#is every main character supposed to be a role model for people?

[allenkleinofficial]

Still like… mentally stuck on the logic of the Barbie takes I’m seeing… makes me feel dumb because it’s the dumbest thing to be annoyed about but feeling the erosion of people’s abilities to understand what a story is

[ask-the-rag-dolly]

okay . while i was writing the essay , i was going on a big spiel about how fandoms often reduce characters to familiar archetypes . then when i finished writing i realized i actually don't know what the Fuck i was yapping about because it all doesn't really apply to the tadc fandom post-ep 2 ? like Cool !! ragatha's an absolute loser of a woman , i think everyone has known that at this point .

basically ragatha's not the Best model for when i want to talk about nice characters being mischaracterized in fandom because i stopped seeing people making her put-together anyway . i can think of other characters that'll fit the thesis better .

i'm only deciding to post what i had down because i think i did say some stuff of note and because people were interested for . some reason ! . just keep in mind that it kind of became a nothingburger .

i'm in the middle of rewriting it to be less about the fandom though and my god it's already around 1118 words what am i doing with my life

also apologies in advance for the walls of text

——— this is not an essay to get you to like ragatha if you’re feeling meh towards her , or even dislike her . opinions are opinions , you have characters that appeal to you and i have mine ! this is just a ramblefest on why i love her , how people characterized her , and commentary on fandom culture as a whole

this is also not meant to bash any headcanons ! like good for you if you see her as the mother figure in the circus found family . the term ‘ mom friend ‘ here is used to describe how people often reduced her and similar characters down to a caretaker role for other characters while ignoring the Depth they have

as i think is clear in this blog by now , my favorite character in a piece of fiction has always been a mentally ill woman . the more complicated the brain , the better . i don’t have a type , but i know more often than not i would gravitate towards characters that are either misunderstood or disliked by most of the fandom

can you guess which category ragatha falls under —

don’t get me wrong , i am NOT generalizing tadc fans here ! the idea of her being a well-put together person lessened around episode 2 which is GREAT because i got to read very cool fics — and i’m not saying you have to know every part of ragatha’s thought processes to talk about her ( though at this point i think i’ve heard enough takes that makes me want to say that — )

‘ nice characters ‘ ( especially female ones ! ) in fandom never have the most pleasant development in my experience . either they will be pushed aside because they’re seen as boring compared to the more brasher characters or they’ll be disliked for the few times they did something seen as ‘ not so nice ‘ . and in the few times where they Are being paid attention , they’ll be put in an arbitrary box that waters down their traits .

in other words , fandoms put characters in boxes . terms like ‘ mom friend ‘ and ‘ cinnamon roll ‘ are those boxes . they're common tropes in media that fandoms typically like . it’s why people were so disappointed to find out that jax is actually an unlikable asshole instead of a ' jerk with a heart of gold ' — these boxes make the characters easy to consume and understand .

as you can tell , i don’t agree with putting characters in boxes ! first of all , how are they supposed to breathe in there ?

secondly , it’s just restricting yourself from genuinely engaging with a piece of media , especially for a character-driven story like tadc . i would be More forgiving of this problem if tadc was a plot-heavy show where the lore’s the main focus , but The Characters Are The Focus , Johnathan . trying to understand the characters personally to extract any potential moral lessons from them Is The Point of those types of stories

thirdly , i call those boxes arbitrary for a reason ; they often don't describe the characters at all , and in some cases , even goes against their characterization . my biggest problem with mom friend ragatha is that it Takes away the things that makes her interesting as a character .

do you know what's so compelling about ragatha ? it's that , believe it or not , she is Not the most reliable . one of the most fascinating things with ragatha in episode two is how it shows her approaching emotions Vs. Pomni approaching emotions .

even though it's unintentional , ragatha can be seen as Dismissive and Overbearing . the way she tried to reassure pomni of not feeling hurt by being left behind can seem Passive-Aggressive . her conversation with kinger shows that she Assumes what the other person thinks without hearing them out . this contrasts against pomni who lets gummigoo speak out his feelings and actually had viable things to say than ' don't worry about it haha '

this contrast is interesting to note because it shows the world of difference between ragatha and pomni's emotional maturity .

you can tell that ragatha can be simple-minded . not in a ' she's a dumbass ' way , but in that she's Reluctant to approach uncomfortable emotions without beaming it with a ray of positivity . like you can tell she thinks that Repressing her emotions to the point she can't feel them is the same as ' processing ' them . all of these are stuff that don't fit the Mature Mom Friend archetype .

and that's Fine !! because she was never meant to be in the role anyway !! there's a common theme of Community and Support in tadc , and that Everyone Has Each Other . ragatha was never meant to be the Glue holding everyone together , she's meant to be a part of the Unit that is the circus .

there's also a conversation to be had about how older female characters — or at least characters that are seen as having stereotypically ' feminine ' traits of being kind and caring — are often being pushed to a reductive , supportive familial role that reinforces gender roles , but you didn't hear it from me !

anyways uh in conclusion ragatha's awesomesauce ok i'm going back to drawing

[lisannastraussisanangel]

Do you have any Meredy and Ultear headcanons ? Their mother daughter relationship is one of my favorite things about the anime but both characters and their relationship are criminally underrated !!

They deserved better! Ultear should've got her redemption arc and lived happily ever after with her daughter!

Meredy uses Ultear's last name on official documents. She never said anything to Ultear about it but she's pretty sure Ultear knows

Partners in crime (literally), those two are always scheming. Nowadays it's playful villainy tho

Meredy can get away with anything. She hits Ultear with those puppy dog eyes and its all over

Ultear still feels really guilty about what she did to Meredy and wants to make it up to her. Meredy tells her that helping people and becoming a better person is all Ultear needs to do to make it up to her

That is one of the main reasons Ultear turned good. She wants to be a good role model for Meredy and make up for all the hurt she's caused her

Ultear is bad cop. Meredy is good cop. Unless it is against Jellal then they are both bad cop

Meredy is a hugger and Ultear is very much not. It usually results in Meredy chasing her around desperately trying to love Ultear

Ultear is literally so proud of Meredy. She can't believe how genuinely happy and good Meredy has grown up to be

Meredy used to make Ultear mothers day gifts back when they were evil. Ultear had yelled at her to stop after the first time she was gifted one

Meredy still made them every year. She saved them instead of giving them to Ultear, hoping one day Ultear would change her mind and want to celebrate

When they started Crime Sorciere, Meredy gifted Ultear all the hidden gifts and Ultear sobbed. She cherishes every gift from Meredy now

Even after her death, Meredy still takes the time to leave Mother's day gifts on her grave

Ultear is absolutely terrible at domestic stuff. She can't cook and is awful at chores (she lit their laundry on fire once trying to dry it faster) so Meredy tries to take over but Ultear insists on doing it because she's supposed to take care of Meredy

Meredy has gotten in the habit of redoing all of Ultear's chores in secret. Imagine Ultear turning around while cooking and Meredy quickly seasoning the food before Ultear turns back

Ultear wants to take care of Meredy so bad but that girl is mega independent. Meredy always says it's Ultear's fault for raising her that way

