#it was well animated but also very creepy so like. success?????

[gwemmieee]

Yeah. I have a big bone to pick with women who go out of their way to gatekeep someone out of our club. Most of them are cis and straight, but trans fems who do this unfortunately exist. That instance looks like some disgusting hypocrisy to me, because most baby trans fems really emotionally lean on the willingness of this community to emphasize that you are your gender and you are valid no matter how many steps you've already taken and been successful with. That is a crucial, supportive message, and suppressing it in any way is tantamount to pulling up the ladder behind you. Which, yeah, every community has its assholes who pull up ladders.

It is also a tough line to walk sometimes for women, because most of us have learned that there are certain ways we can't entirely just open up to most masculine folks and let them into our entire lives and every space. Not without a lot of pain. So we are incentivized to wait until someone makes it clear that they're safe, before they're let into our inner lives more. This function has caused me SO much strife, because before I was accepted as a woman, it kept me outside in the cold, alone, really close to an early grave, but now that I am fully living as a woman, and even before I was doing that, my efforts to ignore this function entirely and just let any masculine person into my heart, my inner world, and my safest spaces, have not always gone well, and sometimes those efforts have backfired, made me unsafe, and deeply traumatized me.

These days, the only conclusion I've been able to find is that women need to work on what we recognize as red and green flags, for who is safe. It's pretty easy to see that the average set of red and green flags you see most non-queer white women adhere to are... crap. Truly crap. Delusional, not based in reality, etc. And that sucks because it isolates them more and it gives them more excuse to be really shitty to people, or to gossip about them in ways that really aren't fair to them.

Earlier in my transition, I still had it internalized that I had had so much trouble because I wasn't good enough, because I didn't do enough, and that's why women didn't let me in. But I was literally running around freely saying out loud that I was genderfluid, that I had no concept of manhood and little concept of gender, that I thought it would be cool if I was born as a woman, that I wanted other pronouns to be used on me, that I could be pretty gay/queer, acting pretty gay/queer, openly rejecting most masculine behaviors and modes of thought, constantly openly celebrating femininity, experimenting with gender presentation... I was a very queer little dude. And I've only been able to recognize that in retrospect. Because nobody let me in. Trans fems may have let me in, but they weren't around much in the late 00s and early 10s. I never met one. But I did meet and usually deeply connect with countless fellow eggs, before any of us knew. In situations like mine, trans fems generally didn't even get to find themselves until a bisexual cis woman took it upon herself to date them as a perceived man, and then recognize their queerness and allow them to explore gender with her acceptance and assistance. Because being allowed into womanhood was so rare and taboo that it had to happen behind closed doors as part of a romantic relationship. I was aro/ace, and I unconsciously looked to get the same experience out of a platonic friendship, but all I got was led on. Told I was a close friend but still treated like a stray animal compared to their feminine friends. Not let in.

Meanwhile, cis women, and fem-raised queer folks who at the time universally saw themselves as, yknow proudly not quite men at least, universally treated me like a burly cis man deserving of none of their support or curiosity and all of their suspicion and gossip about how "he's creepy." Consistently. Until I finally came out as a woman in 2022. And that's so 100% on them. They went out of their way to not see me for who I was and just keep me out in the cold. So yeah. The state of gatekeeping of womanhood is *bad*. And in my experience, most of it comes from people who had/have easy access to unquestioned claims of womanhood, whether that's because they're AFAB or because their transition into womanhood was really fast and made them really conventionally attractive.

But what about trans fems? Well, we aren't perfect with our red and green flags, either. It's hard to be. Personally, I've noticed there is a small contingent (VERY small) of trans fems my age who operate more like the old world transsexuals in that they really are truscum gatekeepers, often also ableist, and borderline psychopathic in the level of emotional labor they expect from you as a friend vs. what they're willing to put up with in return. And that is very unfortunate. My early transition saw a lot of them genuinely help me as incredible new friends, but then hurt me badly and burn bridges for no good reason. And I feel that there is a bit of a schism in the trans fem community between elders who usually just want to stealth out--who look down on baby transes and cringe and don't help us, or even if they do talk to us and help, there is still a very clear line denominating their actual friends and community that we never get to cross into--and the rest of us who openly embrace being queer and not assimilating all the way. But, frankly? Most trans fems I've met are the most welcoming and least gatekeeping folks on the planet. Most are that latter, queerer camp. And we operate exactly the way that we should: we let anyone safe into our inner world, even if that safe person happens to be a man. And some of us STILL see that backfire. And so even we can't be completely carefree. But we can always learn and grow and get better and better at what we actually identify as red and green flags.

wait where are all the trans guys

Historical-anthropological research, especially the work taking place before the 21st century or outside the West, tends to focus entirely on transfeminized groups. So when reading these works it’s pretty natural to ask — wait, where are all the trans guys? This is a reasonable question with a few clear answers; this post is something quick I can point people to.

The central condition of transfeminized groups' absorption into feminist activism has been to accept a kind of symmetry with select TME groups through the understanding of trans femininity as "gender variance." Under this framework, transfeminized groups' social position can be understood as a consequence of gender variance and some abstract violation of cis norms; this was proposed by people like Susan Stryker and Emi Koyama [1], among others, and continues to structure trans inclusion today. It also fails when considering several basic aspects of these groups:

Transfeminized groups are associated with hyperspecific labor practices, most frequently sex work, but also hair styling, drag, makeup artistry, acting, and other forms of 'gender work.'

Metropolitan transfeminized groups appear in the archive as highly clustered and active groups connected with, but usually intensely split from, the masculine men they fucked.

Transfeminized groups become a kind of 'third gender' on an epistemic level; they are Known to wider society before and after “coming out” in a way that USAmerican transmasculinity has only recently vaguely approached.

Transfeminized groups are heavily clustered in labor practice, social organization, and epistemic position, although this is not universal -- certain strains of USAmerican transfemininity have become a bit more labor-agnostic in the last two decades, not-so-coincidentally alongside more general currents of gender-labor liberation. The messy strains of trans male identity recovered from the archive and from current practice tend to lack labor, social, and epistemic coherence. As Aaron Devor notes in FTM, his 1997 history of FTM men, trans men in the 20th century tended to transition out of cities and into the countryside, finding low-profile places they could exist in. These practices, and the earlier "female husband" practices described by Jen Manion, relied on the labor-agnostic nature of transitioned manhood in order to disappear from public life. Transfeminized groups, on the other hand, are categorically restricted from the main form of economic life historically available to women -- marriage. Their labor practices are heavily constrained and have almost always revolved around some form of 'gender work:' as Susan Stryker put it, you need to get people to pay you for being a trans woman. Transmasculinity pushes away feminized restrictions on labor; trans femininity is labor.

Because transfeminized identities are so often labor-identities, and because their specific brand of 'gender work' and hormonal/silicone/surgical embodiment usually requires both specialized training and community support, nearly every metropolitan center in the world developed highly centralized transfeminized groups over the course of the 20th century [2]. As Ochoa notes, this visibility is partially due to epistemic visibility (everyone knows what a trans is), partially due to group structure (people work and train each other), and partially due to the selectively visible demands of finding clients. Fledglings come in with a way of being that is always already visible to society, but changing the body to match and learning how to fully enact and slowly contest the third-gender labor-identity they've been given takes a lot of community support.

So as labor-identities, transfeminized groups tend to a level of labor/community/epistemic coherence that has no clear counterpart. The news archives we have of trans men (as seen in Manion) position them as singular and easily absorbed back into the female gestalt; the cisgender feminist/gayguy/AIDS researchers that form the bulk of historical-anthropological work saw them as unnecessary to their grand theories of gender; the communities themselves have been materially fractured and, for the groups that rise out of lesbian-feminist activism, only partially committed to their own existence. The result of all this is that there is no clear equivalent to the "transfeminized groups" of Jules-Gill Peterson; there is no symmetry to trannydom, and while additional work to unearth trans manhood in the archive remains extremely valuable, sometimes the necessary level of label-coherence and social existence just isn't there.

