#i was literally pointing at every single character like !!!! they’re in a MOVIE!!!!

[julzrulz]

What they’re like in bed

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NSFW WARNING 18+

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Giving some love to the girlies this time!

jus sum general sub headcannons for these 2 girls + alittle imagine for each

who do we want in part 2...?

Rating: R (Restricted, No One 17 and Under Admitted)

Pairings:  Sub! Ashido x Dom! Reader, Sub! Uraraka x Dom! Reader

TW: Smut, variety of kinks (dumification, exhibitionism, orgasm denial, praise, nipple play, teasing, prob more)

Notes: Headcanon/lil imagine, Gender Neutral pronouns, female bodied reader, Characters are aged up 18+

───── ❝ 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐨 ❞ ─────

fav place to do the do

mina likes to have sex anywhere but home

someone else's house, public bathrooms, movie theaters, she wilding

she's just so playful and really likes touching you when she's not supposed too

but for someone bright pink she's pretty good at not getting caught

yes i said "pretty good" but definitely not prefect

you guys have definitely gotten caught once or twice before

she keeps vibrators and a strap in her purse so she has 24/7 access and so you can't make excuses

likes the probability of being caught

general sexcannons

Go forbid Mina not want to do every position possible everytime you guys have sex

She needs to do everything all at once

Can you blame her tho? She likes fun

She definitely trains to be more flexible just so you guys can try new positions the whole time

Has one of the scratch off sex position posters and you guys try a new one every so often

Every corner of your guys’ apartment has been “blessed”

Like there is not a single inch that hasent been at one point soaked with her pussy juice

No one needs to know that tho

Loves trying new things and needs to try it twice

sex drive

high sex drive

why do you think she likes having sex in public

ya girl is always ready

she's not always thinking about sex but she's always down

you would make a suggestive comment or joke to her and she'd look you in the eye and mouth "right now" with a little smirk on her face

like no babe we're in the walmart bread section

only likes having sex when she's in a good mood

Doesn’t fuck with makeup sex or fighting sex or any of that

She’s very emotional and a diva, her libido is very tied with her emotions

fav kinks of theirs

dumification;

She loves nothing more then when she goes absolutely dumb from you roughing her up. Plowing her from behind with her fav purple dragon strap, he body folded over your vanity, catching glimpses of her tongue lolling out of her mouth and eyes going crossed from your ruthless pace. She can't help but babble absolute nonsense, strings of incoherent pleads as you fuck her through twitching orgasm after twitching orgasm. Same goes when you finger or eat this gal out, pleasure just so intense her brain fries as she reaches her climax.

exhibitionism;

Duh I've been talking abt this. She will fuck you anywhere and she's always wet it drives you nuts. Bathroom at a party? behind a tree at a park? movie theater? literally the common room? done, done and done. Didn't take long for you two to join the mile high club. The thrill of potentially getting caught is addictive for mina every time going more intense and more intense. You dont mind tho, you're nothing but proud about how you can render this hero into a slutty hot mess. so pretty like that might as well share :))

orgasm denial;

Orgasm denial and dry orgasms are her guilty pleasure, she might even love this more than actually cumming. If you didn't pick it up already she loves the head rush and the thrill. Removing your strap or fingers from her while she tumbles through her climax, cunt clamping and milking air while she cums seemingly untouched, unable to stop herself. Even better when you build her up for nothing, stilling your movements harshly waking her from her blissed out state, hot, heavy and very frustrated. All the work building this beautiful pressure in her gut just to start all over again, she couldn't get more wet, sloppy and desperate.

───── ❝ 𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐜𝐨 𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐤𝐚 ❞ ─────

fav place to do the do

Home sweet home

Even more specific the bed room and her massive pink fluffy bed

This girl is a pillow princess, emphasis on pillow

She’s likes laying down and being comfy

Can you blame her?

Maybe the couch if your lucky…

But can she then watch her fav show while you go down on her

Like the TV is there anyway

Definitely loves privacy bc she doesn’t like sharing you

In her eyes no one but her has soon you like this and no one but her ever will

general sexcannons

Even though she doesn’t really do much in bed she does let you do whatever you want

She has very few limits as long as she can just lay down and be pretty

She is VOCAL

She definitely gets off partly on hearing herself come undone but it’s so so hot

She’s loud but it’s not fake and it’s erotic as hell… it’s not her fault no one taught her to be quiet

Her sex toys are Ofc all pink

And her favs are any kind of restraints, shibirari and sex swings (yes they are all fuzzy and pink)

sex drive

Moderate sex drive

Definitely prefers sex in the evening/night

Fav time is def before bed

She lovessss being fucked to sleep so like actually every night is quite her style

That being said she very easily gives in or agrees to sex

Like start groping her while she’s doing dishes well now you gotta carry this naked princess to her bed and go to town

She definitely cums more than once, it’s a must

She loves receiving let. Her. Receive.

Sex is long with her

Doesn’t believe in quickies she’s like to enjoy sex

fav kinks of theirs

teasing;

She LOVESSS being teased but she'll never say that out loud right. Unfortunately for her you're not stupid and she blushes ferociously its impossible to miss. Pushing her up against a wall grinding your leg against her crotch with a kiss on the forehead and just like that... BOOM you're gone and she's chasing you to the next room wanting more. Whisper some nasty things in her ear, send her some scandalous messages or pics. Or best yet let your pillow princess chase her own release. Tell her that you're not gonna touch her while taking a seat on the bed, before you know it she's sitting on your lap grinding on you begging you to take care of her :( you're so mean. She's even moving your limp hands to her tits or down her panties... do something dammit.

praise;

This one is just very obvious. The best girl ever wants to hear that she’s the best girl ever. Call her pretty, tell he how good she feels, how happy she makes you, how perfect she is. And she's putty in your hands and soaking the sheets, she wants to be such a good girl for you make sure you tell her that her hard work is paying off. Play with her puffy pink pussy while saying how good she is for getting this wet for you, how pretty her cunt is. Bring your fingers soaked with her slick to your mouth taking long, slow sucks telling her how good she tastes... how sweet.

Nipple play;

You’ve seen her tits they are soft, bouncy, and sensitive. It’s so easy to get her riled up by just groping and sucking. It’s y’all’s go to during foreplay and it never gets old. Little mewls whimpers are all that can escape her when she’s under you like that. You don’t let go till her pink nubs are bruised and puffy. Yes she has cum with just nipple play before and yes she’s wants to do it again. She also loves using different vibrators on her nips the feeling is even more intense.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰! 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐲!

( ˘ ³˘)♥

[lukecastellanshandholder]

I think that the one thing that I will always absolutely loathe the movies for (other than single handedly screwing up the whole plot of the story) is for making up that bullshit rule about Zeus declaring that no god can have any kind of contact with their children. That’s completely not true but now a huge chunk of people in the fandom believe that rule as canon( because most like to pick and chose what is canon and what is not, and sell head canons as being canon to the books ).

The only rules that are stated in the books relating to demigods and their parents is that 1). Gods cannot blatantly and outwardly help their demigod children during a basic quest (such as help them fight monsters or help them travel somewhere for the quest). 2). That as of the time right after WW2 the big 3 gods are not to sire any demigod children as part of their oath that they made on the River Styx (which Zeus and Poseidon definitely didn’t break ). Gods are still able to spend time with their demigod children and mortal lovers on times out side of quests. However, it’s seen as taboo mainly because the other gods use them having to much to do, and too many demigod children as an excuse to just not do anything for them. Not send them a birthday card, not a visit, and not even being claimed in most cases.

That’s giving the gods too much slack! People like to say "well, they’re gods. They’re trying their best." No they’re not! And this is what Luke’s character blatantly points out!

Hermes not even bothering to visit every once and a while? Hermes not trying to help in even any little way with Luke and May's situation? It’s a main reason why Luke becomes so angry at the gods and even thinks about saying yes to Kronos’ proposal.

And who is the example of what could’ve happened if Hermes would’ve done literally anything? Anything at all? Percy.

Percy didn’t like the gods and Poseidon very much in the beginning ( he doesn’t really like them much now but, you know) but Poseidon at least helps Percy in little ways that can fly under the radar of Zeus and the others. The Pearls to help Percy escape from the underworld? Tyson? Poseidon even crashes Percy’s birthday party ffs! Sure Poseidon isn’t there every time Percy scrapes his knee or fights a monster, but he still shows Percy that he somewhat cares about him.

All Hermes does is tell others how much he cares for Luke and "really truly loves him", but does nothing to prove to Luke that he truly cares. But it’s not just Hermes who does this, almost all of the gods do this! Why? Because they know that they can just say "oh, well I was busy and I tried my best" and others will just believe them and carry on. Or worse, they’ll take what the gods say to heart and demonize anyone who would try to oppose the gods so that it’s seen as a bad thing to hold the Gods accountable for the way they act.

And this is a clear example of the overarching theme that the gods are actually just an oppressive establishment that won’t ever really change unless it’s destroyed or overthrown.

In this essay I will…

[artist-issues]

Tell me every reason you enjoy Zootopia enough to give it all the rewatches you do.

Every? Oh boy.

Good Story

Perfect Characters

Visual Appeal

Earnestness

Let me break it down.

1. Good Story

Zootopia’s main point is: “Try to make the world a better place by realizing we’re fundamentally the same.”

That’s a really good main point.

It has the benefit of being true. Right now our culture is super into “self-identification,” and this crazy contrast between, “I want to be able to identify as something special” and “Now that I know what categories I fit in, I can choose who’s ‘one of us’ and who’s ’not one of us.’” Okay well that sounds pretty and I’m sure it fulfills some emotional need at some point, but it’s actually super divisive, and self-serving, and it’s the seeds for all prejudices. Including racism.

Do we have differences in origins and experiences? Yes. Of course. Do we also have some fundamental things in common? Yes. Of course. Which truth are you going to give the highest priority to? If it’s “no, I’m a prey animal, I know exactly where I belong, that’s who I am, that’s how I dress, that’s my compass for how I interact with others” then you’re getting all your security from your “sense of self,” and being able to understand what that is…which is just a fancy way of saying “I’m all about me. My own perspective informs everything I do.”

Anyway. Zootopia’s message was super true.

And the coolest thing about it is that if only Judy were in the wrong, and the other half of the dynamic duo, Nick, was this open-minded, un-prejudiced guy…and she just hurts him and has to apologize…the movie’s message wouldn’t be as well-communicated.

They have their prejudices and their hurt-from-being-prejudiced-against in common!

They’re the same…because they’ve both felt what it’s like to be treated like they’re not “the same.”

Nick isn’t the only character being mistreated and written off because of his species. The whole first half of the movie is about Judy being mistreated and written off. They think she can’t be a cop because she’s little and cute and a prey-animal. They think Nick can’t be trustworthy because he’s sneaky and small and a predator.

