#i'm not saying that all western animated kids shows are bad

[oilith]

I feel like mainstream audiences need to learn that animation isn't a genre, it's a medium. Another one is that animation is only for kids, which is just straight up false. Pretty much any story, for kids or not, can be told with animation. The mindset combo that animation is a genre for kids, is just so annoying, especially when you can argue without even getting deep in what kind of animated shows there are, that it isn't the case. Most people probably know things like family guy and bojack horseman. I don't think anyone can argue that those are for kids. As for animation being a genre, the belief is just plain stupid. There is an extremely wide range of stories told with animation, both in western and eastern animation, and dropping them all under a single umberella just undermines everything about those stories, especially when there are people who dismiss all animation as being bad, and never look outside of that "western animated kids shows" bubble.

[doubleddenden]

The topic of Palworld is pretty charged, but often times I see people be shamed for liking it because the CEO tweeted stuff about NFTs and the company using AI art in a separate game. Acting as if that's the most damning thing ever for a gaming company in an industry filled with similar people.

Make no mistake, I dislike both AI art and nfts, but do you realize how many gaming companies have involvement with that?

To begin with, Pokémon used AI art in a promotional piece for Pokémon Go in September, and nobody gave a shit because uwu Pikachu. The Pokémon Company also put a job listing some months back seeking an expert in NFTs. That's not quite damning evidence, but if I were a betting man, no "NFT expert" will willingly say "yeah nfts suck are bad for the environment, man, I'll take my paycheck and fuck off now." There's also a strong argument to be made that Pokémon has stolen ideas from fakemon artists (Finizen and Palafin, Scovillain, Dipplin, etc) and other franchises (kaiju movies, Dragon Quest, Megaman, final fantasy, western cartoons and food mascots, etc), a dubious legal statement that claims they own all fan art from the remixes and fakemon made on youtube to the pikachu your kid drew at breakfast; they have yet to apologize for the state of Scarlet and Violet while charging full price to millions of paying customers for a clearly unfinished and barely functioning game (which i did enjoy, but you can't tell me it was finished baking when it struggles not to shit itself just to run), and a bunch of other things people shit on Palworld for, but A. It's Pokémon so people don't care and think it's fine, and B. That's not the point of this post.

You know who else does NFTs and AI art? (Yes I heard Muscle Man from Regular Show in my head just now, too, moving along)

Square Enix sold several of their IPs for NFTs and claims to have used AI art "a minimum amount" in Foam Stars, yet I see nobody yelling for boycotts of Final Fantasy 14, 16, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, Life is Strange, etc etc etc.

Sony has invested in both, they want to implement AI into gaming, and has a patent for nfts to be used in games and consoles, yet there's no movement to throw out your playstations.

Bandai Namco- you know, that company with a hand in pretty much most anime games on the market and popular games such as the Dark Souls games? They have a game called RYU that's essentially a virtual pet game that uses the blockchain, and its AI driven, among other projects. Yet there's no outcry to stop playing the many, MANY games they brand with. This also includes quite a few Nintendo games (btw they just partnered together to form a special studio quite recently) like Smash Wii U/3ds and New Pokémon Snap. Nobody gives a shit though.

Android, Microsoft, Google, Apple- I don't even need to explain those, they have whole teams dedicated to both. Even popular VPN companies accept crypto.

I'm just saying an awful lot of you guys that scream and shit bloody murder about Palworld's company being involved with that shit are either the biggest "It's okay when my favs do it" type of hypocrites, or you're sorely ignorant to just how evil and greedy most corporations are. You'll be hard pressed to find a game company with popular AND fun games that DOESN'T have some interest in either, let alone movie and show studios. That's the awful reality we live in.

You have 2 options

1. You basically stop doing anything involving most modern tech, including throwing out your pc and smart phone. You could probably live a comfortable life with tech circa 2010, but you have to be aware that any thing you buy may go towards a cause you don't like.

2. You accept that people can enjoy a product while not necessarily agreeing with the CEO of said product. Most CEOs tend to be jackasses anyway, that's kind of the shared trait they all have. You can also discourage companies from using them while understanding it is everywhere.

Palworld at the end of the day is just a toy, that's it. From the looks of it, it's not even actually hurting anyone, and it seems like the company at least treats their employees pretty decently- at least according to a few things I've seen here and there that seems rather progressive for a Japanese studio (with room for doubt obviously, it's a company after all and as we've established, they're all evil). At the least its not like when people supported Hogwarts Legacy and directly put money into JKR's wallet so she can openly hurt more Trans women. In fact, the only people seemingly hurt in all of this Palworld drama are obsessed Pokémon stans that can't accept a parody, or the Pokémon Company themselves, who rightly deserve some punching up tbh.

You can just say you dislike the game, that's fine, I totally get that. Even though I personally think The Pokémon Company deserves a few nut shots after the way they've treated fans these last few years with the state of their games (and you know, stealing ideas from fans without credit), I can see why someone would be turned away from a parody that's literally meant to be Pokémon with guns. I can totally understand all of that, personally I'd prefer if the game was MORE like Pokémon with turn based combat.

But if you're going to defend Pokémon because you think its perfectly innocent because of Wooloo or something like that, just be sure you're aware you're defending the World's Richest Franchise and their own attempts at AI and NFTs while calling out an indie company (a real one thats learning as they go, not the fake "We're totally indie" franchise that hasn't been indie since gen 3) for having a ceo that also seems interested in the same stuff. And remember, you don't become number 1 without hurting people somehow (we could dig up receipts about certain partners Pokémon has teamed up with, such as Tencent with Unite, but I'd rather not right now.)

Just saying. I don't think you're an irredeemable person for still liking Pikachu, cuz I do too believe it or not. I've been a life long fan and still have fun with the games despite the clear scummy business practices towards their paying customers. Just maybe extend that courtesy to the millions of players just trying to have fun in this awful, putrid, shithole planet that just keeps getting worse and worse with each passing day.

Plus... you know, think about it. Do you think Pokémon would ever get around to making a gunless Palworld? Probably not. Do you think Palworld would exist if The Pokémon Company and Nintendo were the slightest bit chill about Pokémon fan projects like SEGA is with Sonic? Also probably not. From what I've read, the devs just wanted to make a fun game that happens to mostly be ARK with Pokémon adjacent monsters. That's not really a bad thing, all things considered, and it seems like the worst they've done is reference official Pokémon when making their own models.

Palworld being successful is actually beneficial to Pokémon fans, as well. It'll never really truly compete, but it has outsold Legends Arceus in terms of units sold (not as much financially because Palworld was only $30 plus a sale recently, but still impressive), and it is enough that Game Freak is aware of its existence. Let Palworld light a fire under their ass, and maybe GF will actually finish their next game before releasing it for full price (and no, we're not bringing up the tired imaginary ball and chain game devs, game freak owns 1/3rd lf the franchise and can easily take methods to get more dev time, they just haven't because money). Just saying, at least the Paldevs were honest enough to sell it in early access for half the price.

[fluffygiraffe]

So, I saw your Puzzlevision Jr. AU and I can say that he's so adorable! What is his story in the Puzzlevision Jr. AU?

Puzzlevison Junior! Full Lore! CW; Spoilers!

Mr. Puzzles never grew out of Children's TV shows, but accidentally seeing a violent one scared him. That show was why he felt he should cut off his head and put a TV there. He's less violent, nicer, and probably acts more childish. Probably has better intentions, making the world a better place and safer for children of all ages! The shows he'd make the cast would be more story-book, cookie-cutter, happy, and less violent. In the movie, when he realizes Mario has run away, he tries to get him to come back in the nicest way possible, but Mario is really upset with the fact he took his TV time. He'd get his face smashed in, as he realized later he had to let chaos run amok in his channels to actually get good ratings, probably cried (as he didn't want it to be scary). But in the end, he did. Mr. Puzzles would politely try and put them in different shows but get startled when they started being violent in them. When he got the Five Stars, he immediately removed all the scary TV shows, leaving only his channel. The set would be more happy and colorful, think Sesame Street Elmo's World When Mario ruined it, though, he almost began to cry, but he kept his cool and told Mario to "Go into the corner and count to 1000" with a fake parent-like tone. When the cast break out and make their own show, he'd get really upset and whiney, starting to cry as he threw another fit, slamming his foot down over and over as he simply began to complain. In the fight, he'd be dodging the others, trying to be more defensive and he'd try not to hurt anybody. When they get five and a half stars, he'd lose his powers. He'd begin to apologize and cry, mostly about the castle. He "didn't mean for all the bad to happen" and he "promises he'll be good this time." (Note, I'm on the edge of him being redeemed or he just gets kicked away like in the movie.)

All the Movies!

IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT - Something went wrong. SMG4 was making the best video ever, and the TV had to help him! It's only the nice thing to do! The keyboard would be more pastel, but still, meaty themes that he mostly tried to hide. The meat went awry, and the rest of the movie went normally.

Western Spaghetti - A more cartoony and happy version of a Western place. One-Shot Wren tries to be as evil as the place allows him to be. His downfall was the fact that the world limited his powers, and Meggy was only "knocked out" every time that she should have been killed.

