#it's pretty sus that the only stuff on their blog is reblogs from a single day with zero tags on any of them

[angeloflightandsunshine]

zanyballoonpeace is a scammer and makes new accounts everytime they get called out for it, please delete your reblog and if you send or know anyone who did send money please try and get it back

Oops. Thanks for letting me know

[spockandawe]

Well, this is interesting! So, in that post yesterday, there was one line that really baffled me, a thing about people brushing off a character as an asshole “because he shows literally zero growth.” I kind of set that aside because it was such a weird non-sequitur, and guessed that it was just someone’s sentences not quite keeping up with their train of thought, which has happened to me many times. Apparently I was wrong! I already spent long enough on that one post, I’m tired of talking about that, but this is new and interesting. 

Okay. I kind of wanted to see if I could talk about this purely in terms of abstracts and not characters, but I don’t think it’ll work. It would be frustrating to write and confusing to read. It’s about Jiang Cheng. Right up front: This isn’t about whether or not he’s an abuser. Frankly, I don’t think it’s relevant. This also isn’t about telling people they should like him. I don't care whether anyone else likes him or not. But I do like him, and I am always fascinated by dissecting the reasons that people disagree with me. And the process of Telling Stories is my oldest hyperfixation I remember, which will become relevant in a minute.

I thought I had a good grasp on this one, you know? Jiang Cheng makes it pretty obvious why people would dislike Jiang Cheng. But then the posts I keep stumbling over were making weird points, culminating in that “literally zero growth” line.

So! What happened is that someone wrote up a post about how Jiang Cheng’s character arc isn’t an arc, it’s stagnation. It’s a pretty interesting read, and I broadly agree with the larger point! The points where I would quibble are like... the idea that it’s absolute stagnation, as opposed to very subtle shifts that still make a material difference. But still, cool! The post was also offered up as a reason why OP was uninterested in writing any more Jiang Cheng meta, which I totally get. I’m not tired of him yet, but I definitely understand why someone who isn’t a fan of his would get tired about writing about a character with a very static arc. Okay!

Now, internet forensics are hard. I desperately wish I had more information about this evolution, because I find this stuff fascinating, but I have no good way to find things said in untagged posts, reblogs, or private/external venues. But as far as I can tell, that “literally zero growth” wasn’t just a slip of the tongue, it’s become fashionable for people to say that Jiang Cheng is an abusive asshole (that it’s fucked up to like) because he doesn’t have a character arc.

Asshole? Yes. Abusive? This post still isn’t about that. This is about it being fucked up to like this character because he did bad things and had a static character arc.

At first, that point of view was still deeply confusing to me. But I think I figured out the idea at the core of it, and now I’m only baffled. I’m not super interested in confirming this directly, because the people making the most noise about this have not inspired confidence in their ability to hold a civil conversation and I’m a socially anxious binch, but I think the idea is: ‘This character did Bad Things, and then did not improve himself.’

Which is alarmingly adjacent to that old favorite standard of ‘This piece of fiction is glorifying Bad Thing.’ I haven’t seen anyone accusing mxtx of something something jiang cheng, only the people who read/watched/heard the story and became invested in the Jiang Cheng character, but things kind of add up, you know?

Like I said, I don’t want to arbitrate anyone’s right to like/dislike Jiang Cheng. That’s such a fucking waste of time. But this is fascinating to me, because it’s like..... so obviously new and sudden, with such a clear originating point. I can’t speak to the Chinese fans, obviously, but exiledrebels started translating in... what, 2017? And only now, in 2021, do people start putting forth Jiang Cheng’s flat character arc as a “reason” that he’s bad? I’m not going to argue if he pings you in the abuse place, I’m not a dick. I’m not going to argue if you just dislike his vibes. I’m just over here on my blog and in the tag enjoying myself, feel free to detour around me. But oh my god, it’s so silly to try to tell other people that they shouldn’t like him because he has a static character arc.

