#i think more Edgy takes on like. silly media can be done well the problem is everyone tries to push the edge too hard

[gayseyjones]

My number 1 toxic trait is genuinely enjoying #dark sam and max shit... the original stuff is already edgy w it's suicide jokes and whatever (which I also enjoy. unfortunately) but also I like takes on it that like. confront homophobia and abuse and shit like that bc honestly why not I might as well be into deeply cringe edgy shit before I graduate #livelaughlove or something

[segasonicaesthetics]

Common Sonic arguments

Common Sonic arguements and discourse debunked.

These often come up in discourse around the series and don't seem to ever die so today I am going to nit pick a few of the common criticism that comes on regarding Sonic discourse because why not, nothing better to do with my time.

1: Sonic shouldn't have a story or if it does it should go back to fast hedgehog gets rings and fights funny science bad guy.

A: Why shouldn't Sonic have a story? I never see a good arguement for this case and most of the ones that do come up are not that good.

First off a series should evolve and grow, staying in the past forever or playing to nostalgia endlessly is harmful. A good example of this was the classic megaman series through it's first six games, which did the same megaman fights doctor wily plot to the point the series was losing players who where getting tired of the same thing.

The games where good but they offered nothing new, thats when Megaman X grew the beard and made a leap forward which helped put the megaman franchise on the map and allowed it to take many bold new directions.

2: Well see Sonics a cartoon hedgeh...

A: And? Are cartoons a lesser form of art or media? Some of the best stories in the 2010s came from cartoons of that era which evolved with the times and tackled some interesting themes. Just because something is for younger people doesn't mean it has to be a lesser form of storytelling.

This arguement is pointless and comes from a boomer mind set locked in the 20th century seeing cartoons and games as "Just a kids thing and kids media is meant to be silly."

3: Sonic has had a rough transition to 3D...

A: This has been done to death, please just stop already, god.

Remember the Adventure games where highly praised and got good reviews at the time, this crap is some real selective memory bollocks and it seems to stem from Sonic 06 poisoning the discourse for years.

4: But sonic 06...

A: It has been over 15 years, move on already and stop using this to advocate holding the series back.

5: Sega should focus on other games besides sonic, all they do is make sonic.

A: Where is the evidence for this one? Sega is not just sonic team, they own a lot of game dev devisions and teams who work on their own franchises and projects, a few of these include AM1, AM2, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio(Which is part of Sega CS Research and Development No. 1) and a few more not including companies they own such as Atlus, Two point, hardlight and Creative Assembly. Trust me they put out a lot of games, some current ones being PSO2 reboot, miku hatsune series, yakuza etc so this arguement is total bunk.

6: But the quality of the Sonic series has been all over the place.

A: True and Sonic Team needs to do better.

7: Sonic has too many friends.

A: So? What’s wrong with having other characters, it makes the world and setting more diverse and rich. This arguement also fails because through the 2010s a majority of the games have been Sonic only with not many playable characters. If anything this arguement is coming from people who have not kept up with or still play the series and seems out of touch.

8: The stories are too edgy and dark.

A: Hello I am from 2005 and have lost my time machine, please help.

9: Lol they gave Shadow a gun, series has jumped the shark.

A: This is not 2005, we’re over this, I think Sonic team got the message 15 years ago, can we move onto some productive criticism now?

10: People make porn of sonic, fandom bad, sonic fans wanna **** big the cat lolololol XD XD XD

A: This is not an arguement about the series, this is a you problem, maybe stop googling sonic porn if it’s a big deal?

11: Sonic was never good.

A: Thats just your opinion man, don’t like it fair tons of games out there to play.

12: Sonic 2 was the best and only good Sonic game and Sega should just make that again.

A: This sort of ties back to number 1, a problem with that is doing nothing but appeasing aging 90s kids forever would bury the series harder than Sonic 06 almost did, things need to grow and do new stuff that is part of life and a good thing.

[infinite-rabbits]

hey, hiii just wanted to ask about your thoughts/opinions on shadows character

Do you mean like.... Overall or how it’s been handled lately?

It also kinda depends on which version of Shadow. I mean, obviously from my set of 4 Shadows I have on my desk, I love him.

SO I guess we need to break it down.

Sonic Adventure 2 Shadow: I love this silly edgelord. He’s basically a teenager who’s also woken up from a really long nap. Have you ever had nap brain before? Because it sucks, and I like to think that’s part of why he’s so grumpy and also why he had so many memory problems. He might have been out of cryostasis, but his brain was still waking up. He’s moody, he’s probably going through hormone swings because, you know, teenager, and he’s trying to figure out where he stands in the world. This is the Shadow I was first introduced to when my cousin had the game system and I was watching him play it. I literally made my mom buy me a gamecube and the game because I wanted to play with Shadow. I’m always late to the game with stuff. I mean heck, I only just now started playing Sonic Forces and that’s been out since 2017, but this game REALLY impacted my view on the Sonic franchise.

Shadow in Shadow The Hedgehog: Okay so I know a lot of other people really hate his depiction in this game. They don’t like the idea of Shadow going THAT edge and liking guns and all of that stuff due to his PTSD with Maria. But honestly... I don’t mind it that much? Because there’s the whole thing about him having amnesia again or whatever. And what’s more interesting to look at from this game’s point of view is that, just like a lot of other things in the Sonic Franchise, it’s an AU. This is a choose your own adventure where you can literally decide if Shadow is going to freak out and go down the villain’s path, stay neutral and do his own thing, or realize that he needs his friends and go down the hero’s path. So even if you’re not super into him using guns, you could still have him go down that hero path and find his true self. Plus this thing has one of the most bangin’ theme songs Shadow’s ever had. Like all of his themes from games are pretty awesome, but I personally LOVE this one. Especially the extra m e t a l version by Little V.