WOTFI 2023 - Mr. Puzzles expected a nice happy lesson about how stealing is wrong, but it went wrong. The episode is the same.

In the end, he looked nervous as he sat down, clutching his knees. He then says "I promise children, next time, it'll be different... Next time will be better."

All the Episodes!

Mario's Mysteries - It's basically the same, except there are no violent themes. Why would there be? Kids shows don't have those! The only time that there are any "adult themes" is when the programming breaks in the TV Time song, in which Mr. Puzzles looks very distressed and worried, though he changes the topic to The Bee Movie. The pipebomb reward was replaced with a kazoo! The Bloo-Skido part was a playground instead, and the rocket launcher was a party popper. When they find out Mario ate the spaghetti, there is a flash of anger in SMG4's eyes, which quickly is replaced with playful cheeriness as the episode ends with SMG4 promising more spaghetti for him.

Once Upon an SMG4 - Practically the same, except for the fact that there is less being mean to the animals. The motives for money are changed to healing the sick animals because we want a good message after all! The SMG4 Witch is less scary, of course, because he doesn't want to scare small children. More cartoony too. The scene where Smg3 meets the fairy godmother goes more like this- The animals still mess up the dress, but while Smg3's eye twitches, he tells the animals they tried their best. Mr. Puzzles comes in with pastel fairy wings and a crown, of course with a tutu. "Hello, dear princess! I'm the fairy godmother and- What in the world are you wearing?" (He sounds more concerned and worried.)

Scooby Mario, Where'd You Go? - Practically the same, doesn't really change much. The robots are less spooky and the atmosphere is colorful. Instead of going to prison for breaking an animatronic, Bob comes out of the bathroom and asks what he missed. Turns out he was in there the whole time! They then get the pizza as the camera moves out, the show having a happier ending!

Mr. Puzzles' Incredible Game Show Spectacular! - Pastel colors! Yay! He doesn't get mad, he gets sad and overwhelmed. Instead of screaming "IN A MINUTE" with a scary face, he simply looks upset with wide eyes. Exasperated, I suppose it's called. He tries to negate fighting, trying to help them settle their differences and try and make up with reasons like "You should always be nice to your friends" and such. Mario ruins everything and Mr. Puzzles has a temper tantrum. It's less "trying to kill everybody" and more "go away! :(" He doesn't actively try to hurt anybody, and the cage he uses for Mario is just a cardboard box. The audience is plushies.

[whywoulditho]

"the fandom ruined mha" is one of those vastly popular opinions that i've never quite understood. because they honestly...weren't as bad as people made it seem??? i swear people with zero fandom experience will see a thirteen year old in cheap cosplay having fun and say shit like "ew i hate this fandom you're ruining it" like maybe leave the goddamn kid alone??

mha has a very large fan community, and what makes it a little different than most other anime fandoms is that mha was specifically targeted for a global audience. they did their best to avoid any quirks and cliche tropes of anime that would go over non-japanese' heads. the art style is pretty cartoonish and it's got lots of references to western comics. there's a whole ass movie set in the US. what i'm trying to say is that a large, international fandom was always what they were going for, and it was well received. it was one of those shows that you'd kind of had to watch if you wanted to be in anime spaces back in like 2016-2018. mind you this is when even aot wasn't that popular. and when something is so popular, there's gonna be lot of weird people in the fandom. BECAUSE most of them will be people who have never been in fandom spaces before. the "cringy mha fans" that were the butt of every joke in anime discord were more of than not minors having just been introduced to anime or fandom culture as a whole. there were lots of weird stuff, i admit. but was it ever really that serious? like why couldn't yall just leave those people alone??

another thing people just couldn't stop talking about was how there were way too many ships in the fandom but 1) why is that a bad thing? and 2) of course there were gonna be a lot of ships in a show that introduced TWO WHOLE CLASSROOMS OF TEENAGERS AS THE MAIN CAST who interacted all the time. not to mention all the students from other hero schools, upperclassmen, pro heroes & teachers. there are like a million characters in this show and the more characters the more potential ships -it's fucking common sense. i think what really happened there was that people outside of the fandom looked at the fanmade content and thought the fandom must have been obsessed with ships. when in reality i think the fans were really chill about it. most of them were multishippers, they didn’t mind the other pairings. i understand that for an outsider's eye all the ships and disclose must've looked chaotic but in fandom spaces people know how to filter the content they engage with so there really arent any serious "ship wars" going on anywhere except for maybe instagram comments.

i am not saying all the ships were unproblematic, there were some pretty weird ships going on too, but honestly i thought half of them were jokes? or at least crackships? and if you compared the number of fics those kind of pairings have on ao3 to the more family friendly ones you'd see that there really weren't an actual fanbase for any of those weird ass pairings.

i think the core of mha fandom has never been as chaotic as others thought it was. mha fans were interested in the story, the fights & the character development while casually enjoying ships as well. it wasn't that serious until yall started bullying a bunch of kids online. with the rise of tiktok and the boredom the pandemic caused there were a huge amount of amateur content. i'm not saying i've never seen a mha fan being genuinely cringe. i just think the mature response to those posts would have been leaving the poor kids alone.

yesterday i've seen a youtube video about how awful mha fans are and this guy just showed a clip of a bunch of cosplayers outside of what was probably an anime convention dancing to gangnam style and he was going on and on about how annoying they are. and it made me so angry because where the fuck did these anime fan bourgeoisie snobs come from telling people they can't have fun at FUCKING ANIME CONVENTIONS??? i dont know if you've ever been to one but an anime con is basically the only place that's supposed to be safe to do cringe shit like that. everyone goes to those things in cosplay, some better than others. but last i checked everyone was pretty nice to each other, complimenting each other's costumes, asking to take photos. the cosplays don't have to be good, they don't even have to be complete. a convention is the one place you can show up in a wig you bought off ebay and a costume you finished making the night before. i dont know what yall are on but people go to those events to have fun. not to be filmed and made fun of. and from my personal experience having been in fandom spaces since middle school, someone who dances to gangnam style in a cheap todoroki cosplay is an infinitely nicer person than the stuck-up loser who makes a video complaining about it

[kroganloveinterest]

Getting to know your mutuals

tagged by @illusivesoul thanks so much for tagging me!!!

I'll tag @baede-6 @spaydekingcayde @silverforestglove @crystariumrose @heywizards @herrshepard but don't feel any obligation to fill it out or anything. Also if you've already been tagged in this or completed it, I apologize for the extra tag!! And please still fill this out even if I didn't tag you! You can still tag me if you do. :3

(questions under the cut)

What's the origin of your blog's title?

It's a quote by the Spider from the Scavenger's Fate loretab in Destiny 2.

Favorite Fandoms: I'm listing these by what I personally enjoy engaging with, rather than what the fandom space in general is like. With that said, Destiny, Pokemon, My Hero Academia, Mass Effect, and The Elder Scrolls are probably my top 5.

OTP(s) + shipname: I really only have one technically, which is Thel 'Vadam and Rtas 'Vadum from the Halo series. I believe in them so passionately...even if I no longer am the ThelRtas blogging giant I used to be years ago on here lmao.

special mention to all my indulgent oc/canon ships too naturally.

Favorite color: I really like blues!

Favorite game: Of all time? Pokemon Crystal probably. First Pokemon game to have the option to play as a girl, the Western release date was on my birthday, and Johto/gen 2 is my favorite....it was written in the stars ngl.

Song stuck in your head: For once, there isn't a song looping through my mind at the moment.

Weirdest habit/trait? Only thing I can really think of is that I tend to idly pick at the skin of my fingertips semi-often. Hard habit to break so far.

Hobbies: Video games and making gifs. Seems sad that I can't really think of anything else at the moment. They're just always my main go-to for an enjoyable time killer.

If you work, what's your profession? Unemployed atm.

If you could have any job you wish what would it be? I always wanted to be a marine biologist or some aquatic science/biology job since high school, but that's no longer an option.

Something you're good at: Nothing comes to mind.

Something you're bad at: Writing.

Something you excel at: Nothing comes to mind.

Something you love: Beefy fictional characters keep me going ngl.

Something you could talk about for hours without off the cuff: Good question, not in a self-deprecating way, but in a "I genuinely don't think I have anything I'd be able to talk for hours about" lmao.

Something you hate: Moths, tbh. I very much respect them and don't go out of my way to kill them or anything, but god do I simply not like them fluttering about near me.

Something you collect: Nothing now, but I used to collect General Grievous figures and Godzilla figures too so I have a modest sized collection of both.

Something you forget: To take my medication. Literally still forget about it even with a daily phone reminder plastered on the lock screen.

What's your love language? Not sure.

Favorite movie/show: Movie I'd say 2004 Van Helsing, and for TV show I'd say Monk.

Favorite food: Steak.

Favorite animal: Crocodilians. Sharks, dogs, sloths, and elephants are also up there.

