#me making a post that isn’t niche?? shocker

[m00n-pr1sm]

despite me having a 60 slide presentation that is 9k words titled “morgana pendragon did nothing wrong”, I do in fact! think she has done bad things. the main gripe I have with everything is how genuinely shitty her development is, like this point has been hammered in a million times atp and I’m probably not adding anything new to the convo but let me rant, one day I’ll write a polished explanation or whatever but I’m just annoyed + me explaining why she’s not a good person :3 + my thoughts

I think morgana is a wonderfully established character, she’s someone who was willing to stand up for what she believed in and actively call out uther’s actions; as well as being willing to cross morally questionable lines to achieve what she genuinely thought was for the best. she was complex and honestly so interesting in the earlier seasons, we saw her struggles and genuinely empathized with her desire of acceptance and the fear of persecution. Also girlie had nightmares constantly like I can only imagine how tiring that shit is. but then s3 happened and her development took a complete nose dive! like I understand why she did what she did in s2e12, I think it’s a fine episode but I do wish they established the morgana + morgause relations better than they did in canon, like if you’re going to make a character do a complete 180, at least show the time period between that? because morgana was so clearly shaken but what she had done in s2e12, she had shut down basically and was struggling to cope with what she had done through the entire episode. Like I’m sure you could fill in the gaps but it’s just poor writing, show, don’t just imply that morgause became this figure in morgana’s life that she held up with such reverence and how she basically absorbed her values to just become this hollow antagonist that just has silly little schemes every episode in s3. like we already established how she had a desire for acceptance we should’ve show morgause grow into that. Also the fact that she brings up the poisoning like one time??? and never had any heart to heart with Merlin? Like I get that she was too unwilling to compromise on her values (and she’s ne polr-) but it’s far too quick of a shift in her character. She went from feeling immense guilt of her actions to smugly wanting Camelot to fall, like at least show some ambivalence or some kind of self doubt if you’re going to make her turn to evil off screen??? I’ll probably always be upset that they removed that scene in s3e13 where morgana was like “I felt like a monster (bc of my magic) and morgause was the only one there for me”, like that simple line, while implied w/o that scene, just has a lot of depth to her and explains it explicitly (also I feel like that would be the last thing to break uther so yeah I wish they didn’t delete that one). circling back, but I actually really love s3e05 (it’s one of my faves) because it just expands so much on how much she genuinely wants to be loved and how volatile morgana has become to rejection; like she is genuinely so desperate. I think from then on, morgana sorta imprints the idea of being “uther’s daughter”, thus trying to fit herself into that role (but that is very much a headcanon). From s3+ her mission is just “I want to kill Arthur (and emyrs) so I can be queen because I deserve it” but it’s totally about her bringing magic back! I think she comes to see Arthur as nothing more than an extension of uther (something that she does call him out her in earlier seasons) but I also believe that there is envy there! because he recognizes him as her son ofc but denies morgana of that, so she seeks to destroy what she cannot have (sx4???). of course her whole pursuit of emyrs which is just born of self-preservation. I actually appreciate s4 morgana bc of the fact that she’s is more vulnerable than in s3, like she’s just a lonely fool in the woods w/o any real friends bc she’s lost them all. and she contemplates sometimes. silly. also I like that we got a slight taste of distressed morgana who always sought out reassurance in s4e13, like girlie needs someone to tell her that’s everything will be okay and that is why morgwen is the best ship ever + why she is so emotionally volatile bc she is w/o that

Although I do wish they focused on her skill of social engagement, like she had so many ally ships and a clear ability to read and manipulate emotions, but whatever ig. It’s sad to see how much her world has really changed and her world view being so messed up and so black and white (like she also was pretty polarized in the earlier seasons but like those values she held made more moral sense + she felt guilt) also I think it’s important to bring up how her talking to emyrs in s4e06 being like “Arthur will never accept you, magic will only come back once I rule” as a play to distract him. also it’s genuinely so fucked up that she was locked in the bottom of a well for 2 years w/o light or movement like??? That is genuinely such a messed up thing I don’t think the show or fandom talks about enough. It’s literally a complete loss of her agency and freedom which I do believe is something that morgana values a lot, to always do some kind of action, she’s never been a stagnant character and to just. be stuck powerless and immobile for 2 years with the one creature that you’ve bonded with and loved and saw as you’re only campaign, like aithsa saved morgana; just suffer in such a painful and cruel way? LIKE WHY DO WE NOT TALK ABT IT MORE??

I guess I’ll talk abt s5 right now lol or just read my slideshow rant abt one of my gripes lol but yeah the writing takes another nosedive in s5, morgana just becomes really more one dimensional, although I’m glad that they at least addressed her and Gwen’s relationship, albeit in a very messed up way. But yeah her desperation for Gwen finally got the best of her and I truly believe that was the main purpose and not just her being used as a tool for assassinating Arthur. One think they should’ve done more was Morgana’s descent into madness and delusion, like she’s actually unhinged by the final few episodes and ofc that was caused by mordred’s death but I do wish that was just a theme in her character. I suppose it could parallel how uther shut down into numbness but morgana just became increasingly more volatile (it is 2am I am def grasping for straws). One day I write a proper uther and morgana parallels rant. Anyways her death scene is nice ig, she never did get the satisfaction of seeing Arthur die. anyways her entire character from s3+ is the sunk cost fallacy, she’s in too deep and she could never pull out. I haven’t watched bojack but I would’ve loved if they made her like Diane in how she feels like she needs to write her book to make her trauma productive in some way (“if I don’t then that means that all the damage I got isn’t good damage it’s just damage and all those years I was miserable I could’ve been happy this whole time. blah blah “what was it all for?”, from memory so if there’s a mistake that is why). She needs to take out all her years of hurt and rejection and someway by embodying that and doing it to everyone in her life ((for that reason)unconsciously) but I mean it’s not like they really imply that in canon, I’m probably reading too much into it. But yeah she’s selfish and hypocritical. At least she continued in being way too overbearing in her personal judgments (MY ESI WIFE (REAL))

[xerophyte-art]

long post lol

I’ve been in “we accept everyone except x, x, and x, if you are one of these BURN IN HE11” communities for a long, long time. Why have I looked past the burn in he11 part for so long? Because x, x, and x are usually identities that everyone thinks of as bad. If that isn’t you, the community can be perfect. The people are perfect. It’s fun, safe, and close-knit. But you have to be “perfect” too. No having different opinions- remember, this is a safe space! Those aren’t allowed. I understand this for NOT supporting an identity, but… What if I say I support no-contact zoos? Or *gasp* endogenic systems? Suddenly, I’m a bad person. I literally had someone say to me, “this is an /inclusive/ server, and endos are /strictly/ prohibited.” Let’s use zoophili@ (idk how much I have to censor here lol) as an example. We’re all taught that zoos are bad and that’s that. We’re taught that all zoos actually act on their thoughts, that they’re all animal abu3rs, that there’s no nuance. But there is nuance. Not all zoos are the same (ik, shocker). And probably even the least civil of anti zoos (although most of them /are/ very civil) would understand that no-contact zoos exist and should be given basic human respect if they were given more information. I can’t even imagine how painful it must be finding out you’re a zoo when you’ve been taught that all zoos are bad and you should hate them.

So you see, the burn in he11 part isn’t anyone’s fault. If those identities were what everyone thought they were, I’d be saying that too. But they aren’t. Those communities have taught me that I have to be socially acceptable within my small niche at all costs. Even if the socially acceptable path is also the morally wrong/harmful path. And now, it’s scary to do anything else. I feel like the bad guy even if I know I’m making the right choice.

I’m slowly stepping out of those communities and it’s scary.

How do I know if something is right or wrong without someone else telling me? What if *gasp* not everyone likes me?

(Do in part to mental illness, I place waaay more value on other people’s opinions of me than is healthy.)

[thesecretattic]

I can’t stop crying and I’ve got a lot of flu and fever & cold I’m clogged up with that.

This is a brutally honest post and I’m not sounding “Politically Correct” here nor was I intending to do that.

I’ll like to say a few things please keep reading… till “The End” I know how much and to what extent people hate me that too out of insecurity/jealousy (women) who are used to criticising others even strangers cuz in India the environment is too hostile and competitive and here girls are very materialistic, also like average or dumb on the IQ level no offence, so they can easily hate me enough out of insecurity to let me even die. And men I must have had more than 1000 matches on dating apps every week I would get notified about 100+ likes or right swipes I was only 21 I have rejected maximum for hookups and other immature superficial things or time wasting stuff, I wanted undivided time and attention no infidelity (life is short youth us shorter how much time do you have anyway?) so you know where all of their hate is coming from I was pretty… they never look back and even when they do they keep their mouths shut, otherwise I had met many people in order to move on from Harsh. In fact I would receive a lot of HATE messages from unknown fake accs by educated men who seemed extremely articulate, it was a shocker at first I would end up frustratingly asking “Did I reject you?” They were the same people and they also Hated Harsh they were not aware of his name but they knew I loved someone due to my poems. They would tell me I will remain alone and curse me and say if I don’t agree he will be “fcking” other girls while I’ll die a virgin. I was only 21-22 and this went on till 24. I would go through all of my flare and it’s painful symptoms and then deal with all this.

I am not at all well and no one in the house is doing okay, I’m too sick I can’t write I have a severe in fact severest infection. I was like he deserves better, better than me and that boring girl too (he would believe she’s not boring if she’s you know like her “satin sheets” pic) I meant in literal sense boring cuz I can make out how people are, even in one glance, anyway I was wishing he would find someone but this time I don’t wanna know who. As for me, the end is near, my youth was taken away from me I was ostracised and made so conscious that I caved in at 22 and ever since then I stopped dressing up or going out or even leaving my room.