I want to talk about stories. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to say, because it’s impossible to make broad, sweeping statements, because there are stories about change, there are stories about lack of change, there are all kinds of media that can be used to tell stories, and standards for how stories are told and what they emphasize vary across cultures and over time. But I think that what I can say is that telling a story requires... compromise. It requires streamlining. Trying to capture all the detail of life would slow down most stories to an unbearable degree. Consider organically telling someone ‘I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich’ versus the computer science exercise of having students describe, step by step, how to make one (spread peanut butter? but you never said you opened the lid)

Hell, I’ve got an example in mdzs itself. The largely-faceless masses of the common people. If someone asks you to think about it critically like, yes, obviously these are people, living their own lives, with their own desires, sometimes suffering and dying in the wake of the novel plot. But does the story give weight to those deaths? Or does it just gloss by? Yes, it references their suffering occasionally, but it is not the focus, and it would slow the story unbearably to give equal weight to each dead person mentioned. 

Does Wei Wuxian’s massacre get given the same slow, careful consideration as Su She’s, or Jin Guangyao’s? No, because taking the time to weigh our protagonist with ‘well, this one was a mother, and her youngest son had just started walking, but now he’s going to grow up without remembering her face. that one only became an adult a few months ago, he still hasn’t been on many night-hunts yet, but he finds it so rewarding to protect the common people. oh, and this one had just gotten engaged, but don’t worry, his fiancee won’t mourn him, because she died here as well.’ And continuing on that way to some large number under 3000? No! Unless your goal is to make the reader feel bad for cheering for a morally grey hero, that would be a bad authorial decision! The book doesn’t ignore the issue, it comes up, Wei Wuxian gets called out about all the deaths he’s responsible for, but that’s not the same as them being given equal emotional weight to one (1) secondary character, and I don’t love this new thing where people are pretending that’s equivalent.

When Wei Wuxian brutally kills every person at the Wen supervisory office, are you like ‘holy shit... so many grieving families D:’ or are you somewhere between vindicated satisfaction and an ‘ooh, yikes’ wince? Odds are good you’re somewhere in the satisfaction/wince camp, because that’s what the story sets you up to feel, because the story has to emphasize its priorities (priorities vary, but ‘plot’ and ‘protagonist’ are common ones, especially for a casual novel read like this)

Now, characters. If you want to write a story with a sweeping, epic scale, or if you want to tightly constrain the number of people your story is about, I guess it’s possible to give everyone involved a meaningful character arc. Now.... is it always necessary? Is it always possible? Does it always make sense? No, of course not. If you want to do that, you have to devote real estate to it, and depending on the story you want to tell, it could very possibly be a distraction from your main point, like the idea of mxtx tenderly eulogizing every single character who dies even incidentally. Lan Qiren doesn’t get a loving examination of his feelings re: his nephews and wei wuxian and political turnover in the cultivation world because it’s not relevant, and also, because his position is pretty static until right near the end of the story. Lan Xichen is arguably one of the most static characters within the book, he seems like the same nice young between Gusu and the present, right up until... just before the end of the story.

You may see where I’m heading with this.

Like, just imagine trying to demand that every important character needs to go through a major life change before the end of your book or else it didn’t count. This just in, Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg go through multiple novels without experiencing radical shifts in who they are, stop liking them immediately. I do get that the idea is that Jiang Cheng was a ~bad person~ who didn’t change, but asdgfsd I thought we were over the handwringing over people being allowed to like ““bad”” fictional characters. The man isn’t even a canonical serial killer, he’s not my most problematic fave even within this novel.

And here is where it’s a little more relevant that I would quibble with that original post about Jiang Cheng’s arc. He’s consistently a mean girl, but he goes from stressed, sharp-edged teenager, to grief-stricken, almost-destroyed teen, to grim, cold young adult (and then detours into grim, cold, and grief-stricken until grief dulls with time). He does become an attentive uncle tho. He..... doesn’t experience a radical change in his sense of self, which... it’s...... not all that strange for an adult. And bam, then he DOES experience a radical change, but the needs of the plot dictate that it’s right near the end. And he’s not the focus of the story, baby, wangxian is. He has the last few lines of the story, which nicely communicate his changes to me, but also asdfafas we’re out of story. He was never the main character, it’s not surprising we don’t linger! The extras aren’t beholden to the needs of plot, but they’re also about whatever mxtx wanted to write, and I guess she didn’t feel like writing about Jiang Cheng ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But also. Taking a step backward. Stable characters can fill a perfectly logical place in a story. Like, look at Leia Organa. I’m not saying she has no arc, but I am saying that she’s a solid point of reference as Luke is becoming a jedi and Han is adjusting his perspective. I wouldn’t call her stagnant, the vibes are wrong, but she also isn’t miserable in her sadness swamp, the way Jiang Cheng is.