[egg-emperor]

people trying to push the idea of Eggman actually being really progressive and role model in various ways and using the "the Heroes manual says he's a feminist so he drinks respect women juice everyday" thing is hugely inaccurate for his character

the original JP version of the Heroes manual doesn't say he's a feminist or a womanizer. so the feminist thing in the English manual not only comes out of nowhere but also doesn't make sense because it isn't in the games, in fact they've shown the drastic opposite

he perpetuates the damsel in distress stereotype by how he primarily kidnaps girls and holds them hostage. Amy, Cream/Vanilla, Elise (sometimes he shows mocking sarcastic politeness/gentlemanliness too, which I've been meaning to highlight in future analysis)

he's sexist in Rush, telling Blaze that he didn't think girls could be tough

they chose Eggman to be King Shahryar in Secret Rings who in the actual Arabian Nights was so misogynistic that he'd have a woman executed every night. choosing the main villain to be him and his past record makes me think they knew what they were doing

and yeah this makes him a horrible person but this is Eggman we're talking about. he's supposed to have bad unlikable traits to establish that he's the enemy and give players the drive to beat him. it's the whole point

but Eggman doesn't treat men any better either so you could say at least he's equal in his cruelty towards them I guess? but that certainly doesn't make him a good role model that we should all follow XD he's not for anyone's rights except his own rights to rule the world and control everyone else :P

it's because Eggman only cares about himself and sees himself as superior to absolutely everyone. he's an evil cruel piece of shit bastard no matter who you are because he's rude and condescending and looks down on everyone. nobody is above the other or more or less worthy of respect to him

and if you get in his way he won't hold back no matter if you're a man, woman, or child as he's even willing to kill Tails and Cream and expressed pleasure in doing so. he has no morals or standards that make him hold back or treat anyone better than the other but he treats everyone terribly and it's just as bad, in fact he's just hurting more people

[albertonykus]

You Wouldn’t Really Know Shizuka from the Doraemon Movies

If you’ve experienced enough Doraemon media, you’ve probably noticed that the movies tend to emphasize the main characters’ positive qualities, which often paints a very different picture of them from the regular manga and episodes. The contrast is especially noticeable with Nobita, Gian, and Suneo, who in the mainline series are frequently cast as anti-role models to show children how not to behave.

Shizuka, on the other hand, is already kind and morally upstanding by default, so it’s only natural for the movies to continue portraying her that way. That makes Shizuka pretty much the same between the regular series and the movies, right? I would argue not exactly, and unfortunately her character in the movies suffers for it.

It’s not that the movies never characterize Shizuka well. She’s had very important roles in some of them: in my reviews, I counted at least eight films in which her actions are critical to resolving the plot. Certainly one can gather from the movies that she’s compassionate, quick-witted, brave, and adventurous, and all of these things are true about Shizuka in the mainline series.

However... if you only watched the movies, you might not realize that Shizuka also enjoys messing with other people for fun...

... or can be very blunt towards her friends...

... or participates in schemes to get even with people who have wronged her...

[A short time later...]

... or becomes disproportionately violent when she’s upset (“Janie” being one of her dolls)...

... or lies to get out of things she doesn’t want to do.

(If any of this seems like it conflicts with Shizuka’s usual characterization, I don’t think it does. When I was Shizuka’s age, I was also a “good kid” who stayed out of trouble and got along with most of my peers, and I still did every one of these things.)

From the movies alone, you might even miss that Shizuka is supposed to be bad at playing the violin, which is her one “flaw” that the franchise likes to highlight with any regularity. Her violin playing has shown up in two movies so far (Nobita and the Knights on Dinosaurs and Nobita and the Kingdom of Clouds), but only in very brief scenes where we don’t see anyone else reacting to it. (Edit: I’d forgotten that she also plays the violin in The New Record of Nobita’s Spaceblazer. There, it is a similar situation in which she is only seen practicing alone. She is finally shown playing in front of an audience during the end credits of Nobita’s Sky Utopia, which I hadn’t had a chance to see when I first wrote this post.)

Of course, there are other ways to add dimensionality to a character besides giving them flaws. However, Shizuka in the movies almost never exhibits quirks of any kind, except maybe for being just a bit too obsessed with bathing. (Now that they rarely neglect to include in the movies, for some reason...)

In the main series, Shizuka is often the voice of reason who is strung along by the foolishness and craziness of the others around her, but she still gets her kicks. When the kids test out Doraemon’s Mysterious Trash Chute, there’s the implication that she goes the extra mile to throw in a concrete beam. (As far as I know, none of the animated adaptations of this story have included this particular detail, which is disappointing.)

There’s also the time she hesitates to partake in karaoke, only to have trouble putting down the mic once her turn comes around.

Even the manga counterparts to the movies sometimes contain facets of Shizuka’s character that weren’t adapted into the films themselves. (Perhaps that’s not a surprise considering that the original author had a more direct hand in the manga.) Nobita’s Three Visionary Swordsmen is already one of the best movies when it comes to Shizuka’s portrayal, but if you’ve never read the manga version, you probably wouldn’t have known that she aspires to be a diplomat working for world peace.

Then there’s this moment in Nobita and the Tin Labyrinth, where she makes a bet with Suneo over whether Nobita is lying to them. This conversation does happen in the movie, but the film version doesn’t quite get across just how smug Shizuka looks when she takes that bet.

And check out how pleased she is to be eventually proven right! (This expression didn’t make it into the movie either.)

Nobita in the Robot Kingdom was not written by the original manga author, but I’ve discussed before how the manga version of that story gave Shizuka an important part that was unfortunately cut out of the film.

Is this really a problem? After all, it’s well established that the other main characters in the movies don’t act exactly like they normally do in the manga either. With the others, however, subverting their usual roles is precisely what gives them character depth. Relegating Shizuka solely to being “the nice one”, which she already comes across as most of the time, makes her feel much more static by comparison.

An understandable concern is that swinging the pendulum too far in another direction might erode Shizuka’s kind image, but this need not be the case. Like anyone else, nice people can say and do some very un-nice things, and the trick for a storyteller is to interrogate what might lead them to act in such a way. I think the Nobita in the Robot Kingdom manga does this very well, but an example found in the films themselves can be seen in Nobita and the Steel Troops.

In this movie, (SPOILERS) Shizuka rescues a severely damaged robot spy, Riruru, and works on nursing her back to health. After Riruru explains the history of the robot society that she belongs to, Shizuka observes its parallels to human history. However, Riruru, who is still operating under a belief in robot supremacy, takes offense to this comparison and tries to shoot Shizuka, which results in Shizuka expressing regret and bitterness over having saved her in the first place. Shizuka gets over this very quickly and it’s not explored much further, but this still a rare deconstruction of her role as “the nice one”. Sometimes, being kind is hard.

Overly-long story short, it would be nice if the Doraemon movies let Shizuka do more “bad” (or mischievous, or just plain weird) things, especially for the sake of good.

[genericpuff]

spot the differences

Episode 120

Episode 220

answer: there are none, it's just persephone abusing staff workers.

what's REALLY wild though is that:

Persephone is supposed to be acting 'out of character' in Episode 120 because it's Hera disguised as Persephone and acting how Hera would act, but in Episode 220 we get ACTUAL PERSEPHONE acting the exact same way (WORSE, even) so is it really out of character?

Demeter's reaction tells us that she would absolutely NOT approve of what her daughter has become, she clearly did NOT raise her daughter to mistreat employees or those of lower classes but instead Persephone is reflecting behavior from her ROLE MODEL (Hera) and her LOVE INTEREST (Hades).

The EMPLOYEE DESIGNS ARE LITERALLY THE SAME. And knowing what we know about RS confirming that satyrs and nymphs are 'lower class' in the universe of LO, it's horrifying to see two similarly-designed satyr characters be mistreated by our main protagonist.