I have no future, my parents are old and I am bed ridden I have no help to get myself back on my feet, I had ordered those clothes which I’ll be talking about but first I want to finish these few things… Money I’ve learnt always goes in the wrong hands, dumb people get it and they don’t know what to do with it, while smart ones struggle they have lots of ideas and a better “taste” in things unlike some who end up making a fool of themselves by flaunting it in the most tackiest manner possible, but all those who could’ve sensibly used it for both maintaining a savvy lifestyle as well as doing something worthy don’t have it. Then how does money even have any value? This wealth is only concentrated into the hands of a few and while the rest are deprived of it and then comes the hardest part - they are deprived of friendship and love too. Cuz where there’s money there are people, there’s hope.

EVEN IF I HAD 10 million followers (this isn’t just for harsh I doubt he has that ratio no offence it honestly means NOTHING I’ll be coming to that part) even if I had more the entire world there I would have still taken the initiative to message someone and ask them if they are okay or if they need any help… otherwise I wouldn’t have been even worthy of those millions of people if I was born to sit on a pedestal getting worshipped like God. That’s just arrogance and pride that too on the worst possible level it’s one of the 7 vices or sins.

Btw those followers? They don’t include me… I only follow worthy creative accounts “niche accounts” haha in today’s aesthetic times, you can see it on my primary ID which is currently full of sad posts lnsta: CashmereVanilla.Co you can see what I prefer in my feed. So who follows them anyway? Wannabes who crave their lifestyle? Who’ve never seen money in their lives… roadside romeos and creeps, 99% of the accounts are of either haters or pervs or illiterate people. I don’t think it’s something which should make you narcisstic… I know a few people from my past who don’t even speak proper English they were btchy and they have ruined my life enough they follow you but they don’t understand your captions, they are just materialistic so they want to see what all stuff you have, btw I have them blocked after everything I’ve been through cuz and I don’t want their evil eye on my things. They would do the same with me… I asked my mother once, why are they just jealous of my things? Celebs have even more, she said it’s because they are out of their reach, they are not their close friends. But then I realised how they would talk about them also, they were jealous of everyone. That was not something I was expecting but times have changed. And their logic for me or others was simple, we can’t be on the same level (status wise) they should have everything I should have nothing. And for them I was a curse because literally my choice was way better so forget being on the same level or even money they hated my stuff all the cheap or inexpensive things too.

I can’t write much, I am now a reject that too the worst kind of reject the world must have ever seen cuz I was never with anyone all my life I was an “untouchable” I was not born like that, but due to one person I ended up being that for everyone. I’m an untouchable reject virgin spinster. I’m dying now cuz it’s too humiliating and I’m unwell too there’s no future or hope, I can’t breathe I have severe a viral infection, I knew this day would come cuz my family members would always torture me and best me up, they never really cared about my health they knew I would succumb to it YET they were never careful about the transmission. And the rest of the people well they abandoned me and left me to die. I never heard the voice of the person I loved the most I don’t know what he sounds like I have never seen him anywhere and I had already stopped watching TV after meeting him in 2015 itself I don’t know why he was on those dating apps or why he was so interested in me, he just started blocking for no reason I wasn’t even writing anything about him. In fact I shared everything in 2020 where his insensitivity crossed that limit, go through my previous posts. I’m dying and he just left me to die, I didn’t want to have any physical contact with him like greeting hands or taking a selfie I’m not a fan, but he thinks something else altogether and after ge had ruined me and my health my skin everything so I don’t have enough credibility and now the word “love” has become a Scarlett Letter for me, (the prices for certain skin care products have gone up too, there’s a reason why I shifted from Chanel and now these prices are also skyrocketing I luckily got 2+1 free to fix my skin) it’s like a stigma cuz they take it as chasing and what not even though I had said multiple times that I wanted someone else cuz he didn’t want me.

I can’t write due to that infection I’m somehow jotting this down I might die after it, it seemed like Virat was into Anushka he was shy and intimidated by her in some old video so I had to share it cuz maybe that PR thing worked after all because it wasn’t fake. Next, there’s another clarification - I didn’t buy anything (any outfit) for anyone or any signs. But there was some lady in my building who was asking about me, she wanted to invite us to a wedding, and she said that she wanted everyone to attend including me. I’m not well at all I have no habit of sitting in a living vehicle I haven’t been out since years now I can’t even go to the doctor I really needed someone understanding to help me get me back on my feet my mother is very rough and callous (insensitive) so she doesn’t take anything seriously, nonetheless I had thought I would try on my own but I got this infection thanks to them (my irresponsible and even toxic family members who never cared about me) I did, I had even asked some like fortune telling place I was again trying to do a reading (I use free ones, there are signs everywhere) cuz I really have no one to talk to so I need some reassurance or hope and I look for it in such places it’s been 8 years since I’m doing that and I’m tired now. I kept asking when will we all get better? And it only answered about me, now I understood why. Anyway it is only for short term (all the predictions) so now my condition is again getting worse.

I wanted to earn but I can’t even sit on my laptop (I would really hate it if people are going to read this patronisingly or they are going to look down upon me after doing that cuz that’s not required, or else you can stop reading, I have had enough now and it has crossed my threshold someone had said your threshold should’ve been crossed in 2016 itself considering all that you’ve been through but I was put through more suffering and pain, so please stop hating I have zero tolerance, if you are just “reading” there and not asking me if I’m even okay it’s offending, I’m literally clenching my teeth rn so you better understand how angry I am, it means YOU DON’T believe that I’m sick or I’m dying or you are trying to say I’m some conniving vamp here to lie about it, I WISH it would’ve been a lie but unfortunately it’s true, how much more worse should it get?Your insecure as* wants to see me with a shroud? STOP filling up Harsh’s ears or telling him “Is she even serious?”

I was not given any money for Eid so I didn’t buy anything and my childhood friend/now enemy had the habit of dressing up and posting pics on birthdates, NYEs and Eid after making sure I won’t she took away all my friends. And btw she would backbite those people and nasty things about them which they knew I would in fact take their side but they had their own insecurities to hate me, one of them was into designing and writing and his English is too poor he was calling some word a cauldron or something which actually means a witch’s pot and his moodboards even the ones designed on professional software were not even close to mine which I would create with a lot of hard work on free platforms that too on my phone. I had to reveal that I’m not proud but I had to say it cuz again it’s unfair. I would always heart his moodboards and stuff… and encourage him too but they remained the same and they bullied me even in 2020, again “bullying” can’t be used for adults? Even if some adults are immature enough to bully people? There’s a new term - Adult Bullies. Anyway so that girl the one who always instigated them she, as usual got an iPhone pro like mine and shared her Eid pic all dressed up, I didn’t have a camera 📷 for years almost 7 years so I got that phone mainly for the camera. I was given money after a month’s delay for Bakri Eid now (Ramazan is gone) and I do feel bad irrespective of everything even though I get tortured here and everyone pretends like nothings happening I do feel bad when people have to spend money or keep up with today’s expenses it’s not that I don’t, he and most of these men they make us hate our fathers (some fathers also don’t care like I said) but as daughters we do and any kid would feel bad and it puts us in a very horrible position, we end up crying a lot then cuz it’s as if you are ruining our childhood it makes people very emotional, you should NEVER both anyone or make them feel like that about their parents or nuclear family, there are so many cases in Gumrah (he claims to have worked there in fact a lot of people have done those shows that too they were adults dressed up as teenagers then why? And why are they only inconsiderate towards girls?) they would show that those kids under immense pressure would sometimes do certain things and then cry themselves to death, it would get very intense… they would be left with no choice. So STOP. Luckily some of us we regain our consciousness or balance lol and we don’t lose it in fact we don’t get in that zone, cuz if you have strong convictions then you know certain things will never happen such as I don’t even like saying this but murders or arsons like I earlier denoted. But we can end our own li-fe that too brutally if you make us hate ourselves so much that too when someone you love treats you like that you have all the reasons in the world to hate yourself, I don’t want to be sermonic here so I won’t lie. That’s how it is. I’m feeling very weak I need to sleep I’m not well at all so I’m gonna cut it short now, I was given a certain budget and I took something for 3950/- it’s a Chanderi Set with an Organza Dupatta (packaging is great it has a dust bag and all to keep it there) it’s in Oyster Grey it looks beige in pics but they’ve called it Greige, I was actually given 20k keeping prices in mind so I didn’t want to waste it on anything rubbish I’ll be honest you don’t always see that much thread work these days but then I came across a few places I already had one designer in mind and I found my dream store as well so I got 2 more outfits for that wedding and I was very excited about it.

It did make me feel slightly bad cuz one of them is almost like a bridal one but it’s exactly what I wanted and it’s very special to me because of something specific which I’ll share if I’m alive. The budget actually exceeded cuz this would be designerwear and they’ve been featured in Vogue, the pricing I would say is competitive but they have different collections, this one is not as steep which is cool because they know you will end up buying more like me, I couldn’t pick one I in fact liked 3 but I got 2, because I had already taken one for Eid (the Chanderi one) anyway this was a different category, they had a coupon on 30k (the budget was 20k I could’ve taken one outfit in that range but I ended up buying 2 from here and 1 from somewhere else) and inspite of the coupon I couldn’t avail max 30% disc. cuz they have that new Zomato rule where they have a certain limit and they could offer only upto 8k I got these two for 24500 (one of them is light the other one is a little heavily embroidered) and the Chanderi one was for 3950/- I’ll probably cover the extra from the money that I was saving. If I’m alive I’ll share the pics… - Zara Sauleh

[margridarnauds]

Feel free to ignore this message, but I've got a question regarding the Mythological Cycle; top 10 characters, rated best to worst. Let's go.

