#it’s already rough for the characters in the show then the fans get so weird

[ofmdrecaps]

12/27-31/2024 Daily OFMD Recap Part 1

TLDR; Nathan Foad; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Con O'Neill; Samba Schutte; Vico Ortiz; Samson Kayo; Ruibo Qian; Madeleine Sami; Cont'd in Part 2!

WOW Okay, sorry crew, I have been sick (with that weird thing that causes appendicitis type pain but am now better!), and had to clean my entire house (and essentially renovate half of the bottom floor) for a friend who is moving in for a month, and she showed up 3 days earlier than planned, so I basically have been MIA! So I'm gonna try to make this easier on myself to get this out already-- and the end of the year is going to be two posts in one!

== Happy (belated) Birthday Nathan! ==

Happy belated birthday to the absolute legend -- Nathan Foad! He shared some lovely tributes from his friends, as well as a badass tribute by @hotdiggitydollie of Nathan's character from Newark Newark!

He also sent a shout out to a fan who made this beautiful scroll for him!

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories / Hot Diggity Dollie's Instagram

= Rhys Darby =

An new picture of Rhys when he was out doing stand up at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood!

Source: Tmiddendorfphoto's Instagram

= Taika Waititi =

Taika caught out and about by a fan!

Source: Instagram

Rita and Taika were also in Times Square for New Years Eve! Rita was hosting with Ryan Seacrest and as usual Taika was there for love and support.

Source: Vera Ora/Rita ora's Instagram Stories

= Con O'Neill =

Con ran into a fan at the close of the year!

Source: Con O'Neill's Instagram Story

And if you haven't seen it yet-- had a very spicy New Years message for you!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Con O'Neill (@oneill.con)

Source: Con's Instagram

= Samba Schutte =

Samba left a lovely end of the year wrap up message for everyone <3

"2024, thank you for your gifts and for your tolls. Started with the blessing of being born a dad and it���s been a non-stop no-sleep magical and heart fulfilling whirlwind ever since🙏🏾✨ Funerals were no foreigners, but getting to see family and loved ones rejuvenated my soul✨ I got to spend the funnest time with the greatest fans, baking, connecting, traveling and raising money for charity after our lovely show was sadly cancelled✨ My first lead in a romcom got distribution, as did a fun series, a horror and a sweet short, all of which I was lucky to be part of✨ I got to voice great characters in projects I’ve been a fan of, and again I was lucky to be a part of each and every one✨ I became a US citizen (perfect timing) after years of walking on eggshells as an Alien of Extraordinary Ability👽 And I’m so grateful, humbled and excited for what lies ahead: as a parent, a partner, a colleague, a friend, a cheerleader and an advocate for love, peace and multicultural unity✨ I know a lot who have had a rough and tough year. And I pray this next one is better, brighter, healthier and easier❤️ Thank you to all who are always in my corner and supporting my journey. I appreciate you so much. At the end of the day it’s not about the destination or the path we take, but about the company that we share along the way. And I’m one lucky son of a duck to share it with you❤️🙏🏾🧿✨"

Source: Sambas Instagram

= Vico Ortiz =

Our beloved Jim was selected as one of the standout trans honorees! Thank you @adoptourcrew for spotlighting this!

Source: Adopt Our Crew Bsky

Today in Gay goes live on Jan 1!

Their first preview episode is available on their substack! TIG Substack.

Source: Vico's Bsky

In response to what I assume is David's OFMD Fanfiction, Vico mentioned they may be doing something new with their Patreon in 2025!

SourcE: Vico's Bsky

Not enough Vico news for you? Here's some more! Just some puppy snuggles!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Vico Ortiz (@puertoricaninja)

Source: Vico's Instagram

Last but not least, Vico's posted three more s2 BTS posts! I've put a screen shot of each of the three videos below-- check out their paid patreon for the full videos! First / Second / Third

Source: Vico's Paid Patreon

= Samson Kayo =

Samson's friend Daniel Kaluuya posted some recent shots of Samson!

Source: DanielKaluuya Instagram

= Ruibo Qian =

Ruibo was kind enough to perform for everyone again!

Source: Ruibo's Instagram

Our pirate queen ready for the new year!

Source: Ruibo's Instagram Stories

= Madeleine Sami =

Season 2 of Deadloch has wrapped!

Source: Mads Instagram Continuing in Part 2!

[drink-some-cranberry-juice]

jinx fans who hate caitlyn and caitlyn fans who hate jinx need to grow up and realize they’re like tragic foils of each other and the only proper way to live life is to be utterly destroyed by both characters

[leori-the-unlearned]

rereading IDW sonic is giving me a better picture of just how skewed tangle’s recent characterization is :(

i know continuity marches on and all but man. tangle is the only one getting THIS bent out of shape all the time and it sucks. she’s the everyman (she really shouldn’t be) and keeps getting mistaken for a different character trope by each new arc’s writers

[a-mel-tomelts]

Exactly 30 tags.

I just got reminded of my feelings about Makoto by looking at choices, and thinking about how out of all the Phantom Thieves, she's my least favourite. How I'll actively choose her last. Which is - well, originally I was thinking "that's not something people would want to read, though, is it?" but then I remembered that I'd been asked to share my thoughts on her, and how I'd (re)write her.

So. Makoto.

I'm going to start out with the things I dislike about her, and address them as best I'm able, along with what I'd like to have seen instead.

The first thing that comes to my mind is a rather broad aspect, which is that even after she becomes a Phantom Thief and embraces her own rebellion, she has a bad habit of assuming that everyone should fit her own view of "a successful life" and that she's doing nothing wrong by helping others achieve that. This kinda seeps into everything else, and informs her failings.

The small - and not all bad - way that this shows through is in the way that she pushes everyone on the team to keep their grades up. She effectively acts as someone to remind them to study, who reminds them of how important their schoolwork is, and also how important not slacking off is when they're trying to keep a low profile.

The good part of this is that yes, most of them DO need this! They're not good at remembering to!

The bad part is... she only knows her own way of studying. So we end up frequently seeing scenes that have study sessions ending with Ann, Ryuji, or others going "I haven't been able to learn anything." And of course they haven't! They have different learning styles, and different needs. Ryuji especially is ADHD. This also kinda says to me how she's not as effective as the Student Council President as she wants to be - because she isn't flexible, and can't see her fellow students' individual needs.

I think that what would have been cool would have been if, after awakening her Persona and starting to hang out with the Thieves more often, there was a main storyline b-plot with her actively trying to learn how to connect with her peers not just with arcade games, but by talking to them about things that would actually help them learn better, which would be things that she could actively pass along to the teachers and would improve the school. If she paid attention to the study habits of her friends even, she'd be able to say "this works better for people like Ryuji, this works better for people like Ann..." and that, too, would be an improvement.

Or, alternatively, that could be a replacement for her canon confidant, which is... less than ideal.

Talking of her confidant... hm! A lot to talk about!

For one thing, when I was going through that story the first time, I thought that it would match the theme of the game if the guy Makoto's new friend was dating wasn't actually one of the bad ones, and that Makoto was making assumptions about people based on her own preconceived notions of them, but that... was hardly the case.