Shadow in other games: He can be kind of hit-or-miss in the personality department here. You’ve got him in Sonic Heroes with amnesia... again. And possibly being an andriod. But honestly I love that “date to die for!” scene because it’s so dramatic! You’ve got him in Free Riders for some reason being willing to help Rouge get money in the race even though he’s never actually been willing to help before. In most games he’s just kinda sorta... there, and it feels like the writers don’t fully know what to do with him if he’s not the main focus of the game. There’s one big exception to that though:

Shadow in Sonic 06: The game everyone shits on, mostly just because of some of the graphics being shitty here and there in the actual gameplay and also the whole “Sonic hooking up with a human chick” thing. However, this is one of the best characterizations of Shadow. He cares about his friends, he gets given the support he needs, and in turn he also winds up giving that support to Silver. You know, after giving him a boot to the head. As bad as this game might have been, we did actually get relatively good character development for some of these characters, and Shadow was one of them. His willingness to do his part and take Silver “under his quills” as I’ve seen other people say, properly shows off his compassionate side rather than him just.... being dark and brooding. You know?

Boom Shadow: Eeeeh.... I’m not totally sure how to feel about this one? I love listening to his voice for sure. I like watching his fight scenes. But it feels like they’re making him edgy just for the sake of being edgy. And he’s really easily manipulated? I feel like, while Boom has done some great things with other characters, Shadow has gotten the short end of the stick. He’s kinda bland most of the time when it comes to his actual characterization, and he’s boiled down to a one-note kind of guy. So like, I don’t hate it but I really think I could do better.

IDK comics Shadow: They kinda did the same thing here. Shadow started out pretty darn great in that scene with Sonic and deciding what to do with Mr. Tinker. Seeing Sonic get under Shadow’s skin about it and making him back down was a great way of showing how the two have really gotten to understand each other over the years and that Sonic knows Shadow better than he’s willing to admit. That’s where my praise ends. Shadow then basically disappears until we get him back being stubborn as hell and jumping right into a pit of zombots and BOOM, just like that he’s taken out of the game. We’ll see how things go once this virus thing is over (because honestly I feel like it’s been lasting waaaay too long.) and if they use this to humanize him a bit more or if they keep him being super stubborn and one-note. But yeah, as of now I’m not super happy with how he’s been handled.

Shadow in the Archie Comics: HOO BOY I SAVED THE BEST ONE FOR LAST. And by best I mean worst. Where do I even begin with this one? Let me start by saying that I haven’t read all of the Archie comics yet. I’m working on it now, and I’m reading them somewhere online because they’re expensive as hell to get a hold of. But dear lord, this writing is usually horrible! Some of the writers work well together while others *cough*kenpenders*cough* don’t bother to read each other’s stories or will get pissy about their own plotlines not going anywhere and others having to fix them. Shadow is... yanked around so heavily in this series. In some stories, he’s great. He shows interesting characteristics and shows that he’s learning and growing. In others he’s just kinda.... there. In others he’s going completely against what he’s learned and is treating people like shit unless he’s manipulated to do otherwise. One of my absolute biggest complaint about the Archie series is: Tyrant Overlord King Shadow, from the 25/30 years later arch. It’s so bad, you guys. *disgruntled noises* Ken Penders basically had Shadow do a complete 180 despite everything he’s ever learned. He forcibly married Sally, became a tyrant of a king who ruled with an iron fist, and when Sonic kicked his ass and threw him in another stasis tube and he was brought back later, he unleashed this weird Tikal/Chaos creature out into the world to completely destroy it after feeding her so much chaos energy that he hurt her. Also the writer completely freaking forgot to actually END that story. Sonic and the New Freedom Fighters defeat and re-seal away “Tichaos,” but there’s no closure as to what happens to Shadow. It’s just Ken Penders going: “LOOK MY SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME OCS JUST SAVED THE DAY.” And it’s like.... okay, but what about Shadow? Did he escape? Is he still in the castle? Is there a second part to this? And sadly, that’s as far as I’ve read with that line and I don’t know if it got any further before they had to do the reboot. So yeah, Shadow is kinda shafted in these comics too.

Overall: I think he’s a really great character with a lot of wasted potential. He tends to shine more when the spotlight is fully on him because in that case, the writers realize they need to work on him more. But when he’s a side character, they boil him down to one-note and that’s really not a good thing to do with any character. (I should also note that I haven’t actually gotten to purchase the DLC yet of Shadow’s story for Sonic Forces, so I’ll need to go and watch the cut scenes before I can properly say anything on that particular game.)

The Sonic Franchise suffers overall from a case of: Too many characters. Now I wouldn’t change that about them, especially this late in the game. However we’ve been introduced to so many characters that none of them ever really get their chance in the spotlight anymore. Another artist that I can actually compare this to is actually VivziePop. She designs a LOT of characters for her works, and she puts so much effort into them that they all come across as “main character material” and completely overshadow the actual main character of the story. The biggest time that has impacted her work was in her comic Zoophobia. The main character was some human chick thrown into the world, but then she spent so long establishing all of the almost hundred characters she’d made for the world that the story itself felt like it de-railed. She’s gotten a bit better with Hazbin, but Charlie still gets really overshadowed. Some of the Archie comics got to be the same way. They had introduced so many characters at that point that they needed to do storylines that didn’t involve Sonic, and Ken Penders himself didn’t really like writing for Sonic because it was so restrictive, where as he had a lot of free reign with the other ones he’d made or that weren’t the main character. So he just kept making character after character to throw in there, and that combined with the characters we got from all of the assorted media over the years means a lot more characters to try and focus on. So the ones that don’t get their prime time in the spotlight just kinda never go anywhere. Also Shadow not being the main precious blue boy probably explains why his writing can be so wibbly-wobbly depending on the media he’s in. Because Sega isn’t breathing down anyone’s neck anywhere near as heavily as they are for Sonic.