WHY WOULD I IGNORE THIS? THIS IS GREAT. 

So, as a warning, since this is a very, very subjective list, I am not going to be............as academic as I could potentially be. I’m willing to chat any of this, since....I’m always down for any asks, specifically re: THIS most niche of niche topics, but in this particular list, I’m not rolling out all the sources I probably could, I’m not doing any massive Old Irish parsing, though I am trying to reference at least where I’m getting this from for the most part. Also, just because a character ends up on one end or the other doesn’t mean that I don’t ACKNOWLEDGE their complexity, it’s just that one end of it kind of sticks out to me. As we’re going to see. 

[rape mention tw]

1. Bres- Best boi. Next question. (I mean, come on, my #1 location to visit here since the first day I got off the plane has been Mizenhead, because that’s where the Dindsenchas say he died.) 

2. Sreng- Look. Sreng gets ONE text where he has a prominent role (that would be the Early Modern text Cath Muige Tuired Cunga, for anyone following), but my GOD does he make it count. Brother and son to a slaughtered king of Ireland, the warrior who didn’t want to go to war, the man who made the gods bleed and held out an entire ass battle by himself, the boyfriend of Bres. He’s definitely a figure who tends to go beneath the radar, and when he is brought up, it’s generally to present him in an unfavorable light compared to the TDD, but like. He deserves the world and I love him. 

3. Lugh - This is going to be an absolute SHOCKER for people, because I think that people tend to think that, because I rip him routinely and my nickname for him is “The Bitch”, that means I HATE him. And I don’t. Not really. I don’t think he’s a straightforwardly HEROIC character, at least not all the time. I get slightly annoyed when people gloss over his flaws in order to paint him as a perfect figure even in texts where that is BLATANTLY not the case. But Lugh is FASCINATINGLY complex, and I love the texts that show that. The Early Modern edition of Cath Maige Tuired, Cath Muighe Tuireadh, shows a complex Lugh, as does Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann and the Dinsenchas poem Carn húi Néit. Hell, even in the Táin, is Lugh really a GOOD guy, or is he just a “good guy” because he tends to Cú Chulainn? He doesn’t really give a damn if anyone else dies, so long as his own son is taken care of. He loves his father, and is willing to do anything to avenge his death even if it means that the innocent family members of his father’s killers get caught up in it as well. Lugh is a GREAT hero, he’s one of the pre-eminent figures of Irish Mythology, with some fairly strong evidence to indicate that an equivalent figure to him was the most widely revered deity in Gaul. But he is also, depending on the text, absolutely RUTHLESS in attaining what he feels is a greater good. He IS “dutiful/pious Lugh”, but what does that duty mean? How does he interpret that? He kills his own family members quite routinely (the Sons of Tuireann, Bres, Balor, Cermait, off the top of my head), and basically gets himself killed because of a marital dispute, and that’s an element of him that I think that people are afraid of, but I ADORE.  It makes him HUMAN. 

4. Ériu - The only person in the myths to love Bres as much as I do. Down to lose her virginity to a random stranger on the beach. The Sons of Míl come in and she’s like “Yeah, okay, just make sure to name the island after me, okay?” I love her. (Okay, but talk to me about how Bres is her ONLY CHILD across the various myths, about how it’s HER who gives him land, it’s HER who goes with him to Elatha and negotiates for his sake. She was willing to put aside her own people, travel to a foreign country filled with people who have been raiding her own people for years, and she did it for love of her son. You can argue over whether she indulged him too much, but you can’t argue that she’s possibly one of the single most devoted mothers in the Mythological Cycle.)

5. Carmun - Only gets one Dindsenchas poem to her name, but WHAT a showstopper it is. “One fierce, marauding woman” indeed. An Athenian witch who tries to invade Ireland with her three sons, only to be captured by the Tuatha dé and kept as a hostage. Longing (for her children? For freedom? For her old home of Athens?) eventually kills her, and she, like Tailtiu, another foreign woman who has a meeting space named after her, dies in an oak grove. An interesting example of a female villain in a myth, with the text obviously having quite a bit of respect for her, and her obviously genuinely caring for her sons and vice versa. There’s really not all that much more ON her, but I’m not sure that there really needs to be all that more because her story isn’t REALLY an epic. It’s very neatly contained as it is. 

6.  Bríg - It isn’t that I don’t LIKE Bríg, it’s that. Well. I get tired of talking about Bríg when there are a dozen characters more who actually DO things in the saga literature. You know. Like her husband. Who is almost never brought up in discussions on Bríg as if he’s not there. NOT THAT I’M BITTER.I just.....don’t really CARE for her. At all. And the way that people tend to discuss Bres in conjunction with Bríg has given me a certain level of resentment, so I just............ignore her whenever it’s at all possible. She gets points for the scene where she keens for Ruadan, since that’s a wonderfully human scene in a text that tends to be rather inhuman and detached in the amounts of blood, gore, and sex that saturate it, but like....I just don’t CARE. I don’t believe, at this point, that there is any way to really make me invested in Bríg, as a character. But I can’t really rate her lower because like. Below this, we start getting into the “Hall of Dicks” territory so I’m just putting her here. 

7. Tethra - Interesting figure. Not an awful lot about him, so I can’t really say all that much. But I do think that he tends to get under-discussed, in general, and put kind of in a generic “Evil Fomorian” category when he is, and...he DOES invade Ireland, along with Elatha and Indech (Indech is not on this list mainly because it is hard to properly quantify my “You are a total trashbag, but also you’re very interesting to me, but also I want to light you on fire and feed you to the dogs” feelings re: him.) But also he is the great uncle of Emer, he is described in a positive light in a few other texts, including IN CMT ITSELF. He seems to be married to Badb, which is....someone just GIVE ME THE ENEMIES TO LOVERS POST-CMT STORY, FT. A FOMORIAN WARLORD FALLING OVER HIMSELF FOR A TERRIFYING SCALD CROW WAR GODDESS. 

Anyway, only reason he isn’t ranked higher is because we don’t really know all that much about him and I thought it would be a little unfair to, say, Bríg to rank him higher when I used her lack of personality/overall narrative to place her lower out of spite. He doesn’t have any actual APPEARANCES, no lines, etc. So like. I love him, I’m endlessly interested in him, but he’s gotta be near the end. 

8. The Dagda - “Now, Rachel, the Dagda is a very important figure, with a variety of appearances-” and like. You would be RIGHT. He IS very important. And, actually, I’m INTERESTED in him, which is why he’s not at the bottom. He’s a very interesting figure, and I’d be lying if I said he doesn’t make anything he appears in more colorful. 

He is also a DICK. 

So, like, he fucks a married woman (I WILL say, Boann enthusiastically consented so....props? You were NOT as much of a dick as you could have been), he sends the husband out on a trip to his weird half-Fomorian brother (Bres deserved sainthood for that one ALONE), and then....oh wait.....when it comes time to provide for the partitioning of Ireland he just GIVES AENGUS ELCMAR’S HOUSE? Like. Come on dude. That’s a way to just add insult to injury. That’s a dick move. (Thomas Charles-Edwards DID write an article that discusses how the Dagda is not as much in the wrong as you would think, but like. Still a dick move, I’m sorry.) 

How the Dagda Got His Magic Staff? He gets these three brothers to lend him their magical staff so he can resurrect his fuckboy son, then KILLS THEM? Then his son is like “Dad, that’s a dick move” and he brings them back, on the condition that he KEEPS THEIR STAFF? AND THEN HE RAISES AN ENTIRE ZOMBIE ARMY IN ORDER TO ASSUME THE HIGH KINGSHIP OF IRELAND? 

I just. I just. 

In the Intoxication of the Ulstermen (Mesca Ulad), we learn about what the Dagda DID with his Necromancy Staff: He created a corpse xylophone where he keeps nine people in front of him, hits them with one end of the staff in order to bring them back to life, and then hits them with the other in order to kill them, on and on. 

AND SPEAKING OF MORALLY DUBIOUS SHIT: Tell me that there is another way to interpret this Dindsenchas tale than....the one that seems most obvious. 

“Let come of it what may.” 

And of course CMT, where he does totally kill Cridenbél with the whole “PSYCH you asked for the best three bits now EAT GOLD” Thing, even if it isn’t the way that Bres thought AND Bres did overreact. The Dagda should have paid the proper honor price for Cridenbel, Bres should NOT have tried putting him to death. It was a STUPID move, since it led to Bres’ ruling being called into question. And.....the porridge incident in that same text. Which. I can. Discuss. If asked to specifically. But will leave for now in case anyone should instead want to search for it on their lonesome. 

His relationship with the Morrigan is interesting to me, in that you have these really rather amoral forces being married to one another, having a relationship of long-standing, even though they have no issues getting sex elsewhere. And it is my pure scholarly opinion that she pegs him.

Basically, the Dagda is interesting to me, I think that there are two principal things that motivate him in any given tale: His own id and his loved ones, in exactly that order. He’s a rather disgusting figure, but you kind of keep wanting to peer in to see how far the muck goes. And, if it isn’t obvious, I definitely prefer, say, Lugh to him, because I feel like, of the two of them, at least Lugh DOES believe that he’s doing the right thing. It’s just not always in any way that anyone, not even in medieval Ireland, would really think about “doing the right thing.” There’s this complexity to Lugh, even at his absolute worst. The Dagda just doesn’t care. The Dagda is more a God in the way of Zeus or Poseidon where it’s like “I’ll do what I want and damn the consequences.” Interesting to see, but not my favorite as far as character. 

