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jinwoowoohoo · 7 years ago

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Astro is honestly the light in your life you didn't know you needed until it was there.

I wasn’t planning on making any sort of personal post today, but seeing other Aroha’s posts as well as reflecting on my own experience in the last 1.3 years of stanning them has just. Really made me think about this universal experience Rohas seem to have.

(TLDR of my Astro origin story: I started as a hardcore SM stan ( f(x) and SHINee as my ults), but got shooked by the boys after the Replay cover and within a month or so they had made their way to my #3 spot)

I have loved many groups, and many idols, and even though Astro only my #2 ult group, there is something so undeniably special about these six boys and the environment they create around them.

There is sooooooo much good music out there, so much that can make you want to get up and dance, or to lay down and let the emotions wash over you, but never before Astro have I found music that feels like listening to a warm hug. Like a warm ray of sunshine, like a pat on the back, like stargazing with a loved one. Music that’s just so light, and wholesome, and encouraging, and comforting.

And the boys themselves exude the exact same feelings. They make you, personally, feel safe and loved, even from a million miles away. And it’s honestly incredible? How a group of regular, young people can just consistently give off so many positive vibes, and make anyone they meet smile and feel like the world is just a little brighter. The feeling that Aroha get when they listen to or watch the boys is something I’ve been trying to grasp for a while now, because I see people talk about it time and time again, and I feel like its so hard to really explain unless you’ve experienced it yourself.

Like yes so many groups out there provide a place of comfort for their fans, but no cases feel quite the same as Astro. The relationship between the boys and the fans feels just.... so heartfelt and genuine, like they interact because actually genuinely want to be close to us (rather than some celebrities who only interact with their fans as part of PR for their job, which is totally fair and I’m not knocking them for it).

When Eunwoo comes on for one of his 10 Minute lives, it’s because he’s bored/lonely and wants to hear how we’re doing, to hear about our day. He’s a popular guy and I’m sure he has plenty of other people he could reach out and talk to if he wanted to, but he chooses us. Even when he’s at home, in bed, at 2 am, with the lights off and Bin asleep in the bunk above him, he still wants to chat with us. And man, is that just so deeply, incredibly special.

Genuineness is definitely a quality I’ve seen used to described them a lot, and man it’s just so true. Of course there’s plenty that they keep to themselves, and we’ll never really know what they’re like in private, but when every single staff member that has ever talked about working with them has had nothing but overwhelmingly positive things to say, I feel like what we do get to see is pretty close to their true selves. They really put their all into everything they do, and making sure everyone around them is having just as good of a time as they are (if that’s even possible haha) I mean just take a look at them cheering for literally everybody at ISAC, so much so that they people being cheered for were getting embarrassed. They just have so much love and energy to give, and it’s very easy to see. (I personally love this chat with the Makestar staff, they’re very cute and have nothing but lovely things to say about their experiences with the boys [link] )

I feel like this has gotten really long with no visible end, so I’ll bring it back to where I started - Astro is the light in your life you didn’t know you needed. No matter who you are, what your background is, or where you are in life, Astro is there for you, to take you by the hand, and help you smile when its hard (and when its not). As @heybinnie articulated really well in this post, you don’t expect to fall in love with them when you meet, but before you know it they’ll have done so much for you in just a short amount of time, and even if you were in a perfectly good place before meeting them, it becomes hard to imagine your life without them.

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To Astro: Thank you for everything that you do, and everything you will do. Your zest for life has invigorated me in ways I never expected, and has given me the gift of community that I had craved to have after my previous ones died off and moved on. You give me so much inspiration and motivation, to try new things, to take better care of myself, and to look out for others. My life would be a lot more dull without you, and I look forward to walking this flowery road together. Happy 2 years, dear loves.

And to Aroha: I know there have been bad feelings, disagreements, and upsetting behaviors as of late. It’s normal to have disagreements, not everybody will always get along with everybody, nor should they be expected to. I know the community is not as much sunshine and rainbows as we have strived for it to be. But, I also know there have been incredible bonds built. I know that in general, we are a group of kind people who just want to love, to be loved, and to have a place to fit in. And I know that the problems we are facing have solutions. I hope that we can continue trying to live up to the reputation we have built, and take a page from the boys’ book about how to treat each other, and how to address when you’re having an issue. Talk to each other, respect each other, and treat each other as human beings first.

When I made this blog I was welcomed with open arms and warm hearts, and I hope we can continue providing that to any new soul who crosses our paths.

#i uuuuh did not set out to write a novel #but these boys will do that do ya #happy 2 years everyone #pointless post

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goatpaste · 5 years ago

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i love your art and all and maybe this sound silly but,,, what is exactly warriorcats? i want know more of the fandom

ty!

and its a book series! its called warriors but yknow for easier searching and it sounds better everyone just says ‘warrior cats’ lol

but its a book series that got super popular! and its being going on, and it still on going for nearly 20 years

and its just about 4 groups of cats living out in the woods and they got cat laws and stuff. and fun names where their name usually start off as like (blank)kit. Usually their prefix name is colors, flowers, nature, animals and ect. then they become apprentices and are renamed (blank)paw and they train to be warriors to fight for their clan and whatever and get the suffix in their name from paw to something else and whatever. like theres bluefur, jayfeather, flipclaw and swiftbreeze and stuff like that. and their leaders get nine lives and their suffix changes to star.

