#like honestly. honestly. i get the criticisms

[ajastu]

good morning. i still cant get over that fucking 'wanton massacre' post from yesterday

Like, don't get me wrong. I do agree that it would be interesting to revisit the whole architect plotline n maybe explore some more the consequences of darkspawn being able to be 'awakened'.

but oh my god. im going to chew this bone a little bit, as a treat

There are a lot of reasons why this take, worded like it is, is bad. Nothing against OP, obviously, i just want to put my thoughts into words. for funsies. this is enrichment in my enclosure

First of all. we do have to establish that this is a game we're talking about, and games have to conform to certain requirements for the sake of gameplay design. Having darkspawn as an enemy has been a staple of the franchise for as long as it existed, and so there is nothing 'weird as hell' with the fact that veilguard continues that trend.

Now, if we talk about purely just the lore, not looking at gameplay...there is a huge difference between a darkspawn and someone who is tranquil. The main one being: tranquil people do not try to kill other people on sight. They are also not able to infect someone else with the blight. And, if we look at the definition of 'wanton' in this context...

The lore never presented non-awakened darkspawn as harmless or able to be reasoned with. It has also never presented the tranquil as a danger to other people.

So, killing the tranquil? that Would be a wanton massacre. Killing the darkspawn? I'm afraid that's just self defense.

The fact remains that it takes a certain process done by a certain guy (The Architect) to 'awaken' a darkspawn. Even if he could teach someone else to perform the ritual, we are still talking about the few vs however fuckoff many darkspawn there are in the world. Not to mention, it is not guaranteed that the awakened darkspawn will even choose to remain peaceful, as was the case with The Mother in awakening.

And the existence of The Architect and his group of peaceful darkspawn isn't even common knowledge in Thedas.

So, even if the game did decide to go into all that and maybe pursue the avenue of awakening the darkspawn etc etc etc....what should the people of Thedas do in the meantime? Because that will not be a quick and easy process. And the darkspawn are not going to just stand patiently in line to The Architect's Awakening Kiosk.

Again, I do agree that it could be a fun story to explore. It would also be a whole another game that will require a completely different plot direction, and it is kind of unreasonable and unfair to present this as a failure on veilguard's part. For a story to be coherent, it has to follow a certain thread and theme, and that becomes even more strict and difficult to navigate in an rpg game like dragon age, which has to account for different player choices.

Hell, even some of the choices we are presented with in veilguard could mean wildly different outcomes for the state of the world (keep archive or not, return griffons to the grey wardens or not...even taash's quest-line, while not making you choose that particular aspect directly, has very different implications for the future of the antaam). And i honestly don't know how easy it would be to navigate if we do, by some divine miracle, get da5 one day.

It is similar to the criticism of "well why couldn't we choose to tear the veil down!". There is a story that needs to be told, and it needs to account for a lot of player choices, and so something as radically world-altering as tearing down the veil simply cannot exist in the canon of the franchise. It will lead to two completely different games down the line. there was only ever going to be one choice possible: either keep the veil, or destroy it. Not both.

And, arguably, veilguard actually opens the door to the possibility of exploring a different side of darkspawn with the ending where you convince solas to bind himself to the veil.

'I cannot kill the blight, but i can help to soothe it's anger'

Like, you see what im saying here? This could be argued as a possible beginning to the reform of how the blight works, generally. So, instead of relying on one guy to awaken all the darkspawn, perhaps the blight itself would let them 'awaken' on their own once it's sufficiently soothed. Of course, this is all theory and speculation and just a fun thought exercise etc etc etc, but it's the best shot for the possibility of exploring this topic properly in-game. Not that i think that this is the direction that will be chosen necessarily, but you know. nothing is certain at this point.

IN CONCLUSION, I think that this once again comes down to how people let their disappointment over a game not meeting their expectations cloud their judgement. If you think about it without letting your emotions control the narrative, it is quite reasonable that veilguard would not be exploring the darkspawn awakening aspect of the lore. There's just no space for it in the narrative that was required. Hell, they obviously had to cut it as much as they possibly could afford to, thanks to the development hell the team was put through. Exploring this plotline in a way that would do it justice would have been impossible in the game, and it would have cheapened both this concept AND the overall narrative.

Criticizing veilguard for this is similar to criticizing, i don't know, a cheese store not selling your favorite candy. Not the best metaphor, but you know.

It could be a fun discussion. It could be a fun project, to really sit down and work out the logistics of this whole thing. It could become a creative endeavor, but instead it's used as a way to dunk on datv for no reason, and i just think that's a fucking shame

[thebroccolination]

Soooo when I said, “There’ll likely be a loud minority openly complaining about Krist topping and Singto bottoming and much more silent disapproval,” in my last post, I was giving the fandom way too much credit.

According to friends on Twitter, there was indeed a significant backlash over the sex scenes portrayed in the novel, some fans even going so far as to @ the series’ official account to complain about it.

(Don’t want PhiTam, yet tagging Krist first. Mixed signals, fam.)

Multiple folks say the mood among the fandom on Twitter at large right now seems to be mainly denial, that because the novel and series are written by different people, Singto’s character will surely play the top role in the series—even though he’s the bottom in the novel.

But, y’know:

And I, uh. I mean. This is:

Y’all?

Even outside the series, they’ve been—

Yeah, that.

So like. Y’know.

I mean, listen. To be so viscerally clear here, the reason I’m excited about Krist playing the top is because he played the bottom in both of his previous BL roles. (KristSingto had two shorts for Baby Bright where Krist seems more top-leaning, but I guess it was vague enough for people to ignore if they didn’t want to see it.) So I’m glad he’s getting versatility as an actor.

But it’s also because he’s been mistreated in the past by many KristSingto fans who, since they perceive him to be “the bottom” or “the wife,” seem to think this means he’s got to be docile and submissive and sweet, even when he’s pushed too far. To be honest, I had the realization recently that maybe the reason so many Peraya chose to ignore interfans calling Krist homophobic for so many years could be that they didn’t care either way. As one of the OG fandoms, it seems that their fans skew older and more conservative, so it could be as simple as that. They knew he wasn’t homophobic, everyone did, but real life queer issues didn’t matter to them, so they didn’t care that interfans were absolutely decimating his reputation among the queer community when it was OG Peraya stalking him and harassing him that made him post that story in the first place.

I mean, not to invalidate the high emotions going on over on Twitter dot com, but I can’t believe this upset over Singto’s character bottoming for Krist’s character wasn’t limited to a few silly temper tantrums from fringe fans with outdated beliefs about queer people.

Honestly, that there’s anger over this at all says plenty about how they must perceive the bottom role. Being on top is hot, but being on bottom is shameful? (What is this, Ancient Rome?)

I hope y’all know I try as much as I can to avoid making posts about fandom negativity and toxicity. I think emphasizing the positive aspects is more helpful in the long run. But many in KristSingto’s fandom continually treat both of them like products, and I am truly tired of it. Many whitewash Singto, many belittle Krist, and they need to fix their attitudes.

Personally, I consider myself part of all three of the KristSingto fandoms: Yuyu (Krist), Peraya (KristSingto), and Samoonjaopa (Singto). So when I criticize any of them, I’m not trying to burn the house down. I’m saying, “Stop playing with matches in the house.”

