#its the ramifications bro

[summonee]

Fujimoto is a master of making you go

[mxfrodo]

y'all for fucking real. don't fucking write slave fics or x reader fics of aventurine's slavery??? are you guys out of your goddamn minds???

[simptasia]

as expected, the tags/comments on the previous post are disturbing the shit outta me

[sillysiluriforme]

anything in particular that he’s guilty about or just general religious guilt?

Realistically i (as a fellow north african diaspora muslim) think nino, who i assume is the mildest flavor of religious possible, would be having a very long very quiet internal crisis the entire time.

"ok so there's this magic (demon ???) spirit turtle creature who makes me invulnerable and gives me fancy supernatural abilities (deal with demon ???) for about half an hour once or twice a week depending on whether or not ladybug needs me but it's chill its not witchcraft bro i promise you its some other shit. bro. also the magic turtle says its billions of years old and is immortal. but ITS CHILL. ITS NOT A DEMON. ITS NOT LYING TO ME. IM FRIENDS WITH THE TURTLE. WE'RE FRIENDS.

oh my best friend is a creature created using one of the not-demons ? he's not included in the religious text i was raised with and believe in ? that renders him technically soulless ? ok. ok. im choosing to ignore the ramifications."

here is a mouse drawn artistic rendition of the senti-adrien reveal from nino's perspective

[sunshinesvr]

criminal minds incorrect quotes

Penelope: Pressing snooze so many times that they throw me in jail

Rossi: Everyday at work I redefine the bare minimum

Reid: You know whats crazy that's not illegal? you can buy 6 gerbils from petsmart and start grilling them in the parking lot

Emily: I hate being gay I can't even say a normal sentence like "i'm hungry" its always some bullshit like "eating would be a slay right now"

Reid: Everyone knows i'm the smartest one here

Derek: Oh yeah then who has the right of way at a 4 way stop

Reid:

Emily: The strongest.

Derek: Bro... the ramifications....

Emily: I forgot about the rammys bro

Reid: Self undiagnosing. I'm fine.

[JJ and Will texting]

Will: i dont know if anything else happens

Will 🥺

JJ: you're a grown man don't send me that emoji

Will: Ok sorry

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (December 3-9, 2023)

I made a frame from this shot Wikizilla's Image of the Week. No regrets. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, I love ya. When I was a teenager, explicit queerness was anathema to most big-name franchises. Those dominoes have been slowly falling, often in lower-profile tie-ins first, and to me this is a huge one: 69 years without a queer live-action Godzilla character are over. And Cate's the main protagonist of the show! I'm not under the delusion that media representation will cure all society's ills, but it sure doesn't hurt. Now, the non-Tumblr parts of the fandom are being completely normal about this, right? Right? Whatever, that's why you'll never get rid of me here. Cate had a couple more sweet moments with May in this episode, and Mariko Tamaki wrote episode 7, so don't expect her to stop kissing girls. Hopefully she's learned a valuable lesson about cheating though.

"The Way Out" is also another gift to those of us who have always wanted to see more of the ramifications of a world where Godzilla exists, from underground towns for the super-rich to ruined cities where federal troops shoot looters and harass people experiencing homelessness. And the show continues to find ways to use kaiju to talk about COVID, from Cate and Kentaro's exchange about San Francisco truthers ("It's easier than waking up every day and thinking, at any moment, the same could happen to you") to the blink-of-an-eye speed at which the threat went from on the news to her front door in the flashbacks.

As I foretold, we got a Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire trailer, an amusing contrast to the weighty Toho flick and Apple show already fore of mind. It's Adam Wingard unbound, that's for sure. The human cast seems pared back, a longstanding Monsterverse problem, and the kaiju fights were far and away the best part of Godzilla vs. Kong, so hopefully this approach will play to his strengths. But that movie also had excellent VFX, and some of the shots in here are rough. There's time to fix them, at least... which probably can't be said of Godzilla's design. I like that he's pink (did some Warner Bros. executive take the wrong message away from Barbie?) and sporting a thagomizer on his tail, but his proportions are uncanny. And I see Kong found the Infinity Gauntlet; good for him.

I am, of course, not done talking about Godzilla Minus One. It added over 200 screens and made $8.3 million in its second weekend in the U.S., a minuscule drop considering that its $11.4 million opening "weekend" spanned five days. Almost a third of all tickets sold this weekend were for Godzilla or Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, remarkable in a market so allergic to foreign imports. That brings its total to $25.3 million (more by the time you read this). With an avalanche of Christmas blockbusters on the way, its grip on premium-format screens is about to slip. Still, I see it hanging around theaters for a while. I have never seen the fandom so united in praise for a film before, and it's making plenty of new fans.

