#i was referencing so many artists for this kill me now

[selfryed]

save me gerard way save me gerard way save me getad wy sv me

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Finally reading "Under the Red Hood" for my story, Dick Grayson V Gotham and some notes about what exactly happens here:

Jason's helmet really is a whole ass red circle with eyes, isn't it.

There's constant internal monologue about how much Batman cares about his kids. From Alfred and from Batman.

There's a whole ass woman who I have never seen referenced before called Onyx? Who's apparently the "only other hero allowed in the whole of gotham... other than catwoman".

Bruce recognizing Jason just based on how he fights and plans is beautiful, even if bruce doesn't believe it yet.

Superman's over here flirting with Bruce, going "we could have gotten tickets to the theater if you'd called ahead 😘😘" while bruce is traveling all over the world to figure out if his baby boy might be back from the dead.

Lowkey sad that Jason doesn't have the skunk stripe. I know it was fanon that occasionally became canon, but I still like it.

Wow, this Robin!Jason flashback is really giving us good views of the scaly panties, >:P

So, during the flashback, Bruce brings up the idea that Jason has a "mean streak" in comparison to how Dick was. But it's not that Jason was "mean" and Dick "nice"--Dick has a massive temper, even if canon rarely allows him to acknowledge it--but with Dick... Everytime he was Robin, I think he was still in the mindset of "performer". There was a bit more disconnect between him and the criminals of Gotham, because the fights were more like acts. Jason performs too, but he's very personal about it. This is his city, he's taking all these crimes personally and even when he's "performing" it's still Jason Todd, while Dick's Robin is more so a mask. IDK, this is just the vibes I'm picking up.

I really love the panels after Jason blows up the meth lab. The way the colors are... it makes Jason almost look like he's teared up? It's beautiful.

Oh great, Slade's here. No wonder this things so damn long

You know what, Slade? I'm on Black Mask's side here. A nazi and a hyena man? You can find better hired help on Craigslist.

Just finished the fight, and I'm STILL on Black Mask's side. Slade, who the fuck are these losers!?

Yes, Jason baby, kill the nazi!

Jason got them Christmas presents! That's sweet!

Slade, why the FUCK were you here? Did you see Nightwing was in town and go "lol, this'll be funny"?

Black Mask really calling himself Daddy around Jason... wasn't a joke. Huh.

There are some very nice parallels after Jason reveals his identity to Bruce. Bruce was too late to stop Joker's bomb, he was too late to stop the bomb in the meth lab. Bruce was too late to stop his son from getting attacked by a supervillain, but Bruce was faster now, good job! And Bruce never killed his son's killer, and he won't kill Stephanie's killer either. It's like he keeps testing Bruce to see if he really has to go through with his plan with the Joker.

Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if Jason's entire beef with Black Mask was because of his part in Stephanie Brown's death.

...I don't really like the idea of Jason calling himself a zombie after Joker did it.

Jason wiped the smile off his face, goddamn! (And don't think I didn't notice how similar Joker and Jason's laughs are, comic artists. Sure, maybe that's just how cackling laughter was drawn back then, but in literature, that smells like foiling).

...THIS is when Bludhaven gets destroyed!? Really???

Also, what is this depiction of Bludhaven just... being across a river? This feels unreasonably close, why hasn't Gotham just eaten Bludhaven at this point?

IT'S A NUKE???

THEY ARE LOOKING DIRECTLY AT IT, HOW ARE THEIR EYES NOT GETTING BURNT OUT OF THEIR HEADS

I'm just realizing how many explosives there are in this series. Between the bombs the Bats use, and the bombs Jason sets up, and... what happened to bludhaven. That, kids, is what we call a theme!

Bruce really is sympathetic in this. It's subtle, which is good, I don't think anyone would have appreciated the author blaring out "BATMAN IS IN THE RIGHT, HE'S THE BEST GUY, FUCK JASON."

And Jason is getting more and more unhinged as the fight progresses.

You know, it's occurring to me that this all could have been prevented if New Jersey had the death penalty. There's no way Joker could have gotten the insanity plea so many times if they could put him in the ground for good.

...I wonder if Batman votes to reinstate the death penalty?

"But why... why on God's earth--??! Is he still alive!!??" Is just... such a good reveal. Such a good line. No wonder we're all so fixated on this character, omg.

Oh. This is why Jason thinks Batman doesn't love him.

It's the lack of reciprocation. Jason sees "killing the Joker after he killed you" as an act of love. Batman cannot provide that act, so Jason sees that refusal as proof he is unloved.

The funniest Joker's ever been:

Oh, the batarang moment. Oh no.

Oh no oh no oh no

I still feel like resurrection via Superboy punching the universe hard is still a cop-out reason why Jason's alive, but the line "Until time decided to set things right." is speaking to me.

Oh god, the buried alive scene is brutal.

Okay, so Jason came back fully sane, he definitely knew what he was doing breaking out of the coffin, but his injuries that were unhealed and getting hit by a fucking car are what caused his catatonic state. He didn't just wake up not all there, that happened because no one was looking out for him.

Okay, so 6 months dead, about a... year in a coma. It says a year for his time catatonic on the streets, then a year with Talia, still catatonic... that's three and a half years, Jason really started being the Red Hood... like what, a few weeks after he got tossed in the Pits?

...I thought the pits were green. They look gold in my version of these comics, is that normal?

EW, WHY'D SHE KISS HIM

Also, there was no brainwashing this boy, Talia literally just said "you remain avenged" and it sent Jason on this whole murder spiral, she didn't do shit

Except kiss him. which, EW

Alright, good night everybody!

[sugar-coat-it]

Could you give a summary of the interview? I don’t want to sit through an 3 hour interview 🙃

I got you, spark notes RIGHT NOW I'm just going to recap the main points as I watch

Lots of talk about the dangers of technology and the culture that it’s brought about -SATVB as an exploration of said dangers (toxic masculinity, lack of guidance for young men). It was meant to be performance art that evolved with the reactions to it (a lot of people missed the point of consumption because of disregarding context. He says that this context collapse extended to a lot of the situations that got him in trouble with cancellation) -Social media's "everyone is an activist" mentality is degrading "actual activists" -Dopamine buzz culture and the prominence of short-term pleasure -"Shortcut" to being a musician through social media -How do you regulate social media without it seeming totalitarian? - 2:07:58 "KaMaLa iS BrAt"

Some people were a bit ticked off that he was trying to explain some abstract concepts "for his fans" in particular -He would ask the host to explain things in "a way that his audience can understand" (Ex: Slow cancelation of the future and hauntology)

Discussion of art as a commodity and the suppression of creativity in a capitalistic society -We are told that the only art that is worth making is financially successful art. Young artists aren't encouraged to change the world anymore. -Companies don't want to take risks and invest in art that might not be successful (this is why we're getting so many remakes of movies or the sort of Marvel franchise phenomenon) -"The most talented, creative, young person you know will be doing the flat design for some internet company" -Consumerism overshadowing art. Art institutions in particular. -The extremely wealthy don't feel the same obligation to give back to art and culture that they used to

Matty is involved with charity organizations that fund art as an alternative institution to big corporations (cool!)

Matty is becoming really strict with not referencing music from the past, he wants to break away from genre and what's been previously done -P.S He lost his shoes at this point of the interview idk what happened there

Counterculture as a concept is dying in a way because there is a lot less separation between what is mainstream and what is considered to be fringe -The internet is a massive contributor to that, many of these subcultures have moved online

Loooots of criticism about the neoliberalist philosophy

Documentary mentioned! -"I've been making this film for ten years that I'll probably never even make" (I'm going to kill u)

ATPOAIM -An "internet web series thing of a proper thing" he's been working on -Stemmed from an eerie feeling of being constantly surveilled and subjective reality

Matty's phone was hacked for five years -Every phone conversation he had from the age of 18-24 was listened to

The new record! - "The new record is, I suppose, born from me nearly going insane and that being a kind of an internet-induced insanity, combined with the cautionary tale of my last record." -Matty mentioned not being interested in doing press for the album with any traditional media -Themes: love, sex, death, communication, religious fanaticism

I can see why some people are criticizing the interview, labeling it as a sort of "intellectual circle jerk", but there were a lot of interesting insights into how Matty operates in terms of both his art and his ideologies if you give it a chance. It's pretentious at points, I'll admit that, but he's honestly really smart and I think it would be silly to overlook that because of the way he delivers some of what he says. I do think he makes a lot of good points about art amidst major, unprecedented societal shifts, but it can get lost in the way he talks. It’s worth a watch <3

[gamesception]

Sception Reads Cass Cain #10

Batman: Gotham Knights #2 written by Devin Grayson, pencils by Dale Eaglesham

We're finally out of No Man's Land! Gotham's no longer cut off from the rest of the country, and the city is largely rebuilt already - even though that should have taken many years. But it's not like the lasting effects of the year-long mega crossover vanished completely, there were still stories here and there in the months following the end of NML that still referenced the events of the story, like this one. It's a one off story, focused on Bruce & Cassandra - specifically his perception of her - by the same writer and artist as the The Batman Chronicles #18, which we looked at earlier. I wasn't a huge fan of the story in that issue, but I thought they handled Cass alright, which has me feeling optimistic going in.

The basic set up is pretty straight forward. NML is over, but records of who died and who survived in Gotham - especially among people who were homeless to begin with - are still extremely spotty, and a crew of slave traders have kidnapped a bunch of people to sell overseas... which is a very 'conservative conspiracy theorist' take on what human trafficking looks like, but whatever. Bruce and Cass track down which ship the people are on, but not until it's off shore, and before they can get to it there's an explosion onboard and the ship starts to sink, after which it's a race against time to rescue the ship's crew, the traffickers, and the victims alike.

As with the Chronicles issue, I do mostly like how Eaglesham draws Cass in costume. I think it'd be better served with the bigger, chonky belt pouches that can flare out or flop around to help convey motion and better break up the overall black form, but whatever, this is mostly good. He's also really good at rendering a variety of faces and body types, much as in the group shot above. About my only complaint is that he can go a bit overboard in detailing big veiny muscles. It's ok on his Arkham-game style, hulking meat wall version of Batman. Not my preferred take on Bruce aesthetically, but that's more a matter of taste. But he occasionally goes overboard on Cass's musculature too, and it doesn't work as well on her.

Now, a Bat hero storming a room full of guys is normal everyday fare, but Batman hanging back in the doorway and shouting "WAIT!" tells us that we're supposed to read Cass as being careless and impulsive here. Which touches on multiple important aspects of her character - her combat skills make her near unbeatable in a fight with normal human opponents, which in turn makes her overconfident in a way that can come back to bite her in a world where aliens and super-people exist

Anyway, this issue is focused on a different contributing factor to Cass's recklessness - guilt. Cass killed someone, a sin that can never be taken back. She feels deep down that the only way to make up for that is to give her own life in return - not just to save other lives, but to dedicate the rest of her entire life to doing so, to eventually lose her life in the attempt. This death wish makes Cass not just willing but seemingly eager to take on lethal risks - in ways that jeopardize not just her own life but potentially also those she works with or tries to protect.