Many Peraya boycotted “Be My Favorite” which, like, whatever, watch what you like. But many among that many also openly complained about it while it was airing. Some went so far as to bully Gawin, using alt accounts to call him a halfbreed and a leech. When I called out this behavior, I was accused by multiple Peraya of trying to make the fandom look bad, that those alt accounts were clearly run by other fans trying to do the same. When the focus, as far as I’m concerned, should have been on protecting and supporting Gawin. There were very few Peraya who showed support for Krist’s friendship with Gawin continuing publicly, and their quiet likes and endorsements of tweets criticizing Krist did far more damage to their reputation than me standing up for Gawin ever did.

While I’m doing this, lemme just address the fandom ridiculousness that’s been going on across the board over the past year, shall I?

Some Samoonjaopa complained about Singto’s lack of solo work last year compared to Krist’s and went so far as to @ Krist to tell him that he wasn’t doing enough to keep Singto steadily employed. Which? Isn’t Krist’s job??? And ignores the possibility that Singto can get his own work, is a seasoned talent at GMMTV in his own right, and maybe just wanted to relax last year since the man is a dedicated introvert who’s openly and repeatedly said he’s prioritizing his mental health more these days? And again: there are many in Singto’s fandom who are continually, constantly whitewashing his photos. Stop whitewashing Singto. You’re his fanbase. The people who are supposed to love him most for who he is, not the fictional person you’re photoshopping him into for your aesthetic preferences. How do you think he’s felt for the past decade seeing not only the media whiten his skin but his own fans? Portray his melanin or stop posting photos of him at all. If you can’t see how beautiful he is tan, you don’t deserve to call yourself Samoonjaopa.

Meanwhile, some Yuyus have continually moaned about Singto’s return, complaining about Krist’s lack of music projects even though Krist himself said he’ll be focusing on that after “The Ex-Morning” airs. He’s already been hospitalized this year? Stop pressuring him to film a series, host, take care of his family, and work on an album? They’ve also accused Singto of coming back to GMMTV because he ran out of money, that his freelance career was bombing, etc. Calling him desperate and a leech. (People really like to accuse people close to Krist as a leech, what is that.) What’s worse is that some of them don’t even dislike Singto—they just want to piss off the Peraya. But hasn’t Krist made it devastatingly clear that he adores Singto? Was it not enough when he had to call out one of his own solo fans for trash-talking Singto last year when he was already getting backlash for his friendship with Gawin?

Fans in all three fandoms need to reevaluate why they’re even here.

This applies to all fans in all fandoms everywhere: if you spend most of your time in fandom fighting and policing people and spreading anger and toxicity rather than lifting up the real people you’re ostensibly here to support, then you’re doing this wrong.

Love brought you here. Act like it.

I left Twitter because the situation there was too toxic to stand, even to stay for KristSingto and BounPrem, and while I haven’t been there for months, I did predict that some Peraya would be upset about a possible dynamic switch. I just overestimated their maturity about it, clearly.

I probably should have said all of this while I was on Twitter, but people have to realize it on their own or it won’t stick.

So what I’m going to do instead is go on promoting KristSingto to fans who haven’t had the chance to get to know them yet, because I love Krist and I love Singto, and I think they deserve more fans, new fans who don’t treat them like property.

Obligatory final note that of course this isn’t the entire fandom behaving badly. If you’ll notice, I used qualifiers in this entire post. Some, many, etc. There are many lovely people in all three fandoms, but the ones ruining everything are loud and need to be addressed for things to improve. Ignoring them hasn’t helped so far. I say this because sometimes people get very upset and don’t utilize close reading skills.

All this over top/bottom dynamic switch.

Told y’all it was brave of KristSingto to do it.

Now to hope no one bothers KristSingto about it at the book fair tomorrow. 👁️👁️

[daughter-heir]

honestly you are doing all the promotion right now for the wheel of time on Amazon

because i only knew the release date from your posts

because Amazon has shown me 0% about the wheel of time season three being released or airing every week

and i have watched season one and season two multiple times

I will get as many people to watch this show as I possibly can 🫡

but yeah I agree I wish Amazon did a better job marketing the show, it's a bit frustrating and I feel like a lot of the marketing then falls to fans who want to have the show renewed. luckily, wheel of time fans are so passionate about the story and are willing to go hard for it :) sometimes I wish I could just sit back and enjoy more without worrying about spreading the word to gain viewership.

I know for awhile on the prime video website I had to search to find it and it wasn't featured in their "originals" section. I just went on the website and I don't see it in the featured section right now :/ even though there's literally a new episode tonight. like what are they doing!!! they just aired an episode that still currently sits at a 9.5 on IMDB and RT currently has s3 with a 97% critic's rating. now is the time to push it!!!!

I feel like around the premiere, it was on the home page at least for a week or so. imo they need to utilize Rosamund and the other actors to promote, too. Rosamund went on a morning show this morning which was cool! we need more of that. but like why not late night stuff like jimmy kimmel, etc. hoping this will change as the show continues to gain traction, I've seen a lot of new viewers posting lately!

[thyandrawrites]

Hmm would you recommend the summer hikaru died? Ive wanted to read it for a while but always got too lazy but now with the anime i might try it again

(tl;dr at the end)

I do! Honestly I'm neither a horror nor a MCD fan. But between the gorgeous artwork, the nuanced character writing, the eerie atmospheres, the (relatable for me) feelings of alienation as a queer person in a small rural town, and the unfolding mystery of the Great Brainsnatcher's real origins and the Indoh family's sin, it snatched my attention enough to keep following, and now I'm glad that I did.

Fair warning tho, this manga deals heavily with the theme of the loss of a loved one you didn't get to grieve properly (cause he's still around for everyone else, even if it's just a fake replacing him) and the helplessness that follows. So if you're sensitive to that topic, it might not be a story for you. The titular Hikaru dies before the story even starts, but you get to know him through Yoshiki's (his best friend and MC) memories and his (unrequited?) feelings for him, and you get attached anyway.

I'll admit that it was a rough read for me at first because of this, since I can't handle MCD that well 😭 but the story is an underrated gem and I recommend sticking with it, cause it's about so much more than just grief imo. The exploration of Yoshiki's internalized homophobia and self-hatred through the theme of alienation, of never quite fitting in, of belonging with the only other person who doesn't, who later ends up being a literal monster that can't belong in your same place of existence, lest reality as you know might crumble with him.

I have only one criticism of this story and it's the fact that the queer angle becomes a lot less overt in later volumes (tho not entirely dropped). Later on, Yoshiki's initial feelings of alienation as a gay guy in a small rural town shift into the alienation he faces at being the sole person knowing the truth about 'Hikaru'.

I've seen people dismiss the anime after learning that it's "a BL" but that's such an asinine take cause this story isn't that. It's so much more. It's not a romance, it's the story of Yoshiki's internal journey, the way he processes his romantic feelings as something shameful, something to keep quiet, to bear alone even if it tears him apart inside. Which later on becomes less a theme and more literal.

TL;dr: It's a fascinating story. An underrated gem, which I recommend to anyone who likes psychological horror and nuanced character writing, as well as the trope of monsterfucking as an exploration of queerness (that last one is a half-joke, but not quite 😂)

[spicypotatoesofttaco]

I'm so embarrassed but it's fine

I REALLY don't want to post this. but it's fine. IT'S fine. It's stupid and lame, but I'm committing. While this may be a brain child of mine (honestly someone could've already made this and I have no knowledge of this) I'm not particularly attached to it, so construct as much criticism as you want. or kill me, either one works.

just a small warning, this is like. soooo not professionally written (or proofread) at all. it's just a bunch of different types of notes slapped on a page. good luck soldier.