I should probably stop typing now because I’ve written you a novel. XD

TL;DR: I love Shadow but he gets the shaft more often than not by the writers.

[wilted3sunflowers]

who?

get ready cause this is like the only thing i will very much despise and if someones been my friends for years they know who i am talking about because eventually, i will rant about it when i recall how much i hate what happened in the series. This is purely for me.

Berry. From tokyo fucking mew mew a la mode spin off. This is a spin off manga from the manga/anime Tokyo mew mew, and i will set something straight, this is purely from spite and pettiness from formative years that ive just let be my only source of genuine disdain regarding a media work i liked for just such silly reasons but now i get to talk about it and pour my salt! 

Okay so, imagine youre like a young preteen or whatever, you had a anime you liked watching in just passing cause you never paid attention to TV schedules so you never knew what was on ever, ofc you found the 4kids dubbed anime considering it was early 00s and your sister had the computer more than you could, but finally youre older, you get more computer time cause your sister has her own by now and you can read fanfiction and look at fanart of a series you liked, even, gasp, rewatching the anime and this time with subs and realizing a lot of things were different [along with watching episodes in 5 different parts on youtube and struggling to find them all to make a complete episode]

You keep encountering a character or two in fanfictions, youve never heard of them, berry? who? Ringu who? You look them up and more so just find sparse images cause what was wikis back then? you think i actually looked things up like that? The logical conclusion for me was, these are just popular fan characters [Again mind you, this is even before the english release was in 2013, like there was even less Berry art and so fanart i saw of her w the cast was like ‘oh someones self insert’] 

And of course, Tokyo Mew Mew, not the most widely known and definitely didn’t have a very….mature audience for English speakers. So of course the fanfics were quite honestly, shit, amateur garbage of angsty preteens wanting to be angsty teens and edgy and the worst part, having the designated bitch mean girl to ruin the protagonist of the stories life so they can write their revenge porn. So guess who that girl was. Berry. So shes already at a huge disadvantage of me liking her, already thinking shes just a popular fan character to hate on and what not because people liked the main cast too much to actually make one of them the antagonists of the fanfic

Now for me totally digging into the fucking series itself, i still havent read knowing i will just not have a good time because ill be like this is booooooooring i want my old cast back. So instead of reading it, i wikied it and the characters and ngl ive done this multiple times, still refreshes how much i dont like it 

The problem with berry:

1. Berry is the protagonist of a continuation of the tokyo mew mew franchise, which okay but the bad part is, this isn’t like just new characters in a familiar scenario but now just in a different place too. Majority of the cast is cast from the main story 

2. Berry just literally waltzed into the place, got zapped by the machine that gave the mews their powers but UH OOHHH she got TWO animal genes in her now Shes a rabbit AND a C A T [like ichigo! but a DIFFERENT cat], instead of the usual one. SO SPECIAL, SO UNIQUE. And she gets to be LEADER of the mews, this fucking ROOKIE. Not to mention, like the regular cast from the first mews are there, you know the girls that had a couple years to get shit on lock and know what theyre doing. and you think Mint and Zakuro at the least would even let some new Rookie would come in and just take leadership role? I dont fucking think so. The worst part is, Ichigo comes back in the story, and doesn’t take back leadership, like thats the most self insert shit this whole girls just been a huge culmination of all the shit thatd make a character mary sue in the early 00s of a fan character. It blows my mind this is a actual legit canon character. I dont give a shit if people out there making “mary sues” get out of my face, people have fun. Its the fact This Is A Canon Protagonist of a spin off, with the old cast

3. WHY THE FUCK IS HER NAME BERRY AND SHES CREAM COLORED. I do not get it, it doesn’t follow the themeing at all, and frankly, the only other new mew in the series is this girl Ringu, who despite having penguin DNA doesnt have a single fucking animal thing about her like cowards and her outfit looks more like her name [apple] and not even trying to give her tuxedo look if you ARENT GOING TO MAKE RINGU THE PENGUIN HAVE ANYTHING PHYSICALLY PENGUIN YOU COWARDS. Its a shit design. no ifs ands or buts. i hate it.

4. This one doesn’t deal with berry but with the series because appearently despite the original mechanics of making things mutate basically. THE ALIENS ARENT EVEN THE MAIN BAD GUYS NOR ARE THEY REALLY IN THE STORY. THE ANTAGONISTS ARE JUST SOME RICH WHITE BASTARD KIDS WHO THINK THE WORLDS BORING. THATS NOT INTERESTING. ALIENS TRYING TO TAKE THE EARTH BACK [they left after a series of disasters that almost led to their extinction] AFTER LEAVING BECAUSE THEIR NEW PLANET IS IN SHAMBLES AND THEYRE BARELY SURVIVING AND THEY FEEL THE HUMANS ARE JUST DESTROYING THE EARTH [it was basically like any other 90s cartoon about planet health ngl] IS MORE COMPELLING AND INTERESTING THAN THIS SHIT. 