Batman doesn't know what exactly it is that Cass feels guilty about - if he did then this version of Bruce wouldn't be so willing to let her wear his symbol - but he does understand recklessness and guilt and death wishes - his core motivation is as much about survivor's guilt as it is about vengeance. And as such, he believes that this is an internal conflict for Cass. It isn't something he can save her from, she needs to save herself, and that will mean letting Cass endanger herself in ways that others would absolutely find unacceptable.

That first panel there is the one I was talking about when I mentioned Eaglesham sometimes going overboard on Cass's musculature.

Brick shithouse Cass aside, this is good stuff. So good that we'll be seeing it again. This exact dynamic - Cass struggling with a guilt-fueled death wish, Batman letting her face death in order to confront and overcome that wish, and others judging Bruce to be callous and even abusive for letting a teenage girl under his care endanger herself that way - will play out again in a more expanded form in Cass's ongoing title.

I honestly have only two really minor complaints about how Grayson writes Cass here. The first is that it's just a bit too monotone dark and serious. The story is high danger action emergency through much of it, but we could have had a bit more lighthearted tone early on before they get to the boat. If not a sense of Cass having fun, then at least of her trying too hard to impress Bruce or something, or Bruce giving her some small word of praise and show her being overly excited over it. Something. Cass has these darker aspects to her character, but she's not all downer all the time. This misery is a burden she carries, not who she is.

The other minor complaint is a lot of this characterization is coming to us from those narration blocks. It's not that Cass's feelings /aren't/ being shown. You can really feel Cass's desperation in that top panel as Bruce slips away, abandoning her to face her ghosts alone, or her misery in the center right panel, her head buried in her arms, unable to escape the memory of killing someone. That's good angst, there! The left panel with water and wreckage crashing down on her, the last panel with Cass small and trapped... the art here is fantastic, but the text all over this page is distracting from the emotion and getting in the way of feeling what this character is going through. The narration is mostly fine throughout the issue, good even, but imo this page in particular would have been stronger without it.

The boat captain calls Bruce out for leaving Cass behind, and while he defends his choice, Eaglesham does an excellent job conveying how pained and conflicted he is over this choice.

I mean, obviously she's going to make it at the last moment, but Grayson drags it out for a whole extra page, and I can't complain at all, because the way Eaglesham puts all of the emotions on Bruce's face there is just very good. You can see how much he cares about Cassandra, despite how short a time he's known her. In her core personality and her internal struggles, Cass is very much like Bruce, arguably more so than any of his other proteges. Or, at least, this version of Cass was the most like this version of Bruce. It's part of why Bruce is willing to let her go to these extremes, he believes it's what she needs because he believes it's what he needed, he trusts her to persevere through impossible odds because he trusts that he would persevere through the same. From the very start, Cass very much feels like Bruce's daughter, for better and worse.

We do at least end on a bit of a brighter moment. You have to imagine Barbara was watching Titanic in the tower recently.

All in all, good stuff. The kind of thing that will define Cass's book. A low fantasy/street level story concept, with normal human antagonists and stakes rather than colorful supervillains and city or world-scale action. This focus opens the space to delve deep into the characters' emotions, motivations, and internal conflicts, and a particular focus on the relationship between Bruce and Cass.

Big goofy dramatic superheroics are fun and good, but it's this angsty, layered character business that caught my attention and got me to care about Cassandra in the first place.

[coochiequeens]

“India has one of the highest rates of honor killing and dowry deaths, where newlywed brides are tortured, burnt, sometimes even murdered on the basis of sex. For a man with caste and class privilege living so far removed from the everyday realities of Indian women, Alok Vaid-Menon sure has audacity to call himself a ‘bride,'” she (Vaishnavi Sundar) said.

An American trans activist who identifies as ‘transfeminine’ was recently featured by the Indian publication Brides Today on their digital cover, prompting criticism on social media. Alok Vaid-Menon, 31, who uses “they/them” pronouns, was interviewed and photographed for the magazine wearing clothing resembling traditional attire for women.

Vaid-Menon’s April 19 appearance in the magazine was presented as a commentary on same-sex marriage, which is currently being debated at India’s highest court.

During the full interview, Vaid-Menon was asked his thoughts on topics such as marriage and love, stating “love is about expansion, not constriction. Permission, not prohibition… I want to be a living love poem. Every day I ask myself, ‘How can I love harder?’ Love breaks through binaries—man and woman, us and them, you and me… Love doesn’t live in should, it lives in what is.”

Yet despite the platitudes, Vaid-Menon has caused concern for a past statement in which he referred to “little girls” as being “kinky” and claimed to have himself once been “a cute little girl.”

In approximately 2016, when Vaid-Menon was using the moniker Dark Matter to promote himself as a performance artist and poet, he published a disturbing statement on his views of young girls’ presumed sexuality.

In the statement, Vaid-Menon rejects the notion that little girls need to be protected from “gender/sexual deviance,” and instead claims that “little girls, like the rest of us, are complicated people.”

Vaid-Menon was writing about legislation that had been introduced in the state of North Carolina that year establishing that public restrooms remain single-sex accommodations. House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, was intended to protect women and children from being exposed to men while in a state of undress. 

Vaid-Menon responded to the bill being signed into law by claiming that single-sex spaces were being upheld under a false narrative of protecting “innocent little girls” from “freaky” transgender people. 

“There are no fairy tales and princesses here. Little girls are also queer, trans, kinky, deviant, kind, mean, beautiful, ugly, tremendous, and peculiar. Your kids aren’t as straight and narrow as you think they are,” Vaid-Menon wrote.

He went on to claim that he viewed the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist as being about “a little girl … exploring her sexuality (masturbation and so on) and her own demons/meanness.”

In 2021, quotes from the post began circulating on Twitter and prompting outrage, but users found themselves getting suspended for referencing or reacting to the text. 

Conservative political pundit Lauren Witzke was suspended from Twitter for hate speech after retweeting a graphic showing Vaid-Menon’s quote, to which she commented that the views he expressed were “demonic.” Witzke was reinstated on the platform almost two years later, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk bought Twitter and offered “amnesty” on many previous suspensions.

The views expressed in Vaid-Menon’s Facebook post were criticized by the now-deceased lesbian activist YouTuber Magdalen Berns in a video she titled “Non-Binary Bullsh*t.” Berns concluded that in her opinion, his comments on girlhood made him “sound a bit like a pedo,” and remarked that “even his fans” disapproved, causing him to eventually delete the post.

The following year, in 2017, Vaid-Menon and fellow non-binary activist Jacob Tobia were profiled by Vice in an article titled “Why Can’t My Famous Gender Nonconforming Friends Get Laid.” The article was subject to widespread mockery for highlighting Vaid-Menon’s lack of success in dating, and included comments indicating that Vaid-Menon and Tobia had considered taking female hormones in order to date heterosexual men in an attempt to expand their dating pool.

Vaid-Menon has been a strong proponent for “neutralizing” women’s issues in order to make them “gender inclusive.” He has previously written about the importance of using gender neutral language when discussing abortion, pregnancy, or sex-based violence, also denouncing the term “women’s rights” as not being sufficiently welcoming to gender non-conforming people. 

In 2020, Vaid-Menon was featured by menstrual hygiene company This is L and the Phluid Project – a “gender free” clothing and lifestyle brand based in New York – in a promotional video featuring individuals of varying “gender identities” to spread the message that periods are not specific to females. Vaid-Menon had endorsed this belief previously when, in 2019, he shared an articlefrom Seventeen magazine, a publication aimed at girls and young women, titled “What Trans & Non-Binary Menstruators Should Know About Periods.”

Women’s rights campaigner and filmmaker Vaishnavi Sundar blasted Vaid-Menon’s activism as “dangerous” while calling attention to the plight of women and girls in India. 

In 2020, screenings of a documentary Sundar had produced titled “But What Was She Wearing?” were cancelled in response to previous tweets she had made opposing men in women’s spaces. Her film sought to address the sexual harassment and sexual violence that women in the nation experience, juxtaposing the contrast between what laws on paper purport and the on-the-ground reality.

“India is an extremely caste-riddled society. Indian women across all castes experience profound violence at the hands of men. A large majority still live under acute poverty, devoid of basic sanitation, education, safety, or legal recourse,” Sundar told Reduxx.

“India has one of the highest rates of honor killing and dowry deaths, where newlywed brides are tortured, burnt, sometimes even murdered on the basis of sex. For a man with caste and class privilege living so far removed from the everyday realities of Indian women, Alok Vaid-Menon sure has audacity to call himself a ‘bride,'” she said.

“To import gender identity ideology as some form of progressive ticket to freedom is not just obscene, it is dangerous. In a country that still kills the female newborns and blames young girls for being raped, gender identity is the last thing we want shoved down on us while we haven’t even saved ourselves from the existing misogyny,” Sundar added.

“The only group of people profiting from this ideology are the corporations, medical and pharmaceutical industries. Men like Alok Vaid-Menon are promoters of said industries under the veneer of being progressive and inclusive.”

[rockerfemme]

trigger warning for misogyny and FGM

the venn diagram of feminists and people who are into heavy body modification is literally just me so I am 100% sure no1curr BUT I have gotta talk about misogyny in the mod community. specifically from the mod practitioners, who are mostly male. any mod enthusiast who knows anything knows that tongue splitting and similar mods are illegal in the UK and Australia because of a now infamous practitioner (butcher) Brendan Russell aka "B-Slice" botching multiple clients' implants and causing the death of one client. I've seen the case referenced multiple times, but it was only when I looked it up for details that I realized that all the botched clients were female, that set my alarm bells off and I looked more into the cases.

The client he killed, died of an infection in a subdermal implant he gave her and that's the victim who gets referenced the most but upon doing my own research, prior to that, he was convicted on an FGM charge when he botched a labiaplasty on a different woman and burned part of her vagina off. X X

Next I read about another practitioner, this one is widely considered reputable and is still in business today. Whilst recommending him to someone, a commenter informs everyone that he "cut off my friend's huge labia." Disgusting. The fact that he performs that type of procedure tells you everything about how he views women. X

Next I read a review of a documentary about another highly respected practitioner, a pioneer in the field. Reportedly it's revealed that "many of his personal motivations are, indeed, sexual" and describes a scene in which he pressures his long-term girlfriend into having an open relationship (one sided, of course.) Vile. And we clients meant to trust him to perform delicate procedures on us. X

I’m also aware of the “Brutal Blackout” project, a tattoo project in which the “artists” scribble black ink over large portions of the client’s body, while running the tattoo machine at a high voltage to intentionally cause as much pain as possible to the client. Clients aren’t allowed to tell the tattooists when to stop. There’s a mini documentary on YouTube and it’s very disturbing, it’s clear that one of the two “artists” is a deeply sadistic man who is overjoyed that he is paid to harm people. X

This all isn't really something that can be discussed with regular people because they laugh at modified people and call us stupid for even wanting this type of body art (tongue bifurcation, scarification, subdermal implants, coinslots, cartilage punch/removal, elf ears, etc). Neither do I feel that such a discussion would be received well in the mod community, because it is (unsurprisingly) populated by mega liberals.