Are you musical? Not anymore, used to play the flute for 6 years in grade school though. I miss it. :C

What were you like as a child? Unhappy, repressing trauma and near constant traumatic experiences, extremely withdrawn and shy, really low self-esteem, undiagnosed anxiety/depression, etc....but now I do what I can to take care of that little kid still inside me to this day, rip.

Favorite subject at school? Math, believe it or not! It just always made sense to me and that was comforting. I always liked my science classes as well, but math for sure was always my favorite.

Least favorite subject? I loathed English and History classes because I thought they were so boring, honestly. There's definitely a "no wonder you suck at writing and can't even discuss media in a meaningful way" jab opportunity there, but that's honestly just what my preferences were back then.

What's your best character trait? Not sure.

What's your worst character trait? Also not sure.

If you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? To not have all my close friendships be eroded away to nothing so now I feel like I don't have that support system like I thought I did? That's what's been killing my mental health lately anyway lmao.

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet? A dinosaur.

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics I'll rec @intrepiddreamx 's Destiny 2 fic Diplomatic Ties any day, any time. 😌 (please mind the rating if necessary)

[prickly-paprikash]

Today was not a perfect day.

Hell, it wasn't that close to a good day either.

But I can at least confidently say this.

My current trifecta of hyper-fixations in Western Animated Media are all getting a second season in Netflix.

The new kid on the block with a thirst for vengeance and smashing the patriarchy; with a penchant for destroying the binary of gender and collecting bitches like they're Pokemon, it's BLUE EYE SAMURAI!

The vampire hunter that comes from a bloodline of warriors and soldiers; incites revolutions, slaughters slavers, burns blood-suckers, and has a bad history with mother-related fatalities, you know 'em! You love 'em! It's CASTLEVANIA NOCTURNE!

And finally, uttering their very name spreads awe and fear alike. Leaving millions traumatized with just nine episodes, redefining animation as we know it alongside Spider-Verse, and making sure that League of Legends is the most obsolete thing in... League of Legends, this one needs no introduction but I'm still fucking doing it anyway! ARCANE!

The Tortuous Trifecta. The Triumphant Triumvirate. The Traumatic Trio. The set of shows that Netflix better not fucking cancel or lessen their budgets on or istg I might do somethi—

THE SHOWS THAT GIVE MY SHRIVELED BI HEART A REASON TO BEAT AND PUMP BLOOD INTO MY BODY.

SCREAM THEIR NAMES.

BLUE EYE SAMURAI SEASON 2

CASTLEVANIA NOCTURNE SEASON 2

ARCANE SEASON 2

[casualevan]

So... Pariah Nexus

I found it to be a swinging pendulum of quality. Back and fourth between badass and just kinda bad.

The action and animation are astounding and there are some fantastic bits of dialogue discussing faith and fanatasism. All great stuff.. buuuuut my biggest issues are with the tone and the plot.

It's the issue a LOT of Games Workshop stories suffer from. They want to be Dune meets All Quiet On The Western Front but also G.I. JOE meets Masters Of The Universe. A Grim Dark brutal depressing war story.... but a toy commercial at the same time. SPOILERS

The plot is set well after the end of a war for this one planet the Sisters of Battle, (Nuns with Guns in SPACE) Space Marines, (Marines IN SPACE) and the Imperial Guard (Starship Trooper normal humans with laser rifles.... IN SPACE) were defending against the Necron. (Alien mummy robots FROM SPACE!) The humans lost and now it is all over but the crying. A Sister, a Space Marine and a Guard are stuck behind enemy lines with a handful of civilian survivors and must fight their way past the remaining Necron and their nanomachine human zombies to get to safety.

The SIster and the Guard have some GREAT moments of debate on the nature of faith and duty showing the Sister's fanaticism and the cracks in her faith when contrasted with the Guard's more grounded and practical view of their shared religion. This all reminds the audience that Warhammer 40K is a nightmare distopia hellscape and the Imperium of Man is BAD. At least until the Space Marine shows up and "OH WOW HE IS SO COOL AND SO NICE AND HE LOVES DEFENDING CIVILIANS! PLEASE DO NOT READ MORE LORE AND LEARN THAT THE SPACE MARINES ARE ALSO BAD AND COMMIT WAR CRIMES! BUY OUR TOYS BUY OUR TOYS!!"

The closest thing to a character arc in the story is the Sister of Battle going from having disdain for the civilians, believing their lack of faith lost the war for the planet, to finally being convinced to not be such a starch ass and defend the literal women and children from killer robots...

...

...

and then she is imediatly shot by a robot sniper. YEAH. "I will now decide to NOT be a total jerk and help these people!" *BLAM* "...ouch... nevermind I guess?" She doesn't get a last desperate second wind action surge to kill the sniper and save the civilians, she just dies. As for that Guard she was debating with the entire time? She wasn't real. She was just a ghost in her head cuz battlefield trauma is a hell of a drug. The big heroic Space Marine (who's just such a great guy) agrees to stay behind and fight the evil killer space robot and tells the civilians to keep running. He survives and tells the Big Bad Super Robot that he and his fellow humans of the Imperium will keep fighting FOR THE IMPERIUM AND THE EMPEROR BLA BLA BLA BUY OUR TOYS!!!!! Then there is an epilogue of the last surviving civilian making it to a troop of other Guard... ... ... and then getting shot because they thought the literal child was infected with the Necron Zombie Nanomachine plague. So yeah.... everyone (except the cool Space Marine) died for nothing. We don't even get to see the Space Marine's reaction to the news. The story just ENDS. He lost an arm trying to keep these people safe and the story won't even tell us if he is sad or mad or just mildly annoyed. "EVERYONE DIES CUZ WAR IS BAD AND WRONG!!!! Please buy our toys and play our games." I'm NOT saying the story should have been sunshine and rainbows but at least have all that buildup and character death MEAN something besides pizza cutter all edge no point grimdark. Have the Sister die FIGHTING and saving someone. Show the Space Marine REACTING to the news that none of the civilians survived. OR if you still want to be grim and dark, have that lone survivor kid get DRAFTED BUY THE GUARD and sent back to fight. Show his face go from "oh boy I'm saved" to "oh no I'm going BACK?!"

all in all I can't recomend Paraiah Nexus. Three episodes behind a Warhammer+ subscription paywall all for story/tone whiplash. Go watch the Hellsreach fan animation instead.

[tomb-of-flora]

Introduction Post (V2)

I did an introduction post 7-8 months ago and it's really bad, so I wanted to do a new one.

Hello! I am relatively new to tumblr, but I've been here for over six months now, and it's the only social media I've been able to stick with for this long. It feels like I've officially put down roots with this blog, so I wanted to give myself a proper introduction.

A little about me: I'm a writer with a particular emphasis on poetry and fiction that angsts about identity. I'm a Dungeon Master who has been playing D&D (and occasionally other ttrpgs) since I was 12-13. I'm in my mid twenties (and am going to post accordingly so I don't want to see any minors interacting). I'm a lesbian, and ngl pretty much everything I say or do has an undertone of sapphic yearning. If i had to define my taste in general I love anything that is super feminine, pink, and princessy, and also anything that is gothic, rotted, and miserable. Anything that could combine the vibes of like Princess Peach/Sailor Moon and Edgar Allan Poe would be a dream come true for me. I also have a deep love on run down apocalyptic settings (especially if they include a theme park).

This blog will mainly be reblogs, fandom posts, and random things about myself and what I'm thinking. It's just kind of a personal haven to express myself and show my friends cool stuff I saw. I was originally going to make this a place where I posted about my writing/D&D, but all of that stuff kept getting buried, so I decided to delete those posts and make a couple dedicated sideblogs.

If you want to see my original posts i use the hashtag #entombedpost and for reblogs where I remembered to say something I use #entombedreblog

Follow @myovergrowngarden if you want to read/hear about my writing

Follow @yeehaw-in-magic-space if you want to hear about the adventures that take place in my space western/fantasy horror D&D campaign. I recap every session and drop random bits of lore on this account.

Some of my favorite books/short stories include: The Locked Tomb series, The Poet X, Clap When You Land, Family Lore, Any Other City, The Honey Month, This Is How You Lose the Time War, An Education in Malice, The Fall of the House of Usher, Mexican Gothic, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, Why Don't We Just Kill the Kid In the Omelas Hole, Orientation, White Smoke, The Iliad/Odyssey.

Some of my favorite shows include: Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Midnight Mass, Black Sails, Game of Thrones (seasons 1-4), House of the Dragon, Breaking Bad, Chernobyl.

Some of my favorite cartoons/anime include: Steven Universe, Over the Garden Wall, Arcane, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Delicious in Dungeon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Noragami, Hunter X Hunter, Simoun, Chainsaw Man, the old DCAU (Batman TAS, Superman TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Static Shock, JLU), Teen Titans, Star Wars Rebels, High Guardian Spice, Gravity Falls, Amphibia.

Some of my favorite video games include: The Last of Us PT II, Get in the Car, Loser, Hades/Hades II, Darkest Dungeon, Fallout: New Vegas, Celeste, Ace Attorney, Dark Souls, Epic Mickey, We Know the Devil, Slay the Princess, Long Live the Queen, Monster Prom/Camp/Road Trip. I also love a lot of board games, but I think that would push us over the text limit so I'm just going to mention that briefly.