[1] Stryker, "My Words to Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix: Performing Transgender Rage," Emi Koyama, "The Transfeminist Manifesto" [2] As seen in Namaste, Invisible Lives, Prieur, "Mema's House, Mexico City," Kulick, "Travesti," Newton, "Mother Camp," Ochoa, "Queen for a Day," Hegarty, "The Made-Up State," and plenty more. Most of these works came out in the late 80s and 90s due to a combination of the feminist "third gender" craze, the burgeoning field of masculinity studies, and AIDS.

[demonic0angel]

Animal AU (click for clarity)

CW: blood and creepy stuff in the description

If I have to color Dani one more time, I’m going to riot 😭

Notes below: (very long and detailed)

+ Jazz is a melanistic gray wolf, Danny is an albino mule deer, Dan is a king cobra, Dani is a peregrine falcon. Some of these ideas are taken from my dp royal court ideas.

I associate Jazz with wolves and canines. She is very loyal and protective, which I think would be best associated with canines. I usually give her the largest animals possible (because of her height), and gray wolves are the largest of all wolves. She is melanistic due to the fact that I like her color palette of black and turquoise. It also gives her a special connection to Danny that I do on purpose where they are black and white.

Dan is associated with cold blooded animals in my mind, cold in demeanor, vicious, and slippery. He is a king cobra because king cobras are the largest of all venomous snakes. They are also not true cobras, which adds a nice connection to Dan as being the most different out of all of the halfas. Surprisingly, king cobras are rather friendly to humans, which might be because of how smart they are.

I associate Dani with fast and speedy animals, so I often give her the fastest animals I can find lmao. Peregrine falcons are the fastest birds in the world, due to their diving speeds. I like how Dani is considered a bird because she is very free-spirited and flighty in my mind. I love it because I think she’d be really independent and would love the sky. Peregrine falcons also mostly eat birds, just like how king cobras eat other snakes, so that’s pretty cool too.

Danny is both kingly and creepy, which describes deer very well. Mule deer are very common in the US, and you might recognize them due to the fact that the Great Prince of the Forest (in Bambi) is inspired by a mule deer. Deer are fascinating creatures because there have been many, many folklores and myths about them, but none can compare to the real facts. Deer are very heavily affected by diseases such as chronic wasting disease, which can cause very strange behaviors. They get up after death, they walk off after being shot at or run over, they kill themselves repeatedly, they eat other animals, and they walk on their hind legs. All in all, while deer are very majestic and beautiful, they are also very, very freaky. There is a sense of poetry in how they’re hunted, which also applies to Danny. I think deer describes him very well :)

+ Meanwhile, the Batkids are a wild assortment of animals. Dick is a white throated needletail, Jason is an argali sheep, Cass is a black footed cat, Tim is a red fox, Stephanie is a dingo, Duke is an African lion, and Damian is a domestic cat (specifically a tuxedo cat).

Dick was always meant to be a bird. However, I wanted him to be fast, but not a bird of prey (which are usually the top 5 fastest birds). So I chose a white throated needletail for him, who are believed to be the fastest (while flying straight). They’re very elusive and photos are rare :( they are, however, very round and cute, and they even have a patch of shiny blue feathers on their wings, as well as v-shaped white spots, similar to his Nightwing suit!

Jason is an argali sheep because I associate him with lambs and rams. Mostly because sheep and lambs are associated with God and religious sacrifices (*cough cough* Jason dying), as well as innocence, docility, and obedience. Jason, as Red Hood, defies the meaning and memories of his past life as Robin, so I like the idea of him being a “black sheep” and defying those expectations of him as well. Argali sheep are known to have beautiful horns, are a species of wild sheep that live in mountains, and are also the largest of wild sheep.

Cass is a black footed cat because I feel like she’s very feline in demeanor, and black footed cats are one of the best hunters in the animal kingdom, with an over 60% chance of having a successful kill. (I think African wild dogs are the highest with 75-85%. It’s hard in the animal kingdom.) I also think it’s very cute of her to be so small but so deadly.

Tim is a red fox because of his cleverness and smarts. Red foxes are common in America and are usually hunted because people thought that foxes killed their livestock and dug up corpses. Tim is either really loved or really hated, so I feel like a red fox both symbolizes his irl status and his intelligence in the comics.

Stephanie is a dingo for no particular reason. However, they are social creatures and loved due to the fact that they have a history with humans. They’re golden colored and Stephanie gave off the vibes of an Australian, I literally cannot explain myself.

Duke is a lion for the same reasons: none in particular. However, lions are noble and considered very powerful. In my drawing of him, he is still a young adult, so his mane isn’t fully grown yet :3 he is 100% a normal lion tho!

Damian is a domestic cat for a few reasons. He is meant to be cute while the others are considerably scarier. There would also be a sense of irony bc I imagine that Talia is a big cat like a tiger or panther. However, cats are known as good hunters for a reason, and they have good instincts and can be just as loyal as dogs. As such, I think that he would be a regular kitty :3 other choices included him being a leopard cub, but it would be more funny if he was so small while everyone else is so big.

+ Something something, the two people who have had their deaths impact them the most and are often considered their parents’ greatest failures are prey animals that are usually hunted for sport….

+ Other small relationships between animal forms: the assassins are small cat forms. Dan being an animal not from the Americas, which also symbolizes him being out of place in the timeline. The Phantom family are purposefully made very different but also connected, examples being: a predator, a prey, a flying animal, and a cold blooded animal, etc. The Batfam being more random/less connected than the Phantom family due to their different backgrounds/lack of blood relation.

+ Their animal forms are also hint at the couples that I like, which is most obvious with Jason and Jazz lmaoooo. However, it is also a little noticeable in Tim and Dani (bird and fox), and definitely a little more obvious in Dan and Dick (snake and bird; please refer to my first piece of work with them tee hee). Danny’s is vague because I’m a multi-shipper with him, so he’s prey while most of everyone else are predator animals 💀

+ There are a few ideas in this (not counting the Pet AU): 1) Danny, Jazz, Dan, and Dani become companions and helpers to the Batfam, able to transform when necessary but also like spending time in their animal forms. In exchange, the Batfam help them with whatever problems they have and also give them sanctuary, 2) A regular animal-characteristics AU where everyone (or most of everyone, if humans exist) are some sort of animal hybrid creatures in the regular modern world, 3) The same as idea 2 but more Warrior Cats-esque where they’re way more animalistic, form packs, and live in less urban settings.

+ Yes, in his more humanoid form, Dan would have his legs replaced with a snake’s tail. I can’t decide between Dick and Dani having wings attached to their backs, or them having wings that connect to their arms.

+ Extras: Sam is a thoroughbred horse, Tucker is an American alligator, Valerie is a wolverine, and Wes is a swan. Bruce is a giant golden crowned flying fox, Alfred is an emperor penguin, and Barbara is a pony (but tbh, I’m open to suggestions).

[aro-aizawa]

HI YES HOW AM I GONNA SURVIVE ML S5 IF THE S4 FINALE TOOK ME OUT COMPLETELY

[aotopmha]

Since I'm back into playing Sonic games, I'm also catching some of the news.

Out of all of the Sonic games to remake, seems Sonic 06 is under consideration?

My opinion on remakes in general is that I'd rather have something new.

Right now I'd just like a 3D Sonic game with wholly new levels that are unique and fun to play.

Give me a new list of boost stages or adventure stages or even zones in Frontiers except less generic and messy. The last truly original level themes in 3D were in Colors, which came out 13 years ago. Everything after it was full of increasingly derivative Green Hill/Chemical Plant/Speed Highway imitations or a bunch of generic theming like Winter Zone or Forest Zone.

But if you're going to remake a game, remake one that would gain from it and Sonic 06 is kind of a genius risk/reward idea.

It's still one of the most famous failures in gaming history.

Were it to succeed, we'd have a success story not so unlike Final Fantasy 14's or No Man Sky's.

It would be fantastic publicity/marketing.

But were it to fail or be less than great, they'd double down on the failure.

I'm of the opinion they'd have to overhaul the uncanny hyper-realistic art (particularly character designs) and definitely entirely rewrite the story.

I think Sonic's design philosophy just is not compatible with that hyper-serious and hyper-realistic aesthetic. It has the same issue the initial Sonic movie design had to me: it looks wierd and creepy when it aims to be "realistic".