Like, yeah, that's an issue that could be brought up as a real problem, and there is a difference between those guys taking advantage of girls and a woman getting taken advantage of, but... there IS a certain irony and double standard that Akechi's mother was portrayed as a sex worker who committed suicide, and how the men are only allowed to be predators, not victims themselves. It could've just been one. And maybe this is just me! And it's kind of an aside to the point.

But yeah, we have her basically interfering with her new friend's life choices, and that's... another example of "everyone should do what Makoto thinks is best" in a way, and the game's storyline/script proves her right. It would have been great if something had proved her wrong, and forced her to think about her prejudices and assumptions!

Moving on, and I'm gonna quickly point out how she treats Futaba. Makoto trying to get Futaba to respond in a more neurotypical way and (basically) Just Stop Being So Autistic is painful. Thing is? Makoto as she is at this point? I wouldn't expect her to be any different. She's still learning. What I'd like would be if she could learn over the course of the story to just... accept people as they are more. Because yes, this is another point for "everyone has to be the way that Makoto thinks makes a successful member of society." But given how much trouble she has interacting with others, I do have to wonder - how much of this is what her sister drilled into her?

Perhaps, even, we could have had Makoto bonding with Futaba in later scenes over how neither of them really understand how to make friends or fit in with society, just in different ways. That'd be nice.

The funny thing is?

If you add up her canon traits - everything that falls under the umbrella of "people should act and conduct themselves in a manner that fits what Makoto thinks is best" - then unfortunately, you DO end up with the perfect kind of person who'd want to apply for a job with the police, whose JOB it is to ensure that everyone plays by the rules, and becomes a "good, functioning member of society," effectively.

This does not oppose her place in the Phantom Thieves, because the ones that the Phantom Thieves target are people who the law should be bringing to justice anyway, but because of the corruption, is not. The reason the theme of rebellion even exists at all is because the law isn't doing its job. If the law was doing its job, if people were good and kind to each other as they're supposed to be, then the Phantom Thieves wouldn't be needed. (This isn't me criticising the game for saying this. I actually agree.)

But being a cop isn't the way to go about creating change when she should know damn well by the point she says that she wants that profession in her confidant, and it's her own attitude that prevents her from seeing that.

If, however, there were all of these relatively minor changes to her writing?

If she was forced to see that her assumptions can be wrong, that she isn't always right about how the world should be and how people should act? If she learned to be flexible in helping others study and also in realising that some people just need to exist in their own way, and that's not bad?

Then she'd already be partway to becoming some kind of social worker, who'd be able to make an actual change in the world, and even if it's not on the big scale that she was thinking about, it'd still mean the world to whichever kids or adults she was able to help.

If she could find the temperance to learn a balance between "understanding how the law works" and "knowing that it does not always work in the favour of the people she wants to help" then she would be SUCH a better character.

And- like I said. All it would take would be a few minor changes.

Also as a disclaimer: I'm well aware that a big part of why she's written the way she is, as well as why she's so damn popular, is because she really is that goody two shoes character that has a veneer of rebellion without actually going the distance, so - especially in Japan, where she was created - that makes her more marketable.

As well, the game goes to great lengths to state how badly corrupted the police are, and I wouldn't be surprised if Makoto wanting to be a "good" police officer is its way of evening that out so that the game isn't seen as "too anti-establishment/police" when that would harm sales, or potentially get it to not be made at all.

[erzva]

big fan of pussy drunk ! luffy..

. . .

its canon to me idk

like if your brain doesn’t register this as canon or something that’s very in character for luffy you’re just wrong

although i do also definitely see him as aroace or think he could be aroace

but if i were to strictly hc him as aroace it wouldn’t really be any fun for me, a luffy lover.

so i also see him as someone who loves sex. not in a weird way. he just loves you and making you feel good. and feeling good himself. + it’s so fun. everyone knows luffy is weak to things that are fun. idk i just think he would enjoy sex a lot with the person he loves.

or i can honestly also see him being aromantic but pansexual. and just liking sex as an activity. he’s a very active kid so, again, i think he would enjoy sex. bc sex can be fun and intimate and enjoyable

like there’s no way he wouldn’t wanna try it. he loves trying new things. you’re telling me he wouldn’t go feral after his first time with you? you opened his mind to something new and very fun

he’ll be asking for sex all the time now.

this man is mischievous and annoying. he does whatever he sets his mind to

so there’s not really telling him no.

ofc he won’t force you

but he’s exceptionally skilled at getting people to do whatever he wants.

he’ll make you come around sooner or later

because once he’s set on wanting to bury his cock into your warm cunt, he won’t stop until he gets to do it

he will start whining and begging if you don’t give him what he wants right away

especially if you give a lame excuse like “the others will hear” or “what if someone walks in”. if you pull any of tha, he knows he can be annoying and pushy.

but he also knows when you’re serious about your ‘excuses’ or “no’s” so he’d just drop it and opt for the second best thing in the world after meat: you. touching you, hugging you, clinging to you.

bc even if he can’t have sex with you, which is always so much fun and feels good- he doesn’t mind because it’s not important to him. being with you is enough

and honestly you were only truly against having sex very rarely. like when you were feeling unwell or it was an unfitting moment or whatnot. but you liked having him work for it. because you know that eventually he’ll start being whiny and desperate. oh and how you loved desperate luffy. begging with his big dark chocolate brown eyes.. and whining into your ear while rubbing himself on you, trying to hide what’s going on by disguising it as a hug so it doesn’t look too suspicious to your poor crewmates who unfortunately already know what he’s doing anyway..

until you finally give in and give him what he wants only for him to give you the biggest most genuine sunshine smile ever. his eyes widening at you giving him the go. it’s probably what you love most about him. his smile and how his entire face lights up..

however when it’s just the two of you in the captains chambers his expression turns dark and serious very fast. usually with a hint of mischief but not always. he can be very serious in moments like this too. you made him wait long enough. no time for silliness

there’s two types of pussydrunk ! luffy

he goes feral and it’s messy, chaotic and desperate. fast and rough, anything to get the two of you to reach climax.

slow loving sensual passionate sex. the kind of sex that really shows how much you love one another. the kind everyone dreams about. it feels good and it’s emotional

whenever he just wants to have fun and feel good, he’ll opt for the first version. the kissing would be hungry, passionate and desperate. he’ll be kissing and sucking on your neck and groping you harshly to get you wet. he’s impatient and just wants to cum deep inside of you. but not before he gets to lap at your delicious cunt. first things first. luffy never starts penetration without getting you nice and wet with his tongue beforehand.

but when he’s feeling sappy and emotional and loving the sex would be very sensual. but not necessarily slow. you still wanna cum after all. but the foreplay would be a lot more soft and gentle and he would take his time with you. kissing you everywhere thoroughly and massaging your flesh.

he doesnt only get pussydrunk for his cock inside your cunt though

he also gets pussy drunk when eating you out

oftentimes wanting to go more than one round

usually sex with him includes making out heavily, him eating your cunt, penetration / you grinding on him / you giving him a hand or blowjob- and then him eating you out again.

he is a MUNCH. he’s gonna be all up in your pussy

i mean he loves eating and never cared about what he looks like while eating (which is usually very chaotic and dirty) so you bet he’s gonna be just as messy when it comes to you and your cunt

he buries his face so deep in your pussy it’s overstimulating sometimes because he doesn’t stop once you cum. he stops when he wants to stop

sex isn’t sex without him getting a taste of you

and he oftentimes only wants to eat your pussy

keyword being “eat” bc it really does feel like he’s eating you alive (in the best most fulfilling way possible)

craziest head game in the entire op universe

he eats you out before going to sleep a lot. ‘helps him sleep better’ he claims

but he also wants to eat you out when he wakes up

he’s still groggy and tired and not really awake at all so he asks you to let him burry his face in your sweet warm cunt so he can ‘have a good day’ and also because it ‘helps him become more awake’

sure..

maybe you really do help him that way.. or maybe they’re mostly cheap excuses

and usually him being pussydrunk on eating you out leads to him wanting to burry his cock inside of you

because licking and tasting you is just so arousing. it makes him so hard and needy, always rutting his hips into the mattress while his tongue’s all over you. you taste like nothing he’s ever tasted before and he can’t get enough of it. he loves smelling and tasting your pussy. it makes him desperate, whiny and feral

you are never left feeling unsatisfied with luffy as your man

. . .