To sum up, i hate berry so much because of how i was 1. introduced to her 2. learned more about her 3. her looks and naming that dont even fucking align with ANYONE in the damn series. Seriously why is a rabbit/cat girl thats white colored not even called Creme or something ?? why the fuck is her name berries…….. 4. who the fuck lets a rookie be leader 5. I hate when series try to make a new side thing but basically take all the old characters to come back and only slap in like a few new characters like i didnt want this, esp if youre not changing up the original dynamic of the characters, Not Mint or Zakuro or even a shocker like Lettuce or Pudding steps up to try and be leader while Ichigo is off w her BF for school stuff. No you make a rookie whos ‘very special’ be the new leader and then another new bih cause well, guess you cant just put in ONE new mew and only have new antagonists 6. if youre doing a spin off/continuation you either give us the cast in a new setting and change up a few things to we can explore new dynamics OR give us basically a WHOLE new cast to see how they fall into place and hell even be foils for old cast to compare and see how different or similar things are 

to put it bluntly this all seems very…..

half - baked 

[ bad um tss ]

me @ Berry

[nogoodmox]

okay, challenge time. thoughts on sami/dean/finn. i want DETAILS.

this is…….a cursed ask peggy.

putting it under a read more bc this got very very long!!

so sami/dean? great. finn/dean? great sami/dean/finn?????? that’s some fucken….next level shit okay….how can we even fathom such a perfect trio….

- first thing’s first, i definitely think finn and sami would get along more naturally. they’re close friends irl and they’re just more similar. deano’s the odd one out in this but never fear!! they make it work!!!

- dean is….confused?? like how the fresh hell did he end up with two absolute angels when he sees himself as….a problem child at best. i hate to get edgy (no i don’t) but while i don’t think dean has self-esteem issues, i think he has self-worth issues if that makes sense?

- to clarify i think like,, he doesn’t care what people think of him (obviously) and he’s confident in his abilities, but he doesn’t see himself as a good person. i mean he’s referred to himself as a scumbag on more than one occasion, and let’s not forget “my whole life was a mistake anyway” line. so i think, being in a relationship with people as seemingly perfect as sami and finn might be initially tough for him.

- sami, being a sweetheart, constantly wants to reassure dean. he’s the best at reading other people’s feelings, so when finn’s kinda oblivious, sami knows to step in. he tries his best to not be obvious about what he’s doing, but he acts extra affectionate and clingy around dean when he’s in a low mood to let him know he’s loved.

- finn and dean aren’t super huge on pda, so when it’s just them two it’s mostly rigid “i wanna express my love for you but idk how”. sami’s pretty good at initiating it but despite him being affectionate i don’t think he’d be super into pda either. he mostly just does whatever dean and finn are comfy with!

- that being said, sami knows with finn it’s more a matter of “idk how to handle pda” than “i don’t like pda”, so you can catch him casually slipping his hand into finn’s while they’re out doing stuff. with dean it’s more tricky because he just feels….weird about it. he feels self-conscious no matter how subtle the touch, he’s much more chill about it in private. 

- they love going to parks!! it suits all of their needs tbh. dean being dean, can’t sit still and hates being cooped up, so a nice open space is good for him. sami loves being ~at one with nature~ and sunshine and just generally living his life out in the world, and finn…well he’s happy with whatever makes dean and sami happy. i personally think he’d love taking pictures of them having fun like a doting parent. 

- hiking is also a thing they love, but most of the time it’s dean dragging sami and finn out. dean loves it, whether it be rocky terrain or in forests. he has seemingly endless energy when it comes to that stuff, and he kinda comes to life on a bad day. dean just likes to be outside, point blank. sami and finn are usually the ones in awe of the landscapes and posing for pretty pictures while dean experiences some spiritual shit.

- dean is all over sami and finn’s social media. instagram, twitter, you name it. their accounts are full of strange off-guard pictures of dean (finn’s personal favorite thing is posting a blurry picture of him with the caption: cryptid spotted 👀 ) even the pictures where dean is expecting it he just seems…..off-guard. he usually poses with a hastily thrown-up peace sign and wide eyes, and he has no idea all these pictures are ending up on the internet.

-dates are always a weird mix of things for them. finn likes traditionally “simple” ways of spending time together like playing board games, or building things (cough cough legos). they all get pretty invested in it tbh. games of jenga can last hours if they try hard enough, that is until dean loses his patience and absolutely destroys the thing, bc of course he would. they also watch a lot of movies, but it’s usually obscure ones that finn and dean are super into while sami just kinda watches to humor them.

- sami likes to do romantic things for dates. they go out to dinner a lot, but knowing dean he doesn’t always make it fancy. he and dean are both fans of upbeat places with a fun atmosphere. they order a lot of food, and dean and finn are most definitely the kind of people to write their names on their to-go boxes to ensure no one eats from them. sami, on the other hand, really doesn’t mind and is generous with these two greedy boys.

- when it comes to dean, dates are a wildcard. anything that can catch his attention for more than 3 seconds is worthy. they’ve done some ODD shit together. i’m talking visiting a cheese factory, a dinosaur museum (finn especially appreciated that), amusement parks, visiting a psychic, tank driving, deep sea diving, etc. he doesn’t know what he’s doing, but he tries his best. 