and the first six set of books is about this one pet named rusty renamed firepaw is prophecies to help the clans and whatever. and he becomes a super swaggy warrior and kicks ass or whatever.

and after the first series where firepaw becomes fireheart and ofc firestar, (because you shouldn’t be surprised that the main character prophecies to be super swaggy in a young teen novel becomes the leader) its about his daughter squirrelflight and her friends but mostly her and brambleclaw (son of the least series main villian) and their stupid not that interesting or good relationship despite what you would hope would come from it.

then the next series is about squirrelflights kids jayfeather, lionblaze and hollyleaf and they have super powers maybe. tbh i dont remember a lot about that series, it had iconic scenes and stuff and cringe idiots. some of those cats sure had super powers and was a lot of build up to the next series.

and then the next series is aLSO about squirrelflights babies but now their not her babies because “surprise” they were her sister leafpool’s kids and for some reason even tho leafpool has been nothing but kind to the said kids and squirrelflight raised them with love, the kids treat them both like their dirty and terrible liars and not their moms. also dovewing is there and shes like the great niece of firestar and she’s hanging out with the cats from the last series

then the fifth series i didnt read but i think its about squirrelflight actual kid alderheart but i dont really know if thats true, again i didn’t read the books after some point in the fourth series

and if its not about alderheart then i think its about his adopted daughter uuuuh twigbranch or something and her sister violetshine, but more about violetshine i think. she seems important. and i think both of them change clans once or twice maybe, violetshine hangs out with an anime villian and i think her and twigbranch have THE most convoluted backstory from what i understood from their wiki.

then violetshine marries a stoner named tree and the next series about their kid stoner baby jr AKA rootpaw who is full of rage. also supporting main characters are dovewings son shadowsight and dovewings sister’s boring incest baby bristlefrost.

and i say incest baby because at this point in the series if you cant tell everyone is related to firestar or firestars nephew and the gene pool is entirely them, i think at least 80% of the group their apart of is their family. and remember how i said their was stupid forest cat rules? one of those rules was no having babies from outside the clan idiot! which is a dumb rule and has lead to stupid forbidden romances and so many incest babies. hardly anyone can have babies without being related anymore. the writers of the books series have accidentally made siblings mate, made uncles and nieces mates without realizing it.

look at this

its a mess! and bristlefrost parents had parents/siblings who were apart of a prophecy about being related to firestar

also i havent even mentioned ghost cats because theres a variety to chose from! theres starclan which is cat heaven and the cats seek guidance from starclan through dreams, omens and prophecies despite all of starclan being made of dead cats they once knew. like their drinking pool water and holding a sayonce to ask their friend ted who died last year how much sugar goes in the recipe but fuck dude, ted is just a dead he doesn’t know. he shrugs and him and your other dead buddies get together and make a rough estimation of maybe a cup or two

and then theres the dark forest where cats that starclan deemed bad and wrong go. its hell! its hell for cats! but starclan and the clans in general are kinda dick heads and I believe has sent some cats there unfairly while letting other shit heads into cat heaven. but thats me

and then theres just straight up ghost cats, i think its purgatory for cats? i havent read the part were ghost showed up. by the way didn’t mention this earlier, but the cat named Tree i mentioned earlier can see ghost and summon them i think. its just a thing that the group he was from can do, and his son rootpaw can also do it. its a big part of the series as a ghost is pillowing around a deadmans rotting corpse.

also tree was from a group that wasn’t apart of the clans named the sisters, they were an all female group who could see ghost or something. they seem neat. again, showed up in book i didnt read

and the starclan thing is only for clan cats, if you dont believe and dedicate yourself to starclans magic ways and rules you dont go here. where do you go? iuhknow somewhere dummy, you dont need to know.

theres two cats who dont believe in starclan which is funny to two extents which, one is a healer who are meant to talk to starclan and receive prophecies and stuff. Two, both were in a big war were starclan manifested in the real world with the dark forest and they killed each other. yes! the ghost manifested and made each other double super forever dead. and these cats still dont believe in starclan. but yknow what their fair, starclan is dumbass

this isn’t important but im on a roll now, and i just need to mention there was a group of cats who did yoga.

also! theres four clans!

the main one we only see for three-four series is thunderclan. their known for being the main character! their just very good and perfect and heroic and again, have main character syndrome. you will only see what thunderclan is up to for 4 series AT LEAST without reading the side books.

theres shadowclan, which when introduce at the series start is introduced as villians, their said to be evil and very very bad. they eat rats and stalk around at night like weirdos. however through reading the side books and the progression of the series you realize shadowclan had two evil rulers and MANY idiots. i love them, their very good at hiring clearly evil cats with bad ideology as their leaders and just blindly following them.

riverclan, they can swim! thats their gimmick! their lazy, pretty and arrogant. i love them their dumbasses and this one line of their wiki pages is enough said on them and is the funniest thing

then theres windclan, they sleep on the moor and run really fast. the first book series their fucking missing because shadowclan bullied them into leaving. we really dont see a lot of windclan until the second series, despite how often the cats have to walk through their lands to get places. tallstar is the first leader you meet in the series and i love him, he fucked firestars dad shitlips.

all in all i think you probably wanted a short simple explanation but i got into it

the book series is bad, but very fun and very stupid. its so funny and bad.

its got its issues! i have a lot of complaints about it and its writing. but if you want an easy read to get into! i recommend it! if you have better things to do however, do that. theres better things out there than warriors I promise

#long post #i like to make fun of warrior cats #Anonymous

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seyaryminamoto · 5 years ago

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Hiiiiii - read your Iroh and Ursa metas, loved them. Might I ask if you've any equally Hot Takes on the fandom's favorite punching bags - The Great Divide and Avatar Day?