THESE EPISODES ARE LITERALLY EXACTLY 100 EPISODES APART ??? WHAT ARE THE ODDS EVEN-

I honestly don't even know how to process this. I would LOVE to believe that this is all intentional, a clever slow burn of Persephone's character devolving from a humble and compassionate Mortal Realm Goddess to a cruel, vindictive, capitalism-loving, high-class oligarchy-style Goddess.

But this is Lore Olympus. So all I can do is be reminded of how we're supposed to be rooting for these characters, how the audience cheers every single time Persephone or Hades are shown abusing their power. We haven't gotten any sort of confirmation through the text that Persephone has thought about what she said to Tori, how she reacted to seeing him after 10 years, how she feels after cornering him at his job the way she did. We never get to see into her mind, her reasoning as to why she thought it was okay; we never get to see into Tori's mind, it's framed entirely around Persephone "getting her revenge" on someone who barely had an impact on her life ten years ago in college.

That's not even getting into how Rachel's not even subtle anymore about how Persephone is a self-insert power fantasy for her to project herself onto-

-so she CAN'T in good faith deny that she's not like this in real life with how often she frames poor people being abused by the rich (and expecting readers to still cheer for the rich all the same).

I'm not here to psychoanalyze Rachel, but there's a point where it's almost more irresponsible NOT to call out the obviously problematic whims of a writer as they're bleeding into the narrative they're spinning and the messages they're sending to their audience. Especially when their audience is made up of children, teenagers, and young adults coming into a world that worships exuberant wealth and punishes the poor.

This turned into a bit of a ramble-rant, but let me leave you with these parting words to chew on the next time Persephone is inevitably portrayed as "Boss Bitch" goals to LO's audience just so the narrative can get away with having its main protagonist bully canonically lower-class characters and call it a win:

The tree remembers what the axe forgets.

[somewhereinthepines]

question i've always pondered is if you've had any thoughts about the curator? i really love him and i was wondering what you can say about him!

oh. um. well, tbh i never thought about him in depth lol. i like him. i love how his jeers and scowl always feels like something coming from an old chess buddy. someone, who doesn’t necessarily like you (based on your choices and whatnot), but who always tries to sort of help you along the way. or….maybe, he doesn’t. it’s never fully clear what his true goals or motivations are. he does say, that he’s merely a curator of the stories, which btw is job, i’d kill for, haha. but like, we know that he’s the death, the reaper or smth close to it. so it begs the question, what sort of stories he collects then and how he decides which is worth collecting. bc let’s be real, there is no way, that he has a book for every person who ever died. it sounds like a bit of an overkill lol. then, it’s also odd how he technically allows us/entity/the player to slightly influence the events, despite them already being recorded per say. so does this mean, that each time, he actively messes with smth that has already happened and allows us to change it just bc he can? 

there is a lot of questions! and i doubt, that it would be answered. in fact, i’d rather have it remain a mystery. i really don’t dig the idea of the curator being ‘too human’ or having a backstory. the mere outline of how this whole affair is working would be enough for me, personally speaking. so, when i’m saying that i don’t think about him in depth, i mean him as, well, a character who can have smth beyond the frame, he was introduced in. i don’t have hcs for him. or invision him doing anything, but telling us how much our choice sucks lol. 

howerer, i actually really curious if they will tie up the repeating character models to the very fact, that those are the stories, that the curator tells us. the reason why i’m bringing it up is bc in until dawn, dr hill takes upon the role of the curator, but as we know, he’s personally tied to josh, and josh only. as he is the only one, who sees him. in the quarry, we met an old witch, who has a personal grudge against the hacketts. but unlike in until dawn, we met her as a player. so perhaps, we are the same entity that has those ‘tea parties’ with the curator. but then, what are we? they cannot harm us. nor can they actually influence our choice, if we don’t want them to. 

and then, there is john/dar/holmes/du’met, who are the same looking dude and all have the role of ‘misleading’ and/or present a permanent danger to the player. i love to think, that it was intentional, even if it was probably not. but if they’d make it so, then is he the devil or a demon on your shoulder, rather? esp bc the narrative itself always has a route, where one of the characters andrew/salim/charlie can be complicit with their choices. even if in tdim, it was a fake-out, but still. people can die, depending on if you’d pick their side or not. 

i guess, we’ll see how and what the new installation will bring in the future. what the second season will be about on main. and if they will give us some new info. the curator will surely be there to lay an even thicker mystery upon us, but perhaps, we will be able to figure out what exactly his role is in all of this. and why he let’s us mess with the story, if it was already ‘written’. more so, maybe we will figure out how we can influence those specific timelines and not the ones, where we can never save the protagonists (the intros and such). 

i think, that the curator is a really neat narrative tool. in many ways. and while, i know that a lot of people really adore him, i’m more into the concept of him vs supposed him. prob in the same way, how i liked that dr hill was a fragment of josh’s imagination and his personal voice-inside-the-head. and how i liked the old witch being actually dead and contacting us from someplace else. 

the thing about me is that i can make peace with ‘unknown’ in stories, if they are framed in specific ways and give just enough hints to conjure up some theories. i loved how tdim me essentially was about du’met, not the crew. and how holmes was there as throw away. like you can hc that he was possessed by the devil (in terms of the game, naturally) and that du’met is his reincarnation. or you can just be like ‘well, hector is a copycat’, which wouldn’t be usual. esp in western criminology. 

[joethetoonfanandoutcast]

Thoughts on Scamp's Adventure

I wanted to do a script of characters watch and react to this film, but I couldn't decide which characters to use and roast this film properly, so I'll just criticize it right here.

This film might have been fun when I was a kid but as I got older and rewatched it, it became one of the direct-to-video Disney sequels I disliked.

The animation: one of the only redeeming qualities.

The songs:

* "Welcome Home" - just a standard "good morning to the whole town" song that doesn't seem to match a Lady and the Tramp setting and all to show their life in their hometown is great, that they wouldn't change it for anything and that they're getting ready for the 4th of July picnics. Not really inspiring there.

* "A World Without Fences" - I like the 'wanting to be free' theme, but it'd be better from a different character and a different perspective, and not Scamp, as...well, you'll see why, if you haven't already.

* "Junkyard Society Rag" - hardly catchy at all, and though I like Jess Harnell, he's not the best singing voice for a Chazz Palmenterri character, and it was hard to take any of the dogs serious in this number.

* "I Didn't Know That I Could Feel This Way" - I actually thought this song was touching but should have been done with different characters in a different franchise, as I'm not really into Scamp/Angel like I thought I was as a kid. Though, it's also great to hear Herc's singing voice (Roger Bart) and Meg's voice (Susan Egan) having a duet.

* "Always There" - standard sad times montage song just put in there to add length to the film under the "film must be 90 minutes or at least longer than 60" rule

And I liked the pop title ballad version of "Bella Notte" (the song from the original) though it had nothing to do with this film's plot and this film isn't really worth sitting through just to get to that as we see the names of the people involved in this film roll.

The characters:

* Scamp - he's supposed to be a role model to rebellious kids everywhere and we're supposed to find him cute, but honestly, he's rather a spoiled, annoying, cocky, deluded jerkass who's disrespectful to his own father. He may have learned a lesson at the end, but that doesn't save him from winning a "Butthole Protagonist" award, and he doesn't seem to be deserving of a girlfriend either for his actions. Also, it's weird having a grown man, Scott Wolf, voice a pup when he didn't sound young at all.