But for women who want to adorn themselves in this way, it's important to know that some of these so-called "artists" are, in reality, disgusting sex perverts and misogynists. Go to female mod artists whenever possible and dig deep through multiple social media sits for information on any practitioner you're considering.

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Massacre Recap

This arc is the beginning of the final act of this story so all secrets and mysteries are being revealed now.

The most recurring aspect to this arc was the Three Rules, how they play out in each arc, and Rika's efforts to overcome them. The primary purpose of the Three Rules as I interpret them is to isolate Rika and hide Takano's plotting.

Even though Rika was killed at the end of this arc once again, the Three Rules failed their purpose. Rika's friends are united to save her, and Rika has found out Takano is behind her murders. Going into the final arc, the rules are completely broken.

As an ending, I'd call this the lead ending. We thought we had everything needed to gain a golden ending this time, but it turns out mistakes were made, unknown factors were not considered, and we were still missing a few key pieces. As a result, we have a pile of lead instead of gold.

But rather than being discouraged, Rika has found who she truly can and cannot trust this time. Her friends are united with her going into the next world. And she's gotten even Hanyu to believe they will succeed.

This arc is billed as the Answer arc to Curse Killing. Despite that, it answers questions that have been repeatedly asked for a while now. We finally know who is Rika's killer and what was actually behind the Great Hinamizawa Disaster. But those questions first appeared at the end of Curse Killing. So Massacre is able to answer them while technically still being an Answer arc to Curse Killing.

Atonement actually had a hand in letting Massacre be the arc it is. Atonement answered questions like "What happened to Teppei's body in Curse Killing" so this arc doesn't have to and can instead focus on answering "How do we resolve things the right way?" And because Rika and her friends defeated Teppei early and without repercussions, the rest of the arc could focus on the bigger problems in the whole series.

I have one thing I want to complain about with the story of this arc and it's that the last third of the story feels utterly disconnected from the rest of it. The first two-thirds of the story are about Keiichi bringing the whole village and several people from the surrounding towns together to save Satoko. It's a grand "Everyone is Here" story where even the most insignificant characters make a return to help. But once that's over, none of those characters matter to the story anymore.

The last part does have a sort of inversion of what happened earlier though. The Teppei part starts with Rika's friends and grows into this grand united force. Meanwhile the final part starts with Rika having a greater than normal support network she might be able to call on, but it systematically gets dismantled until she only has her friends to help her.

I just wish some of the whole "uniting the village together" applied to saving Rika as it did Satoko. Rika's death is a concern for the whole village as we saw in the final chapter. But to be fair to Rika, she doesn't know that's the case.

Jiro Suzuki didn't reprise her role for this arc. Instead we have a new artist, Hinase Momoyama. I'd say Momoyama did an excellent job throughout this arc. This arc would probably have been one of the harder ones to do because there are so many different people throughout it.

In every large crowd shot, you can see each face is clearly unique. If I had taken the time to try cross-referencing EVERY face, I might have been able to find more instances of background characters showing up in several shots.

One aspect of their art style that really stood out to me was how they draw hair. They draw hair in a more erratic way than the other artists tended to do. Hair would be drawn less like a piece of cloth and more like messy tufts, especially on people with shorter hair. People with long hair would have multiple locks moving in multiple directions instead.

Hair added an extra layer of expressiveness throughout this arc. For example, characters' hair tended to get spikier when they were angry and would puff out when they were happy.

Because of the theme of everyone coming together for a common cause, I'm declaring this panel to be my favorite one this arc.

It's an excellent mix of characters in the main, secondary, and tertiary cast of the series.

I was considering the panel from chapter 11 when everyone walks into the Child Consultation Center together as another contender but chose against it because A) Takano is in the group and B) Ichirou was not.

Ichirou Maebara's involvement during talks with the village council has made me absolutely love him as a character and I was absolutely determined to make sure he was in whatever crowd shot I made the highlight panel. I'm upset he's not going to be more involved in the plot.

Now let's clean up everything about the overall mystery. At this point, we know what's going on in June 1983. But much of the background details are still unknown. We still don't know anything about the past series of murders and disappearances, but Rika has suggested "Tokyo" might be behind them as well.

We've also been shown the supernatural aspects affecting the world, but whether those will be explained and to what extent is unknown. Hopefully we get to find out more about Hanyu.

Bold text is new info.

Character Info:

Keiichi Maebara: He moved to Hinamizawa three weeks ago. He was a generally average student but excelled when he started cram school. However he became frustrated and his father decided to move to Hinamizawa after some things happened. The stress caused Keiichi to assault little girls with a toy gun, causing one girl to suffer serious eye injury.

Rena Ryugu: Birth name “Reina”. She had moved out of Hinamizawa when she was younger. At some point she assaulted three boys with a bat and smashed every window in her school. In her psych evaluations, she frequently talked about Oyashiro-sama as if she is possessed by it. She moved back to Hinamizawa a year ago. Her mother had an affair and left Rena and her father leading to her behavior and decision to rename herself.

Mion Sonozaki: Leader of the group’s after-school club. She has several misdemeanors due to her actions during the village’s protest against the dam project. She’s the heir to the Sonozaki family and lives with her grandmother. She has a demon tattoo on her body. She was born as Shion Sonozaki but was forced to become Mion when she was given the demon tattoo.

Satoko Hojo: Related to the second and fourth set of victims. She and Rika live together. She had a bad relation with her step-father to the point she falsely accused him of abuse. She relied heavily on her brother when they were living with their aunt and uncle. She believes herself cursed because she had damaged the statue of Oyashiro-sama a few years ago.

Rika Furude: Related to the third set of victims. Rika is the head of the Furude family which is one of the main houses of Hinamizawa. She’s in charge of the priesthood. Rika is believed to be the reincarnation of Oyashiro. She has the power to see the future and foresaw the murders as well as her own imminent death in 1983. She’s able to communicate with Oyashiro and has been aware of the repeating cycle of events. She has existed for about 100 years. Rika has been repeating the timeline for 100 years trying to survive past June 1983. She is a descendant of Oyashiro and is the only person who can see Hanyu.

Shion Sonozaki: Mion’s twin sister. Shion lives in Okinomiya with their parents. She’s the manager for the Hinamizawa Fighters baseball team. She loved Satoshi and has been trying to uncover the truth of the series of murders after he vanished. She was born as Mion Sonozaki but was forced to become Shion when her sister got the demon tattoo.

Hanyu: Known as Oyashiro-sama. Hanyu is a spirit who only Rika can see and interact with. Hanyu is responsible for the recurring cycle in 1983 as she lets Rika jump to an alternate timeline whenever she is killed.

Curaudo Ooishi: A detective with the local prefecture who wants to figure out the cause of all the deaths. He suspects a group within the village is behind the deaths. The villagers call him Oyashiro-sama’s messenger because he’s interacted with every victim prior to their deaths. He has dealt with the Sonozakis in the past and has a scar because of it. He was friends with the dam project manager.

Jirou Tomitake: A photographer who visits Hinamizawa several times through the year. He died by scratching out his throat. Jirou Tomitake is not his real name. He works as a liason between Irie Clinic and "Tokyo" and was killed as part of Takano's plan.

Miyo Takano: A nurse at the local clinic. She’s interested instudying the doctrines of Hinamizawa. She went missing after the Cotton Drifting Festival. She was strangled and her corpse was cremated. Her autopsy suggests she died the night before the festival however. The night of the festival, Takano was driving off the main road with Tomitake’s bike in the backseat. She wrote several occult stories based on Hinamizawa’s legend. And while they’re not true, she did correctly predict the disaster in one of them. Takano faked her death as part of Operation Apocalypse. She is the mastermind behind Rika's murder and the Great Hinamizawa Disaster.

Kyosuke Irie: The main doctor of the Irie clinic. He is also the coach to the Hinamizawa Fighters. Irie is secretly studying a localized disease called Hinamizawa Syndrome. Research was originally directed toward use in bio-warfare, but has since transitioned to treatment study. He was framed as the killer as part of Operation Apocalypse and was killed and his death declared a suicide.

Zouen Okonogi: Leader of a task force called the Wild Dogs. They work under Takano and provide services such as espionage, sabotage, and disposal. Okonogi was behind the kidnapping incident 5 years prior and is working with Takano to complete Operation Apocalypse.

Satoshi Hojo: Satoko’s older brother. He used to be part of the after-school club. He disappeared a year ago. Prior to his disappearance, he started carrying a bat and practiced his swinging. He also became distant from the club. Satoshi may have been the one who killed his aunt. It was believed that he had been saving money to buy Satoko a doll, but then he withdrew the money and vanished on her birthday. However the doll Satoko wanted had been purchased that day.

Mamoru Akasaka: A police officer from Tokyo. He came to Hinamizawa in 1978 to investigate a kidnapping case. Rika warned him to return to Tokyo and later told him about the imminent series of murders and asked Akasaka to save her. Akasaka did not heed her warnings and as a result, his wife died in an accident. He never returned to Hinamizawa, but later wrote a book about the mysteries about it. He returned to Hinamizawa 22 years. Akasaka heeded Rika's warning and would return to Hinamizawa in 1983, but he did not help Rika.

Village details:

Hinamizawa was originally known as Onigafuchi. The residents were believed to be descended from demons and the nearby villages offered tribute out of fear.

Oyashiro-sama is believed to be a god who gave the demons human form so they could live amonst humans

After the war, Mion’s grandfather, Souhei Sonozaki, used black market funds to bring great prosperity to the village.

There are three main houses in Hinamizawa: The Sonozakis, the Kimiyoshis, and the Furudes.

The villagers have a strong sense of unity and will work together to cover up any crimes a villager has done. However, this has allowed someone to slip into the village and commit murders unimpeded.

Because of their mistreatment of the Hojos during the Dam War, the village has had a lingering sense of fear that someone is always watching them. However, that has been broken thanks to Keiichi's actions.

There is a localized parasitic infection that can induce a sickness called Hinamizawa Syndrome. Symptoms tend to be heightened when infectees leave the village or are under extreme stress.

Murder Mystery details:

Since 1979, someone has died each year during the Cotton Drifting Festival.

The first death was the director of the Dam Project. He was murdered and dismembered by several people. The person who took the right arm is still at large.

The second death was Satoko’s parents. They fell off a cliff. The wife’s body was never found.

The third death was Rika’s parents. Her father died of an illness and her mother drowned herself in the swamp. Her body was never found. Rika is certain they were killed by "Tokyo" to continue their research.

The fourth death was Satoko’s aunt. She was beaten to death. Satoko’s brother Satoshi also went missing around that time. While a drug addict had been convicted for the murder, it may be possible that Satoshi was the actual killer.

The fifth death was Jirou Tomitake. He clawed out his throat after apparently being attacked by several people. Tomitake’s death is suspected of being drug induced. He was killed by Takano as part of Operation Apocalypse.

Miyo Takano was also murdered. She was strangled and then burned.

Every death has a pattern of one discovered death and one missing person. People in the village refer to the disappearances as the person being “demoned away”.

