#if anyone starts some white clownery on this post i will take a sword to your kneecaps i swear to god

[eijispumpkin]

copying over (and expanding on) some thoughts from twitter bc im in a mood about how people respond to seeing comments abt eiji being “too soft for this world” and a “pure baby who must be protected” and “probably not even knowing how to swear”.

if i think about it too hard, i get genuinely pissed off at how the bf fandom just Refuses to acknowledge racist fan behavior and pretends everything is just abt [pretentious and pedantic] comparisons btwn the chad manga fans vs the virgin anime-onlies uwuwuuwu!!!

like...... come ON yall... shut UP about manga eiji vs anime eiji for a minute and consider: actually, sometimes people are just being racist! even unintentionally! bc racism is insidious and interwoven into a LOT of things!

those statements up there are TEXTBOOK examples of the desexualization and infantilization of asian men. which is a long-standing racist stereotype in lots of the western world (particularly america, which is the case i know most about given that i live here). this is TEXTBOOK RACISM. and yet all anyone has to really say is “um well the manga lets eiji say fuck so you guys are just wrooong”??? are you fucking serious???

literally everyone in the anime got censored, not just eiji, bc mappa had different guidelines than the manga publishing company. if u cant visualize a character as a dick unless they swear out the ass maybe that's a problem with ur analysis skills lmfao!!!!

but then again, i don’t see anyone complaining HALF so much about ash not getting to say fuck, shit, etc. what’s up with that? it couldnt possibly have anything to do with ingrained stereotypes making everyone assume the asian boy is infantile unless the evidence otherwise is (like in the manga) so jarring it's impossible to ignore... right? it’s not that people just fill in eiji’s characterization based on racial stereotypes... right? it couldn't POSSIBLY be that everyone is reading anime eiji as "declawed" and "too cutesy" simply because he doesn't swear, even though no one else does either and i don't see any complaints about anime ash being "declawed"... right????

like, uh, yeah, sorry manga snobs but i need yall to either take the “stop asian hate” out of your carrds and bios or do some critical thinking. "the anime censored eiji the most--" no, anime eiji got no more censored than anyone else. he still pulls his “clumsy japanese boy” shtick and calls ash a frail anemic maiden. it’s just that he doesn’t outright say “fuck” or make dick jokes - which i’ll note nobody else does either - so yall are just assigning him character traits based on racial stereotypes about [young] asian men, bc it's easier to ignore his actual characterization when censors are in place.

and like. i know thats not what most people who say this shit intend to be saying. but that’s how racism is! that’s how stereotypes work! they get in your head and you don’t even think about them as being about race, especially when they don’t affect you! and unlearning shit like this is a life-long process. that includes working on yourself even in spaces “for fun”. because until that racism is acknowledged and dealt with, those spaces aren’t actually all that fun for the rest of us.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Reviews: Life Is Unfair

WandaVision finished last week and i had planned to write and entire review about it as, you know. ‘m a hardcore Marvel shill, bu i opted to wait a bit. I wanted time to let the show marinate and then revisit it all at once to see if i still felt the way i did during the initial run. I’ve written little standalone posts, her and there, about specific episodes or characters as the show aired but i wanted to kind of document everything good and bad, that i noticed watching the MCU’s fist attempt at long form content. Objectively, I'm probably still pretty bias toward the show because it’s been a year since we got any new MCU content so there might not be a ton of critique in this bad boy. Plus, i really like Darcy so this thing already starts with bonus points.

The Good

The overall concept of this how being Wanda’s journey through the stages of grief was brilliant. I don’t know if this was ever officially acknowledged, but you can actually see a stage for every two episodes. Denial is basically the entirety of the first two episodes while seven and eight are straight up Depression. Going back through knowing that really makes for a far more potent watch.

I mentioned Darcy before but i really liked how Jimmy Woo got to shine here as well. Dude was one of the best things about Ant-Man II and i just really want dude to get bumped up into SWORD already.

The acting in this is exceptional. I wrote about Lizzy Olsen’s outstanding performance in it’s own posts a while back, but i need to acknowledge Paul Bettany as well. Dude is great in his role as Vision and i was a little bummed he got bumped off so soon after his introduction. I’m so glad Feige gave him such legs with this role because it really did Bettany a service in letting him actually show us who his Vision truly is.

Actually, the entire cast was pretty dope, overall. The child actors were kind of whack but they’re kids so that stands to reason but everyone else, did a decent job. The writing was pretty temperamental overall but everyone did their very best with the material given to them.