Or, hell, look at tgcf. The stagnant, frozen nature of the big bad is a central feature of the story. The bwx of now is the bwx of 800 years ago is the bwx of 1500+ years ago. This is not the place for a meta on how that was bad for those around him and for him himself, but I have Thoughts about how being defeated at the end is both a thing that hurts him and relieves him. Mei Nianqing is a sympathetic character who’s also pretty darn static. Does Ling Wen have a character arc, or do we just learn more about who she already is and what her priorities always were? I’m going to cut myself off here, but a character’s delta between the beginning of a story and the end of a story is a reasonable way to judge how interesting writing character meta is, and is a very silly metric to judge their worth, and even if I guessed at what the basic logic is, for this character, I am still baffled that it’s being put forth as a real talking point.

(also, has it jumped ship to any other characters yet? have people started applying it in other fandoms as well? please let me know if this is the case, I am wildly curious)

(no, but really, if anyone is arguing that bwx is gross specifically because he had centuries to self-reflect and didn’t fix himself, i am desperate to know)

And finally. The thing I thought was most self-evident. Did I post about this sometime recently? If a non-central character experiences a life-altering paradigm shift right near the end of the story (without it being lingered over, because non-central character), oh my god. As a fic writer? IT’S FREE REAL ESTATE. This is the most fertile possible ground. If I want to write post-canon canon-compliant material, adsgasfasd that’s where I’m going to be looking. Okay, yeah, the main couple is happy, that’s good. Who isn’t happy, and what can I do about that? Happy families are all alike, while every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, etc.

It’s not everyone’s favorite playground, but come on, these are not uncommon feelings. And frankly, it’s starting to feel a little disingenuous when people act like fan authors pick out the most blameless angel from the cast and lavish good things upon them. I’m not the only one who goes looking for a good dumpster fire and says I Live Here Now. If I write post-canon tgcf fic, it’s very likely to focus on beef and/or leaf. I have written more than one au focusing on tianlang-jun.

And, hilariously. If the problem with Jiang Cheng. Is that he is a toxic man fictional character who failed to grow on his own, and is either unsafe or unhealthy to be around. If the problem is that he did not experience a character arc. If these people would be totally fine with other people liking him, if he improved himself as a person. And then, if authors want to put in the (free! time-consuming!) work of writing that character development themselves. You would think that they would be lauded for putting the character through healthier sorts of personal growth than he experienced in canon. Instead, I am still here writing this because first, I was bothered by these authors being named as “freaks” who are obsessed with their ‘uwu precious tsundere baby’ with a “love language of violence,” and then I was graciously informed that people hate Jiang Cheng because he experiences no character growth.

[larryatendoftheday]

Let’s correct some misinformation about Taylor Swift

a lot of people are blocked by this user so here’s a version of my response that you can reblog

rosesau ORIGINAL POST

not to rant but i will. when louis put out a song where he was making a point that was close to his heart, he did it thru just like you and he didnt fucking use that song to pander to anyone. he didnt have countless headlines abt it he didnt even have a music video for it he didnt release it as a single he just.. gave that song to us bc he wanted to say that to us. every fuckin time taylor saint swift has made a song abt smth ~important to her.. she’s always capitalized off of it in the most obnoxious way. she’s always just whining abt ppl not liking her. look what you made me do was abt her problems with literally Everyone who criticized her ever and she used her feud with kim and kanye to make that song get big. she even mockey kim k’s robbery in her music video. the song wasnt rlly abt her it wasnt her being genuine it was her finding smth to exploit and now with this new one if this is her “coming out” she’s exploiting pride and capitalizing off of something that is so important to so many of us. so many ppl say jly was a throwaway song bc “lol it wasnt even a single” but thats exactly the point lmao he wasnt trying to make money off of that song he wasnt trying to gain attention from that song he fought to have it out for us which is the exact opposite of what taylor does. bitchass white feminist who stayed silent during one of the most critical election seasons in a while, attemped to sue a woc who wrote on her own personal blog that taylor’s reputation era was feuling the altright fans and she should denounce white supremacy, and only encouraged ppl to vote for the “right” person when it was time for her to release more music. choke sweetie.

tswiftisgay  aka MY RESPONSE from my other blog

Ok so you have misrepresented some stuff. I’m tired of Taylor bashing. Critique I get. But let’s get some facts straight.