Uuuuh well.

If the hot take is expected to be “they’re GREAT episodes!”, I… I’m afraid I’ll disappoint :’D I dislike them both, but who knows? Maybe my reasons for disliking them are different than other people’s?

My problem with The Great Divide is a little personal: that was the first episode I ever watched of ATLA, and if only I’d caught another one, anything slightly more plot-relevant than that, I might have become a fan of the show much sooner. I watched it, found certain things entertaining, others not so much, and concluded ATLA was a “monster of the week” show masquerading as a show with a plot. Which… made it less interesting to me, by mere logic. I was also very much a teenager back then, and while I still had decent instincts as far as storytelling was concerned, they weren’t as polished as they are now. So I didn’t really see much of ATLA worth my while in The Great Divide, and so, from a personal point of view, it’s not at all amongst my favorite episodes.

Upon rewatching the show in full, I was more forgiving of the Great Divide, not only because I understood the show’s dynamics better, but because ATLA actually has other episodes that, while featuring occasional relevant information and characters, could also feature not-so-relevant developments later on. So it’s not just Avatar Day and the Great Divide: the Fortuneteller, while a pretty liked episode, is honestly about as lacking in plot-heavy developments as those two are. Yet most people like that one :’) why’s that? Shippy reasons? Weeeell…

The truth is, if you ask me, that the Great Divide and Avatar Day and the Fortuneteller are episodes that allow the plot to slow down. This wasn’t so good in the early stages of Book 1, where slowing the plot too much actually made you forget there was a plot altogether… but when you watch the show as a whole, those moments of less tension, featuring Aang resolving problems and saving lives of completely ordinary people, were actually pretty good for what they were. That, in particular, is something I missed in Book 3: Team Avatar minus Zuko certainly do their best to help common people here and there through the first half of Book 3, but Zuko never does (and then when Zuko joins them, they never really do that again). What would I give for an episode where Zuko actually had to reason with the harm the war has caused not only to the Earth Kingdom, but to his own people… frankly, that oversight from the writing department is still absolutely absurd to me.

So, my problem with the Great Divide and Avatar Day isn’t that they weren’t plot relevant. My initial problem with the Great Divide, like I said earlier, was personal. But there’s also the feeling that not enough growth for the main characters takes place in these episodes: Aang resolved the Great Divide’s problem in the goofiest way he could. It was funny, creative and helpful, and kind of unexpected for your kind-hearted hero to lie to deal with a problem… though it also makes the situation more complex because of that, since he’s doing something ethically incorrect to establish peace between warring tribes. He did an objectively bad thing… for good purposes. So… it’s complicated, but it’s cool. It’s not half-bad as a concept that the show could explore.

Nonetheless, you can’t feel a HUGE, PALPABLE CHANGE in the relationship between Sokka and Katara after this episode. You really don’t. They spend the bulk of the episode at odds with each other, and they set aside their problems later… but everything they do, post-Great Divide, really doesn’t look like they learned a lot from their clashing, such as how to see things from each other’s POV or being more fair with each other… I, at least, don’t feel much of a change. No idea if other people see it differently, but they continue to clash pretty wildly later on, particularly in Book 3. So, did they learn something at all? If not… then the episode does end up feeling rather pointless because it doesn’t feel like the characters really are impacted by what happened in it, right?

And that, beyond anything else, is what makes these sorts of episodes feel like filler content: The Ember Island Players WAS filler content, absolutely, but you have scenes such as Zuko talking to Toph about Iroh, or Aang and Katara’s catastrophic rejected kiss, and it feels like SOMETHING happened in the episode even if in general it didn’t do anything plot-heavy. But aside from these small scenes that offer characters a chance to make at least a little progress (whether forward or backwards…), you even get a chance to see how the Fire Nation views the war, how they see themselves, how they see their Fire Lord. Even there, the show is giving you information that helps in the worldbuilding of the show. This is absent in The Great Divide, where the two warring tribes are never seen or heard of again, and they’re not exactly relevant because of that. Do they add some diversity to what we ought to perceive of the Earth Kingdom? Yes. Is it useful for anyone other than the rare fic writer who decides to use these characters for something? (never really seen it but I bet it has happened) Honestly, no.

Now, Avatar Day is annoying to me for another personal reason, even if it connects with some of what I said above: I HATE the way Sokka is characterized in this episode. I have more than enough qualms with how he’s characterized for many episodes in Book 2, but this one takes the cake.

Sokka is usually sharper than everyone else, helpful, resourceful, even when no one is really acknowledging it. Often he’s the voice of reason, the one who figures out what’s going on (such as in the Cave of Two Lovers, where he realizes the tunnels are changing, just to name one thing), but Avatar Day decided to feature him obsessing with acting as an investigator, and he kept stopping Katara from making the big reveals because HE had to do it, and she just rolled her eyes at him all along (from the get-go too, since she goads him into investigating by spurring his ego and yet she still is shown visibly annoyed when he starts raving about how he figured out the seal jerky thing back in the Water Tribe). All of this is to make Sokka a punchline of the “Katara is the smart one” joke that doesn’t even work when you take the rest of the show into account :’) so… this particular thing will ALWAYS rub me the wrong way with Avatar Day.