One counter-argument I've heard in regards of this aesthetic along with storytelling style is that other similar mascot properties can be dark, but I think all of the actually good ones understand how far they can take it before it reaches that uncanny valley, jarring threshold. They understand the limitations of the aesthetics they use.

Sonic can be "serious", but just like everything else, it has always had its own brand of serious.

Scrap Brain Zone, Doomsday Zone and even Hidden Palace are good Sonic serious.

The final stories of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 are good Sonic serious. Gamma's story is Sonic Adventure 1 is good Sonic serious.

They understand Sonic is a joyful series that has meaningful, darker ideas within, but isn't only those elements.

For example, I think the edgy elements of Shadow are best when they're fully sincere and bombastic, not when telling you how dark, cool and edgy Shadow is and how much you have to think how dark, cool and edgy Shadow is.

(Yes, I am also aware Shadow The Hedgehog's reliance on it is very much a localisation choice, but these elements are still present in everything after it, too. These stories sometimes want you take them so seriously, anything actually fun in there is smothered.

You can argue interpretations, but I think Sonic definitely shouldn't be joyless.)

That's what people who criticise Sonic for having any serious moments also miss: these characters still do have arcs and stories. Most actually good cartoons work that way just like any other stories and people who like Sonic like the sincerity in it along with the dumb cheese.

More on 06, though, I hate the Elise and Sonic romance stuff. I don't find any part of that appealing.

A few fandoms I'm in have a furry contingent, and I find anything to do with it squicky. I guess it's better than some other groups of people who find far worse stuff sexually attractive?

Mascot fursuits at least don't resemble anything human (or even animal, actually, they're hyper-stylised cartoon creatures I'd rather not think about in any sexual sense), so it's better than some of the really, really bad stuff?

I don't want to think about it any deeper than that.

So, I'm 100% for the removal of this aspect.

Gerald and Maria were handled well in Shadow Generations, so maybe just making it a simple friendship is the best solution because Elise is still important to the original story. Also make her a character that's not just an object to be kidnapped every few levels?

But the most important aspect of a potential remake is that Sonic 06 could actually be a really good game because a bunch of the level design is actually solid and there are some really solid gameplay foundations.

They already have it all there, so they don't have to spend time on making stuff up from scratch.

So, an 06 remake does have merit due all of the above points.

Personally, if I had to choose any remake above a completely new game, though, I'd actually like an Heroes remake (or even just remaster, as I don't think it's a fundamentally broken game like Sonic 06 and apparently one is rumoured for it, as well, actually) because I love the variety of level themes and the foundational level design in that game.

A lot of Sonic games are messy in the polish sense, but Heroes is up there.

I think it actually deserves it the most because what ruined it to me were very specifically the glitches.

Awkward controls and stage design you can at least learn to play around, but glitches are sometimes pretty firmly out of your hand and dying to them so often just completely sucked out the fun of the game by the end more than any Sonic game to me.

And Sonic 06's level roster is a lot less unique/fun/cool.

Hang Castle? Frog Forest? Egg Fleet? Even Grand Metropolis and Rail Canyon? The Metal Sonic fight?

Adjust the controls and clean up the glitches and that alone would make for one of the best Sonic games, I think.

[gralunaisland]

I wish Juvia never existed, she's so creepy , ever since I saw her as a child I couldn't help but hate her especially in the scenes with Gray though with the continuation of the series I started to become indifferent towards her except during the scenes where she harassed Gray and even cried a little bit at her death but I have been away from the fandom for 5 years because I couldn't like ft anymore, I was really nostalgic though and heavily missing ft so I wanted to start it from the beginning but I don't know if I can anymore . I came to know that Gray has lost all personality in 100 years quest and becomes mushy for Juvia just at the mention of her name. I can't watch or read a series only to know that a character I loved has gone through "utter character assassination" . What's more insufferable is that during the ending of ft when I read it 5 years ago I myself couldn't see Gray with anyone but Juvia no matter how much I hated this pairing , Mashima forced this pairing so much that now I feel like I have no choice but to ship them, but this much of annihilation of Gray , I just can't take it anymore.

When Mashima already killed Juvia , there was no need to revive her , her death was heartwrenching for the kid me during that time even though I never liked her but his revival of all the dead characters ruined the series for me. Natsu and Gray's fight was also utterly ridiculous. And there were a whole lot of reasons.

Atleast Gray would have been single and hadn't gotten his brain been made into a mush or would have ended up with another character and honestly Gray can be shipped with so many characters whether male or female in the series, his dynamics were so interesting with so many characters but ,no, Mashima had to force him with Juvia out of all the characters.

If Juvia was an ugly character or a male character nobody would have shipped her with Gray , just because she's attractive she is shipped with him even though she is literally a stalker who sexually harasses him physically and mentally all the time. She treats him as an object of her perverted desires rather than a human being. She's obsessed with him and not in love with him. If she loved him even a little or even cared she wouldn't have crossed his boundaries all the time and neither would she have been so jealous of other characters having healthy interactions with him. I honestly think that if she never existed atleast Gray's life would have been a lot happier. Atleast after suffering so much , Gray deserved to be happy instead of being with his creepy stalker.

Ft is only successful because of fanservice now atleast in the beginning the series was actually good, the series has given me so many great memories only for them to get muddied because of the direction this series took.

Your blog is a breath of fresh air , really good work!!

Miscellaneous Thoughts on gr///via

First of all, thank you so much for your patience! I'm sorry it's taken so long to get to your ask!

And secondly, I love how much effort you put into your ask! Honestly, my thoughts aren't even needed here; you really hit so many good points about gr///via. And thank you for sharing your experiences with FT with me. I agree with practically everything you said!

Despite this, as always, I'll run my mouth down below.

I was the same as you, Anon, where I hated her immediately when she met Gray when I was a kid first watching FT. I'm glad you could also tell how awful her character so soon as well. I personally never became indifferent to her and dreaded seeing her whenever she was onscreen, since even the super rare parts of the anime where she supposedly isn't thinking about Gray are still tainted by her mean-spiritedness and disingenuousness.

I also never fully read or watched juvia's death because I dropped the very end of the series thanks to gr///via and it just not being very good or intriguing, so I can't say I've cried at her death, but I think that shows how compassionate you are if you felt sad for such a disgusting individual! I've seen panels and I've heard what happened, and it is absolutely awful. The whole fight is shoehorned in just to ship gr///via and guilt-trip Gray into taking juvia's completely insane and gross advances seriously for once, when literally any of his other guildmates would have killed themselves for him too and have tried to before, and he'd never fall in love with them, but nooo gr///via must be forced down our throats to appease the fans and fulfill Mashima's weird fantasy.

As for nostalgia, I totally get you, because after a while I always find myself drifting back to rewatch it eventually. I used to watch every scene with her in it, but on my last watch-through, I basically skipped most of her scenes. That's how I survived it, Anon, so maybe you could try the same! Though, I feel like for my next watch-through, I'll sort of have to watch her scenes and make something like a mega masterlist of how she sucks every time she's on screen lol. That sounds so painful but perhaps that's a necessary project for my blog.

I so agree with you, Anon, that I can't bear to see Gray's character assassination in 100yq, which is why a very kind Anon created a masterlist of every gr///via moment so I could read it and avoid gr///via entirely. I'll link it right here for you if you ever desire to take a gander at the admittedly apparently terrible 100yq except for Lucy's new empowerment.

I agree that juvia should've stayed dead as well. Besides me just hating her and wanting her to be gone from Gray forever, her death (and the other characters who died for that matter) really should've never been revived because it just cheapens the sacrifice they made from a story standpoint. For juvia at least, it's like "oh well i didn't lose anything in the end but now i seem like a good person! Woopdidoo". Plus, it just makes none of their deaths have any real impact. It was just for shock factor, and we all know that Mashima really doesn't like to make lasting changes. He did the same thing all the way back in the Edolas arc when he made it so that Lisanna never died, which was a terrible decision. @perfectlyimperfectcharacterfan actually gave a much better suggestion, where Lisanna actually died and the Lisanna in Edolas was in fact Edolas Lisanna, and then Natsu would get to talk with her and learn to let her go and heal. Honestly gives me goosebumps just to think about it; it's so much more mature and moving than pulling a psych on everyone.

