#imo this is STILL the best animation I've ever seen! and to think it was freaking 2010 😱

[celestialowlryx]

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole + visually stunning scenes that took my breath away

[gffa]

Hi :)

I'm a pretty new SW fan, not because I didn't like the movies/hadn't seen them but because I grew up thinking it was extremely nerdy and would often feel awkward trying to bring up anything related to SW.

Fortunately I've finally reached and met awesome people who love SW just like I did but I feel like I lost A LOT of important stuff and there's so much content to the saga that it's extremely overwhelming for me to even think about diving into the whole SW universe and catch up.

I've been following you for a bit and your posts are just extremely interesting to me but again, sometimes I'm a little confused about certain things and so I wanted to ask you if you had any recommendations about where to start catching up (besides the movies which I will be binge watching soon hehe)

Hi! Welcome to Star Wars fandom, I hope you're having a good time! And around here we embrace being as nerdy as possible--I mean, fandom is such a mainstream thing these days, but I still like to embrace being a nerd about things because it leads to a lot more happiness, to just be silly and having a good time with the thing that tickles our brains.

But, yes, it is pretty overwhelming when you're first arriving, I still remember when I first came back to SW several years ago, having really only watched the movies as a kid, and there was All This Stuff and it seemed impossible to ever reach the deep end of the pool, and that was before the last seven years of books, games, movies, comics, etc. came out! I will hopefully set your mind at ease with this, though: The vast, vast majority of content that Star Wars puts out isn't anything I would consider "essential". It's wonderful, fantastic stuff! But a lot of us have just been around so long that we're combing through the finer details of supplementary material, rather than those being absolute Must-Read/Watch To Get A Feel For Star Wars.

My recommendations for How To Get A Feel For Star Wars is basically, start with the animated series and the live action series, they're the second layer of foundation in the Star Wars building, all the comics and novels and such will be built on them, and in this order: - The movies, this is the foundation on which everything else will be built. - The Clone Wars, season 1-6 are part of George Lucas' story and they're pretty essential (at least in this corner of SW fandom) to understanding wtf anyone is talking about or even watching many of the live action series. (Season 7 is fine and should be watched! It's just not part of Lucas' Star Wars.) - Star Wars: Rebels, starts off light-hearted but really is one of the best developed shows and does a lot of connective work between the prequels and the original trilogy. - The Mandalorian, set 9 years after Return of the Jedi, this show just massively blew up and while each season is slightly less well-done than the previous one (imo), it's well worth watching for wtf fandom is talking about half of the time. (The Book of Boba Fett is somewhat optional in this corner of fandom, but imo worth the watch. Generally, it should go Mando s1-2 --> TBOBF --> Mando s3.) - Obi-Wan Kenobi, because this corner of fandom lost our goddamned minds about it and still haven't gotten them back. - Andor, which is a really great show and, as long as you've watched Rogue One first, you'll follow along just fine. Does some solid connecting the dots between the prequels and the originals, but not as much as Rebels did. - Jedi: Fallen Order, you can look up a "movie" version on YouTube for the story of this game, which is a really good plot, has some great new characters, has some genuinely effective cameos, and will be referenced fairly often in other materials/in fandom.

If you're not feeling overwhelmed by All The Star Wars You've Consumed, I would personally suggest going for the comics next, over any of the novels. The novels are great! But the vast majority of them are self-contained and meant to be supplementary material even more than the comics, which get to tell bigger, more connected stories. I always suggest starting with: - Star Wars 2015 by Jason Aaron + Darth Vader 2015 by Kieron Gillen, both of which are really, solidly fantastic stories about the timeframe just after A New Hope, like there are so many absolutely banger lines that came out of these comics. I won't spoil them, just know that I think these were legitimately good comics, not just legitimately good Star Wars comics. (The first six issues of each series are meant to be read concurrently, but after that, you can just pick one and read in that specific title.) - Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith 2017 by Charles Soule, which is set in the immediate aftermath of Revenge of the Sith. If Gillen's Vader keeps the mystique of the originals Unknowable Darth Vader, then Soule's Vader is more about the absolute BATSHIT DRAMA that is blending Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader. This series is BANANAPANTS in the absolute best way. - Obi-Wan & Anakin 2015 by Charles Soule, which is a five-issue mini-series set between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and is both stunningly beautiful art and a solidly good plot that survives fairly serious analysis of. It's got some great worldbuilding details, but even more I like it for the look at why a young Anakin chooses to stay with the Jedi Order.

The one book I will recommend--for a list aimed at getting you caught up on what fandom is referencing--is the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, that book is quoted constantly, and I'm not sure any other SW book has ever been as good as it is.

I feel like this is the best set of reading to get you familiarized with the source material that tends to come up the most! There's lots more that's really good, but once you get through the above, you can let me know what era or characters you're most interested in or if you have a specific question about something and want to see where it comes from!

But there's one thing to address and you're kinda going to have to figure out how to approach it on your own. 😂 There is a ton of stuff in SW fandom that's ostensibly from a book or a comic, but the version in fandom often comes from those who never actually read the books/haven't read them in a long time or are just picking them up from other fic and meta.

For example, the AgriCorps or Melida/Daan get referenced in fic and in posts all the time, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend reading the Jedi Apprentice series (I mean, I'm not your mom, feel free if you want to!) and often times how they're used in fic is not how they were used in the source material. Or the clones speaking Mando'a comes from the Legends books by Karen Traviss and she is a whole big can of ugly worms (both what she wrote and her IRL politics), as well as much of what she wrote was overwritten/discarded when The Clone Wars came out, but fandom likes the idea and so they put that into their fics (as they should, if they like it!). The idea of Mace using the lightsaber form of Vaapad is from Legends sources (the best source probably being the Shatterpoint novel by Matthew Stover, I'd guess?), same for his ability to see "shatterpoints" in the Force, which aren't part of Lucas' continuity or Disney's continuity, but fandom enjoys using them to flesh out Mace's character. This will get you started and, if you're looking for something more specific, feel free to ask, I enjoy these kinds of question--and don't feel you have to stick with any of the above if they're not fun for you. This is meant to be enjoyable, it's meant to have a good time, there's no wrong way to consume Star Wars media! <3

[bonefall]

Hi Bones!! Thank you for you hard work on this project and for sharing it with us!

I've seen your posts about weird representation of society (regarding the "natural order of things") in xenofiction, especially in lion king, so I wanted to ask:

could you recommend any xenofiction media that has all (or most of the) animal species sapient? Or is the only solution to make just one or two species sapient while the others (especially prey) are plain animals?

Really sorry if you've seen this ask from me before - my account had a weird laggy period when I couldn't send or receive messages and asks, so I don't know if you got the previous one! I just know that now it's fixed so I double all the asks sent haha

Honestly I'm not totally sure! If any 3rd person has some good recommendations for "every being is alive" xenofiction types, feel free to weigh in.

If you want to jump in with me though, I am following the webcomic Africa. It updates every Wednesday. Africa is about a mother Leopard on the verge of a great ecological disaster, the relationship between her children and the animals around her, and the strength of both instinct and choice as the characters face an uncertain future.

Since it's ongoing, I still don't know how it's going to end and can't judge it as a full work! But it's absolutely fascinating and I think the author is doing a fantastic job so far. Bonus points for the way it portrays humans, btw.

No more spoilers though, if you're interested, it's on Webtoons.

(I'm also planning to read Oren's Forge soon. Ask me about it again in a few months over on Bonebabbles and I'll give you my thoughts)

As an aside though, funny you mention it because like... ever since I was a kid I've had a story I want to tell with the premise. It's a scintilla I've kept close to me for well over a decade but haven't done anything official with. So this is actually a theme I've thought about a lot.

It's rare to see it done well though because like... its very premise butts heads with reality. The "natural order" that an animal follows is not something it moralizes. A tiger doesn't have the capacity to think about how fucked up it is to kill to stay alive, the deer doesn't know that if its population isn't controlled it will destroy the forest.