From this episode, I do like that Aang has to deal with people who hate him because he’s the Avatar. I always complained about how LOK basically had everyone swooning and adoring Korra even if they hated her, everyone constantly in awe of her prowess and talent, and those who DIDN’T like her were constantly shown as unreasonable jerks, such as the kid who throws that snowball at her, and we’re supposed to feel bad when she calls Korra the worst Avatar ever :’) we are REALLY expected to feel bad and to dislike the kid… when we literally watched Aang dealing with a mob that sentenced him to boil in oil for his past life’s crimes, and who burned effigies in his image. Right. A spiteful little kid is so very harmful, so heartbreaking, so jarring. Wow.

What I like about Avatars dealing with people disliking them, be it for solid reasons or for stupid ones, is that it feels REAL. Because it makes sense that people wouldn’t have an unanymous opinion of the Avatar as the savior of all the world, it makes sense that there’d be people who are jerks because they don’t like him on principle (or lack thereof). It’s normal, natural, completely common in human beings to just see something popular and go “MEEEEH I’VE SEEN BETTER”. And that’s what Avatar Day gave me, as far as worldbuilding is concerned.

As for more worldbuilding, Avatar Day certainly offered more insight on Kyoshi, but while most people found that fascinating and the insight in question absolutely wonderful because oh woooow she bends LAVA, I found it damning instead. If you need to know why… feel free to read this post (seeing as you like my controversial opinions you might even enjoy the whole thing x’D). While there’s some new novels now about Kyoshi that shed more light on who she was and how she did the things she did, I have certain gripes with some of the ideas I’ve heard those novels bring up. All in all, though, they shouldn’t change what canon brings forward with Kyoshi’s behavior with Chin: just in case you didn’t read that ask, I’ll say that my problem isn’t that she killed Chin, if anything, my problem is that she only killed him when he only had two places left to conquer.

She wouldn’t sit passively while he took her home. Because, uh, that’s the only place the almighty Avatar had to defend, I suppose.

Basically, Chin pulled a Kuvira with no opposition because the Avatar apparently didn’t care to involve herself in this particular problem until he was knocking on her door. Seriously? Best Avatar ever? Oookay then…

So, my favorite Gaang member, turned into a bad joke and unable to tell he’s been turned into a joke + the birth of a fandom-wide circlejerk around a character because she bent lava, nevermind the implications of her disregard for a tyrant’s conquest until it reached her doorstep + the worst point of Zuko’s theft spree = I don’t like this episode :’)

Avatar Day’s only redeeming quality for me, like I said, is Chin Village’s Avatar-hating ways, but ONLY as a concept. Even so, I wish they’d tackled that particular matter far more seriously than they did, because sure, Chin Village’s villagers were damn stupid, but hating the Avatar because she killed someone they idolized wasn’t exactly a far-fetched motivation. Where you’d think this could even serve as a sort of parallel between Zuko and Aang, where they both find themselves as the new heirs of their respective, long legacies, legacies full of people who did good and bad things, and the ones being held accountable for those bad things are THEM, however unfair it might be…? The show just turned the whole damn thing into a joke. And that’s just a real waste of screentime. I’m not against ATLA’s comedic episodes at all, not as a concept, and I really like the show’s humor in general… but this episode absolutely could have used less of it, especially when offering an opportunity for Aang to actually find out that his past lives aren’t at all as idealistic and righteous as he might have thought they were, or, at the very least, he could have reflected on the fact that they didn’t necessarily share his principles and beliefs. But nope. Missed opportunity, right there.

In short… I suppose people dislike Avatar Day because of similar reasons why I do, I can’t say for sure. I assume people dislike the Great Divide for its filler-nature and general irrelevance to the show, and that’s pretty reasonable? But in my opinion, the problem with so-called filler content is that it ought to be used to expand on characters, to further develop them, they should be a chance to slow down and offer introspection during a brief chance that opens up when heavy plots give the viewers, and the characters, a chance to pause and breathe for a while. Both Avatar Day and the Great Divide fail at this particular wishful standard I impose on fillers, though. And that, along with my personal reasons, is why they’d be part of my personal “least liked episodes of ATLA” list, if I were to make one. It isn’t to say there aren’t a few redeeming qualities in both episodes, I hope I made that clear… but that’s not enough to offset the negatives in this case.

Also, I brought up the Fortuneteller too as an example for a filler episode that actually doesn’t achieve much, same as these two don’t. I actually enjoy this episode quite a bit? The animation is really good and smooth here. But that’s neither here nor there :’)

The Fortuneteller certainly emphasized Aang’s crush on Katara, it also expanded on Katara’s character by showing how she’s so quick to believe fortunetelling, as opposed to Sokka, who absolutely doesn’t believe any of it. This generated a ridiculous but fun dynamic between the three characters through the episode, and it added Meng to the mix as well by featuring her as the girl Sokka misunderstands Aang is pining over. There’s a lot of silly comedy, but it’s in a much nicer way (in my opinion) than the one presented by Avatar Day, especially as it emphasizes elements of the character’s personalities: Sokka’s unwillingness to believe in spiritual nonsense, DESPITE he has already been caught up in Spirit World shenanigans, Aang’s hopeless pining over Katara and Aunt Wu’s encouragement for him to find his own destiny instead of being trapped by whatever she told him, and Katara’s obsession with asking Aunt Wu about EVERYTHING in her life up until the point where she finds herself considering that the super powerful bender she’ll marry could be Aang.