Her first major political statement was not when she was releasing new music. It was in October last year before the November election. That’s when Trump said he liked her music 25% less. She had nothing coming out anytime soon when she did that.

Louis has a consistently terrible team that has only just started to improve. Do you really think he wouldn’t have marketed Just Like You more if he could have? It’s a good song, and it has important content that the general public should hear too. Don’t make his team’s failure into something honorable.

I used to be critical of Taylor for not speaking up sooner about politics, but I realized that being political when you are quite as big as Taylor is extremely risky, especially coming from a country fan foundation. Plus she was “cancelled” anyway. What would her voice have done for the mess of the 2016 election? And after that during the Rep era, she gave LOUD pride speeches early on in her tour. She did a lot that pretty clearly demonstrated she was NOT supportive of the alt right. Anyone who really wanted to know could have seen that. So of course she sued the woman saying she was alt right. I’m not saying I like it, but if you are not a nazi and someone called you one, wouldn’t you want them to stop? I wish she had used different methods, but again, what would have worked? I’m not sure there is something that would have convinced this woman to change her tune.

When she did speak up last October, she explained that the absolutely horrible political events of the past few years had made her want to speak up. “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now.”  Think of how you have changed over the past few years. We have all become more aware of our role and responsibility. We have all grown louder and more aware. Why can’t Taylor also have grown and learned?

In an essay in Elle earlier this year she elaborated on that. “Only as someone approaching 30 did I feel informed enough to speak about it to my 114 million followers. Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders, and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric.” Waiting to find your voice when you have this big a platform seems pretty solid to me.

Taylor isn’t a white feminist. In her October post she said, “I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.” She also made a point of protesting a lack of laws about domestic abuse which unfortunately disproportionately effects women of color and trans women of color. She has pointedly included and celebrated women of color in her tours. On Rep tour the women dancers–many of color–all were introduced and given a moment just for them as part of the song Gorgeous. She has spoken about racism and I expect to see her continue to do so during this next election cycle.

Taylor did not mock Kim K’s robbery in the music video. I see how you could interpret it that way, because there was a robbing scene and a ring prominently displayed but that was in reference to a lot of Swiftie fan theories that she was engaged and the larger feeling of being attacked and dragged aka robbed. There were references to Kim but that was not one. Taylor is a women with stalkers who has her house broken into regularly. She of all people wouldn’t joke about that.

Last but not least, Taylor is pairing her new music with advocacy DESPITE the fact that it has turned away many of her old country fans or older Republican fans. She is also on her way out of the closet, which would make it much easier for others in the music industry to come out. Ahem. Harry and Louis.

So I have to ask that you stop spreading misinformation and stop hating on a woman who is changing the music industry by forcing streaming services to pay artists fairly and now–on her coming out journey. She donates to charity. She advocates for politicians and policies that could improve or even save lives. She is using her platform for good. Stop hating.

Or I guess I should just say… don’t step on her gown. You need to calm down.

TLDR: Larries are often so uninformed and nasty about Taylor. She didn’t speak up about politics for a long time, but when she started it was not near any new content from her. She is queer anyway. She's been very misunderstood by her own community.  

Please reach out to me with questions. I would love to help rectify this unfortunate sentiment in the fandom. 

[quilloftheclouds]

About the Writer Tag

I’ve been tagged in this an overly ridiculous amount. That’s just because I waited way too long to reply to it. Clearly, I am a tag game dragon.

Tagged by @alternativeforensicscientist, @shadows-on-everkin, @igotablankpage, @understanding-not-understood, @oradall, @multimousenette, @astro-writing, @sundaynightnovels, and @txintedsxint! Thanks, folks!

I shall taaggggg: @writersloth, @isanyonetoknow, @esoteric-eclectic-eccentric​, @roll-a-bi20, and @snickertoodles, as per request by this post! Feel free to do it or leave it as you like!

There appear to be two separate versions, but I may as well do them both at once! For those I tagged, you can certainly choose one or do both!

This is very long, so under the cut we go!

Version One

Relationship status: Single, sure, but currently not looking!