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

People aren't mad because John/Arthur aren't canon, people are mad because the creator made fun of the fans that ship them in the Christmas special

I see… the post has been deleted

I’m just very used to being in bad fandoms where something as small as “I don’t ship them personally” is taken as a homophobic statement, and people have been saying forever if it’s not canon it’ll be queer bait, so I assumed which I maybe shouldn’t have done but with it coinciding with the “John is a child episode” it just made sense

now, I do have to say though, that while I don’t know a whole lot because I’m not on the Patreon, I was for awhile. Again take this with a HEAPING load of salt for that reason since I clearly don’t know the specific situation. Everything I’m going to say I will try to say from an objective viewpoint since I don’t know the situation and will only focus on the facts I do know.

But how is this new? For the karaoke creep special they keep calling it weird to call each other romantic terms. And when Arthur died by not sacrificing the little guy last season Harlan was ROUGH. He said anyone who voted to not sacrifice were children smashing dolls together, that they forgot the story they were in and hopefully this punishment would remind them that actions have consequences. He basically said this is your fault for being stupid. He ended up having to post a semi apology saying it’s eldritch horror story, it’s supposed to be about harshness and not knowing the consequences before hand, and that he teases his audience and that if they don’t like that this isn’t the right show for them. His phobia play through he did a bit as Arthur and John where he was like “and we are NOT doing anything in the shower no matter what the fan fictions say” “let them dream John”

I also would like to mention that word of god should be ignored in these stories and that Harlan does NOT have a PR team. Again I don’t know the situation. I don’t know if he was ad libing live, in which case he should be given more Lee way as self editing in the moment is hard, I don’t know how if he said the most vile stuff alive, or if he said something a little mean but harmless like the “no we are not doing this” “let them dream” or what. Maybe it is bad and he deserves to be roasted, idk.But making jokes about a non canon thing can be a normal thing, especially if it’s a thing people keep bugging you about.

I do know that fandom as a whole has a problem attacking people over though, being someone who frequently got called homophobic for headcanoning single characters as aro, this one specifically has already harassed him about this ship which I’m sure gets annoying, and that he has explicitly said he will poke fun on the Patreon, and that he has said Jarthur won’t happen, and that he is one guy without the means to sort through hate mail removed from situations and doesn’t have a PR team to tell him “hey this off the cuff joke is a bad idea”

all that being said, again I do not know what he said specifically. I think either way a lot of people need to reassess if this is the fandom for them. I’ve seen a lot of people only get into the show for shipping and then get mad when there’s eldritch horror and the attitudes of eldritch horror in the eldritch horror podcast. If he said something that bad then maybe consider getting out since he writes about delicate subjects and it will only get worse. If what he said wasn’t that bad and people are getting mad about being lightly teased but it wasn’t confrontational or homophobic, they might want to leave because that’s just what Harlan does, tease people, and it’s not new and will continue, especially about non canon stuff in his own work. And if you got into and are only staying for the shipping…. Yeah. If that’s the only thing you want maybe it’s time to move on.

and if you decide to stay, know that. Know and be warned ahead of time that you will be teased so it isn’t a surprise next time

edit: so I did get the full context quote and it’s literally just “we want to hang out together alone for Christmas” “platonically, as in canon” “oh of course of course.” This. This isn’t bullying. It’s a little tongue in cheek sure but the whole thing is just saying it isn’t canon. I’ve heard complaints on comments on this post about other stuff he’s done, which I don’t know much about but is also applicable. I did my best to say “either way, this is stuff related.” As someone who writes and has written things before where every single chapter people kept pushing for something I wasn’t going to write I get it. I’m not saying anything he might have done is right but I think it’s understandable at the very least, for a writer to be upset about his stuff being constantly misinterpreted and having fans try to push it where he doesn’t want it.

him reminding people it won’t happen is fine, especially when people keep accusing him of queer baiting. I still think what I said earlier stands even hearing other opinions, because although I can’t say either way, it seems like everyone who is upset says this is a repeated behavior, and if you stay you can’t be surprised by it every time. If it’s going to bug you you have to either be prepared for it to keep happening or leave.

That isn’t to say no one can be upset about anything else but this specific thing I don’t think is worthy of that. All he did was jokingly repeat canon in character (which is much better than like. Someone who keeps hinting at something and never giving it) in a teasing manner. He didn’t say anything negative about shippers, or anything homophobic, just said “hey remember kids, we aren’t into each other like that.” Which is. Fine. It’s annoying but it isn’t malicious.

If the issue is mods or his interactions with people say that. Don’t make it about him light heartedly going “don’t accuse me of queerbaiting.” it makes it so when actual issues like what people are talking about in the comments (if they’re legit, again I try to stay only in the actual content part and abstain from knowing about creators) come up no one takes them seriously because so many molehills were mountained.

If you’re pissed about how he talks to his fans say that, don’t make it about a lack of queer rep when he said day one there wouldn’t be any. Make it about the issue itself. You don’t mention that someone’s a domestic abuser for example after you say “and they have NO CHEESE in their house thats MONSTROUS who does that.” If you want to be taken seriously about a problem you focus on the thing that matters which is. Hurting people.

I guess at the end of the day I’m no one’s boss, but I am tired of not knowing what to believe or not when someone saying something like “no comment” on if characters they wrote are together is homophobia, or a character who’s been Described as a dick acting like one and then the creator gets accused of being shitty (random examples not to do with this specific fandom). If everything is a big deal that makes someone the worst when the subject is not actually hurting anyone… it’s exhausting. Idk anything about Harlan. At the end of the day I’m here for my little horror stories. But I will say definitively that I don’t think it’s bullying to say a ship is not canon and that to act like it is makes it impossible for people who actually care about morals and what someone is doing to keep the energy to stay that way without becoming part of a mob just taking people at their word.

If it upset you I’m sorry, it’s always disappointing when our take on media is dismissed, especially by the creator. And it’s fine to be disappointed. I get that. But don’t blow it out of proportion, and don’t make it about something it isn’t. If you’re upset about the quote say that it’s disappointing without saying it’s punching down. The author is dead and it’s one of the biggest podcast ships out there. If you’re upset about anything else make a post about that issue without tying it to this fun bonus non canon episode. You are allowed to be upset just and if it is about shipping: stop making someone disagreeing with you about a ship a big controversy. You can ship whatever you want regardless of canon and no one is trying to stop jarthur shippers, and if it isn’t about that stop making things about shipping if that’s not what it’s actually about.