In general, this episode does handle its filler qualities as best as possible. But, and this is a problem I’ve seen brought up by other people before, it’s also an episode that features Katara pondering maybe Aang could be her one true love… only for the next episode to absolutely forsake that plotline and go for a wholly different subject. Which is, of course, fine… the problem is, we could’ve had Katara treating Aang slightly differently if she found herself thinking of him in a new light. That she didn’t treat him visibly differently, if anything, makes it look like right after her “He really is a powerful bender…” reveal, she just went “NAAAAAH, no way it would be him” and just decided to push aside all romantic possibilities with Aang until the Cave of Two Lovers. Which, considering Kataang is the endgame couple, is honestly another fumble by the writing department, as following up on this development would have easily silenced all those detractors of the ship who have interpreted the whole show under the tried and tired guise of “but she’s just mothering hiiiiiim!”.

One great thing about romance is watching it grow steadily, gradually… and when you have such big moments you ought to follow up on them, to a fault. It didn’t even have to be acknowledged in any massive ways, but it could have been acknowledged by featuring Katara wearing the necklace Aang weaved for her during later episodes, or something like that. But… there’s nothing palpable. Nothing serious. And this isn’t to say Kataang is lesser for it, but it would have been greater if the next episode had addressed the pending elephant in the room instead of going around it and pretending it didn’t exist at all.

So, while the filler in ATLA in general is better than the frequent fillers from anime, for instance, or than fillers in certain liveaction TV shows… it’s not quite perfect, let alone is it always top-tier writing that, while slowing down the plot, allows proper character introspection and growth. I really do like the Fortuneteller, as usual Aang’s work to help of those who need him is probably my favorite thing about his character and it shows in spades in this episode. The comedy is really great here, and I love the way Sokka is portrayed here… as opposed to how he’s portrayed in the Great Divide and Avatar Day, where not only does it feel like he didn’t grow at all, it also feels like he’s reduced to slapstick comedy with zero respect for his character. So… yeah. I don’t really like those two episodes, not out of any genuine disliking of fillers for what they can be, but because, as far as chances to slow down plot and developments go, both Avatar Day and The Great Divide really didn’t do it the way I would’ve wanted them to.

#anon #... so tumblr didn't just change #it changed without dealing with problems #such as when you put a read more in an ask #and then post it #AND IT EATS UP THE READ MORE #so you end up plastering an insanely long post on everyone's dashboards #I am very sorry #*bows*#anyways #sorry if i disappoint #but I hope the answer is comprehensive enough

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thranduil-aran-edhil · 2 years ago

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32-37 😍

helloo! <3 32. What is a line from a poem/novel/fanfic etc that you return to from time and time again? How did you find it? What does it mean to you?

OH I KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO ANSWER THIS ONE.

A little girl without a doll is almost as unhappy, and quite as impossible, as a woman without children. So Cosette had made herself a doll out of the sword.

IT'S SO VISCERAL, makes me go feral.

33. Do you practice any other art besides writing? Does that art ever tie into your writing, or is it entirely separate?

I love collaging and bookbinding! One day I wanna bookbind a whole fic! Maybe even one of my own works.

34. Thoughts on the Oxford comma, Go:

uuuuh, it certainly exists and maybe I sometimes even get it right, but I don't think I'd be able to be like "ah yes, here it is, the Oxford comma"

35. What’s your favorite writing rule to smash into smithereens?

Ah the whole "every scene should move the plot forward", fuck that I love completely "useless" scenes that are just about vibing.

36. They say to Write What You Know. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is terrible advice...what do you Know?

I know that enough time on a research vortex can help you know stuff SFLJDFKJHS

37. If you were to be remembered only by the words you’ve put on the page, what would future historians think of you?

Well, judging by my bujo they'd probably know i have a very messy brain and i procrastinate a lot (im sorry for migrating that task like 4 times in a row, bujo, im sorry)

#thank you for the ask! sorry its not nice and pretty like the other ones #tumblr is being a bitch #alexturne

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cassyblue · 5 years ago

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A very long post on my onions about JJBA

I am completely caught up with the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure manga. Took me two weeks to do it. But my brain hasn’t been up to reading novels/novellas since concentration whomst? Once the semester starts, I tend to read more comics than novels just because of time constraints. I am still on Part 3 of the JJBA anime. It’s an anime that I just can’t binge because it is a lot. I really like JJBA because it takes the shonen fighting manga and just turns it into a fever dream. So below is my thoughts on Parts 1-8, includes many a spoiler. Also as it goes on I get more sweary sorry.

Part 1: Phantom Blood

Not my favorite arc, but it is the first part so I feel it doesn’t have the same level of writing/art as the next parts because Araki is starting out. It’s pretty tightly written and straight forward. Jonanthan is my least favorite Jojo. I think my main problem with this part is the assertion that Dio is evil due to the abusive environment he grew up in. That’s pretty much what I can say about Part 1.