They're animals. They don't HAVE that agency. Your dog does not care about being sterilized. A snake doesn't differentiate between a pinky and an adult mouse except in terms of if it will fit in its mouth. But the minute you put human morality in there... they have the ability to reason, create and agree on the rules of a society, make choices about MORALITY.

If nothing is going to change about their world, you just end up putting human arguments about "natural order" in their mouths and, well... start telling a parable justifying this "natural order."

(Genuine) Does what I'm saying make sense? Animals DON'T rationalize or negotiate. HUMANS do.

So the minute you're approaching a world with that logic, like it or not, you are invoking those "arguments from nature." And you're putting them in a being that is not fully an animal or a human, but an anthropomorphic mix which CAN rationalize but WON'T make an effort to change their world.

(Which is why tbh the best examples i know of are works with a theme of "change.")

OH WAIT I also remember another that's interesting!! Leafy: Hen into the Wild actually has a fascinating take on it. It's not interested in "moralizing" or really being about an animal society. It's a very emotional sort of movie, and it's about joys in adversity, the freedom that choice gives you, how bad things are going to happen and you can never completely prevent them.

INTENSE movie emotionally, the ending will wreck you (especially in the English translation which leaves out a really important theme making it feel abrupt x_x) but it's really good. Check that one out.

OH and also You Are Umasou. That one has more pitfalls imo (it does try to moralize a bit) but it's super unique as a movie. And is about dinosaurs.

[nikibogwater]

Ya girl's been SICK this week (my first time getting Covid, yaaaay), which sucked, but it did mean I finally had the time to properly binge the How to Train Your Dragon movies for the first time since The Hidden World released. I've never actually sat down and watched all three films back-to-back before, even though this was THE film franchise of my teenage years. But having finally done so, I have Thoughts™.

First movie is still arguably the best of the three, if only because it's an entirely self-contained narrative. The script is really tight and focused, and the whole thing is really well-paced. The animation actually looks way better than I remembered, but that might just be because this was my first time watching it on Blu-Ray instead of digital.

First movie also still has the best soundtrack of the three (which is saying a lot, considering John Powell was absolutely COOKING with all three movies). "Test Drive" is just too iconic to be outdone.

I really like Astrid's character arc in the first movie. I normally don't like tough-as-nails girlboss characters because they're so often one-dimensional and boring, but she works really well for me because her girboss-ness is as much a flaw as it is a strength. While she is athletic and competitive in her own nature, she's also under a lot of pressure to be a tough warrior, since that's what her society values. I love the way Hiccup brings out her softer side, how he shows her through Toothless that it's ok to be gentle, that compassion is a strength in its own right. I love the way she in turn becomes his pillar of support and comfort. Somehow I'd forgotten just how good Hiccstrid really is.

It's weird re-watching the second film as an adult, because I can still clearly remember a time when it was just the coolest thing ever. The second film was really what sold me on the series as a whole, to be honest. Like, don't get me wrong, I always loved the first one, but the second is where I really started getting into the worldbuilding and characters.

So it's weird to come back to it now and find out it's....actually the weakest of the three films (in my opinion, anyways). I can't quite put my finger on why, but the second film feels like it "drifts along" more than the other two. Like things "just happen" without as much input from the characters. Again, I'm not sure why it feels like that, because it's not like the characters aren't proactive and shaping the way the story unfolds.

None of that is to say that the second movie is bad by any stretch of the imagination. It introduces a bunch of really cool new concepts that do a great job of expanding the world and characters. It just had that weird drifty feeling to it that the other two lacked. Does anyone even know what I'm talking about here, or am I just crazy??

It's nuts how much of a touchstone "For the Dancing and the Dreaming" became in fandom culture. Ten years later, and I still see this song popping up in fics from every fandom under the sun. I think that's a testament to how beautiful Stoic and Valka's reunion was.

Unfortunately, Drago Bludvist is....not a very good villain, imo. He kinda just screams a lot, and that's it. His whole thing of imitating dragons in order to subdue them is cool, but it really needed to be backed up by a stronger personality. But it's not too much of an issue since really, his Bewilderbeast is the real obstacle for the heroes to overcome.

Now, The Hidden World is a weirdly controversial movie within the fandom. I still see people whose hatred for this film rivals that of the Tales of Arcadia fandom's hatred for Rise of the Titans. Which...I gotta admit, doesn't make a ton of sense to me. Like, I can understand not liking the bittersweet ending, but it's not as though THW went out of its way to ruin the entire series.

Looking at the series as a whole, I'd say THW feels like the most logical and organic conclusion to the series. Especially if you've read the books or seen the tie-in tv shows. I knew going into this movie that it would end with the dragons leaving--DeBlois even told us as much in an interview leading up to the film's release. And I'm okay with that.

The first movie touches on the theme of loss with Hiccup's leg. The second movie digs into that theme a bit more, with the loss of his parents (first Valka, who thankfully is found again, then Stoic). The Hidden World dives headfirst into the idea. Loss is no longer a mere consequence of the story's events, but the thematic backbone of the whole movie. And it's here that I realized the series has always been about loss, because the series has always been about growing up. You can't mature without losing something, whether it's a place, a person, or your childhood naivete.

HTTYD uses its fantastic premise to explore a painful reality of our own world, and it does so in a way that's entertaining, sincere, and encouraging. Hiccup has lost so much on his journey to adulthood, but he's also grown strong enough to be able to rise above it. He'll be okay. Toothless will be okay. And we'll all be okay too. Idk, maybe I'm reading too much into it, but that's my takeaway from the series, and it's definitely something that I've needed to hear more than once as I've grown up.

Grimmel is definitely a huge step up from Drago for me. He's essentially who Hiccup would have become if he'd lacked that compassion that caused him to spare Toothless in the first film. I also love his overall demeanor and presence. He's not a force of nature, or a feral war-lord. He's just a Guy who is very, very good at his job and knows it. Plus, F. Murray Abraham just has a really cool voice.

Unfortunately, as much as I like Grimmel as a villain, he's still outclassed by Viggo Grimborn from Race to the Edge.

I can't get over how insanely good the visuals are in this series. Especially the textures. Like, there's times in the first movie where the textures look so good that the actual models almost can't keep up. I can see what Toothless's scales feel like, the scratchy weave of Hiccup's tunic, the coarse fur of Stoic's cloak. HTTYD is the only series I can think of that seamlessly pulls off a "realistic" look with animation. The world feels real, without taking away from the suspension of disbelief that makes animation such a freeing medium. It's as if they came to the edge of the uncanny valley, then got into a hot air balloon and floated across without ever touching it.

Looking back, I think this was just the perfect series to be a teenager with. It's just the right blend of action, adventure, and emotion, all wrapped up in a wholesome and often heart-rending tale of a boy and his dragon growing up together. I really wish we could have more series like this.

(Edit) Also the Light Fury is my favorite dragon species in the entire series, no I will not take that back, she's super pretty and sparkly and I just want to pat her on her cute nubby head.

[thatgirlinskullz]

The Acolyte SPOILER THOUGHTS after the s1 finale

okay, now that the season is over, i guess i can try and sum up my thoughts on the show overall..

is it a perfect show? absolutely not. but what Star Wars is perfect? NONE OF IT. and i say that as someone who LOVES all the star war i've consumed so far.

wonky dialogue and delivery IS an essential part of sw at this point, starting with the originals and don't even try to argue with that. no point. but we love sw anyway, right? because of the overall story, the characters and the messages it tries to convey.

so yes, the acolyte does have some weird dialogue in parts, delivery is not always perfect, seems a little.. unnatural? might be the best word i can use for it.

there's also pacing issues, which can mostly be attributed to the UNBELIEVABLY SHORT episode runtimes.. most episodes were 30-35 minutes EXCUSE ME???? of course they can't fit in story, character moments and scenes that set up the world/environment they're in. omg that annoyed me so much. establishing shots have ALWAYS been a huge part of sw, showing the scenery, the sky, multiple suns or moons, showing space, the area in which our characters will appear, showing the animals and people of the planet, etc. that has always been important to make the galaxy feel real and lived-in, but this time, with the short runtimes, unfortunately it all feels like wasted time, that we could instead be spending with our characters and progressing the story. and i kinda hate that. don't get me wrong, i loved all the establishing shots but i couldn't help but feel like "damn, move along, i wanna see the story, we only have 10 more minutes left". and i think that's one of the biggest issues with the show. not the wonky lines or their deliveries, but how it feels like it didn't get enough time to shine, and some parts feel unnecessary, while others feel rushed. and i'm about 90% sure that this is NOT on the writers but the executives who only gave them 8x 35min episodes....

but i don't want to just focus on the """bad""", because the show IS GOOD!! firstly, all the actors are gorgeous, talented people, and imo gave the best performances they could given all the above as their circumstances, i wouldn't be surprised if some of the deliveries felt off because cuts were made. the actors all embodied their characters fully, they made you fall in love with them right away, and THAT is an accomplishment.