[necrotic-nephilim]

for the choose violence ask game: 3, 8, 16 :D

for the choose violence ask game!

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

i was going to be kind enough to not screenshot but i lied i'm choosing violence. this is less of a take and more of an incorrect quote i suppose but. every time i remember it exists i stare at a wall for like 20 minutes.

most posts under the "chaotic tim drake"/"unhinged tim drake" tags do. get to me. they are all liable to make me spontaneously combust but something about this one. the way Tim's fanon kill count magically gets higher every time it's brought up. the way it directly contradicts Tim's internal deep-seated fears about turning into Bruce and that's why he has always planned to retire after being Robin the *entire point* of Tim Drake of Tomorrow is to show how horrified Tim is and how future!evil!Tim will always go too far. like i genuinely do not know what character ppl are talking about with the "Tim is most likely to become a supervillain and somehow this a cutesy headcanon" sort of thing. it plagues me. consider me plagued. i could go on and on about it for hours and how deeply it contradicts Tim's character to his core. also just why does the fandom want to make him a villain so bad? i don't understand.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

i already gave one answer to this question here, but worry not i have endless answers to this one. a bit one for me is: the idea Cass should use ASL. it icks me out. i will close a fic if Cass is using ASL i will not lie. firstly, she does not canonically know ASL. secondly, it doesn't make *sense* for her to use it bc her disability has nothing to do with the ability to speak, it has to do with her language learning skills. and ASL is, *still a language*. and would be just as difficult to learn, if not more-so bc it could set back her learning of English and would not be as easily applicable as English to her daily life. it's a headcanon that ranges from well-meaning misunderstandings to just downright ableism that infantilizes Cass and infantilizes ASL. honestly i get touchy in general about fandom using ASL when not written by a Deaf writer/someone who knows ASL bc... you can tell. you can always tell. (hearing fans stop trying to come up with sign names for the Batfam i'm gently begging you.) there are many good posts breaking down why this headcanon doesn't really work but i'm just salty and feral about it.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

the headcanon/fanon concept that Tim has lasting psychological trauma due to the Titans Tower incident, or that it has caused him to be afraid of Jason. (the same can be applied to Damian cutting Tim's line being something that Matters to Tim longterm or causes fear of Damian) like? beyond the "that is not canon, that event really didn't bother Tim and Tim was a cocky little shit the whole time", i'm unsure how this... fits into the fanon version of Tim? like i don't *understand* it. how it is that fandom likes "Tim has a super high kill count and is going to be a supervillain" but also... thinks one bad fight that roughed Tim up a bit has made him terrified of one person specifically? these feel contradictory. either he can Take The Heat or He Can't. this weird waffling where he's both the biggest badass around but also somehow a wilting traumatized kid confuses me. i don't necessarily mind the exploration of Tim being angry or pissed off about these events, or even him being more injured than he was in canon and dealing with that, but him being like. so afraid of Jason it influences their relationship has always eluded me. it contradicts everything else about fanon!Tim and makes him seem... sort of cowardly? like not that events like these can't be traumatizing but in his field of work they're not unique events. these are normal Tuesdays for him. why is it affecting him so much in fanon.

[egg-emperor]

how do you feel about 06 eggman's design?

I love it, for a long time I wasn't a fan but when we ended up getting more redesigns that didn't look anything like game Eggman at all, I came to appreciate him more lol. I love how weird and funny he looks but that's still very handsome to me now. definitely wouldn't want it replacing his absolutely perfect and best design permanently but I realized that it was fine for a one off appearance

so now I feel he gets too much hate, I think his CG model especially is great, though he definitely should've been much fatter (dw I'll feed him) and I see no reason why he should've lost the goggles on his head

his in game model is also rough with the poor texturing doing him dirty and giving people a bad impression of the design but he still looks mostly fine. as for his four golden nipple caps, they're majestic- stop hating XD

and I adore his gray blue shade eyes, they're so pretty hehe

pretty much the thing I appreciate the most about the design is them finally confirming the canon color of his actual irises. we could already see he had the white sclera before in a few games but he had the no colored irises much like the classic characters. and blue is the best they could've picked for him instead of generic edgy black and red and suits his coldness. I really want them to show em again 🥰💙

if y'all don't want this weird gross old man I'll happily take him off your hands lol

[soleminisanction]

U know i do kinda find it weird how some make steph have camaraderie w the ppl that tim knows

Like outside of the generaal batfam sphere(excluding helena bc she is a outlier and maybe jason but even then they get paired up in fandom spaces)

She just not?? Amicable or a team player tbh

Like in yj19 all the sudden the c4(excluding tim) are cool w steph??? Like what? When did that happen???

(or even that arc that they went to evil alt earth where they are all evil but steph isnt??? Writer did u not even realize what you have said about the other steph???)

Idk i just think of all bat character, she is to be stricly gotham base

I give Brian Michael Bendis (the writer on YJ19) a pass because I was following him on Twitter from the point YJ19 and the Wonder Comics imprint was announced, all the way through the end of that series.

From the second the announcement was made, his social media was completely inundated with people demanding that Stephanie be included in YJ19, entirely because she'd last been seen leaving Gotham with Tim. He also got flooded with asks about whether Cissie would make an appearance, or Aqualad (because YJ animated was still at the peak of its popularity and there was a whole contingent of fans who had zero clue that Kaldur was created for that show and that Jackson Hyde looks like but isn't exactly him), but with Steph? He and his co-creators got full on harassed, and it only got worse because she happened to turn up in a flashback in Issue 4. There were Internet journalists who derailed interviews he was giving to hype up his new Black and gay heroines just to demand more Stephanie, it was bad.

And then there was this whole mess that's going to be hard to explain succinctly. But it boils down to: given the timing of when the series was announced, they almost certainly had issues #1-#3 fully drawn and either at or on its way to the printer, issues #4-6 at least partially drawn and colored, issues #7-9 completely scripted and possibly with pencil drafts under way, and issues #10-12 drafted, with an outline already prepared for the second year if they thought they were going to go beyond 12.

But then something happened after the announcement -- and it had to have been after the announcement, otherwise they could've pushed back their release dates -- that led them to rewrite the entire second half of the year, everything from the end of #5 on. You can tell because the covers, which get made ahead of the rest of the issue, start going really wonky from #6 on and don't match up with the contents of the story, plus there's disconnect in the early solicitations. Also they skipped a month between #6 and #7 while making #7 basically a filler issue with guest artists who happen to have very simple, quick-draw cartoony styles that are easier to produce in a hurry.

That kind of turn-around on a publishing project is nuts, it's not fun to deal with. I would be surprised if Bendis had time to give his artists more than a "shitty rough draft" to work off of. But like I said he was still getting this constant barrage of demands for Steph so, as long as he was doing rewrites anyway, he took the chance to drop her in, or maybe the editor insisted he do so to try to bring in more readers. Either way, he just didn't have the time to make it good or put any thought into it.

I honestly feel so bad for their whole creative team. That's such a terrible situation to be in, and the first five issues make me feel like they were really putting their hearts into it. It's so sad it got derailed so badly.