So literally…if Judy represented one race, and Nick represented a completely different race…the movie would be saying that both those races are discriminated against. They even have discrimination in common. AND, if Nick represented men who people make assumptions about because he’s a man, and Judy represented women who people make assumptions about because she’s a woman—the movie would be saying that both those genders are falsely judged.

I mean. Wow. Right now, your movie is either pro-woman or pro-man. Right now, your movie is either BLM or white-supremacy. Everybody’s lining up on one side of the line or the other. Zootopia says, “it doesn’t matter what character you’re looking at, from the elephant that can’t remember anything to the two main characters—every single one of them has fundamental things in common, and one of those things is that they all live like they’re in their own special category. When actually, they’re all fundamentally the same.”

I don’t want to keep beating the dead horse. But I have a post somewhere that lists every background character and points out that each animal is the exact opposite of what you would assume they are based on their animal-stereotype. The otters are never shown being playful or snuggly, only traumatized and ferocious. The cheetah is fat and slow, not quick or even quick on the uptake. Etc.

Even if you look outside of characters—look at the sets. Look at the environments. The whole city is designed “for animals, by animals.” But it’s in neat little segments. The animals organize themselves by habitat. Of course, in one sense that’s practical—the polar bears can’t live in Sahara Square, etc. but the point is, by making Judy and Nick, the main characters, small animals, in a city where everything is built to accommodate by species—UGH this is so good—they have to figure out how to problem-solve in situations that weren’t made to accommodate them.

Little Rodentia? Judy has to avoid stepping on all the mice or knocking over their buildings. Parking tickets? She has to figure out how to jump to reach bigger animals’ windshields—or she inconveniences smaller animals because the tickets are all printed at the exact same size. Stuck in a cell? The guards didn’t think about the fact that small animals can fit down the pipes made to accommodate big animals.

Zootopia is a city advertised to be where all the animals can come together. But the way they do that is by trying to accommodate every species’ preferences. So then actually while they try to come together, everything from their cars to their districts remind them of their differences. The whole idea is that they prioritize the wrong truths. Yeah, mice can’t drive giraffe cars—but they still have “driving” in common. See?

And oh my word. Initially it was supposed to be a spy story. But they changed it to a buddy cop story. Why? Well because justice doesn’t discriminate. Or at least, it’s not supposed to. So then there’s another lens to look at the story’s main theme through.

It’s just that every layer, every perspective you look at the movie from, is just hammering that truth into you: “Try to make the world a better place by realizing we’re fundamentally the same.”

2. Perfect Characters

Every character is so well-thought-through in this movie, even the side characters. You get the feeling you could watch a whole movie based on the side characters, because that’s the amount of love and nuance built into them.

Look at the main ones, though. Bellwhether is supposed to be soft and a follower. She’s a sheep. Instead, she’s hard and bitter—and she’s a leader. A villainous leader, but a leader, nonetheless. Even as she tries to keep animals divided based on fear of their stereotypes, she’s not fitting her own stereotype. Her voice actress has this strained, half-hoarse, but sweet voice. Like you can tell that this character has spent a lot of time under pressure and trying to manage appearances. Appearing like she’s fine, and she can handle it—until you realize that the appearance she’s really managing is “the cultural fear-based identify of the city.” They dress her in plaid and flowers and she’s a farm animal, because that’s the kind of character Judy would be most likely to trust. But she still has green eyes, and jagged teeth, so that when she does start making evil expressions there are some caricature-pieces in there that come out and accentuate that.

Nick Wilde—everybody’s favorite—is supposed to be sly and smooth and shifty. And he is. He’s a fox. But he’s also brave, helpful, and trustworthy. The first time you see him is when he’s dodging out of the way of a bigger animal ignoring him and about to run him over. Well, that’s important.

Because Judy knows what it’s like to have to get out of the way of larger animals, because they overlook her.

So right off the bat, this character she has to get along with and work with, this character who furthers her development and nails the main point, is introduced in a way that has something in common with her. But he’s also introduced in a way that gives her an opportunity to focus on a different truth—that he is different from her. Because the sheep is yelling that he’s a “fox.” Right away, we’re back to species-as-identification.

And that’s what the movie does, all the way through. It presents new animal characters, and with those new animals characters, more than one thing is true at a time. And Judy has to try to focus on which truth is more important. “Try to make the world a better place by realizing we’re all the same.” Yes, Nick is a criminal. But Nick is also brave, helpful, and eventually, becomes trustworthy.

Judy, too. Judy is an incredibly well-done character. Because she believes, in her head, that anyone can be anything—which is not what the movie ends on. In fact, she goes from saying, “anyone can be anything,” to saying, “we all have limitations.” It’s not true that a fox can be an elephant. But it is true that a fox can be trustworthy. Figure out what’s true, and try to make decisions for the better, based on that.

I could talk about character design and acting. Ginnifer Goodwin gives just the right amount of smugness and self-confidence to Judy without making her unlikeable—you don’t realize she’s smug and her self-confidence is misplaced until she does, when she fails to make the world a better place for Nick.

Judy wears tight, actionable, well-fitting uniforms for the whole movie. In her civilian clothes when she comes to Zootopia, she’s wearing athletic t-shirts and shorts. Ready for action, that’s Judy, even in her civvies. Meanwhile, Nick? Nick wears loose-fitting clothes. Loud, patterned clothes that don’t match. Like he didn’t even what, ladies and gentlemen? Like he didn’t even TRY. “Try to make the world a better place…”

Because when you meet Nick Wilde, he’s long since given up on trying, in life. So his character design reflects that. He rarely even stands up straight, or opens his eyes all the way—his default is drooping. And guess what?

When Judy “gives up?” Quits her job? Goes back home? Stops trying? Her civvies aren’t ready-for-action, trying clothes. They’re loose flannels. And her “ears are droopy.”

SERIOUSLY, you can find things like this in every corner of the movie. For every character. Not one character is a throwaway, not in voice acting, not in design, not in animation, and not in narrative.

3. Visual Appeal

Which leads me into this point—no other animated anthropomorphic animal movie is as visually appealing as Zootopia.

What Zootopia does is it matches the best of the best anthropomorphic animal designs from past Disney movies:

And they marry it with this incredible intentionality with modern CGI.

Did you know Disney invents its own software for things like fur textures?

The sheep’s wool, the velvet pig skin, the fox fur, the bunny fluff—it’s all completely different textures. There’s no one “fur” covering all the hairy mammals.

Nick isn’t just orange. He’s orange with deep red and dark tufts. Judy has black tips to her ears, too—which helps the two of them look like, in some sense, they belong “together” in every shot.

It’s so important to the movie that the animals feel like animals that they worked this hard to do this. And then that extends to the textures of the snow, the ice, the sand, the wet leaves, the grass, the fire.

Every character moves like their animal, and like themselves. Nick and Gideon are both foxes, but they don’t move similarly at all. Gideon is aggressive and glowering and physical. Nick, again, is slouchy, leans on everything, completely non-confrontational.

Other anthropomorphic animal movies like Sing or Puss in Boots—they’re not doing both as well. Zootopia is appealing, without sacrificing realism completely, and without cutting character acting.

The lighting. Nope. This post is too long, I can’t talk any more.

4. Earnestness

There is no disingenuous moment in this movie.

The animators are never lazy. They always go for the challenge. They don’t cut corners. Have you ever seen “Over the Hedge?” I like Over the Hedge. But I watched it recently and it’s crazy how many shots are strategically placed so that the animators don’t have to solve a certain effects problem.

For example, when RJ sprays Hammy with cool whip to make it look like he has rabies? He doesn’t. You never see the cool whip leave the can. It just cuts away, then cuts back when RJ is pulling the can away from his face. The shots are also cut so that you never have to see gas actually come out of Stella—and you never see Vern’s full body as he gets back into his shell, just the upper part of the shell as he wiggles it around, going through the motions of putting it back on.

That’s because that stuff would be painstaking to animate. Any time one character has to interact with props or substances (especially liquids) that are not part of their model, it’s harder on the animator.

Zootopia? We’re getting full-on views of characters getting wet, fur and all, characters touching various objects and elements, foam coming out of the mouth, new clothes, new set pieces, multiple models, huge crowd shots of different animals in different outfits, all with their own movement patterns and acting.

And all that hard work and effort, aimed so totally at the main theme of the movie? Making sure it looks as good as it can? Not just that, but the way it’s written, the acting, is so genuine. They don’t hold anything back. They don’t shy away from real emotion.

Judy Hopps’ apology scene is brutal. She’s crying, having a hard time finishing a sentence, her voice is all tight. It’s not pretty, it’s not romantic, it’s like…ugly crying. And her character is wrong in a super embarrassing way. They're not afraid to go there. The writers, the actors, the animators—they’re not afraid of being too vulnerable with these character flaws.

So many movies, especially kids’ movies today—they just pull up and shy away from being real through their characters. They think a quick sad facial expression will get the point across. And it does. The audience gets that the character feels sad about whatever the circumstance of the scene is. But not as powerfully. Because you didn’t put as much work and heart into it.

Zootopia is all heart, from work ethic to vulnerability to the filmmakers enjoying what they’re doing, enough to make it as good as it can possibly be. I can’t explain it better, other than to say, you feel like they would’ve been happy making this movie much much longer than it was. You feel like they’re cramming every bit of joy and passsion into every little joke, every side character, every hair on a CGI bear.

There you go. Long post, you did ask for it

[inkbyme]

Can I ask for an emergency cheer up preference :( my bf and me broke up because of him calling me names and he would get upset when I asked to just be off my phone we tried friends but he texted yesterday saying I was just to hard to handle

✶˚₊‧° MHA Characters Comforting You After a Breakup °‧₊˚✶

Featuring: Izuku Midoriya ✧ Katsuki Bakugo ✧ Shoto Todoroki ✧ Denki Kaminari ✧ Eijiro Kirishima ✧ Hanta Sero ✧ Shota Aizawa ✧ Tenya Iida

──── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ────

Hey, anon—first of all, I’m so sorry you’re going through this. Breakups, especially when they involve being mistreated, are really painful, and I just want you to know that your feelings are completely valid. You deserved better. nobody deserves to feel like they’re “too hard to handle.”

────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────

Izuku Midoriya

Izuku is the best listener—he doesn’t try to rush you into feeling better, and he makes it clear that he genuinely cares about what you’re feeling. If you want to vent? He’ll sit there for hours just letting you talk, nodding along and adding little “That’s awful” or “You deserve so much better” comments to let you know he’s on your side.

At some point, he’ll gently remind you: “You’re not too much to handle. He was just too little to keep up.”

If you feel bad about crying, he gets so serious: “Don’t ever apologize for being upset. Your feelings matter.” He hates seeing you doubt your worth, so he’ll list off every single good thing about you that comes to mind, even if it takes all night.

If you’re up for it, he’ll take you out for a walk���just to breathe in fresh air and remind you that the world is still turning.