Favourite colour: Ohhhh too many, mate! TOO MANY. Typically I go for a deep greenish-blue, soft turquoise, or a dark forest green, for this!

Top three favorite ships: Uh. Um. I actually don’t ship characters that often, I mean. Gimli and Legolas is always a hilarious favourite, you don’t know who this is but Hawk and Cynn Numair from White Noise, uhhhhh and sure let’s go with Peridot and Amethyst because why not. (Be aware my ships can include just close platonic love, too!)

Lipstick or chapstick: I’m trying to get into the habit of wearing chapstick more often, since my lips crack easily bleh. So chapstick!

Last Song: Listening to right at this moment as I write this: Waving Through a Window from Evan Hansen and originally by Owl City

Last Movie: YOU SHOULD GO ALL WATCH SPIDERVERSE IF YOU HAVEN’T ALREADY IT’S GORGEOUS.

Last Book: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr! Holy heck this book was SO GOOD, and the way it writes a blind main character!!! (Reference for my new wip? Yeah.) IT’S SUCH A GOOD STORY. Bittersweet and dark at some parts, but I definitely recommend it!

Currently Reading: I haven’t really had time to pick up something new recently, but I’m looking to get back into reading again sometime soon!

Fanfiction: I’ve written Warrior Cats and Steven Universe more recently (but shared with no one, sorry ^^’). Fun fact, though! Most of the main characters in One Siren’s Soul (my current main wip) are based on SU ocs I made a long while ago! Also, when I was much younger, Storm Hawks and Hotwheels: Battle Force Five were my go to. Oh sweet mercy, please don’t ever make me look at those again. ouo

As for reading fanfiction, though: I don’t really, no. I have nothing against it, I just am very new to the online writer community and haven’t had the chance yet~

Annnnd Version Two

This one had a lot of different questions, but I’ll try and answer all of them~

Nickname: Quill!! The Quirkiest of Quills

Zodiac: Geminiminiminimini

Height: I actually have no idea now. 5′7 probably. Maybe.

Time: ADT

Favourite band/artist: Oh stars, come on, I like too manyyyyy. Right now I really like Dodie and The Score! Wow, how’s that for some contrast.

Song stuck in my head: Stay by The Score is super darn catchy and I’ve been playing it on repeat way too much lately. -u-

Last movie I saw: Answered above!

Last thing I googled: What timezone I was for the above question. ^^’

Other blogs: Only this one, so far!

Do I get asks: Whenever I reblog an ask game I typically get quite a few! Of course, I try to send out ones when I see others reblogging them, too! I get a lot of those positivity chain ones, as well, and although I love the premise of them, the work of going through and messaging others isn’t really that pleasant to me. I don’t really want to put that on others, either. Kinda taking a break from those at the mo~

Why this username: Stars, when I first made this blog I was freaking out over what name to choose because it had to be aesthetic and fitting and stuff. Quill because writing (and porcupine quills are culturally significant, as well!) and also FEATHERS are so pretty and fancy and stuff. Of the clouds because I’m a daydreamer! My head is always in the clouds! I’m also a weather nerd, and I know all the names of the different cloud types, and I love trying to predict the upcoming weather from the sky alone!

Following: 623. Is that a lot? I feel like that’s a lot. Huh.

Lucky number: 24!

What I’m wearing: My trilobite collection shirt and fluffy pajama bottoms because I’m going to bed soon. c;

Dream job: Probably a geologist? An environmental scientist? Something along those lines?

Dream trip: ICELAND HAS SUCH COOL GEOLOGY. Also any place in Scandinavia would likely be really cool!!

Favourite food: Carbonara with pasta made from scratch, parmesan cheese, and bits of actual bacon~ I made it with my Dad for my birthday!

Instruments I play: Mainly the violin and the piano! But I can also play the harmonica, the penny whistle, somewhat drums of varying types, kinda the oboe, and grass blades. What do you mean grass blades aren’t instruments?

Eye colour: Dark brown but according to one of my friends they look yellow in certain lighting. Hmm...

Hair colour: Last time I answered this I had brown hair with turquoise dyed tips! Now those tips are brilliantly vivid Chalcanthite blue. 

Aesthetic: Think way too energetic earth sciences nerd with a passion for learning everything and way too many hats and plants. I live on weird weather and obscure nature facts.