Lee Jung-Jae is a phenomenal actor, who stole my heart immediately as Sol, and i was 100% convinced he's like Qui-Gon, BOY WAS I WRONG. but he made me believe in him, and love him. all his lines carried so much weight, because he IS JUST THAT GOOD! he sold me on Sol with his first minute on screen and i didn't want to believe he could ever do anything wrong. I loved this character and Lee Jung-Jae's portrayal deserves awards imo.

Amandla Stenberg has been someone i've admired for years now, they are such a talent, so underrated and underutilized in film. they can evoke such emotion with just one look, it still blows me away. i really like both Mae and Osha, tho i wish they had more time together so we could have seen more of their dynamic, instead of just misunderstandings, fights and running away from each other - but i guess that's part of their dynamic too. Amandla did a great job with the emotional scenes AND the fights (tho i'm never sure when it's them or a stunt person), and i can't wait to see more of Mae and Osha's story. I am so happy Amandla is in SW.

Manny Jacinto is one of the most beautiful men on this planet, AND he's talented, and i am so happy people are finally realizing it! he pulls you in no matter what version of his character he's playing. he just makes you want to know more and spend more time with his character, and i find that incredible. The costume department also knew what they were doing cuz DAMN that outfit showing those arms and his physique. DAYUMMM. (i'm sorry) I don't think i've had such high interest in a dark side user since Maul, and that's saying something. i really hope to see more of Qimir in SW and Manny Jacinto in more films/big shows because HE IS SO GOOODDD. he deserves the recognition he's finally getting 100%!!!

some other things i loved about the show that are very spoilery:

more force witches because the nightsisters can't be the only ones!!

the returning idea of twins, possibly a force dyad.. love how twins are utilized throughout sw, kind of showing the duality of a person in a more physical way.

the use of "a certain point of view" was incredible in this show. i loved how they showed different perspectives of the same events, and how they emphasized that the jedi are not always the "good guys" if you're looking at it from the outside. i dont think this undermines anything about the jedi, only expands on the idea of the jedi imo.

a wookie jedi swinging a lightsaber -- we've only seen Gungi until now as far as i know, so having Kelnacca actually do stuff, (even if not exactly the way i wanted it to happen), was such an amazing experience. GIVE MORE WOOKIES LIGHTSABERS PLEASE!!

bleeding the kyber crystals. OMG I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG and it was beautiful. they did such an amazing job with putting it on screen. what a time to be a sw fan.

lightsaber throwing!!!! OMG THAT'S MY MOVE IN ALL THE GAMES!!! no, but seriously, that's such a cool thing to see in a canon sw show, i don't think we've seen a lot of lightsaber throwing in sw outside of the games, and it was so fun to see on screen!

lightwhip?! hellooo??!! i really wanna see more of it, and i wanna learn how and why it exists and how it works (i guess i need to read the books, huh?)

a variety of saber designs for all the jedi to signify their personalities and styles, AND cool-ass lightsabers like Qimir's???? omg that was was a really good design, how he could pull it apart into a big and small saber.

possible plagueis cameo??? idk if its him but damn that was cool. would be a shame if we didn't get a s2....

yoda in high republic era???!!! i knew it would just be a cameo, and i knew it would be right at the end, but it was still nice to see his lil green head

i've had the whole day to process the episode and think this over, but overall, despite its issues i loved this show.

i think they had some really great ideas, amazing actors and costumes and sets, the only problem is, the show was not given enough time. and i don't know what the problem was - highly doubt the writers or showrunner wanted it this way but i could be wrong.

i think this story, this era in SW has a lot of potential, and if/when we get a season 2 i really hope the creatives are given more freedom and more time to delve into more aspects of the world and characters. this COULD BE one of the greatest Star Wars stories IF given enough care and time. idk if it will be. so far so good, in my opinion, but there's definitely room for improvement, and i just hope they will take all the actual valid criticism from the actual fans, and make this a SW story that will live on for generations.

anyway, I LOVE STAR WARS

i did not come here to fight or argue, so if you don't agree or don't like the show, good for you, just let others enjoy it and share their opinions.

be nice to each other please.

and watch more star wars.

[doubleddenden]

Okay I had a whole thing typed that was my review for the new Pokémon dropped in Indigo Disk, but tumblr ate it, so take 2

Starting with my favorite, Archaludon. It's a dragon, a kaiju, also a stapler remover, also a bridge with power cables inside. This is a really cool design overall and fixes what I dislike about Duraludon, and it's fun to play with. 9/10

Hydrapple fixes what I dislike about Dipplin, but does make Flapple and Appletun a bit obsolete. Regardless, it's a fun idea and concept- I love that 7 Syrpents (which I guess aren't individually pokemon on their own? Slowbro Shelder situation I guess) make up 1 pokemon. It's silly but fun. 8/10

Also these two are neat because the concepts tie into New York/ Unova if we look at it through lense of Archaludon's Sky Arrow Bridge being based on Brooklyn Bridge and Rainbow Bridge, and Hydrapple clearly being a Big Apple reference. Very creative

Onto the paradoxes

Raging Bolt is interesting. I prefer Raikou, and I'll be the first to admit that I do not give a shit about how many cultural or historical references are in a design, if it looks like shit its a shit design. But this design is pretty okay, and because of that I can appreciate ALL of the inspirations that went into its design.

First off, with the Beast Paradoxes drawing inspiration from dinosaurs, we have Raging Bolt as the Thunder Lizard- aka Brontosaurus. That alone is meat, but it's still pretty mammalian compared to Walking Wake- that's because there's references to something called a Questing Beast. In Medieval times, before the age of cameras or fact checking, a description of an animal far far away- such a giraffe- can get twisted abd distorted via several games of telephone until we get to a creature that combines the lower body of a leopard and deer and the neck and head of a snake- aka the Questing Beast. Raging Bolt plays a bit with all of these ideas in a pretty unique and fun way. 8/10

Iron Crown- admittedly the Justice Paradoxes suffer a bit from the same "just make it a robot" mentality that plagues other Violet Paradoxes, but the Swords of Justice got the better end of it, I'd say. Iron Crowns in particular actually fixes what I hate about Cobalion by adding segments to the legs and thus making them feel less like bipedal knees on a quadrupedal animal.

It's signature move, Tachyon Cutter, also looks so cool in action by making the horns HUGE and GLOWING. That's awesome imo. 8/10

And now the new paradoxes we knew were coming

Gouging Fire, Entei's Paradox. I'll say that I like it, although this is the least changed of the Beasts and is basically just Entei in a fancy hat. Hey, that's fine though.

The dinosaur Entei is based on is some kind of ceratopsian blend. I personally thought they'd go in that direction with a triceratops design, so I was close. The head dress piece actually gives me Ho-Oh vibes, in particularly the gold and greens, which could be purposeful and root the Beasts Paradoxes back to the Beast's master, Ho-Oh. Fun design, 8/10

Iron Boulder. This one imo is more of the "robot" angle but done in a very good way. I like Terrakion best out of the Swords to begin with, but only at certain angles in 2d (they murdered him in SV. Murdered. He looks like a cross eyed frog now.) Iron Boulder takes the bulky build of Terrakion and makes it work better in 3d by incorporating spherical and cone builds along its body and head.