* Angel - she's supposed to be this perfect girl designed to be the main character's love interest, and while I don't hate her, I find few faults with her. For example, she looks like she could be Scamp's sister and she does end up being his sister in the end (not biologically, but through adoption from the Dears, yet people still want them to be a thing), and she has this bad girl attitude which is supposed to be charming, but it doesn't come off as charming when they're both pint-sized pups. Maybe it'd come off as charming if they were anthros, but not their canon forms.

* Tramp - sadly been struck with the "Simba Sequel Syndrome"

* Lady - The writers sadly did her dirty. She was the main character of the first one and now she's demoted to the wife/mother of main character who gets less lines in favor of the spouse and offspring, just like Nala. And what's worse, is there are no interactions between her and Scamp, to view if THEY would have any connection whatsoever. It's just Scamp and connection with his dad and his selfish dreams of running off to be a wild dog.

Her role is pretty much summed up in this scene:

"Tramp: Like it or not, you are a part of this family, and until you start acting like it, you can just get used to being out here every night!

Tramp left and went inside in anger, while Lady watched Scamp jump on the roof of the dog house. She gave a hopeless sigh, and went inside as well, leaving Scamp alone to calm down."

Honestly, it shouldn't even be called "Lady and the Tramp II", just have it called "Scamp's Adventure" or "Scamp" and regard it as a spin-off since it's his film.

* Annette, Danielle and Collette - it's kind of dumb having them just being carbon copies of each other with no individual personality or characteristics other than "we like baths" or "we're the perfect children and Scamp's a selfish brat" without even remote compassion for him. And two of them are voiced by Kath Soucie. Nothing against her, but it seemed repetitive to have Kath voice all female children in late 90's-early 2000's Disney cartoons, and I don't like her voicing unlikable girls in cartoons with that kind of voice (such as Jenna from Clifford the Big Red Dog, one of the stepsisters from Happily N'Ever After, and others).

* The Junkyard Dogs - they just come off as pale knock-offs of Dodger and the Downtown Dogs from Oliver & Company. They've got a street-smart leader (Buster to Dodger), a tall, sly, attractive female added in there for furbait though contributes little to the plot and hardly anyone talks to (Ruby to Rita), a diminutive dog with an accent (Francois to Tito), a big doofus (Mooch to Einstein), and the remaining member (Sparky to Francis). And like Fagin called his dogs "boys", ignoring Rita's gender, Buster called them all boys, as if no one cared about Ruby's gender

Disney could have tried to make them more likable and unique but this had to be all about Scamp, and we've already got Jock, Trusty, the Dears and Scamp's family having to return as supporting characters.

Of course, out of all of them, Buster is by far the one that is truly loathsome. He's like a mixture of Dodger, Roscoe and/or Desoto with the smug "I'm better than you" attitude and the jock the new kid at high school foolishly looks up to and wants to be like, even if it means getting himself killed in an initiation. And another sickening quality about him is that he constantly flirts with the lead female, Angel, calling her his girl. I just can't stand those characters who are the alpha male who thinks they're entitled to the most intelligent female among the group.

The dog cronies themselves aren't really terrible, and they have subtle sympathy towards Scamp and Angel, but they're still not charming enough. They even laughed like cronies. They seem like nice dogs, but the writers could have done better with them. And remember how I mentioned that Buster referred to them all as "boys", ignoring Ruby and Angel being girls like Fagin ignored Rita's gender? Well, someone at the studio, SOMEONE could have the decency to correct that mistake and have them correct Buster.

Speaking of Ruby, she didn't have much lines at all, as she suffers the same problem with all cartoon Salukis and Afghan Hounds: sentenced to strictly being background furbait with appealing design yet no focus or qualities to make them more likable, and one thing that bothers me is that she and Angel seem to share no positive feels toward each other or negative towards each other, because back in the 2000's, there didn't seem to be a lot of positive female relationships written in cartoons. I really want someone to write a story with them being friends.

As a kid, I oddly enough hardly noticed her myself and didn't even know she was a girl, and it doesn't help that Buster said "boys". Seriously, why do animators and writers not pay enough attention to background characters?

* The Dogcatcher - weak antagonist with an annoying Don Knotts impression given by Jeff Bennett (who did better with the impression as Jonathan the Seagull on Puppy Dog Pals). I didn't even like this character as a kid.

* Otis - a psychotic annoying Rob Paulsen-voiced character no one ever asked for and was not necessary but someone at the Disney animation studio decided to throw in just to keep Rob employed (what, Rob wasn't already voicing plenty of other characters at the time?).

The story itself: boring, lazy, tiresome, predictable, and doesn't really do the first Lady and the Tramp any justice. That's why I decided that doing a word-for-word fanmake of it isn't worth spending time over. JusSonic would be willing to do something like it, but I'm not. I gave him a transcript and summed up the sequel to his version for 2009, so that's enough.

However, it is not the worst Disney sequel ever made. It's fine to watch at least once (and maybe only once). In honesty, I prefer watching the original or the live-action remake of the original over this. And honestly, I feel this should have been remade, not for the sake of nostalgia, but to make it better.

[monthlygirljiji]

the essay that didn't get me in ateneo

i always wanted to post this somewhere so why not here

My sister was my role model. Everything she did, I wanted to do as well. Even every career path she was aspiring for made me want it as well. She wanted to be a marine biologist once, and when I found out that she did, I spent three months studying about killer whales. She wanted to be a singer, so I asked my mom for singing lessons. The phase of me wanting to be like my sister shortly ended, and I, unfortunately, have a deep knowledge about killer whales and now know that songs that are in alto weren’t for me. But one of her aspirations struck me, it wasn’t even a long-time thing to her. One day, I heard her talk about how being a movie director would be cool. But I never hyper-fixated on what she said, til a few years ago I realised how much of an impact films make. 

The standard definition of film is basic, it’s a visual aid to a story. But it isn’t just that, of course. Films send a message, depict emotion, films are a political statement, and film is bravery. Filmmaking is everything I wanted and more. Storytelling with distinct visuals and music just for the viewers to know and understand how the scene is supposed to play, is supposed to feel. I pictured my future self as a director. Brave, smart, and strong. I knew that this was what I wanted. I saw myself not as a writer, but as a director. 

My short film was about a queer friend’s experience. She was approached by a scammer telling her that her hair was beautiful, asking if it was a wig then proceeded to ask for her personal information for her to become a model. Since my friend isn’t as gullible as a child, she refused and looked up the scammer’s name. Turns out the scammer would make women undress themselves while they steal the women’s belongings. 

I took a big risk writing this story, being a closeted queer person in my own home with homophobic family members while writing about the struggle of the queer experience might seem confusing to my parents. But this story, despite it being just an impulse, was important to me. I want excellence in everything that I do, I want to give my all. The message was important to me. I wrote the film in another perspective where-in she said yes. I made my main character, Ysa, have a dream of wanting to be a model and her saying yes was a sign of how desperate she was about reaching her goal. I wrote this film as a symbol of the lengths people would go just to get what they want whether it was suspicious or not, they would force themself to go to the said “photoshoot” and would repeatedly convince themself that they’re making the right decision. 

Ysa is everyone. Everyone is unsure whether they’re making the right decision. 