⸻

Katsuki Bakugo

Bakugo sucks at comforting in the traditional sense, but his way of showing he cares? Pure, unfiltered rage on your behalf. The second you tell him what happened, his hands are already sparking.

“What the actual hell—so he’s just a weak little bitch who couldn’t handle a real relationship?! What a fucking loser.”

After ranting about how stupid your ex is, he’ll force you out of bed—whether it’s for training, food, or just getting some air. He doesn’t believe in letting you sit in sadness alone—he drags you back into reality.

At some point, when you’re a little calmer, he’ll say in a quieter, more serious voice: “Tch. You deserve better, dumbass. And not just ‘better’—someone who sees you for how great you actually are.”

He’s not touchy, but if you lean into him, he won’t move. Just grumbles, “If you tell anyone I let you do this, I’ll kill you.”

⸻

Shoto Todoroki

Todoroki’s support is quiet, steady, and incredibly grounding. He doesn’t pressure you to talk, but he’s fully present in whatever you need. If you want to vent, he listens. If you want silence, he’s totally fine just sitting beside you while you process everything.

He will not let you blame yourself. The moment you start questioning if you were too much, he looks you straight in the eyes and says, “You weren’t the problem. He just wasn’t capable of being what you needed.”

He’s not big on “cheering up” in an energetic way, but he makes sure you’re taking care of yourself—brings you your favorite drink, reminds you to eat, and lets you curl up against his side if you need the comfort.

If you’re up for it, he’ll suggest a quiet distraction—watching a movie, reading together, or even just going on a drive at night to clear your head.

⸻

Denki Kaminari

Denki is all about distraction and lifting your mood. He HATES seeing you sad, and while he’s not the best at emotional deep talks, he refuses to let you sit in your feelings alone.

“Okay, no. We’re not doing this—get up, we’re gonna do something stupid and fun. I refuse to let that loser be the reason you waste your night.”

Expect him to drag you out somewhere, whether it’s a late-night drive, a spontaneous arcade trip, or just blasting dumb music in your room and dancing like idiots.

At one point, he’ll pause and go, “Wait. Did I tell you today that you’re literally the coolest person I know? ‘Cause you are. And if some dude couldn’t see that, he’s got actual brain damage.”

He’s big on physical affection, so expect him to throw an arm around you, ruffle your hair, or just plop onto the couch next to you like a human weighted blanket.

⸻

Eijiro Kirishima

Kirishima is all heart. The second you tell him what happened, his entire face falls—he’s immediately soft, gentle, and 100% there for you.

“Whoa, hey, that’s not okay. You deserve so much more than that.”

His first priority? Making sure you know your worth. He’ll spend ages just hyping you up, telling you all the things that make you amazing. If you cry? He does not care—he’ll hug you so tightly and murmur, “I got you, it’s okay. You don’t have to go through this alone.”

To cheer you up, he’ll insist on a self-care day—movie night, snacks, whatever you need. And if you ever start doubting yourself, he immediately cuts that off with, “Nah, none of that. You’re incredible, and anyone who can’t see that is the problem.”

⸻

Hanta Sero

Sero is chill but incredibly emotionally intelligent. He won’t smother you, but he makes sure you don’t isolate yourself.

He leans against your doorway and goes, “Alright, so, how we dealing with this? You wanna rant? Cry? Break something? I got tape, we can put it back together later.”

If you need to talk, he’s genuinely insightful—giving advice without making you feel judged. If you need distraction, he’s great at shifting the mood, throwing in light jokes at just the right time.

He insists on a change of scenery—whether it’s going on a walk, driving around, or just chilling somewhere that isn’t your room.

⸻

Aizawa Shouta

Aizawa doesn’t sugarcoat things, but he also won’t let you sit in self-doubt. The second you start blaming yourself, he shuts that down immediately:

“You’re not ‘too much.’ He just wasn’t enough.”

He’s not the type to force a pep talk, but he makes sure you take care of yourself—dropping off food, making sure you get some air, and casually checking in with, “Still alive? Good.”

If you cry, he doesn’t say much—just hands you his scarf to use as a tissue and lets you sit with your feelings, no judgment.

⸻

Tenya Iida

Iida is all about reassurance and structure. The second you tell him what happened, he sits up straighter, adjusting his glasses with genuine concern.

“That is unacceptable. You deserve to be treated with patience and respect.”

He helps you process your emotions in a logical way—reminding you that your worth isn’t based on someone else’s ability to handle a relationship. If you need distraction, he’s the first to suggest a walk, a project, or just getting out of your head for a bit.

He helps you process your emotions in a logical way—reminding you that your worth isn’t based on someone else’s ability to handle a relationship. If you need distraction, he’s the first to suggest a walk, a project, or just getting out of your head for a bit.

Not the best at physical comfort, but if you’re really upset, he’ll rest a solid, reassuring hand on your shoulder and let you know:

“You are not alone in this.”

“ Villain version “

Remember, you’re not hard to love—you just need the right people around you. Take care of yourself, okay? 🩶

Let me know if you have any feedback or if there’s any warnings I need to put on my post, I also take any requests from all fandoms that I know of. I hope you enjoyed reading this!

[risrambles]

possible hot take but lowkey the reason that the hype for doomsday isn’t as high as endgame or infinity war and the the reason it’s getting more joked about is kinda bc they haven’t done much building up to the movies and nothing has really connected like it did in the other phases. like all the movies leading up to the avengers were so tightly woven into that eventual product. then phase two everything led up to civil war and such, and then obviously endgame. but phase 4 and on has jumped around so much and introduced so many characters that it’s like… we know these all won’t tie in. like we get a hawkeye show but neither protagonist is in the cast (yet), we get moon knight and not a character is in the cast (yet), we get she-hulk and not a character is in the cast (yet). they overload it with tv shows and movies that end up being one-offs bc it’s quantity over quality atp. whereas phases 1-3 all lead up to something together, this is just. kind of a mess. and i say this as someone who was in the fandom a lot in 2021 and kinda saw the beginning of the end. and i say this now as someone who loves marvel so dearly.

not saying i don’t think it’ll be good—i think it has potential. but instead of marvel being the epitome of modern superhero storytelling and being considered good media, it’s turned into more of a joke bc people a) hate too much for the wrong reasons b) the movies are actually not good c) we get one good movie or show once in a while that is actually really high quality with meaning that is immediately followed up by something less hype d) the characters are going up against things so much bigger than themselves that it’s just plain unrealistic to the MAX. like sure thanos was a Big Bad but at least it kinda seemed like an avengers level threat. all this multiverse stuff with Not Enough multiverse-level superheroes is wearing on me. not to mention they either kill their best or most interesting characters (aka wanda, who had a lot of potential) or bench them (moon knight). the strongest characters currently in rotation off the top of my head are doctor strange, loki, and sentry (who is apparently in doomsday, so that’s cool!) but honestly other than that it’s all supersoldiers or people with physical skill over the skill and power actually needed to fight god level villains.

i’m not a hater, i promise. i just miss when it wasn’t so unrealistic that it was hard to get past and have a fun time watching. (and i get that it’s movies so it can be unrealistic, but comparing it to the actually decently realist tones of the first few phases it just takes me out of it when i’m watching) it’s probably a part of the reason that people always seem to like ca:tws or the avengers or iron man, because it was smaller scale and it makes sense why it’s only those heroes in those movies. cause why is it just the thunderbolts trying to handle sentry?

take catws. it’s captain america, black widow, and falcon against hydra and more specifically the winter soldier. THAT makes sense. it makes sense why it wasn’t anyone else. it was a small scale threat that can be played off during the movie as a big one bc to the characters in the movie it is and to the ones not in it, it isn’t. the entire avengers team doesn’t have to assemble to fight the winter soldier and they don’t, which is good! Then take wandavision, where it was jimmy woo, monica rambeau, and a few others against the literal scarlet witch who was bending reality, not a single avenger really even tried to stop by. this is a situation where every avenger should have been locked and loaded and ready to step in but it just WASNT.

now remember i say this as a marvel FAN. i love marvel and ive loved marvel since i first watched captain america the winter soldier. i guess im a sucker for old marvel but it comes to a point where even though they’re doing a lot, it’s just like they’re trying too many things at once. i hold out hope for doomsday and secret wars, and i hope they wrap all of these individual projects together nicely, but i dont know. if im going to be honest, im not the biggest fan of the multiverse saga even though some of my favorite projects have come from it.

[eemolu]

umm.. which d20 season should i watch (to start or next)??

in honor of brennan releasing basically the exact same video on dropout literally today, here's an unhinged list i've been working on for longer than i'd like to admit.

IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN D&D BEFORE OR ARE LOOKING TO GET INTO TTRPGS • Fantasy High ⁃ I mean obviously. The cast is learning 5e right alongside the players, but also, they’re learning about each other. They’ve never played before. You’ve never watched them play before. There aren’t any inside jokes that you’re missing out on because you haven’t made them yet ⁃ The setting and characters are a great mixture of dnd tropes and familiar media tropes, so even the jokes you don’t get you kind of do also get ⁃ 3 seasons and a movie (counting the liveshows) • Unsleeping City s1 ⁃ Oh, you don’t like fantasy stuff. You find elves annoying. You’ve never seen Lord of the Rings and you don’t care to. Great! This season is urban fantasy and the fairies are all parodies of characters from the Godfather. ⁃ Still early enough that the cast is still fairly new and you’re not missing much. Also it’s incredible ⁃ 1.75 seasons and a stage production (one season, one covid zoom season that’s incredible but takes a sec to get used to, and a madison square garden liveshow complete with pyrotechnics) • Dungeons and Drag Queens ⁃ Learn with the queens. Love with the queens. Cry with the queens ⁃ Brennan is being a Nice Guy DM so generally things go how you want ⁃ It’s kind of like watching a bunch of people remember what it’s like to be in third grade and invent an entire world at recess and decide who has storm powers and who has seventeen imaginary cats and who has a sword that’s also a gun

I DON’T LIKE D&D BUT I STILL WANT TO WATCH!! • Mismag ⁃ They’re not playing dnd they’re playing kids on brooms and Aabria mostly eschews combat, so don’t worry ⁃ First season is a misdirect to get you to the second season ⁃ Smaller cast of characters and only one (haunted) white man. Sick. • A Court of Fey and Flowers ⁃ Technically still dnd but only for the purposes of letting these high drama idiots pretend to kill each other ⁃ They spend most of the air time sending letters, flirting autistically, and massaging butts ⁃ Emily Axford & Lou Wilson spend the whole season serving cunt and invoking jeremy renner • Never Stop Blowing Up ⁃ They made up their own action movie game system ⁃ “The universe was created by a big bang. And in that case, is not all of existence a bullet? You catch the cannonball and throw it at the helicopter” ⁃ Practical fart effects