- group naps are a very common thing. they’ve got a busy schedule, so they try to squeeze in rest whenever they can. they usually share a room, and sleep is the time where all guards come down. dean and finn become totally comfortable and there’s nothing awkward about it when sami initiates contact. they all kinda lump together, even when it’s hot, just because it’s reassuring to have everyone there. especially for dean, who doesn’t have the best relationship with sleep. finn is super touchy-feely in his sleep without realizing it, and sometimes he’ll wake up completely draped over sami or dean (usually sami, bc dean moves around too much)

- all of them being wrestlers definitely helps their relationship, and their road trips from city to city are always a blast. they take turns driving, but dean slacks off the most because he gets tired more than anyone. he’ll doze off in the car while mumbling lyrics to the shitty music he insisted on playing, then he’ll fall asleep again at the hotel. sami is most definitely the kind to point out the cows they pass up, and finn will gladly stop on the side of the road to get a closer look at them. they also give up on having proper meals while traveling, so catch them leaving gas stations with a mountain of junk food in their arms. 

- this one is a more biased headcanon but, i like to think sami teaches finn and dean words in arabic or french sometimes! dean will naturally ask him about all the curse words there are, and he sounds absolutely ridiculous trying to pronounce them. he and finn eventually get the hang of a lot of expressions though, and they start to use them casually with each other. finn might shout “yallah!” (come on) when they’re late for something, dean will gladly call anyone and everyone a “hmar” (a donkey, which is a v rude insult in arabic). 

- dean thinks arabic music? absolutely bangs. he gets really into it and asks sami to start playing it on road trips to keep him awake. bc a majority of arabic music is pretty…intense and party-inducing so good luck dozing off to that. 

- kisses! finn is personally the biggest fan of kisses amongst them. sami prefers long hugs and dean just likes leaning on others or resting a hand on them. finn kisses sami’s cheek a lot, he thinks his cheeks are adorable. he kisses dean on his forehead a lot because he came to learn that’s what he likes. dean gives forehead kisses a lot too so sami and finn decided that’s what he was most fond of. 

-kisses on the mouth from finn are usually short, but he almost always puts his hand on sami/dean’s neck when giving them one. he kinda pulls them forward a bit then pulls back quickly. 

-dean really likes giving neck kisses, not even in a sexual way he just kinda dips his head there because he likes the reaction. he also might nip their ears a lot bc…he’s dean and he’s a feral child. 

-sami’s kisses aren’t as common since he’s more of a hugger, but when he does give kiss it’s long and sweet and usually leaves dean/finn surprised and breathless. sami’s a charmer and a smooth criminal B) 

- dean really loves sami’s tummy! he already loves resting on people and sami’s presence in general is just so comforting and warm, so of course he loves sami’s stomach. he likes to rest his head on it and feel it rise and fall softly. for finn, dean loves his shoulders. he thinks they have a nice shape and his head fits there perfectly in his humble opinion. 

-finn likes sami’s general softness, and his stomach fits right in with that, but sami’s cheeks are still his favorite. he loves their roundness and how much bigger they get when he smiles. as for dean, finn really likes his arms. they’re muscular but in a subtle sort of way, and his hugs feel nice despite their rarity. 

- sami really likes finn’s hands. he likes how they look delicate, but also have underlying strength that’s apparent by the veins. sami’s favorite thing about dean is his crooked nose. it’s a silly thing, but he thinks it gives him character. he also loves dean’s dimples but, who doesn’t??

- dean usually feels like he’s being babied by finn and sami, which is a strange feeling. he’s used to only looking out for himself and not depending on anyone, so he’s reluctant at first. he especially feels bad because he doesn’t think he can give anything back. they try to assure him that his presence is enough, but dean doesn’t think so. he sometimes does random acts of kindness to show appreciation in any way he can, and finn and sami are always touched. 

- finn is a sweetheart like sami, but he has a less natural way of going about it which puts him in between dean and sami on the spectrum. he’s not as good as picking up on cues, so it takes him a bit to catch on and realize how sami or dean may be feeling. he immediately tries to make things better though, and he does his best to figure out their body language and mannerisms (especially sami, since he’s the best at hiding any personal issues) 

- sami is as close to an omniscient being as there is in this relationship. granted, he’s not perfect and he definitely misunderstands things sometimes, but he’s usually the best and handling dean and finn’s emotions. dean is more difficult than finn with expressing himself because he already feels like a burden on bad days, so talking about his feelings doesn’t really help. sami’s great at making dean and finn feel more relaxed about opening up, especially by letting dean know he just wants to hear his problems so dean can get them off his chest. sami’s definitely more proficient with the heart-to-heart stuff, but he’s so used to being on the receiving end that sometimes he doesn’t take his own advice and voice his emotions. 

- overall, they may have their rocky moments or times where they but heads, but sami/dean/finn is as close to a perfect relationship as you can get imho. healthy, pure, and Good. 

[femslashrevolution]

[Femslash February] I will never write a book with a sad ending. Here’s why.

This post is part of Femslash Revolution’s I Am Femslash series, sharing voices of F/F creators from all walks of life. The views represented within are those of the author only.

[TW for mention of suicide]

Following the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot, I wrote 700,000 words in one year. I was consumed by such love for the Lara Croft/Sam Nishimura ship, I lived in a perpetual writing coma. If I wasn’t writing, I was thinking about writing, or talking about writing, or gushing about how much I loved these two women and what I was going to write about them. I loved their dynamic, their story and everything about them. Even though they weren’t an ‘official’ couple, there was no doubt in my mind that they loved each other.