Part 2: Battle Tendency

Part 2 is more complex and the characters have more growth than those in Part 1. I enjoy Joseph as a protagonist since he is a good combo of little shit and dumb teenager. The enemies to friends arc with Caesar is great. Throw two dramatic bitches together and the chaos that ensues is fun. I really liked that the best user of haman is a woman because the previous part was pretty dude heavy. Liz Lisa is on the fine line between fan service and sexy. But the fanservice doesn’t happen during fighting so I can forgive Araki on certain parts. The thing about Part 2 that really stands out to me is the expansion of the worldbuilding. It doesn’t feel overwhelming and fits neatly into the narrative. My other thought is that Araki just likes drawing asses.

Part 3: Stardust Crusaders

Oh boy, so this is where I start to have a lot more onions. Everything I knew about JJBA before watching/reading was that there was this thing called a stand and everyone was gangsters. So when I started JJBA I was like tumblr lied to me what the hell is going on. Unlike Joseph in Part 2, Jotaro is just an asshole, a well meaning asshole, but still an asshole. Through this entire arc, Jotaro literally does not grow as a character unlike Part 2 with Joseph which is super frustrating. In Part 2, Joseph goes from cocky punk kid to more responsible and level headed kid with self discipline. Jotaro’s fighting ability literally gets no training whatsoever compared to Joseph. In the 45 days that the plot takes place, I would have thought that Avdol would have at least did some sort of training since he is the most experienced stand user. But nope that sure didn’t happen. The bickering between Joseph and Jotaro is enjoyable and the side characters are good humor relief. I think that’s where my frustration is -- Kakyoin and Polnareff have more character development than Jotaro does. Polnareff is in many ways a foil for Jotaro in that he ACTUALLY learns to accept help and so on.

Things I did like was the introduction of stands. Thought there could have been better explanation but it’s JJBA so you know it’s going to not be there or it will be there eventually. I think this arc has ok writing but Part 2 was more solid.

Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable

I really liked this part. It was more of a slice of life comic with mayhem. I felt that compared to Part 3, Part 4 does a better job with depicting teenagers. Josuke and his friends are literally dumbasses 80% of the time and Koichi has their one brain cell most of the time. Part 4 also dives much deeper into the origins of stands as well.

What I liked was how the mystery parts of the comic were interspersed with the comedy parts. The previous arc was pretty straight forward without much diversion to have more insight into the characters. Part 4 is much more focused on relationships and has a psychological bent to the story. Unlike until the end of Part 3, Josuke and friends work as a team very quickly. The other part that I liked was the incredibly awkward Joestar family reunion. Part 4 just has the most depth for me out of all the parts so far.

The other part that I liked was the evolution of stands -- that some stands can grow and others have remote abilities and so forth.

My biggest beef with this part is Araki totally doesn’t understand how graduate school works. Like ok first off, why the hell did Jotaro choose to do marine biology?? Want some background on that which we never get. When Jotaro is introduced, his specialty is whales and sharks (which i am sure he punched a shark at some point) but then at the end Araki decides that Jotaro’s doctoral work is on starfish? Um like ok what the fuck here. That’s a HUGE jump to do in academia in terms of changing your study organism. Like for me jumping from lepidoptera to hymenoptera was incredibly painful and that’s just WITHIN one ORDER (insects). Here Jotaro is jumping PHYLUMS. The other thing is that it takes uuuuh 6 years max to do your doctorate. So idk how Jotaro is able to do his entire dissertation in 3 months. It’s taken me two and a half years just to get my experiments done for my master’s degree. My advisor has given me two months to write my thesis, BUT I ALREADY HAVE MY DATA???? Jotaro would have had to collect all the data and speed write and I have no fucking clue how the hell he would even pass the defense even if he wasn’t also investigating a serial killer. Pretty sure the whole marine biology thing is just a cover so he has jstor access for everything related to stands.

Part 5: Golden Wind

I didn’t expect to like this arc. But I did. It’s the arc that tumblr spoke of. First off, it has the perfect balance of dumbass to incomprehensible. Part of why I like JJBA is that you can see Araki’s art evolution and this is the first arc where he has completely gone from ripped as fuck dudes to twinks. That being said this is the arc that has the first plot hole and I only have a few theories as to why. It starts with Jotaro sending Koichi to Italy to investigate Giorno who is Dio’s biological son from his return in Part 3. This entire arc when I was live texting it to my best friend probably receives the most what the fucks in her replies. TD;LR: Giorno technically Joestar because Dio stole the body of Jonathan Joestar to make his comeback because you would think Araki for once has some somewhat reasonable biology here. Surprise fucker, Giorno’s hair turns blond once his stand ability awakens because he’s Dio’s son. So the whole Jotaro investigating Giorno thing is COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN. My only explanation is Koichi is like yeah he’s an idiot kid and I don’t think he’s going to be a problem or Polnareff calls up Jotaro and is like yeah I’m keeping an eye on this kid while haunting a magic turtle.