Some of those fans are in high places. Variety leaked that it's on the 20-film shortlist for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars (to be narrowed to five nominees), something I, again, never expected to read about a Toho Godzilla film. Alas, it's locked out of this year's Best International Film category due to the quirky nomination period.

Much has been made of how great the film looks on a $15 million budget. I have two caveats, one in each direction. No one is quite sure where the $15 million figure came from; Yamazaki said at a recent con appearance that he only wished he had that much to play with. (He has yet to divulge the actual budget, just that it was above ¥1 billion.) Now, unions in the Japanese film industry are much weaker than in Hollywood, so a given production budget goes a lot further in Japan. All the same, I doubt that alone explains Minus One looking better than most superhero movies made for twenty times the cost. I'll offer a couple more reasons: Yamazaki has extensive visual effects experience (he's been the VFX supervisor of all but one of the live-action films he's directed), and the film's big effects scenes aren't as busy or lengthy as many of the Hollywood counterparts. I don't know if Disney will ask Yamazaki to direct the next Star Wars movie (that would require there to be a next Star Wars movie), but the studios here should be taking notes.

the sphinx, a blog with a ton of American Godzilla rarities to share, has outdone itself—behold a continuity and dialogue script for the U.S. version of King Kong vs. Godzilla! Included in the download is a detailed comparison with the film. No huge differences, apart from the script giving the secretary added to the U.S. version a name, but a fascinating piece of history all the same.

The Minus One incarnation of Godzilla (MaiGoji?) has joined Godzilla Battle Line, accompanied by [SPOILER]. To be honest, my enthusiasm for this game has been flagging, and I'm not caught up on the strategies developing around these two, so I'll just refer you to Sir Melee's channel as usual. This Godzilla's also doing a collaboration with the Japanese mobile game Fleet of Blue Flame.

Tiffany Grant, Asuka's original voice actress, will narrate the audiobooks for the Neon Genesis Evangelion: ANIMA light novels which explore an Instrumentality-free path for the show. Seven Seas Entertainment published them in English from 2019 to 2021, which, to be honest, was also news to me.

This one's for my fellow library workers: the obscenely popular Who HQ nonfiction series for children is publishing a book about Godzilla next June. I don't know if this will have quite the same impact on today's young Godzilla fans as the Ian Thorne tome had on Gen Xers and Millennials, what with the Internet and all, but it's certain to be more factual. Expect illustrations instead of licensed photos, and not just because of Toho.

I can finally talk more about the Godzilla x Kong: Titan Chasers mobile game without fearing a DMCA. Not that there's much to talk about; it's freemium through and through and I'm not sure I know a single person who's excited for it. Interesting to see some critters from the comics break into another medium, at least. Here's the trailer.

[sapphicthunderhead]

TMagP 18 Spoilers: Oh my heart. I didn’t expect to be saying “poor Gwen!” this week but… poor Gwen. And Alice is in a bad place too, although Sam doesn’t seem to see the full extent of it yet. As for Celia… damn. All these people’s situations seem to be at least on the precipice of becoming FUBAR.

But at least we got to hear from Georgie! Although, unfortunately, it seems this version of her may be a tad bit unhinged. I hope they don’t take this iteration of her character in the opposite extreme from the one we knew, turning her into a full-on paranoid conspiracy theorist instead of the fearless, goofy, kind, resourceful woman we all know and love. (Speaking of those who love Georgie, I miss Melanie!)

Most crucially from a plot perspective, we’ve just been hit with genuinely shocking information about the extent of the Fears’ power in this world, the ramifications of which I need more time to process. The concept of Fear holding on to a person’s consciousness/soul after death is absolutely horrifying. I was under the impression that certain entities (Vast, Buried, & Lonely in particular) had the ability to eternally preserve a life in order to perpetually torment a victim, because if said victim died of famine, thirst, exhaustion, etc., the entity could no longer feed on their terror.