I’d lie awake in bed at night and imagine the type of adventures they’d have; I’d imagine silly things I could write about while I was driving to work during the day. They were my life, my soul, and I can hardly remember anything about that year that had nothing to do with them.

In the second half of 2013, riding high on the success of a popular 130,000 word slow-burn epic I’d written, I was planning my sequel, another monster story that ended up being 234,000 words long. I’d spent a month plotting what I thought was going to be a great story. I’d consulted folks form the culture I was writing about, I’d done all my archaeological research. As for the narrative, I’d been writing a sort of remix of a bunch of the older game stories into the new reboot, and I’d plotted what I thought was going to be an amazing homage to the original Tomb Raider.

My concept? I was going to transform new Lara Croft—the Lara who felt, and cried, and loved—into the old Lara Croft: someone stoic and unfeeling, someone who distanced herself from everyone around her and killed without remorse.

I was going to do it by killing her best friend and soulmate, Sam Nishimura.

No one would expect it, I reasoned. It would be a really interesting twist to the universe I’d written so far, which was light-hearted and heart-warming. I decided it brought a sort of maturity and reality-check to what had so far been a pretty ‘Disney’ universe, and I was excited to break all my readers’ hearts. ‘They love angst,’ I told myself as I planned the finer details of my story. ‘They’ll love it!’

Now, I’m very lucky in that I happen to have a number of real life friends who work in the writing industry, and a couple of them were working as professional fiction editors at that time. One of them was a structural story editor, and I happened to be over at her house one night and (predictably) gushing about how much I loved my ship.

She sounded interested. “Tell me your story idea,” she said, sipping her beer. “Let me give you some feedback on it.”

Well, she didn’t need to ask me twice! I launched into all the glorious detail of my story as she listened, nodding, until I finally got to the horrible plot twist: Sam didn’t live. She died. Right in front of Lara, while Lara—who had been convinced up until that moment that she could save her—watched, unable to help. It would be such a shock to the readers!

At that moment, she frowned. I stopped. That wasn’t the reaction I’d expected. “What’s wrong?”

She made a face. “Can I ask you some questions?” I nodded, and she did: “Who are your readers?” That was easy: queer 16-30 year olds, mostly. “Why do they like this ship?” Well, because it’s about two women who are so different but so perfect for each other. “And why do they like your stories?” she asked me. “You said your writing is popular, why is that?”

I didn’t need to actually answer that. I knew what she was getting at. People liked my stories because they loved to read about these two women. They loved to read about their relationship, how they navigated their difficulties. They loved all the things that I did about Lara Croft and Sam Nishimura.

“I doubt many people are coming to read your stories because they want to read 200,000 words of struggle and pain only to have their favourite character die,” she said. “I think it’s important for you to be aware of that.”

That floored me. I didn’t really know what to make of it; I thanked her and changed the subject. Honestly, I’d expected her to tell me that my plot idea was great and maybe give me a few tweaks around the edges; I’d never expected her to tell me that the whole point of the story was a bad idea. It knocked the wind out of me.

I couldn’t sleep that night, either. I couldn’t stop thinking about what she’d said: that people didn’t come to my stories to have their hearts broken. They came for the things: the fluff, the banter, the slow-burn. They’d come to read a hundred different ways Lara and Sam could have hooked up—and, the more I thought about it, the more I knew that those were the things I imagined when I was driving, or waiting in queue somewhere, or drifting off to sleep. Those were the things that made me happy.

The edgy, dark idea I’d had about destroying Lara, destroying her trust in the world and in her ability to maintain friendships suddenly didn’t seem like such a genius idea. Building all that darkness into stories that had previously been full of hope and light seemed like a horrible betrayal of my readers. I started writing it anyway, though, while I tried to figure out what I was going to do. Maybe if I just foreshadowed it enough, it wouldn’t be such a shock…?

Consequently, while I was in the middle of writing it, one of my friends—Julia, a lesbian—committed suicide. Her parents had turned her out of home when she was 17, and at 27, she’d had enough and taken her own life. It was horrible because even though I hadn’t spoken to her in a couple of years I still cared about her and wished her well, and the thought of that bright spark being snuffed out was heart-breaking. Her funeral was full of young queers my age—all bawling our eyes out. All unable to believe what had happened. Her family didn’t come.

Another friend who I hadn’t seen for a couple of years hugged me afterwards. Her eyes were red; she’d been crying for some time. “Tell me what you’ve been up to,” she said. “But only tell me happy things. I’ve had enough shit this year.”

It was when I was back at home that evening and I’d sat down to write more of my story that I realised I couldn’t. I couldn’t get that room full of sobbing young queer people out of my head, or what my friend had said: “Only tell me happy things.”

I didn’t want to write angst. I didn’t want to write pain, and suffering, and heartache. I wanted to write about my beautiful, loving ship: two women, soulmates, living happily ever after. Riding off into the sunset together, arm in arm, deliriously happy together. Riding off somewhere far, far away from the deep, soul-wrenching pain I was feeling at that moment. I wanted to bury myself in their love and forget about the world that had caused Julia to take her life.

On that day, mid-way through my story, I decided to change the plot. I wasn’t going to give my characters the ending that Julia had. Sam was going to pull through, and Lara and Sam were going to live happily ever after.

I didn’t realise how important that decision was until I started to notice all the sad endings that were filling up ships around me: Lexa, the lesbian character from from The 100 dying in the most horrible, unceremonious way. Poussey from Orange is the New Black dying in the most horrible, unceremonious away. All around me lesbians were dropping like flies in media and I was seeing so few happy endings for lesbians. Honestly, it was no wonder fangirls were burying themselves in fanfic, trying to ignore canon and pretend they lived in a world where Lexa didn’t die and where her and Clarke could live happily ever after.