Which brings me to the most insane part of the whole arc, the GODDAMN TURTLE. As we learned in Part 3 with Iggy, animals can be stand users and there is this turtle that is a stand user. And basically Giorno and gang use this turtle to escort the boss’ daughter while plotting to take down the boss. There are so many fights over this goddamn turtle. Turtle does what turtle wants on top of it because it’s a fucking turtle. I just. The turtle. Then fucking polnareff dies and somehow manages to possess the goddamn turtle for almost a third of the arc???? And decides to keep hanging out in the turtle after everything is said and done as a fucking ghost. Like ok, I shouldn’t be like this is the most whack shit that’s happened in JJBA because there was an honest to god alien in Part 4.

Honestly this arc also had some great character arcs. I think that somehow each character manages to grow and confront their issues. Considering that Giorno is the son of Dio, he actually is a pretty good kid. Like I was going in expecting Dio Jr. Which thank god that was not the case because I would have been like Really? REALLY WE ARE DOING THIS AGAIN? I think my main complaint was Trish was pretty sexualized. She’s fucking 15, Araki, please let her have some more clothes.

I am kinda bummed that there is no crossover between Josuke, Jolyne, and Giorno because I think it would be pretty funny.

Part 6: Stone Ocean

I don’t know where the fuck to start with this one. First off, I am from Florida. I lived in Florida for 20 some years of my life. I grew up in Florida. The first fucking thing that this manga does is say that it’s set in/near PORT ST. LUCIE (PSL). I grew up in PSL. For the longest time, PSL was pretty much known for being a growhouse central because it’s a suburbia of maze like developments. Like I am pretty sure that Araki just took a dart and threw it at a map of Florida. BUT that being said, there are several marine biology/oceanography research institutions very close to PSL so I guess I could see it considering Jotaro is supposedly a professor of marine biology now (honestly I think he just fucks around with stand research instead). Stone Ocean feels more like it’s set in Miami. It has that vibe. I have been to Miami one too many times and have nearly died in Miami (more than once). Stone Ocean is a literal fever dream for me. However, I enjoyed the hell out of it. It ranks up there with the one Sailor Moon arc where Luna has the crush on the astronaut’s boyfriend and there’s space shuttle shenanigans.

Oh and did I mention that Stone Ocean is set in 2011. This is kinda an important point since let me put some context to why half of this is me screaming. The space shuttle program ended in 2011. I saw the last shuttle return (I wasn’t able to see the launch because it was fucking crazy to even get a seat at the place I’d go watch it in PSL). ANYWAYS, let’s get on to this beautiful disaster trainwreck of an arc.

So first off, Jolyne is my favorite jojo. She’s a punk ass kid with a lot of issues. I was worried it would be endless fanservice, but actually stone ocean wasn’t too bad in that regard. Also part of Jolyne’s design features butterflies heavily so I’m like yeah this is my favorite (did I mention that I study butterflies, that I have lived, breathed, and eaten butterflies since I was 12? Ok i did eat a moth once but that’s another story). Also I thought Jolyne’s stand was really cleverly done (besides that I screamed that it had sunglasses). Jolyne gets framed for her shitty ex hitting a pedestrian which turns out to even be a whole set up. Fun fact, Jolyne’s shitty ex is from Palm Beach. The only thing you need to know about Palm Beach is that it houses Mar-A-Lago, yep that Mar-A-Lago. It’s full of rich white people. Which makes the whole boyfriend shit even funnier for me. Like I can already see how the fuck Jolyne and Romeo meet etc etc etc. Let’s just say the one high school the county over is notorious for the rich kids being absolute wankers (duis, drugs, the whole shebang) and I can fill in the blanks just from being from the area.

So it’s time to put Jotaro on blast again because he is such a fucking dick. He literally abandons Jolyne for 14 years. Jolyne is convinced that he doesn’t want her and hates her. She has every right to be angry with Jotaro. This goes back to Part 3 when I said that Jotaro literally has no character development, Jotaro still hasn’t learned a single fucking thing. He still thinks he has to do everything himself so that the people he cares about won’t get hurt. Which is partly a result of Part 3, but also he had the chance to overcome that misconception in Part 4? But he doesn’t? He like asks Josuke for help once and basically takes on the bulk of the investigation himself so Josuke and pals don’t get hurt/further involved. Jolyne eventually realizes that the reason Jotaro abandoned her is that she and her mom won’t get caught up in the stand bullshit etc and forgives him. Which like I can understand why she does that. But it’s an incredibly shitty excuse to sever all ties with your kid and divorce your wife just because you’re trying to protect your family. Like ok, I have a rough relationship with my family and it can be really, really hard not to forgive them if they suddenly start being good to you despite the fact they have hurt you so deeply and you just know it’s a bad idea to get back close to them because it’s only going to end badly. Anyways, Jotaro is a fucking dickweed.

The one thing that I really liked is how Jolyne’s determination brings other people closer to her. She’s a literal brick wall and just bulldozes through obstacles regardless of if it’s a good idea. She also will not abandon her friends. So Jolyne best jojo, fight me.

I can not believe that all of Dio’s kids except Giorno are Florida Men. I was like Araki it does not take 10 hours to get from PSL to Cape Canaveral and then I was like wait Jolyne has to fight a Florida Man like every 10 minutes so it does kinda make sense. The whole part in Orlando was like a fever dream. I lived in Orlando. When the mickey mouse shit started, I was like ofc there’s going to be a fight with The Mouse. You cannot enter Orlando without making a sacrifice to The Mouse.