The villagers refer to the series of deaths as Oyashiro-sama’s curse due to the connections to the dam project. However, each new victim is less and less connected to the project. Tomitake had no connection at all, and Ooishi suspects the murderers are just targeting outsiders at this point.

Oyashiro-sama’s Curse and other mysteries

Rika Furude was found disemboweled outside Furude Shrine. The reason and perpetrator are unknown. She was killed by Takano to as part of a plan to inflict a "curse" upon the village

Poisonous gas erupted from Onigafuchi swamp enveloping the village and killing its residents. The disaster is neither natural nor divine in origin. The local environment is completely unharmed, implying the poison gas eruption is not true at all. "Tokyo" killed all the residents under the belief that Rika's death will drive the villagers insane and to cover up their research into Hinamizawa Syndrome. They covered up the mass murder by pretending it was due to a gas eruption.

Rika predicted the series of murders and her own death. Rika has lived through the series of murders multiple times. However, she did not foresee the destruction of the village.

Many relatives to the villagers went mad after the disaster and several died under mysterious circumstances.

One speculation is the villagers were infected by alien brain parasites and the disaster was a coverup by the government trying to eradicate them. While there is likely some coverup, the alien parasite theory was a story made by Takano.

The village was closed off for 20 years after the disaster.

Onigafuchi swamp was sealed with concrete early in the containment, supposedly to seal the poison gas.

The World as a whole:

Oyashiro is real, but their involvement in all this is unknown.

The world has been trapped in a loop for roughly 100 years.

Rika appears to be the only one aware of the loop.

Hanyu is Oyashiro. She is able to functionally rewind time by taking Rika to parallel timelines whenever Rika is killed.

Each timeline is governed by the Three Rules. However, Rika's actions have broken the Rules going forward.

Additional Speculations:Operation Apocalypse:

A group called “Tokyo” was behind the kidnapping incident in 1978. It has no affiliation with the Sonozakis or any major figures in the village.

One of the kidnappers in the incident is working as a gardener.

There are some loose affiliations that might tie Tokyo to Irie, Takano, and Tomitake but the true nature of that affiliation is unknown.

"Tokyo" is an organization of influential figures. They've been funding Irie Institute to research Hinamizawa Syndrome.

One aspect of the research states Rika acts as the Queen Carrier to the disease and her death will cause everyone in the village to go insane.

If necessary, "Tokyo" has an emergency protocol to kill all the villagers in order to cover up the research.

Takano led Operation Apocalypse to force "Tokyo" to have to use the emergency protocol. She and the Wild Dogs killed Rika and framed Irie for all the murders than happened.

Takano's motivation is to become Oyashiro by performing a grand action that people would call the curse of an angry god. The motivations of any of her affiliates in "Tokyo" are unknown.

back

[darkshrimpemotions]

I’m an Nandermo shipper and listen to Taylor, too!

As a Swiftie and Nandermo shipper, are there any songs you associate with the two of them? What would your Nandermo(TV) look like?

What a delightful ask! There are absolutely songs I associate with them in Taylor's body of work! Thank you for giving me this opportunity to gush about it!

In the interest of not going WAY overboard (there are SO many songs where I could relate just a line or two, but those lines really HIT), here are 13 songs that scream Nandermo (Taylor's Version) to me, and a little about why for each song/the line(s) that really sealed it for me.

tolerate it - Just sad Memo hours. Pay attention to him, Nandor! Show him some appreciation! I listen to this and just picture Nandor reading while Guillermo tries to talk to him, Nandor rebuffing Guillermo's attempts at hugs, Nandor saying "not you Guilermo" and taking all his hard work as a familiar for granted. The bridge of this one KILLS me when I imagine it coming from Guillermo.

You're Losing Me (From The Vault) - More sad Memo hours. I've been trying to make a whole fanvid to this for months now, but I keep getting stuck on what clips to use for some parts and I can't look at it anymore. The whole song being underlined by/referencing heartbeats definitely contributed a lot to this pick lol.

Would've, Could've, Should've - Yet more sad Memo hours. There's quite a lot of that on my Nandermo TV, unfortunately. :((( The religious imagery, the reference to being 19 (around when Memo and Nandor would've first met), the themes of loss of faith/loss of innocence/corruption. Oof.

Let's Go (Battle) - That's right, some unreleased songs made it on here! But would it even be a Nandermo playlist without a reference to their fights? This one is Memo, not eager to use his slayer powers against Nandor, but more than willing if Nandor pushes him too far/doesn't give him another choice. "We had it all but you couldn't keep a promise" also fits rather well, unfortunately.

Cold As You - Alas, sad Memo hours once more. I promise some of these are from Nandor's perspective. "You put up walls and paint them all a shade of gray / and I stood there loving you and wished them all away / And you come away with a great little story / of a mess of a dreamer with the nerve to adore you." This one always makes me think of Guillermo begging Nandor not to leave for the Wellness Center or go into Super Slumber. :((

Haunted (Taylor's Version) - You'd think this would be all Memo to Nandor, but no. This is both of them throughout seasons 4 and 5. If I had to parse it out, I'd say verse 1 is Nandor during season 4/5, second verse is Guillermo during season 4 especially, and the bridge is Nandor when he's processing that Guillermo was turned by someone else (that awful moment when he's like "a vampire...who was not...me?").

The Last Time (feat. Gary Lightbody) (Taylor's Version) - Guillermo when he's making one last-ditch effort to communicate with Nandor before he goes off to get Derek to turn him at the end of season 4.

Bad Blood (Taylor's Version) - Nandor's period of vengeful brooding once he realizes that Guillermo was turned by someone other than him. I actually have TWO versions of this song on my Nandermo playlist on Spotify, neither of which is the original artist lol. I love the original, I just wanted a different vibe for that playlist. But on Nandermo TV it's obviously gotta be Taylor's Version!

I'd Lie - Another unreleased song! This is really both of them, because they both deny how much they mean to each other at various points in the story. Not every lyric fits perfectly, but the ones that don't can be handwaved so easily (Nadja is like a sister to Nandor, right? Basically? And Nandor's favorite color may not be green but Guillermo wears it all the damn time, so it could easily be his).

You All Over Me (feat. Marren Morris) (From The Vault) - Both of them about each other. They just can't untangle themselves, can they? Every time Guillermo leaves, he ends up right back by Nandor's side as soon as Nandor calls. And every time Nandor swears he's going to go do something different, he ends up back with Memo. Even though neither of them are getting exactly what they want from the other, even though it's like death by a thousand cuts (heh), they'd rather have less than they want than nothing at all.

So It Goes... - They're so messy and obsessy and what is this if not the messy obsessy love/lust song? "I'm so chill but you make me jealous. But I got your heart skip-skipping when I'm gone." "You did a number on me, but honestly baby who's counting? / I did a number on you, but honestly baby who's counting?" In-fucking-deed!

Afterglow - Nandor trying to reach out to Guillermo and mend the rift between them for ALL OF SEASON 5!!! (I'm still not over it.) "It's so excruciating to see you low / just wanna lift you up and not let you go / this ultraviolet morning light below / tells me this love is worth the fight."

Daylight - This will be theirs when Nandor finally gets his shit together and figures out that missing his humanity and being lonely are part and parcel of the same thing and, frankly, have the same antidote of being honest about his feelings and letting the person who's been there this whole time finally get close. "I've been sleeping so long in a 20-year dark night / now I'm wide awake / and now I see daylight." "I once believed love would be burning red / but it's golden like daylight."

BONUS TRACKS (because you know our girl loves a bonus track!)

Foolish One (Taylor's Version) (From The Vault) - This one ALMOST made the cut, but for the lyric "he just wasn't the one." This playlist was already so Sad Memo Hours heavy, and also I believe Nandor IS the one for Guillermo. They just need to figure it out.

I Knew You Were Trouble (Taylor's Version) - Now it's angry Memo hours! Some thoughts during the Freddie-Marwa debacle, I think. "And the saddest thought / comes creeping in / that you never loved me, or her, or anyone / or anything."

Thank you again for this ask! It was so much fun!

[foggybarbarianphilosopher]

How I decided to live

So I wanted to write to someone, probably no one reads this stuff and it's sort of my fate to be slightly obscure anyway, because I don't live in a time or space where my genius is recognised.

I have just returned, well not just, but a few months ago i came back from London, which I dreamt was the place for me in terms of it being the space where i can thrive as an artist, or an intellectual, or whatever, but it turned out i started spiralling because I have untreated mental health issues namely, PTSD, chronic fatigue, and anxiety and depression. All of these came together to churn in my belly and my tropical body, which is unused to the famously unpredictable weather of England took its toll on me, and I had no one there to soothe me. I tried soothing myself in the various ways that I knew, to no avail. I suffered some episode where out of no where I saw the toilet bowl had bright red blood in it one rainy night, and i went to the hospital in an ambulance and they did some tests and things, including putting a finger in my butthole which was humiliating. (I heard the nurses talk about how big my ass was and that was such a disgusting feeling, as if I can help the size of it!) They couldn't figure it out and the whole experience frightened me. So I came back.

The thing is that I wanted to go to London for many years now, and when I graduated from my local university that is, a decent university in my hometown, I began applying to go abroad to study, and I was in a fairly abusive relationship (I say fairly to put it mildly because I don't want to remember its horrors), and that man said that I was not allowed to go. So anyway I applied and got rejected, got dejected, and continued that relationship, which was a year old by then, for four more years. It culminated into a rape and abortion, and it was far too much and I was sort of drifting in a sea of mindlessness because of these two things, plus my dismay from my first year of university that my childhood friend from my neighbourhood, who was sort of my boyfriend, went and killed himself. I always imagined that he and I would get married and continue living in this place and leading happy little lives together.

So now that several of my little plans for myself had vanished and I am not very employable because I'm not very fun to be around because of these things, also I had mental illnesses before this because of childhood abuse (physical, verbal, mental, sexual, blah blah blah) and I was basically fighting for my life on the inside and the people thought the office is better off without me in it, and I was kind of bullied into quitting. To be very honest I am a heavy presence and a bore and I have this sort of serious face on all the time and I don't always laugh at jokes so I don't fully blame them. At the time, I was furious because I drew a lot of meaning from the work I was doing and suddenly I had nothing and I didn't have much to live for. I wrote a nasty personal essay obliquely referencing them, and then no newsroom would hire me again. Such a disaster.

On the outside I was this successful person and pretty and smart and I had the whole world in front of me, and on the other hand I have this tar type of stuff that churns now and then and slows me down and won't go away no matter how many times I bathed. So I stopped bathing.

Somehow somehow, a photographer took interest in me because he had a mutual friend with me on Facebook, and he added me. He said he wanted some kind of friendship with me. I told him that I am not interested in these things but if you want to get married then we can talk. So he obliquely agreed, but I think he just found me fascinating because I'm cranky and beautiful and some people think that's intriguing and challenging. I mean to say that these kinds of people are insane and narcissistic and any man with an inch of good sense will stay far away from me. He pursued me a little bit and he asked me about my dreams and my old dream of going abroad to study was resurructed. I once went and visited him in his parents' apartment in Bombay when they went back to visit their farm, and he took me to get my hair cut and then he took out his camera and did a photoshoot of me which was an interesting experience, because I used his mother's lipstick and mascara. We got a few nice pictures, but then again I am quite photogenic and so I sort of liked him. We had sex now and then, but his idea of sex was quite weird, in that, he thought that sex was somehow wrong and it tainted the experience for me and made me feel like I was doing something dirty, or that he didn't deserve to fuck me in some way, and I let him, and for that reason I was debased, or something. Anyway I went back to my hometown after this, and my parents didn't have much to say about this.