It definitely looks the LEAST like a psychic type out if any psychic type I've ever seen, but that's fine. Like Iron Crown with its twin horns and Iron Leaves with its 3 blades, Iron Boulder has a cool looking sword move- his turns his two larger horns into ONE MASSIVE GLOWING BLADE. THAT'S REALLY COOL! 8/10

And now. The Boy

Terapagos is a cute design that becomes more elegant, refined, and Stellar as it becomes stronger. While I'm a bit disappointed at how they handled it in story after a year of build up, I do think the designs after it's base form are incredibly detailed and creative.

The type patterns on its shell actually shift and change smoothly to other types, and the Terastilized form is even more incredible by representing every type plus a hat version of its original form. Beautiful, yet imposing, and a tad silly. The dome is an interesting take that I believe might represent the world or perhaps even a larger turtle- the design could reference one of many World Turtle mythologies and possibly have it represent a planet in space, or maybe a Turtle floating in the ocean, perhaps it's even a reference to the Tale of Urashima Taro. If Terapagos was available in Blueberry Academy- which I think it started out that way in planning- it could even represent the Terarium itself. Perhaps a deeper story was originally planned but dropped- like the castles and gigantic tree of Crown Tundra.

Regardless, base form is a 6/10. Its cute but kinda pointless. The other forms though are 8/10 though for incredible execution, wonderful and pleasing use of color, and overall just being great.

This batch of new Pokémon is way better than Teal Mask's, let's be real. For the paradoxes, I'll say the Future ones got better after Iron Leaves, while Walking Wake was the peak for the Beasts. Ogerpon wins for cutest legendary with the best build up, but Terapagos definitely wins for best design. This batch is an everall 8/10

[orokukarai]

In Defence of Leorai

I know there have been a lot of these posts since forever blah blah blah but I wanted to put down my own thoughts and I've never quite 100% vibed with other people's opinions. HOWEVER this post by @leorai4life does resonate with me very well so I'll link it here because they're much more familiar with the source material than me: https://www.tumblr.com/tmnt4ever/713795384789581824 sorry i am a kataang shipper though lol, you're still cool

So a question I've seen come up multiple times is 'Is Leorai incest?'

tl;dr I don't think so.

Disclaimer: I haven't watched this show in a long time and I stopped just before the final season.

Here we go.

Are they biologically related? No. I've never bought a turtle at a pet store, but I don't think you go in, go to a tank, take out the turtles you want, carry them to the self-check out and then carry them home in your hands or pocket or recyclable bag or whatever. The shop staff would have been the last to touch them, and Splinter would have touched them maybe AFTER he got home. With small turtles, you don't handle them UNLESS it's absolutely necessary as it can stress them and stuff. Splinter not being the last to touch them is backed up by the fact that the turtles (except maybe Don) don't share physical similarities with Splinter. Splinter is Japanese and Leo and Mikey have blue eyes (plus the latter has freckles). I don't know whether during mutation if they even transfer DNA or if the ooze just evolves the creature based on what they last came into contact with, or if they're still mostly their turtle DNA or whatever, but I don't think they'd share enough similarities/DNA to be considered biologically related either way. And you know what? That's okay. He's just as much the turtles' father as if he was biologically related to them. Pushing for them to be biologically related (father-son) when it's extremely unlikely seems in bad taste to me. Also Karai and Leo are very different species. Splinter and Karai and Leo all mutated with different animals.

Are they adoptive siblings? Not... really? Only Leonardo was raised by Splinter, and he met Karai before they knew their connections to Splinter. Afterwards, Karai acknowledges that Splinter is her father, but for me it seems like more of a title to her. Splinter is more emotionally/psychologically family to April and Casey and the turtles than he is to Karai imo and she doesn't really try bonding as a family with everyone. He doesn't raise her at all beyond when she was a baby (which she can't remember), then he goes and dies rip. Oh and the fact that Leorai still flirt after the reveal (I'll get into that more in the next paragraph). Karai and Leo do not think of or see each other as siblings. Leonardo refers to Karai as Splinter's daughter but never as his sister. They were never raised together. They were not brought up together as a family. Yes Karai is referred to as family at times, but so are April and Casey and the TCRI cannister. Splinter is their father in different ways, in a way that they don't see each other as siblings. Is it still weird? Yeah. But TMNT 2012's writing gets pretty weird at times.

EDIT: I've seen a vague about this post about how they're like cousins because Shredder and Splinter grew up like brothers. My response: the turtles do not see Shredder as their uncle. Karai doesn't see Splinter as her uncle. The turtles and Karai do not see each other as cousins.

Finally, this is a kids show. Nickelodeon would not have continued pairing them and giving hints to them crushing on each other after the reveal if they were meant to be seen as siblings. Literally a few months ago, the official TMNT channel uploaded a 44 minute video of their 'best' moments with blue and black hearts in the YT title and a V-day short. I've seen people say Leo backed off her/lost interest after the reveal (not that he was ever pushing her for a romantic relationship?? They're crushing on each other but I see it as a slowburn). I think he was being respectful as she had just had her life flipped up upside down. Now wasn't the time to rizz her. Almost every other ship feels rushed and very instalovey while Leorai involves the characters being like. not weird about it. Dorky and cute. Funnily enough. TMNT 2012 does some things well but it really is a case of the show's focus on shipping characters dragging the show down (ESPECIALLY DON/APRIL/CASEY). Shipping culture, amirite?

My point about it being a kids show applies to Raphmona. I don't ship it but I've seen people argue that Mona is an adult so it's wrong. I think the simple explanation is that the show handled them and their writing clumsily too in this regard. I don't think if Mona was an adult that they'd be paired in the show. It's just not thought through well and kinda unclear but I can see people being uncomfortable with it.

If the ship makes you uncomfortable, whether it's for personal reasons or you're just not vibing, that's OK. If you personally see it as incestual, that's valid. But going around saying Leorai shippers all like or support incest is not true and there are many valid readings where they're not incestual even if you disagree with me. Some shippers probably do like incest, but then so do many non-Leorai shippers.

That's all from me! I'm disabling replies in advance bc I'm not bothered to debate. I've read what people have said already and I only have 4 followers.

[vaninakan]

Late night thoughts vol. 1

It's 4 am and I cannot sleep so I'm just gonna splooge some random thoughts that I have (some positive, some negative, and some that's probably just nonsense.)

Uhh, I like to get negatives out of the way first so I guess I can start with that.

- Does anyone else miss when art/animation communities felt more niche but open? I'm particularily talking about the animation meme community here cause that's a community I've more or less lurked in for a long time. I remember a time when there was the big three of animation memes a lot of people and myself were inspired by. It feels silly to say that what got me into art were a bunch of independent artists animating anime cats fighting eachother, but that's exactly what happened. I loved these creators (still do) and I looked forward to seeing what else these creators had to offer. As time went on, more creators came in the fray with a lot of cool talent and craftmanship and it was honestly very cool seeing what everyone had to offer. That's something I loved most about AMC, that so many were able to feel free to create whatever they wanted and how wonderful it paid off to see that creativity put into so many special masterpieces of independent art and animation, and that's something I'll always admire. So it breaks my heart to see what the AMC has became. Don't get me wrong, there's still a ton of great artists out there and y'all are fantastic, but I cannot help but feel like the environment in that community especially had gotten a lot more vile than what it started off as. To be fair, that's pretty much any community these days, I'm well aware of that. But I have never seen so much drama, so much infighting, and so much people being deplorable to eachother in my life that it's honestly sickening! I've always wanted to make my own animation memes and I still do, I have a TON of ideas I'd love to get to eventually, but if I ever decide to post them, don't expect me to engage much with the rest of the community. IMO, the best communities you can have are the small close ones you have with your best pals.