Gray being single would've been so much better than this gr///via garbage, Anon, you're so right! Even as an avid GraLu shipper myself, I would be perfectly fine with shipping them without it being canon (as I am now), but nooo, now I have to do my best to blot such an ugly, toxic ship out of my mind.

I really have nothing to say about your 4th paragraph because I hold those opinions completely. I call out the double standard of how people treat juvia's behavior all the time, and she definitely has "pretty privilege", though personally I do not find her pretty. Gray is an object for her to obtain indeed, and I concur, he would've been infinitely happier without juvia.

And yeah, I agree that unfortunately Fairy Tail has fallen off in terms of quality hard, with the criminal pushing of gr///via going off the rails in 100yq and the lack of good story telling in general. Even the end of the main story was unravelling. Sometimes, Mashima, it's better to end and preserve your legacy. Right now, you're beating a dead horse.

Thank you so much for your kind words! So sorry I took so long to get to your ask: it was a delight to read and so very insightful!

[museofthepyre]

Besides, well... murder, cannibalism and and religious guilt(/hj), what are Harlow and Eden's interests/hobbies?

Harlow works as a taxidermist! People typically come to him with game animals like deer, so that’s what he’s best at. He’s got a little taxidermy workshop in his basement. He also hunts, but he does it for the sole purpose of food— no trophy hunting, he’s got very strong moral principles about that. His father took him on hunting trips as a kid, which is how he learned everything he knows— he’s since been an avid believer of the “use every part of the animal” philosophy, which is why taxidermy is appealing to him. He sees his work as honouring the animal, he’s got a huge soft spot for the art. He’s rarely ever mushy or sentimental, but get him talking about the animals he works with, and you’ll get a glimpse of that. He also likes to fix up old junkyard cars, not for any money, just as a personal pastime. He likes taking things apart and seeing how they work (animal and machine).

Eden reads… a LOT. Since childhood, the books available to him in his household were typically religious in nature, as his father is a priest— but it was all the same to him, he’d get lost in any book he could. It was an escape for him, and he developed a pretty good way with words himself. He also has a lot of knowledge on the natural world around him from non-fiction books he’s scrounged up. He loves animals, and they seem to love him too— even the creepy crawly little ones, even the pests and vermin, he finds them all beautiful. He lived in a hoarding house as a kid, it attracted a lot of mice, and he used to feed them as a kid. That’s the kinda person he was… and is, really, he’ll tend to whatever crawls up to him in need. (He was of course told off for feeding the mice once his parents realized, but he didn’t understand why). He’a tried to foster sick or lost young animals before, to… varied rates of success. He’s also an avid gardener, and an INCREDIBLE baker. He can’t cook for shit, but he can bake a mean pastry!

[starleska]

I'm not gonna lie, you're really convincing me to start writing/drawing/animating Y/N x Wally Darling stuff...

You have great concepts and the simp in me is being fed and I love it AHEGAJAGAJA I just worry that there's a chance that Clown had advised against it and I've yet to see that in a post somewhere in the past. But seeing as you're enjoying writing all the Reader x Wally Darling stuff with no worries (good on you btw!), it's all okay right?

/nm /gen

hey there Laurs!! aww, thank you very much 🥰💖 i love getting messages from people inspired by my fanworks, it makes my heart all fuzzy!! just a little endless cycle of good vibes and creativity :3c now, the bulk of your ask is a tough one to answer!! i know i've posted a lot of fanworks for Welcome Home, but at the end of the day, i'm just a fan like anyone else, trying to do my best to respect Clown's wishes. honestly, given the chance i would love to talk to them and ask these specific questions that a lot of fans have been firing in my direction. i have reached out, but understand those messages have likely been drowned under thousands of others!!

so @partycoffin, on the off-chance you're reading this: i hope you're doing well, and taking care of yourself in this terrifying, exciting time!! thank you for sharing your lovely world with us - we're all just so in love with your characters and universe 🥰💖 if you'd like to talk, please feel free to reach out. it would be great to know that you're okay, and i'd be happy to field any questions you have about your bustling new fandom (who have been destroying my own notifications for the past two weeks!!). it may be presumptuous of me, but perhaps having an inside look on what questions fans have might help make this explosive growth seem a little less scary. however, there's no obligation to reply - we're thankful all the same :3c

as far as i am aware at the time of writing this post, i don't think Clown has any problems with Wally x Anon/Reader/Y/N fanworks...or at least, i haven't come across any sources stating so.

the big thing that (if i'm understanding the guidelines correctly) is that Clown doesn't want us to be putting any NSFW Welcome Home material into the main tags. we have to remember that Welcome Home has blown up very quickly, and Clown deserves a chance to breathe and adjust to all this success before laying out those boundaries (if he wishes!). that's why, although i do write NSFW for other fandoms i'm refraining from doing so for Welcome Home until stated otherwise. i can't imagine how stressful it must be dealing with so many notifications, people impersonating, trying to sell their work, exhibiting invasive and creepy behaviour...on top of the overwhelming demand for new Welcome Home stuff. i think as fans we should just vibe and play in our own little bubbles without stressing them out too much, and adjust when we receive new information. for instance, i didn't know when i made my Wally Darling edit that they were uncomfortable with non-canon art being associated with the main game. i've since reached out to see if i should take the video down with no reply, and went with the consensus of a group of fans i asked for the opinions of - to leave it up until asked otherwise. pretty much - i don't think Wally Darling x Anon fanworks contravene the guidelines that Clown has given us so far. they aren't inherently NSFW, and i'd hope that anyone who is making NSFW fanworks is tagging appropriately, as is the courteous thing to do. i'm of the opinion that fans are going to do fandom things, and there's always going to be folks making adult-oriented works, and that's okay!! but i'm also always happy to respect the wishes of the creator in terms of how they'd like that work to be tagged and presented. i think Toby Fox did it best when he first suggested the 'Undertail' tag for NSFW works - a real stroke of genius that i see lots of fandoms still using today. again, do take this with a grain of salt! i don't know Clown, and very few of us do - we're just all interpreting his words in vastly different ways, and that must be terrifying to deal with; thousands of people getting very angry or very sad because they think they can or cannot do a specific thing they never actually said. it's not anyone's fault that Welcome Home blew up so suddenly and there wasn't time for precautions to be taken, but it is the fault of those fans who are overstepping boundaries and need to re-examine their relationship to this art. it sounds like you're good to go on making those animations, and i would personally love to see them 🥰 thanks again for being so sweet about my silly headcanons!! it's honestly been quite scary adjusting to the amount of attention, but please know i'm grateful and appreciative of every ask, reply and message that comes my way 💖

[ecto-hazard]

In the Man Made Horrors, did objects just domesticate dogs like humans did (Classfied has a dog and all) and do they have other domesticated animals? Do they see mammals as weird like we see reptiles or bugs or birds? Are there any actual human-like monkeys. Alternatively, are there species of bugs that are like ancestral to objects that are like monkeys to them that are alive in their time? Just thinking about evolution and domestication in this world lol

Objects, or as more technically known Mimesites, branched off from other Arthropods a long time ago. They developed biological mimicry very early evolutionarily speaking, which is what aided in their survival and development over history. Other arthropods, though also evolutionarily successful as there’s still a fuck ton of them, didn’t get to develop in such a complex way since they survive using more of a “quantity over quality” strategy. Meanwhile, the natural adaptability of mimesites allowed them to shift towards having longer life spans and developing more complex nervous systems. So while bugs are recognized to be the closest living relatives to objects, they’re not really on the same playing field. So objects being as developed as they are is really unique in the Arthropoda phylum.

Other animals developed complex nervous systems, albeit separately. Most notable is mammals, much like mammals in the real world. Thus you still see a lot of objects domesticating mammals for the same reason humans did. Despite mammals being a lot different biologically speaking, they’re generally accepted well by modern objects.