Some of my favorite movies include: I Saw the TV Glow, Star Wars (particularly VI, VIII, IV, V), Lord of the Rings, Whisper of the Heart, Kiki's Delivery Service, Birds of Prey, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snowpiercer, Annihilation, Sorry to Bother You, the Fear Street Trilogy, a bunch of the Saw movies, Us, Nosferatu (1922).

[t440]

i need to write an entire essay about this one day. but its really notable how commonly japanese media has overarching metaphor or messages that get simplified down to baby shit by western fans. under da cut because this went on for paragraphs.

for example: dr's hope/despair dichotomy. talking specifically re: the first two games and the anime, as i haven't gotten around to v3. despite the fact that hope and despair are very much NOT good and evil, and that being part of the point of the entire 2nd game, it's simplified down to that with the justification for komaeda being either ignoring his hope or just explaining it as Too much of a good thing and moving on.

or, like, AITSF's i/eye/AI/愛 not really being talked about much in western fandom and subordinated to a really simplistic reading on love. despite showing, quite plainly as well, bad things people do due to love. AITSF is a nuanced take on the interplay between the self and the other. 愛 itself is differently defined in the Buddhist context as closer to desire or attachment; is that different from love? there's a lot more here than just You need love or you will asplode

or even NGE's use of metaphor, which i have too much migraine to get into right now. or JJBA being painted as "saying nothing" when there is a literal part set in an american prison that handles issues of catholicism, PTSD, racial violence, and all while being built around the double meaning of ”てんごく” as either 天国 (Heaven) or 典獄 (prison warden).

and i haven't watched RGU yet, but, you know what, i'm really prepared to see something similar there.

it's just a really fascinating & upsetting tendency of larger western fandom latching onto japanese media, stripping it of its depth, and then claiming to love it. a lot of it is racism, some is also cultural ignorance, and some is kids without fully-developed media analysis skills being fans.

it's a situation for sure and i wouldn't be able to say what to do about it, given that this is some really entrenched shit in western fanbases, but it does really, really annoy me that japanese media is alright to say "this doesn't say anything" about. when that's not true with anything, but it sure as fuck is not true about things like all the media i've listed

[lesbianrobin]

Do you have any TV show recommendations

my #1 tv show recommendation is to watch the challenge. i literally never cared about competition reality shows besides antm and now i am Obsessed because the challenge is perhaps the greatest show of our generation. i beg of you to watch this compilation video it captures the overall spirit of the show So well and it's also hilarious.

if you want recommendations on which season to start with PLEASE send me another ask, or ask sarah @steveharrington she's the expert.

ok now other shows ❤️ i'm not gonna mention shows like succession that are super big on tumblr or well-known prestige television like breaking bad or the sopranos because i'm sure you've already seen plenty of people recommending those yknow? so yeah.

cowboy bebop (anime). the live action does not exist to me. anyway. cowboy bebop is sci-fi. it's western. it's jazz. it's comedy. it's tragedy. it's about love and identity and bounty hunting and a little corgi. there's a reason why it's often called one of the greatest anime of all time. this kinda violates my no reccing super popular shows rule but i think people who don't watch much anime may not be familiar with cowboy bebop so i figured i have a duty to the people.

the get down. i wholeheartedly believe that the get down is the greatest thing netflix has ever produced and it's a goddamn tragedy that it was canceled, but what does exist is just. incredible. it's about the rise of rap and hip-hop, the death of disco, and struggling to figure out identity and the meaning of success in the bronx in the 1970s. created & produced by baz lurhmann, the show incorporates archival footage of new york and real people with fictional narratives in a truly masterful way. it's absolutely gorgeous. the music is fucking fantastic. it's So worth watching and i wish that it had gotten the same hype as other netflix shows like st, oitnb, etc.

speaking of netflix. american vandal. if the get down is the best thing netflix has ever produced, american vandal is a very close second, and i could honestly be persuaded to swap their places, but ANYWAY. it's a mockumentary wherein a kid named peter and his best friend sam attempt to solve the mystery of who spray-painted twenty-seven dicks on twenty-seven cars in the staff parking lot at their high school. it's one of the funniest shows i've ever seen, and also the only show i've ever found to be accurate to the contemporary teenage experience. it's also like... insanely accurate as a parody and critique of real true crime documentaries. also if you're following me you're probably an st fan, and eduardo franco (argyle!!) is in american vandal as well, if that motivates you any more.

xena: warrior princess. it's the best show of all time and also the worst show of all time. everything that people say about shows like supernatural and glee and riverdale? xena did that shit back in the 90s, they did it better, and they did it with lesbians. they did it with swords. they did it with aphrodite. they did it with leather and whips and clones and reincarnation and true love's kiss. please watch xena.

community. if you haven't watched community idk what you're doing with your life to be quite honest. just watch it already.

GLOW. attention all tumblrinas who like messy complicated stupid mean scheming sexy women. you will fucking love glow. sorry i'm recommending so many netflix shows but i can't Not mention glow on here it would be a betrayal of my lesbianism. it is about sexy women wrestling. it's got blood. it's got tits. it's got storytelling. it's got 80s music. it's got fucking your best friend's husband as a means of feeling closer to her. yellowjackets fans i'm looking at you. watch glow.

ghosts (bbc). not cbs. dear god not cbs. bbc. but yeah ghosts is a sitcom about a young couple who suddenly inherit an old home (manor? thing? man i don't fuckin know english aristocracy stuff) full of ghosts. it's a fun, simple premise, and some parts of the show can be corny, but the actors sell it so well that it's just a pleasure to watch. if you're into sitcoms, i think it's worth giving ghosts a shot!

that's it for now i don't want this to get super long ❤️ thank u for asking!! also sorry if this wasn't what you expected from me lmao. OH ALSO watch the muppet show. like the OG 1970s muppet show. shit slaps.

[opinated-user]

Lily, in her It's More Mature To Accept Things Are Just Evil video: "I hate when people ask for serious and mature writing. Fandom says they want mature storytelling but they actually don't want it because they don't want everyone who's bad in fiction to be murdered. No one on Earth wants villains to be killed but me. No fiction ever kills villains (please ignore the many pieces animation pre-90's, most pre-Revival Disney movies and anime that do kill villains regularly). People who like a character I don't like are fucking idiots, no I will not provide proof. Also people are lying, they're not actually interested in why people turn to darkness. No proof, I'm just rushing the video along onto another topic and talking really quickly and hoping you never ask me for any examples of anything. People only like villains when they're white, no I will not acknowledge the many non-white villains who've had fandoms going as far back as when silent film era Asian actors who were forced by the industry to only play villains had huge fanbases, fuck history, it's definitely just AFAB white women wanting to fuck AMAB white men. I'm going to say this is not a disputable fact despite providing no proof and ignoring actual facts that contradict my 'factual' point.

Anyway murder is the 'logical endpoint' of all villains' stories, no I will not acknowledge how that blanket statement does not work in all settings. Here in reality (I say about Star Wars, as if it's real) Vader would've been executed. Why? Because I want him to be, even though it would make no sense for Luke to let Vader be executed. A good hero would automatically be cool with that even though compassion is Luke's defining character trait and Luke, Han and Leia 100% have the know-how to simply claim Vader died, put him in a new life-sustaining suit and transport him and Luke somewhere else. Fuck you, commenter who imagined compassion for someone and whose name I'm showing onscreen to shame you in front of my entire audience.

Fans are stupid. Fans who want redemptions have 'poisoned minds'. They're the same as people who simp over serial killers. Yeah I just compared liking a black-clad space wizard or crystal alien cartoon to liking someone who murdered actual human beings. No I will not acknowledge that make-believe is not real. No I will not acknowledge that I just turned to the families of murder victims and said that a kid liking the wrong cartoon is just as morally wrong as someone liking the man who murdered their actual family member in the real world, I'm just going to keep talking quickly and pretend I didn't devalue the lives of murder victims by making them as unimportant as a cartoon."

I couldn't make it through Lily's last video. Hooktube not giving her a view doesn't mean it gives me the ability to deal with this many fallacies. Unsubstantiated claims, false equivalencies, saying 'the real world' about Star Wars as if it's real, ignoring historical facts, ignoring the facts of the medium she's reviewing, erasure of the long and complex history of POC in villain roles in Western media and audience response, assuming murder works as a solution to all problems in all circumstances in all universes...

I get that talking quickly is supposed to prevent people from thinking about the things she's saying, but as someone who did debate in high school, I was taught to process things going by at this speed. And there's so many things wrong with so much of this that the speed actually makes it worse, because she piles up more and more untrue statements, opinions stated as fact, and absurd statements than I can even describe in a very short frame of time.

THIS is why your channel is dying, Lily. Your lies are so obvious, opinions so outlandish, arguments so fallacious and statements so egregiously lacking in factual basis that to a normal person, you sound ridiculous, unhinged and unwell.