- For the past few years, I've been distancing myself from big social media branches and fandoms because of how toxic the environments can be for some of these spaces especially, and it's honestly helped a lot with my mental health (Deleting my Twitter and moving here has honestly been one of the best things I've done last year). It's partially why I've stopped posting so frequently, because really the only people I truly care about pleasing are me and all my close friend groups and found families I've built. I don't really care about statistics and platform building, if people like my stuff, then that's cool. I can look at a post I made with bigger numbers than usual and go "huh, that's pretty neat" and then move on talking about a crossover AU I've been cooking up with my boyfriend. That's not to say I don't appreciate my followers or people who like my content, I do. But know that what I make isn't catered to what'll get me the most attention, it's what'll make me and my family happy. And if people like that, then that's cool. Maybe every now and then I'll ask my followers what they'd like to see, maybe a fanart raffle or sketch request event, I think that'd be nice. But for the most part, this page is very, and I mean VERY self indulgent.

- Uhh I've been doing okay for the most part, personal issues I don't wanna get to aside. I've mainly been working on plushies, commissions and other self indulgent projects. I mentioned before that I got into the latest Cookie Run game, and that's pretty cool. I've mostly focused on making art for that and mine and my boyfriend's OC/AU projects. I'll post more about it when I get there, but for now uhh... gay people.

You'll learn who these guys are soon enough, for now you'll only get name drops

The big gruff fellow is a lava rock golem named Vulcan and the pretty boy is named Jack Frosting.

- And I think that's mostly it for tonight? This post took me a full hour to write so it's actually 5 now as I'm finishing up oops..

My sleep schedule's fucked.

Uhh any final words before I pass out? Hmm..

Gender dysphoria sucks okay BYYYEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

[psychewritesbs]

I was reading your post about the megumi character trope and this is related but not?

Anyways, as someone who likes both sasuke and megumi, and I've come to like sasuke recently as I've finally checked out naruto, but it's bizarre to me how superficial their similarities are and it's crazier how people reduce their characters to their aloofness or dar hair or things like that and use that as a way to judge a character overall when their character arcs are so different imo. I have issues with how sasuke's character was handled in the story, but I've become very fond of the things he did for the story overall, so no problem for me, but I'm not sure megumi's arc will end or proceed any similiar to sasuke's with revenge as the main motivation, or at least I don't think so, I'm a couple chaps behind, but yeah, the way both characters process their own trauma or how their motivations are different enough for me to ignore the superficial ways in which they are similiar

I say it's also tough liking both in fandom spaces because naruto is still really popular and jjk is in the spotlight currently, so fandoms can be tense with each other and it's exhausting to see the slander going every which way lol

They say this as a way to slander mgm, but the "Megumi will never be sasuke" is funny because I don't think he's trying to be???

HOLA!

WELCOME to THE ULTIMATE SHONEN BATTLE FOR THE BEST "QUIET AND ALOOF DEUTERAGONIST-KUN": MEGUMI VS SASUKE!

Who's better? Well... let's ask the internet...

ok nvm. NEVER ask the internet for an opinion. ESPECIALLY when the Naruto fans who think Kishimoto is the mother of all anime tropes get involved.

This isn't even a question of whether Gege took inspiration from Sasuke for Megumi because 1) Sasuke himself takes inspiration from a Togashi character and, 2) "quiet and aloof deuteragonist-kun" is one of the most prevalent tropes in animanga--the trope is not even unique to shonen, hell even the 3-man team isn't unique to Naruto.

Nothing against Kishi but... he's doing the same thing every mangaka or author EVER has done--copying tropes.

At least Gege subverts them.

Let's taco'bout it more under the cut because I have many words to vomit about the topic.

Also... man, this is a fantastic conversation to have because, based on the comments I've seen about why Sasuke is "objectively" better, I feel like it comes back to a lack of introspection, dare I say toxic masculinity (?), and perhaps just not understanding or relating to Megumi as a character.

I've written before about Megumi's character development and how relating to him has a lot to do with how deeply you can be introspective about yourself. I won't address character development much here, so if you want to, you can read that post here.

But when it comes to Megumi vs. Sasuke, it's almost like comparing apples to oranges. Yes, they're both fruit (quiet and aloof deuteragonist-kun), AND they also have a different flavor profile, different texture, different scent... the list goes on.

And the way I see it, if someone can't see how the differences between Sasuke and Megumi make them fundamentally different despite sharing the same trope, then they can't "objectively" claim one is better than the other.

So I'm going to go ahead and just say it.

I don't like Sasuke. I never did and I never understood why he was so popular.

The comments about Megumi having the depth of a kiddie pool?

I feel the exact same about Sasuke.

I literally can't think of much to say about him other than he was pissy and had a sour attitude the whole time... umm... he wanted revenge and power... ? I guess?

And you know what? It's perfectly ok that I don't like Sasuke because my subjective opinion does not mean that someone who loves Sasuke is wrong about loving him. After all, my opinion should not be a measuring stick for someone who loves Sasuke.

In fact, I have moots who think very highly of Sasuke AND Megumi, and like them for different reasons. So I actually try to refrain from speaking negatively of Sasuke because I respect my moot's opinions and know that perhaps I am not seeing something they can.

That said, when we compare Sasuke and Megumi, we're measuring the characters against standards that don't apply to either of them.

Since Sasuke is on a revenge character arc, you can't really talk about how he explores his sense of self in order to re-define it (which is one of the main reasons I love Megumi). Sasuke wants power, but that just means he has to train harder.

Megumi does go the training route, but in the end, perhaps it was a moment of clarity and introspection that helped him level up, not just the physical training.

Likewise, since Megumi is on an arc meant to re-define his sense of self, you can't really talk about how he went about seeking power to reach his goal because Megumi is not interested in power for the sake of power, and/or does not have grandiose aspirations.

As you say, their motivations couldn't be more different.

Now, I think it bears repeating that when I started watching jjk, even though I liked him right from the beginning, I thought Megumi was underwhelming af given his trope.

But that's only because, again, I was measuring Megumi against the wrong standards.

In retrospect, I also do feel like Gege wanted Megumi to be perceived as "underwhelming given his trope" (MOST ESPECIALLY SASUKE imo), otherwise the payoff in chapter 58 would not have had the same impact.

So anyways.

To your point. Existing at the intersection of these two fandoms must be an interesting experience because most of the bad comparisons are rooted on surface level similarities.

Thing is, being able to see the nuance between the two characters and why neither is objectively better than the other, does require the ability to read below the surface AND to at least have a certain degree of emotional investment in the story and the characters.

Also, can I just say fandom wars are so pointless?

It's just a bunch of people who can't handle the idea that other people could have a different opinion because they see their opinion as the ultimate truth.

And don't let me act like I'm not the kind of pretentious asshat who will say something like "Megumi is a purposeful deconstruction but Aki is a copy" because I can be quite elitist myself. I just also don't take my opinion too seriously because I know I don't own the ultimate truth about what is and isn't good media.

Also I like to indulge in trash tv like every normal human being in this planet so that alone makes my taste questionable.

To that point, I saw a really good quote that is so relevant to your ask:

The price for certainty means that other people must be wrong. And that leads to holy war.

Lionel Corbett

"uwu Megumi is weak"

But... there's something that has been nagging me about why people don't like Megumi in general that is highly related to how his predecessors, Sasuke included, set the bar we use to measure the trope, most specifically in Battle Shonen.

And that's that the way me measure what makes Megumi a good character is based on toxic masculinity values.

Now... I'm not an expert on the topic, so please correct me if I'm wrong or need to expand my perspective here but...

There's something inherently "toxic" about how people are approaching both Megumi independently of Sasuke, and Megumi compared to Sasuke.

Like... if Sasuke wouldn't curl up in a ball because he's had to experience a traumatic event and instead just keeps on going, that's called repression and/or suppression and it's both not a healthy coping mechanism AND not realistically written.

So what if Sasuke would never?

Why is it wrong for a character (or a real human for that matter) to feel so defeated after the trauma they've had to face?

I am more interested in learning why we are so obsessed with looking down on a fictional character for feeling down on himself... like, Momo, are you ok, dude?

Do you ever allow yourself to feel all your feels or do you just berate yourself when you feel down on yourself?

And why are we measuring trauma on a scale of who has it worse just so that we can cancel someone else's trauma?

Actually, the fact that we can sit here and talk about who has it best and who has it worse like it's a competition?

That's gaslighting, and it's toxic af.