@dreamweave01 this is for you

so the main thing i remember is that it's mainly donnie and mikey angst

OH OH i just got something BIG

so it started out with donatello being replaced by someone else for years and the other turtles had no idea. then it was him replacing himself and then it was leo instead and a few other different versions that i plot holed away. i ended up with raph, leo AND donnie being replaced by robots BY the real donnie (who had died along with the other two) for years and mikey had no idea. then i was like, hm another plot hole, robots dont bleed. and THATS where it all came together.... (evil hand mushing)

boom, bop, bam: they're from another timeline/multiverse

and then the angst started. (side note: i personally dont think i have a good handle on their characters/relationships with each other. i need to rewatch the show and watch the other ones tbh, please take this with the finest grain of salt you can find)

scene 1: mikey finds out

right now, it's just him and donatello in the lair, the other two are out or something. he overhears don talking about "day 1,100, didn't think we'd make it this far without michaelangelo finding out, etc."

"who are you? where are my brothers? what's going on?"

"get away from me. don't touch me"

"don't call me that, you don't get to call me that. not mikey, not mike, or mikester or angelo or anything, none of it!"

he's freaking out. 3 years? his brothers aren't even his brothers? initially he's flipping his shit, trying to get away from donnie(?). for all he knows they could be robots, shapeshifters, anything.

scene 2: leo finds mikey (on a rooftop)

"hey bud"

"GET AWAY FROM ME" he's got his kusari-fundō spinning, pointed at leo(?)

leo(?) raises his hands "okay! okay! it's okay dude, i'm not gonna hurt you i promise", he reaches to lift his swords out and throw them to the side.

michaelangelo, breathing so heavily, lowers his weapon yet still spinning it. he's leaning side to side, lightly pacing but never turning his back to his brother(?)

"listen, uh. buddy, just come back home and we can talk about this. we'll explain-"

"no! i'm not going anywhere with you"

"do you really think we would wait this long to do something to you if we were going to?"

that stumped him. would they play the long game? tello would. but the others wouldn't and honestly, donnie would get bored eventually anyway.. maybe he should hear them out.

scene 3: the explanation

they all sit down together and donnie explains what happened.

at first, he tells mikey the truth and leo and raph immediately berate him for not going through with their inital plan to lie so that mike doesn't flip again. buuuut then I thought it'd be angstier to go through with the inital plan 🫢

Donatello explains:

"So say," he draws two lines on a hologram, one purple, one orange. he points to the orange one, "this is your timeline and this is ours," pointing to the purple line

"In our world, you died. You weren't strong enough, too young maybe, to handle the ooze. As time went by things were normal for us, then out of nowhere a portal brought us to your timeline."

(context dump: the three completely grew up without him, mike has no memories of the portal why? idk yet...trauma response probably..)

L: "We were all confused at first but eventually we figured out that you had brought us here because your us's were gone."

R: "So we figured out the routine, the rhythm. Played the parts that you expected."

M: "So this is...my fault? I took you from your home and you, you just let it happen?!"

D: "I obviously have been trying to figure out a way back but alas, even the most genius of geniuses have trouble with multi-versal travel.

scene 4: emotional damage

(an: i know, i didn't write much here. i got a little lazy, its literally just the climax)

big crazy scene, like wild colours (lots of orange and yellow) and destruction and stuff like the movie type shi.

D: "MICHAELANGELO, MIKEY, PLEASE. please. I know you're still in there. I- I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. It was me, I lied to you, Mikey."

spell breaks (yippee)

M: "what?"

D: "You didn't pull us away from our timeline. I-" deep breath

"I pulled you from yours."

M: speechless, confused. vulnerable.

D: "You were all alone! You had nothing, no one left. I couldn't just abandon you."

"I thought it'd be perfect. We didn't have you, you didn't have us. It was the perfect puzzle!" sigh "and then we had to go and mess it all up by not telling you the truth."

[deswhomst]

how do u think the marauders (esp james and lily) would feel ab ron and hermione, ginny, neville and luna

heyy anon thank you for the ask! this is a really good question!!

let’s start with Ron:

james would love him so much!! he would be his number one fan. this twelve year old boy who snuck out a flying car to rescue his son? respect and love and nothing else. i also like to think that ron and james have some overlaps in their personalities (and harry noted this too) so james would probably understand him when others might not.

honestly same sentiment as with james because how could lily not love ron? i think if they ever met, they would have the sweetest, most wholesome bond ever. lily would spoil him (like molly did with harry). also i know people might characterize lily as strict about the rules and all but not me. my lily evans is insane and a freak. she would be impressed. she will ask ron how he did it and bribe him with ice cream to keep him quiet about it.

as for sirius, i don’t think him and ron had a bond or whatever in the books but this one POA scene is very special to me. he Sees how loyal ron is to harry and he sees it as him with james. i cry about it.

“If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!” he said fiercely, though the effort of standing upright was draining him of still more color, and he swayed slightly as he spoke.

Something flickered in Black’s shadowed eyes.

“Lie down,” he said quietly to Ron. “You will damage that leg even more.”

now Hermione:

i don’t think hermione and lily are the same person but there are definitely some similarities and lily would be very happy that harry has a friend like her. more so that hermione has good friends, too, you know? she might feel very protective of her. now if these two ever met, trust that they would confuse everyone with all the lastest muggle tech that the purebloods just don’t understand. they are both insane freaks and i love them for it.

for some reason, i get the vibe that sirius would not get along with hermione. i don’t remember much of their interactions from the books but idk, not like he would hate her or anything but they wouldn’t be besties. i kind of remember hermione maybe being critical of him but im not sure. remus, on the other hand, i think would like hermione very much (and i think he did in the books too). they seem like the type to get along.

regulus would love the S.P.E.W. initiative if nothing else. blood status aside i think he would like her (also it is implied in the books that regulus did change his beliefs and that quote is by hermione! fun stuff).

Ginny:

professional quidditch player, and a chaser at that? enough said james potter was Cheering on his daughter in law from heaven. he would die for her. she would become his number one favorite kid and harry would be second. okay but fr even without that i think james would be a ginny weasley fan.

lily and ginny would be BESTIES. they would have special days out just for the two of them i think they match each other’s vibes. they were the IT girls of their times.

i think dorcas and marlene would love ginny as well. i don’t have much explanation for it but dorlene would adopt ginny if they could.

Luna:

luna my favoritest girl everrrr. she would be loved by every single one of them actually. it is impossible not to love her. she is pandora’s daughter. she will be the most loved. dorcas would be the cool aunt, barty and evan would be the crazy uncles, and regulus !! reg is her godfather i do not care for canon or whatever.

lily would Adore luna as well (i also think it’s so cute that there’s a person out there called Lily Luna?? <33).

i do see regulus and pandora as harry and luna variants but i also kinda see it as james and pandora?? like their friendship is my personal rare platonic pairing, so i feel like james would love luna too.

Neville:

personally i think james would love neville the most out of the marauders. my reasoning for this is that in early years at least neville and peter were kind of similar. peter would hate him because he reminds him of himself but honestly my take on the marauders is that everyone was closest to james. he was all of their best friends. it’s a common hc that remus introduced peter to the group but i feeel like it was james who took him under his wing. in conclusion james would have a soft spot for neville. prongstail friendship breaks my heart especially because i think they were very close </3

remus!! remus loves neville. this is canon.

lily would be very affectionate towards him. i also hc that alice was lily’s friend and someone she looked up to so it’s bittersweet because he’s alice’s son.

i honestly can’t tell with sirius? i mean there’s no reason for him to hate neville. i honestly think he’s one of those characters no one actually hates? like neville’s arc and his entire character is Top Tier. sirius would definitely admire the bravery!!

i love barty but he is Not allowed anywhere near neville. the crucio in front of him was cruel… he knew what he doing. so yes!! keep barty the fuck away from my boy neville.

