar has always been a strange beast. it's a thing no one wanted after the disastrous 2010 movie. public perception of it was extremely low after Bryke walked out on it because of creative differences (disheartening as well as concerning). people tore apart the teaser stills and completely thrashed the early trailers. the news that Sokka's sexism plot was being altered had fans frothing at the mouth. the show seemed to be caught in this limbo where it had an incredibly low bar to rise above, in terms of trouncing The Last Airbender Movie, and infinitely high bar it would be impossible to reach, in terms of the original A:TLA.

now. if i can't go into a live action adaptation with an open mind, i will not watch it. live action Yu Yu Hakusho came out several months ago, and the vibes I got from trailer were not what I wanted, so I shelved it. if I'm going to sit down and watch a re-telling of one of my favorite pieces of media, I'm going to do my damnedest to go in with as open of a mind as a I can bear, because I like to have a good time and I can't do that constantly dogging on something.

so. my rule of thumb is generally this: treat any live action adaptation as fanfiction. if i can recognize the characters and recognize the plot, that's fine. i'm not looking for anything crazy, just interesting fanfiction. that's the level of closeness to canon i'm expecting. bar is on the floor.

and in terms of Good Television, my expectations are also incredibly low. good TV has 1. good writing 2. good acting 3. good action/SFX. for adaptations the best i'm looking for is ONE out of three. the lower my expectations, the more fun i get to have.

i'm explaining all of this because, while I have not seen reviews of Netlix Avatar yet, I know just how brainless the masses can be and i need you to know that THESEEE are the expectations you should be having when going into these things. Avatar: The Last Airbender is hailed as an example of a nearly PERFECT show. if you are expecting that kind of excellence from an adaptation you are simply deranged and I will not be reading your bad faith interpretations of the show.

with these expectations in mind, it's easy to see why i'm loving Netflix Avatar so much. why? because it cleared one of my very low expectations. the bending in the show looks pretty good! the writing of the show is average! some of the actors are quite charming! i am pleased!

i have seen 3 episodes so far ("Aang" through "Omashu", and yes these episode titles DO suck, I'll concede to that)

so, now that i've gotten that little manifesto out of the way, let's get into some actual Thoughts So Far:

-the way the first episode was structured was very cool. i like that they didn't throw us in at the same spot we started in A:TLA. and to avoid the horrible exposition dump the movie gave us, instead they just showed us the start of the war. i like the tactical inclusion that Sozin let word get out that the Fire Nation would attack the Earth Kingdom first to throw the Air Nomads off his scent. i also thought it was cool so show us a day in the life at the Easter Air Temple. the setting was gorgeous and I loved seeing all the monks doing their own thing. it made you feel so attached to the Air Nomads and their kindness and gentleness, so when they were attacked you truly felt for them.

-Monk Giatso's actor was fantastic. i was gagged that they had my crying less than 20 min into the first episode, what the fuck

-Gran Gran reciting Katara's opening speech line by line was funny, hokey, and exactly what I wanted. loved that for her and loved that for ME

-i like the change that Katara has to waterbend in secret for her own safety, not simply because she doesn't have a master

-it felt appropriate that they made Sokka take his warrior/protector role more seriously. the "i gotta go potty" bit from that like 6 year old in the original is hilarious but I don't think that sort of humor would have translated well to live action. i like that Sokka really was a leader to the ragtag group of kiddos and like one teenage boy. and him asking Zuko to duel with him one and one!! a very sweet early act of bravery

-in general i'm just really liking how they're approaching Sokka's character. all the fuss over "they're taking out Sokka's sexism" arc felt idiotic to me for weeks because like of course they did?? let's be SO real here, if you have never seen the original and are watching Netflix Avatar blind for the first time, are you going to rock with the protagonist who makes "girls' only jobs are cooking and sewing" jokes? in 2024? in this sociopolitical climate that shit would NOT fly and people would drop the show for stuff like that. no one would wait to see his character growth, people's attention spans aren't long enough for that these days. plus, for all the naysayers boohooing because that's Sokka's whole character arc, it's literally not! that nasty personality trait sticks with Sokka for FOUR episodes. having his character arc revolve around his identity as a warrior is much more in-line with Sokka's ACTUAL arc. he can skip the "sew my pants" jokes so we can get to his real root of his conflict, being a non-bender and a novice warrior in a world of extreme violence and feeling inferior because of it

-i don't mind that they made Zuko less aggressive. again, with the bar of the original A:TLA being SO fucking high, ESPECIALLY because of Zuko, Netflix was never going to reach that level of excellence. so I'm okay with this Zuko being a little more level-headed and more of a mindless Fire Nation Greatness truther because it's a decent interpretation of his character, for fanfiction. consider everybody on planet earth know that Zuko will eventually be a Good Guy, we don't have to go out of our way to show that he's a giant asshole. we already know he's a good boy.