But again. The problem is that jjk fans themselves hate on Megumi independently of whether they compare him to Sasuke or not.

And I'm not sure whether kin here just has shitty reading comprehension skills, but...

I'm noticing a trend that has EVERYTHING to do with my female gaze and it's the fact that I kind of don't give a fuck about power scaling.

Like, it's cool. I'm not hating on people who do, you know. I'm just saying I don't care for it. But what I'm trying to say here is that people hate on Megumi for weird reasons...

Like... I don't think Hyena here is reading the same manga if he can't tell that Megumi has had character development, unless what he expects in terms of character development is...

Which is fine too... I loved dbz back in the day.

Who could ever forget Goku looking like he has to poop so bad his hair grows really long?

But like... are we fucking for real? JJK is far too nuanced to limit your experience of the manga to flashy fights and power ups only.

Again, if this is the standard we are using to measure Megumi as a character, no wonder people are disappointed.

So I say let them eat cake.

No shade to all of the people who I screenshotted here, but they're going to have to come up with smarter arguments to back up their subjective opinions about Sasuke's supposed objective superiority and why Megumi sucks.

In all honesty, the fact that Megumi is perceived as weak strikes me as toxic masculinity.

I get that some people read fiction to escape from their daily lives and not have to face the failures and successes they experience in the real world, but I personally want more human characters who fail and cry because that's more relatable to me than Goku's super powered instinct Saiyan form or whatever its called.

I guess we all read for different reasons. All I'm saying is "don't hate on Megumi for shortsighted reasons."

To bring it back to where it all started, let's be real here:

Megumi will NEVER be Sasuke

and that is fantastic news because Megumi is Megumi and that's exactly why we love him.

Dear anon, I think I went on a rant there hahahaha.

BAH! I just get so annoyed when people hate on Megumi for shallow reasons. Like, if you don't like him, you don't like him and that's that. But like some of the comments about him are just...

LOL!

Thank you for stopping by anon!

[stop-watches-and-sorcerers]

Thanks for answering my ask before....If you don't mind me asking (again), can I ask, what are your top 7 (or top 10) favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 10 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

I love this question, thank you for asking!! I will talk forever about my favorite things!! The descriptions are going to be short because if I go too much into why I love the media/characters I would literally be talking forever.

Favorite media (in no particular order):

The Magicians (tv show) - I have not read the books but the TV show is just very well done imo. A lot of things change season to season and it does not follow the typical formula that I'm used to which makes it very interesting.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (tv show) - Truly one of my favorite shows of all time. I honestly don't think I can summarize what makes it so good; you just have to watch it.

His Dark Material (book series) - This is about the book series. The movie is bad; the HBO TV series adaptation is decent. The writing is what makes the book series stand out for me; it's phenomenal and has cemented it as probably my favorite book series of all time. It's beautiful and tragic and I'm a sucker for biblical themes. I wouldn't recommend reading unless you're okay with a little sacrilege.

Lord of the Rings (book series/movies) - I'm mainly talking about the movies. The books are great too but for me it's a rare instance of the movies being as good or possibly better than the books. Amazing casting, costuming, scenery, cinematography, and practical effects!! They still hold up 20 years later as some of the best movies of all time.

The Left Hand of Darkness (book) - I read this recently and it became one of my favorite books. It's a sci-fi book about an envoy who visits a planet that is always cold and the people there have no gender. I'm not gonna say much more about it but I really cannot recommend this enough; it stayed with me in a way that not many things have.

Trigun (manga/anime) - I still haven't read the manga (i'm going to) and I've heard that the manga knocks the anime out of the park, which is impressive because the anime is one of the most moving things I've ever seen (both the 98' and 23' adaptations). It's very character driven and it very quickly became on of my favorites of all time.

Avatar the Last Airbender (tv show) - the OG series is one of the best shows I've ever watched. I know it's for kids, but it is truly an almost perfect show to me.

My Hero Academia (manga/anime) - I'm biased because this is my current hyperfixation but I've become very attached to the characters and I think it's a really interesting look at society and the way it elevates some people and breaks down others.

Favorite characters (in no particular order):

Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - She's just… character of all time. She works so fucking hard and goes through so much and she can barely hold on but she still just keeps fucking going. See the season 2 finale "Bargaining part 2" for a full understanding of why I love her.

Vash the Stampede (Trigun) - He's so old and isolated and has gone through so much but he still has so much faith and hope and love and peace. His ideology has flaws but he is just so good at his core and I love him.

Quentin Coldwater (The Magicians) - He's so fucking depressed and sad and he wants to be good at things but he's just not as good as he wants to be but he still tries and people still love him because of/despite it. God I fucking love him (I relate to him a little too much).

Nico Di Angelo (Percy Jackson) - He has a lot of darkness in him and is scared of it but still keeps trying to be good and you know what? He's succeeding. I love him.

Bakugou Katsuki (My Hero Academia) - He has extreme anger issues and starts as a huge asshole but betters himself because he can't stand to be that way anymore and I really respect that.

Natalie (Yellowjackets) - She's a fucking mess in the real world but extremely helpful in the wilderness. Something about her needing to be useful and handling it very poorly when she's back in a situation where she can't be just really speaks to me.

Adora (She-Ra) - Much like Buffy, she works so fucking hard and is literally the chosen one against her will and she still stands up and fights no matter what.

Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who) - I think I'm biased on this one because I watched David Tennant act his ass off at a formative age, but man. Once again, characters who are very lonely/isolated but still try their best to help people who won't get it and won't thank them just really get to me.

Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - An extremely complicated character. I think the main thing that draws me to him is that he kind of breaks the rules regarding vampires/vampire souls within the Buffy universe.

Zuko (Avatar the Last Airbender) - Best redeption arc of all time. Idk what else to say.

Merlin (Merlin) - I think this is number 11 but I have to include him. I've never seen a better example of someone whose moral compass is exclusively being loyalty to one person. He disregards everything else. His entire existence is solely devoted to Arthur and the realm and also Colin Morgan's acting is extremely compelling to me.

[counterspelling]

Hi! I hope you don't mind me asking, but I've been interested in getting into Dimension 20 for a while, but with all the campaigns they did already, I find it a bit hard to understand which one to start with, so I thought I'd ask you, as you seem to know your stuff ! So I was wondering if there was a chronological order to some campaigns, if there was one you advised to start with, and where I could watch it. I hope this doesn't bother you, have a nice day ! ♥

This doesn't bother me at all, I love questions like this! And this is truly one of the worst weeks of my life, so thanks for the distraction <3

Short answer: d20 is divided into short and long seasons, long with the main cast (brennan dm'ing for lou, emily, murph, zac, ally, and siohban) and short sidequest seasons with different players, mostly dm'ed by Brennan but also with guest dms! You need a monthly/yearly subscription to dropout.tv to watch, but it's truly the best subscription service in my life, $6/month or 60/yr, with d20 putting out a 2 hour episode every week plus a half hour talk show in Adventuring Party (in addition to their other stellar comedy shows, Game Changer and Make Some Noise, especially). If you just want to dip your toes in and see if you like it, you can watch the first seasons of Fantasy High or The Unsleeping City for free on youtube

Long answer! Fantasy High is still to this day my favorite d20 property, it's teen adventurers at an adventuring academy in a sort of magical realism world. It's extremely funny and the first season was the first season of d20 so most of them are learning 5e after switching over from 3.5, although a few had no previous dnd experience. The second season is probably my favorite season of any tv show ever, and it's a great introduction to the main cast. Those characters will probably always be the closest to my heart in d20, they're all perfect to me.

The Unsleeping City is an urban fantasy series set in a magical New York that is also very good! There's again two seasons, and they are both well worth watching. The second season is again even better than the first, imo.

If you're getting into it because of Matt's season next month, then his The Ravening War series is a prequel to another main cast season, A Crown of Candy. ACOC is the biggest outlier in d20, which isn't ONLY a comedy show, but comedy is very much at the core of d20, but ACOC is a very, very emotionally heavy show. I loved it, but I have also never rewatched it since it took such a mental toll. It's a very high stakes, inter-party conflict, no resurrection magic world, and the entire cast had backup characters prepared in case of character death. It's very good, but not the best example of what the rest of d20 is like. If you've seen EXU Calamity, it is similar tonewise, just a longer campaign.