[nightbornfeyre]

I had a realization recently that really caught my attention. I’ve been running an ACOTAR-themed Instagram account, and I made two posts discussing some "controversial" topics within the fandom. But the thing is, these topics are only controversial because certain loud voices in the fandom made them that way. I wanted to break them down and explain my perspective, and honestly, I was fully expecting backlash.

But here’s the surprising part—my posts reached over 150,000 people, and I only got five negative comments. Just five. The overwhelming majority of people either agreed, shared, or saved my posts. And that made me realize something important:

The antis and the people who heavily criticize ACOTAR characters and their actions are not the majority of the fandom. They’re just the loudest. And the algorithm boosts their voices because it thrives on controversy. The more engagement—whether it’s agreement or outrage—a post gets, the more the algorithm pushes it. That’s why it feels like they’re everywhere when, in reality, they’re a small but very vocal group.

My posts covered things like:

•Rhysand’s actions Under the Mountain

•Nesta being sent to the House of Wind

•Feyre’s pregnancy

•Nesta’s treatment of Feyre

•Tamlin and Feyre’s toxic relationship

•The lack of magic and action in A Court of Silver Flames

•Rhysand’s and Nesta’s relationship

��Feyre and Nesta’s relationship and how it was actually really unhealthy

These are all topics that should have stirred a ton of controversy. But instead, most of the fandom was agreeing with me. It just goes to show that the negativity we see online isn’t representative of the fandom as a whole—it’s just what the algorithm wants us to see.

So, if you ever feel like the ACOTAR fandom is full of negativity, just remember: the loudest voices aren’t always the biggest.

[batmen-and-birds]

Part 2 of this

Dick has no idea what happened to cause SLADE to send him an SOS. But it's there and so are a set of coordinates that he's pretty sure are in Barbat. He also doesn't really want to see what's going on, since the string of crimes allegedly connected to B suddenly stopped.

Honestly Dick has so much better things to deal with like:

Joker is still not better and while he couldn't care less, the public is getting mighty suspicious and other are prepping for an eventual power vacuum.

Black mask was found half as beaten as Joker in his cell at Blackgate. Which just means that the mobster is currently in the ICU instead of being on life support.

The various kidnapped socialites and politicians were found in separate building. But everyone of them bound to a chair surrounded by evidence that indicated corruption/major crimes/ties to the Court of Owls.

His dad is still currently SPLIT INTO FOUR and they are trying to find the last alter ego like a mixture of the last lost puzzle piece and where's Waldo.

He doesn't plan on telling anyone about the message but Matches has a gift for pickpocketing that could rival Selina and asked Batman to hack into his comm.

So now he has to deal with Slade and if he has to do it, then he'll take Cass and Jason there too. Because the three of them do need a brake from the three Bruces. Dick knows that they have their own places to retreat to, but he also sees the way his two eldest, younger sibling strain from the situation at hand.

When the three of them, after some stress relieving bickering, get to Nanda Parbat, they're greeted by Talia. When asked about the situation by Jason, it's become clear that she herself is there because of some unclear reports of her maids.

As they make their way through the palace they hear Ra's talking with someone. Both of them discussing the future of the League of Assassins. The voice suggests allying with the Justice League, while Ra's criticizes the mere suggestion.

Then Ra's asks what the other had done to a certain hit man and the oh so familiar voice answers far too casually:

"Oh, nothing too bad. Just whipped him into shape and reminded him that certain actions have certain consequences. Don't look at me like that, Ra's, I know you choose him as a potential heir but it's not like you need him anymore."

Then there's a short silence as someone takes a sip.

"We both know I've always been your favorite."

Opening the door reveals Ra's and B, playing chess and drinking tea in the warm sunshine. The batkids and Talia just stare at the two and the men stare right back.n

Talia is so confused. Why is Bruce in Nanda Parbat? Why does he look younger? Why is he dressed in LoA robes? Why is he playing chess and having tea with her father? Why wasn‘t she told anything?

Dick on the other hand is kinda pissed. They were all running around like headless chicken. He specifically took Jason and Cass to get away from the Bruces and now they find B, not because they finally outsmarted him but because they just stumbled into him.

He's so irritated he nearly missed how his siblings tense up when B smiles at them too openly as he greets them.

[lyrakanefanatic]

Hopping onto Pinterest feels like joining the "I hate Lyra Kane" fan club . Sooo many ppl say she's like a low-budget Avery, a total pick-me girl, acting like she's better than the other contestants, has 0 personality, just tryna be Avery. And the whole "Grayson will never love her like he loved Avery" thing? It's literally everywhere.

OMG YESSSS!!!

why is pinterest the only place that hates lyra kane?? and it feels very desperate too. its clear that they went in the grandest game knowing about lyra kanes character and automatically thinking “she could never compare to avery grambs” (which??? like yeah??? theyre two different people???) and putting the book down STILL hating her because in their mind it has to be avery or lyra, not avery and lyra.

AND YESSSS LIKE IM SORRY I TOO LIKE AVERYGRAYSON ANGST, BUT ATP U HAVE TO LET THAT RELATIONSHIP GO. its honestly just sad watching people insist that they’ll “never compare to averygrayson” because all of them see harassment, unrequited love, and messiness as “true love”. like im sorry, but those two were never on the same wavelength 😭😭

you guys just hate to see grayson finally being at peace and realizing the only way he could truly love another person is if he could love himself.

obv i get genuine criticism for lyra kanes character and lyra and graysons relationship, but u guys have to remember that this is the first book in trilogy where there are 3 povs. as the books progress their romance is only going to get more raw and beautiful as they try and sort through how they feel alongside how they should progress with their family in mind. (lyra with her father, grayson with his grandparents)

anywaysssss pinterest needs to go easy on lyra kane BUT ive been seeing more positivity for lyra lately on that app so thats defo better 😭😭😭

[transfemme-shelterdog]

Something that's always bothered me about the transmasc, theyfab, and nonbinary mockery is often it's not about them being genderqueer, it's specifically about their interests. And this criticism is always so broad and generalizing, like the "transmascs only listen to Cavetown" as an example.

These things 1. Aren't universal, this is like astrological sign bullshit where we're attributing nonsense to people based on nothing, and 2. NOT a real reason to shit on entire groups of people! Humans are varied, and sometimes people like weird, niche or embarrassing things, and that's okay.

Someone's music taste, fashion sense, pronouns, or partner(s) are, surprisingly, not actually valid material for criticizing them in an honest or productive way! And the people perpetuating this shit are largely other queer people, it's either lateral aggression, or outright punching down (like a cis gay man making fun of "nonbinary baristas").

I will never ever take this kind of "joking" as anything but thinly veiled disgust for these groups of people, because how could it be anything else? If they were truly upset about tangible harm, they would actually be addressing their individual concerns. Sorry for writing an essay in your ask box, but damn!

Yeah it's always about either interests or presentation.

It's teenage level mean girls shit, that honestly gets under my nerves. You never see it with trans girls though. Sure there's the "Fallout NV, Celeste, Amazon Basics skirt and Blahaj" stereotype, but that's never painted as a bad thing, unlike transmasc stereotypes which are meant to be hurtful.