If that’s not the case, then each fear can function like a victim’s personal, eternal Hell— except you don’t have to “sin,” to be “evil,” to be condemned to this miserable fate. One of the most terrifying aspects of the Magnus Archives, as in the stories of MR James from which Jonny drew inspiration, is that folks don’t have to do a moral wrong or violate a clear warning to incite their supernaturally induced suffering. There have certainly been some notable cases of people bringing shit down on their own heads, as in the case of the criminal who couldn’t just sit back and let Angela kill his adversary for him in Piecemeal (TMA) and the dastardly dickhead finance bro in Futures (TMagP). But these aren’t necessarily the norm.

Also: does the Lonely/Hunger or other entity involved holding on after its prey’s demise indicate that Terminus isn’t strong enough to pry the other Fears’ hands away from their victims in this Universe? Would that in turn imply that a Fearpocalypse in this Universe could be never-ending?

Thinking back, there is potentially some evidence from TMA that set this up, although at the time, I failed to register it. The avatars in general simply refuse to die, so that’s a possible corroborating piece of evidence. Also, a Desolation avatar assigned to keep Agnes fed turns his coworkers’ flesh and fat into candles infused with their Fear; the Fear remains until the candle burns out, and the people who provided the raw materials are definitely deceased.

This is a deeply unnerving turn of events. I feel for everyone in this episode— particularly the deceased, who is somehow still trapped in the Forsaken house they rebuilt inside their mind. RIP.

[belle-keys]

it's like, yes, i do read a lot of books that are inherently about social and political issues. books that respond to the questions that identity politics raise. didactic books that make a point about #diversity and #representation. this is important. but i don't want that to be mistaken for the idea that "all books have to be moral or didactic". i believe novels are primarily meant to, as ottessa moshfegh puts it, "expand consciousness" and teach us as individuals about the best and worst of ourselves. critical readings of novels will of course consider the social and political context and ramifications of a work and its ultimate reception by readers. but to limit a work to only its potential real life implications is in itself a sign of a lack of media literacy. it's not some "superior critical reading skills" bro. some novels are simply meant to reveal, not to teach or to respond, and that's not in the least a critical shortcoming.

[dino--draws]

welcome back to another episode of “Dino was informed of insane info about Admonition and is predictably going mad” and todays episode is “PHMD and the Foundation fucking invented Prometheus like just made that guy up.” and I’ve been loosing it anytime I try to think about it like ok ok ok ok we have options here for what this means

Prometheus is a mythological figure that exists in other timelines but is mysteriously absent from this timeline (yknow how it is with alternate timelines), and thus PHMD got the idea from knowing the god exists in paraline and being like “oh i know something that’ll help us”

Prometheus’ invention by PHMD and Admofoundation and by subsequent ascension retroactively made Prometheus a thing in other realities because idk noospheric gods so we just Think its always been a thing

Im overthinking the ramifications of something thats only implied because i love to do that

Regardless this makes my “hahaha PHMD is a modern Prometheus” joke like four times funnier. Does bro know how much he is pataphysically ASKING FOR IT with this?? Bro your attempts to steal fire are alerting the eagle and her name is Ilse Reynders

[nomsfaultau]

i want to hug everyone in TLWW all at once. big group hug. (secret secret shh i burn evilness)

I'm completely enthralled with the moral implication of someone who 1. Implies there's an objective moral reality and consistent definition of evil.

2. Said evil is a substance that can be immolated instead of...I don't know, actions, crimes, behaviors. Does this include thoughts? Is evil then inherent and something that can be destroyed once for perfect behavior thereafter? Does that count as some sort of mind control. Can a person force themselves to commit evil in the future, or do they not have full agency anymore?

3. The ramifications of how that would impact someone's personality, motivations, view of the world, entire being?? At what point is someone's flaws inseparable from the person. Are they even the same guy any more?

4. Since so much of their 'evil' actions are rooted in their particular traumas, is it like. Erasing those? Taking the emotional weight/disassociating from them? Therapy? What does this imply about the relationship between abuse victims and their maladaptive coping mechanisms. I'm. Bro I'm losing my mind the magic hugs have so many Implications tm.

Anyway. Uh.

Philza is super nice and physically affectionate and yeah that man is just using love as a tool to survive again. Unless manipulating child monsters to survive is evil? Probably?? Again, what level of justification makes an action 'good'.

"Tommy" loves hugs and I guess doesn't bite you to bully you into giving more of them. Tommy squirms and loudly proclaims he hates that mushy stuff. Too small to escape. Equal chance of getting bitten and having a fluffy baby in your arms.

"Wilbur" hopefully has a normal relationship to his own identity now...? Maybe??? Potentially understands that he can be loved for himself? Wilbur doesn't know you. Why are is a stranger hugging him that's weird, he's going to tell his dad.