Then there's the two most recent main cast campaigns. A Starstruck Odyssey is a screwball scifi series set in a world created by Brennan's mom, Elaine Lee, who wrote the original Starstruck comics/play! It's very much a labor of love from him, and it was the first season the main cast filmed in person post-pandemic and the unhinged energy is truly off the charts. It was extremely good and would be a great starting point, no knowledge of the original Starstruck is necessary.

The most recent campaign is Neverafter, which is horror-inspired, but still very much a comedy. It's fairy tale inspired and I'm very sad it just ended because it was so good, although the ending was perfect.

Then there are the sidequests! My personal favorites of those are Mice and Murder, a murder mystery series set in an animal-populated turn of the century England, where the cast were all collegehumor alum so it was very funny and I love murder mysteries and think Brennan did an excellent job at it, and would frankly love another murder mystery season from him. A Court of Fey and Flowers from Aabria is another favorite, a fey-regency romance mashup that was absolutely perfect. The Seven is an all ladies/nonbinary season (dm'd by Brennan) that's technically a spinoff of Fantasy High so I would recommend watching it first, but also it stands alone if you don't mind spoilers for the main seasons.

So!! That was a very long answer, hopefully it was some help to you. You could really pick any season and be fine, and I hope you end up falling in love with d20! My personal recommendations would be to start with either Fantasy High or Starstruck, since I think they're the best examples of what the show is like overall. Good luck! Feel free to let me know what you think :)

[ticklishraspberries]

hiii, what fandoms are u into rn?? and maybe tell me about them, if u wanna?? use this as an excuse to ramble.. in desperate need of something new to be obsessed over HAHA hope ur having a good night 🫶

hi hi!! i love to yap so you have asked a dangerous question!! i do have a whole page of my fandoms on my carrd but i'm gonna try to sell you and my followers on some of my more niche ones rn lol

baldur's gate 3 has some of the most compelling characters of any video game i've ever played. i will admit, it isn't a game for people who don't love games, it can take like a minimum of 80 hours to finish the game, it's kind of difficult, and it's all based on dnd so the combat and stuff might be confusing for people, but the ROMANCE and friendships and characters are so fucking incredible. i have only actually romanced astarion but shhh.

barry is a t.v. show on max that i think is one of the greatest shows ever made, and not just because i have a huge crush on bill hader who writes, directs, produces, and stars in it. it's a dark comedy about a hitman who hates his job and wants to become an actor instead. there's a great gay couple (i will not lie and say they have a happy story though) and one of the best written female characters ever imo. it's a star-studded cast, 4 seasons, but the episodes are only 20-30 mins so it goes by fast. if you don't mind violence, this is genuinely a 10/10 piece of media for me.

death note is my favorite anime of all time, one of my top fav shows, and i have a manga panel from it tattooed on me. it's a masterpiece that mixes supernatural horror, crime-solving detective drama, insane homoeroticism, and existential/moral dilemma. it's not very long and people say it gets bad after a certain episode and i genuinely wish all those people a very get well soon because are you kidding me??? i think it's a great intro to anime.

saltburn was such a good fucking movie and i know you've probably seen the memes and everyone talking, but i genuinely loved this movie and would love to write a felix/oliver fic lol. it's pretty disturbing and has a lot of things that the average viewer would be freaked out by, but i am genuinely not that shocked/grossed out by most things in media so i just love this movie, i gave it 5/5 on letterboxd and so did my partner.

the great is a show on hulu that is a historical comedy (that is self-admittedly not historically accurate, so if that would annoy you, this one's not for you!!) about catherine the great, empress of russia, and it is genuinely one of my favorite shows ever. it's got incredible female characters, some pretty good queer rep, doesn't use the time period/country as an excuse to not have representation. it is so funny, heart-breaking, sexy, and just so goddamn good. it did unfortunately get cancelled after season 3 but i think they knew it would be cancelled and left it off in a decent place (from the spoilers i know at least, i'm still watching). there is a lot of vulgar content (sex, sexual humor, gross humor, swearing) so if that's not your vibe, don't even bother, lol, but if you like enemies-to-lovers, period dramas, or watching elle fanning act like a fucking psychopath, plz watch and then talk to me about headcanons.

[coredrill]

can u convince me to watch bravern? gurren lagann is the only mecha anime I've ever seen. should I watch it even? thank you.

i can do my darndest!!! 🫡 i definitely think it's worth a watch even if you've only seen ttgl - i've watched bravern with a few friends whose mecha experience starts and ends with evangelion, and they had a fun time!!! it's also standalone and only 12 episodes, so it's a pretty quick and easy watch!

anyways in terms of convincing you the first thing i will include is the OP, because from the moment i saw this i was like. i must watch this immediately. and i have been hooked ever since!!! and also it is sung by bravern (the main mecha) himself and it RULES. it does kinda spoil the gimmick of the first episode (the first 15 minutes or so try to sell the show as like. a serious war drama fslkdjfh) but it matches the tone of the rest of the show much better so i don't think you really lose much:

and i'm also gonna include the ED because everything about the show that ISN'T captured by the OP is shown in the ED…………i swear they made it this to give their audience a chance to wind down from how homoerotic the actual show itself is, LMAO.

in terms of things that might appeal to you as a ttgl fan - katsuyuki konishi (kamina's jp va) has a small but very funny role, LMAO. on the whole, bravern is also very much about characters surpassing their own limitations, and also the show surpassing its own limitations at the same time! i wouldn't say that the plot/stakes are exponential in the way that ttgl's is, what with them going to space and making universe-sized mechs, but it does give a very similar feeling of "surely this is as far as they'll go, right?………..OH NOPE NEVER MIND" imo!!! it's also so very much about the power of love that it got my hater ass rooting for the earnest yet bizarre romance that occurs, LMAO. i'd say that while ttgl's theme of "love conservative" isn't quite as explicit in bravern, it still applies!! overall bravern knows exactly what it's doing and loves every moment of it, just like ttgl does, which i think is a huge part of why i personally got sucked into it so hard LMAO.

also, the show is just fucking hilarious imo. the dialogue has so many funny out-of-pocket moments that made me genuinely laugh aloud and the situations that the characters get into feel like every time the crew behind the show was presented with the chance to make a decision, they chose the most unhinged option available in the best way possible. a non-spoiler example of this is that for some reason, the suez canal is still blocked in the bravern universe????????? like, this took me out when i saw it, because. WHAT IS THE REASON

honestly the one thing that really comes nowheres near ttgl is in its animation (of course), though i will say that bravern's 3d mechs look really good and are some of the best i've seen outside of studio trigger et al's recent work with promare/griduni!! also akira amemiya (who did a good amount of key animation in ttgl) did this cut in the OP which imo rules

i hope you enjoy it if you do check it out!!!! it's such a wild ride on the whole but it's really a special show and it brings me so much joy!!

[plushiepalz]

I got a new bf, and I want to take him plushie shopping with me, but I'm worried I might bore him or that he'll think I'm nuts. He's already told me he wants to go places with me to see the things that I enjoy, and he also owns the biggest bunny plush I've ever seen, but I'm still skeptical. He's extremely patient and kind to me, so I shouldn't be so worried, but I am also just full of anxiety all the time 😭

take him with you shopping! its a good test at the very least, if hes judgmental about things that bring you joy, do you really want him in your life? its better to find things like that out early on imo. he might surprise u tho! my bf listens to me ramble about stuffed animal brands all the time, and he thinks its cute that i can tell him brands we see watching tv or movies together.

relationships are all about compromise. youre not always gna have the same interests, but a good partner should be willing to engage with your interests, and you should be able to engage in theirs!

best of luck, i hope it goes well for you <3

[danzohater]

Hello....If you don't mind, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Jujutsu Kaisen? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this before.....

hi omg YES thank u for sending i haven't ever answered this! also i'm curious about your top 5 for both!!!! <3 (sorry this is so long 😭)

top 5 characters and why i love them...