That's not ableism on my part. I mean this as someone with mental health issues myself - she sounds unwell. She is not okay. She has completely detached from reality at just about every level and appears to be unable to even distinguish it from fiction, resulting in her thinking liking some cartoon cartoon is like being a fan of real-life murderers. She doesn't know real life murder is worse! She does not understand that a real person dying is worse than a fictional one dying. Holy shit, has she been like this the entire time? I watched her videos in middle school and I remember thinking they were funny but looking at this as college-aged me, she sounds like someone less than half her age who thinks they were Amity in a past life. She is on fictionkin levels of 'crimes in a fictional universe are just as bad as crimes in this one'. She called Star Wars the real world!

At this point only a full-on mental health intervention could save her. I don't think anything less could salvage her mind, nevermind her channel. She's just broken mentally in a way that I can't even take the tiniest bit of 'whew! glad I'm not her' satisfaction in because it's so awful.

Even when I was unmedicated and had manic episodes, I would not compare serial killers to cartoons. I don't know what mental illnesses she has but she needs help.

i think it's worth remembering that a lot of what LO does is purely performative. any attempt at wanting progressive politics or wanting queer people to stop hating on themselves is empty noise, they don't mean anything. her actions speak louder than words and through those we know already that LO does not care about LBGT+ people, only cis lesbians and only as long they satisfy her on the way she wants them to be.

that line about liking serial killers and liking villains is nothing but more examples of her overcompensating for liking sadistic cruel murderers and bending backwards to try to still make them the heroes. it's not what she really thinks, but it works to come across the idea of how despicable villain liking looks to her. it's there to make you forget about all the way that LO has liked and written character who have done far worse than many villains.

[limeade-l3sbian]

i couldn't get behind the lesbian ending of lok because it felt like an ass-pull for representation after they both went for the same guy earlier, especially with the cattiness between the women before then. i also couldn't get behind kuvira because she was a cop, and because her character existing implied toph slept with a man (and was also a cop), especially when kuvira also went for men, romantically.

more than that, i'm bothered by the shitty plot, especially the way they threw out basically everything important to the world of atla. atla very strongly supported things like harmony with nature and portrayed much of industrialization as a bad thing for the world (due to both the harm it does to humans AND the harm it does to the environment), but the "better world" of lok is steampunk? only about 100 years or so have passed iirc, and the world has become a completely industrialized, westernized, capitalistic place. it's depressing. the destruction of the avatar cycle combining with that really grossed me out.

plot wise, it just felt infinitely less cohesive and controlled than atla. atla felt like it had things to say (many of them based around social justice and environmental justice), and built a strong story around those things without faltering for even a moment. lok felt like a sloppy anime that clumsily tried to forcibly inject social justice talking points into the plot. it's unfortunate because there are a few impressive character designs and concepts, and i would have loved an atla sequel following a female incarnation of the avatar (and actual, solid gay representation would be nice too), but it just failed to be anything actually impressive, imo.

on the downlow, i kind of feel it paved the way for the steven universe era of cartoons, where children's cartoons are heavily marketed to adults (who they rely on for an audience more than the actual kids the show is meant for) using nostalgic references and weirdly inserted social talking points and instances of representation that feel more like the creators are saying "LOOK HOW STUNNING AND BRAVE AND SUBVERSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE WE ARE" rather than actually trying to tell stories, convey messages they feel strongly about, or represent people authentically. i know a lot of right-wing people use that sort of argument in bad faith, but a lot of these pieces of media with gay representation or therapy talk make me feel like i'm a brand or a market audience rather than a normal type of person.

i couldn't get behind the lesbian ending of lok because it felt like an ass-pull for representation after they both went for the same guy earlier, especially with the cattiness between the women before then. i also couldn't get behind kuvira because she was a cop, and because her character existing implied toph slept with a man (and was also a cop), especially when kuvira also went for men, romantically.

LISTEN ANON LISTEN AUGHHH

Okay! One, you're right! the lebsian ending meant a lot to my coming out development, but i was literally trying to tell people, like, "didn't this shit feel a little rushed?" like, yes they did write to each other and all that and oh, asami said she liked korra's hair (you know, like girls do).

Two, I think you've got Kuvira and Lin mixed up, but your point is no less valid since I completely understand what you're saying. i think the move to turn toph into a cop was supposed to be a funny little "isn't that crazy that the most rebellious member of the group became a cop?" but it's like, yeah, it is crazy. Two point five? If you want to tell me that Toph isn't a lesbian, I might lose some support but I can kind of understand that. To me, Toph is just a tomboy who doesn't like to be restrained. But at the same time, I also don't think that woman is one to just have sex with a cop, have fucking kids, and ugh. Like, I understand they wanted the fun of writing the offspring of a fan favorite, but honestly? Maybe Lin and Suyin should have just been adopted under some strange circumstances because I have never been able to buy that Toph slept with a man. I think that woman cares about herself and helping out when need be.

Three! Kuvira and Lin being straight is another example that another anon said about the writers not being able to fully commit. You know damn well those women aren't straight and you damn sure didn't draw them for the osa gaze. THAT WAS FOR US.

more than that, i'm bothered by the shitty plot, especially the way they threw out basically everything important to the world of atla. atla very strongly supported things like harmony with nature and portrayed much of industrialization as a bad thing for the world (due to both the harm it does to humans AND the harm it does to the environment), but the "better world" of lok is steampunk? only about 100 years or so have passed iirc, and the world has become a completely industrialized, westernized, capitalistic place. it's depressing. the destruction of the avatar cycle combining with that really grossed me out.

I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS

I'll be honest, I wondered how they would go about portraying the future of this world since something that really drew me to it was the necessity of bending. To be a bender was a true boon in the original series. So much so that an entire city functioned off of it. I thought it was so cool the way the fire nation stole the concept of the hot air balloon and were able to create something arguably better around their bending. Bringing more tech advancements into the mix always felt like it would sort of ruin a little of that magic, and to me, it did. Seeing them driving and stuff, I was kind of flat faced. Like nah, what happened to the cool ass animals they ride on and stuff? It definitely took a little bit of the magic away. There had to have been a better way to push the plot into the future (if you really felt so inclined) without completely turning it over on its head.

plot wise, it just felt infinitely less cohesive and controlled than atla. atla felt like it had things to say (many of them based around social justice and environmental justice), and built a strong story around those things without faltering for even a moment. lok felt like a sloppy anime that clumsily tried to forcibly inject social justice talking points into the plot. it's unfortunate because there are a few impressive character designs and concepts, and i would have loved an atla sequel following a female incarnation of the avatar (and actual, solid gay representation would be nice too), but it just failed to be anything actually impressive, imo.

I stand by the fact that I liked the series, but people often think that means you can't talk crap about it at all, and that's simply not true. But this is. I think what I enjoyed about this continuation was the inclusion of more fight scenes. I liked seeing the different ways people used their bending. I've always loved that. I'm an action gal lmao. Plot wise, tho? I understand your point completely.

on the downlow, i kind of feel it paved the way for the steven universe era of cartoons, where children's cartoons are heavily marketed to adults (who they rely on for an audience more than the actual kids the show is meant for) using nostalgic references and weirdly inserted social talking points and instances of representation that feel more like the creators are saying "LOOK HOW STUNNING AND BRAVE AND SUBVERSIVE AND PROGRESSIVE WE ARE" rather than actually trying to tell stories, convey messages they feel strongly about, or represent people authentically. i know a lot of right-wing people use that sort of argument in bad faith, but a lot of these pieces of media with gay representation or therapy talk make me feel like i'm a brand or a market audience rather than a normal type of person.

Damn, that's true. The only thing I'll say is that I don't even really think it did that either. I can't tell you any lesson I learned or was told through LoK except "gay ok" and I already knew that.

You've got some really dope perspective, anon. <3

[drawnaghht]

just for the record, for Samurai Rabbit fans who do like the show, objectively, the show is pretty good. What's the objective measure here? for me it's usually just much I can enjoy it while watching, but there's always more to it than that. i was a bit bored with the show the first 2 eps, but then it surprised me with a few elements in ep 3. I slowly understood what it was actually going for with the slowness. I kept watching and found things I liked about it. Got all sorts of theories and connections and story ideas. I started re-reading Usagi Yojimbo and went looking for more crew interviews. Saw how much the cast and crew seemed to like it and I'm convinced that it was a good show to work on. Rewatched it in other dubs to get some other perspective for my theories. But that's just one way I enjoy shows.

Of course, there's no real objectivity when it comes to tastes, so I say, if you like it, like it unabashedly. You never know when a show just ends or you'll look back and might feel sad you didn't really let yourself enjoy it, just because others don't. I've watched much trashier shows before this one, (comparably, Samurai Rabbit isn't even trashy at all), and those have gotten much less hate, for being much much more annoying/bad/low quality as a whole x3 You don't have to feel bad about folks hating on the show online. They just have a different taste than you. But if you like it, that's really the only metric you need to judge it.