Birds and many reptiles, on the other hand, are viewed as much more disturbing. It’s very common for objects to have fears of birds. The current consensus is that the fear is evolutionarily rooted. Before becoming more complex, mimesites had the ability to fly and it would’ve been efficient in escaping predators until reptiles and birds developed the same advantage later. Even when birds became less of a threat to them, objects saw birds as a sign of death. To this day they’re still considered bad luck and just sorta creepy.

Did humans exist? Yes. They still do. But they never evolved quite into what we recognize as humans today. They are intelligent, but not any more so than primates in our world. You can find humans in many regions of the world, mostly the tropics. They were nearly hunted to extinction by mimesites a century or so ago, so there aren’t many left. Raw human flesh is considered a delicacy in places where hunting laws aren’t so strict.

[askmadcomcrew]

Hmm, how about...

To everyone: General opinions on zeds?

Hank: Annoying, if in large groups. One zed isn't much to worry about, and is easy to kill with a headshot or knife to the head. It's the hordes you have to watch out for.

Sanford: Zeds are basically animals at this point, mindless and roving. They're only really capable of convertin' others into more zeds, and they just keep doing that forever until they run of of folks to convert. They're not so bad in open areas, but they can really get the jump on you in tight spaces.

Deimos: They're creepy and weird, and I really don't like 'em too much. I prefer to deal with them at range with guns, Sanford likes to let 'em get close so he can stab 'em in the head, or just uses his hook. Letting them get close is just about the worst thing you can do, but it helps to know what to do when one is on top of you tryna much on your face. A quick knife to the head usually does the trick.

Doc: Zeds are the result of Enmeshment, tech I theorize was stolen from me around the time of my arena experiment by an...Unsavory character. Unlike most zombies in media you're used to, their bites are not fatal, as myself and most of my men have suffered zed bites which can be treated like any other wound. Dr. Christoff notably weaponized a massive horde of Zeds during his insurrection on Nexus City, causing the deaths of hundreds and larger numbers of zeds to spread throughout the Nevadean wastes. Needless to say, they can be rather troublesome, but are not a consistent factor in my day to day life.

Jeb: I am not overly fond of the existence of Zeds, they are an affront to nature much like many of the Nexus Core's experiments. However, that does not make them any less useful. Zeds in large numbers can be sent towards a specific target, and if that target is unprepared to deal with an infestation, they can prove quite effective. You do not have to worry about morale or morality with Zeds, they simply move towards the next closest source of food, and onto the next when that food source has been exhausted. They also make for veritable meatshields.

Tricky: ME 'N ZEDS GET ALONG LIKE BREAD AND BUTTER!!! MOSTLY CONSIDERING I AM ONE, OR AT LEAST USED TO BE. I'M NOT REALLY SURE WHAT I AM ANYMORE AFTER I HAD THAT RUN IN WITH THE AUDITOR!!! OH WELL, I GUESS IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER. I USUALLY LIKE TO STRAP BOMBS ONTO THEM AND SEND THEM ON THEIR MERRY WAY!!! IT'S ALREADY BAD ENOUGH TO HAVE A ZED TRYING TO EAT YOU, EVEN WORSE WHEN THEY EXPLODE!!! HAHAHAHAHAAHA

Crackpot: Well, I have quite the...Special relationship with Zeds, needless to say, being their creator and all. Zeds are my greatest scientific success, and were part of the reason I was briefly made head of Project Nexus when Christoff got the can. My zeds may not have been as directly capable as Christoff's sleepwalkers, but we could make so many more of them to keep Project Nexus afloat. It's a shame that bastard Christoff misused them in order to help bring the city down.

Sheriff: Well, considerin' they still dominate an entire sector of Nexus City, I ain't too fond of 'em. My boys are putting in a lot of resources in trying to clear out the Zed infestation over in Residential. It's slow goin', but we're whittling their numbers down one by one. I got round the clock snipers on any vantage point that's safe enough to snipe from, just shootin' 'em down as they see 'em. At some point in the future the streets of Residential should be relatively safe to navigate again.

Phobos: Another wonderful byproduct of Nexus Science, Zeds are one of the many ways I continued Project Nexus. As inhospitable as they may be, they proved to be very useful tools in keeping more S3LFs out of the other place. The Nexus Core had no shortage of corpses, so we could pump as many S3LFs into them as we desired.

Auditor: They are of little concern, however they are known to assault certain AAHW bases closer to the outskirts of Nexus City. Massive, wandering droves of Zeds can reduce a fortified position to rubble and more zeds extremely quickly. I occasionally dispatch anti-Zed units to clear out Zed infested areas, in order to keep population low. If Zed numbers are allowed to get too high, they can pose a great threat to my operation here.

[jadenoryuu]

Day 23 (+5+29): Rogue Gallery (+Bonus)

I couldn't decide on who to focus for this DannyMay prompt, so I did a bunch of the Rogues!

(And that's the reason for the delay in posting this prompt... (^～^ ;)ゞ)

Since this is part of the Ghost Animal Noodles AU (which @tourettesdog's Little Baby Man is to blame), I'm going to post both the art and the respective animal I took inspiration from (under the cut because it's a loooong post):

Skulker the Felis nigripes! The fierciest kitten, they apparently have the 60% success rate everytime they hunt!

DAY 29: Ghost Speech AU Kitty as a Wirehaired Hungarian Vizla and Johnny (and Shadow) as Cheetahs! Since every Rogue is cat (or cat-adjacent) themed, I thought that it would have been hilarious if someone called "Kitty" was a canine. (≧∇≦) (The other two's need for speed prevailing over anything else is obvious.) Of course they cannot abstain from quarreling, so Ghost Speech for everyone!

Princess Dorathea as a Norwegian Forest Cat and Desiree as an Egyptian Mau! The latter has been chosen because of Desiree's canon origins, while Dora's cat breed is said to have been used on Viking ships as mousers, so I thought it was the closest thing to dragon-lore... HttyD (≧∇≦) I wanted to give them something nice, so I let them chill with a cup of tea.

Ember as a Lynx lynx and Technus as a Catopuma badia! Here we have the not-canonical sight of a singer and her boyfriend's boyfriend bonding over an electrical guitar project!

DAY 5: 10 min VS 1 hour Nocturn as a Nue (a Japanese Yōkai, part Tiger, Monkey, Tanuki and Snake) and Undergrowth as a Gryphon! I tried to stuff as many other prompts as I could in the Rogue Gallery Day, so here I attempted this challenge. On the left, the 10 minutes drawing with more Undergrowth than Nocturn because when I noticed that the time was almost up I rushed and did a base sketch of the latter. On the right, the 1 hour drawing where I focused on Nocturn because I had in mind what I wanted them to look like so there was no time left for the other Ancient... (^～^ ;)ゞ

The Box Ghost, Luch Box and Luch Lady as Spotted Hyenas (Crocuta crocuta)! The hyenas are wonderful animals and Feliformes, so technically still cat-adjacent! Plus they have a matrialcal gerarchy that I feel fitting in BG and LL dynamic, so I loved doing this!

Youngblood as a Pallas Cat (Otocolobus manul) and Sidney Poindexter as a Sphynx Cat! Pallas Cats are so cute but also look like gremlins, so they fit very well with a ghost kid (who's in his Tarzan Phase). As for the Sphynxes, I love those beasts, but they have that kind of "loser nerd" vibes that is so Sidney that I couldn't pass the chance! ꒰(@｀���´)꒱

Prince Aragon as a Norwegian Forest Cat (like his sister), Walker as a Binturong/Bearcat (Arctictis binturong) and Penelope Spectra as a Fossa (Cryptoprocta ferox)! Both the last two are cat-adjacent, plus fossa look as creepy as Spectra, so they fit very well. As for the pose, since he has lost the Dragon Amulet, Aragon is kind of a twink, so just a paw to stop him would suffice, but Spectra is a slippery eel, so Walker had to bind her with his tail as well, just to be sure... (≧∇≦) (My lovely assistant @teacupsandstarlight posed irl for the captives' pose, so please thank her! (⁠ ⁠˘⁠ ⁠³⁠˘⁠)⁠~❤)

And here's all for the Rogue Gallery!

Now, for the Free Day.... All I can say is: Spider-man meme.