I remember receiving an anonymous ask from someone saying, “Tell me Asy, does it get better? Can lesbians be happy?”

Those messages don’t leave me easily, because I was so close to adding another story to the pile: another dead lesbian. Another ruined life. Another reader of mine—they’re mostly all young queers—who would have been crying alone in her room because she’d cared about my character, she’d related to my character, and I lulled her into a false sense of security before ultimately betraying her trust and giving her a cruel reminder of the outside world.

Many of my readers could have been like Julia: lesbians rejected by their family, struggling with depression. Looking for the light, the hope, that things get better and that there’s a place for us.

People turn from canon towards fanfic to escape the narrative of canon where lesbians die. People turn away from life towards fanfic and stories.

And it really struck me how much responsibility I have as a writer to give them hope. To reassure my readers, my young queer readers, that happy endings are real. That people can have them, even though the world outside fandom can often be pitted against us.

People don’t come to my stories to admire my clean narrative, or even because they care at all about the quality of my writing. They come to escape. They come to bury themselves in a world where two women can be in love and have a happy ending. They come to read about women in love who triumph over adversity, no matter the scale of the problems they face.

And it is my responsibility as a writer to give them that: hope. It is my responsibility to build them up, to inspire them, to fill their hearts and their lungs so that when they leave my stories they walk away feeling better about themselves and the world.

I came very, very close to adding another dead lesbian to the pile: never again.

Because of this, I will never write a story where the queer characters get a sad ending. I will never write a story that doesn’t inspire and comfort the people who read it. We suffer enough, us queers, and I consider it my duty as a writer to help you forget that.

 ~*~

 ~*~

About the Author:

A E Dooland (@Asynca) is a 100% certified queer in her mid-thirties who took a terrifying leap from 20 years of writing fanfic into publishing original novels in 2014. She writes fiction about self-discovery and self-actualisation, and she’s just finished and is about to publish her first novel! You can learn more about that and her at her website.

The (old, old) stories referenced in the writing below can be found on fanfiction.net: The Camera Loves You and The Dreaming. 

[oldschoolgameshowguy-blog]

TJW = WTF?

A CBS Classic is Revived But Changes Nearly Everything (And Not In A Good Way)

“From Hollywood…it’s the game where knowledge is king and Lady Luck is queen...”

Sadly, the “knowledge” is largely gone from TBS’s revival of “The Joker’s Wild”, a classic CBS game show that rewarded actual book knowledge with cash and prizes of up to $25,000. Entertainer Snoop Dogg brought back a new version of this Jack Barry vehicle in October of 2017 and for those who remember and loved the original, this one is a huge disappointment. First, though, let me comment on the few plusses the show has.

It’s worth watching the show - once - to see the beautiful new set. Barry would have been proud (even envious). The designers created a stage that’s colorful, lively and engaging. You even hear slot machine sounds like you’d hear in a real casino. The 1990 revival had its own technology-driven machine – three TV monitors where the category wheels would “spin” but they weren’t terribly exciting to watch. At least with modern technology, the new Joker machine is something truly impressive.

Sadly, that’s where the list of positives end for me. There’s so many things about the new version of the show that I disliked upon viewing the premiere. The audience. The questions. The changed flow of play. And most certainly the host. If you’re a fan of Snoop Dogg, you’ll probably hate everything I’m about to say and dismiss me as a “hater”. Fine. But if you don’t know Snoop, you may agree with me. 

Snoop’s persona – at least on the show – is that of a drug-friendly casino operator party guy with a streetwise sense of humor. That, of course, is nothing like Jack Barry or, really, any other quiz show emcee of any of the classics. Even Gene Rayburn of legendary “Match Game” fame was wild and wacky without seeming stoned. And I don’t find Snoop’s manner appealing – in the context of a quiz show. As a music performer, not being all there can add to an artist’s charisma. But not for leading a vehicle like this. (Michael Strahan of ABC’s “The $100,000 Pyramid” would have been a finer choice to helm this revival. Frankly, I can think of at least a dozen other people I’d rather had been at the helm of the new “Joker”.)

Snoop is supposed to be the main draw for the show - but with the original, it wasn't about the host. It was about the game, at least for the viewers. Jack Barry was an affable host, like many emcees of the day, but he wasn’t playing a version of himself, and a seedy one at that. He was actually trying to clean up his image, having been implicated in The Quiz Show Scandals of the 1950’s. He needed to be squeaky clean. Luckily, it worked.

A good game show host - to me - knows how to set up tension and the big moments. Snoop seems too high - or high acting - to be tense about anything. It’s all about laughs, money, and that “big-ass” slot machine. If you’re watching a game, as a viewer, you don’t want to be going, “What just happened?”

Snoop has famously said “The Joker’s Wild” was one of his favorite shows growing up, and that he used to watch it with his grandmother. Why was it a favorite? Was it the big money? The set? It looks like that the oversized slot machine what fascinated him because I don’t get the impression it was the intellect displayed by the contestants. I don’t think Snoop would have done so well as a contestant on the CBS original.

The new version of the game is not a general knowledge quiz – at least, as you’d see on “Jeopardy!” with Alex Trebek. (I wish there were more examples of knowledge game shows on American TV but they’ve all but disappeared – American TV producers presume that the average viewer doesn’t find book smarts entertaining. When I was growing up, viewers had more selections – among the better of them, “The Who, What or Where Game” and “College Bowl”. Even shows like “Gambit” or “Hollywood Squares” had questions where viewers could learn something factual.)