I made Ysa a representation of everyone and me. I wasn’t sure whether I liked my story or not, making me wonder if I was making the right decision. Regardless, I put my everything in this film. I made visual pegs, made my groupmates use my house for the location, scouted actors myself, choreographed scenes, provided food, made schedules, even though I wasn't in a position to do so. I was the assistant director and the writer, the blueprint. This was my first piece and I wanted to make sure everything was set and ready, it was convenient. My sacrifice was convenient to me because I wouldn’t need anyone else’s help but mine. When the shoot day was over, I didn’t have a sense of relief. I couldn’t sleep properly in my own home, I still felt the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was unsure if I made the right decision. 

When post-production started, I thought that my job ended there. The final product came out, I was unsure whether to be glad that it was over or nitpick on some tiny details I didn’t like. I wanted to say so much after exerting so much effort into this film, feeding people and providing them with answers or whatever they lacked. I thought to myself that I would at least have a say in the creative direction of this film after all of what I’ve done. 

My mindset at the time was just to let people do what they needed to, answer when asked, and do what was told. But with the amount of mixed emotions and the exhaustion I was handling couldn’t make me say something and elongate the process just because of my opinion. The risk wasn’t worth it. All I was, was a writer. I shouldn’t be involving myself in things like this unless I’m asked. 

The day comes where we have a small screening with my professor and groupmates. I felt a sense of relief hearing my professor say that among all of the films made in her subject, ours was one of the best. She encouraged us to join several film fests. We got in two—one in a local university and one in my school. We won first place in my own school. I didn’t attend the awarding since I thought that it would shatter me to see that my name wasn’t being called when announcing the winner even though I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this film. I went at the last minute to congratulate my friend, the director. I didn’t know how to feel seeing people congratulate him and his name being presented everywhere, making him the only one credited. I was unsure if I made the right decision being a writer. 

The night I came home from the awarding made me recollect and think if this was really for me, if the sacrifice was worth it. This experience has made me realise that I am capable of doing anything and everything. Seeing all this hard work on a big screen and my story coming to life and seeing people acknowledge the greatness of it makes it worth it. The feeling of achieving something will never come smoothly and it's always going to hit you in the face one way or another. I could have not done it and gone on with my life but I'm the kind of person who wouldn't want to regret not doing it rather than regret doing it. Lying in bed, I was sure that I made the right decision. 

[liopleurodean]

Wait I have answers for a couple of these (but yeah a lot of it is crazy)

As far as the money thing, everyone belongs to a Hold. Every minor hold belongs to a major Hold, most of which are associated with a craft hall (and if they aren't, they export their goods to one or have their own trading system). Minor holders keep their own farms/fisheries/whatever to keep themselves fed, but a good portion of whatever their export is goes to the major Hold or craft hall to be sold, which is where they get their money (and how they acquire living essentials).

As far as the 'no one is curious about anything,' 9th Pass Pern definitely disproves that. The issue is that Thread is such a violent threat that for 50 years (plus previous prep time) there is simply no way to put effort into expanding sciences. Of course, there are Intervals (especially the long ones) where people could explore and learn, but Pern is also not set up very well for an industrial revolution.

Not only that, but Pern was chosen as a colony world specifically because it did not have the right native materials to achieve advanced technologies (Pern stands for Parallel Earth, Resources Negligible, referring to a distinct lack of minerals that could be used for batteries and such). Combining that with the fact that most of the Ancients' resources were on the Southern Continent, which was (rightfully) abandoned, and you have a society that could eventually discover how to make something such as a telephone, but certainly nothing more advanced than a landline (if that).

It is acknowledged by multiple Harpers on behalf of their craft that they control the flow of information and ideas, and it is also acknowledged that many Harpers have agendas that affect the world at large. However, the main goal of the Harpercrafthall is to preserve the essential knowledge of Pern, i.e. how to fight Thread, how the political system works, and information about the local flora & fauna. While Harpers are seen to have an influence on political issues while holding the title of 'arbitrary,' it is generally noted that the Harpers are meant to take whatever side benefits all of Pern the most (which generally happens to coincide with the plans of our heroes). It's not a perfect system by a long shot, but at least it's interesting.

I'm not going to touch very far on the Weyrleader thing because it's an acknowledged issue from the characters themselves, but it is noted that generally the only bronzes that are fast enough to fly the queens are the ones who have competent riders (who care for and adequately train their dragons). The real issue is when a Queen becomes Senior just because she's the oldest, even if she's not qualified.

Weyrs keep their own herds for dragon hunting, and I think it's implied somewhere that they work with the animals to keep them healthy despite terror? I'm pretty sure it's also noted that riders are supposed to encourage their dragons to make swift, clean kills (or at least, such traits are praised in dragons like Mnementh and Ramoth, who are role models for exemplary dragon behavior).

A couple of these can also be explained by the Southern Continent being Weird and also Banned (you're right about the mint thing, though. That's concerning). The fire lizards don't like the cold of the Northern Continent, so they're mostly kept south, where Terran animals have been left behind. It's a little unrealistic that so many foreign animals would have much of an impact on the local ecosystem, but both predator and prey were left behind, especially when we factor in Thread.

That's about all I have to say about the issues listed. Obviously the world of Pern has many flaws, and I'm not trying to excuse them, but I love to ramble about Pern and its idiosyncrasies.

Dragonriders of Pern is a series

Anne McCaffrey:

[madcapislostinthebooks]

My review of the Barbie movie.

The Barbie movie starts with a 2001: A Space Odyssey homage and when Barbie shows up she is portrayed as a God who brought women's liberation to the masses. Barbie or Mattel is not the answer to the hard  questions. Throughout the film Mattel is an entity that controls Barbieland and when something goes awry in Barbieland it happens in the real world. So Mattel inadvertently controls the real world. Since one of the co-founders of Mattel was also the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler, Mattel feels that Barbie is the essence of Girl Boss. But Girl Boss for who? 

There is no class analysis in the movie. Barbie can go out and do whatever she wants because she lives in a Wes Anderson style utopia.  Everyone is incredibly wealthy. There are no homeless people in the movie (I didn't see any when they were in the real world either). So everyone in both worlds are wealthy. There is no poverty, everyone has the same opportunities. Which is not true. The writers all come from relative privilege and comfort. So they could go out and do anything. But the woman who has struggled with Homelessness has a much harder time trying to become president as there are barriers in the way. At the end of the movie they don't address many of the issues that caused the Ken’s to rebel. Where do the Ken’s sleep? So Barbie is there for bourgeois women liberation. 

The movie's main point is that if Barbie can do it, so can you. What if Barbie wants to be a farmer, blacksmith, or a car mechanic? All of Barbie’s jobs are very bourgeois, even the cop and the Desert Storm Veteran. I know when I played with her it was more of how I play The Sims, “Oh look, a happy family.” Barbie despite everything is still a feminine role model. 

Every time Ruth Handler is on screen they give her some soft lighting to make her look angelic and every time the two women hold hands it's very reminiscent of Michelangelo’s painting Creation of Adam. So this female who is a representation of both women and a corporation is the equivalent to God. Because God created man and Mattel via Ruth created Woman. The movie is saying worship women and corporations as they may make a few mistakes but they have your best intentions. 

They also do that because they want to drive home the importance of the mother-daughter relationship because Barbie is named after Ruth’s daughter Barbara. It really felt like the feminism of the 1970s where you can be a career woman and a mother. According to the movie, the only way to dismantle the patriarchy is to strengthen the sisterhood. So have more babies. It felt extremely pro-life. It made me uncomfortable. 