=(ˆ●ω●ˆ=) و

[nats-reads-reviews]

September 2024 Reads & Reviews 📚 🍂

Filthy Rich Fae by Geneva Lee 3.5/5 ⭐️ This book follows a lot of romantasy tropes of fairy variety and was a bit predictable. But I liked that it took place in NOLA and it was a fun, engaging read! Good spice just wish it had started sooner in the story.

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros 4/5 ⭐️ I really like the Fourth Wing series but this was wasn't my favorite so far. The book was very long, and I felt like majority of the story was filler for conflict at the end. I felt some of it would benefit from being cut out. The ending was really good through but also equally heartbreaking. I love Violet and Xaden's relationship and their partnership to do what's right for the whole continent. I'm really looking forward to Onyx Storm!

Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes 4/5 ⭐️ Really entertaining and often times funny story! This book definitely highlights the hypocrisy and lack of self-awareness the men had regarding the women they interacted with. It also highlights the Greek gods great strengths and weaknesses- specifically their lack of foresight and ability to empathize with others. Their weaknesses often get in the way of their powerfulness and the irony is not lost upon me!

Where He Can't Find You by Darcy Coates 3.5/5 ⭐️ This was actually a really creepy book, especially for YA horror. I enjoyed the lore of The Stitcher and the back stories of the characters. I just wish they would have explained what animated him, as well the impacts he had on technology and the animals behavior - I felt missing that was a bit of an oversight.

Always Running by Luis J. Rodriguez 5/5 ⭐️ Wow, this was such a great coming on age memoir! Rodriguez had all the cards of success, empathy and healing stacked against him but he used all that hurt to make positive changes in his life and the lives of the members of his community. His bravery to speak up and promote peace, growth and equal opportunity for everyone in his community is incredible!

Opioid, Indiana by Brian Allen Carr 1/5 ⭐️ This was a pretty strange book that was mostly the inner musing of the main character. I felt the story was inconsistent and ended without resolution but the main character has some takes on things that happen from his past and present situations that I appreciated his perspective on. I can't say I'd recommend this book but it was entertaining.

[soulerflaire]

Felt like rating more anime I've watched recently or am currently watching.

Skip and Loafer

Summary: Mitsumi, a girl growing up in the country, moves to Tokyo to attend a prestigious high school. Her first day, she runs into Sousuke, the most popular guy in school, and they become friends.

Sounds like fairly standard high school romance anime, which I usually am not particularly interested in, but the writing in this one is far better than most. The characters act like real people with complicated, messy emotions that they are still learning to deal with. Also notably, Mitsumi doesn't immediately fall head over heels for Sousuke, nor does he immediately fall for her. Even by the end of the season, they're just good friends, though it's clear feelings are developing on both sides. The focus of the show is less on the romance and more on the characters themselves. Mitsumi's ambition mixed with uncertainty and anxiety in a new environment, Sousuke's past weighing him down and his popularity affecting his interactions with people, Mika's realization of her own jealous and petty nature and her attempts to break free from it, Makoto and Yuzuki overcoming their preconceptions about each other.

But even without all of that, I still very much like the show for something major it did: it included a trans character and treated her with respect. I've talked about this before, but the inclusion of Nao as a character is so well done. She's never once the butt of a joke, or made out to be creepy or bad. Mitsumi lives with Nao in Tokyo, and Nao's a loving and caring aunt who offers advice and support to Mitsumi whenever she needs it. Most animes that include trans characters either make them "guy in a dress" jokes or demonize them as unstable or dangerous (even some of my favorite shows are guilty of this). But Skip and Loafer puts Nao into the position of a caring mentor figure (not just to Mitsumi, but to Mika too) as well as a competent and successful stylist. And even beyond that, the show doesn't make a big deal out of her being trans. Rather than Nao being "the trans character", she is just a character who happens to be trans. I hope this is the beginning of a trend of anime treating trans people better. 8/10.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic

Summary: Usato and his two classmates Inukami and Ryusen are summoned to another world on their way home from school. In typical isekai fashion, they were summoned to defeat the Demon Lord, and are granted magical powers. However, once the large and imposing Rose, leader of the kingdom's team of healers, learns that Usato has an affinity for healing magic, she grabs him and hauls him over to the healer team's base for intensive training.

I love the general premise of how Rose teaches Usato to use healing magic. Rather than allow him to become a physically weak caster, she puts him through hellish physical training and forces him to use his healing magic to instantly recover so that he can train more, pushing him harder and harder until he learns to constantly cast healing magic on himself to reinforce his body, allowing him to perform inhuman feats of strength and endurance. I also love that pretty much everyone else in the world thinks Rose is completely insane for using healing magic this way and slowly goes from pitying Usato to wondering about his sanity as he progresses in his training.

The show generally has a very light tone, poking fun at some isekai tropes, but there is a heavy undertone about the horrors of war. There's a reason Rose is training Usato so hard. And when the time comes for Usato to step onto the battlefield as a member of the Rescue Team, the show almost completely drops the light tone, only bringing it fully back after the battle ends.

I thoroughly enjoyed every episode, and I like all of the characters a lot. I am a little worried about the potential harem forming, with both Inukami and Felm clearly crushing on Usato, but I'm hoping it's just a love triangle and doesn't develop into a full blown harem. I have so little patience for those these days. 8/10, if the show doesn't continue I will absolutely have to read the manga.

Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don't Believe in Humanity Will Save the World

Summary: Four adventurers, Nick, Tiana, Zem, and Curran, have all been betrayed by people they trusted completely and have become disillusioned with the world. They happen to meet at a tavern and drown their sorrows together. The following morning, they decide to form an adventuring party, promising to never trust each other and to never interfere with each others' personal lives.

What I love most about this show is that, of course, they all immediately begin trusting each other and become a found family. They constantly talk about distrust, but their actions say otherwise. I love their interactions so much, I could watch entire episodes of them bantering.

I think it's also interesting the way the show handles their trauma. All four of them have unhealthy coping mechanisms that cost a lot of money: Nick has become an idol otaku, blowing all his money on merch. Tiana is addicted to gambling and, despite being quite good at it, still gambles too much and always loses money in the end. Zem spends almost every night drinking at a hostess club. And Curran is obsessed with food, using all her money to eat at fancy restaurants. All four of their addictions are clearly coping mechanisms filling the holes their betrayals left, and while these habits are unhealthy for all of them, the habits also keep them from falling into despair. They're both distractions from the group's pasts and goals to strive for: keep working, keep earning money, keep living, so they can keep enjoying their vices.

It's a found family show that focuses a lot on trust, trauma, and the complex lives everyone has. Even antagonist characters get backstories that explain (but don't excuse) their actions. And it balances the heavy subject matter very well with humor, so the show never feels like a downer. 8/10.

Kaiju No. 8

Summary: In a world where monstrous kaiju regularly attack civilization, Kafka Hibino works as part of the cleanup crew that handles the aftermath of kaiju attacks. He once aspired to join the Kaiju Defense Force, but gave up after failing the exam repeatedly. He meets Reno Ichikawa, a young man who plans to enlist and who encourages Kafka to take another try at the exam. Before that happens, however, they are caught in a kaiju attack and end up in the hospital. While there, Kafka is infected by a small kaiju, and is transformed into a new type of kaiju.

Despite having a similar premise of kaiju attacking humanity, Pacific Rim is not a good comparison for the show. The Kaiju Defense Force doesn't use giant robots, they use special combat suits created from materials harvested from kaiju corpses. The kaiju themselves have specific types (seven known types, leading Kafka to be designated as a new eighth type, hence the name of the show) with a range of sizes (though all still much larger than humans).

This show is fantastic. The humor, the action, the animation, it's all top quality. It's also a wild ride and I have absolutely no idea where it's going, to be honest. It's on episode 7 right now and they just keep throwing curve balls left and right. I think my favorite aspect is that, when not in his kaiju form, Kafka is just a regular dude surrounded by typical OP anime characters. Despite weeks of training, he is unable to perform the superhuman feats the rest of the Defense Force trainees can. Initially, he can't even use the power suit properly, which makes him unable to use most of the anti-kaiju weapons because they're too heavy. That, combined with his cheerful personality, makes Kafka a relatable and endearing main character.