On the new version of “Joker” questions are more about streetwise subjects or comedic themes. The category names are too silly to recount here, but I was reminded of the equally frivolous names chosen for categories on the 2000 “Pyramid” revival with Donny Osmond (which I was glad to see bite the dust). Sometimes it’s possible to be too cutesy.

Even the 1990 version with Pat Finn, disappointing as that was, had quiz questions about real topics – they were given as definitions, where the player had to define the person, place or thing Finn read off his cards. The message Snoop’s “Joker” sends is that there's zero value in knowing school subjects or facts. With who made it into the White House in 2016, this show is suitable for a “post-fact” era.

New “Joker” isn’t even the same game structurally. Designed to fit within a single-half hour, with no carry-over champions (even the current incarnation of Family Feud with Steve Harvey lets families stay five days to win a new SUV), this version of “Joker” is a contest to see who can amass the most money during game play, not whether they can reach a particular amount. That dramatically changes the game. There are fewer moments for natural tension. A wrong answer to a question can’t be picked up by an opponent for credit, as in the original version. There is no “final spin” rule if a player reaches the winning amount before players have had an equal number of spins. And a three-Joker spin is lame, as it only counts for $500 towards a daily total. There is no Joker’s Jackpot, no five-game big payoff, and no sizzle associated with getting Jokers anymore, no matter how much the audience joins in with “Joker! Joker!! Joker!!!!”

Speaking of the audience (and the players), in scanning with my eyes, I didn’t see anyone present over the age of 30.  Just a soundstage full of twenty-somethings. Snoop is probably the oldest person on that stage. The original “Joker” wasn’t so narrow in its appeal, and that might have been part of the reason it was a classic – you could see students, fathers, mothers, teachers, artists, young adults, older adults, everyone. It seems that Snoop’s version of the show basically says, “If you ain’t a club kid, or you don’t dig me, you too old.” I think lots of college students across the country who tune in “Jeopardy!” daily would disagree. (I was also non-plussed by the standing ovation at the beginning of the show – I remember when standing ovations had to be earned.)

If you ran the original CBS version of “Joker” now, it wouldn't connect with Snoop’s target audience on the TBS version, because that target audience doesn't value book knowledge – at least not in this arena. Get outta here, nerds – you’re not wanted here.

I am also not a fan of “lovely assistants” unless they “work.” It seems that these days, a female assistant (it’s always gotta be a female) is comely and attractive but doesn’t necessarily have much in the way of personality. Catch 21’s Nikki was pretty but bland also. The last show with a “lovely assistant” I could handle was “Wheel of Fortune” - Vanna White may be long in the tooth, but she has depth and seems more real. On the original CBS version, Jack handled the entire show, solo – and even the 1990 revival with Pat Finn was a single-star affair.

How could this version of “Joker” ever have been green-lighted for production? Simple - times have changed. Broadcasters and production companies are greedier than ever, and ever eager to push the envelope to get a new generation of viewers, and the eyeballs advertisers covet. I suppose some of that is to be expected, but taste seems to have been lost with it. And it borders on sacrilege to take an old brand and put something else entirely with it - it’s just wrong.

“The Joker’s Wild” was never intended to be a comedy game show. There have been other game shows that were expressly designed as humor vehicles - “Make Me Laugh”, “The Hollywood Squares”, “The Gong Show”, “Match Game”, “Every Second Counts”, “Can You Top This?” - but taking a venerated quiz and turning it into a comedy vehicle isn't a good idea. If I had my way, this show would have been called something else.

Another part of the problem is that the industry itself has changed since the 1970s - indeed, the concept of entertainment is more than TV and radio - and producers, accountants and suits are greedier than ever, wanting a guaranteed success. Most folk under 30 now have TV, streaming music, social media, gaming consoles, and dating/hookup apps to entertain themselves. And so TV has to have bigger and bigger spectacles to push the envelope – witness, a game show with open drug references (“420”).

And then you have what I could call “new generation” producers – folks whose interest is in leaving their own mark on a classic genre rather than respecting what made the genre work – it’s all about them. I have seen revivals come and go in recent years, but they never stay. They all have to be edgy. They all have to be “explicit”. They all have to be bawdy. I dare one game show packager out there to bring back a classic (I’m thinking “The Big Showdown” from ABC) without retooling every g’damned thing from top to bottom for an exclusive 18 to 24 aged demographic. If I had the independent wealth and connections, I’d do it myself but...here I sit, typing a blog instead.

Richard Kline’s company tried to redo “Joker” in 1990 by changing nearly everything and it was a flop – only after several months in did they try to retool the game with classic “Joker” rules, but it was too late then. However, having seen this new “Joker”, that ‘90 version is no longer the worst.

TBS is a cable channel so they can show offerings like this. I just cannot imagine CBS running this - except as a gag. If Snoop’s “Joker” gains traction, look for an SNL parody one of these coming weekends.

If you wanted to have a game show in a night club - and all that implies - you'd get Snoop’s reboot of “The Joker’s Wild”. With the exception of the beautiful new set, there is little that a fan of the original CBS “Joker” will enjoy. “Jeopardy!” or quiz show fans can rightfully wince. And TBS? Nice gimmick, guys, but you better promote the hell out of this show to your millennial “base” to make it a commercial success.

Meantime, I will stick to reruns of the classic CBS show on You Tube.

GRADE: F