He kind of reminds me of Cú Chulainn, actually, where it’s like. He’s interesting. But also there’s this sort of rank misogyny and brutality that tends to be drenched in the texts that he’s featured in, even by Medieval Irish standards (and I’d argue that those standards are MUCH more flexible than we give them credit for), so I can never really enjoy him. And I’m saying this as someone who deeply loves some VERY VERY MISOGYNISTIC TEXTS. 

9. Balor - You would not THINK that Balor would be near the top of ANY lists on Mythological Cycle figures, but he’s actually very interesting to me, in terms of his evolution. In folklore, he is very much a straightforward villain, kind of adjusting to fit whoever the invaders of the time were. I am NOT saying there is no basis for a villainous Balor, or even that a villainous Balor is an INNOVATION like it is for Bres. I am DEFINITELY not saying that, especially since those folklore stories tend to include Proto-Indo European elements that indicate that they could be VERY old, possibly older than the saga material. But I am saying the man is interesting. Something that tends to be totally overlooked in discussions on him is that he was a BOY when, in Cath Maige Tuired, he peered in on his father’s druids performing magic and it seeped into his eye, giving him his Evil Eye. He was a KID. Of COURSE he would be curious and want to explore. And because of that, he was turned into a monster. How would you go about it, as a kid, learning that you had to keep one eye closed forever because you could kill everyone nearby? How would you cope, really, seeing everyone turning away from you in fear? And, in Cath Maige Tuired, he doesn’t even KNOW that Lugh is his grandson when Lugh kills him. He knew he gave his daughter away in marriage to a young man of the Tuatha dé, he would probably guess that he had a grandson there, or at least the possibility of one, but like. He didn’t realize it was Lugh SPECIFICALLY then. And then Lugh killed him. Lugh was, for once, RIGHT to kill him, but. Still. There’s something a little tragic about Balor’s death, even if it’s 100% not what the redactor intended. I have to have a little sympathy for him, despite it all. Also his wife, Cethlenn of the Crooked Teeth, is very interesting to me, as a figure. I’m really curious what kind of marriage they had. I kind of like to think, regardless of what evidence there really is for it, that they had that type of Bad Guy Relationship where they were absolutely ruthless and awful, but fairly devoted to one another. That’s outside the realm of scholarly observation, but I like to think it. She’s the one who kills the Dagda, btw. Absolute underrated BADASS. 

Also like he did try to kill Lugh in the Early Modern Cath Maige Tuired with the whole “Put my head on yours” thing so like, props for trying Balor. Props for trying. 

The main reason Balor is rated so lowly despite everything else is......folkloric Balor. Because fuck folkloric Balor. He still isn’t my LEAST FAVORITE of the Fomorian lords, because we have #10 and Indech, but like. I can’t REALLY put him so high up in my favorites list. 

10. Elatha - I hate him. I actually hate this man. I know he gets a few sentences, really, but God. I hate him. The only good thing that he, as a character, did is to give us Bres, the Dagda, Ogma, and Lir. (NOT including Delbaeth. For Reasons.) I could discuss how, like Bres, he was not always a villainous character, how his image was molded to suit the Scandinavian setting for the Fomoire in Cath Maige Tuired, but consider: I hate him. 

Actually, let’s go more in-depth here. “WHY do you hate Elatha more than Balor, Rachel, he only has small appearance in one text? And you already said you like Balor-” Which is a GOOD question. Very good. So, let’s go into the Elatha Call Out Mode. 

So, first of all. 

He has sex with Ériu, gets her with a kid, and then leaves. He KNEW she was pregnant. But no, he doesn’t give a damn, he just drops a ring into her hand, gives him his name + a name for the kid (GOOD THING ÉRIU DIDN’T HAVE ANY OTHER NAMES SHE WANTED TO GIVE THAT KID) and fucks off to his own people. Now, I will say, he didn’t deceive her, in the sense that she was never PROMISED marriage, but. God. She was a virgin, she was presumably quite young at the time. He was a king of the Fomoire, and she sure as Hell didn’t know THAT when she slept with him. And she obviously didn’t have his certainty that a kid would result from it. I don’t think there was straight-up DECEPTION involved, per se, I don’t believe that we’re looking at a case of rape, in either the modern or the medieval understanding of it (he isn’t Cú Chulainn, after all), but Elatha sure as Hell didn’t give Ériu ALL the information that he had until it was too late. 

Okay, okay, dickish, Bres was forced to rely on his maternal kin-group all of his life and Ériu was basically fucked (though aristocratic enough that she obviously had land to give him in the first place, so not MASSIVELY inconvenienced), but like. Not really UNUSUAL for an Irish “hero”. 

So, let’s go into this further. 

He raids Ireland, alongside the rest of the Fomorian lords. “Now, Rachel, that is unreasonable, as you’ve already said you like Balor and Tethra, who also-” But consider: Tethra didn’t KNOW he had a son on the other side. (Balor didn’t raid Ireland until the battle itself, so he gets a few Brownie points. A few.) Elatha DID. Elatha knew damn well where his son was, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had at least some idea that his son was king of the Tuatha dé, given how much he ALREADY knew about Bres’ birth. I can’t prove it with the information given in-text, so I can’t argue it in a scholarly setting, but like. He fucking knew. If Bres had been an average warrior, he could have DIED because of Elatha being a massive dickwad, because like. Even if we ASSUME that Elatha gave a damn about what happened to his son and wouldn’t attack him directly, he couldn’t exactly control ALL of his men during a raid. People are going everywhere, weapons are flying. 

BUT ELATHA IS THE ONLY GOOD FOMORIAN, AM I RIGHT? 

ANYWAY, next we see him, Bres is going to him for help. He’s at his most vulnerable, his most humble after being yeeted off the throne by the Tuatha dé. He SAYS exactly what he did, that it was wrong, with a level of humility that’s honestly rare in anti-heroes even today. What does Elatha say? 

‘That is bad,’ said his father. ‘Better their prosperity than their kingship. Better their requests than their curses. Why then have you come?’ asked his father.

‘I have come to ask you for warriors,’ he said. ‘I intend to take that land by force.’

‘You ought not to gain it by injustice if you do not gain it by justice,’ he said.

“But Rachel,” you might say, “This makes perfect sense, this is GOOD advice.” But consider: Bres had ALREADY admitted his wrongs. He doesn’t need a lecture. Elatha’s advice gives him absolutely NOTHING, while conveniently absolving him of ANY accountability for Bres’ actions. (And keep in mind, under Medieval Irish law, the kin-group WAS deemed as at least partially responsible for the actions of its members, so like. I’m NOT just putting modern ideas onto Elatha here.) Also: THIS IS LITERALLY BRES’ FIRST TIME MEETING HIS FATHER. He has traveled SO far to see this man, and what is Elatha’s reaction? THAT. Treating him as essentially a flea to be swatted away with platitudes while absolving himself, even though he was the one who set Bres up to be in that position from the get-go.

I’m not saying that Bres is flawless here, given that he ADMITS HE ISN’T HIMSELF, but Elatha? Is a douche. And then, to compound his douchiness, he doesn’t keep Bres in line. He doesn’t bother to deal with him, he just sets him up with an army and goes back to invade Ireland again. I know that some scholars (chiefly Elizabeth Gray) have read it as paternal indulgence, but personally? I don’t think his moral qualm was EVER with invading it. I don’t think he had a single issue with invading Ireland, given that he’d already done it before. He just wanted to hammer it in hard to Bres how utterly he’d failed. If he had REALLY given a damn about him, he could have spent time getting to know him, trying to tone him down, be more of a proper FATHER to him, but he doesn’t. And, if Bres’ actions during Cath Maige Tuired cause thousands of people on both sides to die, then Elatha set everything in place so he could. The only difference is that Bres almost never gets a trace of sympathy for it, while Elatha is presented as a tragic figure whose son is an unfortunate accident. 

Also like. Bres is the only one of his kids he’s even involved with to begin with, for better or worse. Like, this is 100% a scribal error, but I’m using it to further my “Elatha is a dick” agenda: Ogma, in Cath Maige Tuired (so I’m not even using outside genealogies that the scribe of CMT might not have been aware of), is described as a son of Elatha. So, not only did Elatha fuck over ONE SON, but he did this type of shit repeatedly. He didn’t give a damn about any of his kids. 

Anyway: THE ONLY GOOD FOMORIAN. AM I RIGHT? 

[charissekenion]

What systemic racism in the British beauty industry looks like

Remember when Black Lives Matter content filled up the feeds of your preferred social platform? While the message still burdens many within the black community — as well as some allies — on a daily basis, for many it is business as usual; even one of my regular online beauty go-to’s has that in their homepage banner. I’m sure it’s more about things being back to ‘some kind’ of normal post-Covid, but who knows? To me, it seems like everyone is tired and weary of the triggering message of BLM and I believe that’s a sign that, if systems are not changed, things are likely to return to what they used to be, the word diversitybecoming one of those words people say out loud while using air quotes. I’ve already written about my own personal experience as a mixed/black woman in the beauty world, but I wanted to try and tackle the systems within the beauty industry. If I’ve missed anything, let me know!

Brands/Agencies Throughout the early days of BLM, brands and agencies around the globe paid close attention to where their ads were appearing. It wasn’t a moral stance however; brands had learned that ads placed near George Floyd or protest-related content, monetized at 57%* lower than other news content. The investment simply wasn’t worth it and words/phrases such as Black Lives Matter, George Floyd, Minneapolis and Black people were put on industry blocklists. While blocklists surely began as a way for the industry to ensure it wasn’t placing insensitive ads, in 2020 brands are using them purely because of the bottom line; revenue.