Languages I speak: I’m bilingual in English and Acadian French, and I’m learning ASL and a bit of Russian, too!

Most Iconic Song: Honestly, Take to the Sky by Owl City, is a song from my childhood that I just... absolutely loved too much.

Random fact: I’m currently working in the Historical Archives of my city! A few days ago I got to personally handle and transcribe documents from the late 1700s. SO COOL.

[gghero]

🔥 pokemon and SU

OKAY THIS IS LONG. WAY LONGER THAN I EXPECTED. MORE THAN AN UNPOPULAR OPINION POST, IT TURNED INTO AN ALL-OUT OPINION POST

putting it under a cut; the pkm one is way longer and more detailed, SU is a plain ol unpopular opinion post and shorter so im putting it first.

SU:

honestly, i’ll be the first to say that the show is not perfect, that the characters cant stay on model (its still not enough to bother me or ruin everything because, cmon, im getting to watch the show for free) that the crew have made mistakes, that certain characters deserve better/worse, that certain lessons felt out of place, and all that jazz.

but hey, its not the worst thing to ever happen. i found SU while it was at its peak (late season 1 - early season 2, the best SU has ever been IMO) and even though im trying to not interact with the fandom anymore because of some toxic stuff that happened, i find myself enjoying the storyline, the worldbuilding is great and everything about the art style that is not proportions (backgrounds, palettes, character design) is arguably some of the best in current animation.

my beef with the fandom and most critical blogs is that the discourse sounds like the same stuff over and over and the general attitude is very snarky and condescending. my rule of thumb is that if youre going to critique something, you have to also give your ideas on what you would do in their place. i also felt talked down to everytime i interacted with them, and most people dont even know how to discuss things so any valid points they might bring up didnt phase me after rolling my eyes at their behavior. they also tend to treat their opinions as the objective truth - or only reblog from their fellow critic blog friends.

pokémon:

oh, pokémon. one of my most beloved video game franchises of all times. yet theyre not exempt from criticism. of course, none of what im about to say ruins the experience for me (otherwise, i wouldnt still play the games and making fanarts, DUH) 

the games. first of all i have to say that theyre incredibly engaging. i find myself caught up in the hype before a big reveal, preordering and picking up the new game as soon as it comes out, and then playing non-stop until im satisfied with it... and usually thats it. yeah. one of my biggest complaints about pokemon is how replayable the games COULD be, if only gamefreak did the simplest thing of just adding more save slots. of course, ive ended up deleting old save files in order to replay a game, and thanks to pokebank i can keep my babies, but cmon. all the items you collected, the complete pokedex, how far you went in the battle chateau/battle tree/etc... its all lost forever. the game would also be infinitely more replayable if the post game were more extensive (rather than being like “here, go to the battle building of this generation and battle”). i think implementing side quests or achievement unlocking that gives you in-game perks would add so much.

ALSO GAMEFREAK please stop adding and changing and removing features that we like every single generation!!!! i was not bothered by character customization being removed in ORAS because i understand its a remake and they wanted to keep something similar to the original designs of may/brendan but!!!!! The PSS was GREAT, but you replace it with festival plaza that was... not great!!! you take away pokemon amie, which allowed more experienced players to farm hearts very fast via the minigames!!! you took away the super training!!!!! it makes it look like they dont know what theyre doing, and i understand that they want to shake things up, but i stg if we dont get ride pokemon in gen 8 and instead we are back to HMs, im gonna scream.

my next complaint is how... small the games feel. im not asking for an open world yet (short answer; yes i believe its doable) but the amount of hand holding and tutorials in the last games bothers me, not to mention how limited the exploring feels when compared with older games? dont get me wrong, the gym/trials system is not bad per se - its mostly the map, its soo so so tiny and easy to navigate. i feel like they could look at earlier zelda and mario games and do something similar; an exploration mechanic like twilight princess’s would work so well. you have huge areas to explore while keeping it closed-world, and i never found myself getting tired of roaming around hyrule. in comparison, routes in pokemon feel very small, towns especially are SO tiny, and pokemon is a franchise that would REALLY benefit from the sense of adventure that non-linear larger maps offer.