THEY DON’T DO ENOUGH COMBAT, I THINK. I WANT MORE KILLING. • Coffin Run ⁃ Jasmine Bhullar loves combat. Every time you think she’s done there’s another mini ⁃ Complex train calculations have real world battle implications ⁃ Instead of hit points they drink blood • The Seven ⁃ A bunch of women gather together to kick the shit out of Brennan specifically ⁃ Combat flow charts! Rolling thirty d20 with advantage for your attack geese! Etc!! • A Crown of Candy ⁃ IH season most focused on combat. It’s also the most lethal. Brennan is actively trying to kill them the entire time ⁃ The roleplay episodes WILL make you cry so keep that in mind. This is the season that made Lou start smoking cigarettes again to cope ⁃ There are also the covid zoom adventuring parties which are great

I WANT THERE TO BE A MYSTERY I CAN SOLVE • Neverafter ⁃ This season is the perfect blend of mystery and all the other stuff that makes DnD a great game. Sick combats. Complex yet familiar world building. The line “the smile of a devil you never believed in.” ⁃ Players really at their best and fully dialed into all the various factions which is good bc the lore is HEAVY ⁃ Beardsley is the grandpa with the plot important prop and Murph is a silly divorcée so there are plenty of shenanigans still • Fantasy High ⁃ Every single season of this has a great mystery at the heart with enough clues that you could figure it out ahead of time, maybe. I never did but that’s a me thing ⁃ Brennan kept a secret for 5 years of his real adult life for the sickest reveal of all time. Sam Reich torturing Gamechanger contestants coded. ⁃ Riz Gukgak is there • Mentopolis ⁃ If Inside Out was a 1930s noir ⁃ Large part of the mystery requires them to contemplate what’s going on with their big guy’s junk… there’s buzzing down there! It’s narratively important! ⁃ Hank Green is there • Of Mice and Murder ⁃ I’ve never seen this one but it’s The Mystery Season so. I assume it fits well into this category

WATCHED A FEW SEASONS AND NEED TO KNOW WHAT’S NEXT • Starstruck ⁃ DON’T ask questions just watch NOW ⁃ The funniest season hands down and immediately post covid so the vibes are joyous. Stupid. Perfect. The first major battle includes an exploding MLM sex goo factory and it only goes up from there ⁃ Brennan’s mom is there • Burrow’s End ⁃ IMO one of the perfect ways to get into the d20 sidequests, especially if you’re like “ugh but I’m going to miss the intrepid heroes though…” ⁃ Every PC is related. Specifically Izzy Rolland (my beloved) and Siobhan Thompson (my beloved 2) are playing Brennan’s children and they are having a GOOD time ⁃ Three gross battle sets and a lightning gun

I’M TIRED OF LORE I WANT TO SEE THE GIRLS GO CRAZY • Time Quangle ⁃ The whole point of the tour was to go hm… what would happen if all the characters got smushed together and nothing made sense? ⁃ Does require some knowledge of previous seasons and has minor spoilers ⁃ Also has a Beardsley nat 20 so spectacular the PCs beat Brennan up right there on the stage in front of God and everybody • NSBU ⁃ The directive of the season from Brennan was “what if I never said no? What if I just yes anded everything that got thrown my way?” and YEAH dude he DELIVERED ⁃ Looked right at camera and said “Let me out baby!! It’s time for Daddy to have fun!!!” ⁃ Basically Beardsley is playing the straight man if you can believe it

[wlwanakin]

I don't understand this actitude about "why ppl want to make padme's life darker", specially when: a) the prequels are a train wreck, a tragedy, she literally dies at the end of the trilogy, the republic is deeply corrupt and impossible to save, there's a war, and she's an important political figure.

And b) This type of "complain" seems to only be deserved for Padme, bc fandom LOVES to hyperexaminate every single detail about the Clones, Obi-Wan, or even the most background Jedi character ever and discuss their trauma and whatever, so why when the analysis is about Padme that ppl complain?? What's appealing about her life being actually super nice and well-adjusted? Everything in canon literally points to the contrary; she fell in love in the course of three days, that's not something someone with a big circle of intimate friends and lots of emotional support does.

Even Mon and Bail, and Satine, all of them, we never saw a conversation that wasn't directly linked to politics or their work, Padme revelas very very little of her life. I know we love to joke that everyone in the senate and the Jedi temple knew she was with Anakin, but the fact that it was a secret that no single one of her so called friends knew speaks volumes (not counting the handmaidens).

Maybe is bc ppl want Padme to have other meaningful figures in her life so it doesn't look like her life revolves only around a man (jokes on them Anakin is a he/him butch), but the movies actually do show us she does have a lot going on her life, it's just that when it comes to emotional bonds, she *is* pretty lonely.

i left this sitting in my inbox for just a few days long enough for the discourse this in the context of to die but FUCKING RIGHT!!! all evidence points to padmé having the absolute garbage work/life balance and being interpersonally unfulfilled, and that’s not even a particularly dark observation to glean from her!! i just feel absolutely insane seeing people act like it’s inventing some grimdark tragic backstory to say a character has no friends and that made her weird about relationships. like the level of misogyny it takes to see that and be like “you’re reaching” in a fandom that acts like fucking obi-wan “first tragedy was experienced at 25” kenobi was crucified like jesus every day since birth is crazy to me. and people love acting like they’re doing a feminism by ignoring this pretty basic facet of her character because like you said they flatten anidala to her only being fulfilled because of a man (because they don’t realize that relationship is gay…so sad) but it just makes her boring to do that!! don’t fight the story!!!

[dizgreen]

PERSONA HOT TAKE

Naoto is not trans and Kanji is not gay.

Or at least that’s not the point. Hear me out.

I’m tired of people putting these two particular characters in tiny little “me irl” boxes and labeling Atlus as homophobic just because they didn’t blatantly state that they were definitely one or the other.

Persona 4 is a game who’s theme is Outer Perception vs Inner Self, but rather than just saying “one is bad and one is good”, it’s about how BOTH of those aspects have to interact together in order to create a full person.

Every single character in the game reflects this theme in some way, and in the case of Naoto and Kanji, it’s a direct examination of how gender and sexuality affect those two aspects of a person’s self.

I think that simply writing off the complex personal questions these characters ask themselves as simply being one thing and one thing only does a huge disservice.

Let’s start with Naoto. Cuz in my experience that’s the one people are the most passionate about.

Naoto is a young genius who chose the job of a detective because they grew up watching crime movies and idolized the grim serious characters that they saw. Upon solving their first case at a very young age, they immediately knew this was what they wanted to do, but they were very quickly disillusioned with the whole thing once they realized the lifestyle they had chosen was dominated by stubborn old men who, unfortunately, were EXACTLY like they were in the movies.

These men took personal offense to the insinuation that some upstart kid could come in and do better at the job they’ve been doing for years, and on top of that not just a kid but a GIRL, who as far as they were concerned had no place anywhere near the kinds of situations common in this line of work. Naoto’s early personality is a direct reflection of these experiences. They try everything they can to appear more masculine and mature, as well as acting very aloof and refusing to let anyone have any more information than they need.

The whole “Detective Prince” act is essentially Naoto cosplaying as Sherlock Holmes or Takeshi Kitano in an effort to be taken seriously. This is further reflected in Naoto’s Shadow Self being quite literally a small crying child in an oversized coat.

It’s notable to me that the part of Naoto that they, themself, deny isn’t anything to do with femininity or masculinity, it’s literally a personification of everything that the people around them would’ve criticized or mocked in order to delegitimize them during their early detective career.

Now the thing people typically point to as the smoking gun of Naoto being trans is the fact that Naoto’s Shadow Self wants to perform a literal sex change on them and “achieve perfection”.

But what I think a lot of people just kinda ignore or write off is the fact that it’s a procedure AGAINST THEIR WILL. It’s quite literally a change being forced upon them in order to achieve some idealized perfect self without any input from themself at all. To me, that seems like more of a representation of Naoto’s personal insecurities and the pressures of society quite literally FORCING femininity out of Naoto in order to meet some nebulous ideal of perfectionism that for some reason can’t be achieved when you have girl parts. Naoto may not like the fact that they’re born a woman and therefore don’t meet this perfect caricature of a hard boiled detective, but it wasn’t really a choice for them in the first place. There are no female idols to look up to that in any way represent the life they want to live, there’s no one in their life that accepts they can be the way they were born as and still be the person they want to be, and there’s no one around them that’s willing to take them seriously WITHOUT bringing gender or age onto whether or not they deserve it.

Now you’ve definitely noticed I’ve been using They/Them for Naoto this whole time, and the reason for that is because I believe the whole POINT is that you’re supposed to question Naoto’s gender in general.

That’s why I don’t like calling them trans, I feel like that’s a reduction of the complex nature of their identity in the first place.

You’re not SUPPOSED to have a clear cut and dry answer to what Naoto may be or may want to be, because not everyone just GETS a cut and dry answer to that kind of question.

I think you HAVE to look at Naoto without the lens of a gendered identity and examine how that makes you look at them, therefore making you further examine how you look at yourself and others without those clear and defined labels in front of you. I think you’re supposed to look at Naoto struggling with both living in a society that denies femininity as something that can be taken seriously, and how that impacts their own perceptions and actions as they themselves want nothing more than to be taken seriously as a person. Then you take those examinations and, as with all fiction, apply them to yourself and see what you identify with inside of them.

If your conclusions are that Naoto is trans then that’s great, and even better if you could find something that you personally relate to in the character, but I think it’s a severe reduction of them as a character to simply say “Atlus should’ve just said they were trans and moved on”.

I mean, personally I think Naoto is genderfluid, but that’s just my interpretation.

Moving on, Kanji

Kanji, I feel, is a much simpler case.

He’s not GAY, but he IS completely obsessed with masculinity. He’s got this idea in his head that he needs to be tough and strong and manly, or else people will treat him like shit. He’s not allowed to show weakness or wanting in any way, because that’s how you get teased and beaten up.

His encounter with Naoto changes a lot about him because it’s literally the first time he’s ever outwardly asked himself whether it’s okay to WANT TO BE LOVED. He even fully admits this.

The fact that his internal conclusion is that he doesn’t mind who it is that’s loving him, all he wants is TO be loved, regardless of man or woman, clashes instantly with his masculine persona that he’s been working so hard to cultivate, and drives him into a spiral.

Kanji is all about whether or not it’s okay to WANT things as a man. He likes cute things, he wants to sew, he wants to be loved, he wants friends.

He’s a man, though, so he’s not allowed to ask for any of these things or seek them out, because any of those would certainly make him seem gay, which is (as we all know) a very bad thing to be when you’re a 15 year old boy who doesn’t want to get picked on.

Ultimately his shadow self is a result of an absolute repression of literally everything that isn’t masculine enough to be straight, all coalesced into a ball of masculine obsession.