For me, the brands that have stood out during BLM are the ones that are more thoughtful in how they can help, long-term. Praise was given to Emily Weiss of Glossier for starting a grant for black-owned beauty businesses. Another stand-out show of support came from Caroline Hirons, a brand in her own right.

Hirons is known as the queen of skincare amongst the UK press — and she knows that is a very white press. She took a few days to get her ‘ducks in a row’, early on when BLM was being heavily supported, ensuring her donations were able to have Gift Aid applied (more of the cash actually going to the organisation), before announcing that she would be giving 100 percent of the 2020 proceeds from her best-selling Double Cleanse with Pixi to Black Lives Matter. Pixi duly matched her donation.

But for every positive there were several embarrassing examples of how notto do it. I don’t have the time or energy to give a comprehensive list of just how many brands got it so wrong during the days that followed #blackouttuesday for instance.

I’m not about forcing anyone to do anything, because if you don’t care, why would I want your help? For me the blame lays with brands who have the means to send out the right messages on the daily via social and in the media. It wasn’t just about calling out RMS Beauty on their Instagram for hiring such an insensitive social media manager. It was more about checking out the feeds of Maybelline, Chanel Beauty, etc, etc, and seeing if they had ever shown diversity in their campaigns. The results were lacklustre to say the least, but, if there was one truly classic example of what not to do, the medal would go to Marcia Kilgore (founder of Beauty Pie, Fit Flop, Bliss). I’ve been a diehard fan of Kilgore and her work ethic for years and I’ve lost count of how many interviews I’ve listened to of Kilgore sharing her business journey.

But throughout BLM I’ve seen some shockers coming from (seemingly) Kilgore’s own hand. I’ve been sent screenshots of comments on Instagram (later deleted) including one that shows Kilgore using the shrugs emoji. One of Beauty Pie’s diehard (white) fans just didn’t get why Beauty Pie was receiving negative feedback after not standing up soon enough or strongly enough for BLM. Kilgore replied to her fan with the shrug — she might as well have said: ‘gee, we just can’t seem to please these people.’

The Influencer Whether you love influencer culture or not, it’s clear that, for now, it’s here to stay. Mostly dominated by (white) women, with some being worth over £4million here in the UK, whatever their chosen area of specialisation, there seems to be a very cookie-cutter approach as to what and who’s adored and accepted. Look at wellness, look at fashion, and of course, beauty, and you’ll find that the popular accounts are usually owned by very blonde, very slim women. Life is just one long Instagram Story compiled of working out in Lululemon, wearing makeup from an expensive brand that’s never looked past 10 shades, sipping an iced green tea and getting your wedding paid for by your clever agency rep who’s reached out to countless companies that are guaranteed to find you so palatable and on-brand.

Now, I am not coming for these women; these women can exist alongside the women that I choose to follow — the women that can and do in fact influence me and how I purchase, whether they get paid or not. And there’s the rub. Brands have been making tons of excess profits from women of colour who just love that brand — essentially unpaid micro influencers.

As a self-confessed beauty addict, I know the allure of the ‘next big thing’. I know how it is when you feel, or felt, that that brand actually understood you. When that new shiny purchase arrives from the likes of Glossier, you’re like, ‘hey friend’, and off you go, sharing your unboxing for your fellow beauty enthusiasts to swoon over in the comments.

Like I said, many true beauty influencers are micro influencers, doing their thing purely for the love, and not a pay check, but that’s in sharp contrast to those who are actually paid to do so. These paid influencers put in the work, styling their stories to appeal to their audience and also the audience of the brand that’s paying them.

One such influencer, someone I’ve been following a while as I enjoyed her fresh aesthetic, is also a PR. To be fair to her, I’d become so used to seeing her bounce across fields of tulips and daisies, that I wasn’t expecting anything from her when it came to ‘real life’. However, I did happen to see her Instagram Stories late one night, where she ‘appeared’ to be crying about BLM. I say appeared because honestly, I’ve seen better performances at my nephew’s nativity play. I even recorded the crying just to check I wasn’t being too dismissive.

The next day I saw that she’d finally posted an image she’d found elsewhere (i.e. not spent time creating) and given information on how to donate and research. It all seemed very rushed and frankly, I imagine that zero attention was given to the words. I wondered if she’d been pressured to post, and apparently she had been, after being tagged in a post that prompted people to call out influencers and brands who weren’t stepping up.

She dutifully posted a black square when it was ‘expected’ of her on #blackouttuesday — which she has since deleted.

On top of that, behind the scenes she was contacting various bloggers — I can’t confirm race ratios. She sent DMs that did not address the individual, did not ask the person how they were doing at this truly tiring and stressful time. Instead she asked if they were supporting black-owned brands (she asked this of a mixed-race woman who identified as black and had been posting tons of information on her Stories…) Clueless, lazy — or worse?

She mentions in the DM that one of her clients is a black-owned business and asks if the blogger might be interested in talking about it. The following day I kept wondering, ‘okay, if you’re so supportive, why not post about this black-owned brand on your own feed?’ Or, how about you offer your services to black-owned businesses at a reduced rate? Not because you should, but because, after all, you are performing as if you care.

**Dominique, a black, London-based PR shared her thoughts on how her frequent social media support of a beauty brand (self-created and not paid for, purely because she wanted to), soon started to feel as if she was being treated as a token when she was shown as the only black face in the company’s newsletter. She also tells me of a black influencer in the UK who had been promised payment for several pieces of promo work and yet had gone unpaid and ignored. It wasn’t until her loyal followers bombarded the brand’s social media platforms that the brand paid her, in full, with no argument, or apology.

“It’s so intrinsic, and so embedded,” says Dominique. “Whether it’s content creation or Instagram — which is the first port of call for every business — it’s also the tech, it’s the algorithms used. It’s the influencers, it’s the appropriation, it’s the fact that black influencers aren’t on PR lists, and aren’t being paid the same rates.”

Dominique also talks of the pressure of ‘black guilt’ that black influencers and creators can feel: “You kind of hope and root for the brands that you spend your money on, that you will see a change. And then also, you kind of assimilate in your feed to try and see if that’s gonna help you build a following. I’ve done it. Black people have learned to compartmentalise to survive and it comes down to assimilating and trying not to broadcast your blackness.”

The PR I think, in some ways, the power of the beauty industry PRs often goes unnoticed. These are people who are in the business of carving out a niche for a brand, making it the ‘next big thing’; they advise clients on everything, from tone of voice to the right faces to use in an ad campaign to which influencers to send product to, and which influencers to offer lucrative ambassadorships to.

As most UK PR firms are owned by white men and women, it’s easy to see why inclusivity might not even enter their heads. Why would it? Let’s not forget, for decades the ideal beauty has been that of a very Eurocentric look. PR firms, alongside the rest of the industry, play their part in affirming this beauty standard — it isn’t their job to actually change it. But with more and more voices calling for change, and in the era of cancel culture, PRs are likely to be forced into taking a more active role.

For example, the labeling of BLM being a political rather than human issue by the head of CrossFit was clearly a PR nightmare of huge proportions, and no-one in the multi-billion dollar beauty industry wants that to happen to them. As a recent article on the Business of Fashion stated; too often public relations execs go along with what their client wants, and if ever they do try to steer the client in another direction they are often left unsupported or removed from the account completely.

The Magazines As someone who’s been a hair and beauty editor and writer for 15 years, I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. But one trend that remains the same is that of the ‘spot the black journo in the room’. While things may be slightly more progressive in the US, here in the UK I can say that I have never seen more than three black or non-white journalists at a press event at the same time. And don’t get me started on the staff within the publications themselves.

I remember when former British Vogue editor-in-chief Alexandra Shulman shared an image of her team in celebration of her last issue in 2017 — with not one black or brown face. I had long stopped my subscription to British Vogue, but when her replacement, Edward Enninful arrived, the man who had inspired me for years during his time at i-D magazine, I bought each issue with renewed excitement; oh how things would change!

But Enninful is one black man. And when Enninful himself is racially profiled while entering the doors of Conde Nast, you know that the problem goes way deeper. Add to that the fact that Vogue is still going to have to bow to its advertisers — the brands that keep it in print. It’s not us with our £2 ‘special price’ purchases that are keeping Vogue and others like it alive.

Elsewhere on Instagram, former Glamour editor Jo Elvin was bemoaning the fact that it wasn’t always the editor’s fault that there were no black models on the cover. Elvin said that black models often declined being on the cover (am guessing maybe it was because it was a pretty crap magazine back then?) because they ‘thought it would hurt their chances of getting covers with the high-end mags’.

And what is wrong with that? It’s far tougher for a black woman to get a Vogue cover, so if that’s that model’s goal, what’s it to Elvin and her crew? Perhaps they could seek out an unknown, rather than relying on the top three black faces over and over? Thankfully, Elvin was prompted to elaborate on her flippant comments, by none other than the aforementioned Caroline Hirons. Hirons ended by telling Elvin that the numbers don’t add up, and that bias is ‘systemic in Conde.’

I remember once going for a meeting with an online brand I avidly read. Naturally I was excited and flattered to be told: ‘you look so [insert brand name here]!’ as if I had just earned a special badge. Aside from the flattery, it really meant a lot to me and I was genuinely excited at the opportunity to write and shoot for them. I left the building buzzing, but over the coming weeks, my numerous pitches seemed to fall on deaf ears. ‘Hmm, she’s probably really, really, busy,’ I told myself.