[cruel-as-sin]

tag game!

i was tagged by @wchswift (thank you so much for tagging me! sorry it took so long lmao)

favorite dog breed?

mini lab (this is just bc the dog that i am an uncle to is a mini lab. i love her sm and miss her dearly)

favorite cat breed?

probably persian!!

favorite reptile/amphibians?

frog.

favorite fandoms?

x-men, star wars, marvel, critical role, six of crows/shadow and bone, genshin impact, once upon a time, hugh jackman, taylor swift… there’s probably more

favorite characters?

i’m just gonna do my top character from each one of the above: logan howlett (obviously), this was a close one but ahsoka tano, steve rogers, vax’ildan (i prefer him in the campaign over tlovm), jesper fahey, albedo, killian jones, and leopold!!

what’s your current special interest?

oh x-men for sure. i talk about x-men any and every chance i get, i wrote an essay on it last semester that my professor said i could turn into a thesis (and i highly considered it), i got one friend into x-men and have been planning to get multiple others to watch it with me, and i have another friend who is a fan who i've had over to rewatch the movies and give commentary on them. the x-men brainrot is crazy and has not really died down at all since it started in august lmao

what’s your current normal interest?

i'm gonna say music. am i normal about it? no absolutely not, but like, i'm not normal about anything so… either that or hanging out with my friends!! i love my friends :D

if you dyed your hair, what color would it be?

i would honestly love to have some navy streaks through my hair (i actually tried to do this in my freshman year and it did not work), or just straight up black would be fun too

favorite color?

navy blue!

no pressure tags (if you’ve already done this i’m sorry lmao): @lostinlovingrevery @rosenclaws @flowersforbucky @lubdubology @wlwloverwrites @sweetverine @sacredsorceress @ctrlaltsob @cenviswasteland

[stardustizuku]

1) I’ll admit that I confused Mirabels name - because honestly Mirabel just does not sound Latino. It’s a play on words with the word Miracle and Maribel - but Maribel would typically be what you hear in day to day life.

2) I will also admit that I messed up Stephanie’s nationality - I’m not sure why. Becauze did do my fair lot of research, because I know that Isabela’s VA is of Colombian descent. My issue is with Luisa’s song “Surface Pressure” which I didn’t include cause honestly I don’t like it enough to deconstruct it.

That’s why I say Isabela’s song is on thin ice. She does have the accent but the music is still using PR split tempo.

And I would have taken that as valid criticism

Had you not fucking dared to spit on my culture

Who in all the ever loving imperialist Christ, gave you the right to TELL ME how to feel about my culture.

If your analysis on culture begins and ends with a book, congratulations. You’re an idiot.

I am telling you as someone born and raised in LatAm, that language is important.

But you say “oh the book says another thing”

No. Sit down. Stop speaking over other countries, cause you sound like an American.

The USA is a colonialist empire. And currently, actual LatAm countries are at risk of gentrification and erasure thanks to fucking gringos who decide to colonize our cities AS OF RIGHT NOW.

I’m trying to tell you, as politely as I can, “hey our individual cultures are being erased in favor of a nebulous ‘Latino’ that defines not country not accent. And that’s having real repercussions because instead of hiring actual Latino American actors who speak about the issues particular to each country, they use the safe gentrified version. A version who DOESTN EVEN SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE”

And you come here and tell me “actually it doesn’t MATTER that they don’t speak YOUR language, they’re as valid as anyone else”

IF THEY DONT SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE, WHY DO THEY GET TO TELL OUR STORIES?!!!??

And this is the entitlement I’m talking about.

Why do YOU get to tell ME what is not valid?

“Oh but you can still be connected to your culture if you don’t speak the language!”

You cannot communicate with your family. English is not the language we speak in Latinoamerica! 90% of the continent speaks Spanish! Why the fuck do WE have to learn English to communicate with THEM, when they won’t learn Spanish for us? ITS BASIC DECENCY. Not to mention slang that’s integral to the community they’re from.

For Latinoamerican people, the refusal to learn Spanish is an insult! It’s a purposeful severance to your connection to your culture! It’s looking down on your own culture because you think English is superior!

That’s how it’s perceived in Latinoamerica!

“Oh but that’s not how you should be looking at it-!”

THIS IS MY PROBLEM.

You’re not listening to me! You have your own sets of ideas of what race and culture is. One that is not the same as Latinoamerican culture! And instead of wanting to understand it, you want to superimpose your OWN IDEAS of what culture means!

I’m telling you “LatAm has different values!” And you wanna say “those aren’t the correct ones!”

And sure, you wanna say “oh it’s a trope that younger generations from migrants speak with an American accent”

THEY IMMIGRATED TO A DIFFERENT PART OF COLOMBIA! Why are they using American accents when they’re not immigrating to America?!?!

Colombia has two famously distinct accents, which could have symbolized this!

BUT NO, EVERYONE WANTS TO CENTER EVERYTHING IN THE USA

So I really don’t like Encanto’s music

That’s a lie.

I actually love “We don’t talk about Bruno” and I will always cry about “Dos Orugitas”.

But, Familia Madrigal? Don’t like it.

Waiting on a Miracle? Don’t like it.

Surface Pressure? Don’t like it.

What Else Can I Do? On thin fucking ice.

And that’s apparently a very controversial opinion. I was a bit baffled to see that everyone universally loved songs that I would consider objectively bad. I’ve seen musical experts make extensive videos on how good it is, which for the longest time deterred me from even saying how much I disliked it.

But like, I really can’t stay quiet about it anymore.

Okay, so first of all, we have to talk about accents.

Lin Manuel Miranda is from Puerto Rico. If you’ve ever heard them talk, you notice people from PR have a distinct way of talking. They put a lot of stress at the end of every syllable, and they talk very very fast. No, really. They talk very fast. There’s an inside joke among Latino people that most of us can’t understand Puerto Rican Spanish because it’s so fast and has what I can only describe as a “choppy pronunciation”. This is to say, they cut off their words off, use a lot of contractions and put the stress of a syllable always in the same place.

You can watch this interview with Bad Bunny to see what I’m talking about.

You can hear it, it’s extremely fast paced with even intervals of stress in their words. When they sing (again any Bad Bunny song can work to prove my point) you can hear that same style. Fast paced, with even intervals in the stress of their syllables.

This is their accent, coming through their music. It makes marvelous songs. Puerto Rican have a very distinct accent and their music gave way for this new wave of reggae music we see. One filled with rap and hip-hop beats. This is because their accent makes rapping the most comfortable medium for them to sing in.

And. When you put that side by side with Lin Manuel’s music, you’ll realize that it’s exactly the way he writes music. Most Puerto Rican musicians sing and rap in Spanish, for obvious reasons, but Lin does it in English! That is why it piqued a lot of Americans’ interest. His style was common in Spanish but innovative in English.

What Lin Manuel did is truly amazing. He mixed hip-hop, rap and Puerto Rican instruments to create his breakthrough musical In The Heights. This mix was a hit because of how well these three mix.

Lin Manuel raps, not only because he’s a lyrical genius, but his own accent gives him a natural advantage. It works best in his first musical because it is about his own struggles and lived experiences, growing up in Washington Heights.

In Hamilton, he leans more to hip-hop culture, mixing more African American styles of music. He’s using that same Puerto Rican intonation and style, and mixing it with hip hop, to tell a white story.

The juxtaposition of them both creates something unique. Founding Father history is boring, white and frankly tired. Giving it this new spin, mixing all types of sounds and voices, creates an idea that THIS history belongs to everyone; not just white people.

But. That doesn’t work in Encanto.

The problem with Encanto is that he’s trying to do the same thing he did in both previous musicals - but there is no reason for Puerto Rican inspired sounds to dominate the soundtrack (And boy do they dominate it)

This is about Colombian music and Colombian stories.