But his mother figured out that I was the cause of great obsession with him because I am all that he would talk about. As if that was my fault. He initiated the whole thing. He was an okay guy and I liked him a bit but I found him a bit like a copy of my abusive ex meaning, a bit controlling about the kinds of clothes I wore or my hairstyle or whatever. Like I was a doll that he was playing with. So I sort of played mind games with him so that he would get tired and tell me to fuck off. It wasn't easy for me to tell him to fuck off because he was so obsessed and would say all sorts of things and manipulate me and so I was already mad and this guy was mad for me and I was tired and of it and I started being mad at him constantly for stupid things and it drove him mad and it became some big mad soup.

His mother was alarmed and she started wondering what to do to get her son to come back to his normal state. She decided I am the cause of his problems and it was revealed to me in a dream that she was asking a witch doctor to help take my life. Now I am a practicing Christian and it is not so easy to do such things because of Jesus and I constantly see the angels around me in my visions and dreams. So she spent a lot of money on several rounds of these things.

I started having falls, which was unusual. Then out of no where, I fell backwards from my bed and hit my head and that experience frightened me and alarmed me. By now you might have guessed that I am neurotic so I went to the doctors to try and figure it out, and I even met the neurologist and he referred me to the rheumatologist and then I was started (finally) on some psychiatric medication which helps with chronic pain. They said I have fibromyalgia.

Then I got typhoid. then I broke my leg and it was excruciating pain and when i recovered i got typhoid again.

this time i left my body and i was going up and when i looked down i saw the angels holding my face and then i realised i was dying. and in that split second i said what? dying at this age before I finished what I had to do? god, send me back.

of course i know what i have come here to do. that is to write books and touch many, many souls. so i was sent back and I fell back into my body in an instant, and the seven angels around me were ecstatic, and the cheered and stuff but i told them to chase the demons behind them and so they went off to do that.

every now and then i lose my nerve but I need to remember this.

[ilikereadingactually]

Omelas double feature!

"The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin and "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole" by Isabel J. Kim

freeze frame on me, falling down a rabbit hole. you're probably wondering how i got here. *rewind noise* see, two fandoms ago i followed a mutual of a mutual on a different account and now she writes things that i get to read in real life magazines! in fact she wrote a thing that was published in the latest issue of Clarkesworld referencing a short story i have known of by reputation but had never read, and this presented a fun thematic opportunity. and by "fun" i mean i have been turning both these stories over and over in my mind, trying to sort out what i might say about them other than "wow" (affectionate).

so. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is, to me, a story about guilt in a hypothetical utopia where almost no one suffers. Le Guin offers, in lush and ringing prose, a place where the abject misery of one child who is locked up, starving and alone, is the stated price for the prosperity and peace of everyone else. the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few here, apparently; the people of Omelas wrestle with this injustice and rationalize until they can accept the terms, and the ones who can't--the ones who walk away--never come back.

i think because it's framed as a hypothetical that lives alongside the reader's reality, an improbable but possible real place, there are a lot of different possible readings. it's just a story, or it's a social commentary, or it's an allegory, or it's already literally happening. it's been on the back burner of my brain for a few weeks, and i'm sure it will continue to simmer there.

AND THEN! Kim fucking sharpens and modernizes all the questions and problems and stakes of this story in her own response, which i read partly aloud to myself because it's beautifully punchy in rhythm. she forces Omelas into closer proximity to the real world we know, invoking social media and moral panic. she pokes at and literalises the terms of Omelas' whole deal, identifying multiple classes of "they" and elaborating random catastrophic consequences of killing the imprisoned child. this story is incisively blunt, raising as many moral and intellectual questions as the original but with new angles and more direct body blows to me, personally, as i go about living in a fucked up world.

so...thanks for all that. i want to print both these stories and paper my walls with them.

the deets

how i read them: as an ebook on Libby and on the Clarkesworld website, respectively! the ebook of "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" has a great introduction and also later reflections by Le Guin which i enjoyed almost as much as the story.

try these if you: are into fiction about moral and social tangles, want to be haunted by ideas, or feel a lot of anger.

some bits i really liked: some good fucking food

from "The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas"

They were not less complex than us. The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.

---

from "Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole"

Omelas now has a really long Wikipedia entry, with a whole subarticle about the load-bearing suffering child, and a second subarticle about the children who died. They tell you about the children now, after they die. What their names are. They promise that the children are ethically sourced. But there aren’t any citations. And some people say that there isn’t a kid in the hole anymore. They’ve moved the hole a bunch of times, and they don’t let people know the location anymore. They have extra soundproofing.

[triforce-of-mischief]

nothing in ovega's original post + first reblog indicated that they were looking for complaints. you're right, i take back what i said about feeling bad for them. i'm disappointed in them for encouraging this behavior.

"we're complaining about things without referencing specific people"

try again.

also, i never said anything about not letting people dislike things. in fact, i believe i already covered how i also "do my share of complaining, but i do it in private with a single consenting friend."

oh would you look at that, i said that in this exact post.

since you need more of that, go read this.

3. why did i go there? because i like to know when people cross my boundaries so i can determine whether i want to block them or not. i got what i wanted out of it.

let's stick with that metaphor for a minute. hundreds of people are demonstrating that they're experts at hating spicy food (certain fic tropes), ordering spicy food (reading fics with those tropes), and eating it (disregarding tags and/or the back button), thereby causing a tantrum.

it's been said that lu fics are often lacking with tags, which i agree with, but a handful of the tropes are things that are usually tagged for.

that being said, why are you here if you don't like lu anymore? if you couldn't see any positives with all of the people creating a negative, unsafe space? if you got tired of the way that artists are treated in a way that can border toxicity, killing their creative drive? if you realized that some people don't actually care about supporting creators, just tearing them down when the opportunity arises?

oh wait. this is an irony moment.

that sure was a lot of rambling for "not justifying this." disliking tropes is healthy. blocking people is healthy. the thing is, blogs are a space too. they can be associated as a safe space, or they can show their true colors where anyone can see. you don't have to look through the notes to know that there's a chance that one of your friends is complaining about one of your fics. it's up to authors to set their boundaries, and it's up to readers to show some respect for once.

guess how many people have come to me saying that they're going to keep writing fics, but they'll avoid popularly hated tropes out of respect for the trolls? zero.

guess how many people have come to me saying that their confidence has taken a blow, they don't know who to trust, they just want to do what they love without the fear that they're being bashed publicly? as evidenced by this very post (again), it's a lot more than zero.

every fandom has its disliked tropes. it's how they're treated that can make or break the creative space.

have your hate and eat it too. just keep it where it belongs.

now i'm very tired after a long work stretch and i'm already losing what little patience i had for this "new controversy." choose your next words (if any) wisely because if i have to deal with another tumblr reading comprehension moment, i'm taking a page from this post's book.

it's very disheartening to see several LU fans have publicly announce how much they despise [trope]/[character interpretation] when they've literally read *my* fics with those exact parameters. it makes me think, what, do they hate my fics now? have they always hated my fics and were just being nice? am *i* the reason they hate these tropes/characters interpretations? i ended up blocking like ten readers because they just came out swinging with, "oh yeah, that thing i told you i liked? well in reality i fucking hate them and im sick of you writing them"

yeah, exactly. nothing good can or will come out of situations like this. it's a low blow that hurts too many people and doesn't make anything better.

i'll have to check the notes on the landslide post again because i've already been filling out my blocklist with it (again, i feel bad for ovega, nobody has the right to jump on somebody's post like that). predictably, there's people taking the opportunity to be ableist as well.

my only problem is that i have to be careful. i've done a lot of "thanos snaps" already, for various transgressions, but if i do too many i won't have anybody left to engage with. it's not like i haven't done my share of complaining, but i do it in private with a single consenting friend. there's a lot of blogs i've never seen before who's only goal in life is apparently to tear down fandom creators, so i won't have any qualms about blocking them. others, though, i'll keep an eye on and hope they learn their lesson.

[welovethecloudboytoomuch]

HI hello can you tell me where you got that rooftop gang drawing or is it just from the last chapter!? (Which I haven't seen yet) 🥺

Sure thing! It’s from the final volume of Vigilantes (Vol 15) extras. Currently the extras are only available on the electronic version of the volume on ShonnenJumpPlus that requires a membership (though I could be wrong about this), but hopefully the extras will be posed to the MHA Vigilantes Fandom Wiki in a few days.

The sketch that I posted is the only one of the rooftop trio from the final volume but I wanted to make it worth your time so here are all the extra drawings I can find of the Rooftop gang:

Vol 5

In private, Ms. Kayama keeps her sexy hero side subdued and comes off as more of an ordinary woman. Almost motherly even. The three little girls are cute and inoffensive, making them easy additions to any scene. By the way-they're in middle school, making them teenagers, just like Pop and the twins. [HIDEYUKI FURUHASHI, Author of Vigilantes]

For Midnight's casual look, I referenced her "house clothes" profile page from the main series. I’m a big fan of knit one-piece and boots, but sadly there weren't any really good angels of the boots in the story (LOL) In Furuhashi's rough draft, all three of the girls had the same face, but I decided to make one of the three a little off, just like with the Sturm and Drum perv brothers. It's becoming a trend. [BETTEN COURT, Artist of Vigilantes]

(In case you can’t tell the taller woman is midnight undercover)

Kaori (Midnight) and Kazuha (Pop)

The original plan was for these two not to realize the huge age gap between them and just think they were in the same year at college, but that would make Midnight seem more oblivious than she is and stall the flow of the scene, so I changed it to "they're working an undercover mission together." I'm always happy with the results whenever I ask Betten-san to design a group of girls in street clothes. Show me all that fashion! [FURUHASHI]

I don't mind coming up with street fashion now and then, but when I have to do it for a whole group of characters at once? Kill me, please! I was pleased to discover that when you give Pop a different hairstyle, she actually comes out looking cute in an ordinary way. (LOL) [BETTEN]

Vol 7

For the so-called cosplay chapter, I submitted a list of costumes ideas and Betten Sensei dew the best ones. Aizawa's such a serious guy so pretty much any costume looks funny on him. [FURUHASHI]

Often when reading the rough draft of a chapter, I think, "Wah ha ha, this is hilarious!" But when it comes times to draw, I'm stumped. This time was no different. I didn't want to piss anyone off! That was the main thing on mind while drawing. (LOL) A Japanse tennis player had just won some big tournament, so when I saw that on the news, I thought, why not have Aizawa Sensei play tennis too? [BETTEN]

Vol 8

Vigilantes has always incorporated cameos of characters from the main series, and though the whole Young Aizawa arc is an example of that, we got a much more intense reaction from readers than usual demographic. [FURUHASHI]