The whole idea of him and Naoto is pretty much boiled down to “is it gay for a man to want to be loved” and the ultimate answer is “kinda, but that’s okay”

Personally I feel like Kanji is more of a panromantic than clearly just “gay” or “straight” but ultimately is 15 and never even spoke to a girl before the events of Persona 4, so it’s really not something he’s probably even going to be able to answer for like 4 more years minimum.

And that’s great, because sexuality is yet another question that isn’t 100% cut and dry for everyone, and it’s a disservice to the questions about sexuality and masculinity this guy poses to just write him off as only gay and nothing else.

Anyway, there’s my most controversial Persona Hot Take, I’m sure no one has ever said these things about these characters before.

I have another one about how much it pisses me off that everyone writes off Anne from P5 in a way that directly reflects the way people write off actual assault victims in real life, but that’s for another time.

[genericpuff]

You should watch Jack vs. Webtoons video on Lore Olympus before it gets wrongfully taken down.

His video pointed out something I wasn’t able to put into words until now. Lore Olympus has a real bad dialect problem. One second the characters are talking like they’re in a Shakespeare play which makes sense, sense they’re gods or what not. The next second you’ll have characters saying shit like “blue balls” “clout chaser” and “you’ve got a young wife with a fat ass”. It probably wouldn’t bother me if certain people talked a certain way like how Hera doesn’t use any slang and how Hermes uses some but all the characters vocabulary are the exact same.

Honestly I can look past the art and it’s inconsistencies but having dialect jump from regal to tiktok facebook slang makes my brain hurt more than glossy lipped Hades and bug eyed Persephone.

I checked it out, it's pretty great haha and yesss this is something that's been discussed before but I haven't really ever made a post about, the dialogue is CONSTANTLY flip-flopping between royal talk and "hello fellow teens" quipping. Sometimes it feels like it's trying to be like Marvel and then other times it feels like it's trying to be Bridgerton. I can think of no better example than all of the "pedigree" talk, it makes me squirm every time I read it because in the modern context of LO, it SCREAMS eugenics. The whole B-grade goddess thing made sense, until they started talking about Persephone like a poodle:

But then you ALSO get INCREDIBLY stiff dialogue that makes it seem like the comic is either being written by AI or Rachel is actually a real life version of Michael Afton post-scoop:

And yes, there is a tinfoil hat theory that LO is being written by bots at this point because I don't know how a single person could write something so tonally confused. That said, I do think the more reasonable explanation is that Rachel is likely copying dialogue from shows and movies she's watching and just tweaking it slightly before slapping it into LO. She's not observing why the dialogue works in the media she likes, she just knows she likes it and slaps it in there without any regard for context, tone of voice, or personality.

And that leads to, as you said, all the characters sounding the exact same, and that metric by which they all sound the same changes all the time. I think at this point the only reason we haven't seen Hera dropping TikTok language is because she hasn't been onscreen long enough for her to get the chance LMAO That said, we've definitely gotten some weird inconsistent dialogue with Hera as well:

(like she's essentially saying the exact same thing across both of these panels but one is being said by an adult and the other is being said by a teenager lmao)

I think the dialogue is definitely one of the most glaring issues with LO, among all of its other problems. It just never feels like it's being written by a human, there are problems with this even as far back as S1 but it's become especially apparent in S2 onwards.

To finish off this ask, here's one of my favorite dialogue mishaps in the entire series, from S1, in which Apollo literally adopts an askew English accent:

[sunnysidesevenup]

I am having Arlo/Neige thoughts again so. Here is some rambling and headcanons about their relationship!!!

tagging!! @jadelover69 @kirexa @lallopsyou @miriaocs @jovieinramshackle

- Arlo is originally only interested in photography but after talking with Neige so often, he ends up getting into film making. However all of his films end up weirdly sad at first and make Neige cry so he has to ban him from watching them lmao. Eventually he starts making happier things!!

- once they’re adults Neige ends up getting Arlo to do most of his photo shoots, mostly because Arlo prioritizes him being comfortable and happy and other people tend to not really care about his opinions as much.

- they go to the movies literally so often. so many movie nights. Neige is the BIGGEST fan and it’s infectious. they watch stuff and then talk about it for hours afterwards.

- when they first start dating Arlo is initially really nervous about coming off as too intense, and Neige IMMEDIATELY dispels that fear by buying him a bouquet of flowers for three dates in a row.

- they share clothes a lot, and Vil is SO MAD every time he has to see Neige’s sweater 😭

- previously thought to be incapable of hating anyone, Neige hates Arlo’s entire immediate family lmao

- following up on Neige thinking it would be fun to play a villain, he expresses this to Arlo once who says he can’t really picture him like that and would be interested to see if he could pull it off. Cue Neige jokingly acting out a villain character and Arlo immediately becoming so flustered he can’t speak. (He likes every version of Neige, but this one was just unexpected, okay?!)

- Arlo only takes photos of his own volition if he thinks things are beautiful, which usually means he never takes photos of people unless he’s asked to for a job. He doesn’t try to hide this, either.

- Neige invites him out to see cherry blossom trees at some point, and while he’s looking at them he hears a click and turns to see Arlo taking a picture of him. “Sorry, I just wanted to.” Arlo doesn’t realize it’s actually a big deal at first until Neige gets really flustered and happy about it.

- Neige gets asked in an interview once who his ideal partner would be, to which he answers “someone charming, sweet, and passionate!” Arlo immediately breaks a vase in pomefiore and then picks a fight with a third year lmao

- while NRC students tend to get pretty angry and chase out RSA students when they visit, Neige can visit all he wants because he’s with Arlo (who has a reputation similar to the Leech twins, just with a different vibe)

- Occasionally, when Vil is particularly annoyed, he’ll drag along Arlo to his joint shoots in hope that it will distract Neige. This works but also frequently backfires, because Neige then puts in extra effort.

- Neige is VERY public and vocal about how much he loves his boyfriend once they start dating (with Arlo’s permission, of course). He posts a ridiculous amount of pictures with the two of them, and nearly every time he has to talk in an interview he somehow manages to mention how much he loves Arlo 😭

- Arlo definitely cried over this a few times. He goes from never believing anyone at all will love him to having a partner who literally tells every single person at any opportunity how much he cares for him. It takes him a while to process it’s real.

- Despite no one thinking he would be, Arlo is a very, VERY supportive partner. Neige tells him about a charity or cause he’s trying to raise funds for and you KNOW he’s going to stand menacingly behind his boyfriend and glare at anyone who thinks the charity is pointless or stupid. You WILL donate.

- Neige now has scary dog privilege but the scary dog is actually the tiniest piranha merman ever. rip my boy for being 5’2. (He can still bite with razor sharp teeth with force 30 times his body weight though, so like. run?)

[jellazticious]

“You can’t rush art”

I think everybody can recall the quote from Toy Story 2. From the most satisfying part of the movie where we see a montage of Woody getting restored by a toy maker. It’s one of my favourites too, I absolutely loved looking at the different procedures used to fix a single toy. The toymaker’s precision and care were found mesmerizing by everyone. As a multi-hatted artist, one that can draw, sculpt, animate, and write, I can say that it’s spot on that there’s so much to do for a single piece of work. HOOO boy, you should see how me and Beefy are organizing Cursed to Charm, there’s so much.

For the upcoming webcomic, we design characters, give each and every one of them their stand-alone story, design different clothes, create the map, draw renders and posters, polish scripts for the episodes, plan to program the comic’s own website, make the backgrounds eventually, etc. To people who aren’t artists or take art for granted, to them, art is stroking a paper using a pen and BAM instant masterpiece. No no, it’s more than that.

Another thing I’d like to say about the comic is that the progress is very slow yet very fruitful because of the time taken. Me and my co-author came up with the idea at late November, which makes the comic four months old now. However, with all that time passed, we have already finalized the list of nine episodes of season one. We have also written seven out of nine summaries from that season before actually writing the dialogue in detail. We have a rough four seasons worth of story progression in the span of four months. Nyeh, excuse the little ramble about CtC, I’m just giving insight of how much should be done for the production of anything which leads us to the next point.

Art production in general.

Movies, animation, shows, video games, books, comics etc etc

All of these are part of art, some people would deny because it isn’t sophisticated like they’re lead to believe art is supposed to be. Art is literally just creation man, can’t get any simpler than that 😩 if you made something, then you made something woohoo! Congratulations you made art, cooking included. It came free with your fucking humanity.

Anyway, just like the webcomic, every single one of these listed also have a set of different procedures that will piece together the final output.

Let’s take Disney movies as a specific example, I want to talk about something real quick.

So one time, I was watching Tarzan with my parents and we stuck around for the end credits. My mom pointed out the animators are divided into sections and there’s so much names on them. There are different teams of animators for each character and these teams are divided in two for the storyboarders and the clean up artists. When the credits rolled a bit more, it showed that the background artists and colorists also have their own sections too. There’s so much people working on different body parts of a movie. I got the habit of reading end credits of every movie I watch, animated or live action, then I would compare the credits of old and new movies. Boy, let me tell you that the work space on old movies are FILLED compared to newer movies. One thing I noticed about Disney movies although, is that the old movies have more sections compared to new ones. The major difference of old Disney and new Disney are the length of the credits and the time gap of the movies. I’m really not trusting the way new movies have way shorter end credits while the publish time of new movies are getting narrower and narrower. Before the 2000s, movies usually come out twice a year and sometimes there’s a two-year hiatus before the next batch of movies are published. Now there’s at least two or three movies that publish yearly while also releasing a bunch of shows in the middle of it. I really don’t understand business talk with the way it sacrifices quality over quantity. Like I get having money is great and all but what’s the use of hoarding it? Especially when there’s so much news of people about to be in poverty and mass layoffs. Why should companies earn money if they’re not going to redistribute it back to the economy at all? This is a little off topic but I want to point it out that people in the 80s used to buy whole houses by being a janitor but nowadays people could barely afford a one room apartment even with three jobs. The Simpsons is an example of this because it was set in the 90s and the family is constantly reminded of how “poor” they are. They even created an episode that talks about the same job that supported people’s fathers will no longer support you nowadays (Poorhouse Rock ep22 s33). It’s fishy and I’m salty about it especially because I hear so much people complaining about how they’re not being given a chance to work. Anywho! Let’s go back to art.

I’m just spitballing my thoughts here but somehow they’re connecting either way. All I’m trying to say is that for the people who care so much about the quality of art, it’s noticeable that they get downgraded, not just by the look but by the way they’re written.

Example.

Clone High.

Jesus Christ, the new show is a nightmare and an insult to the original Clone High. The difference is clear with this one. The original Clone High was heavy satire of every single high school trope used in shows and movies. Every single character was meant to have one personality and that personality is the butt of the joke. The original did not care about making the characters appealing because the appeal is found in the way they interact, they clash so much and a lot of them are idiots. The writing is funny because the dialogue flows so easily unlike the renewal. The renewed Clone High takes itself too seriously and it tries too hard to be relevant. It’s funny to me that fans can draw the original’s art style more accurately than the animators hired. What’s even more frustrating is that concept art was released from the art head and the concept art looked way better than what they decided on the final designs. Other than the art style that tries to be marketable, the writing is insufferable with the way they try to be “relatable” without understanding why the original jokes were funny to begin with.