(this is specifically a thought bc a younger fan wrote to me that they felt sad that the show got so much hate in reviews/online posts etc)

if the show was truly as bad as some folks say, it probably would not have been made. there are just so many factors at play in making a show, i personally just try to go by my gut feeling at this point abt shows and if they're going to be fun to watch or not.

and lol i don't have the energy to put this into a longer well-articulated post but still wondering i guess why there are so many posts with "oh this show ain't so good, i hate it" etc etc

so????

sorry for sounding harsh or whatever but literally, watch more animation!!!! there are shows worse than this one and if you'd been alive when those aired you would have watched them and remembered them fondly, only to realize one day you were just watching them out of boredom bc there was nothing else animated on

even shows which we lambast as critical darlings within fandoms had their ups and downs during airing

how well a show is received always depends on how much the network loves it, but also a lot of pure luck

or you'd find a good show and see that the network abruptly ended it, not even with a solution or real ending, but just something open bc the creators were hoping the show could come back. or the show would come back, but completely changed, something so unwatchable you wish you could unwatch it

at least, that was my experience watching cartoons as a 20-something or younger, coming back to cartoon-watching because I had time after highschool

maybe the show just came out too late/early, and would have found a different audience if it came out at a different time. I think about how ROTTMNT was received and how now reviewers are coming back to it, with tails between their legs like "UmU this show was not so bad... after all!!!" shut it!!!! i guess compared to how rise was treated by old TMNT fans and critics alike, this one has gone fairly under the radar or remained almost unremarked upon. Well, old UY did complain about it, and youtube reviewers too, so it's sorta the same thing. kids' cartoons will always have adult critics because everyone thinks they know how to run a cartoon/know what a good cartoon is xD

find other things to do!!!! make your own cartoons and see how easy it is. western cartoon/tv is just how it is and it's not bad to expect more of it, but also, it feels weird to go along with hating or reviewbombing etc just because that's become something "in" now. there's worse media than an animated adaptation turned into a kids cartoon, made during the pandemic.

lowkey some of you just seem kind of spoiled with how many good series there are, and you're just putting the bar so high for even shows you like, NOTHING is good for you unless it's extremely perfect or catering to each and every of your expectations xD

yea ok, it's a children's cartoon - whatever! western children's cartoons can run such a wide gamut of quality vs enjoyability, there's so many shows now you can enjoy instead.

if it's good for you, great! if it's not, ok! don't go posting it in the tags as some universal opinion lol xD

again, there are much worse cartoons out there in the past and in other parts of the world. one little animation mistake or even several per episode aren't going to break my enjoyment of the episode or show as a whole xD

the slowness i mentioned experiencing for example, is also subjective. A reviewer on Commonsensemedia, wrote that they found the show too fast-paced, but that their young daugther liked it, and how the messaging came off as good to both them and their child. It's a matter of perspective.

like yeah, it's a bit goofy and dorky at times, I personally do not get some of the jokes (more on that in a proper review) and maybe as an animator, i'm a bit annoyed at some of the things done with the 3D animation specifically. But that's personal! and those are so few things. on the flipside, I was still able to enjoy the rest of the show, because to me it felt like a lot of care and thought was put into it as a whole. Like, many of the visdev team actually asked to be on the show. It can't be that bad if long time professionals around the western animation industry want to work on it.

A show that's truly bad, would not even bother fleshing out some sort of villain or antagonists at all, and mabye would have scrapped Kagehito as a character entirely, when hearing that it was sort of impossible to animate him as intended. But there's a lot of stuff in this show like that. Compromises from the crew, so they could still make the show and focus on aspects of production and story that were more necessary. So for example also, lobbying for more appearances of Miyamoto Usagi, even though Netflix was not on-board with that themselves, the producers and showrunners were.They were pushing for more of him and his backstory in this show.

so eah, idk, this ended up long anyway, but just, if you like it already, it's ok xD you don't have to justify yourself to other fans or people. and honestly, if you dislike it, same thing. you don't have to justify it. you can just dislike things without reason.

[twdmusicboxmystery]

Dead City Ep 2 - Analysis

 Morning Everyone! I have so much to post! I'm really behind on posting about Dead City as well as our speculation about the sneak peek of the Daryl spinoff. I'm going to try and get caught up over the next few days. I've just been very busy at work and haven't had tons of time to finish the posts. Bear with me. This is mostly stuff about Dead City, episode 2. I'll get to more stuff from ep 3 tomorrow!

@galadrieljones:

Hey guys so I’m really loving catching up on all your thoughts. After watching the first two episodes of DC, beyond being just super stoked by the writing/acting/everything about it (it really feels like a very gritty, adult show, i love it), I have some stuff to add to your thoughts and tbh I still have some digging I want to do pertaining to certain of my observations, pertaining to DC and to the DD spin-off

@galadrieljones:

First, I want to directly just address my thoughts on a couple of the notes above. First, the question about where New Hill Top is. I have zero proof, but there are aesthetic and architectural qualities of New Hill Top that remind me of Meridian. I wonder if they migrated there? It would make a lot of sense, and also, Meridian, which is near Bethesda, MD and north of DC, is not as from from NYC as the original Hill Top, which is in like, Western Virginia.

@galadrieljones:

This is New Hill Top

Here are some screen shots of Meridian:

Like I said I have no proof, this is just my current speculation

I also observed Maggie's new fear of heights as something that I think they'll explore further. Surprisingly, Maggie has turned out to be a most mysterious character. The writers have done a great job of capitalizing on her mysterious hiatus and disappearance from TF

It's a rich opportunity to fill in the blanks with really interesting information that, I think, will tie together some of the seemingly disparate lore between the flagship, Fear, and World Beyond, as well as the current spin-offs.

I am also very interested in Hershel's coldness toward Maggie. I see it as a continuation of his brief but telling characterization in season 11, like when he tells the other kids about how he's eating weird animals before, like horse, to stay alive.

I think that Maggie left with Hershel thinking it's what was best for him, but really, it's what was best for her. She instilled in her a kind of PADRE-esque numbness and disposition toward family, friends, and living. He is aloof toward his training and seems to be rebelling against the idea that "living" is possible in this world. This is probably because of the really bad things he was exposed to while on the road with Maggie.

He is artistic, which seems to reflect some sensibility related to Beth, who writes songs and writes in her journal and likes aesthetic beauty.

Only he hides it because even as it is an instinct that lives deep inside of his DNA, he is ashamed, because it communicates that he is human with any sort of emotional vulnerability, which is something he has learned, via Maggie, to suppress at all costs.

I will say I am saddened by Maggie's disposition and how she still seems not to have settled up with Glenn's death. She still has trauma dreams about what happened the night he died. It's been what, like 11-12 years? I really can't tell how old Hershel is supposed to be or how long the time jump is. He seems to be about 12 years old.

This communicates to me though that the writers are acknowledging how one single moment can change a person's entire personality, their entire life and outlook and even their DNA. It's what happened to Daryl after Beth, without a question.

In terms of the scene with Marshal Armstrong in the apartment, I also felt WHAWGO throwbacks. The picture of the two men especially triggered that for me, and how he finds the body. I figured they were brothers, and that the Marshal had been meaning to check on him for a long time but had not had the courage nor the opportunity to do it before.

When he went looking for the gun, I thought it wasn't so much about the gun, but about what the absence of the gun would signal. This was before he found his brother's body. A missing gun would entail that his brother either escaped alive, or that he turned it on himself.

Mostly this scene communicated to me that Marshal is not a villain. They want us to sympathize with him in some way. I think he is doing things he doesn't want to do but thinks he has to in order to maintain order and survive. I think he will come around and help Maggie and Negan at some point, because he will learn what true cruelty is in the Croat.

(or else he'll fall pray to hubris and die in an unfortunate way, a la Wes in Fear, when he aligns with Strand)

I did see the spoon(s), @wdway, and they reminded me of Negan's pointed reference to "Lady Liberty" in the first episode. He talks about how his dad brought him back a souvenir, and that made me think of the D.C. spoon that Beth finds in Still, which is also a souvenir. Also I'm sure we've discussed how "Lady Liberty" is herself a symbol of France.

I also see coffee and pancake mix.

Pancakes are a return ultimately to Lori and the idea of living vs. survival, re: Rick's story about her in Indifference. They're also a callback to Grady. There also seems to be a crack vial on the stove here.

Something i want to point out that I am not sure whether or not it means something is the weird inverse references to fire. Remember in "No Other Way," during Maggie's fight with Carver, Negan rings that fire bell and throws sand in his face?

In the first episode, I noticed, in the hotel room where Negan is staying, the smoke detector is ripped off the wall. Then, in the second episode, when they're in the city, they pass by a cabinet with a missing fire extinguisher.

This is interesting to me, though I really don't know why. It seems to be some sort of reference to Consumed. This whole premise feels like a riff on Consumed, in which two people with a complicated history track and go searching for a missing loved one in a big, apocalyptic metropolis.

Only in Dead City, it's not fire. It's insects, it's guts, it's wetness. It seems like everything is dank and soaked with blood and like it's just moldy and rotten. The lighting is dark and it's perpetually night. In Atlanta, meanwhile, the episode mainly takes place during the day in the hot Georgia sun, beating down on them, and they're all sweaty, on the concrete, everything dry and dusty and there is fire.