The only snippet of Aizawa's and Mic's school days provided by Horikoshi himself came in "The Digression" page of volume 6 of the main series. When I realized that, I was at something of a loss. "Oh crap..." I thought. [BETTEN]

There's a canon line of dialogue in the main series about Midnight's old costume having been even more scandalous in the past, so that was a point we had to touch on in the flashback arc. So many people asked if Sushi the cat was a parody of Sushi the dog in Tite Kubo's Burn the Witch one-shot, but actually it was more of a play on the series, Shota no Sushi...[FURUHASHI]

I received specifications and references images for Midnight's costume from Furuhashi-san, and upon reflection, I think I stuck a little too closely to the reference material. [BETTEN]

Name: Oboro Shirakumo

Birthday: 5/5

Height: 187 CM

Favorite Things: Blue Skies, The Sun

Quirk: Cloud

Shirakumo's whole concept started with Horikoshi Sensei describing him as "a Mirio-like friend of Aizawa's during his school days." Then, through a lot of back-and-forth conversations between Horikoshi Sensei and the Vigilantes team, we came up with a more detailed profile, visual design and so on, until the character really took form. Shirakumo's presence meant that Aizawa's and Mic's personalities and roles had to be a little different in the past. That necessitated including that altered portrayal , as well as showing the way they changed moving towards the present day, so the Young Aizawa arc turned into a pretty extended affair. It'll keep going for several more chapters. [FURUHASHI]

Shirakumo's U.A. uniform design came from Horikoshi-san. The googles I designed as part of his costume just happened to look like Aizawa's, and I'm grateful that Furuhashi-san picked up on that and made a whole point of it. [BETTEN]

Vol 9

For both these guys, my request were "lighter equipment than present day," "traditional period" and "shonen-ish." Once you add those googles, young Eraser Head is complete, so to speak. [FURUHASHI]

Since those two are in their powered-up forms in the main MHA story, I wanted to imagine these versions as an earlier stage of that. As if they would improve on these designs over time to achieve their eventual styles... Kind of like that. [BETTEN]

“We got a gift illustration from Horikoshi sensei! Isn't that great, Shota?!”

Vol 11

In Vigilantes, Midnight's character is basically an obliging woman who loves to look after others, which I extrapolated from her presentation in the main series (where she's a teacher who interacts with students a lot, and is someone whose, let's say, "proclivities," influence her words and actions). I can always count on her to discuss things with Koichi and the gang. [FURUHASHI]

For some reason, I get a lot of chances to show Midnight Sensei in street clothes or disguises. (LOL) I don't know if I'm nailing her whole image correctly or not, but I'm having fun at any rate. [BETTEN]

Midnight is always stylish in just the right way for the occasion, so her hero costume isn’t the way it is just to please the crowds. It’s a deliberate choice, stemming from her progressive sense of aesthetics. Probably. [FURUHASHI]

I’m quickly running out of wardrobe ideas for Midnight’s noncostumed appearances. With the draping, cape-like coat, I was trying to evoke a crisp, military-style look. [BETTEN]

And that’s all I can find! Hope this helps.

[wolfstarhaven]

Hi, thank you for all the recs, i’ve found so many new amazing fics!!!!

Do you happen to have any texting/social media fics to recommend? I’ve recently become obsessed with them for reasons my brain won’t tell me, and would love it if you could share your favs (if you have any).

Thanks ❤️❤️

Hi Anon🌸 Here you have a few!

Text Talk, by merlywhirls [141k]

Sirius is in boarding school, Remus is in hospital, and they don't know each other until Sirius texts the wrong number.

General themes/feeling: texting; muggle!au; boarding school; chronic illness!remus; some angst, a lot of fluff; funny!

If you like texting fics, then I’m sure you’ve already read this masterpiece. If you haven’t, read this classic now!

Crude and Proud, by beesandjam [25k]

Remus and Sirius are soulmates and whatever they write on their arms appears on the other person's.

General themes/feeling: soulmate!au; strangers to lovers; insecure!remus; slight angst; fluff.

This is a soulmate au, with the definite feeling of a texting fic (they kinda text through writing on their skin… sounds a bit weird but it’s brilliant, promise!). Also, Instagram is an important feature to of this fic: the author has made Instagram accounts for the characters, which are SPOT ON!

Staying Strangers, by 3amAndCounting [>170k, WIP]

Sirius get's given a wrong number, Remus definitely isn't being sarcastic, and they should probably agree to stay strangers...

General themes/feeling: texting; strangers to friends to lovers; slow burn; artist!Sirius; remus+lily friendship; demisexual!remus; hilarious; fluff.

A WIP that I absolutely adore! A perfect texting fic, in the way it portrays the boys slowly getting to know each other and then falling without meeting in person. (The amount of pining and flirting is astounding!) Sirius is silly, Remus is the king of sarcasm; oh how this fic has made me laugh!

The PB to my J, by aqua_myosotis [63k]

A Modern AU Marauders texting with prose fic set at University.

General themes/feeling: texting; group chats; friends to lovers; slow burn; pining; misunderstandings; smut; fluff.

A widely popular texting fic, for a reason! This fic of pure fluff and comedy is definitely a must-read if you like texting fics. This is basically a marauders gang romcom, and it’s hilarious. Also, it features some serious (don’t!) misunderstandings—it’s almost painful (I love it).

Did You Miss Me?, by Fantismal, Krethes [641k]

Though the new boy at Hogwarts University, James Potter, appears to be an adorable himbo with deep pockets, Remus Lupin and his friends instead find a horrifically dark past on Google. Did he really attack that boy and leave him for dead? Why won't he talk about his mysterious childhood best friend, "Pups"? Would it kill him to stop messing with his hair?

At least Remus got his phone back after losing it, but now he can't stop texting the mysterious number of the man who had sent it back. Padfoot is funny and charming, and Remus is NOT going to fall in love with him.

General themes/feeling: texting; group chats; strangers to lovers; famous!sirius; pop star!sirius; secret identities, kinda; smutty!; fluff; referenced SA and child abuse; read the tags!!

Another popular one that is now finished! And it’s MASSIVE (I think it’s the longest fic I’ve ever read??). Honestly, I don’t even know how to summarise this fic… Let me just say that it’s a fic with a very ‘dramatic’ plot (for lack of a better word). A lot happens, a lot that isn’t really centred around r/s. It’s also very (very) smutty!

Texts, Hugs and Rock & Roll, by All_write_now [>139k, WIP]

A new anonymous social media app 'Seekers' has everyone buzzing like their phones. Some people use it for quick hook ups or playing games. Some people use it to make new friends and find new hobbies.

Some people find a lot more than they were seeking.

General themes/feeling: texting; friends to lovers; slow burn; accidentally falling for each other anonymously (it makes sense, I promise); smut; fluff.

Another WIP, sorry! But this fic is currently giving me a lot of joy, so I think you should read it too (; This fic is also very romcom-y, with so much drama and many hilarious misunderstandings. It’s light-hearted and so funny!

keysmash, by AllThisAndLoveTooWillRuinUs [45k]

Unknown number (sun, 9:03 am): hey settle an argument chocolate milk in cereal is innovative and cool, right?

Remus (sun, 9:07 am): it absolutely is not who tf are u

Unknown number (sun, 9:08 am): first of all, fuck u and second of all i told james u said yes anyway that’s what u get for living in my phone

General themes/feeling: texting; strangers to lovers; referenced child abuse; anxiety and depression; fluff; funny.

Although this fic features some dark themes, it’s mainly pure fluff! I definitely recommend this if you need some cheering up—it’s so cute!

the memerauders chat, by hue, reachthetree [15k]

bantlers: this is the part where u go “ya wow sorry prongs thank u for saving my pathetic pining arse w a nicely timed nude”

fknserious: its starting to occur to me that maybe sending out mass nudes was not the best way to seduce moony

bantlers: yea bc you sent them to everYONE EXCEPT HIM

-

Modern texting au with magic featuring puns, a betting pool, crop tops, and too many nudes, aka all the good things in life.

General themes: texting; friends to lovers; pining; jealous!sirius; this is also a jily fic; fluff; funny!

I think you can gather from the summary that this fic is hilarious! Pure comedy, fluff and idiocy, in true marauder fashion. Also features Peter the meme-king, which might actually be one of the best things about this fic.

real life has no appeal, (orphaned) [8k]

In which Remus is Lily's roommate and Sirius, James and Peter break into places.

General themes/feeling: texting; strangers to lovers; YouTuber!au; fluff.

A texting and YouTuber fic on the shorter side. Cute and funny!

xx Elliot

[dippedanddripped]

Old Nollywood aesthetics and fashion may be considered trendy today, but the films were not always so well-regarded. In the 90s and early 2000s, when these movies were made and watched in parlours across Nigerian homes as they were shot, straight-to-video, they were considered as bad entertainment, or ‘low culture’. To watch and enjoy Nollywood films was to celebrate mediocrity. But today, nostalgic young Millennials and Gen Zers are overlooking the jarring audio, grainy pictures, and sometimes hammy acting, to appreciate not only the grooming and style of the actors, but the original and diverse stories that reflect unique Nigerian experiences.

It was for this reason that sisters Tochi and Ebele Anueyiagu started Nolly Babes, a nostalgic Instagram account dedicated to celebrating the cinematic period’s women. Started in December 2017, their first post was of Nollywood’s biggest star Genevieve Nnaji; a still taken from 2004 film Sharon Stone In Abuja, directed by Adim Williams. Nnaji plays the titular character, a sexually liberated young woman who uses her beauty and charm to ensnare unassuming men into doing her bidding.

The account is an ode to the female characters of old Nollywood who were often portrayed as warning examples. The storylines were steeped in moral principles rooted in the patriarchal culture and the dominant Christian religion of Southern Nigeria. A large number of the female characters were considered immoral because they kissed other women, challenged men, smoked and drank, or wore mini skirts. Today, Nolly Babes and similar accounts are reimagining these women, taking their scenes out of the moralistic context of the films, and turning them into iconic feminist personas.

The first time Nollywood content seeped into the mainstream internet consciousness can be traced back to 2017 when videos of Nollywood’s favourite comedic duo Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme, better known as Aki and Pawpaw, rose to popularity due mostly to the influence of a now-defunct Twitter account @nollywoodroll ran by Nicole, a woman based in Brazil.

Their memes became the go-to reaction videos for expressing a wide range of emotions: joy, disappointment, sadness, frustration. The appeal was in seeing children making mischief or in adult situations – drinking beer and smoking cigars, wooing bigger women, or in oversized suits shouting instructions at people twice their size. Although both Ikedieze and Iheme were in their 20s in the early 2000s when most of the films were made, they mostly played children because of their body stature. By 2019, the memes had achieved such virality that brands like Rihanna’s Fenty would use them for social media clout.