I completely knew that the arc would climax at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) just because it was set in 2011. I was fucking screaming the whole way through the final fight at the KSC because I have been there like idk 5 times or so. Can you believe that you used to not have to go through a gate to get in to tickets? That was before 9/11. Now it’s not like that. Anyways it was pretty great.

I thought the ending was actually pretty satisfying considering the whole universe reset?

Anyways Araki delivered the fucking florida man experience so completely that I was happy. He literally managed to write the arc like a Carl Hiaasen or Tom Dorsey novel on crack (those two are the best known Florida novelists who write mystery/crime novels about Florida). When the Part 6 anime comes out I am going to be so ready.

Part 7: Steel Ball Run

Soooo this first arc of universe reset where everything is like do the Cupid Shuffle like 500 times while high as fuck. I think Part 7’s is weak compared to Part 4,5 and 6 in terms of writing BUT I was impressed by the originality of retelling of Part 1. I really liked the western bent to it. Also, I didn’t think that Araki could do completely new world building with stand origins without it being boring af. But he managed to make it really interesting and fucked up. I will put in a warning here: This arc isn’t great about race (not surprised at all), there is the magic cure for a disability trope (not a fan), and also sexual assault of a minor (really fucked up).

Instead of the haman or however the fuck it’s spelled, Zeppeli uses a power called the spin which is his family’s secret ability. Zeppeli enters the Steel Ball Run which is a transcontinental horse race with a reward of half a million bucks. Johnny Joestar, a disgraced jockey sees Zeppeli use the spin and enters the race despite being paralyzed waist down just to figure out how the fuck Zeppeli uses it. For the most part, the depiction of disability is pretty good until you know the magic cure trope (offensive to disabled people, I can go more into depth with this in a different post). Zeppeli and Johnny start out as rivals but then become good friends and the writing is so good. However, every fucking cover drawing of the two together by Araki is very homoerotic. I don’t know if Araki actually knows how gay his drawings are? Like from Part 1 onwards, they are like...gay. Dio is there and I was like ok he gonna be vampire again but nope DIO FUCKING GETS DINOSAUR POWERS???? LIKE HE CAN TURN INTO A GODDAMN UTAHRAPTOR?????????????????????????????????????

Steel Ball Run has several layers of plot which are masterfully tied together : the actual race, Zeppeli’s past, Johnny growing as a character, and the holy corpse. The holy corpse shit was right up my alley as being someone who loves crack christianity stuff. Like ok, at first I was like yeah it’s a saint and then I was like oh it’s the virgin mary and then Araki fucking hinted throughout the second half of the plot it’s JESUS???? Anyways that was some wack shit. President Valentine was a really good villain by the way -- completely captures Murica fuckery.

I liked the addition of the fibonacci stuff/golden ratio in terms of maxing out stands/spin.

My main issue with this arc besides race and disability fails is the handling of Lucy. She’s 14 and Araki oversexualized her. Like goddamn it she’s a FUCKING CHILD. This arc is probably the worst in terms of its treatment of women. I was really pissed at the fact that Araki had Lucy graphically assaulted and raped. So beware of that. That is part of the reason as much as I liked the originality of Part 7, I can’t really rank it high on the quality of JJBA parts.

ANYWAYS ONTO PART 8

Part 8: JoJoLion

I am up to date as of August/September 2019 issue of the magazine JJBA is serialized in (I really want to say it’s Jump, but I’m probably wrong). This arc is really fascinating because it completely skips from the 1890s to the present day . There is the ties to Part 7 as that Johnny marries a Japanese woman whose family is a big part of this arc. It is set in Morioh like Part 4, but a Morioh completely shifted 180. It combines the story of a family curse, a man searching for his identity, and a conspiracy about these magical fucking fruit?

A college kid, Yasuho, pulls this dude out of the dirt at these weird formations in Morioh. The dude has no idea who he is and Yashuo names him Josuke. Note, the kanji for this Josuke are different than those for Josuke of Part 4. The Higashitika family that Yasuho is friends with takes Josuke in because he’s a stand user and he gets drawn into their shit while he tries to figure out who he is.

The twist with Josuke’s identity and past was like fucking mind blowning. Like did not see that one coming that he’s the fusion of Yoshikage Kira (who in part 4 was the villian but in this one is the Joestar son of Holly? Not a murderer?) and Josefumi Kujo (character design resembles Part 4 Josuke). The thing with this arc is that it’s this weird combo of part 3 and part 4 with new content and characterizations. So it’s on one hand familiar and on the other hand completely unfamiliar. It continues with the corpse stuff, but I’m not completely sure how the corpse ties into the plot with the fruit and the new villains-- The rock people. It has to do with the equivalent exchange concept which is threaded throughout this whole arc. But like how exactly besides how Johnny died in Japan? Is the corpse still there in Japan? Araki TELL ME.

Bonus: Little Jolyne Goes To Morioh Doujinshi.

I found this Doujinshi on Batato and there wasn’t an author or artist attached but holy shit it is the CUTEST thing. It’s basically about Jolyne meeting Josuke because Jotaro needs a babysitter. It’s a very short one Doujinshi and the last part is hilarious. Anyways highly recommend reading this one because it’s really cute.

#erin reads jjba #i am so sorry for this long ass post for mobile users #long post

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