Also, it's nice to have a main character in his 30s, even if it's physically painful for me to hear other characters call him old. Tentative 10/10, we'll see how the rest of the season holds up.

Tonari no Yokai-san

Summary: In an alternate reality where myths and legends are normal, everyday things, the small town of Fuchigamori is home to numerous supernatural beings living alongside humans.

This show has got some feels. It starts out as very heartwarming slice of life, focusing mostly on Buchio, a recently reborn nekomata, and Mutsumi, a young human girl who idolizes Jiro, the crow tengu who watches over the town. The stories are mostly separate, though they deal with some common themes from different perspectives.

As the show goes on, it starts hitting on heavy topics about love, loss, and family, the three major themes of the show. There are still heartwarming moments to be had, but they are outnumbered by the heavy emotional moments. To me, the main message of the show so far has been "Relationships of all kinds are painful, but the good ones are worth every moment of that pain."

I love Buchio, he's such a good character. He's trying his best, and he messes up, but he keeps trying; the lil' guy just needs so many hugs. And the exploration of Jiro as a character is fascinating to me. At first he seems like this calm, confident guy who always knows the right thing to say, always knows what to do, a steadfast guardian for the town. But in time we learn that he's a person like everyone else, suffering from fear, doubt, and loss just as much as anyone, and all he can do is try his best, just like Buchio.

Also there's at least one queer couple in the show, Wagen and Kazuhiko. The show refers to them as "partners" and doesn't elaborate further, but to me at least, it's pretty clear they're a couple.

The downside to the show for me is that it is a little slow. I love the characters and their interactions, but that is literally all the show has. It's 95% people sitting around talking and having emotional moments, so it can feel kinda dull at times. I would not recommend binging it, tbh; I'm watching it weekly as it updates on Crunchyroll, and I think that's probably the best way to watch it. 7/10.

A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics

Summary: A reverse isekai where young princess Sara da Odin and her faithful knight Livia de Udis teleport to modern day Japan to escape the rebellion that overthrew their kingdom and killed Sara's parents, the king and queen. Sara meets Sosuke Kaburaya, a private investigator, and convinces him to take her in off the street.

This show definitely does not start off with a bang. It very much gives off "weak story for the purpose of jokes and fanservice" vibes, and for several episodes, it looks like that's all it has to it. But episode 7 was a turning point where I realized how well they were actually writing the characters of Sara and Sosuke.

The show basically follows two stories. One is about Livia's attempts to make a living in this world, and is mostly just jokes and fanservice. The other is Sara and Sosuke, and this one focuses much more on their character growth and dynamic. I didn't even notice how their interactions smoothly changed over time from "Guy forced to take care of child from another world" to "father and daughter" until episode 7. The episode begins with Sosuke trying to figure out how to enroll Sara into school, something she expressed interest in previously. She has no citizenship, no form of ID, and no birth certificate with which to get said ID or citizenship, and she can't be enrolled in school without those. There's a scene where they calmly discuss options, and that was the first moment that I noticed their dynamic had changed. They don't throw blame around or get mad at each other, they just discuss options, realize they can't figure out a solution, and decide to set the issue aside for the day. Even when Sosuke comments that Sara's not good enough at acting to pretend to be his daughter, Sara doesn't get defensive; she agrees with him. She realizes Sosuke is trying his best to figure it out, and Sosuke genuinely wants to find a way for Sara to go to school.

They then spend the day on a case, following a guy around to see if he's cheating on his wife. It turns out he's just dropping a bit of spare money on horse races for fun, and Sosuke and Sara end up enjoying the day together instead. At the end of it, as they're walking back to the car, Sosuke stops and says "Hey, Sara. Do you want to be my daughter for real?" and Sara says yes.

That's the point that it hit me, that these two had already become a father-daughter duo, and I just hadn't realized it. Sosuke, a man who previously hated the idea of being responsible for the well-being of this random girl, casually suggests adopting her, and Sara, a proud princess who previously considered Sosuke just a useful peon, happily agrees.

To be honest, if the show was just about Sosuke and Sara's story, I would give it a 7/10. But so much of the show is devoted to the Livia story's jokes and fanservice, it's like they're afraid their audience would get bored of a serious plot. For that, I have to knock it down to 5/10.

[discluded]

hi! this is regarding their recent airport pics and videos, is it not weird that there are fans taking pics and videos of them at the airport? wheres the privacy lmao? like how are they allowed to follow them around everywhere? and also that person who put up the duty free video? thats taken from so close as well? im just concerned like is this supposed to be normal cause mileapo seem like very private people who wouldn't be okay with that

just wanted your opinion!

Yes. Is the short answer. It's weird, and kind of creepy, and a violation of privacy. Anything I say after this is not an excuse or justification that it's OK, but more a reflection of how we (collectively, culturally in the fandom culture sense) got to this point, and why BOC is powerless to stop it even if they had any interest in doing so.

Part of it is that airport fashion became such a prominent part of kpop culture, really being pushed by cultural and fashion icons from Big Bang. So it hasn't been that long really - maybe 15 years at the most, but now Korean idols especially dressed to be seen. if you promote a culture where stars are dressed to be seen at the airport, then it follows that fans will go to the airport for a chance to see their idols. It's that simple.

Just as BTS inherited a lot of fans from 1D when 1D broke up in 2015, KinnPorsche's release in relation to BTS's hiatus announcement also in part helped pushed KinnPorsche to even greater heights. BTS fandom still remains incredibly active, but it's the same way it was with 1D -- the fandom wouldn't get regular updates, and suddenly there was a something interesting and at least worth filling the time with until BTS came back. It's the same reason BrightWin and 2gether became such a big thing when by itself, 2gether was fairly typical of other Thai BLs of its era. Or why Animal Crossing was such a massive hit. The timing affected its success.

(For more context, you should watch this video about the science of luck. A little funnier tidbit, when he talks about running the simulation 1000 times to pick candidates -- that is in fact how machine learning (my job!) works. The tl;dw version of that is to say that talent itself isn't the only factor - success is very reliant on luck.)

So back to your question - inheriting fans from a kpop fandom also means inheriting some of kpop culture. And many post-Hallyu Wave fandoms originating from Asian countries as a collective push for soft power via media output fashion themselves after Korea's success. For example, we don't see this airport culture retroactively affecting jpop fandom (which has a long-standing history) the same way. It's more in countries which fannish cultures are still more malleable and developing their own identities.

In the same way, it's inherited a lot sasaeng culture as well from kpop - specifically, individuals or groups who have way to much access to private information they shouldn't, like flight information.

There's two other factors: few Thai actors(/idols) have been flying out of the country to work and promote as much as MileApo have. At the beginning (for KPWT stops), BOC wasn't encouraging fans to show up at the airport; they were just there. And also going to the cities because they were dedicated enough to support KinnPorsche and BOC outside of the country. And then when it became difficult to manage, BOC more formally organized these more airport sendoffs because they knew people would show up anyway. It was at least a way to help control the chaos, as a courtesy for the airport staff.

Airports are public spaces; BOC really does not have any ability to limit an individual person's presence at the airport, even if they try to discourage as a whole.

That leaves a weird space for these follow-the-actor sessions at the airport when there isn't a send-off announced by BOC, but groups get flight information and word spreads around. Or, when they're past security, which is not a public space.

From Mile and Apo's perspective, I don't think they're necessarily "ok" with this, but there is also very little they can do about it, to an extent. Following them and recording them on a plane has loudly been declared a no-no, as well as openly exposing their travels when they request fans don't because it's for business under wraps (eg. Pond and Apo flying to Europe to iron out the Piaget deal). Unfortunately, it seems like in the general space of the airport, they have to trust fans be judicious in what's an appropriate distance to stay away, and what is appropriate to do/photograph. When fans do violate that perceived barrier (e.g., mil3mile/CaiCai trying to hand Mile a note then throwing it at Apo's head, or the fans who kept stalking Apo in Shanghai despite requests to leave him alone on his trip and irritated a man at the airport into throwing a bottle at Apo's direction), other fans are at least more quick to punish these offenders to this perceived violation of space... though, again, if we're honest, photographing them esp past security, or seeing them off at the airport when they didn't announce it was for fans is... already that.