The cockroaches felt like the fire in this episode. It's weird, too, because there are so many references to being "unclean." There's a protracted scene in a laundromat right after they're swarmed by roaches. Felt Biblical, then like this modern day reference to cleanliness, but ofc it's all corrupted.

The cockroaches also reminded me o 6.8 "Start to Finish," in which we see the ants marching in the window and swarming the cookie. It's a metaphor for walkers, but also just this idea of hidden dangers, and back to Morgan's instruction about how the dead aren't too dangerous one at a time, but when they all get together, they become very hard to escape.

The pigeon woman was interesting as pigeons are like corrupted doves. She is speaking Hebrew, which is very odd. Was she a Hasidic Jew? Her name is Esther, which is a common Hebrew name. She could also simply be Israeli. Either way, she was Jewish. I don't know that we have any other Jewish characters aside from the Rabbi in Fear named Jacob, who has mysteriously just disappeared.

(I mean, i don't think there's anything to the rabbi disappearing, like he just wasn't very interesting and they just left him in the dust which is fine lol)

But the rabbi shows up with his name, Jacob, and shows Charlie the Ner Tamid, then in the following season, Rachel shows up and has Mo. Within the context of TWDU of shows, Rachel dies right around the same time that Leah is introduced. I think that Rachel's appearance especially is formative of Leah's and meant to highlight the Jacob/Leah reference in TWD as being actually Biblical.

References to Hebrew and Judaism should be looked at closely because Gimple is a practicing Jew and he uses the Old Testament in meaningful ways. Basically I'm saying like, the Jewish references are important, especially when we think about Daryl's story, because clearly the Jacob/Leah/Rachel thing is in play for him. I really can't see any doubt to that at this point.

So I don't really know the point of Esther. She is a little bit like a good luck charm. She leads them to allies, and then she dies. Sort of like the man in the red poncho at the end of season 5.

I do not know what kind of animal is shown around the traps in NYC. It looks like some sort of wolf or fox, but its head reminds me of a Beaver or Otter

Ginny is a lot like Enid, right? Enid also didn't talk for a long time after arriving at ASZ.

We learn Enid's story in JSS, the episode in which the Wolves attack Alexandria. She eats a turtle. She uses the egg timer. There are a million ways in which Enid's story pans out to influence the world of TWD.

I wondered if maybe the story about Oceanside was a lie, though. Like, they just needed something to tell the Hilltop people that didn't sound so mysterious and suspicious.

I am super intrigued by who she might be.

I am also obviously wondering wtf happened to Annie and the baby. I wonder if they're dead or were taken by PADRE people.

I get the feeling we'll learn what happened to them at the end of this first season. It will open into season 2, in which Maggie "owes" Negan and the two go in search of Annie together.

They wouldn't astroturf his relationship with Annie and her pregnancy in season 11 if they didn't have a long term plan.

If it's been a couple of years, and Annie was taken when the baby was small or even when she was still pregnant, that would line up with the PADRE timeline; however, we know now that PADRE has been dismantled, so Annie and her kid might be separated or lost. We may meet them as a function of Madison's storyline or whatever comes after Fear.

Something I also plan to ruminate on a bit is the "Peter Lombardi" poster in the Marshal's brother's apartment. Peter Lombardi isn't a real basketball player. That's an invention. So like, wtf does that reference, i have no idea.

the tagline at the bottom of the poster seems to say "Once a player, always a player." He's #24.

The last name Lombardi is very recognizable as the same last name of the famous football coach Vince Lombardi. Like I said, I'm looking into it lol.

This was another "dead fire" reference, ie: the discarded mini blow torch on the table. I would assume it was used for smoking crack.

(re: the crack pipe on the stove)

@wdway:

I'm really enjoying reading your reviews of DC. There are a couple of comments that I want to make. On the stove in the apartment I noticed the spoon and the coffee can, but totally missed the pancake mix. Great catch. I want to add another pancake reference to the other two that you mentioned.

In Knotts Untie,, when everyone was in the RV headed back to Alexandra after their first visit to Hilltop Abraham made a comment to Glenn about, I can't remember if it was about Bisquick mixing or making the pancakes, same thing though. It was a typical strange comment from Abraham about Glenn impregnating Maggie. It was also where the sonogram picture of baby Herschel was passed around the group for everyone to see.

Daryl's reaction to the sonogram was so bittersweet. Happiness for Glenn and Maggie and heartbreak at how Beth had wanted Maggie and Glenn to have a child.

The other thing I want to say is that I also totally missed the missing fire extinguisher. Wow! I can't believe I didn't notice that. Fire extinguishersand and fire hydrants has always been a Beth symbol. We see them around her especially and also Daryl in Still. Beth is the one who lit the match and started the fire at the Still shack. She also used a mirror at the beginning of that episode to create fire, she is fire and water. The way I interpret the missing fire extinguisher is an obvious nod to Beth being missing.

@galadrieljones:

Good call on the Bisquick! I think he says something like, “When you poured the batter, were you hoping to make pancakes?” or something like that.

Yeah, and the fact they are searching for the source of the smoke. It’s like, the whole thing is this absence of light, absence of fire.

Negan lights the match at one point and the pigeon lady blows it out.

In “Consumed,” I also remember that it begins with Carol seeing the pillar of smoke, which leads her to the girls and Tyreese.

I have a couple other screenshots I want to share as well.

Here's the missing fire extinguisher

A "Dawn" reference. It says "Dawn Lincoln C Come Kill With Us."

Also a Lincoln reference in the same exact sentence

You can see "Macon, GA" clearly in this directory. A reference back to season 4 and Terminus.

It's on p. 270. Does that number ring a bell to anyone?

This shot is extremely dark, so sorry about that. It's the first shot we see of a mannequin at the laundromat. We will see several more after this. Maggie seems to run into mannequins a lot.

Maggie and Negan scale an elevator shaft. Always a fun callback.

One More reference

These are all from the credits.

In the first one, I find it ironic that the city looks like it's on fire, despite what it feels like in the show.

The second one features red gas canisters, and some sort of shopping cart reference.

There's then a rooftop garden, and a small plane.

I found a couple hidden things in the last two, I Spy style

If you look closely you can see that in the circled section it says, "Say Yes." ?

Here in the barb wire at first I just noticed the "A"; however, it could also be a clearly "USA"

These deer interested me

The credits sequence was awesome. I think there's probably more hidden stuff.

@twdmusicboxmystery:

I’m really loving this discussion! Just got all caught up. The idea that DC is just one big replay of Consumed (sort of) is really striking a cord for me. I loved everything you’ve said, and it’s got me thinking in a bunch of directions. It makes me wonder how this will turn out where Hershel is concerned.

As you said, it’s the opposite of Consumed in details—dark, wet vs dry, etc—so does that mean they WON’T find Hershel, because they actually did find Beth? Or will they find him, and he’ll remain alive and make it out in the audience’s minds, where Beth didn’t? I don’t know. But that smoking building is really intriguing when seen through the lens of Carol following various columns of smoke.

And I’ll have to think about this more because this is something they made a point about clear back in S4. Not only did Carol follow it to Tyreese and the girls (which suggests following the smoke leads to finding the people you’re looking for) but they did that whole thing where Mica taught Carol that black smoke meant it was still burning and white/gray smoke meant the fire was out.

And of course Daryl and Beth set that fire in S4, so Bethyl is ground zero for the pillar of smoke. Does that mean Maggie will literally find Beth in the smoking building? Or is Hershel just a stand-in/proxy for her? I also loved the insight that the cockroaches were like the ants on the cookie, representing walkers that will swarm them in the city. I hadn’t thought of that, though I should have.

I had to laugh at how Negan was just like, “Nope.” And they both noped right outta there. (Not that I wouldn’t have done the same. ;D) Anyway, great details about the Daryl clip as well. Great catch on the windows. I totally agree that this might not even be a chronological set of scenes. These may be taken from different parts and patched together. Nothing says a sneak peek has to be chronological. The other option is that they used different buildings for the interior and exterior shots, and they just don’t line up super well. Guess we’ll have to wait and see. Really great finds and insights, though. Loving it!

@wdway:

In reading your comments about the smoke, it reminded me of something I wanted to say earlier today and forgot. Talking of smoke, in Home Sweet Home, when Maggie, Daryl and company were initially going out to look for Maggie's group that had Herschel with them they saw smoke from the burning building going up into the sky through the trees. It immediately reminded me of Carol and the girls in, The Grove, seeing the smoke from the Still shack still burning. By the way Gimple verify that the smoke that Carol and the girls saw was from the Still shack. It was to show how very close all the survivors really were to each other and didn't know it.

Just read this and thought it was a bit of a coincidence since you were just talking about this earlier today. The location of hilltop.

@galadrieljones:

This is pretty interesting. They speculate it’s somewhere in NY or New Jersey. The thing is we know that territories can be huge, and just because they touch a territory adjacent to NYC (New Babylon), that doesn’t mean it has to be right next to it. That said, Bethesda/DC (Meridian) is quite far from Manhattan, over 200 miles.