Like, people from the USA and who grew up there, adopt the same view of culture: The idea that all Latino cultures are extremely similar, should be melted together, and that everyone is allowed to contribute to part of it. It makes sense. Latinos form a community in a foreign country, where everyone is brothers and sisters, shoved into the same places and spaces.

But that only happens in the USA. In Latinoamérica, because everyone (for the large part, and excluding political refugees) has their own country where to create their own country style. So, while we are all friends - we’re not roommates, we’re neighbors. So people intruding into their culture, seems more of a bad taste.

Colombia is Colombia. They have a cultural identity almost separate and foreign to any other country (EXCEPT those that formed La Gran Colombia in the years of old). It makes no sense for a story or movie about it to have Puerto Rican sounds, Mexican sounds, Chilean sounds etc.

And Lin Manuel doesn’t seem to notice that his music, at its purest, is Puerto Rican sounds mixing with the environment. So, when he got put in charge of Encanto’s music, he used his style to create it- which leads to this huge problem where two entirely different sounds and style get put in a hotpot and what comes out is…

Odd.

Why did this happen, again?

Well, many reasons: in part bcs cause Disney is Disney and doesn’t see Latino countries as their own thing, in part bcs I believe Lin was filled with hubris of his own success and in part bcs I think he just didn’t understand what a fumble he was doing; but that doesn’t change the fact that - they simply do not fit here.

I genuinely believe that, Disney being Disney, assigned their only Latino musical man to write the music for their Latino musical. Ignoring the fact that Lin Manuel has only one type of musical style, which is at complete odds with Colombian music or stories. Disney (in my opinion) waved their hand and let the Latino do their Latino stuff without bothering to check if they were the RIGHT type of Latino - and so, we ended up in this mess.

And Moana at least had Somoan artists writing alongside Lin Manuel to at least, reign in some of Lin’s more obvious attempts to make this Hamilton 2.0. But in Encanto? He had one artist writing alongside him whose only other connection to Latinoamérica was Coco.

And listen, I’m not here to say white people can’t write compelling music - Coco is a great example of white people stealing and replicating the aesthetics of a culture so well its scary - but it is iffy.

So, yeah. Encanto has Lin Manuel’s style all over itself like it’s In the Heights 2.0

The problem?

This is not about you Lin!

His style becomes horrendously apparent when he tries to mix in Colombian Music with lyricism genetically engineered to fit Puerto Rican Vocal Cords. Add to that that the fucking Main Character is voiced by a Puerto Rican artist and what you get - is music that signals one thing, and a voice that signals other.

Causing this entire thing to sound, not only convoluted - but also so off the beat you would think a white man wrote it.

Okay, so let’s take Familia Madrigal, and I’m gonna use it to point out the obvious:

Stephanie Beatriz is NOT COLOMBIAN.

Which, by the way, fucking shows. Her accent kills any indication you may have that Maribel is actually Colombian.

I know, that people from the USA failed geography in kindergarten and don��t even know that people from Latinoamerica are separated into countries - but surprise surprise they do. And they ALSO have extremely different accents.

Someone from Colombia speaks differently from someone from Argentina, or Mexico etc. So when Maribel opens her mouth, imagine my shock when, what I hear, isn’t a Colombian accent but a Puerto Rican one.

And while you think it can’t - it shows very much in the way people sing too.

It’s like a show brightly saying “this is a movie dedicated to London culture and it’s set in London using London narratives to tell it”.

And the main character starts speaking - and she has a fucking Texan accent.

Like, genuinely, from the bottom of my heart:

Why did Disney hire a Puerto Rican person to voice act their Colombian character…?

I get that they did something similar in Coco, but two things 1) Guatemala is pretty close to Mexico. 2) The sound design is so Mexican it’s scary. You CAN hear that there’s some missing timber and accent in some songs, but you just assume it’s due to Disney purposely flattening the more “ugly” parts of Mexican music (aka, this breathy raspy tone you use for some ‘corrido’ and mariachi music) because even the Spanish version is missing it.

But because Encanto was written by Lin - he’s writing lyrics with an undeniably Puerto Rican accent. THEN, you make the girl singing it a Puerto Rican girl, with a heavy PR accent.

And you’re left with this…song. That has lyrics genetically engineered to favor Puerto Rican pronunciation with Colombian Music in the background. It makes this weird, jarring sensation that, to me, feels like nothing I’ve heard before.

Which, if this were a new experimental musical, I would probably find it interesting.

But for fucks sake, Lin. This is a Colombian story. You’re supposed to be channeling COLOMBIAN vibes. Not whatever this is.

Okay, want an example? Compare “Familia Madrigal” to another Colombian artist (that isn’t Shakira) Bacilos: I think that Mi Primer Millón is the closest thing I can think of.

You’ll notice two things:

1) The voice that sings is so slow. It doesn’t rush every single sentence, the way it’s very characteristic of Lin. This is very common in Colombian music. It’s not fast paced. It’s lively! Fun! But not quick-paced the way Puerto Rican is. It’s relaxed.

And

2) The words drag. It’s not each syllable being stressed, but everything sorta drags and blends with the word in front of it.

It’s completely different from Family Madrigal - even if the music is kinda similar.

That’s what I mean when I say that Stephanie Beatriz’s accent kills any illusion of Maribel being Colombian. The way she sings would be PERFECT for a reggae song, or set in the nebulous America where all Latino culture is a melting pot.

But it doesn’t sound distinctly Colombian. It sounds - fucking American. And Disney American at that. Because there’s no hard defying Colombian aesthetic, but more of vaguely Latino sound.

The same happens in Waiting on a Miracle.

So, this works on two levels. First is the Disney “I want song” ballad, like Part of your world, I cannot stress how quickly it’s going, and how little it conveys.

As Colombian music - I heard Lin say that they’re using a Bambuco, a type of music known to have ¾ rhythm instead of 4/4 to symbolize Maribel. All family members sing in 4/4 while Maribel, the odd one out, sings in a ¾.

Except, when I heard this I was like:

What the fuck do you mean this is a Bambuco?

I was genuinely confused because Waiting on a Miracle does not sound like a Bambuco, not even in the Spanish dub, where like half the problems I have with the music are fixed.

But then you listen to background music without the vocals, and you’re like oh. Yeah, that kinda is a Bambuco!

The lyrics ruin it tho.

A popular Bambuco song is “El Barcino” which, when put side by side with Waiting on a Miracle, show that the lyrics ruin any pace the song is creating.

El Barcino uses letters that end and starts on vocals, and are short, to make sure that it has the least amount of syllables, even when it’s using quite a bit of words. It helps everything sorta blend together, with the harshest sounding letters like “r” and “ll” being left to the end. With that last word being the one that drags on the most.

Esta es la historia (4)

De aquel novillo (4)

Que había nacido (4)

Allá en la tierra (4)

Compare that to Waiting on Miracle that seems to do the opposite. It uses constant consonants that purposely break the sound, with no long words to drag at the end. In FACT it seems like the last word is the one that gets cut abruptly. With the middle of the sentence being the one that drags a bit.

I can’t heal what’s broken (6)

Can’t control the morning rain (7)

Or a hurricane (4)

Never mind that each line has a different syllable number.

The Spanish dub tries to fix this, and that’s why I say it’s much better. The actual VA attempts to sing in a way that mushes together the first few syllables, and puts stress on the last word - and the Spanish writers are fighting for their lives to shorten the syllables by using as many vocals as they can.

But genuinely, there’s just so much they can do, when Lin’s writing comes bashing with a hammer with its stupid tempo.