Now we’re all familiar with this cheap tactic of using the title of successful franchises to grab clicks and views. It’s every live action Disney film, it happened to Scooby Doo, Marvel shows, FNAF, some Cartoon Network shows, Megamind, and now even Kung Fu Panda. Basically MILKING. It would have been better if the productions TRIED to understand the original’s intentions which they forgot about. They ended up being disappointing at best and soulless at worst. I won’t be explaining much cuz I’ve already reached the minimum word count lmao. I’m just rambling here, I better not see anyone interrogate me in asks or replies. ANYWAY, I’m gonna get to the point real quick.

Back to the quote at the start of the post, people tend to forget that. Art is a skill, not a button people press and it gives you pretty pictures or videos. Art is a job and an effort. While art is subjective and it differs from person to person, one thing for certain is that art that is made ingenuinely will never be better than art that is made because the artist loves art. This is why the Tom & Jerry reboots with the lineless art style even if they had a storyboard artist who understood the cartoon wackiness (which were discarded for a “cleaner” and faster style). This is why it’s so frustrating to see concept art of movies which have more appeal than the final 3d models. This is why FNAF Security Breach was nearly unplayable.

Because they all rushed art.

They rushed in favour of what is marketable, no matter how unappealing it is. Everything could have been better, some final products are good, but all of them could have been better. As good as what were released pre 2010s when production had a passion. You can’t spell heart without art.

I’m just really passionate about art in any form since it’s everything that created me too. I will not be here at this point in time if it weren’t for me learning that there’s so much beauty in the world if you could just squint and appreciate why that’s so. I’m defined by my works and it only hurts and infuriates me that people who have the ability and accessibility to create better art than I do waste it for their personal gain or selfish intentions. Everyone could be a better person because of art just as it did to me. Again, it came to us the moment we’re born, art isn’t just a pretty picture, it’s everything we create out of love, passion, time, and effort.

But really, to the wise words of Chef Saltbaker, “like any good bake, heart and soul is the secret ingredient”

You can’t rush art.

[azure-firecracker]

The X-Files Season 4 Review (First-Time Watcher)

It has been a minute but we are back!

(Full disclosure - I am actually a little ways into Season 5 as I write this. College has given me more time with energy for watching than energy for writing. Such is life!)

Life seemed to stand between me and this season. I finished the first half in about a week and a half, and then the second half in three times that because…college happened. But we got there! And oh boy did we get a lot.

This season was hyped up to me even before I watched it (it won my favorite seasons poll a while back) and it DID NOT disappoint! I think this season managed to merge the melancholic energy of season 2 with the consistency of season 3. The first half was especially consistent (out of the first 10 episodes, there wasn’t a single one I didn’t like), and while the second half was a bit more uneven in terms of quality, when it hit it hit hard!

I thiiink Season 2 still takes my favorite spot among the seasons, but this is a close second. It’s just so good, and the second half especially has this looming sense of heartbreak that I haven’t seen in the other seasons. If Season 1 is a campy monster flick, Season 2 is an alien soap opera, and Season 3 is an action movie, then Season 4 is a Shakespearean tragedy of epic proportions, wrought with miscommunication, near-misses, and hurtling towards an unavoidable, doomed ending that lurks in the background even of the most mundane moments. I’m a sucker for a good tragedy, so I loved every moment we got. I was also happy that Scully got to have a real emotional arc. Especially in Season 1 and 2, those usually belonged to Mulder, but the cancer arc is first and foremost about her, and the show takes a lot of care to keep her at the center of that story - which I appreciate.

I found the MSR dynamic this season to be fascinating. It’s like they’re in this territory - even before the cancer arc but especially during it - where they’re realizing how much they mean to each other but also how much it could damage them both. They’re closer than ever and yet more at odds than ever. They’ll cling desperately to each other in the face of death but run away from each other in the daylight because they’re afraid of what it means. It’s tragic and less fun than what we’ve seen from them before, but it’s also fascinating.

As always, I do have a few gripes. My biggest is that, while the cancer arc is beautiful and heart-wrenching, I wish they’d explored it a little more. Only Memento Mori, Elegy, and Gethsemane center around it (and Never Again, if you go off of airing order instead of intended order). Maybe Zero Sum too, but that’s about Skinner and kind of its own thing. And I just felt like there was some wasted potential there. Scully was literally DYING and losing control of her life and Mulder was powerless to stop it. There’s so much plot and character potential there that really wasn’t touched on, and it felt like they really only scratched the surface. Of course, part of the fun of this show is that they leave a lot for us fans to do ourselves, but it feels a bit like a wasted opportunity on the show’s part (friends: please be kind and point me to the fanfic now!)

Also, while I love the cancer arc for emotional value, I do have some qualms about yet another major arc about Scully having her bodily autonomy taken away. Why must all of the female protagonist’s arcs have to do with this? (I wrote about it in Season 2 here).

But frustrations aside, I think this is objectively the second-strongest season after Season 3, and subjectively my second-favorite after Season 2. Its overall arc is maybe the most compelling of the show, and the individual episodes (for the most part) are all fantastic.

Speaking of which, let’s get into the individual episodes! Quick disclaimer- because this season took me so long to watch, it’s been quite a while since I watched the earliest episodes. Just something to keep in mind:)

Herrenvolk: Unfortunately, I feel that this was the show’s weakest season opener so far. It’s not bad by any means, but it falls victim to the same gripe I have with many mytharc episodes, which is that it prioritizes plot over character work, and that rarely works for me. On top of that, the plot here was kind of hard to follow, especially Mulder’s half (Scully’s half was easier because she was literally explaining everything like the scientist she is I love her so much). Also they were separated which is never fun. At this point, I sort of feel like the show is just adding more and more elements of the conspiracy without explaining what we already have, and it’s getting to be a lot. I did adore the hospital scenes between Mulder and Scully, though - it’s a vulnerability and openness we rarely get from both of them (and I think it scares the shit out of them both - hence why their dynamic for the next 3 episodes is kind of weird). Anyway I’ll give this one a 7/10

Home: I know opinions on this are mixed, but I really liked it. It was genuinely SO creepy, especially the scene where the Peacocks are beating up the sheriff and their car music plays in the background. I agree with @graciehart who says that Mulder and Scully’s dynamic in here was odd, but I kind of get it. Scully represses a lot of her emotions, and it would make sense that she might not think or talk about motherhood until she sees a distorted version of it, and she can examine it from a more scientific angle. For Mulder’s part, @theswisscheeserag said that this episode was sort of an exploration into Mulder’s privilege, and how he’s a little bit immune to the darkness that lurks behind the small-town American ideal (in part because that ideal is something he never had). All of that is interesting. I also liked Scully really taking the lead on the case, especially when they thought there was an innocent woman in danger. This show has a trend of victimizing women, so it was really nice to see Scully, who’s been a victim of this trend herself, fight against that. Overall I’ll give this a 9/10

Teliko: I am never safe from the ethnic flute, am I?

Plot-wise, this episode was boring. The pacing was slow, Mulder and Scully were fantastic when together, but that wasn’t a lot, and really not much happened the whole time.

But that wasn’t the real problem - the problem is that this is a “cultural episode.” And a bad one. They sort of half-engaged with all of the racial issues, and they said some super out-of pocket stuff that they then didn’t elaborate on, and it almost seemed like they got what they were talking about for a second but then they didn’t and the whole thing was weird but definitely problematic.

When I tell you I have never hated a score more - TRIBAL CHANTING AND DRUMS SHOULD NOT BE USED TO SHOW HOW OMINOUS YOUR VILLAIN IS! DO YOUR PROPER FOLK MUSIC RESEARCH!!

Alas I would love to 100% hate this episode, but I love the climax SO much. This is the first genuine kidnapping loss-of-bodily autonomy role rehearsal that I’ve been begging for since Season 2, and this is my favorite trope, so I devoured it. It’s also SO sweet. I wrote a meta about it. It’s here.

Anyway my love for the climax will bring this episode up to a 6/10 but without the climax it’s like a 3 lol.

Unruhe: Okay. Kind of like Our Town, I have to separate my feelings about this episode from its actual quality. Because in quality alone, this episode is fantastic. The villain is interesting, the tension is palpable, the climax is gut-wrenching, and Mulder and Scully’s dynamic has this fascinating push/pull that’s reminiscent of early seasons but starkly more intense. The way they yell for each other when he’s saving her from the van (trailer? Large vehicle) is haunting, especially for her part, because Scully never screams like that. And the outro of this episode - Scully talking about finally being forced to understand evil and how it can be inside her and come for her while a single tear slides down her face - is my favorite of the whole show.

But it seems I am not recovered from Season 2, and the second I saw violence against women I knew exactly where this was going. I spent the whole episode waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when it did I was more annoyed than anything else. There is one hilarious frame right after Scully wakes up in the trailer where Gillian stares into the camera and looks annoyed af as if to say am I seriously filming this kind of scene again? and I was like same, girl, same. But with the understanding that most of this comes from me and not the episode itself, I’ll still give it a 10/10

The Field Where I Died: I have mixed feelings. I like the idea of past lives here, and the idea that Mulder and Scully were always friends, I love. I know it bothers some people that they weren’t together romantically, but I don’t think they need to have been romantic in past lives in order to be romantic now. I actually really love the idea of the same souls reconnecting in different lives but always in different ways (I’m thinking of the musical Ghost Quartet if anyone here knows it). I also love the concept of Scully always dying before Mulder in past lives - it adds another layer to the tragedy.

But also this episode feels like it’s missing something, and introducing a one-off character to be in the reincarnation cycle was kind of weird, and even though I think the concepts are cool, I just can’t quite love it. I’ll give it a 7.5/10

Sanguinarium: Finally a short episode review! This one was spooky and fun! Nothing in particular to love or hate about it, just a really creepy good time. A good episode for spooky season. 7.5/10

Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man: Naturally, I missed Mulder and Scully during this, but I thought it was really interesting! I’d much rather take a tour of CSM’s past than see another meeting with the high school board of trustees shady government organization of white men that I don’t care about. I also love that he’s an aspiring author and that he sucks at it - he’s kind of a bad bad guy too if you think about it. My favorite thing about this is that it wasn’t a tragic backstory and that he wasn’t redeemed! A tragic villain who redeems himself is great, but it’s also great to let your villains just suck. 8/10

Tunguska/Terma: Okay Mulder/Krycek shippers, I may not live on your planet, but I now see the roots from which you sprung. Their dynamic in these was actually wild.