It’s not a lot considering how far the CW was from like, Alexandria, but idk, again that’s just speculation. Philadelphia IS squarely in the middle between DC and NYC. Maggie is really not far from Rick. But, the time jump is a bit confusing. Idk where Rick might be at this point. And idk what Philadelphia has to do with this. Lots of ppl have speculated the CR is in Philly but I’m not so sure I believe that yet.

Maggie is pretty distracted but you’d think if Rick were back, she’d mention it, or Negan would have maybe heard. They still seem really in the dark about the CRM. Maggie is also separate from the CW and ASZ. And yet, I also have to wonder why Maggie is alone. Why isn’t she with Daryl? Or Carol? Or both? I know Daryl doesn’t like Negan but he’d do anything to help Maggie find Hershel, and so would Carol. She knows this too.

I could see her in seasons past calling on them to help her with something like this. If she has the time to track down Negan then she has the time to call them on the radio and they’d be there in two seconds. That said, are Carol and Daryl in France in this moment? Are they missing? Will we get some mention of them and wtf is going on?

[elamarth-calmagol]

Tumblr just ate the rant I spent a half hour on, so I'm going to try to reconstruct it.

The old Magic School Bus had more layers than the new one. You didn't just learn about science! You also learned a character lesson, like being persistent or not believing things without evidence. Ms. Frizzle was always quoting funnily-named relatives and singing parodies of well-known songs, which actually makes it funnier to watch as an adult because you get all the jokes now. The kids were all color-coded and had catchphrases (though it took Tim two seasons to get one). A few episodes parodied other genres, like 50s monster movies in Spins a Web and Star Trek in Out of this World.

To be fair, I don't think I watched the third season of Rides Again, and it's been a few years, but I felt like there was way less in the way of catchphrases, and I don't remember any parody songs or punny names from the Frizzles. As I remember, The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocci (a literal spaghetti western about simple machines and working together) was the only episode that felt like old Magic School Bus. The rest were as flat and shallow as the animation. And don't get me started on how the old Frizzle always knew exactly what was going on and the new one is going to get a kid killed one of these days.

But the worst thing is what Rides Again did to Phoebe and Wanda. So they decided to add a new character, Jyoti, who is a gadget-obsessed Indian girl, which is great (though personally I'd have wanted her to be Muslim because of Islamophobia in the US). To fit her in, they decided to take out an old character, which is... lazy. There can be nine kids. They decided to take out Phoebe, which is not bad on the surface, but they obviously only picked her because they decided that they had enough white characters and one was disposable. Which I don't say out of some "uwu white people are so oppressed" BS, but because they turned Wanda into Phoebe 2.0, which is completely unforgivable.

They took the class tomboy, thrill seeking, often mean, "weaselly wimps" character and turned her into the feminine, shy, "save the baby animals" character. Look at this: the original Wanda had hair that curved under her head -- really obvious in this image where she's leaning to the side and the tips of her hair are still curved the other way.

But new Wanda has the outward hair flip and the headband from Phoebe (and a really boring color scheme).

Look, there's nothing wrong with Phoebe. She was probably the character I most identified with as a kid. But she is literally the opposite of Wanda. I would have been less offended if they'd made Keisha into Phoebe than Wanda! Why can't girls have a tomboy to project onto? They basically decided they didn't want Wanda anymore, but they still wanted their (nominally) East Asian character, so they took Wanda's name and race (in as much as Rides Again has races) and absolutely nothing else. And then there's the eyelashes... apparently you can't tell if someone is a girl without eyelashes.

It was a great idea to remake Magic School bus with updated science. But it was executed terribly. To me, old Magic School Bus is one of the best kids' TV shows ever, but the new one is just another show, and it kinda sucks.

They De-Tumblrized Ms. Frizzle

[sgt-cookie-2]

At the risk of sounding like a fukkin weeb, I do genuinely dislike the trend in Western media that "being fun to watch" is synonymous with "being for kids", which frankly is far les prevalant in Anime/Manga.

Like, if you look at the top 10 TV Shows according to IMDB's top 250, what do we see (As of 10/12/24)? 1. Breaking Bad 2. Planet Earth 2 3. Planet Earth 4. Band of Brothers 5. Chernobyl 6. The Wire 7. Avatar The Last Airbender 8. Blue Planet 2 9. The Sopranos 10. Cosmos Four of those are documentaries and don't really fall under the criticism I'm giving here, so if we discount those and only include fiction, the list looks more like this:

1. Breaking Bad 2. Band of Brothers 3. Chernobyl 4. The Wire 5. Avatar The Last Airbender 6. The Sopranos 7. Game of Thrones 8. Bluey 9. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 10. Rick and Morty Breaking Bad, Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, The Wire, The Sporanos, Game of Thrones don't get me wrong, they're excellent pieces of media and are legendary TV shows for all the right reasons. But as entertaining as they are, they're not fun. They're very powerful and moving and all that, and for very good reasons, but there's nothing in them that gives you a feeling of hype, of excitement. Avatar: The Last Airbender deals with themes of authoritarianism, genocide, propaganda, racism, sexism, war, peace, abuse, trauma, hate, all sorts of things that the other shows deal with just as much, but it's also allowed to be fun. To be exciting. To have those moments of people coming up against each other. Yet because its animated and the characters don't swear at each other, it's apparently "just a kid's show"?

Bluey is genuinely a young children's show, from the ground up, so it falls outside this general critique. Rick and Morty is an animated sitcom. Sure, that's absolutely not something you can say is "for kids", but that's less to do with the subject matter itself and entirely down to its presentation. Is it "fun"? Yeah, absolutely. It's a fuckin' blast to watch. But it's not something that takes itself seriously.

And then we finally get to the one actual anime on this list*. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an absolutely legendary show that's simultaniously very explicit in how grotesque war is while at the same time keeping that spark of fun and excitement. At its darkest, it's just as dark as some of the other shows on this list, perhaps even darker, but individual episodes have lighter moments than entire series. *(Well, at least this "modified top 10" list I'm working with. The actual IMDB list has way more: Attack On Titan is rank 23, Hunter x Hunter is 33, Death Note is 36, Cowboy Bebop is 42, Frieren is 57, One Piece is 59, DBZ is 67/73 (Somehow), Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War is 76, Vinland Saga is 78, Steins;Gate is 90, Berserk is 94, One Punch Man is 110, Naruto: Shippuden is 113, Monster is 115, Code Geass is 132, Haikyuu!! is 152, Ippo is 162, Demon Slayer is 171, OG Dragonball is 185/188 (Again, somehow), Samurai Champloo is 196, Jujutsu Kaisen is 203, Mob Psycho 100 is 212, Neon Genesis Evangelion is 222, Rurôni Kenshin is 234, FMA: 2003 is 235, Your Lie In April is 245, Gintama is 246.) The only western media that really captures that same spirit of being fun are comic books. But how many people think of comic books as something for kids? How prevalant is the stereotype that the only adults who read comic books are virgin nerd losers? I've been trying to get back into novel reading recently and almost every book I try to read is either some super gritty "Everything is awful, everyone is a piece of shit and only bastards survive in this world" or some basically zero-stakes "cozy" novel. I want stakes, I want danger, but I don't want the characters to be awful people doing awful things just to survive. I want them to be exciting, I want them to be having the time of their god damn lives. But that's just not "realistic" so of course, we can't have that. No, they have to be bastards living in a bastard world. Because having hope that things might get better is childish.

(That's not to say I haven't tried those types of novel of course! I managed to get through the entire Malazan Book of The Fallen series. And I have Opinions tm. My two biggest criticisms are: About half the events that happen don't matter and the ending was less satisfying than Game Of Thrones. It didn't feel like an ending, it felt like an excuse to stop.) Now, of course, I'm not saying that Anime/Manga is inherently better than Western media, it's just a format at the end of the day. Monster, Death Note, Vinland Saga, these are all excellent pieces of media that can't really be described as "fun" in the same way. But how many anime/manga can you think of that are fun, yet take themselves seriously? That play those dark themes completely straight? Western media has a habit of equating "fun" with either "children" or "comedy". It doesn't always, of course. The John Wick films play their themes totally straight and they're hype as fuck for it. The Dark Knight is literally a Batman film. Tarantino's entire filmography is simultaniously great fun and completely straight. The entire MCU or Star Wars are also examples. (But even the fuckin' MCU is literally based on comic books). But the point I'm making is that when it comes to non-kids shows, western media being "fun" is the exception, while for anime/manga, it being deathly serious is. Even fucking Berserk, the darkest fucking fantasy around, has those moments of absolute hype and excitement that you just don't really see much in western-made media. In conclusion, Western media just isn't as comfortable with the idea that things can both be "serious" and "hype as fuck" as Anime/Manga is and that's a real detritment to western media as a whole. I would absolutely love to see a TV show that's allowed to be fun, yet at the same time, actually considered "serious" entertainment and you just don't really see that much. It's either trying to be "in on the joke" with a wink and a nod as if to say "Yeah, we know this isn't meant to be taken seriously, so we're not even gonna try", or it treats the fact jokes exist with disgust.