The movie promotes heteronormativity despite having queer and trans people in the cast. The relationship between Barbie and America Ferrier’s character was advertised as queer like in the trailer but it mirrors more of a nuclear family. Barbie is the big sister of Sasha. This movie reminded me of a lot of films and TV from the 50’s that I have seen. Because in the end you are ruled by either a matriarchy or a patriarchy. Writer and Director Greta Gerwing said this to the New York Times, “My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men.” Either woman or man. So she doesn't acknowledge anyone else but man or woman. It may have been campy but it upheld heteronormative ideas. 

Barbie sets off on her quest because she gets some cellulite. Which was the final straw for someone who is supposed to be beautiful. There is a big barbie. You think they would be used to cellulite because she is a friend. But when Stereotypical barbie has a minor flaw of cellulite, not flat feet, the whole world ends. Isn't that part of the critique of why Barbie as an institution is bad? Barbie, like Disney, gives women and girls unrealistic ideas of how they are supposed to look. So the movie wants you to stay skinny and look hot. To be beautiful is to be powerful.

The movie was bad  but one of the worse things it did was make a genocide joke. They had America Ferrer, a woman of color, say that white women losing to the patriarchy is similar to being whipped out completely. You can tell a rich white woman wrote it because if you tell a white lady no she feels like she is the most oppressed person ever to exist which in a way turns her into a Karen. 

In short the movie promotes cis women and corporations as gods. Cis women are gods as they are mother’s. And they are the only way to help change the world for the better. You can have a fat friend just don't be fat yourself. Also rich people having an inconvenience is equivalent to genocide because poor people just don't exist in the world. The movie was written by people who live in their own little world, and it shows. It could have been viewed as leftist if it was made in about 1985 but today? No.

[aestherin]

privacy

ayato's (official)

NOTES

Ayato - a very, and i mean very famous actor; specializes in romance and historical drama. milk tea enthusiast, every single living being probably knows about that fact. whenever he posts a photo or talks about a certain drink from a certain shop, rest assured the mentioned shop will have enough sales to last them an eternity. also secretly a ceo. basically, even if he is not a celebrity, this man will still have more than enough mora to buy the world. maybe that is why he can control the agency that he is supposed to be under. may or may not be secretly a simp.

Thoma - our resident famous homebody vlogger. he makes a lot of videos about housekeeping—sweeping, dusting, laundry, ironing, folding clothes, cooking, waste disposal, sometimes even how to groom and take care of dogs aka taroumaru—you name it, he has it. but let's be honest, the main reason people keep watching him is that he is an eyecandy.

Ayaka - miss shirasagi himegimi here is a solo artist. girl can dance and sing, people can only wish they were as talented as her. not to mention she is gorgeous and acts with grace. according to the public, she is the epitome of perfection. ayaka has taken the hearts of many, and likewise, her heart is already taken by another.

Yoimiya - the sunshine and extrovert celebrity. she is in the same agency as [name], but despite her desire to get close to the said actress, she never had an opportunity to do so. auditioned as a model for jokes (because she was dared by the friend group), and actually got in. they were scared to dare her to do anything after that.

Itto - also an actor, but never gets lead roles. despite that, he is still famous and well-loved by the public. we have his personality to thank for that. we also have his personality to blame why the characters he plays are almost all the same—the comedic relief side character.

[mackjlee9]

Kise Ryota x Idol!Male!Reader [Fluff&Lime]

(I was imagining something kind of like 'dakaretai otoko' when I was writing this, but it turned out a little meh :/)

Masterlist.

Kuroko no Basuke

The idol group, RISE⭒HIGH, had been getting more and more popular with each day that passed, giving them the chance of acting together as a group in their first drama.

The five of them were really rising high, just as their name said.

Days of popularity turned into weeks, that merged into months, and now, during their first anniversary, they were told something big. All of them were gonna have singular roles in different series and movies, nothing too special, but that could soon change, maybe one day, they'll get the protagonist role, and one of them did.

(M/n) passed his audition for one of the main character's love interests, who would, however, be rejected.

On the first day of rehearsal, he met the guy that would play his character's best friend, who was the one that helped him confess and court the main character, that guy was going to be interpreted by a very well-known model. Kise Ryota.

Meeting each other was a little awkward, but as the days went by, (M/n) just kept wanting to talk to Kise more and more, enjoying his chill presence. They had good chemistry, and that was obvious for the rest of the personnel on the set, even for the viewers. He and Kise were often seen hanging out together after filming, their eye-catching chemistry hard to miss, modeling together for known brands, going to interviews as a duo, seemingly attached to the hip.

They were the perfect guys to make a profit out of, putting them together whenever they got a chance, making money, and pleasing the viewers and shippers that loved every interaction they had.

The internet was floated with videos of short moments with each other, enjoying the way they talked or looked at each other, some of their fans craving a friendship like theirs, and others, wishing for a pure, true love like that.

But no one knew what any of them were starting to feel.

Growing feelings of love drove them to try and stop being so openly touchy with each other, blushing at how close they constantly were, but deep inside, craving for more.

And someone, a known director, saw his chance.

Having the perfect script for both of them, they weren't holding auditions for those two characters, and their managers told them about this big drama that was gonna start filming. Neither of them rejected the role, especially not after finding out who was gonna be there too.

(M/n) and Kise played the role of "rivals" involved in a love triangle, and every scene they filmed together was so seemingly real, that everyone on the set felt like they were already watching the premiere of the chapters, but no, it was all acting, an act that was too convincing as it was equally tense. The tension was so palpable, and the director had a bright idea for a scene that would sell so much and could catch people's attention.

Being portrayed as the typical himbo "jock", Kise was the one who could get easily cornered by (M/n), the " bad guy" lone wolf of the school, everything was fake, just a role that they played, but the tension- the sexual tension was almost too real.

The scene was only meant to be a heavy discussion, close to getting into a physical fight, but turned out to be an annoyed push from Kise that ended in a kabedon by (M/n). Caught off-guard by the sudden change, Kise stared at (M/n) like a deer caught in red light, his body getting covered in goosebumps when he made eye contact with the (h/c) haired male.

(M/n) had a serious expression on his face while internally wondering why the fuck he started improvising, but he never heard the director calling a restart for the scene, so he kept going.

He was supposed to threaten Kise, making him understand why he was the best choice for the girl they loved, but Kise was too busy staring into (M/n)'s eyes, there was something almost animalistic in them that made Kise back himself further into the brick wall behind him to prevent himself from falling on the ground.

And well, to discretely fix his clothing so he could hide something that was starting to become visible, he was kind of grateful that his outfits were usually baggy fits or he had a jacket tied around his waist because otherwise, everyone would've seen the bulge in his pants.

"Cut!" The director's voice make them snap out of the trance they were in, and Kise realized he didn't say his line, "We'll pick it up from here in ten minutes!" Everyone in the set dispersed, heading to their trailers to rest or eat some food, "Well done, (M/n)."

The male nodded in silence, and Kise pushed himself off the wall so he could get away quickly, but his body was still weak from the shock and arousal (M/n) caused that his knees gave out, thankfully -or maybe not- (M/n) caught him before he could fall to the ground, and he let out a choked moan that could be disguised as a sound of fear or surprise. His erection had just rubbed on (M/n)'s thighs and he got a little scared that the (h/c) haired male felt it, but (M/n) was more focused on getting him to stand up straight.

Little did Kise know that (M/n), not only felt his erection, but he was panicking because he was controlling the problem that was also rising inside his clothes, he was wearing kinda tight clothes, and his shirt and leather jack could never hide a bulge in his pants.

Well, that scene caught quite the attention, but it also made Kise and (M/n) know how big their sexual tension was, leading them to accept that it was, indeed, sexual tension and no less than that.