-on that note I love the bait and switch with the Jet introduction. seeing a cute boy flirting with Katara, I couldn't immediately tell if that merchant boy was just a one-off kind character, or maybe Haru because of his clothing and the way his hair was styled. to have him turn out to be Jet was FUN because it showed me that despite knowing the original canon forwards and backwards, this show can still find ways to surprise me. i had been talking with my sister about whether or not they were going to include Bumi (and his shenanigans) because that's a plot twist that worked when the show originally aired, but wouldn't hit at all in an adaptation where we all know who Bumi is already. where I'm currently at in the show I'm still not sure if we'll see his inclusion or not, but i still appreciated that new bait and switches are possible.

-this meant basically all the Omashu episode was very fun. they way they wove the Freedom Fighters and Mechanist's stories together was very interesting and i liked how fresh it felt

-Suki's actor is incredibly gorgeous. with and without the make-up. that needed to be it's own point because oh my god

-i love that she gave Sokka and fan and i'm DYINGGG to see him use it in a battle

-THEY INCLUDED KYOSHI NOVEL LORE AND I SCREAMED

-they included AVATAR KYOSHI FIGHT SEQUENCES AND I SCREAMED

-i probably should have mentioned this way sooner but Aang's actor is such a little cutie. he's doing such a great job capturing Aang's energy. both wise and playful and so so sweet. i love him

-i found it hilarious that they waited three episodes for Katara to bring up her dead mom. we all know that the super generic and boring critiques of Katara are 1. too much dead mom talk 2. too much hope talk 3. too motherly. i feel like the show intentionally waited two and a half episodes for Katara to bring up Kya and that's so funny to me. they also have only let her mention hope like twice lol. my girl is being STIFLED

-special effects are honestly really good? some of aang's flying is a little wonky but the firebending and waterbending so far as looked fantastic. i haven't seen much earthbending so far besides that opening sequence but i was impressed by that too. and Aang and Zuko fighting in Omashu with Zuko not using his bending? SO much fun. the choreo was awesome, i loved the set piece of fighting amongst all those scarves.

-building off that, Appa and Momo are very cute. the creatures al look pretty good too. ostrich horses look great

all in all, lots of really good stuff so far. i only have minor criticisms, and they're mostly things I can deal with. Iroh's acting is weird to me. it sounds like it's putting on a silly voice instead of speaking how he normally would, so it scans as off-putting. also in terms of costuming, Iroh's wig is WIGGING so much more than other cast members. it looks so glued on and shaped with hairspray. Mai and Ty Lee (one seen them for a moment so far) also just look like random cosplayers who wandered on set. and i guess both Monk Giatso's reveal of Aang being the avatar, as well as Gran-Gran's immediate understanding that Aang is the avatar, both happened extremely fast.

but yeah! those are my thoughts so far. again, I have no idea what public perception of this show is. i'm trying to avoid reviews and probably won't be back on tumblr until i've at least made it to episode 6. then maybe i'll come back and write more if my opinion drastically changes or I think the world will need another stern talking to about what to expect from an adaptation

[livelymutterings-blog]

Thoughts on Izna and their MAMA 2024 performance that slayed

I recently decided to watch I-Land 2, since I knew Izna have been gearing up for their debut and it's always more fun to experience a debut when you know more about a group.

I had watched the original I-Land season that created Enhypen, and while I didn't keep up with the show after the first part, I payed attention to their debut (I was so surpised that Heesung wasn't the leader!!!! I still am!!!).

I am pretty happy with Izna's lineup, especially after their MAMA 2024 performance, I can see that they work well together. I still am quite sad about Fuko not making it, especially since she ranked so well throughout the season. When her and Jungeun started ranking a bit lower in part 2, I didn't have much concern since I thought they were both locked in.

I did peek a bit at the lineup right before part 2, and I was excited to see Sarang, who I saw as an underdog as she didn't stand out too much in the show as somebody who was for sure going to get in the lineup. This gave me hope for the other participants I thought were similar to Sarang in terms of their position on the show, and I became really hopeful for Yuju and Yeeun, two people who I thought would go well with the participants who I expected to make it.

The bottom line for me is that Izna did super well in MAMA 2024 and their self-titled song Izna fits them very well and I'm excited for them to debut!

-----------

Since I always have more thoughts and I'm going to use this tumblr blog to document them, why limit myself? Here is what I think of the members, and Fuko-

Jungeun- Is this the first time a participant of a competition show started and ended at rank 1? I know sitting in the rank 1 chair in the Produce shows is not the best thing to do during the beginning of the show. She's a very consistent person with her vocal and her dancing. Also she reminds me of Karina.