[sewmice]

Thanks for the reblog, I just hope people can clear this and come away still playing… this event is enough to make anyone want to scream into the abyss. I’m almost impressed at the thought process behind this design, no wonder Broccoli changed from Shining Live, this is so much more profitable… for them.

This event being...something. The previous ones all having issues. And up until this huge login bonus, rewards just not being enough for pulls has been not a great start for the game. And with the player base, and hell just Utapri fanbase, just being lower than back when Shining Live started, it makes a mistake way more likely to ruin the game's chance at thriving. Also having a harsher event after the Session Lives and Tokiya's were pretty nice is....rough. And definitely might run people off who are already getting annoyed with the other issues.

Granted, the fanbase is still kicking pretty well, more so in Japan. The whales are still whaling. Tickets are still a fight. But like...we know it's gone down.

The move away from Shining Live is obviously more complicated than Broccoli wanting more money. The game was getting stagnant. It was developed by KLab, who was well moving away from rhythm games and have their own issues. The player base was declining. The spark was gone. I kinda wish Broccoli had leaned more into what made SL great when they took over, but the changing of games was kinda necessary. And it got Heavens fans their boys. Adding them to SL would have required heavy changes. Easier to start from scratch.

I do want to point out what has been great about Live Emotion so far! Reasons why we should stay encouraged and hope Broccoli keeps making good changes (because they have! We just had a qol update! They're giving us the 5000 login bonus too!) And this post is gonna get long lol

The boys in SL....got bland? They were only their idol sides, because even the backstage stuff was on camera. We stopped really seeing their depth and personalities, and that's the whole point of Utapri! To see them and work with them behind the screen! The idol stuff was supposed to be secondary! But since season 4 ended, all we've had is SL, movies, and other side projects that are JUST their idol side (aside from the Starish OVA).

But Live Emotion has us as Haruka again! We're by their side when they're actually being themselves! We get to romance them again! We're seeing Utapri as it was again! And as someone who has been here since 2012, god it feels so nice?? Like old times?

We're acknowledging and even having other characters in the stories. Both presidents have already shown up! And while no one else aside from them is listed in the voice cast yet, surely others will show soon? At least Ringo and Ryuuya. (they should've been in Starish's chapter at the school but whatever) Fucking Rodriguez has a mention in the event?? Like, the world is alive again! It's not just our 11 to 18 main boys (depending on content)

Old content and outfits are being used which will help with the concept fatigue SL had. And also it's just nice to see really good old designs not just be forgotten! I'm not a huge fan as to how Ultra Blast is being handled. It feels weird to have some people get SRs. In the same way I didn't like Oodorokiman and Shining Romance/Force Live being mixed SRs and URs. But I've seen other people upset and in the same way SL stopped doing that, hopefully Live Emotion will too.

And again Broccoli has been listening to feedback and making changes. There's still...a lot of work to do. But SL also made a lot of changes over time. So hopefully they keep listening and things get better. Because there's parts of this game worth protecting and wanting to continue. I loved how SL did stuff too. I wish we had everything about how SL did stuff with gachas and event mechanics, but the story and character quality of Live Emotion. We just gotta...push Broccoli in that direction.

I really hope the event doesn't scare people off! We're on 2 full months of the game. The first of this event type. Stuff can still change!!!

[alitgblog]

so i came up with a rough idea for a scott pilgrim inspired litg au where you have an evil ex from each season (minus season 8 since it's coming out now)

Bobby would be the main character, which I didn't want at first because he's the most popular LI but I think his personality seems the most likely to get into this situation (minus the Scott Pilgrim being an incel but that's why it's inspired and not a one to one). Also works since he's in a band.

Obviously MC is his dream girl (Ramona in the movie). Could probably have Noah be his roommate, who is bookish and also a little sick of his problems. Then you have the other band members: Lottie is the drummer (who is also Bobby's ex who's still a little mad at him), idrc who the guitarist is lol, and then I think it'd be funny to have a character who wants to be in the band but they don't let him until the end and that should be Felix.

The stuff about Knives I understand is important to the Scott Pilgrim story but I'm not a huge fan of the "dating a high schooler" part lol. Still, we can have a character that he's dating who's all in and he is not but he doesn't have the heart to break up with her and ends up breaking her heart anyway, and that's probably Hannah.

MC shows up to his concert and then you meet the first evil ex, Dylan. And MC is like oh they dated for a week in middle school and after she broke his heart, he kind of became the asshole we know him as now. (the only reason I'm picking Dylan first is because I think Matthew Patel is one of the more cringe exes and I just simply couldn't do that to anyone else in s4, plus after the exposition he just gets thrown away anyway).

Next, Bobby, Noah, and MC all go visit a local movie set and they see her next ex, Rafi. I don't know why I always picture Rafi with his like weird smouldering face, but that honestly works well with this character, if you've ever seen pictures of Chris Evans in this movie. Because there's a skateboarding aspect in this, I did consider it should be Jamal, but for the bit I already picked a s6 character so it had to be someone else lol.

Anyway, Rafi gets defeated by his arrogance and then Bobby's band is playing in a contest, where he sees his ex and her new band mate/boyfriend, Mason, who is also MC's ex. As for Bobby's ex, it doesn't matter too much but I could see it being Yasmin since she's also a singer, Priya because she canonically is a fan of Mason's band (i think?) and there are routes where she's initially coupled up with Bobby, or Elisa because I think on some s2 routes she goes for Bobby but also I just like her aesthetic compared to this character in the movie. Also I just think either of them look good next to Mason (maybe they don't fit personality wise but they'd look good)

So Mason gets defeated, probably not with the vegan thing (but if we switch Mason for Levi, I could believe that), but something silly other than physically beating him. Next ex is Bonnie, who is clingy as hell. I don't think we should keep the part where Ramona calls it her like college experimentation stuff because that's not a great stereotype, but I kinda like the idea that Bonnie thinks they were in a relationship and had something but MC is like, no, clearly not.

The next exes are the twins, and so I had no other choice than to make this Ozzy and Marshall. I also think MC probably drove them apart and then when they finally compared stories they finally became friends again and are out for vengeance. Anyway, they get defeated.

Last but not least, the ex to rival all exes, the titular character of s5, we have Suresh running this shit. He is so hung up over MC that he set up this whole league. Literally nothing about his character would make me think he'd do this (because this character in Scott Pilgrim is so malicious actually), but he is the "ex in the villa" so he's gotta be the final boss.

[hkthatgffan]

I recently had the chance to message legendary Gravity Falls fan artist @kiki-kit about her work on Lost Legends. This is the transcript of the questions I asked her. You can watch the full video where I go in more detail on stuff below!

Full Video Here!

This July will mark the 5 year anniversary since the release of Gravity Falls Lost Legends. So, as we near that, I thought I’d try and see if I can get some more information about the book as a way to celebrate the occasion. So, I decided to reach out to a person who not only worked on the book, but is a Gravity Falls fandom legend as well.

Prior to even the D23 announcement of the book, Alex had tweeted out asking people to send him examples of work from various fan artists. From these, he picked a bunch of artists from the fandom to contribute to the book. One of these artists was Kiki-Kit. Long time fans will know that name instantly as Kiki’s art is some of the most prolific and most widespread GF art out there and so her being part of the book was a truly deserving achievement for an artist of that degree.