And I’ve heard people say that “well, Mirabel sings so different because she’s the odd one in the family”, which-…

Do you think that? Then why didn’t they hire a Colombian VA? Or a South American VA? Someone who could more closely emulate the type of accent Colombian people have?

My opinion, they wanted Stephanie because Lin is KNOWN to work with people from previous projects, in this case Stephanie was in his production of In Height Movie. I think he wanted her to land the job at Disney. Disney saw a big name with big backing and decided to cast her as the Main Character. And when this happened, Lin started writing her songs in a way that she felt more comfortable, or molding Mirabel’s character around parts of Stephanie herself (which is not unheard of, or even a bad practice. But it effectively ruins a pretty good song for me).

Less than Lin choosing Stephanie to sing this way bcs Maribel sings this way, I think it’s more of a Mirabel sings like this bcs Lin chose so, bcs it fits Stephanie better.

But again, it ends up sounding nothing like Colombian Bambuco. I don’t even know what it sounds like.

The problem I think, lies in the fact that three things are fighting like crazy in this song - Lin’s lyricism that has no business being here, a Disney Formula that was on its way to becoming so tired it ended up as “Wish”, and actual Colombian music that is sitting here being yanked and stretched to fit whatever these two idiots decide is best today.

As an “I want song” ballad, it also fails massively. I’m gonna go ahead and show an actual song in English to prove my point - Shakira. I’m using her first album in English (because it’s the one that is less touched by outside American influences), and picking the one that sounds the most like an I Want ballad throughout. It’s not a 1:1 but I hope it proves my point.

Take Waiting on a Miracle vs Underneath Your Clothes (granted, at this point Shakira still uses rock in her music (RIP Shakira rockera you will be missed) so I acknowledge the music is different. I’m focusing more on her voice rn)

You can definitely see the difference in the accent and way I’m so genuinely offended they hired Stephanie (her talent be damned, I want my Colombian artists to be given a chance)

You can hear the way Shakira sorta Just sings? There’s no choppy attempts to fit syllables into the right tempos. She dances with the music, instead of forcing herself through it.

Like, the “I can’t control the morning rain or a hurricane” sounds like it’s cut in pieces. But “And all the things that I deserve” just doesn’t. It stays in the beat with the music.

What's even weirder, tho is that recently, Shakira used Reggae and Puerto Rican style music to mix with her music.

Bizzarap may be an Argentinian musician but in her song with him she, well, raps and used that similar choppy style of lyrics that Lin uses - just that the background music is obviously not Colombian - but hearing her you can hear how different it is from Maribel’s singing.

And it’s a great example that my problem isn’t PR girls singing - cause honestly the song slaps - but that they’re doing it in Colombian story ; set in Colombia, where honestly PR culture has no business being here. Like, Venezuelan inspire music, Panama inspired music, or even Ecuador music wouldn’t be weird…But Puerto Rican? They weren’t even part of La Gran Colombia.

But okay, not everything is awful.

I actually love We don't talk about Bruno, because for all the reasons why Lin Manue style does not fit Colombian Music - musicals DO fit Colombian Music! And when done RIGHT, you get this masterpiece. They do everything right

Tia Pepa IS voiced by a Colombian girl! (Who also sung the Spanish dub, oh my god Carolina Gaitan the woman you are!)

The lyrics are repetitive and simple. Which allows people to actually sing! You can hear her drag the last word really nicely when she sings, it’s such a delight to the ears.

It’s followed by Dolores doing a RAP! A proper rap, to which they have a Puerto Rican rap singer!! No wonder she’s the highlight of the song! This was built for her, and she nailed it! Oh, my god, you see how amazing something can sound if you just know what you’re doing??? The Colombian girl who does the Spanish dub doesn’t pull it as good as the English dub.

The sudden change from Dolores to Camilo is great.

The ensemble is amazing. If Lin can do something good is an ensemble where everyone is singing their own verse.

Like I cannot stress how amazing everything fits for this.

What Else Can I do?

I say this is on thin ice because it shows that the problem isn’t just Lin lyricism but the fact that both Maribel and Luisa are voiced by Puerto Rican Voice Actresses.

That said, oh my god the Spanish dub is like 10x better. In English, they hired a PR VA for Maribel. But in Spanish? The entire cast is ACTUALLY Colombian!

(Fun fact! When I was listening to the Spanish Dub of this song I thought it was Mexican Inspired because the choppy Lin Style changed slightly to mix with someone singing with this melodic type of intonation - sounds extremely like a Tatiana song. Her version of the “Won’t Say I’m In Love” sounds so similar to this song. If you still think not, “Gotita de Amor” has such big vibes with “Inspiración” (Aka WECID but Spanish), it’s actually funny.)

It sounds really fun. But it’s again, not something I find ground breaking, The song is finally one that doesn’t put too much emphasis on the choppy Lin style - but that’s probably because THEY HIRED AN ACTUAL COLOMBIAN VA.

That said, this could have been a great way to introduce some Colombian rock - given that they ARE using an electric guitar in the background and she’s supposed to be breaking the idea of the ‘perfect daughter’ - but sure, let’s go for the generic Disney Princess Rebel sound. Sure, whatever, who cares about any sort of cultural references at this point, anyways.

(Never mind that THE Shakira started out as a rock girlie and her original albums could have been a great fit for Isabela - like Donde Estas Corazón or Si Te Vas)

Okay enough, at this point you either got what I was saying, or are still pissed that I don’t like the music.

Either angry that I don’t give Stephanie the flowers she deserve, that I’m too harsh on Lin, or that I have a vendetta against PR.

I think she’s an amazing actress, I think she has a great voice. I love In the Heights, I had a Hamilton phase, and was super into 21 Jump Street until I realized it’s copaganda (we don’t have time to discuss you). And I don’t think there’s someone who appreciate having reggae songs being put in the club downtown more than me, because seriously WHITE PEOPLE NEED TO STOP PUTTING ABBA TO SIGNAL THAT THE PARTY IS ENDING.

Now. My problem isn’t that. It isn’t even the fact that people from the PR were put in charge of writing a Colombian story.

The music from Coco is Amazing. I have no idea how they managed it, but every single song sounds like one I grew up with. Ernesto’s Remember Me sounds like something my mom would listen to when we clean up a Saturday morning. Juanita sounds like something my grandpa would listen to when he’s drunk and thinking of my late grandma. Llorona sounds like the songs I used to dance to in Folklore Dancing classes when I was a kid.

And it was written by an Italian guy.

I’m not usually one to gatekeep who gets to make music. But I think the key difference here is:

The Italian guy knew he was intruding in a place he didn’t belong. This was not his music he had to replicate, and he had to put extra effort to make sure it sounded authentically Mexican and not Italian.

Lin did not have this approach. At least not when writing the songs. He tried to sample Colombian music, but did not put the effort into making sure his own bias of what music should sound like affect the music he’s writing.

Because Lin didn’t feel like he was intruding on a place! He felt like he was in his own environment, where he could play with the sounds and incorporate them into his own style.

But he wasn’t. He isn’t Colombian. He shouldn’t have felt this comfortable

And no one ever thought to tell him “this doesn’t sound authentic” bcs a) he’s Latino, therefore his music should be authentically Latino (even when, in his case, he’s not Colombian) b) he’s always been able to sell.

It’s a bit of a bummer. Because even after Encanto released, I saw everyone giving him flowers and loving it and streaming it - when all I could do was stare at it and feel like there was something wrong.

It sounded like Lin. It sounded like Disney. But it didn’t sound like Colombia.