It's really hard for BOC to curb. But if they want to even address part of the root issue -- which is that there's someone internally who's leaking information to sasaeng/groups likely for financial gain -- they have to be more willing to clean house too. Apo's Shanghai flight wasn't the only thing leaked -- fans knew he was going to show up at iQIYI headquarters too, at what time and date. There's a lot going on that Pond can't control here, and I don't fault him for. Even if they catch one or two internal instigators when they find out who, the damage is already done.

So tl;dr yeah it's weird and sometimes uncomfortable, but become kind of normalized through the way that fandom has developed recently. And it's also very hard to curb, if BOC tries. So some of it is just managing it as much as they can at this point.

Thanks for the question. I think I'll also be more judicious in the airport I stuff going forward. It was always something I said I would continue to revisit, and post at my own level of comfort.

[cogneato-inc]

IJ Gang+ Fursonas/Favorite Animals

VERY brief thoughts on everyone’s fursonas/favorite animals because I want to post art-

Andre

Would be a ferret for obvious reasons - skinny, mischievous, probably a little stinky ? It’s uncanny

His personal favorite animal is absolutely smthn unconventional tho - a wacky bug or lizard, maybe some kind of bioluminescent sea creature for the rave vibes ?

For sure the type to change his answer every time anyone asks

Brett

Obvious sona choice is a golden retriever because,,, yeah <3 but CONSIDER- a tiger ?? I will not elaborate

I don’t think he could pick just one animal as his favorite if you asked him to -

In my mind he’s like,, a terrible Snow White (/affectionate) ??? He loves and tries to befriend every animal he comes across and is,, not very successful most of the time-

Gigi

Is saying her sona would be a leopard a cop out ? It just fits so well (elegant and dangerous ??) it’s not my fault she also wears the pattern everywhere-

She’s definitely an animal person (if she wasn’t so busy she’d have so many pets </3) but birds are her #1 - brightly colored exotic ones ofc but she also just really likes birdwatching on early mornings

(She absolutely has a separate insta just for archiving all of the pictures she takes-)

Reagan

Begging forgiveness for my basic answer but,, she’s a house cat </3

She’s just got cat vibes !!! It’s the autism I know it (alternatively some kind of fox maybe ? I keep flip flopping-)

She seems like the kind of person to have a really obscure or extinct favorite animal ? Like a really fucked up creature from the Cambrian Period - but she’s also absolutely a cat person

Myc

Honestly I don’t think I’ll make him a sona because he’s already not human-

As for his favorite animal he,,, doesn’t have one ? He isn’t really an animal person, even if he can tolerate them - definitely likes bugs more (and it’s totally NOT because he spent most of his childhood with only them for company, that would be ridiculous)

(He is absolutely the type to chase someone around with little creepy crawlies if he finds out they’re scared of them-)

Glenn

Very torn between his sona being a bull or some kind of big livestock guardian dog - Anatolian Shepherd maybe ? (Of course he’d still be half dolphin)

DOG PERSON no one will ever change my mind-

His family ABSOLUTELY had dogs when he was a kid and he’s still really fond of them even if he can’t keep any

Alpha-Beta

OUGH okay my immediate thought for his sona was a bear which,,, given his history he would HATE-

But it’s perfect ? Big and strong ?? But S OFT ??? I refuse to consider other animals

He insists he doesn’t have a favorite animal but he’s absolutely got a soft spot for orcas (he watched the Seaworld documentary </3)

(THE PRESIDENT IS A SAINT BERNARD I know this in my heart, big goofy dog man, it’s probably even his favorite animal he just seems like a dog person (,,, based entirely on everyone else’s (incredible) headcanons lmao-))

J.R.

Almost went with a mongoose just for the bit- but no this man is OBVIOUSLY a ram. I can’t explain it at all he just is.

And he HATES animals - he can tolerate the ones that don’t come to him looking for attention but beyond that, no absolutely NOT get it away from him

If he had to pick he’d say fish, just because they can be relaxing to watch (please god let this man relax-)

[tyrantisterror]

What do you think makes a good pop culture mermaid?

That's a good question. Looking at mythology and folklore, there's kind of a dearth of stories about mermaids themselves, despite how large they loom in illustrations and just general recognition among mythic creatures. More often than not they're just set dressing - a picture on a map full of other sea monsters, and something to warn young sailors of.

The big mermaid story really does seem to be Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid, as it's not only one where a mermaid gets a starring role, but makes mermaids more than just a hazard to be avoided. And Hans's story is just... incredibly tragic, with the mermaid in question being so desperate to be with the human she loves that she gives up everything about herself, only to be rejected and die, albeit with the small consolation of gaining a human soul in the process (as in Hans's take, most mermaids don't have true souls like humans, and become sea foam when they die rather than live on in heaven).

So ok, let's look at the thematic connections between Hans's take and the general folklore of "those pretty fish women will lure you to your doom." Romance, and specifically tragic/doomed romance, is heavily associated with mermaids, as is a certain degree of eroticism. Mermaids and humans are attracted to each other, but that attraction is always undercut by some fairly severe and often insurmountable obstacles. There's a degree of envy built into them, too - human sailors would definitely be jealous of how easily mermaids thrive in the sea while they're getting sunburn and scurvy on the decks of their ships, and mermaids in turn envy humanity's ability to go on the land.

But I also think it doesn't have to be doom and gloom. Just because there are obstacles between mermaids and humans doesn't mean that their desire to know each other has to be destined for failure. There are stories where the two get to meet in the middle, and ones where the transformation of one partner to the other's species ends happily rather than tragic, and I think those can be pretty powerful takes. And, like, there's a great LGBTQ vibe to a successful mermaid/human romance - I think there's a reason Howard Ashman, a closeted gay man, was so drawn to The Little Mermaid when he was working for Disney, and why he ended up not only giving the mermaid a happy ending, but rejuvenating Disney's animation department in the process by telling her story so passionately.

So what makes a good pop culture mermaid? Well, they need to be alluring - not necessarily super sexualized, but attractive nonetheless. And they need to be distinctly non-human - fish-y enough to clearly be Other, and preferably in a way that works with their alluring qualities rather than against, because the whole draw of mermaids as a mythic creature is the fact that they're a sort of forbidden fruit, not made for human consumption yet so attractive we'd crash into the rocks trying to get them anyway. They need to be part fish, but not necessarily solely part fish - you can go for a more general sea monster vibe and still hit the visual marks of a mermaid.

And while it feels less like a pop culture thing and more just an internet culture thing, I'd kick myself if I didn't include how much I like the relatively recent idea of (at least some) mermaids being fucking gigantic. Mermaids are kin, or at least family friends, to other classic sea monsters like krakens, leviathans, sea serpents, island turtles, and the like, so why shouldn't some of them be gigantic? It even works with the theme of forbidden love that's so core to them -it adds one more physical barrier to consumating that romance. And also it's got great potential for cool and terrifying scenes involving mermaids - giant sea monsters are already scary, but one rising out of the water with a very human face twisted into a purposely malevolent expression as it looks at a ship like a toy in a bathtub? That's creepy, that's got story potential.

and it's hot

[ccasey0]

Nooooooooo but I'm so very mysterious- you can't know who I am!!! >:(((

Also, no, I enjoy this as well. Just paranoid that I will annoy people. (One of the reasons I am anon >.<)

Ah, yes, I do enjoy TMNT. Rise is my favorite, though I have been trying to get myself out of that bubble and into watching other iterations for a while now. (It has not been successful) I've seen some 2012 and the weird anime, that's about it.

How many iterations have you seen? And have you seen the weird anime they did? There is like... three episodes I think.

-mystery anon

HUH?!?! there is a tmnt ANIME?? no, i havent seen it. but now i want to! ive seen the 2012 series, the batman crossover, some of the 2003, Rise series, rise movie, the bayverse, the creepy live action with the weird suits(just the first two. i refuse to watch the one with venus.), the really good CGI one that lionsgate owns, mutant mayhem, and that one mini animated movie based on the 12 series: Blast to the Past. i wanna watch the 1987 one, but it isnt available to me currently. I cant wait for tottmnt tho!

does pineapple belong on pizza? explain.