The "Technoblade" severe trust issues would normally make that end badly. But they can't react in a harmful manner based on their trauma now? Are no longer impacted by it??? Technoblade dips. He's usually uncomfortable with things like genuine praise (unless its spun as a joke) or large displays of physical affection.

[bxriles]

The Importance of Authors Fulfilling Promises to their Readers

Seeing people defend Gege's writing of jjk these over these last few months is WILD. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and that includes me. So here's my 900th unhinged rant on this subject because hoooo boy there are THOUGHTS on this topic.

Before anyone comes for my throat, these are my opinions. You get yours and I get mine. And this is LONG lmao.

I've seen all the justifications for Gege's current writing saying that jjk is about being different from the standard shonen manga and being more realistic in its storytelling (i.e., killing the powerful characters) and whatever and YES. All of that is true. I don't have a problem with any of that. I would say all of that is why most of us fell in love with this story to begin with. Examples of this (done well) includes:

Nanami's death. Tragic. Broke my heart. But I think Gege was right to kill him. Nanami had served his purpose at that point, he died protecting the next generation, and despite how sad I was to see him go, I thought it was good writing. There was no need to keep him around at that point. Gojo gets put in the box. This made perfect sense to me from a narrative standpoint. Gojo Satoru is a NIGHTMARE for ANY author to write. His very existence is a problem because he can solve all of the problems of the universe and remove all conflict from the story. Sealing away the most powerful character was a perfect way to take him out of the narrative while still leaving his presence lingering over everyone. This also deviates strongly from traditional shonen because no character that powerful would have ever been sealed with ACTUAL ramifications in something more "standard" like Naruto! It broke the mold in the best way possible. I'd also say that the way Kenjaku went about sealing him was excellent. There really weren't any ass-pulls to get him in that box. Kenjaku takes Geto's body (a strategic decision), hides that body from everyone at the school, executes an insane plan that he knows will exhaust Gojo and mentally push him to his limits, and then SURPRISE! Here's your dead lover's best friend's body! Now get in the box(((: I thought it was good writing and completely necessary for the plot to progress. Megumi's possession. From the very beginning, Sukuna has been interested in Megumi. Seeing that pay off? Watching Sukuna do the worst thing we can imagine to Megumi? Amazing. Wonderful. Loved everything about it.

So, I don't have any problems with jjk's previous storytelling. I thought that it was well executed, broke the previous Shonen formula, and delivered good story telling.

You know what I do have a problem with? Writing like this:

Higuruma is suddenly as talented as Gojo. Bro what? I like Higuruma, but this dude has been a sorcerer for all of what? Two seconds? He's a suicidal lawyer who just got magic powers and only VERY RECENTLY started working with Yuji and company and he suddenly has as much talent as Gojo Satoru? The man with the Six Eyes? Be. For. Real. What is the point of this? If you needed an OP character, you already had Gojo. So again. What was the point?

Higuruma's possible death. We're only up to chapter 248 at the time of me posting this, so this may change. But as of right now, we've been told Higuruma is dead. He may come back, but we don't know. Either way, we're told dude is gone. What was the point of this death? We already saw Yuji lose a beloved male mentor figure (Nanami) and we already saw someone who had the potential to kill Sukuna fail (Gojo) soooooo... What was the point? We've seen this done before and it's boring to see it hashed out yet again but with new characters.

Kenjaku's motivations and death. I personally think that making Kenjaku a mad scientist for the sake of being a mad scientist is lazy. With all of his hair brained schemes (guys, he like straight up fucked Yuji's dad, come on), you would have thought he had some legitimate motivation. I can admit this is my own personal opinion and some might like this, but I think this is a weak explanation for all the nonsense he's done. And his death? Like... Okay?? Some rando newbie sorcerer is the one to kill Kenjaku? Kenjaku--one of the top two Big Baddies? All right?? I wouldn't say this is bad per se, but I would say it feels very unearned. (And before anyone freaks out, yes I know it's technically Yuta who delivers the killing blow, but it really was Takaba who put the work in and got Yuta to that point. Again, it feels unearned.)

And finally, the big one. The one that most people are upset about and the one that most people reference when they talk about the decline in writing and one that's about to get a(nother) long ass rant from me.

The lack of any meaning in Gojo Satoru's death.