Weeks later I noticed a new name on their writer roster and wondered if the fact that she was also mixed race was something to do with it; perhaps two was one too many? I think this is something we see and fear in many industries, but especially within fashion and beauty. While a non-black editor might enjoy being seen as the progressive one, he or she might also be nervous of ‘opening the gates’ and only employing non-white people! I’ve heard this from several black and brown people in the industry also. Once you get that role, you want to keep it both for career and financial reasons.

It’s clear that, across the board, work needs to be done, and we also need the work that is supposedly being done, to continue. It makes me nervous to see brands jumping on the Diversity Officer job role, while only offering six-month contracts. Does this mean that they hope BLM will just go away and people will just stop expecting their voices to be heard and their rights acknowledged? Are we all just so nostalgic over what normal used to be that we’d rather enter another year with blinders on?

It’s okay to admit that you’re completely unprepared for this fight. If you’ve never had to care about this fight, I get that. But whether you chose to use #blackouttuesday to gain some new fans, or you actually wanted to begin making lasting change, it’s clear, it’s going to take a lot more than a black square followed by vague epithets. Show the work; talk to your audience. Literally no-one can claim to be perfect right now, but if you want to build an anti-racist brand, take the steps, because we are all watching.

*Statistic taken from this NPR article: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/27/884213471/why-advertisers-wont-run-ads-on-black-lives-matter-content?t=1597134345822

** Name has been changed

Image: Photo by Hazel Olayres on Unsplash

This article also appears on Medium

[furederiko]

Here's the 3rd, but probably not the last Random News Digest for April...

X-Men Universe

Looks like 20th Century FOX has found its superhero niche, that's able to place the studio on a similar level to its more popular Marvel counterpart, Marvel Studios. And that is, the R-Rated department! Yes, following the success of "Deadpool", now "Logan" has secured its place as the fourth highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. So while the studio might not be able to catch up the financial and critical success in the PG-13 department, it's going strong in the older-oriented market with approximately $598 million cume. Currently finishing its seventh weekend run, the critically acclaimed "Logan" is only $13 million away from taking over Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" that's still sitting on the third place. There is a possibility that it might get dethroned, but with the Summer movies like "Fate of the Furious" entering the competition and massively snatching away public's attention, things are definitely not quite so certain anymore. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the movie performs this week, right?

Earlier today (my time region, so I believe it's... yesterday in the US?), Josh Brolin trolled actor Ryan Reynolds via social media, now that his involvement in "Deadpool 2" has been publicly confirmed. True to his character Cable, and his long tumultous history with Deadpool, Brolin's making fun of the movie's lead by calling him out with '#ryanreyondsismybitch'. Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige confirmed very recently, that his studio does NOT prohibit its actors from starring other superhero character in other studios. Particularly, in regards of Brolin's double roles. So I'm guessing Brolin gets to have the best of both worlds... or should I say universes. He's a major supervillain in Marvel Cinematic Universe, but a crucial superhero in the X-Men side at the same year. Could one actor get any privilege cooler than that? By the way, is that the photo of him preparing for prosthetics? After all, Cable is a character with both human and robotic body. Seriously, with how comically accurate "Deadpool" depicted Piotr Rasputin/Collosus, I can't help but wonder how authentic Brolin's Cable would look...

Marvel Studios

Let's get the biggest and most important news out of the way first. James Gunn is returning to write and direct "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"! Revealing this huge information in advance, just ahead of the first US press junket and screening of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", Gunn took to Facebook to express his heartwarming love and devotion to the franchise. Typical Gunn, to be honest, to not let himself be outdone by any journalists who would claim scoops and exclusives. Of course, this isn't actually surprising as much as a confirmation, because he HAD expressed interest to walk through the same cosmic road before this, albeit still in 'uncertain mode'.

If you ask me, this is a VERY wise choice, because that means we can expect the same style and tone moving forward to the 3rd and possibly final movie of the franchise. Why final? Gunn himself stated that the third movie "...will conclude the story of this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and help catapult both old and new Marvel characters into the next ten years and beyond. I will be working side-by-side with Kevin Feige and the gang to help design where these stories go, and make sure the future of the Marvel Cosmic Universe is as special and authentic and magical as what we have created so far.". Does this mean it will help kickstart MCU's Phase 4, along the lines of "Iron Man 3" and "Captain America: Civil War" for Phase 2 and Phase 3 respectively? It's certainly looking that way. I have a feeling, we're going to see the likes of future heroes like Nova, Quasar, Beta Ray Bill, or future cosmic villains like Michael Korvac and many others being set up in this movie. Just imagine the interesting possibilities, right? Considering we already have a "Spider-Man: Homecoming" sequel dated for 2019, highly likely "Vol. 3" will snatch the Summer 2020 slot. For this one, I'm even willing to bet on it!

Speaking of press junket, yes, the first screening of the movie has been held just yesterday (Monday night, April 17th, US time). While official reviews are still embargoed until April 24th, 2017 12:01 AM PST, members of the press are allowed to express their thoughts on the movie via social media. As for the results... should we even be surprised if most of them are positive? Here, I'll put them on a list: - Eric Eisenberg of Cinema Blend was super happy and called it as "great continuation of the heroes". - Mike Ryan of Uproxx thought the movie was "very fun", calling out Baby Groot for being the scene stealer, and confirmed that there are more than one post credit scene. Gunn later openly confirmed and corrected that there are 5 of them! WOW. They are mostly included for the sake of fun, and it sounded like the press were only given four since the final, fifth one is being reserved for opening date. Hence why many journalists were saying they didn't saw five. This clearly puts "Vol. 2" to have the most post-credit scenes of any MCU movie to date. - Steven Weintraub of Collider said that the movie "kept a smile on my face from beginning to end" while giving "Tons of surprises". Alongside fellow Collider's reviewer Haleigh Foutch, he agreed that it was "surprisingly emotional". - Though he still liked the first movie better, Germain Lussier of iO9 chimed in with the emotional sentiment, and declared this movie "Another Marvel winner". - /Film's Peter Sciretta thought it was funnier than the original, and agreed with the 'ton of surprises and emotion' notion. While fellow reviewer Angie Han boldly called it "MCU at its very best", as she pointed out the vast color palette. - Fandango's Erik Davis stated that the sequel is "like a water-color acid trip full of awesome", and that many will consider it as "their new favorite Marvel movie". - Brandon Davis of ComicBook.com said he seriously loved it, and wished "it was never going to end". - Jeff Sneider offered one of the negative response among all. He thought it wasn't as good as the first, and that the "VFX threaten to swallow the film". - Last but not least, Joshua Yehl of IGN and Mark Hughes of Forbes put the least amount of words to describe the movie.

Now hold on a minute there. Allow me to be the pessimistic one here! Despite those cheers, somehow I feel a little suspicious to the 'lack of words' from these critics. It's as if, they are holding back on something, so now I'm more curious than ever to read their full reviews instead. I just hope I'm merely being overly pessimistic, and that this movie is equal, if not better than the first. After all, it's common sense that a sequel would be directly compared to its first movie, and that could spell either greatness or disaster in the result. Case point, for every "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", there's a "Thor: The Dark World", or "Avengers: Age of Ultron". Head over to various Entertainment Sites (like The Hollywood Reporter, Collider, Cinema Blend, and others) to check out more of these social media reactions in digest format, and help assure your ownselves whether these meant a good sign or not. Also, as we wait for the movie's Red Carpet Hollywood premiere tomorrow at 9PM ET/ 6PM PT, you can stop by on Marvel's official Youtube channel to check out the movie's latest trailer, teasing the coming of "Vol. 2" to theatres in just two weeks from now. One thing for sure, the sequel is primed to be one of 2017's 'Summer Surefire Hit', so Marvel fans shouldn't miss it for the world.

Meanwhile, "Homecoming" is preparing itself in the final stages as well, as Michael Giacchino began working on the movie's score. Not long after, news surrounding Logan Marshall-Green's mysterious role started hitting the internet as well. Based on an anonymous source, MCU Exchange reported that Marshall-Green, possibly alongside Donald Glover and Michael Mando are set to portray the live action version of The Enforcers. In the comics, these guys were featured as some of Spider-Man's earliest foes, and they usually served as henchmen for other big named super villains. Considering "Homecoming" has an obvious strong nod to Stan Lee/Steve Ditko's original works, this shouldn't sound too surprising. Even if it's clear their backstory are being modernly retooled to become the crew of Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes/Vulture. Something I don't think they have done before in the comics.

According to the site, Marshall-Green was wearing a name tag 'Brice' in one of the scene. This easily pointed his character towards the MCU version of Jackson 'Montana' Brice. Brice is also said to become one of the two Shockers in the movie, alongside Bokeem Woodbine's Herman Schultz. With that, they also speculated that Mando might be playing 'Fancy Dan' Brito, while Glover is possibly playing a version of Raymond 'Ox' Bloch. This character information might be inline with a rumor/report posted on 4Chan board (via Reddit). The whole content of this rumor, definitely sounds REALLY interesting, and should make any Marvel movie fans leap with joy due to what we can expect in the future. Although we all know that the source's credibility is questionable at best, it's fun to get excited nonetheless. Seriously, I'm NOT kidding. So if you don't mind a little spoiler and random geekish speculations, head over and read the thread yourself. Be cautious though, it might not be 100% true. Do it just for the sake of fun!