This was overall an excellent two-parter! It focused more on character tension than alien plot, which I feel is always better. I liked the juxtaposition of very different high-stakes scenarios for Mulder and Scully - the Russian gulag and Scully being held in contempt of Congress, and kind of the implications that all corrupt governments are the same with that parallel - all good stuff! Although, for being hyped up as inescapable, Mulder sure got out of that prison camp real fast. Also…Mulder being injected with the black stuff is a HELL of a plot point to never touch again, but it is in character for the show. But TELL ME why there are no post-ep fics for this! There’s so much angst potential! Anyway 9.5/10

Paper Hearts: *cries*

See this is what Oubliette could have been if it had properly utilized Mulder and Scully’s dynamic, because Mulder’s search for Samantha is him making all the wrong choices, knowing they’re wrong but always digging in the dirt anyway, and Scully seeing the inevitability of Mulder’s downfall but standing there and letting him hold onto her after he breaks, coming back again and again because he always needs her and she’ll always follow him.

I do think the climax was a bit underwhelming given the emotional weight of the episode. I think Mulder maybe figured the killer (forget his name) out too early. But the post-climax scene is, of course, phenomenal, as is this episode overall. Point me to the fics for this one too! 10/10

El Mundo Gira: And this time the ethnic flute is accompanied by a vaguely Spanish guitar! And a boring plot! And some actors who are supposed to be native Spanish speakers who are very obviously not! 2/10

Never Again: Yes, I did watch this before Leonard Betts, and I’m glad I did, because I think it’s more interesting to look at Scully’s actions through a lens of her reaching breaking point than as a trauma response. I know this is controversial- the wonderful @mulders-too-large-shirt and @thursdayinspace aren’t the biggest fans, but I’m going to have to disagree and say I adored this one. Scully episodes are always treats for me, and this one was no exception. I know that people don’t like the implication that she sees Mulder as a disapproving authority figure, but I saw that as more of a manifestation of her fears than anything else. Scully will always crave the approval of those she loves, no matter how much they show her that she doesn’t have to earn it, she will try, and especially with Mulder, who can be a bit oblivious, the extent to which he values her can go unnoticed, and she’s left feeling like she’s bending over backwards for nothing. She doesn’t feel this way all the time, but here that feeling reaches a peak for her, and she gets these desires to break the mold and do something else and just try everything she never tried before. And as someone who also has a good girl identity, this really resonated with me.

The ending is also killer. Mulder wanting to say it’s become mine but he can’t finish the sentence…especially knowing what’s coming for them…GOD. This is in fact a 10/10 for me.

Leonard Betts: I mean, this is really just cancer arc setup. All of that, and the last few scenes with Scully, are fantastic. Individually, this is pretty good! Nothing to really complain about. 8/10

Memento Mori: *cries* I seem to be doing that a lot this season.

What a fantastic introduction to the cancer arc. I adore that this episode starts with Scully’s narration, to really emphasize how this is her story, and she will be taking center stage. I love how this episode showed Scully and Mulder’s reaction to her disease, and really dove into their psyches in a way they really wouldn’t again. It’s Scully’s desire to maintain her strength, to keep going, to just accept it and keep working as she does so many things. It’s the way the fear of death hangs over her, and she accepts it with open arms because it would almost be more vulnerable to fight it, but Mulder fights it because there’s nothing he fears more than losing her, and yet when she calls him he’s there in an instant, because he’ll give up every answer to be with her. It’s One Breath all over again.

And of course, the hallway scene. Gillian Anderson the actor you are. They both look at each other with so much care and grief and tragedy and love, and it’s fantastic. Though this is not the show’s first forehead kiss (there was a blink and you’ll miss it one in Irresistible) it was the first noticeable one, and it’s so tender but also heartbreaking. I was sobbing in my dorm room. 10/10

Kaddish: I did enjoy the parallel to Mulder not wanting to let go of Scully. And I loved the score, which actually drew on elements from Yiddish folk music (Yiddish is a very prominent folk music for Eastern European Jews). Makes me wonder why they couldn’t do that for the non-white “cultural episodes.”

They seemed to be a bit more clear on the messaging regarding antisemitism than they are when they’re dealing with non-white cultures, but it still felt a bit muddled to me, what with the villain being one of the Jewish people (sort of). I’ll give this a 7/10

Unrequited: What’s that? There was an episode? I must have fallen asleep. 3/10

Tempus Fugit/Max: My lovely friend @california-112 loves these - alas I must disagree. These fall victim to the “too much plot, not enough character stuff” thing that I don’t like. I want to emphasize that this is a subjective taste thing for me, but it does impact my viewing experience nonetheless. I was just annoyed that there was a big mytharc two-parter and Scully was LITERALLY DYING OF CANCER and it wasn’t about that. It felt like that whole plot was just sitting there, wanting to be used, and it wasn’t. And while the plot with Max was nice, it seemed like an awful lot of significance to give a one-off character. If he had been recurring, I might have liked this more.

But I did, of course, love the birthday bookend scenes. He finally celebrates her birthday because he thinks he may never get to again😭😭😭 And her explanation at the end. I love them❤️ Overall these two are a 7.5/10

Synchrony: I actually really liked this one! Maybe it’s because I’m a physics girlie but I liked the time travel elements of the whole thing, and I thought the continually unraveling mystery was really cool. I guessed some of the plot twists for sure, but not all of them! Also Mulder literally quoted Scully’s thesis at her, which was especially fun because, as a physics student, I now know what the Twin Paradox is. Anyway this was an 8/10 for me.

Small Potatoes: I need David Duchovny to star in a comedy immediately. This episode gave us some much needed levity in a pretty gloomy season. All of the jokes landed for me, and I love how pathetic of a villain Eddie is…and that’s exactly why he’s dangerous. I also love every second of body-swapped Mulder and the way the show takes the opportunity to make fun of itself. “Where do I sleep?” might be my favorite joke in the whole show.

I also like that this episode has layers, and kind of gets sadder the more you think about it. Read what I wrote on that here.

All that being said, I do agree with @california-112 that this episode falls into the trap of belittling women who were victims of SA, and I do think that that’s generally icky and a problem. With that in mind, I’ll give this episode a 10/10 for my personal enjoyment but an objective 8/10.

Zero Sum: Another Skinner episode! I do feel like Avatar gave us more insight into his character than this, but I still thought this was intriguing. I thought the push-pull between Mulder and Skinner was entertaining, and the thought that Skinner was willing to go to such lengths while Scully was sick is an interesting one - but most of this episode escaped my memory and I did watch it fairly recently, which I think is telling. So 6/10

Elegy: *cries* Scullyyyyyy

First of all, the ghost makeup in here? Terrifying. It got me. And I’m not easily spooked by this show.

But I loved Scully’s reaction to this. Her in therapy, only admitting how much she needs Mulder when she knows he can’t hear it, because she’s still fighting those same battles with her emotional walls and her self-image. Her refusal to believe in what was happening to her because of science, but also because she doesn’t want to admit that she’s dying and that things aren’t normal and they can’t be normal and they can’t go on. I also don’t know if this is the episode where she finds out her cancer has metastasized (what we learn in Gethsemane), but her final argument with Mulder hits so much harder if you think it is. I know what you’re afraid of, because I’m afraid of the same thing…and what that really is is being apart. And the final shots of her in the car…this season has so much Scully crying and I hate it but I love it. 9.5/10

Demons: Dare I say…tied with Irresistible for new favorite episode? I’ve already made a meta about this, so you know I adored it. Plus it takes place in my hometown which is awesome!

All jokes aside, this episode was so sad but so wonderful. Mulder feeling like his life is spinning away from him and he can’t save anyone, taking desperate measures to find answers, and just being fully swallowed by his self-hatred, willing to go further than he ever has because there’s no hope left.

And Scully, who is his beacon of hope, following him and believing in him when no one else does. She stays until the case is solved and she puts every single piece together herself because she has to. She follows him into the house and stares down the barrel of his gun because she will never fear him, no matter how far he goes, and he will run endlessly into the darkness chasing the truth, and she will run just as far to pull him back.

God. He’s so broken and she’s so devoted to him and this episode showed both things in spades. It was beautiful (and, on a more self-indulgent note, played into all of my favorite tropes. It felt like an upgraded version of one of my fanfics). Obvious 10/10

Gethsemane: Like Talitha Cumi, this is more of a precursor to Redux than a finale in itself, but it’s still a really good episode. High stakes all around! This really digs deep into the question of is it aliens or the government or both, and that’s an ambiguity I’ve always loved, so it was nice to see it back. Scully saying her cancer had metastasized absolutely killed me, but what really got me was the ending. Holy shit! 9.5/10

I think this may be my longest review so far, which is fitting for Season 4! Please feel free to tell me your thoughts on these episodes or the season as a whole, or to send me asks about TXF or anything at all! There’s truly nothing I love more than fangirling with all of you! I’ve had such a stressful few weeks with college, and you’ve all been so kind to me, sending me asks and commenting on my writing and chatting with me, and it’s just meant the world to me, so thank you❤️

On another note, my birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and I’d love to make something special for it, so if any of y’all have ideas, please let me know:)

Until next time!

[dukeofdelirium]

don't get me wrong, I'm excited for the upcoming ATLA movies, but given a certain attitude about a certain ship...

I mean one person said Katara got "stuck making babies, talked down to by White Lotus masters, and did nothing" and I'm just, like. Bro.

One user even said they ignore Aang's screen time in the original show and they don't even watch the final scene of B3. And another said that the infamous tree scene is what made them see Zutara.

There really is no reasoning with these wackos.

Who gives a fuck what they say lmao

They literally aren’t fans of ATLA and have no comprehension of the actual show or characters. They have zero respect for the creators or writers, and were never the intended audience…

At some point you have to just ignore these morons. This is why I have every tag involving them filtered on here. They aren’t fans of ATLA and they don’t represent the majority of the fanbase of this amazing show. They are a loud, annoying and aggressive minority who haven’t been able to cope with the massive L they were served even tho it happened nearly 16 years ago. They’re pathetic little piss babies who act like toddlers but are well into adulthood and none of us should give a single fuck what they say or think about anything, especially not ATLA or Kataang. These are the same idiots who are making up false allegations about the creators and calling them pedophiles with absolutely ZERO proof or reason to do so—all because they are angry they didn’t get their fucking way.