Theodora Imaan Beauvais is the curator of Yung Nollywood, another archive of clips and stills from old Nollywood paying homage to its controversial female characters, after screenshotting moments from Nollywood she found “appealing or inspirational”. Yung Nollywood is remarkably distinct from Nolly Babes for its subtitling of the films’ stills from Nollywood films, something she attributes to Tumblr. While the idea to give witty captions to the actors’ facial expressions came from watching Netflix. “I thought, ‘If someone could describe Nollywood reactions in short phrases it’d be an art form on its own,’ and I became that someone.’”

In December 2019, Tochi and Ebele hosted a Nollywood-themed party in Lagos. Nollywood actor and musician Nonso Bassey attended the party dressed in a two-piece jean set and bucket hat, a signature look of the bad boy/alpha male archetype, and a role reprised multiple times by older actors such as Hanks Anuku, Emeka Ike, and Jim Iyke. Since that party, Nonso has attended social functions and premieres in outfits that make a nod to the fashion choices of that era of Nollywood. He insists, though, that he isn’t cosplaying Nollywood characters of that era. “I’ve always been attracted to the idea of merging old world charm with a new school approach,” he said.

The party caused a cultural stir amongst Nigerians and Africans both at home and in the diaspora – every other week, there seems to be a Nollywood-themed party held either in Lagos or London. Take for instance friends and business partners Imani Okunubi and Aseosa Uwagboe, two Nigerian-British kids who grew up in the UK. Nollywood was one of the ways they could connect back to their roots. That experience informs their event brand, Lasgidi to London, targeted at Nigerians living in the UK. “We wanted to create events that were reminiscent of the Naija hall parties (Owambe) we attended as kids, as we don’t want to see that culture die,” Aseosa said. Their next owambe is a Nollywood-themed party and guests are expected to come dressed in their “best nolly Y2K aesthetic”.

Below, the Nolly Babes sisters talk about creating and hosting the first Nollywood-themed party and the cultural moment it has inspired.

How did that first event come about – please take me through it, from the planning to how it turned out?

Nolly Babes: From the inception of Nolly Babes, we knew we had to throw a party. Fashion is a huge part of what makes Nolly Babes different from other Nollywood-themed pages and we knew we were the only ones that could set Nolly Babes as the dress code and have people commit as they did. There are many iconic Nollywood scenes and scenarios. The daughter meeting her evil mother-in-law, the ominous visit to the Babalawo, the campus stroll – just the mere mention of these scenes evokes images that have been embedded in the minds of our fellow Nollywood enthusiasts. The party scene is probably the most iconic of them all. Whether it’s in a club, a mansion while mum and dad are out of town (but coming home early to crash the whole thing) or poolside, the Nolly Babes party scene has its staples: mad music, dancing, and sick outfits.

December in Lagos is notoriously hectic. On each day, there are day parties, beach hangouts, concerts, and we just knew we had to be a part of it. Our flyer was the first thing we made sure was done right, and that has been replicated (but never duplicated) many many times. We went through at least six drafts of that until we got the flyer to be a realistic replica of the home video covers from the golden era. The DJs Kemi Lijadu and vIVENDII Sounds understood the assignment and played music from the Nolly Babes era. We’re talking Tony Tetuila, Mo Hitz, Wande Coal, Plantation Boyz… We curated a special cocktail menu: Genny Colladas, Jim Iyke’s Hard Lemonade, MargaRita Dominic, and our Lagos Island Iced Tea, in tribute to Nollywood stars Genevieve Nnaji, Jim Iyke, and Rita Dominic respectively. We had a video projection on the famous red wall at Nok showing a mashup of emblematic scenes. We were partying while seeing images of a young Jim Iyke dressed just like many of the attendees were dressed. It was magical! We have an event we’re planning in New York for the summer – it’s going to be a madness.

Did you envisage it becoming the cultural movement it’s now become?

Nolly Babes: We really didn’t. We hosted the party because we knew people were taking inspiration from our page for styling jobs and music video treatments, and wanted to give everyone a chance to recreate some of their favourite looks. Now every week we see people planning Nollywood-themed parties and sending people to our page for references. It’s awesome. Toke Makinwa even recently attended a Nolly Babes-themed party and she was dressed as a character we have immortalised – Regina Askia in President’s Daughter. She killed it! Even though the character wasn’t referenced, it was clear as day and it was awesome to see that she pulled it off! Honestly, when we see people really pay attention to detail and execute the theme well it’s so, so dope.

How has TikTok helped grow Nollywood's influence? You posted a scene from Girls Cot, the famous “you stink with poverty” clip on TikTok and it went viral and birthed these recreations even by non-Africans.

Nolly Babes: We’re just happy to see that another aspect of Nollywood that we champion – the iconic scenes and one-liners – is also resonating across the world. We see Nolly Babes as an archival work and as much as we focus on beauty and looks on Instagram, it’s nice to be able to point people in the direction of the scenes that are forever embedded in our brains. These are scenes we recreated in jest ourselves before there was even a Nolly Babes to begin with, so to see it catching on TikTok is exciting and a new frontier for us to fully explore. I think what distinguishes Nolly Babes from other Nollywood pages and what contributes to our TikTok success is that we really watch Nollywood movies. We grew up watching these movies and continue to do so now so we can capture those moments in films that the casual consumer or poster of Nollywood content might not.

What are your thoughts on Nollywood’s influence on the Alté scene? Music videos of artists such as Lady Donli and Odunsi nod to the aesthetic and fashion styles of that era.

Nolly Babes: Nollywood, and specifically the aesthetic we have shone a spotlight on, is probably one of the biggest influences in terms of visuals in that scene right now. I have never seen so many Eucharia (Anunobi) eyebrows on TV and we love it! It’s awesome to see our images and scenes being used in treatments and storyboards. If we’re being candid, we think it would be great if we got the chance to step into our stylist/creative direction bag and help with the execution of the aesthetic.

“The bottom line is really that Nolly Babes has brought what was already an international cultural influence to the modern social media realm with a new lens” – Nolly Babes

How far do you see Nollywood's influence on pop culture, beyond Nigeria and Africa?

Nolly Babes: When we moved to New York we found our Dominican and South American friends had also grown up watching Nollywood films. The bottom line is really that Nolly Babes has brought what was already an international cultural influence to the modern social media realm with a new lens. Nollywood clips were online everywhere – but it was always in a comedic way. Aki and PawPaw are meme gods now, and that’s because their expressions transcend cultural boundaries. Black Twitter eats that stuff up.

Nolly Babes chooses to center the beauty, style, and iconic imagery, even the home decor with our #NollyDecor hashtag of the golden era of Nollywood. We share the makeup, accessories, fashion, iconic phrases, and scenes in a way that isn’t just comedic but inspirational and aesthetically groundbreaking. I see Nollywood being at the centre of this Y2K resurgence that is happening all over the world, from TV to runways and fashion collections. That era is coming back around and, this time, the Black experience is being revisited and centered in a way it wasn’t back in the late 90s and 2000s. (Black people) were always the originators of the trends and this time they’re tapping into the source and Nollywood, particularly the era we celebrate as Nolly Babes, is a great resource for that.

Follow Nolly Babes on Instagram

[thevindicativevordan]

On Kong Kenan/Super-Man

It should've been him. He should've been the Superman of 5G/Future State/right now not Jon, and he should be the one getting an HBO Max series not Val. Hell he should be getting a movie!

God this dude is literally the best legacy character Superman has ever gotten, wholly his own person with his own lore and status quo while still building on the idea of "Superman". I am so pissed at DC for essentially just dropping him after his ongoing ended, what the hell Lee? You keep trying to make the Wildstorm characters happen, I need you to get my man Yang another Kenan book.

Have to admit I was a bit nervous at first about whether or not Kenan would be a worthwhile character. Yang's New 52 Superman run had been a disappointment to me overall, with only the the arc where Superman has underground wrestling matches against forgotten gods really sticking with me. Now he was introducing a brand new Superman? Didn't feel like he had "earned" that yet. But from the first issue I was hooked on this new character.

Kenan was unlike any other member of the Superfamily. He wasn't kind or sweet, he was an asshole! He was a bully! He was fantastic! Right from the start Kenan was set up to undergo a very different kind of character journey than the other members of the Superfamily. Empathy, humility, respect for people weaker than himself, these are all traits most heroes wearing the S-shield already posses by the time they first don the crest, but not Kenan.

Like all bullies he was even a bit of a coward himself at first, trying to bail on the experiment meant to give him Superman's powers right as it begins. After "saving" Lixin (the kid he bullies and steals lunch from every day) from Blue Condor he demands all the money Lixin has on him as payment. He's not courageous or selfless either at the start, Kenan is as much of an opposite of Superman as you can get short of being Bizarro. Learning the appeal of these traits formed the basis for his growth over the course of his series.

Seeing Yang bring in a lot of recognizable "Superman" elements in the series, but with a twist, was also great. Kenan is the one who bullies "Luo Lixin" rather than the traditional Clark/Lex friendship of Pre-Crisis and Birthright. Initially Kenan develops a crush on intrepid reporter for Primetime Shanghai, Laney Lan, but she dismisses him as too young and Kenan eventually ends up pursuing Avery Ho (Flash) instead. Baxi the Bat-Man of China has a similar relationship with Kenan as the traditional Superman/Batman in terms of being vitriolic best buds, however Baxi is the one who has the most respect for authority while Kenan is the rebel. Kenan is a part of the "Justice League of China" which does not meet with the approval of the already established Chinese superheroes, the Great Ten. That contrasts nicely with the good relationship the Justice Society and Justice League have, as well as seeing Yang lampshade the "Chinese copy" trope and incorporate that into his storytelling.

One of the funniest differences is how Kenan chooses to immediately reveal his identity as Super-Man to the world by taking off the compliance visor he was forced to wear, contrasting with Clark's choice to hide his identity. He was so eager to impress people that he never gave any thought to the danger he could put himself or his family in by revealing his identity until it was too late, something Clark is well aware of and has taken great pains to keep his identity secret. Was a missed opportunity for DC to have Kenan comment on Clark copying him for once when he outed himself under Bendis.

But one of the most poignant differences between Clark and Kenan is the gulf in separation between their relationship with their parents. Clark has a loving relationship with Ma and Pa Kent, trying to live up to their lessons as best he can. In contrast Kenan's mom was believed to have died in an airplane crash when he was just a child, and he never really knew her. His father was distant from him after that and the two weren't really close despite Kenan's attempts to impress him. So Kenan lacks that strong connection while still clearly loving both of them.

Pa Kent's death is one of the most tragic examples of Clark's love for his parents, and I've always been a fan of takes where Clark promises his father to fight for the powerless on Pa's deathbed. Kenan gets a similar scene at the start of his career, his dad "dies" (after being exposed as Flying General Dragon, a pro-democracy "supervillain" from the Chinese authorities perspective) and wants Kenan to promise he'll fight for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. But because Kenan's dad never really bonded with him, Kenan doesn't know what those mean, and can only promise that he never wants to see people die, something his father takes comfort in at least. In classic comic book fashion it's revealed that Dr. Omen, Kenan's "boss" and the one who gave him his powers, saved Kenan's father, because she is Kenan's mother! Kenan's relationship with his parents forms a lot of the crux of his character arc, and seeing how Yang utilizes the classic Superman concept of family kept the storytelling exciting.