1. geto, he is hands down my ultimate favourite. i think he has the most interesting back story, and i love the whole trope of a a character that has gone through something terrible with someone else but one of them became out 'bad', the other 'good'. he's my biggest comfort character!!!! i also like that his morals never changed, it's just his vision of who should be protected did (which i think is understandable, albeit completely wrong). i also love that he's amazing at karate as well, and i love his humour!

2. higuruma!!!!! like geto, i just completely adore his CT. i actually think objectively it's the coolest and most impressive one and i love when gege gets a bit more technical in explaining stuff (like with choso's blood manipulation too), also judgeman's design is AMAZING imo

3. rn shoko, i LOVEEE HER! once again i just think her character design is really cool, i love rct as a technique and i ❤️ characters as healers. i loved her in hidden inventory, i always think about her trying to teach geto and gojo rct in the most nonsense way. i'd say gege give her more screen time but i need her alive and happy with utahime by the end of the manga...

4. YUTA!!!!! once again i just love his character design, he is so cutesy. i love how sweet and adorable and awkward he can be, and ALL of his friendships are so cute. one of the coolest character designs in the manga, and the most recent chapter with his new domain?!!!! i'm still not quite sure if i prefer that or higuruma's domain more, i THINK i prefer deadly sentencing

5. TORN BETWEEN CHOSO AND MAKI, but ultimately i think choso... honestly once again i just love his design, i like the whole idea of what makes humanity and the way he brings in curses vs humans (it works better knowing jogo, dagon, etc all mourned other curses and said to meet again). overall he's charming and funny, nothing endears to me more than a character that just wants to protect someone. the best big brother. i love that he cries a lot, i want to give him a hug.

AND my top 5 moments... (warning for manga spoilers!!!!!!!!!!)

1. nanami's death. as much as i hated it and i love him, the voice acting was INCREDIBLE in that episode. the piano, the way he speaks so quietly, the cut scenes from it being so beautiful to the noises of him being in shibuya. i first watched it drunk and i replayed it honestly about 20 times, i even called my dad and made him watch it while i cried 😭 ... THE FACT THAT JUST BEFORE IT YUJI IS HAVING A BREAKDOWN... ugh all of it!!!!!! everyone's VA was immaculate... the emotion behind yuji's 'what the hell are you mahito' was incredible, and hearing mahito scream back for the first time made my stomach drop. incredible, amazing. i've seen that so many times but just hearing nanami's 'i'm tired, exhausted even' makes me start to tear up. god BLESS the voice actors for that scene

2. yuji vs mahito, specifically the imagery and how yuji is portrayed with the wolves. so beautifully animated, incredible. mahito throwing snow at yuji was sad but satisfying

3. mai's death and maki's awakening... okay so off the bat maki is amazing. seeing mai answer back her father and then sit over maki broke my heart. they're both just kids who love their sibling. they are just so tragic, maki's 'okay i get it, now come back' after mai says as long as i'm around you'll never develop. i love that scene because it shows that maki is already willing to go against all of the odds, even before complete heavenly restriction. i remember her telling yuji she would kill her clan (?) in jjk0 and even believing her then. the burn marks also add a lot to this scene i think. it was just really sadly cathartic to see the resolution to them as sisters, and heartbreaking. the first panel where she open's her eyes telling mai to wake up BREAKS ME. the panic on her face. also the line 'destroy everything big sister'. the fact she does. UGHHH!!!!

4. hmmm... choso's fake memory. the fight scene was really cool, but specifically, the part where yuji is eating with choso and his brothers. it's beautiful. the switch up in the way it's animated, looking like it's on an old vhs tape. so emotional. seeing yuji feeding choso and calling him big brother, just to cut to choso punching something and crying like he can't breathe. ugh i love them

5. the fight scene in hidden inventory... i just love it, i think it sets up all three of their personalities so well. i love how easily it portrays geto's personality: his morals, his ego, the sense of superiority he has. it perfectly displays his and gojo's friendship, their differences. we get to see them so in sync as yaga walks in and they both look away stretching, the way they both antagonise each other in sync before that

[acaplaya-musings]

Screw it, have a not-fully-human Voiceplay AU (Part 1)

I'm obviously not the first person to do this, and I very much got inspired by other AUs and fics I've seen floating around (I haven't even read any of the fanfics, but just reading the tags/summaries were enough to get my brain buzzing with ideas). And let's be honest, it's almost natural to imagine at least some of Voiceplay's members as non-human when they're that good, and don't even get me started on some of the videos!

This is mostly just a collection of thoughts/ideas though - I don't plan on turning it into a proper fic or doing art of it or anything like that, but I thought I might as well type it up here anyway, so it's not just stuck bouncing around in my brain. Sticking it under a Read More link because this ended up being kinda long. (And note that this AU is less of a "what if they had powers" AU and more of a "what if a lot of real life stuff was explained by magic / occult forces and the like" AU, though I don't know a great deal about Voiceplay's early days so bear with me).

Geoff: Half-demon, sort of. Not exactly "demon" as in "representative of Hell/linked to Satan", more "demon" as in "innate connections to a part of the Earth far, far below the surface, deep in the mantle, if not deeper". "Half-demon" is about the best description in the English language for him, even when considering many popular works of fantasy and myth

(Yeah I considered a few other options for what Geoff could possibly be, including a half-dragon/dragonborn, but his voice is much too smooth and clear imo to be typically reminiscent of a dragon (other than his growls and vocal fry), and some other people have already referred to him as a demon god/demon lord/etc, so yeah might as well. I'm putting my own spin on it though).

Geoff is still at least partially human, and just human enough that for the first three and a half decades or so of his life, he was able to almost fully suppress the non-human part of himself. Half-demon!Geoff, not fully knowing the meaning or implications of what he was, feared that the ground may one day swallow him up whole; the depths of the earth staking its claim once and for all. He took up pole-vaulting in high school [true], and had aspirations of being a rock tenor [also true] - hitting high notes in songs and soaring over beams many feet in the air made it easier to ignore the faint occasional rumbles from far below the ground that nobody else ever seemed to hear.

(I'll get back to Geoff in a minute, but lets start talking about...)

Layne: Extra-terrestrial being, for sure, though not quite a stereotypical alien per se. In this AU, Layne started off as a vaguely-animal-shaped collection of cells (or the celestial/outer space equivalent anyway) that crash-landed on Earth via a small asteroid and took on the (main/primary) form of a human.

(And just for funsies, let's say that "Layne" was what TV Tropes would call a Line-Of-Sight Alias after seeing a street sign. He was originally "Lane", but someone once stuck a Y in the middle of it while writing it down and he chose to keep it that way).

Layne and Geoff became friends in middle school [true], both sensing there was a notable uniqueness about the other.

I'm a bit hazy on the origins of Voiceplay (or rather, 4:2:Five, as it was first named), it's been a while since I've watched/listened to some of the interviews Geoff has done where he talks a little about it, and I can't be bothered doing too much research/recollection for a random fun AU idea, so I'm playing a little fast and loose with details here.

Layne, now attending high school with Geoff [true I think?] was inspired to create an acapella group [I'm fairly sure it was at least partially his idea but don't @ me] not too long after first learning about them and hearing some examples of acapella performances. The idea that humans could create music without any typical instrumentation and be just as enjoyable (if not more?) as someone singing with a band was fascinating to him, and he was very keen to try it out for himself.

Geoff meanwhile was spending his time learning the oboe [true, iirc], and wasn't fully keen on the idea at first, especially when Layne asked him to be the bass singer for it, but the two were[/are] best friends, and it didn't take too long for Layne to convince him.

Layne started off as the baritone of the group [true], and a beatboxer wasn't added till a little later after the group's inception, after Layne was further inspired by the group Rockapella [also true, except idk who originally had the idea to add a beatboxer (that's why they were called 4:2:Five btw - they started out as basically a barbershop quartet, but then added a fifth member for vocal percussion)]

This is starting to get quite long, even for a Read More imo, so I'm making a separate post for part 2. And yes, Eli will get included as well!