Jeemin- Slay. She showed up and showed off and I think we're all glad she's in Izna and not Illit. I think she would make a great leader! She low key reminds me a bit of Sullyoon. They have some facial similarities that I cannot put my finger on.

Jiyoon- In the first couple episodes, I had some pretty strong, negative feelings towards her. We all saw her not get her way, sulk, and drag down her team with her. I was surprised she was on the older end of the participants because I saw her reactionary behavior as quite immature. Boy I am glad I continued to watch the show because she ended up being one of my favorite participants! She really proved herself with her abilities and it was heartwarming to see her push to keep up when she was slow to take in the choreography for Drip. I think she's gorgeous with a gorgeous voice and I loved her look for the MAMA performance! The dress for the Vocal Unit Battle (ep 4-5) was hideous and absolutely did not fit her.

Koko- She was always within the top 7 ranks but for some reason I never saw her as a for sure part of the lineup until the 1st save vote. In part 2 I could tell with her editing that she was going to debut, and while she wasn't one of my favs, there is no doubting that she fills an important spot in Izna's talent pool with her powerful dancing and her voice really suits the rap parts in their songs. Side note about her styling in the MAMA performance; I did not like it. You would think this far into the industry that stylists would take into consideration each person's proportions, and not exaggerate them if it's not the concept, but honestly Koko's styling here and Illit's Yunah's styling in general leaves much to be desired. I am not saying that certain body types are less flattering and should be styled to minimize their differences, I just think these stylings stand out just as much as when one member wearing white while all the other members wearing black, and the whole point of a group is to show some individuality while still remaining a cohesive whole.

Sarang- She's nice and undoubtably earned her spot but honestly, I can't get over how short she is! One thing companies definitely consider when creating groups is how the group looks next to each other, and that often means you don't have extreme variations in height. Think Mamamoo, Itzy, and to a lesser extent, Blackpink and Aespa. In my opinion, competition show groups end up with a pretty large range in height. Some great examples are IZ*ONE, I.O.I., and Twice. What is interesting is that I've noticed secondary competition groups seem to also have this height range, like Weki Meki and IVE. What I thought was interesting was that Katseye totally is the exception to the rule here. They are all such similar height. I think this is because the company had a larger part in the final lineup, because it seems that Ezrela (quite shorter than the current members) would have made the final lineup if the results were more based on viewer voting. I thought Sarang's MAMA styling was great and I loved her bangs!

Mai- I was quite surprised that she ended up ranking in the debut line up. Especially when you compare her rankings with Fuko's she really dipped in part 2, whereas Fuko was out of the top 7 only 2 (once when she went to the Ground, and then at the very end when she ended with rank 8). I didn't really see the reason why Mai got so many votes, especially since in part 2 she didn't seem like a strong contender the way they were making out Koko, Jeemin, and Saebi to be.

Saebi- Saebi, another giant maknae! Through the show we got to see her sweet personality. She isn't the most talented member and definitely stood out because of her looks, but she is absolutely not a hole in Izna's talent pool, which should never be taken for granted.

🩷 Fuko- Girlypie I feel so bad for her. She has the talent and skills, but somewhere towards the end that didn't get her enough votes. When Jiyoon and Jungeun made up I started really looking forward to seeing the trio of her, Jungeun, and Jiyoon in a group. I saw somebody comment somewhere that she is basically all trained up and any company she ends up in could debut her almost immediately, so I'm holding out hope! Unfortunately, the kpop industry has really shifted towards debuting young groups, which means Fuko, who I'm older than by 12 days, is somehow an 'old' trainee. If you use the definition of minor from korea (int. age 19), there truly aren't that many groups who have debuted with all adults. Babymonster, IVE, New Jeans, and Enhypen all would be missing a large chunk of members if minors could not debut.

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My thoughts on Izna's music and concept:

Oh my god! I loved the song Izna!!!!! It was fresh but also on the more girl crush side of things but still classy. Classy crush! The song did a wonderful job at expressing Izna's concept and I really hope their creative direction doesn't showcase to a cute concept until they're an established group. I thought the song wasn't just satisfactory, I thought it was an actual quality song with unique musical elements. The choreography hit, especially for the beginning of the song. Teddy's songs are notorious for having empty choruses, but with the vocalizations during the chorus, I thought he got away with it. I LOVED the unexpected ending to the prechorus part that Koko and Jiyoon both did. I also loved how Jiyoon's iteration was unique with the variation in the high note. It gave me a glimpse into a more ethereal/girl crush concept, which I loved!

I cannot wait for more Izna performances from Izna! I might make a post when the song comes out and move all this song review stuff to that but we shall see! Thanks for reading if you made it this far, I am pretty damn impressed if you read the whole thing so if you have anything to respond to, I'd love to hear it!