I need to be perfectly clear that I do not have a problem with Gojo dying. Again, he's a nightmare character for an author to handle so I get it. I have a problem with HOW he was killed. Sukuna using Megumi's body was great. The whole battle of the domains was decent. But the end??? Gojo hits Sukuna point blank with a hollow purple (after Sukuna said he would die if he was hit with a point blank hollow purple) and then...? Sukuna pulls out some BS world cleaving slash that cuts Gojo in half (off screen mind you), heals himself, and then is perfectly--PERFECTLY--fucking fine after getting hit by an attack that he said would kill him???? And then he isn't weakened at all? Bro what??? How is that good writing? Even if you're all about subverting expectations and JJK breaking the shonen mold, how is that good writing? How is that satisfying???

Gojo's death meant nothing. He did nothing. He didn't even weaken Sukuna. He didn't give the students a leg up. It meant... Nothing. And I know that some people think that's the point, that jjk has realistic storytelling and that it's realistic to have a meaningless death but I would STRONGLY disagree. You want meaningless deaths in JJK for the sake of "realistic" meaningless deaths? You have Tsumiki and Yuki. Sure, Tsumiki's death pushes Megumi into the pits of despair because Shonen manga loves a good bit of *man pain* but what was her real influence on the story? Outside of the Megumi thing, she had zero impact on jjk. And Yuki?? Killed off-screen for some reason??? To buy Choso some time??? When she is arguably the more important one??? All right?? Christ, fucking Junpei's death meant more to the narrative and he was basically a fucking footnote in the grand scheme of things.

The problem with Gojo having a meaningless death is that Gege as the author broke his promise to his readers. Gege sets up a story that tells us how influential Gojo is and spends quite a bit of the narrative showing us once again how important he is. Whether he meant to or not, writing a setup like that means there will be expectations from your readers that no matter what happens to that character, it will mean something to the narrative. A good example of this done both well and poorly is Game of Thrones/ASOIAF, which is another story that breaks the mold of a genre like JJK.

Ned Stark is a POV character in the first book. He's important. He's the Lord of Winterfell and becomes the Hand. He's honorable. He's good in a world that favors the wicked and people know it. And then he gets killed and his death haunts the narrative and it means something. Robb starts a war. Sansa becomes a hostage to the Lannisters. Arya has to flee. Jon has to reaffirm that he's a man of the Night's Watch and can't go help his brother. The Red Wedding. Catelyn becomes Lady Stoneheart. The Boltons take Winterfell. The North Remembers (it's being set up better in the books I swear). And it goes on and on and ON. We're told from book 1 that Ned is important. George completely deviates from the fantasy genre by killing off one of the main POV characters in Book 1, but he still fulfills the promise that Ned's death will mean something and that Ned will be important even though he's dead. Ned's death then haunts the story from that point forward. An example of this done poorly? The show. We're told Jon Snow is important. We SEE that Jon Snow is important. Jon Snow is the rightful heir to the iron throne. And what happens? We get a season of "I dun want it!" and then he kills Dany and goes back to the Night's Watch to live out the rest of his days with his boys. He's not king. Killing Dany had no real repercussions. D&D tried to show us that it was Jon's identity that made Dany snap but it felt half-assed since she was already heading down that path before she found out. A promise was made that Jon Snow would ultimately mean something by the end of the story and guess what? Absolutely none of it mattered. He didn't even kill either of the Big Baddies. And he didn't do anything with knowledge of who his parents were. He wasn't Azor Ahai. He wasn't the prince that was promised. So it meant nothing. A promise was made to us by George (and the show runners ugh) that Jon was important and then it turned out that he wasn't. And the public outcry that GOT S8 received speaks for itself on how bad that writing was.

To me, Gojo's death is no different. The narrative sets up his importance. Gege makes a promise to the readers that this character will ultimately mean something and then... Nothing happens. That isn't "realistic writing" or "breaking the shonen formula" at all. That's just bad writing. You're not any less of a fan of jjk or any less of an analytical reader if you don't buy the whole "this is good writing because that's the point of JJK--to break the shonen mold!" There are ways to achieve that sentiment that are good. And I would even go so far as to say that the people like me who are irritated with this writing have no issues with Gojo dying. We have issues with how he was killed and how poorly it was all executed. And I'm not going to be told I "don't get the point" of JJK because of it.