It speaks a lot about an issue in Latinoamerican spaces in the USA and Canada that non-Latino people have been trying to talk about for ages, just to be ignored. That is: American-born “Latinos” are not really considered part of the Latino community in full. A lot of the values and perspectives that are considered by the LatAm community as integral to our culture, do not get transmitted to American-born Latinos. They’re raised with a hyper-individualistic mindset, assuming they can take from LatinoAmerican countries, when they have not lived the -frankly- harsh reality of everyday here. They don’t understand the culture, or the language, or day to day struggles - yet they feel entitled grab it and create aesthetics with no regards to the realities of people who have to live those experiences.

A great example is, Lupita in her recent “Emilia Perez” role. She did not care for the actual struggles of people living in Mexico. Even though she’s considered “Latina” by the USA, she’s not considered so in LatAm. Because she lived within the American privilege, she never bothered to understand the culture she is from, and is more than ready to throw away what she believed to be her “community” for a chance at the table.

And while Lin didn’t do something as egregious as to defend Jacques, he still sorta perpetuates this idea. That he’s entitled to take what he wants from LatAm countries because he is “Latino”. Even when he was raised in New York, and should be treating the cultures of other countries with respect and acknowledgement that they are not the same.

Something I need to kudos for is hiring Sebastian Yatra. His contribution to this movie is genuinely the highlight of the entirety of Disney in this decade. Two Orugitas and Dos Orugitas are songs that I think about constantly. He’s a very famous Colombia artist who created some of my favorite songs (Tacones Rojos, Ojos Marrones, Traicionera etc), so I was very happy to see him involved in this movie. In fact, I think it made wonders for his career. His success with Tacones Rojos undoubtedly made bigger with people knowing from this movie.

There’s also Colombia, Mi Encanto. I like that song. I think it’s great.

There was genuine effort put into this movie. And trying to trash it entirely because I think Lin did a terrible job in research, isn’t fair. There are good things about this movie, and musically I’ve heard worse. It’s not…shall I say unlistenable? I do listen to some of these songs. They’re interesting musical theater pieces. And, for all I hate his work on this movie, Lin does have power with the pen. He’s a genius of a lyricist.

But I felt the need to point out that, while Encanto does have good music, it’s surrounded by a very distinct type of internalized American imperialism that no one will care to ever address

[crehador]

boo me if you must but i fucking love the snv anime. NEW SEASON ANNOUNCED LET'S FUCKING GO

[angelofdumpsterfires]

how i feel about all the changes in s3

[percypaints]

Trump survived. Here's what will happen.

Every media, news outlet will be showing this photo. Not of a convicted felon who was impeached, who summoned violent terrorists to the white house, who sexually assaulted many women, but of a survivor, a hero.

And Trump will win 2024. The Alt Right and his MAGA supporters will see this and be more motivated than ever to vote Trump. Centrists will see this and think "the left is so much more extreme than the right" and vote Trump. Fuck, even liberals, after seeing Bidens disastrous debate performance might vote trump. In their eyes, he's a survivor now, he's strong now, he's worthy now. If you don't believe me, wait and see the top comments of news articles, the Reddit posts, the twitter quote tweets.

It isn't if Trump wins, it's when Trump wins, Ukraine is Fucked. Palestine is extra Fucked. And of course, America is absolutely Fucked.

I don't like Biden, but Americans have to remember: you live in a two-party system.

It is Biden or Trump.

And I'd much much rather an old husk of a man that has done so much good for trans rights, social policies, and human rights in general, than Trump. Yes, Biden has sent aids to Israel. Do you think Trump won't do the same? Do you think Trump won't do worse?

"Vote for a third party, they're both awful" you might say. Come on, be realistic. This is about holding the line against fascism. It is going to be way WAY easier to change the system when you're up against milk toast Joe than an actual dictator. So,

For the love of god, vote Biden in Novermber.

[nonbinaryseymourkrelborn]

I fear when the show is reaching a point where characters are being objectively pushed off to the side to give spotlight to side characters that mean nothing narratively, and storylines are being started only to then be ignored for almost an entire season you can no longer claim this

in this specific instance, characters are having storylines given to them that are completely inconsistent with the development they’ve had so far, other characters are being given redemption arcs when there is no actual evidence of them being better people on screen, and important conversations that should be shown are getting brushed to the side for the showrunner to then say “oh yeah, that conversation just happened off screen”

it is not a showrunner’s job to just show what they want to show and not give screentime to stuff they find boring- we have actively missed out on important story beats because the show has chosen to focus on less important arcs rather than working to resolve a conflict that has been going on far too long even in universe for what the cause of the conflict was

when the showrunner is dedicating an entire two part “action thriller” plot in the middle of a season, spending time and money on it while important character arcs are being stalled for it, that is not a sign of someone who is putting care or effort into a story- that’s casting narratives off to the side in favor of some big flashy filler episodes when we have too many important character plots going to waste another two episodes on filler, when the entire front half of the season was also just nothing but filler episodes.

when a showrunner is also showing a certain amount of interest and effort in one character’s story, but then showing the bare minimum of effort in another’s- that is also a clear sign of the showrunner giving a clear sign of their disinterest in that character’s arc

the concept that a show should not be catered to what fans want to see is always mind boggling to me, because then at that point what is the reason for the show to begin with? its not an artistic commentary narrative that’s speaking on something like a lot of limited series… its a procedural drama that exists purely for entertainment purposes, and when the audience are being vocal about the lack of focus on a main character and the showrunner completely disregards that, then the fandom have every right to be critical of that person

the amount of tim minear glazing i have seen lately is honestly baffling when this man has done absolutely nothing of merit in his time as showrunner aside from making buck bi canonically in s7, driving eddie’s arc into the ground (which he is continuing to do) and stirring up discourse within the fandom and then proceeding to foster and nurture that discourse rather than providing a satisfying narrative that the fans want (and im not even talking about buddie- in general, the last two seasons have been so stagnant in terms of writing that we’ve seen barely any forward movement from these characters that hasn’t been conveniently forgotten about or completely retconned)

i know people who work in the industry. i have friends who are screenwriters. i know that there are so many moving parts, and have witnessed those moving parts up close and personally- but the bottom line is your job as a showrunner isn’t to talk yourself up and make these grand sweeping promises of providing a narratively satisfying arc, only to shoehorn in the same tired, boring parent redemption arc, as well as brushing the arc off to the side for almost an entire season

pre season 8, all of the interviews and promo was heavily centered around eddie and chris, only for 8a to practically ignore the issue until the midseason finale, and now, we’re only getting two episodes where the arc isn’t even the main focus, while other characters are being given the spotlight for much less important narratives

bobby and his mother did not need to be the A plot of 8x11, maddie’s recover from the kidnapping does not need to be the A plot of 8x12, hen feeling invisible does not need to be the A plot of 8x13- all of these plots could still happen as B plots and serve the same exact narrative purpose while the focus is put on eddie and chris finally getting a moment to address their plot that has been dead in the water for 10 months, but that’s not what is happening- eddie is continuing to be pushed off to the side in favor of other characters; and when tim does that while waxing poetic about how much he “loves eddie” it is impossible to truly believe that

it’s not fandom entitlement to want the showrunner to follow through on what he said he’s going to do, and being peeved when he doesn’t actually do that.

realizing that whatever happens in canon will never measure up to fanfic because there are people who take up their free time creating some of the most beautiful and well thought out works of fiction for these characters purely out of love for them with no monetary reward for their hard work but the actual showrunner can’t even extend that same amount of energy towards the actual show even though they’re literally being paid to do it