next is the art direction. im definitely not a genwunner; i think some pokémon designs are good, others are not as good, but i dont have a huge bias towards, say, kanto (kanto’s good designs are good, but kanto’s bad designs are the worst, if it makes sense?) if i had to choose, i’d say gen 2, 3 and 4 are the ones that better represent what i want pokemon to look like in general, but that might be because i love monster-like pokemon like ampharos, swampert, garchomp - huge and bulky-looking pokemon - rather than pokemon that look too much like regular animals or inanimate objects. 

human character design is also good. they have been doing great in terms of racial diversity lately, but i do wish there were more “not-paper-thin skinny” characters (especially women) (and the ones that are fat/obese dont look suspiciously more cartoony/comic relief-y than the main characters); and older characters as well, specially women. 

i think my fave art direction is from black/white (1 and 2), the stylisation, clothes design and especially color palettes were gorgeous. i like a lot how the eyes and highlights/shading looked in black/white (1 and 2) - i think it was Take who did most of the art, instead of Sugimori and Ohmura.

(im sorry but im feeling the top image squad look much more)

my biggest complaint about pokemon’s art direction is that the 3D simply doesnt look its best as of now. im not a fan of the pixel-y black outline all models have, the colors of most pokemon in their 3D models look so washed down in general, and the backgrounds really suffer from this. i must say that changing the angle from a zenit POV to a third person camera in sun/moon was a step in the good direction, you get to see further in the distance and feel like the world is immersive. 

the color palettes for backgrounds could be better too, they have definitely taken a step in the wrong direction and went from this:

(pretty, muted but not extremely pastel or washed down; nice colors, those greens and browns are gorgeous - and yeah sorry about the bottom pic having a slight filter on, but cmon, its not like base game looks much different, remember?)

to this:

(aggressive colors, dont give me a sense of harmony, that extremely orange dirt and sky and almost neon green grass make my head hurt)

i have to say i preferred how the pixel-y, half 2d half 3d style of gen 4 and 5 looked, imo its the best pokemon has ever looked, but they clearly dont have the technology to make breathtaking, fully 3D games yet. i’d say its a necessary evil though so im hopeful for the future. and no, i dont want hyperrealistic textures or pokemon designs either (pokken style is so detailed it feels a little uncanny valley at times, specially with less realistic pokemon like gengar or gardevoir). ideally, pokemon will look like breath of the wild’s 3D character models, with that watercolor-ish style, the cell shading and the vibrant vivid colors. AND NO OUTLINES PLEASE.

finally the last point about the games is the storylines. I generally like pokémon storylines. they’re very good when you are caught up in the action, specially as of late, theyre adding cutscenes and dialogue-heavy scenes that dont feel out of place. but i cant bring myself to LOVE THEM as much as i love other videogame storylines. they still feel a little basic (this is not a problem because of the game’s formulaic nature, mind you) and while they havent shied away from more mature elements in the past, the overall tone is a little immature at times with a big huge plot heavy climax thrown in, and thats it. (and before you tell me pokemon is for kids: i know, but other shows and games for kids dont fall in the same plain secondary characters rut as pokemon does.) i would love for the Main character to have some sort of agency too because i feel like im following what other characters decide for me (at least give me dialogue options that, you know, DONT YIELD THE SAME DIALOGUE NO MATTER WHICH YOU CHOOSE).

thats about all i have to say about the games themselves. not gonna talk about anime or manga bc im not really into those

as for the fandom... its generally chill. its huge, but its divided in so many sub-groups that you never feel overwhelmed. the competitive community might be more toxic ive heard, but im more into the plot and characters anyways.

i do have to call out the huge p///edophilia problem there is. being a franchise most people grew up with, characters like idk, misty, may, dawn (its girls more often than not) were older or the same age as most of the older fans were back in the day. as a result, they have obsessed with their image since they were kids, and this obsession has continued now that theyre grown ass people, and they have no problem consuming and producing huuuge amounts of porn for these characters. as for the latest games, these disgusting people have even less excuse (not that they ever had) there’s tons of CP and adult x minor ships out there, and its allowed to thrive more often than not because of the sheer size of the fandom, too.

PHEW.

[chananderlandersalamander]

cartoon badlands ask meme: olive them

Leave some for the rest of ‘em will ya? Well, I really (REALLY) like cartoons and I doubt I’ll get any more asks, so lets do this (I already did 1).