On top of all these news however, Marvel Studios made a surprise gesture as they held an actual Open House of their office at Burbank, California. Precisely two hours before the first screening to "Vol. 2"! They've invited members of the press for a meet and greet, allowing them to see what's currently in development and what's coming in the future. This is something the studio hasn't done before, and I certainly hope it won't be the last time either. In attendance were Studio President Kevin Feige, co-President Louis D'Esposito, directors Taika Waititi, Peyton Reed, and conceptual artist Andy Park, as they helped shed some lights on various topics. This ranged from behind the scene developments and out-takes, FX work-in-progress, important tidbits from upcoming movies, as well as an exclusive one hour Q&A roundtable with Kevin Feige.

For convenience sake, let's go through them with another set of list, shall we? - Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" is set to wrap production in just a couple of days from now. D'Esposito showed an early sizzle reel that depicted scenes like: a casino fight, the coronation of one shirtless Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, Danai Gurira's Okoye 'flirting' with Florence Kasumba's Ayo, car-flip stunt, Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia in action, and Andy Serkis' Ulysses Klau interacting with Martin Freeman's Everett K. Ross about a mixtape. According to Scott Mendelson of Forbes, he has heard before that the genre this movie will take on is akin to James Bond's globetrotting adventure. Looks like this footage might have implicitly confirmed such report. If that's the case, then Marvel Studios is scoring big time with "Black Panther". Not only the movie will be their first movie with a black lead, it's also the first James Bond-type action hero with one. Add to that, the likelihood of an LGBT nod between two female characters, this movie might end up carrying huge torch of importance for the MCU. - Reed and Park showcased their concept designs for "Ant-Man & the Wasp", offering all kinds of brilliant size-shifting action scenes. They also showed the new superpowered suits for both Paul Rudd's Scott Lang and Evangeline Lilly's Hope van Dyne. Yes, Lang will have a new suit, which will be necessary to the story. Reed named it the "3.0" suit. - Waititi revealed that his cameo in "Thor: Ragnarok" would be a mo-cap role, as he'll portray Korg, a character from the "Planet Hulk" comic book. The presence of Miek was also confirmed via footage that Waititi personally shown to the press. - On a separate place, concept art for Josh Brolin's Thanos in"Avengers: Infinity War" could be seen. Oddly, that's all there is for the movie. It's likely that things are being tightly wrapped for this production, to avoid giving early spoilers to the press. After all, the title of UNTITLED 2019's Avengers movie alone, might already be considered one. - Although not yet called official, a mockup costume of Brie Larson's Carol Danvers for "Captain Marvel" can be spotted on the studio. It seems to be taking cues from the comics, so fans can rest assured. For detailed description of this tentative Captain America-esque design, you can head over to Screen Rant. Also, the plan is for the movie to begin production in February 2018, as a female director might have already been selected to helm the movie. I guess we'll just have to wait for Marvel Studios to officially announce her to public. - In the Q&A, Feige stated his stance on R-rated superhero movies, and how Marvel Studios is unlikely to venture that route. He refused to comment on how Warner Bros is doing with their DC Extended Universe. But he himself admitted to be a fan of DC characters, so naturally he wishes them to do well. It's the kind of generous move I can only hope, someday could be replicated by those generally bullish folks at WB/DC, as impossible as that might seem. Feige even shared his enthusiasm and support for Joss Whedon's DC project, revealing that the former MCU consultant actually talked to their team about doing "Batgirl", waaay before the news went public! Now that's what I call respect... am I right? - Last but not least, Feige confirmed that Tom Holland's Peter Parker, will also appear in the currently UNTITLED 2019's Avengers movie. He said the deal with SONY has been extended until the already-announced sequel of "Homecoming" that's coming in 2019, but what happens afterwards remains in question for the time being. Oh, and that Marvel Studios does NOT have anything to do with any of the announced Spider-Man spin-offs (like "Venom" or "Black Cat & Silver Sable"). So obviously, those titles won't take place in the MCU. To those who are still wondering about that, there's your valid answer.

This event, as well as that report from 4Chan that I've mentioned earlier, will undeniably make any MCU fans happy. Of course, I actually don't need to remind you, but don't forget to book your tickets for "Vol. 2" that will arrive real soon. And this was just in several hours ago, but despite the existence of Disney D23, Marvel Studios is NOT skipping out San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) this Summer (held on July 20th to July 23rd)! That means, we can get more news surrounding the upcoming movies like "Ragnarok", "Black Panther", "Infinity War", and perhaps the confirmation of who will be directing "Captain Marvel". Maaan, it's such a good time to be Marvel Studios fans, am I right?

Star Wars

Star Wars Celebration 2017 (SWCO 2017) was held last week from April 13th to 16th, 2017, and as many had expected, some key information about the franchise were delivered.

The long-awaited, and much-anticipated first teaser for "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has been released. I personally thought it looked okay, and somehow looking more ominous than 2015's "The Force Awakens". But of course, I'm not a huge Star Wars fans, so I don't think I'm qualified to judge this. It seems to be focusing more on Daisy Ridley's Rey, as she trains under the guidance of Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. Perhaps, this movie is serving as some kind of Hamill's swan song in the franchise? Much like how "The Force Awakens" had Harrison Ford exited in a high note? Will we get to know more about Rey's back story? Who her parents are? It's currently unclear if writer/director Rian Johnson will be able to accomplish the same critical and financial success to J.J. Abrams. His enthusiasm did look comforting, but as always, we'll have to wait and see whether he'll deliver when the movie arrives later this year on December 15, 2017.

What truly stole the attention of almost every (if not all) attendees during the event, was none other than a strong melancholic tribute to the late Carrie Fisher. A special tribute video was released online in accordance to this, and although it didn't have as much effect on me, I'm sure "Star Wars" fans would appreciate it a lot better. In their own "Star Wars" way. As a follow up to this, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that the late actress will not appear, as in digitally inserted, as General Leia in the upcoming Episode IX. That means Episode VIII or "The Last Jedi", which was Fisher's last movie before her untimely passing on December 2016, would certainly be her final "Star Wars" appearance in the franchise. This helped clarified the previous report, when Carrie's brother Todd and daughter Billie Lourd stated their permission for Disney and Lucasfilm to use her footage for the 2019 movie. Kennedy assured fans, that we will be seeing "a lot of Carrie" this December. While some fans have indeed expressed grieve and disappointments about this decision, some others agreed with Kennedy, that it was the right thing to do to honor the late actress.

On the TV side, comes a surprising announcement for fans. "Star Wars REBELS" is ending in its next, 4th season. Yep, this is the primary reason why this category is suddenly sitting in the borderline of movie and TV, because it goes both ways. Series co-creator and executive producer Dave Filoni, brought this news himself to the audience, accompanied by core cast members like Freddie Prinze, Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Taylor Gray, Tiya Sircar, and Steve Blum. He stated that adventure for Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, and their Rebel 'family' will come to a close in 15 episodes, and that it's going to be "A little dark, a little fun". Filoni admitted that ending the show was his decision, learning from unpleasant experience with "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". Eventhough "REBELS" is ending, Filoni did state that there will be more animated "Star Wars" stories in the future.

To be honest, considering the in-show developments that's getting more and more colossal for a TV budget, I didn't find this news to be THAT surprising. Although interestingly, this thing always happen everytime I'm on the verge of dropping a series. LOL. No really, I thought Season 3 ended in a good note, and I'm going to leave it at that. Knowing that the next is going to be the last season, obviously I've changed my plan. Of course, I do feel curious about where or how this show cannonically fits in between the movies. According to popular knowledge, it takes place before the events of the "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope". As far as I know (mind you, I'm still Star Wars illiterate, so pardon if I'm mistaken), there aren't any active Jedi present until Luke Skywalker become one in the movie. While apparently, Hera and Chopper are mentioned to be stationed on Yavin 4 in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story". Does this mean Kanan and Ezra will meet their demise in the final season? Hmmmm, intriguing.

Through SWCO's special panel for the series, the voice actors talked about what will happen to their characters. Marshall said, that members of the Ghost will be "pressed to the very edges of their ability". Perhaps we might see her Hera Syndulla gets promoted to General, as revealed in "Rogue One" then? Blum's Zeb Aurellios is taking more of an uncle-figure, to what I assume to be Ezra. Filoni said that Chopper will get to show his "bigger heart" in this last season, considering he has been seen as cranky and grumpy in the previous three. Obviously, Sabine Wren will be dealing with her Mandalorian Civil War, as was hinted in the finale of Season 3. Sircar hesitated to say much about it, but teased that things might get ugly for her family, especially when a certain 'familiar' someone arrives. And by familiar, perhaps... the elusive Boba Fett? Prinze Jr. said Kanan will slowly evolve into the strong Jedi, joining the ranks that audience have seen before. Gray certainly said that his Ezra will make some great decisions this season, away from the dark side.

As for the guest characters, Forest Whitaker will reprise his role as the voice of Saw Gerrera. Saw's co-pilot Two Tubes will joining him this season. Genevieve O'Reilly, will be reprising Mon Mothma as well. We can presumably expect more "Rogue One" stars, jumping in for a quick inclusion. Ahsoka Tano's return is being teased, but not properly confirmed. Finally, Grand Admiral Thrawn's bodyguard Rukh, is also set to make his debut in the series. Warwick Davis will be voicing this role. Hints of these developments weren't specifically felt through the Final Season's official trailer that has been made available on Youtube, but it sure promised a serious, conclusive, and definitely explosive finale to the series. The first two-parter episodes entitled "The Heroes of Mandalore" have already been screened exclusively for attendees. Fans of the series, or those who ended up watching it like yours truly, should anticipate the return of the fourth and final season later when it premiere this Fall on Disney XD.