///////

Despite their awareness, they continued filming the drama, having to endure the "spicy fights" scenes they were given through the rest of the chapters, and they finally got to film the ending.

That last day, after filming the last scene, the whole cast was invited out for dinner, courtesy of their director. Everyone had fun, drinking away and having fun, however, by the time they were done, it was too late for (M/n) to go back to the dorm where he lives with the rest of the group, it was a long trip there and the hotels were pretty much already at full capacity or were too expensive.

Kise saw his opportunity when he watched (M/n) mess with his hair as he sighed in frustration, he walked closer until he stopped next to him, and he nudged (M/n) to get his attention.

He was kinda glad that the alcohol had made his face flushed because the way (M/n) looked at him made him flustered.

"How 'bout you spend the night at my place?" Kise asked with a playful smile, and (M/n) frowned for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea, but being honest, he really wanted to spend time with Kise, they became such good friends and now he wanted to fuck him... that had to change, he couldn't lust after the blond.

"Uh... sure, why not?" At that moment, the Uber Kise had called mere minutes ago arrived, and he held (M/n)'s wrist, dragging him to the back of the car.

They got in, and the driver stayed silent the whole way to Kise's apartment, (M/n) felt his heart beating faster, his fingers playing with the strap of his bag that was placed between his legs, keeping his sight on the passing buildings of the city.

Kise was the same, but his eyes focused on (M/n)'s reflection through the side of his window glass, feeling nervous and excited about what he was gonna do once they arrived.

//////

Closing the door behind him, (M/n) yawned and walked further in, rubbing his eye for a few seconds.

When he looked up, he had to look away before keeping his sight on his shoes. He understood that Kise was in his home and that they were friends, but he was stripping even before his door was fully closed. 

Avoiding eye contact, (M/n) walked past the blond, "I'm going to the bathroom..." He mumbled, but he couldn't take more than three steps before he felt Kise's grip on his wrist.

"Do you mind if we shower together?" Yes, I do mind! (M/n) thought as he held his breath, but instead, he let out a short sigh.

"No, not at all," he wasn't sure why he said that- or maybe he was, he just knew that he was conflicted and confused, and honestly, Kise didn't seem to really understand the pinch he was in at the moment.

Flowing the blond to the bathroom room, they took a quick shower to clean up before walking into the bathtub. (M/n) washed himself first and stood up, untying the towel around his hips and getting in the warm water. The bath wasn't huge, but it could fit both of them comfortably, and (M/n)'s mind was petty much gone by now, moving as if on command, too tired and stressed to even understand what was happening anymore.

Kise glanced back at (M/n) when he was done washing up, getting up, and getting in the bath too, sitting in front of (M/n), on the opposite end of the bath.

After a few minutes of silence, Kise spoke, "What's wrong?"

(M/n) kept his eyes down on the gently moving water, "What do you mean?"

"You're not looking at me, that's what I mean," Kise held onto the sides of the bath, kneeling as he closely observed (M/n)'s reaction.

"That's not true," Taking a quick glance up, (M/n) sharply looked down again, making Kise frown.

"You just did," reaching a hand to hold (M/n)'s face, Kise made him look up, maintaining eye contact, "What? Do I turn you on?"

(M/n) didn't like getting teased, he never did, and showing a small frown, his hands reached up to hold onto Kise's hips, "Actually, you do," Kise's eyes opened wide his breath stuck in his throat, "What are you gonna do about it?"

Leaning closer, (M/n)'s lips graced Kise's, whose face turned red. Taking a deep breath, Kise took the initiative and pressed their lips together in a kiss that started slow but soon turned rough and hungry.

Kise wrapped his arms around (M/n)'s neck, while the (h/c) haired male tightly held Kise's waist, bringing the blond closer to his body.

Moans and whine left Kise's mouth, his hips starting to grind down on (M/n)'s, feeling his dick getting hard as he felt (M/n)'s grip tightening, making him move faster as his cock pressed against Kise's ass.

Breaking the kiss, (M/n) pressed their foreheads together, "Ryota, wait..." The blond felt shivers when (M/n) called out his name, "We're in the bath right now," Kise didn't care about that one bit, he wanted (M/n)'s cock inside, and it didn't matter where he got it, in the bath, the couch or his bed, but (M/n) stopped him from going further, holding his body gently in a hug, "Maybe some other time where... we're not drunk, okay?"

Kise felt his heart flutter at (M/n)'s words, and he just silently nodded.

(M/n) smiled at him and slowly stood up while keeping his hold on Kise's body. He let Kise stand up in the bath and he stepped out, reaching for a towel to wrap around his hip, and walking out of the bathroom.

"I'll be in your room," he muttered before closing the door, and leaning against it. He glanced down at his still standing erection and he sighed, "I better go and get dressed," he whispered to himself, heading to the guest room where he kept some spare clothes whenever he stayed the night.

While he dried his body, he kept thinking, wondering what could've happened, and the answer was simple, his face heating up at the thought of having sex with Kise, his best friend, and crush, the guy he felt romantic and sexual attention toward.

"Damn it..." He cursed as he got dressed, pulling his sweatpants up before sitting on the bed, his hair still dripping water, so he grabbed the towel around his shoulders and placed it on his head.

He didn't know what exactly was gonna happen next, whether their relationship was gonna turn into something more or if they'll just stay as friends, he was unsure, and that kind of scared him a bit.

(What even is this trash?)

[ct-hardcase]

As a warning, there's a long (and kind of disorganized) rant below this cut.

Look, I'll give the show its credit where it's due. Clearly a lot of people liked Tech and they gave him a lot of love in s2. I'm not one of those people, however I will give his touching monologue to Omega its props as one of the show's better moments, since it meant a lot to a lot of people. Hunter felt kind of lackluster in s2 but killed it in s1 and sort of bounced back at the end of the second season. The show even begrudgingly kicking and screaming got me at least invested in Crosshair even if I'm apprehensive they're going to pull some Kallus nonsense with his character. Omega sweetie you did nothing wrong and you're great. The actual Tantiss plot and the plot pertaining to all clones (read: not just the batch) is compelling. Wrecker's treatment is its own rant.

but Echo just. a lot. I'm mostly pissed about it. I attached myself to him as a character between the release of the reels and the actual premiere of the arc and show, but there was that moment in s1 where he had to fake being a droid that sealed that we were just not giving a shit about him or at least to be wary. Like, Echo, whose existence was forcibly being a computer for a year going through that. Fuck.

And look, all of them are whitewashed and it fucking sucks as-is. But as I said on twitter I wish they'd AT LEAST. BARE MINIMUM. reverted his pallor to his original skin tone, showing him getting healthier and recovering (there were multiple model changes—it could've happened in s2), but nah. stark paler than I am.

And his socket arm is cool and it helps the plot. If he likes the arm, power to him. But there was a short twitter video where, no lie, for about 30 seconds, that's pretty much all they said about him. And, for context, Hunter's (and I believe Tech and Wrecker but couldn't say for sure) did have more character traits than just their enhancements, Echo has so much rich development in tcw, so to see it barely mentioned is just. Weird, especially since Echo's augmentations were brought on by imprisonment and torture. I'm pretty sure he'd probably have a more complicated relationship with what he does than the rest of batch, even if he learns to adapt to/like it eventually. Even in tbb—when hunter and crosshair are both out of the picture—you can see he naturally falls into a leader role.