In Lost Legends, she was the illustrator for the story Don’t Dimension It. She’s still somewhat active on Twitter, so I sent her a DM, asking if she’d be down to answer a few questions. After a few days, she responded.

I asked her 6 questions and also got some close friends who also are fans of her work to send some too. Here’s what we talked about...

Question 1: How did you get involved with Lost Legends and how involved with the book were you?

I remember way back when Alex had made a tweet asking everyone who their favorite fan artists were, and he had specifically asked for comic artists. I wasn't on Twitter at the time, but I know a few people had put my name in there! I wasn’t really expecting much to be honest, but about a month or so later I received a dm on Tumblr asking if I wanted to be part of a "gravity falls anthology", and I screamed.

Question 2: Were you aware of the stories in it beforehand (both the one you worked on and others) or did you get sent prompts or rough ideas by which to base your work for it off?

Nope! I didn't know anything about anything before I received the script several months later, all I knew was that there were at least going to be other comics alongside mine.

Question 3: Were there any stories or ideas that didn’t make it into the book that you know of? This can include whole stories that never made it in or just ideas or cut parts from stories, like a cut scene from Don’t Dimension It.

The only story I knew of before the book came out was my own, and I'm pretty sure that the script I had been given had already been through the wringer, so aside from a couple shortened lines thanks to comic restraints, not much changed script wise.

Question 4: In relation to question 3, would you be willing to share anything from your work on LL that would be okay to be public now? Like behind the scenes stuff that perhaps was not in the B&N version of it?

Before there was Stanbel, there was a hideous akira-blob Mabel. She lives on only in my nightmares.

Question 5: How do you feel the story you worked on (Don’t Dimension It) tackled Mabel’s character (given at the time Lost Legends came out, Mabel’s reputation in the fandom was in a weird place) and did you find the story to be fitting or out of the ordinary for Gravity Falls in terms of approach and execution? Basically, did you feel it was a Gravity Falls like story or more so leaning in terms of fan service or not too GF like?

This was a question I really wanted to ask, mainly out of my own personal interest in knowing more about the choices in terms of why the Mabel arc was done the way it was in Lost Legends. And Kiki gave a really interesting response….

I was of the group that felt like Mabel was a bit too selfish in the show, I still enjoyed her character and loved her a lot, but I was hoping for an apology from her by the time the show ended. I knew that the story I was drawing was going to be divisive among the fandom, and I had already accepted the fact that there were going to be people who really didn't like my story, but I liked it! I wouldn't have said that Mabel caused the whole of Weirdmageddon, but I otherwise felt like the story was pretty solid and a nice little end to Mabels character!

Honestly, as the years have passed since that book came out and my take on the Mabel situation has matured as I have as well, I agree in a lot of ways with what she said. There was definitely room for a story that corrected Mabel’s character in ways, but I also feel the story went too far in making her out to be the cause of Weirdmageddon. It was a strange approach that the story took to be honest, but I’m glad we both agree on it while also still enjoying the book. And finally…

Question 6: Overall, looking back on it, do you feel Lost Legends still holds up well as a Gravity Falls book, or do you think the book could’ve done a better job in either storytelling or what stories it focused on? If the latter (or even if you got any), what stories would you have wanted to see be told in the book or have done differently if you were the writer?

I still really love the book a lot, but maybe I'm a bit biased haha! If I was to change anything about it, I would've really loved a story dedicated to one of Stan and Fords sea-fairing adventures, or at least some sort of future story set a few years forward, but I'm otherwise happy with what we got! I'd be even happier if the comics had continued though, like those IDW mlp comics, that would be niiice, but alas! I doubt it.

So agree on that honestly. It would’ve been great to see a Stan and Ford story or something in the future. Though I personally would’ve loved to see a Wendy story or maybe even a Mabel and Ford bonding story more so. It’s just one of those fan hopes I really had then that never did transpire I guess, eh.

Now, for some extra questions I asked Kiki that came from friends who I mentioned this too…

First off, a bonus question I asked her…

Are you still in touch with Alex or any Lost Legends contributors? And considering The Owl House references that were in the book, did you know or find out anything about the show back then that you got to be early on in the know of?

Ahaha, no, I haven't really spoken at all to Alex since the comic release, and I never really got the chance to talk to anyone else involved in the comic outside of the editor Eric. The burn-out I was left with afterwards made it hard to reach out, and that coupled with my already really bad social anxiety kinda didn't do me any favors haha. As it stands, the comic is but a star in my resume and a large part of my heart. Maybe Alex remembers me, and maybe someday I'll get to work with him again, who knows! As far as TOH goes, I only knew about some issues Dana was having with the shows opener at the time, from what Alex told me, she really fought for that nice fly-through shot! Any other information I knew beforehand had nothing to do with the comic and more with I have friends that work for Disney and did a little bit of stuff for the show, lol

Friend Question 1: What was the experience like being asked or approached for helping with the comic and how did you go about planning the pages?

Like I said, when I got the message I screamed, I was excited for weeks, but I didn’t actually get the script until I think august or september? Drawing a comic from a script is pretty straight-forward, each panel is given a brief description and dialog if needed, from there all I had to be aware of was the flow of how someone reads it, it's sorta like a zig-zag down the page. Start from the left, work your way to the right, and so on. Screen direction and dialog bubble placement help a lot in getting it to read nicely. Personally, I feel like I still have a way to go in my comic drawing abilities, but I think I did pretty well for someone whose still fairly new to it!

What I find interesting about this answer is that Kiki-Kit mentions August or September 2017 as the time when she got the script. So, almost a year before Lost Legends came out. Which is kinda surprising as this shows that the book was already written out by the end of that summer. Which means that when Alex revealed Lost Legends at D23, he pretty much had already finished most of the book by that point. That’s an interesting insight to learn.

Friend Question 2: This one's more fandom related given at the same time LL came out, there was also the Grunkle dating sim. How did you get involved with the game and how did you come up with the sprite art designs?

Oh my god haha! Okay, so, funny thing is that the time I worked on the comic ended up between my time on the dating sim. @sovonight was the one who organized the whole thing, and she came to me asking if I wanted to work on the sprites, and I enthusiastically said yeah. Once the general story events were laid out, we all started brainstorming what it was that we wanted the boys to be wearing. Really, more specifically, what Stan would be wearing. I'm pretty sure his blue shirt/white pants combo was mostly inspired by his blue hawaiian/white pants vaca outfit from an episode in s1, and everyone was really digging the biker jacket a lot haha we were going nuts. Stan basic outfit was the hardest to get down honestly, every other outfit was super easy to figure out, but it was all a group effort! In the end, I designed the sprites before the comic, and they were the first things I finished afterwards.

And that basically was everything. I wanna give a huge thank you to Kiki-kit for taking the time to answer all the questions I had. She was very insightful and shared a lot about the behind the scenes aspects of Lost Legends.

She was super enthusiastic about her work on the book too which I truly respected and it really reminded me personally about the excitement I had then for the book which I guess I’ve kinda forgotten about over the years. I have such fond memories from that time and it was great to learn a bit more about the book that now rests on my shelf, from someone who worked on it. I can’t believe it’s almost been 5 years since then.

But with that said, this was my Q&A with Kiki-Kit.