Yang's brilliant exploration of the concept of "Superman" through the prism of Chinese culture was a great way to differentiate Kenan as well.

I absolutely freaking love how he tied to the concept of Qi to the S-shield in particular. Connecting the shape of the shield with the way Kenan has acquired his powers along the path of the Bagua (eight trigrams used in Taoism that represent the fundamental principles of reality), with his octagon S-shield outline representing all eight principles together, was mindblowing! So was the idea of restricting Kenan's access to his powers unless he was actually acting in a Superman manner, that tied his character growth to his power growth in an entertaining manner. There were so many characters and concepts that meshed Chinese and DC lore together, like how Emperor Super-Man was Kenan's "Doomsday", they even recreated that iconic dual kill shot! The Chinese Wonder Woman Peng Deilan, being based on the Chinese Legend of the White Snake! There was even some Korean mythology referenced with the Aqua-Man member of the JLC "Dragonson".

Yang also managed to do a Superman Blue/Superman Red story with Super-Man Yin/Super-Man Yang!

Shameful that it took me a while to realize what Gene Yang was doing but once I caught on I was touched. You can tell how much Yang loved Superman and his mythology, and how he was excited to incorporate as much from Clark as he could, while still using it in a way that was solidly Kenan's. And not just Superman's mythology, but the history and lore of the entire DC Universe. I-Ching got to be brought in, fleshed out, and used as Kenan's mentor! The "Yellow Peril" villain from Detective Comics #1, the comic DC gets its name from was brought in and revamped as I-Ching's twin brother All-Yang! Hats off to Yang for taking a racist caricature and attempting to make him into something more.

This series was a beautiful attempt by Gene Yang to build a space for Asian heroes and villains where they could be more than stereotypes, Kenan himself being a defiant mold-breaker in every regard as the complete opposite of most Asian characters in Western media (a jock, a bully, loves his dad but not on great terms with him, a powerhouse as a hero, etc). So much thought and hard work was poured into this by Yang and his team of artist collaborators.

Especially the costumes, man Kenan had so many great looks. From his starting outfit (which is my favorite Superman variant not worn by Clark himself), to the one with the Yin/Yang shield he acquired later on, to his Super-Man Yin & Super-Man Yang outfits, Kenan looked damn cool. Part of me is bummed they didn't go with the Chinese character shield they toyed around with, but I loved how Yang used the "s-shield" as a plot point, so I'm not too broken up over it.

All that great work Yang did to build that space up has been more or less forgotten sadly. It was nice to see Kenan in the DC Asian Month Celebration issue. Avery is going to be in Justice Incarnate at least (unsurprising considering she was created by Williamson). So fucking bummed that Superman Family Adventures cartoon didn't happen, they were going to have Kenan and John Henry Irons in it! Would've been a dream come true for me to see Irons in animation again, and Kenan making the jump to outside media! Maybe that would've encouraged DC to let Yang keep writing New Super-Man, or at least encouraged them to use him elsewhere instead of allowing him fall into Limbo.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what the future holds for Kenan. Jon is being pushed as Clark's replacement in the comics, with DC keeping all the other contenders such as Kon benched. Calvin is leading the Justice Incarnate team likely due to the upcoming Coates reboot that will make Clark black. Val will probably get something once Taylor leaves Jon's book or once they officially announce the HBO Max show is happening. So where does that leave Kenan, my new favorite PoC legacy hero? Currently my only hope is that Yang is working on something for DC involving him. Yang left Batman/Superman, where I was hoping to see a Baxi/Kenan team up, to go work on "exciting other opportunities" per his Twitter. So fingers crossed that there's something in the works for Kenan!

One day I hope he gets his day in the sun again.

[omegalomania]

I think tumblr ate my ask or it just didn't sent but what are your favorite Bastille songs / what are some songs you recommend?

i did NOT get this ask im very sorry anon.

it's genuinely hard for me to narrow down cause bastille is pretty up there in terms of favorite artists. i love all their shit, but a special mention goes out to their second studio album wild world since it's the one that made me a Fan

uh so here's a primer i guess i spent too much time on this lmao.

if you wanna listen to their big hits:

flaws - their first single in the uk. if you ever listened to ship playlists on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 then you've probably heard this song or a variant on it at some point.

pompeii - this is the song that really put them on the map and you definitely know it. it dominated the charts all over the place.

happier - the marshmello song that you've definitely heard before too. i think bastille wrote this for justin bieber or some shit but then decided they liked it too much to give it to him? lmao. anyway if you're not digging the version you hear on the radio all the time i recommend trying the stripped down version

good grief - their big hit off their second album. big in the uk, didn't really make as many waves elsewhere, but it's a really solid song anyway. one of those "upbeat tunes that's actually really fucking sad" ones

things we lost in the fire - another one off their first album. if you live in a wildfire area this might not be one to turn to. or maybe you'll find it cathartic idk i certainly do!!

quarter past midnight - a song about escapism, as was fitting when it was released in 2018 and equally fitting now. running away for a night of fucking around with friends, craving any kind of brief departure from the chaos of the modern world

skulls - this one was not a hit or a single and is technically a bonus track but i'm including it because once again if you ever clicked on a ship playlist on 8tracks in like 2013-2015 you've heard this one. and you know what that was justified this one is also good

if you wanna feel existentially depressed:

their whole discography. i mean i kid but i also don't. that's just kind of how bastille does it. BUT IN ALL SERIOUSNESS ones that hit me in particular would beeee

two evils - kind of a grim, haunting one introspecting about morality of the self.

oblivion - musing about the afterlife, love, and how time changes all of us.

those nights - contemplating what it is we seek when we plunge into reckless escapism, and the inherent loneliness of it; how even when surrounded by people there's still the pressure of the world outside, continuously coming to pieces

the draw - this one was written about the pull of pursuing a career in music vs. staying home with family and friends. in a broader sense, it can apply to a lot of things. i always felt it resonated with feelings of paranoia and displacement

winter of our youth - discusses childhood, nostalgia, and regret. if it feels like everything's slipping away, is it easier to relive the past, especially if the past is tinted rose?

sleepsong - loneliness, desperation, and the cyclical, abyss-like nature of all it encapsulates

if you want discussion of serious topics:

final hour - a bonus track off their second album that also became a bonus track off their third album? anyway this song talks about climate change and gun control. happy stuff

doom days - this one talks about, uh, everything! doomscrolling, political divides, escalating national tensions, climate change again, etc.

the currents - a song centered on political rhetoric and the power that figureheads have over the masses, the way they can orchestrate hate. basically it's not so subtly aimed at donald trump lmao, dan's literally sung it as much in a few live settings

WHAT YOU GONNA DO??? - social media addiction and the way capitalism and corporate interests have annexed our online experiences, fighting desperately for our attention as they seek to monetize every available aspect of our lives

four walls (the ballad of perry smith) - well this one is about uh. perry smith. who was charged with the death penalty for killing 4 people in the late 50's. but it's less directly about him and more a discussion of the morality of the death penalty and capital punishment

snakes - burgeoning anxieties and the impulse to turn to easy outs, like ignorance or alcoholism, to escape the world's global problems

if you want some pop culture sprinkled on top:

icarus - greek mythology. i like this one because it addresses something that i feel isn't addressed enough in discussions of this myth, which is that icarus is a very young lad. less about the pride of the fall, and more about the inherent tragedy of that.

laura palmer - the whole song is a david lynch shoutout. i've never seen twin peaks myself but the song still slaps.

daniel in the den - christian mythology. discusses the biblical tale of daniel in the lion's den and links that up to themes of betrayal and family.

poet - this one's a double feature, referencing both william shakespeare's sonnet 18 and edmund spencer's sonnet 75. also one of my favorites.

send them off! - this is another one of my favorites of theirs. it's also been described by dan as "othello meets the exorcist" and it very much delivers there

if you want something uplifting:

joy - while bastille (understandably) has a bit of reputation as a band that makes sad music about sad things, they've definitely got some happier songs in their catalogue. pun intended cha ching. this one's one of their more straightforwardly happy tunes

survivin' - this was a song they wrote while they were touring and then felt weird about releasing once the panini hit because it felt a bit on the nose. they ended up releasing it anyway and i am so glad they did cause it's a mood

act of kindness - the "happy" part here is debatable but i'm gonna include it anyway. it’s when someone does something nice for you and that impulse Changes you way down deep you know???

warmth - one of those "the world's going to shit but at least we have each other" kinds of tunes

the anchor - one of those "the world's going to shit but you're the one fucking thing that's still keeping me here" kinds of tunes

give me the future - their latest single as of this writing and one of the more optimistic tracks in their catalogue imo! it's yearning, but it's also with a genuine hope for the future.

and LASTLY. because im going to take every chance i can to plug this band. im going to throw some collabs and covers at you because there's one thing this band does SUPER well and it's collabs and covers.

of the night - this is the big one. it mashes up rhythm of the night by corona and rhythm is a dancer by SNAP! and it's so good they still do this one live and it goes off every time.

no angels - a mashup of "no scrubs" by TLC and "angels" by the xx, poured into a strangely mournful tune with clips from the hitchcock movie psycho. doesn't sound like it should work but it does. kinda really does.

torn apart - with GRADES and lizzo no less!!! it's got two parts but they're both excellent listen to them both

weapon - collab with angel haze, dan priddy, and F*U*G*Z and one of my absolute favorites

remains - remix of their song "skulls" but featuring rag'n'bone man and skunk anansie that adds an entire new dimension to the song, really fucking excellent

old town road mashup - lil nas x's old town road meets lizzo's good as hell meets radiohead's talk show host meets talking heads' road to nowhere meets the osmond's crazy horse. "what the fuck that shouldn't work" i KNOW and yet here it is!! BLATANTLY BANGING!!!

we can't stop - one of the few times dan smith subtly changes the lyrics of the song he's covering (most of the time he opts to keep the original pronouns and the like, which is very nice to see). anyway this one mixes miley cyrus's we can't stop with eminem's lose yourself and billy ray cyrus's achy breaky heart. and also the lion king's i just can't wait to be king is there. yes i know it sounds batshit especially because the whole thing is surprisingly melodic and heartfelt and you know what it works.

anyone but me x nightmares - mashing up joy crookes' anyone but me with easy life's nightmares and absolutely one of my favorites.

bad guy mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "bad" in the title? we've got bad guy (billie eilish), bad decisions (bastille), bad romance (lady gaga), and bad blood (taylor swift). bastille even has a song called bad blood and they didnt use it. they used taylor swift's version. also the distinctive guitar riff from dick dale's misirlou is there.

somebody mashup - how many songs can they include with the word "some" in the title? someone like you (adele), somebody told me (the killers), somebody to love (queen), use somebody (kings of leon), and someone you loved (lewis capaldi). seriously these guys take mashups to a new level.

final song - this is a cover of MØ's final song. it also adds in craig david's 7 days and, impossibly enough, europe's final countdown. how does it work. how.

ALL RIGHT. THATS ALL IVE GOT IN ME. HOPE THIS HELPED ANON AND IM SORRY IF THIS IS TOO MUCH