And then there's the fact that Gege has set his story so far apart from other shonen manga (like Naruto or BNHA) that the readers will no longer tolerate any sort of "lemme pull this out of my ass" writing that they would have otherwise tolerated from Naruto or DBZ or Bleach or BNHA. (Note: I do love those stories btw! But they're guilty of this storytelling.) So when Gege shows us that Yuji suddenly has RCT (that's fine ig, he's been training) or tells us that Higuruma has as much talent as Gojo or does some bullshit that saves Sukuna from Higuruma's sentencing or has a random explanation that he pulled OUT OF HIS ASS for why Sukuna will inevitably get his shit rocked by the students, all of which are CHILDREN, when the strongest sorcerer of the modern era couldn't do shit to him, then YEAH. I'm going to think it's bad writing.

And yes, I am aware that JJK is Yuji's story, not Gojo's. I understand. I'm not saying I want Gojo to be the main character. I'm saying that this absurdly powerful character who influences everything was wasted in the hands of the author's current writing.

TLDR: It's not "good" writing or "realistic" writing for an author to write meaningless shit that ultimately does nothing for the story when that author has already made a promise to their readers to do the opposite. Criticizing this type of writing does not make you any less of a JJK fan and it does not mean that you "don't get it." You are allowed to be critical of a work you love.

Argue with the wall if you disagree.

[beholdthemem]

Thinking back to The Sea Beast, and I really love how they do worldbuilding.

Take the tavern song, for instance. We're not real far into the film, but we've already gotten to see life for the hunter orphans, and life for active hunters. Now we get the perspective of the average citizen, without doing that thing where a nameless character just blurts out a bunch of exposition. The film doesn't tell us, it shows us.

It establishes a culture that isn't... cavalier about death, per say, but it doesn't... like, I wanna say they're not afraid of it, but I'm not sure that sums it up right. They don't mourn. They don't FORGET the people who've died, they definitely honor them- but they don't seem to actually mourn them. If it's the right kind of death, it's almost envied.

And then, not two minutes later:

"...it's all because of the hunters. There's no nobler profession, I say! I come from a long line of hunters meself!"

"Is that so?"

"Aye- me parents were lancers. They served on the Monarch."

"The Monarch... so, they're..."

"Aye. That's just the way for a hunter, ain't it? You live a great life, and you die a great death."

Bro, if you, like me, are the kind of nerd with an incessant need to write unnecessarily detailed world-exploring fanfic, every unspoken implication of that one statement alone is worth its weight in gold. What kind of children does a culture that reveres people expected to die young raise? As orphans go, Maisie and the other hunter children are in a unique position- they know EXACTLY how their parents died, have probably been treated to a lot of possible details because of the public's fascination with the line of work, and they still want to be exactly like them. Maisie isn't sad when discussing her parents, she's proud. And why shouldn't she be? The deaths of hunters are never treated as a tragedy, they're treated as a thrilling finale to an incredible legend. They aren't people to the folks in Three Bridges, they're stories. Maisie holds her head high because her parents did exactly what the song says- lived the greatest lives, and died the greatest deaths.

There's something kind of interesting, too, in how her tone/body language becomes almost challenging towards Jacob when she clocks that he finds something she just said sad. Like it's potentially insulting.

Like. Damn. If I could effectively establish a culture, its values, how those values came about, and what social ramifications they have with even HALF that subtlty, I'd die a very proud woman.

[loathsomespider]

to be clear this is not an attack on you and i enjoy your work. you dont even have to answer this if its too rude or presumptuous in your opinion. but i think its funny seeing your "definitively, if its the source material, they would fucking say that" post while knowing how you feel about the weaker parts of homestuck and also the uh. the epilogues. again this isnt supposed to be an epic own gotcha moment i think everyone is allowed to contain multitudes and shit. im just also a bit mischievous and part of me wants to be the little wondershowzen puppet going "But can we discuss the contradiction"

ah too bad you wanted to be a silly little gotcha puppet but i was thinking about this too! hold my hair back im forming this idea in real time so im about to start just vomiting the fuck up a bunch of half-formed ideas. (this is the second time today ive used this analogy)

the thing is that while i dont like the homestuck epilogues at all, there's no denying that it is largely, in-character, in broad strokes. it's a story which relies on every character being their worst possible self, sure. it is, in a lot of ways, a very public, very messy relapse. it gets at some really ugly parts of what the characters are, and that's just not what i want from homestuck.

it's part of a larger trend of hussie trying really hard to Make Dramatic Art and Tell Stories With A Point that i think really plays against what theyre good at, like. you see this with psycholonials too, just this idea of storytelling where nothing good ever happens and every character is not just flawed, but unbearably, noxiously toxic. and yknow, that's fine too, its literally not an invalid goal for a story to have.