If you’ve read up to here, then thank you.

[starbuckaroo]

I think I would be happier w bucktommy all these episodes down the line if Tommy still interacted with or asked after Eddie. I know there’s a lot the show doesn’t put onscreen so there’s no reason why it couldn’t have plausibly happened or couldn’t still happen (and I hope it does), but Tommy was Eddie’s friend first! They hung out a lot!

And yet, since he got together with Buck, we haven’t gotten to see them interact.

Granted, there hasn’t been a lot of screen time for Tommy and that’s fine, it’s a short season w very little room to breathe. This isn’t some sort of angry anti bucktommy tirade. But it does make me just a tad uncomfortable the way things are at this moment. Bc it’s not a stretch to theorize that maybe Tommy was hoping things Eddie might go somewhere and when they didn’t, he tried with Buck. I don’t think that’s supported by the text, but it’s also not negated, either. Idk. It’s not a huge deal at the moment, just a little snag?

Listen I am a buck fan but I am an eddie fan!!!!!!! And I am so so sad for eddie this season it’s been rly fucking rough on him! Not like buck needs to change anything (except not be a jealous freak and lash out physically if he can’t use his words), like I said I’m here for bucktommy I think they’re great. But like. Where’s the awkward “hey how do we hang out now that you two make out sometimes” or whatever?? We deserve to see that tbh! It’s a more common issue in queer circles, that ppl have to slip in and out of romantic/platonic interactions when people partner up or break up. It’s also the first time either of them have dated anyone within the LAFD and so it’s the first time this could ever have even come up!

Idk man. Just I keep thinking about how happy eddie seemed when he was hanging out w Tommy and maybe it’s just bc that ep was meant to be from Buck’s pov but i don’t know what’s worse, thinking it WAS real and now he doesn’t get to have that friendship anymore or that it WASNT real and he was never actually having that good of a time.

MY REAL POINT is that anyone who WAS or IS a buddie shipper or anyone who likes Eddie at all has to acknowledge how important buck and eddie are to each other, right? Which means that in any relationship that either of them ever have, if they want it to be serious and have long term potential, they actually need to integrate their partner with their best friend.

Maybe this is too weird for some ppl? It’s always seemed like a given, like if there’s someone new and important in my life, I def want my best friend to meet them and like them bc I want us all to be able to spend time together! I don’t want to feel split between them all the time! And esp with Tommy already having connections with most of the 118/main cast, and particularly Eddie, it would make sense for us to see them interacting!

Idk. I’m probably wanting too much from my network tv show lol I just. I will literally never take bucktommy seriously as a pairing if they don’t manage to address the Eddie of it all. And not in a “address the fact that buck loves him” contrived jealousy nonsense. I mean address the fact that their lives are bound together! And it predates anyone that either of them will ever date! Plus imagine the character growth it would take for Buck to send Tommy to Thursday basketball with like a plate of cookies and orange slices or something but not show up himself. Be like “have fun with the boys, slap Eddie’s ass for me” or whatever 😂 I would believe Buck was finally on his way to being ready for a long term adult relationship if they managed that, is all I’m saying

[mdhwrites]

Boscha: The Demon of Her Group

I mean this literally and figuratively and this isn't so much a critical post as it is just interesting character potential. See there was one point I'd left out of my blog about discrimination in TOH and how demons fuck that up was that Steve and Boscha are the only two demons who embrace demonic tendencies who are allowed to eventually be good people and have a little added depth. Even then, they both come across as half demons and are like the Faunus in RWBY where they're allowed one non-human trait but are otherwise 'normal'.

Well... That point also brings up how almost the only demon Amity interacts with for two seasons is Boscha. Because Boscha is the ONLY demon in her friend group. In fact, for demon rep at Hexide, Boscha is the ONLY one. Barkus is the closest to a second and he's just a dog. He's almost certainly a demon but it's very easy to forget that and assume he's literally just a dog while Boscha's third eye is a lot harder. That and Barkus is not exactly great rep as literally an animal.

This has REALLY interesting storytelling potential... That metatextually 99% of fans won't ever give a shit about because Boscha is figuratively the devil of Hexide to them. They place all the evil in that school *gestures at Moringmark's recent comics with Skara as an example* on Boscha. They blame all of Amity's evil as a school bully on Boscha and her mom. Boscha is seen as irredeemable to most, even post the series giving a half hearted attempt at redemption, because they see her as pure evil.

As always: Don't think people are actually factoring this element in, at least not consciously. It's just a ROUGH coincidence. Buuut one that's really interesting to examine creatively and not just analytically.

What if Boscha is mean... Because she's a demon in a witch run society? Or at least, in a friend group that prefers witches over demons. Odalia is cartoonishly evil enough to be that sort of bigot where Boscha is seen as having to earn her place next to Amity a lot more than any of Amity's other friends. Boscha might walk on eggshells around Amity more than most people because Amity already keeps her at arm's length due to her third eye.

Extend this farther: She wants to be a star to finally be recognized as an equal or even be able to properly claim superiority over those who look down on her. Her need for control over love might partially be because people didn't care about her love and kindness at an early age. They appreciated it more when she showed them how strong being a demon made her. And so she learned a way to get people to never talk about her as less than them for her blood, at least not to her face.

It might actually be part of why Boscha is the only student to mention it being weird that a HUMAN is there. What if she had harder entrance requirements? What if she was discouraged by teachers from staying because she didn't belong? There are demons in Hexide but all the best students we see? All witches. And Luz looks just like them except her round ears and no one seems to comment despite what they'll say about her eye, at least behind closed doors.

Or hey, let's embrace the Amischa stuff from For the Future: What if Odalia's words about Willow made Amity NOT be racist towards Boscha? What if she was literally only about merit back when they were friends? And so Boscha actually felt safer and more secure around Amity than anyone else. That also meant that she obsessed over Amity's toxic mindset and requirements more, leading to how she views the world because it meant keeping the witch who actually seemed to like her, especially in high society. Thus this makes her desperate to have Amity back, especially when the world has gone to shit and it feels all control she can have is lost. Control that a fellow demon in the form of Miki promises she can have.

Again: I don't think any of this is intentional but TOH says a LOT of negative things unintentionally, in part because it doesn't ever seem to know what it's trying to say or what it can't say due to its own creative choices. This is just an interesting read enabled by how fucked over pretty much every demon in the show is, especially if they actually act like anything other than a human.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[bibibbon]

If you had written bhna, what ending would u have given the LOV (not trying to be rude. Hope I don't come off like that!!)

Oh it's okay this ask definitely didn't come of as rude to me anon!

Sure I have talked about some of the lov members and their arcs as a whole but I will summarise the endings that I would have for them.

Twice - I would have him dead or redeemed (if he became ochakos villain that is)

Toga - I liked the canon conclusion of her arc and I think she already had the whole dead, cannibalism + love imagery going on for her so I would have her killed off

Kurogiri - probably work his way to redemption trying to help save shigaraki

Dabi - depending on how you rewrite his arc and the amount of crimes he has committed I would have him in jail + going through rehab slowly rentering society and living a peaceful life reconnecting with his family without enji

Shigaraki - he is an interesting one because I seriously don't know what to do with him or his ending. At best I would have him go through rehabilitation (but that's in a rewrite where he doesn't cause war and the worst he does is attack ua children and murder in the name of self defense) 🤷‍♀️

Magne - I would have her die like she did in the overhaul arc but I would develop her a lot more before she does

Compress - as in canon he would serve his time and probably get out on good behaviour

Spinner - he is a flexible character so if shigaraki gets redeemed he would to but honestly he needs a lot of character development and changes to his arc because he went from being a stain fan to a Shigaraki one in a weird way.