But that's the thing, right, the way they did their battles on the show he's not needed. Because Echo's a really damn skilled reg (and I'll die on the hill he's a reg), but because they don't actually use Hunter's unique ability like 99% of the time, he falls into what was Echo's niche of "good strategy" and "can shoot well". And because Hunter is physically more augmented than Echo is, then yeah, he looks better. Also, given that they're doing more stealth in s2, Wrecker's using his ability less, and also filling the niche of "Shoot things". So consequently, Echo's usually given a 'break into this door' niche, which was Tech's thing, so Echo ultimately gets shunted into the position of 'Tech but Worse' or 'Hunter but Worse' every time they battle.

And in terms of character agency, while he did have his conflict in s2 and was clearly fed up with them fucking around in the criminal underworld, it barely felt like it was anything beyond (albeit obvious) subtext until the episode where he left. Just, given that he barely talked throughout season 2, it'd have been nice to have it be a bit more out there.

idk, I've rambled a lot, and I'm already pretty burnt out with how this show's treated him and why they'd bring him back from the dead to act as a replacement body for Crosshair (and now Tech), especially when, in my opinion, the show's had a hard time balancing the arcs and screentime of the other cast members. I feel weird for needing to reiterate this, but Echo's ostensibly supposed to be a main character, but it doesn't feel like it for most of the show's runtime.

man, as we head toward tbb season three, I'm really hoping that they did right by echo this season. I'm hoping so hard.

[trinkerichi]

im thinking abt osomatsu 

he’s almost nobody’s favorite character right off the bat, and then everyone who has him as their favorite is SUUUPER heavily introspective about the show because even though he’s the title character he’s probably the hardest to distinguish from the rest when you’re new to the show. He’s the main guy. he’s the default model and all the others are variations. he doesn’t really have a gimmick or a trope to his personality besides maybe gambling and being a jerk. 

BUT its kinda perfect because he Defines the show. he’s the entire reason the rest of the brothers are the way they are. he’s the leader and they all know it and they can’t escape him. and its KINDA SAD. 

OF course they never dwell or focus on any of the incredibly well built up character traits they establish in this show, i could go on forever about that. But for once I really feel like the majority fandom interpretation of Oso isn’t really reaching at all. He holds onto his childish persona and absolutely refuses to grow from it, because that’s what he’s comfortable with. He has a low image of himself, but doesn’t show it or introspect like Ichi does. I’d argue having a shaky sense of identity is kinda the basis of every matsu’s character flaws, but that’s the most true for this guy. He didn’t have to worry about that stuff as a kid. He was the only one with a personality and the rest just followed along. He didnt HAVE to be anything more than that. If he resented being seen as one of six, he didnt realize it until he grew up, and only now does he realize how much it messed him up. And instead of trying to work on it, he’s just desperately trying to maintain the status quo as long as he can. No matter how much the other brothers try to change themselves and become their own people, in either a jokey or serious way, Oso ALWAYS drags them back down to his level again. Even if it hurts them. 

HE HAS GROWN FROM THIS OF COURSE. Very very slowly over the course of the 3 seasons and the movie you can tell he’s a little more willing to try new things and become a little more mature. I mean he couldnt get much worse than ep 24, actually physically hurting the youngest brothers and completely emotionally shutting down when Choro left. But he still kinda does this in less obvious ways in later eps. 

I really loved the analysis they did with him in the episode where he goes on a date with Nyaa Chan. He was joking like “haha im gonna score with her lol” but then she actually asks him out for real and he’s SO TERRIFIED. and it’s hilarious and adorable he’s just hiding under the couch and they have to drag him out kicking and screaming for an hour. He’s so afraid of change. He doesn’t trust himself enough to be a “real adult” and do all the things he’s supposed to do. That’s why he tries to lower everyone’s expectations of him, but when THAT doesn’t work he has no idea what to do. 

While the other’s dilemmas are that they HAD no identity until they became adults, and are desperately trying to compensate by roping themselves into tropes that they don’t even really fit, Oso is the only one who’s stuck with the same role he’s always had, and it doesn’t fit anymore. It’s because he’s grown up now, and because the others dont need him to define the group anymore, and being the big brother doesn’t really matter anymore. so who IS he? 

i didn’t have a point or conclusion to this i just think he’s a very developed and interesting take on a grown up version of a very simply written classic cartoon character and the show gives juuuust enough hints at this for me to be satisfied but i want MORE and i want this for all of the characters cuz im in too deep. thank you for attending my ted talk. next I’ll discuss the “jyushimatsu and concepts” skit and how that boy’s secretly the smartest out of all of them ok bye 

*edit: i forgot i didnt even mention Tougou. I mean he’s not canon to the new show so it doesn’t matter but HONESTLY if he was i wouldn’t even be surprised. With all of Oso’s surprisingly intense baggage, him having some kinda childhood trauma would make a LOT of sense. Especially with how clingy he is with his family and how he hates the thought of them leaving. His comfort in dwelling in the past, sabotaging chances to change their lives. IM JUST SAYING it would make sense. 

[dekusheroacademia]

Why Uraraka's crush can be annoying for some fans

I like Uraraka, but I understand why she might not be a fan favorite, especially from female readers.

There is something that some people who get annoyed at "female characters are not good in BNHA" miss, specifically in regard to Uraraka.

So, every main character in BNHA revolves around Deku. We have Todoroki, who can feel Deku's spirit, almost equating it to All Might's. He learns about using his own power, and his character growth revolves around Deku. We have Iida, who is one of Deku's first friends, and was stopped by Deku (murder!), and then has both his brother and Deku as role models of what it means to be a hero. Of course, we have Bakugou, who basically revolves only around Deku.

None of these characters have a crush on Deku, they are all male.

There are not a lot of female characters in BNHA, and Uraraka is the only main one. She is also the only female characters that is put in the role of "admiring/imitating" Deku as Todoroki, Bakugou and Iida are. In a minor way, even Kirishima and Mineta are in the same role of admiration for Deku, both males. No other female characters is in that position. Momo does not have this admiration/imitation position, but her self esteem gets restored thanks to Todoroki. Mina has only a couple of panels, her "imitation" happening through Kirishima. Invisible girl has nothing, Tsuyu has nothing, Jirou has an arc where she is encouraged by the whole class.

Uraraka is the only one who is put in the same position of directly being affected by Deku as Todoroki, Iida and Bakugou. And she is the only female character... and because she is a female character, her admiration has to take the shape of a crush.

So the problem is not that she revolves around Deku, it is this frustration at the fact that we cannot have a female character standing on her own, having the role other male characters have, and not revolve around love or a crush. Bakugou, Iida, Todoroki can have it, why not Uraraka? The thing is, Uraraka could have easily had the same as her male counterparts, as her characters follows a similar development of "being a hero because Deku showed me to".

I think this also explains why in BNHA Tododeku, Bakudeku and Iidadeku work so well - they are based on the same elements that turns into a crush in Uraraka's case.

The fact that she also has the least amount of screentime among the main group does not help either. The fact that she has the least amount of interaction with the rest of the class... also doesn't help. It is like Horikoshi forgets she is there, unless he needs her for Deku.

She is there for Tsuyu, but after that - after Overhaul, nothing. Overhaul is particularly embarrassing because she is there, she is determined to fight - and she gets no focus. The focus goes to Mirio, Tamaki and Kirishima. It is like Horikoshi put her there, just because Toga was supposed to be.

For what I like about Uraraka's crush and how it fits the narrative, which is the positive side of this conversation, click here!