its just not what i really like about homestuck and to a lesser extent problem sleuth. like, as messy as my feelings are about psycholonials, i still think fondly of zhen as a character even if she is the worst person to ever exist.

its like they took "dave being abused by bro came out of nowhere, the rooftop strifes dont really feel textually different from the other guardian strifes" all the way to heart and way overcorrected.

but all that to say, the worst possible self-hood apple hasnt fallen too far from the tree. and that's not strictly an invalid thing to tell a story about. it's just not what i want out of homestuck. and the tangible difference there, imo, is that puts the onus of not liking it on me, rather than hussie, cephiedvariable and ctset. they set out to do something, i didn't like what they did, i had an extended mental breakdown about it that i am still feeling the ramifications of even now, but at some point, the world continued to turn.

i hope you can kind of sense this feeling in bdth - while they aren't really in the running to be main characters or anything, rosebot, pesterquest rose, and candy rose are all real in burning down the house. i may be taking jane in a different direction, but that different direction is still in terms of hs2 jane. hell, tavros crocker gets a cameo in the walkaround

and yeah, this is to emphasize the contrast bdth jane against post-canon jane, but in order for that contrast to mean anything, those parts of the character have to have meaning enough to be rejected, which is the real point im getting at. it sort of drives home that i'm not just *really fucking up* at writing jane, too, which is actually more important than youd think.

ignoring the textual parts of a character you dont like because it conflicts with what you want the character to be (an image that you construct and maintain on your own, unintentionally) is a great way to wind up doing bad characterization of that character.

and yknow, sometimes that's fine! if your reach never gets beyond making an incorrect quotes blog, that doesnt matter. who give a shit. besides me, historys most notorious hater, who will seethe about a bad character take for weeks on end. (but i am the exception, not the rule)

if you're really swinging for the fences as i tend to do, at all times, even when i would be best suited not to, it just doesnt sit right to me to drop bits of a character you dont like just because you dont like it. when youre writing, its there specifically to be played with. and again, "playing with it" here still encompasses rejecting it and doing something different.

and yeah, different authors are going to focus on different parts of a character, but then youre getting out of the scope of this post tbh. but i think its worth remembering that nobody ever wants to make something bad on purpose. even intentionally making something bad on purpose is something you would want to succeed at, you dont want to fail at making something bad on purpose, etc. etc. this is stupid.

tl;dr its not actually that contradictory imo

[justapillowpetpanda]

'Batman: Caped Crusader' First-Look Images; Premiere Date

Today, ahead of its inaugural upfront presentation on May 14, Prime Video announced that the highly anticipated new animated series from Warner Bros. Animation, Bad Robot Productions, and 6th & Idaho, Batman: Caped Crusader, will premiere all ten episodes Thursday, August 1, along with the official first-look images of this thrilling new show.

Courtesy of Prime The first-look images give audiences a special peek into the world of Gotham City and some of the iconic fan-favorite characters that will be featured in the upcoming season. The character reveals, with descriptions below include Bruce Wayne/Batman, Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, Commissioner Jim Gordon, and Clayface. Welcome to Gotham City, where the corrupt outnumber the good, criminals run rampant and law-abiding citizens live in a constant state of fear. Forged in the fire of tragedy, wealthy socialite Bruce Wayne becomes something both more and less than human—the BATMAN. His one-man crusade for justice attracts unexpected allies within the GCPD and City Hall, but his heroic actions spawn deadly, unforeseen ramifications.