Mustard- rehabilitation have his character be used to explore society and draw parallels with him and midnight. I may take his character in a different direction by having him be killed after his rehabilitation to show the cruelty of society or not.

Moonfish - same as in canon

Muscular - same as in canon

Giran - never actually thought much for him but I would have him continue to be a morally grey guy who does business

That should be all of the leauge members (I hope I didn't miss out any of them) by the way this is an incredibly rough sketch or idea of what I would have happen to the characters.

[callieponders]

Okay. So. The Candy Jams episode, Girl Fest. I have so many thoughts on it, good and bad. This is gonna be another long thoughts post, so let's get into it. (Under the read more because this is Really Long)

On principle there isn't a bad message here, in fact, to this day it still has relevancy. Plenty of female singers playing faux feminist when they are more than willing to put other women that work alongside them down in order to raise themselves up, rather than trying to cultivate a good community, especially in regards to younger fans. This is definitely not new, same in regards to male singers that promote toxic masculinity to their own audiences.

My issues stem from, of course, the usual "errrrm, isn't it funny how we act uncertain if Laney is a GIRLLLLL, lawl!" ass humor. Like god that shit is garbage I'm glad we mostly phased that type of shit out. Yuck.

Not just that, of course, that's more of a Grojband, "this is from the real early 2010's" issue in general. I also take issue with the approach it takes touching upon the whole "this idol can't actually be trusted" thing. I understand it's watered down to be a little easier to understand, babies first feminism and all, as well as it being a little more niche in the addition that it's someone proclaiming to be all punk rock while in reality being a poser. That isn't a problem in theory, but in practice, I definitely think it came out clunky...

Which message wise, is a little rough. However, it actually comes off as a much more interesting character read of one of the most important characters, Laney, and even TRINA to an extent.

To understand what I mean, we gotta go down the list of things we find out about Candy Jams first. Keep in mind she is promoted to be this 16 year old (assuming she's the same age as the other older teenagers in the show bc it'd be weird if not since she dated nick) punk chick who doesn't take crap from anyone, acting condescending towards the male members of Grojband, and even going as far as to tell Trina she needs to be in charge of her own feelings— "You should be the voice of your own soul, girl!"

Candy Jams appears calm and collected about Nick. She even says she broke things off with him for making her too soft. This is shown not to be the case almost immediately, as while they're not dating, she clearly still has an infatuation for him.

Secondly, it's revealed she's very enthusiastic about clothes. I know, what a revelation, but keep in mind being fashion crazy is often a stereotype used negatively against women as a means of calling them shallow.

Her lyrics are written by her manager, who is an adult male (the adult part really isn't important unfortunately, because I feel like it should've been).

Finally, she says that lyrics with harder words in them make her head hurt (she calls it brain ouchie btw), which is... I guess it's calling her stupid? Not as smart and a thinker that she says she is? I mean, common thing to say to indicate a character is dense, but it just feels weird to tack on. I guess it enhances the fact she doesn't write her own lyrics since she says the last song he wrote had too many hard words for her to sing.

Alright, so, we went down the list... now, there is like... so much to unpack. First off, I don't dislike the ideas here, I definitely don't, because all these things show hypocrisy in Candy Jams branding (except maybe 4 that might just be like, her being a teenager still learning things lmao). It's a pretty classic "don't meet your heroes" situation for Laney, who looked up to her, now feeling shattered because she did not live up to expectation. However, what kills it for me is the already present misogyny shown in Grojband consistently.

Laney is misgendered for comedy constantly because she doesn't present herself as traditionally feminine, nor acts traditionally feminine. Like. It kind of bitters the damn message if you go "respect women in rock, unless it's funny, then don't" in the episode about... recognizing female talent in the rock scene and criticizing the posers sending bad faith messages to their younger audience.

However, despite all this, this episode is REALLY good to dig into Laney's character, and additionally, Trina's, as they both are fans of Candy Jams.

Laney herself is shown to be infatuated with Corey, not to the extent Trina is with Nick, but regardless of that she holds a massive spark for him. We can often see it in her face how she feels about Corey, finding herself at a loss of words when he gets as much as near her at times. She's also into extremely hyper-feminine things, decorating her room with frills and being into things that she would otherwise roll her eyes at— in secret.

So, in other words... she's a poser. She does the exact same things that Candy Jams does, if not being worse for doing it, as she calls Candy Jams out for her behaviors while doing the exact same thing to an even YOUNGER audience. Let's not forget that Grojband's two groupies are young, elementary school aged girls. Laney is just as much an influence to them as Candy Jams is.

Now, am I saying exactly that she's a poser? Not really, no, but you get what I'm saying in pointing out the fact she has far more in common with Candy Jams than she would be comfortable with. It's most certainly due to internalized misogyny at that, especially in a scene that doesn't recognize or respect female voices to begin with unless they denounce anything feminine, either about themselves or other women— Corey himself had to be shown that "lady rock" is in fact, legit.

Keep in mind this is during the early 2010's, so it isn't the same situation now as then exactly, and I'm definitely not saying critique towards traditionally feminine culture isn't valid. It ABSOLUTELY is, but this isn't about criticizing it, Candy Jams AND Laney both outright hide the parts of themselves that enjoy it. Candy Jams because she's an industry plant, and Laney because of her shame in indulging in it at all. Maybe Laney saw herself in Candy Jams a little too much, and was deeply ashamed of what she saw, due to previously having projected herself onto Candy Jams's exterior persona.

Now, where does Trina come into play? Well, similar to Laney, she hides parts of herself that are more vulnerable to others, parts she is ashamed of. She's an intellectual, both with math, literature, and writing. Her being adept with writing is, admittedly, if you count her diary being so well written it can be used as lyrics for songs that in universe, are GREATLY well received. Unfortunately, due to nerd culture being shown as undesirable, ESPECIALLY for/towards women, she only indulges in academic pursuits covertly as an entirely different persona. Additionally, she changed her name just to fit her new mean girl, cute and popular chick lifestyle, and with it her kindness.

Like Laney, she too saw herself in Candy Jams, specifically in her songs. She found herself spoken to in regards to her love for Nick Mallory in one of her songs (and Laney likely did as well), and was equally upset when Candy Jams revealed it WAS about Nick. It made her feel like she didn't own her own feelings, which is something that is far more devastating for Trina than you'd think on a base level alone. She HAS to be in control of her own feelings, she has literally hand carved herself into the person she is today by regulating exactly what she feels, how she conducts herself, and who she hangs out with.

Makes you wonder how she'd feel if she knew that Corey was using her feelings to make his songs.

All in all, though, this episode is pretty surface level and not even the worst I've seen, it's definitely one of the more interesting Grojband episodes. For a feminist message? It somewhat does it's job, especially for 2013. I, for one, think it does an even better job at looking into the thoughts and feelings of the two most important female characters of the show.