Don’t let their bitterness ruin your fun and enjoyment

[squidgang]

I see you reblogging an ask meme and therefore I crave more Namulith lore... 1, 5, abd 17?

once again I took a million bajillion years to tackle an ask ehehehe my b. my college semester is nearly over- then it's (most likely) a period of unemployment and oodles of free time!! please enjoy the following replies! (I also lowkey lost the og ask this was in reference to, got buried in the annals of my dash probably, but I had saved the individual questions on a google doc)

1. What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

Ok ok confession time- when I first started playing BG3 I totally thought it would be kind of a one-and-done situation where I’d just play it once, so I decided to really quickly whip up a character to play in my first campaign and then figure out a romance later.  This character was a beefy, blonde paladin lady who I just couldn’t seem to nail down name-wise, or really fully establish at that point. (Later, this character became Nausicaa, Namulith’s elder sister)  Well, at the same time I also wanted to make up another character just to romance Minthara (which I thought would be a quick one night stand scenario so he was gonna be just sort of a throwaway character just to indulge, and for funsies I was like “oh and he can be paladin lady’s little brother”).  I thought it would be amusing to play a “john baldur” for (what I believed to be) a short campaign.  Oh well.  In short, I literally just wanted to make a character to go after Minthara hahahaha

^"Florian Ozark" (note the dark pink eyes, dunno what the story was there)

5. How did you choose their name and why? Was it simply based on vibes or is there any specific meaning behind the name? Are the reasons behind their name different in- and out of universe?

YAY!!! 

My first working name for the character who would later become Namulith Dorok was actually “Florian Ozark” (super random, DOES NOT roll off the tongue), and funny enough this version of him had pink eyes for some reason?  I realized I really hated my attempt to make a true “unique” name, so I decided to look elsewhere for inspiration.

Ok so I’m a big fan of both the movie and manga “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind” and for whatever reason I decided to steal virtually every proper noun from the manga and use it for nearly every single family member of Namulith (BG3 oc).  In the manga (no spoilers), Namulith is the cocky, egotistical, functionally immortal emperor of a country called Dorok, who desires to possess the last superweapon on Earth and wield it to conquer the rest of the world.  I picked his name for my oc mostly just because I liked it, and after a while it really began to fit well, like I look at him and yeah he looks like a Namulith to me!

As I mentioned earlier, all of his family members have names from the manga, so they’re all rather unusual-sounding.  I think “Namulith” might be a made-up name, so I don’t think it has a meaning (unfortunate), but it sure sounds cool!

^Namulith is the one in the center with the tunic with the eye on it.

17. Are there any motifs or symbols associated with the character? How are they represented, in their design, personality or in some other way?

TOO MANY!!! Here are my favorites:

Solar eclipses.  They symbolize the conjunction of his own will, and that of the Urge- how his own conscience is overridden and occluded by something beyond his control.  Also, they’re visually so striking, and to someone who has no idea what’s happening, they’re even frightening!

Deer bucks.  Namulith’s fursona would 1000% be a buck.  In general mythos, bucks represent pride, nobility, and independence, with the growth and shedding of antlers symbolizing cycles of changes in accordance with the seasons.  I’ve mentioned in the past how Namulith is a rather prideful person, so I think this tracks personality-wise.  They’re also prey animals (not typically thought of as “killers”), and pretty skittish, which are also relevant qualities.

Guilt.  In my personal canon this manifests as the symbol of a black dog- for Namulith this results from processing his memories of killing his family, which happened not even two years before the start of the game.  His family used to have a black dog as a pet, and thus the black dog is a mysterious, dark, and painful reminder that he slaughtered the people he was once most close to in cold blood.  This immaterial dog, the vessel of guilt, is also a ghost that haunts the apothecary he moves back into :P

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Is It Really That Bad?

John Leguizamo is a real neat guy. Whenever he pops up in a movie, he’s always an entertaining part of the ensemble. Movies like Ice Age and Encanto feature him prominently, movies like Kick-Ass 2 are improved by his mere presence, and Spawn was elevated by his villainous turn as Violator. An actor who’s this good surely deserves a starring role, a chance to lead a film and show he’s capable of carrying things from the front line!

Uh, about that…

This movie proved that, no, he sure fucking isn’t. Any chance of Leguizamo leading a film ever again was dashed by this film bombing, and director Paul Miller went right back to directing TV shows and awards shows with this one. With an $8,000,000 budget it didn’t even gross half of, it’s not hard to see why this ruined or derailed their careers. Maybe it’s for the best, anyway; Leguizamo is way better as an actor in an ensemble than he is as the protagonist (though I still think The Happening would be genuinely good if he was the lead there).

As with many bizarre, shitty comedies of the time, it has quite a cult following. And you know, I love cult films. And after seeing it… Yeah, I’m part of the cult. But as I’m a lunatic with insane taste in films, me saying I enjoyed it doesn’t really answer if the film is really that bad or not. I mean, I love some impressively shitty films; I don’t think movies like Cats or The Room are masterpieces in a traditional sense. So let's take a look and see how good/bad The Pest really is.

THE GOOD

Let’s not mince words, “good” is extremely relative here. You see that song up there? If you watch that and you don’t dig it on some level, you’re not going to enjoy anything in this film.

For me, though, the big selling point of this film is that it’s genuinely insane and somehow manages to top how insane it is at every single turn. I genuinely had no clue where this film was going at any given time, and it kept shocking me with each new and baffling twist to the plot. The fact it so quickly veers from wacky antics in the city to an adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game of all things and hen somehow continues to surprise from there is genuinely impressive.

I think something pretty admirable about it is that despite the fact it isn’t exactly pulling punches in who it makes fun of, the one character who is gay surprisingly averts a lot of common gay stereotypes of the time. Yeah, he’s still portrayed as a total weirdo but he’s not constantly trying to rape Pestario and he’s honestly a pretty cool guy that isn’t really the butt of too many jokes solely due to his sexuality. A 90s comedy not treating a queer character like the fucking spawn of Satan is a low bar to clear, but when shit like Ace Ventura put the bar in the Earth’s core it’s nice that an overall significantly shittier comedy at least made an attempt to jump over it.

THE BAD

You know how people always talk about movies like Blazing Saddles and say “This could never be made today!” because they’re stupid and think the movie is just edgy racist shit and not a provocative comedy lampooning racism itself? This movie is one of the exceedingly rare times that such a phrase is accurate. You literally could not make this movie today. The jokes in this movie are so outrageously offensive to every single group imaginable. The movie stops just short of doing blackface, but Pestario still rolls up to his black girlfriend’s house in an afro, playing bongos, and talking in exaggerated AAVE so I mean… Can we really give this film any credit?

This is just the big thing with the film that will make or break it for a person: Can you stomach the numerous over-the-top ethnic stereotypes? Are you okay with these borderline racist gags in the comedy? And, look, I don’t think it’s some moral failing to laugh at the brazen offensiveness; it’s a moral failing if you actually believe the stereotypes. What I’m saying is, if you don’t want to sit through ninety minutes of edgy race jokes interspersed with toilet humor and John Leguizamo being an annoying asshole, I do not blame you in the slightest.

THE ANNOYING

So there’s a reason I haven’t talked about Pestario at any great length yet. He’s not really a good point of the movie, but he’s not really bad either; what he is is really fucking annoying. And let’s be clear here, this is entirely deliberate; he is meant to be the world’s most annoying man. You saw the title of the movie, right? He’s meant to be an obnoxious jackass who grates on your nerves.

Now, I find him enjoyable for one reason and one reason alone: He seems to very clearly be a live action take on famous comedic annoyance Daffy Duck. He’s hyper, he’s greedy, he’s a jackass, and he only has the moral high ground because he’s going up against even worse people. But can I really blame anyone for thinking he sucks? No, of course not. I truly and completely get it.

But hey, at least the main target of his annoyance is Jeffery Jones. Watching a pedophile playing a Nazi get harassed by the most annoying asshole on Earth is honestly kind of cathartic. And for me, that’s enough for me to give Pestario a pass. I like this annoying little shit.

IS IT REALLY THAT BAD?

Oh, absolutely. This movie is stupid, tasteless, offensive, and insane. It is a film deliberately designed to be as annoying as possible. It’s not a great film. But as the great Roger Ebert once said in regards to The Mummy, "There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting... but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased. There is a little immaturity stuck away in the crannies of even the most judicious of us, and we should treasure it." That last sentence especially sums things up for me. The immature, edgy dumbass inside me found this idiotic film amusing. I think it’s easy to draw a point of comparison to Freddy Got Fingered, but that film feels way more deliberate and like a genuine prank; they were clearly aiming for genuine comedy gold here. The Pest wants to make John Leguizamo the next big comedy star, and it just isn’t working. But it is that film’s brother in the sense that this movie is insane and tasteless.

That score up there is absolutely what this film deserves. This is not a film for everyone—Hell, I don’t think this film is for anyone, really. You have to be in the most bizarre niches imaginable to like this film. I’m in those niches, sure, but most people are not and never will be. It does have a cult fanbase I’m part of, but I’m not gonna pretend that anyone outside the cult saying this is doghsit is wrong. Sometimes you have to just own the fact a movie is fucking ass. But you know what? This movie is my fucking ass.

Still, if you want to watch a cult classic comedy that plays with stereotypes while being actually, genuinely funny and not relying on being overly edgy and offensive, just go watch White Chicks.

[vitospaghetta]

While I do agree with Matt Mercer’s sentiment that this specific moment is pretty big for Leon, with this admission that he needs a break, I don’t think that necessarily means that Leon’s this 100% recovered individual talking about taking a healthy, normal vacation. I think that this was his very roundabout way of saying 'This is bullshit. I'm definitely going to get shitfaced when this is done.'

He could be talking about just needing a break from everything and taking a genuine vacation, but drinking is very much a knee-jerk coping mechanism for Leon, so I wouldn't put it past him to resort to it once this mission's through given the high intensity and stress of it. It's great to see how much better he's doing in Death Island given that he's made some semblance of peace with the way his life has turned out, but old habits die hard, and it’s only human to backpedal every now and then.

I like to think of Death Island as a movie that displays him taking steps in the right direction. He's not where he needs to be, not yet — at this point, he's still a character actively in transformation — but we're seeing the result of him beginning to walk down a better path than the one he was headed down in Vendetta. 

I hesitate to say happiness, but Leon’s contentment in Death Island is extremely evident. There’s such a stark contrast between his demeanor in Damnation and Vendetta and his demeanor in Death Island. He’s still dealing with the same internal struggles, which is most apparent during the callout scene in two places. 

After Dylan calls him out specifically and he only sarcastically answers with “yeah, well, it’s a livin’.” 

And, I think more prominently, when Dylan says that so long as there are people like him/Chris/Claire/Jill who fight for those in power and uphold the status quo that “the innocent will continue to suffer as long as you do.” 

You can literally see the fear in his eyes when he hears this, because every single thing Dylan is saying to them, what he’s saying about him, are things he already fully believes. The exact reasons that led him to hit the bottle so hard are being reiterated to him by someone who isn’t even involved in his life, and that hurts. 

However, instead of having another existential crisis and ruminating on what Dylan said, he chooses to hold onto hope. He believes in Jill, which means he believes in what they’re doing — that they can make a difference by doing the best they can given their circumstances. As long as he hangs onto that, I'd like to think we can have hope for him. He just needs more time.