Courtesy of Prime

Characters in Batman: Caped Crusader

- BATMAN - A cold, remorseless avenger of evil, seemingly more machine than man. Forged in the fire of tragedy, every fiber of his being is dedicated to the eradication of crime. - BRUCE WAYNE - To the public at large, Bruce Wayne is a shallow dilettante, apparently wasting his parents’ vast fortune on frivolous pursuits and hedonistic pleasures. In fact, he’s an elaborate facade, carefully constructed to divert attention from his activities as Batman. - SELINA KYLE / “CATWOMAN” - Selena Kyle is a blithe and pampered heiress whose family lost their fortune after her father was imprisoned for embezzlement. Despite having the silver spoon yanked from her mouth, Selina refuses to quit living in the lap of luxury and becomes Catwoman as a “fun” way to maintain her lavish lifestyle. - DR. HARLEEN QUINZEL / “HARLEY QUINN” - Despite a personable and bubbly demeanor, Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a brilliant psychiatrist who treats some of Gotham’s elite. However, as Harley Quinn, she is a different person, entirely. A creepy, quiet, calculating menace who secretly dispenses her twisted justice to the truly despicable among her elite clientele. - COMMISSIONER JIM GORDON - Former beat cop close to retirement, Gordon was hired to play along with the corrupt system and run out the clock till he can draw a pension. But they’ve sorely underestimated Jim Gordon. His unassailable character brings him into conflict with dirty cops and crooked politicians, alike. Not to mention, he has to reckon with a deranged vigilante beating up Gotham’s criminals. - CLAYFACE - Thanks to his “unique” facial features, screen actor Basil Karlo has been forever typecast as a B-movie heavy. Frustrated by the limitations his appearance put on both his career and personal life (he fell hopelessly in love with his co-star), Karlo turned to an experimental serum that promised to change his face. However, not only does this serum ultimately disfigure his face, but it ruptures the last of his sanity -- creating the tragic, vengeance seeking villain, Clayface. The series is a reimagining of the Batman mythology through the visionary lens of executive producers J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves and Bruce Timm. Based on DC characters, Batman: Caped Crusader hails from Warner Bros. Animation, Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions and Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. Along with Abrams, Reeves and Timm, Batman: Caped Crusader executive producers include Ed Brubaker, James Tucker, Daniel Pipski, Rachel Rusch Rich, and Sam Register. Batman: Caped Crusader will be available to stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide beginning on Thursday, August 1. Read the full article

[mofsblog]

Watching RWARB (never read the book) and like BRO THEIR LITTLE CONVO ABOUT HOW ALEX IS HAPPY HES THE KIND OF PERSON HIS FATHER NEVER GOT TO SEE GROWING UP AND LIKE. IDK SOMETHING ABOUT ALEX STRAIGHT UP ACKNOWLEDGING HOW HENRY WILL NEVER FULLY UNDERSTAND HOW MUCH THAT MEANS TO HIM AND HENRY GIVING HIM A LITTLE SHOULDER KISS AND GOING "I'm learning". SCREAMING. BREAKING INTO WALLS. MY BIRACIAL ASS CANT HANDLE THIS

No it's the acknowledgement of their different life experiences and how the story's actually like. Acknowledging that Alex is a POC in a position of power and like the ramifications of that and just how much that means to him. Idk I wasn't expecting them to like. Actually acknowledge it. Also just Henry just listening and trying his best to be supportive and trying to understand is sweet. I KNOW ITS BARE MINIMUM BUT GGRGR

[justinssportscorner]

Jack Baer at Yahoo! Sports:

The world of sports media is about to get a massive new player. Disney, Fox Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery are planning to a launch a new streaming joint venture that will make all of their sports programming — including ESPN, Fox Sports and TNT — available under a single service, they announced Tuesday. The streaming service will launch in the fall and will be equally co-owned by each of the three companies. Subscribers will be offered a list of networks, including ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SECN, ACCN, ESPNEWS, ABC, Fox, FS1, FS2, BTN, TNT, TBS, truTV and ESPN+. The service, not unlike a sports-only cable subscription, will also include hundreds of hours of NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and college sports content. The price of the mega-service remains to be announced. It will also be available to ESPN+, Hulu and Max subscribers as part of a bundle.

[...]

ESPN-Fox-TNT sports streaming service could turn cable television upside down

The ramifications of this initiative in both the sports and television world are enormous. Much of the modern cable television industry owes its existence to the allure of live sports, with those networks able to demand massive carriage fees in return. This new service will give the cable subscribers who pay only for sports a chance to cut the cord and lose very little, though we'll see how much this whole thing ends up costing. Between Disney, Fox and Warner Bros., the companies own at least some of the national media rights for all of the major sports leagues. MLB is mostly tied to Fox and ESPN. NBA games are nationally broadcasted on TNT and ABC/ESPN. The NHL has the same combination. Fox has a share of Big Ten football games. ESPN has the SEC. Fox and ESPN both have a share of the NFL.

CBS, which has NFL Sunday afternoon games and March Madness, and NBC, which has the NFL's "Sunday Night Football" and the Olympics, are the major networks left out here, but cable cutters could still access their biggest games through over-the-air antennas.

Disney, Fox, and Warner Bros. Discovery team up to launch a new DTC sports streaming service this fall. This package will have truckloads of college and pro sports content.