- A cartoon you like but nobody else seems to: I’m reaching here, but there were parts of fanboy and chum-chum that were fucking hilarious to me at the time (the principal flying down the hallway comes to mind)

- A cartoon you don’t like but everybody else seems to: I just cant get into Star VS The Forces of Evil. Tried to, just couldn’t go with it. Perhaps I’ll try again someday.

- A cartoon you wish would be forgotten: the Power-puff girls reboot. Just, why?

- The worst cartoon you’ve ever seen, and why?: if i had to choose it would be teen titans go, just because it strays so far from the original in a not good way.

- The worst moment you’ve ever seen happen in a cartoon: I still get tears in my eyes from watching Iroh’s story in the Baa-Sing-Se stories episode. It’s just so damn sad. Not sure if that’s what the question is about but w/e.

- The worst thing you’ve ever seen happen to a cartoon that ruined it: Gravity Falls ending after season two. Kidding. I really can’t think of a cartoon I’ve watched that I would deem ‘ruined’ by a single event, although introducing the dog in Fairly Odd Parents damn near killed the show.

- A cancelled/forgotten cartoon you would bring back to television: Generator Rex died off pretty fast, I liked that cartoon quite a bit. Very unlikely to come back though.

- An animated character you remember but nobody else seems to:

This blog is for Jet Fusion fans ONLY.

- An animated character you hate the most, and why? I hate Ronaldo from Steven Universe. He seems so unwilling to learn from his mistakes and is in general just annoying. Anytime he appears on screen my brain just thinks “Here we fucking go.”

- A non-animated property you would like to see as a cartoon: Not sure if this counts for the question, but an animated Nintendo cartoon would make me go ballistic. Don’t care about the IP, it could be splatoon, mario, zelda, etc. If you can’t tell, I’m not into many non-animated properties. Maybe an Artemis Fowl short series? That’s all I got, friendo.

- A trope or trend in animation that you dislike: Romances that are built up way too quickly tend to get on my nerves (here’s looking at you, jashi -_-).

- A currently airing cartoon that you know is going to be forgotten about in the future: I am going to forget about that Ben 10 reboot as soon as I finish this post, actually.

- The best episode of a cartoon you really like: I LOVE Mr. Greg. Greg and Pearl are probably my two favorite SU characters (apart from Lapis, but if you’ve followed me for any amount of time you definitely knew that already) and I just love the musical theme of the episode, and the character development they both go through. Isn’t it up for some award? It certainly has my vote.

- The worst episode of a cartoon you really like: My mind likes to blur on things like this, I can’t think of a single episode of a cartoon that i didn’t like, but I wasn’t a fan of the most recent story arc on Young Justice. Hope the revival does the series more justice.

- A cartoon you feel deserves more recognition than it gets: Back at the Barnyard was absolutely hilarious and i think I’ve only seen like two posts go around on it. One of the very few stupid-humor type cartoons I can stand.

- A cartoon you feel deserves less recognition than what it gets: I used Teen Titans Go! in an answer already, but if everyone ignored it and it died off I wouldn’t exactly feel pitiful.

- The worst idea you can think of for an animated series: if Alpha and Omega gets a cartoon series please let me know so that I may go into seclusion until the Second Coming.

- At what point did you realize a cartoon, any cartoon was starting to get bad? If I absolutely had to choose, I’m not a huge fan of some of what Dragonball Super has done. There were definitely times where i had to skip some arcs to get to the good stuff (Thank the lord Gohan is relevant again and not off studying somewhere).

- An experience with a cartoon you thought you were going to like but turned you away from it: I thought that the How to Train Your Dragon series looked good and I watched a few episodes. I liked the plot, but after a bit I got kinda turned off from it, and I can’t really explain why. Perhaps I will pick it up again sometime.

- Something you would like to see more than anything in a cartoon: I would love some more detailed and realistic fighting scenes please! Both avatar series were great with this and it’s the only thing I say Steven Universe is currently lacking. The Stevonnie training episode is probably my second favorite next to Mr. Greg for this very reason.

- What do you feel makes a cartoon forgettable?: A lack of meaningful character development will/should kill a cartoon off in little time. Kills my interest in a show, that’s for sure.

That’s all I got. Feel free to patronize me in the comments/reblogs, or bring other cartoons to my attention and I can give my opinion on those!