This series was pretty dope to look at. Like, the visual effects were spectacular at times. Not all of the time. There are chinks in the armor but, as a whole, this thing was very pleasing on the eye.

But dat White Vision, tho! White Vision is the Vision i grew up with as a kid. He was in that Avengers game and, at the time i got into comics, the primary Vision on the Avengers squad. I’ve always preferred that version of the character, mostly for nostalgia reasons, but i understood the red and green was classic styles. I carried no illusions about seeing a White Vision in the MCU but then BAM! WandaVision brings MY Vision to the Little Big Screen and i am forever grateful.

The sitcom aesthetic was a fun framing device. I really enjoyed recognizing all these shows that i used to watch growing up. When they hit me with the Malcolm in the Middle episode, i was the only one among my friends that immediately knew the reference. Malcolm is a lost gem, a classic in the sitcom hierarchy that more people should definitely watch. It f*cking launched Bryan Cranston’s career. We wouldn’t have Walter White if not for Hal Wilkerson.

Wanda’s Scarlet Witch costume is dope as f*ck. I was surprised she actually got a suit as, if i recall, her character wasn’t supposed to ever go full hero like that that. She even said the tiara thingy was dumb. Fast forward a decade later and there she is, tiara thingy and all.

The Meh

That Fox-Men Quicksilver bait was superfluous. Evan Peters was great, as always, but superfluous. His appearance in this show was unnecessary. A lot of people were crazy upset about the “reveal” but i didn’t care. I was pretty sure this show wasn’t going to be the mutant backdoor everyone wanted it to be.

The Bad

Monica’s origin kind of sucks. The actress, herself, did a great job with what he had but the overall character arc was a little flaccid. They did a disservice to Teyonah Parris with that. There were hints that she’s capable of much more, particularly the opening seen where she returns from the Snap, but that potential was never fully realized and it’s unfortunate. It makes her overall character feel inconsequential.

Also, the f*ck are those powers, man? Monica in the comics is a straight up powerhouse, especially in her current Spectrum persona. It’s a little ridiculous to me that she would get dog-walked so easily by literally anyone she came into contact with. Bro, Monica is on the Ultimates. She shares space with Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Captain Marvel, and America Chavez. T’Chala is a top ten genius in the Marvel Universe, so is Adam Brashear on top of being a living anti-mater generator, Carol Danvers is probably the most powerful human hero currently in the 616, and America can literally punch her way into other dimensions. And Monica’s power set slides right in line with those people. Plus, they have a pet Galactus. But MCU Monica stopped bullets by letting them Vision phase through her body kind off. The audacity!

They did my girl Agatha so wrong. When she was Agnes, she was dope as f*ck! I loved her insidious suggestion and the way she just inserted herself into everything; It was delicious! Kathryn Hahn was great as Agnes. And then she went full witch and lost all of that charm. It was so disappointing, you know? She was well on her way to becoming a second Justin Hammer only to be relegated to the same level of clownery as Yellowjacket or Malekith.

While touching on Agatha’s generic villain-ness, her climactic battle with Wanda was so cliche. It as really disappointing. You have two, dumb powerful witches, and you resort to what is effectively laser beam in the sky. There was a distinct lack of imagination for so much potential available.

How is Vision a Vision without the Mind Stone? That was the bulk of his power. How is White Vision doing the same thing without the literally cosmic forced that predates the universe, powering his abilities? Questions for later i guess?

The pacing in this thing is mad wonky. Those first three episodes upon re-watch drag like nobody’s business. It picks up after that for three or four more episodes, but you can definitely tell those last few were mad rushed. It’s a crazy uneven show altogether but i can’t say it really takes you out of it

Tyler Hayward is a terrible villain. Arguably, the worst.

The Verdict

WandaVision was pretty okay, definitely the right show for which to introduce us to Phase Four. That said, it peaked way too early, man. Like, i enjoyed this thing thoroughly, it's a nice start to what looks to be a darker turn for the MCU, but it felt kind of wonky. Bad pacing, man, and SO many loose strings to tie going forward. There were some lackluster character choices, Monica feels dumb underdeveloped, but all in all? Not bad. If this thing were a movie, I'd say it'd be about upper mid tier. About as good as Endgame and, say, Guardians II. WandaVision is better than everything in Phase One but staggers against the better films in Phase Two and doesn’t even touch It can't touch the best in the Franchise. Iron Man, Infinity War or Winter Soldier blow this show out of the water. As a vehicle for Wanda Maximoff, it is excellent. This is definitely her origin story, even if it doesn’t stick the landing as assuredly as i would have wanted.