Marvel TV

Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." gained a boost of interest due the final arc of its currently airing 4th season, "The Framework". Despite that achievement though, in general the continuously declining ratings for Marvel's first MCU-oriented TV show remains a lingering concern. And it is made worse because the network, ABC, tends to not announce renewal for its shows until sometime in May. May 16th, 2017 to be precise, though individual confirmation might always arrive earlier than that schedule.

The good news is, Entertainment Weekly evaluated the possibility for most running shows with 'uncertain future', and deduced that at the very least, AoS will be given another season, even if just only one more. I think it's a good idea, as the showrunners are given the chance to conclude their run in a satisfying manner, tying up all the loose ends. The bad news is, with Marvel's "The Inhumans" stealing the network's attention, there's always the unexpected turnaround of AoS eventually getting axed early on, to clear out some excess baggage and schedule. After all, we've experienced this before with both the cancelled Marvel's "Agent Carter", and Marvel's "Most Wanted" that never even saw the light of day.

I'm aware that some, if not many fans would feel disappointed with this decision. Particularly when other networks are still on a hot-streak, as they renew their superhero shows over and over again no matter how the audience perceived them. But I for one, will not feel as bad if AoS eventually gets cancelled, or given just one final season. Looking on the bright side, the absence of AoS can pave the way for spin off shows like perhaps, Ghost Rider, or the actual Secret Warriors. Not to mention, any members of the AoS cast can then move on to star in a Marvel Studios' big screen production, right? No more scheduling issues that prevented the two divisions from properly crossing over. That would all be cleared up with the series' end. Mind you, things are not yet certain for now. Filming for Season 4 had already wrapped the other day, so I doubt even the showrunners and cast can tell anything in advance regarding their show's future. So whether you're rooting for the show or not, you better start crossing your fingers, to hope the best, while expecting the worse possible outcome as well.

As for "The Inhumans", it's also still unclear whether this 8-episode mini series will be a first season of more to come, or just this one off. It's likely that this new show is being set up as the replacement for AoS, but with Marvel Studios also planning a movie for them, things just become a little cloudy and murky to predict. One thing for sure, the mini-series might have recently cast actor Chad James Buchanan in a mystery role. Buchanan tweeted this hint, and then later deleted it, implying that he might be playing an important role. Considering I have poor knowledge on the Inhumans comics and its character, and also unfamiliar with Buchanan's previous roles (was he really in "Glee"? I honestly can't remember), I can't exactly predict who he'll be playing. Or whether he's any good. Perhaps an antagonist? A NuHuman, like writer Charles Soule had confirmed? Then again, it's always possible that he's just playing a random one-episode only character, not unlike Lewis Tan in "Iron Fist". So perhaps it would be wiser to not think too highly of him too soon.

Netflix

With Marvel's "The Punisher" effectively in post-production, we can expect promotional stuff for the new series pretty soon. Particularly as SDCC 2017 is coming in just around 3 months from now, and the high chance of Marvel TV's presence. One of the more likely giveaway to be handed over during the event, might very well be that one specially designed poster coming from the hands of Joe Quesada. For the time being, it's a freebie handed out to cast and crew, but I suspect fans are going to get a hand of it pretty soon as well. Quesada did a similar poster before this for Marvel's "The Defenders", and likewise, this poster gives us glimpse of Jon Bernthal's main character Frank Castle, as well as his supporting cast. You can check out MCU Exchange for their description of who's who in this poster.

It seems this show would be taking extra liberties, thus many things would be vastly different compared to the comics. MCU Exchange pointed out, that Ben Barnes' Billy Russo might not be set up as an antagonist. At least, not until the first season ends. Which isn't that much surprising, since we've seen the same slow-burn treatment in previous Marvel-Netflix shows, with Sacha Dhawan's Davos being the latest example. The good news is, we can stare at Barnes' charming face a lot longer before his character, assuming it's going by the book, gets roughed up to jigsaws. But the bad news of this approach? Well, it seems that once again, this show would be using the exact same pattern and premise of the previous shows, which might or might not work for everyone. Especially those who have sensed a repetitive painstakingly SLOOOW formula that's starting to make them feel... 'bored' with the Netflix Universe. Yes, I'll be honest, I'm one of those people. I'm personally hoping at least "The Punisher" will offer something fresh and different, to break new grounds, and not go through the exact same motions, scenarios, and story beats of its older brothers. Otherwise, I might just have to say no to it...

The Telltale Series

Telltale released a trailer for the first episode of "Guardians of the Galaxy" via Marvel's official channel. As far as I know, there will be 5 episodes just like previous Telltale titles, so there are four more coming after this. Clearly this release is timed real well to coincide with the worldwide premiere of "Vol. 2". The Guardians seems to be taking on Thanos in this series, but it's unclear if it will include more characters inspired by the movie. Anyways, Guardians, and in general, Marvel fans should look forward for this. I'm still a bit taken aback thanks to the character designs, but when it comes to video games, it's really the gameplay that really counts. So I'm wishing it will have better luck in that department.

Ace Attorney

Through their recent Nintendo Direct, the company announced that "Dai Gyakuten Saiban 2: Naruhodou Ryuunosuke no Kakugo", or translated as "The Great Ace Attorney 2: Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Resolution", will be available for Nintendo 3DS on August 3rd, 2017 for 5,800 yen retail-price, or 5,546 download-price. As a follow up to said announcement, CAPCOM officially released two new trailers for the game's new trailer. The first featured Sherlock and Van Ziek, while the second put Sherlock and Iris Watson in the spotlight.

A web demo has been made available through the title's official Japanese website, accessible on PC and smartphones. If you prefer to simply watch, then there are some gameplay videos you can watch online instead. You can found them on Youtube, through this link and this one. CAPCOM has listed story and character details, like Ryuunosuke's cousin Ryuutarou, and the case he'll be involved with. The company also offered several exclusive bonuses for those who purchased the game early. You can read these through the official site though it requires a bit of Japanese Kanji knowledge, or via Gematsu for the translated version. There are also two Special Edition sets: - The Great Ace Attorney 1&2 Limited Edition: Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Adventure and Resolution, that will launch on August 3rd, 2017 for 7,200 yen. This will include both games, as well as a mini soundtrack album. Those who haven't purchased the first title might opt to take this one due to the discount price. - The Great Ace Attorney 2 e-Capcom Limited Edition, that will launch on August 3rd, 2017 for 9,800 yen. Pre-orders has begun on April 18th at 13:00 JST. This will include "Read Aloud CD" featuring the characters of the game, a Ryunosuke Naruhodo piggy bank, a "University Notebook", and a set of three pencils. Three exclusive coasters will be awarded to the first prints. This one's obviously for the Ace Attorney enthusiasts and item collectors.

Professor Layton

LEVEL-5's latest project in the popular mystery-puzzle series, the one that will feature Layton's daughter, has been officially renamed into "Layton's Mystery Journey: Katrielle and The Millionaires' Conspiracy" (it was previously called "Lady Layton: The Millionaire Ariadne's Conspiracy"). A release date has also been announced. This new game will arrive on July 20th, 2017, for Nintendo 3DS in Japan, and on iOS and Android worldwide (available in eight languages). It seems the non-Japan version of Nintendo 3DS will arrive later in Fall, though that part is left unclear for now. Also currently unclear, is the pricing of the game.

As already revealed before, Katrielle Layton and her assistant, the dog Sharo, are the main characters of this game. She will go on a quest to locate her missing father, the great Professor Hershel Layton. London-based Katrielle is said to be "jack-of-all-trades and mystery-solving detective", someone who will take on any job and solve cases with bizarre ideas. While Sharo, is a... well, talking dog. There's going to be a new gameplay style with the hope of attracting new players, as solving smaller conundrums and puzzles is now necessary to complete a bigger goal. Thus the tagline for the game is "high-speed comical puzzle-solving story". Despite that, interactions with witty and weird characters will still remain the same, as the game divulges into a story of "dramatic developments and amusing incidents". Ain't that sound interesting! Well you can see it for yourself through the game's latest trailer. Looks familiar but also different, eh? I wonder how expensive this will cost, because I sure would want to play it. Even if only to find out what happens to Layton, and the identity of Katrielle's mother... XD.

Sonic the Hedgehog

A quick 1-minute footage for "Sonic Forces" also made its way through Nintendo Direct. This time around we get to see Classic Sonic in action. But not just that, the announced third character has been teased at the end of this footage as well. And... is that Tails? He looks like a cat or something like that, and it is said to be a 'New Friend', so definitely not Tails. Which begs the question... for a game that features two different timeline of Sonic the Hedgehogs, why would an external character becoming the third playable lead? Why not just give the spot to... say, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, or his other friends? Hmmm... curious.

Aside from previewing a cool futuristic main theme for "Sonic Forces", SEGA also debuted a new gameplay video for "Sonic Mania". This video showcased the co-op mode, with the female host playing Tails, as the two character scoured their way through 'Green Hill Zone' Act 2. Fans of the 8-bit era titles will be nostalgically delighted with this title. "Sonic Mania" is set to be released this summer for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC, while "Sonic Forces" is due out this holiday.

[makeitwithmike]

10 Google Ranking Factors Every Website Must Focus On In 2017

By Saumya Raghav

Q: What do Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, Backlinko.com and Jeffbullas.com have in common?

A: All four of these sites rank high on Google SERPs and enjoy untapped authority.

Now, here’s the big question.

How do these sites consistently rank high on Google SERPs?

Well, these sites do two things very well.

Firstly, they focus on the Google ranking factors that have the biggest impact.

Secondly, they put all of their resources into scaling these ranking factors.

By now you’re probably thinking: Google uses more than 200 ranking signals to rank websites. So how do I find out which factors I should focus on to get a higher Google ranking?

Well, you’re in luck because I’m going to tell you the top 10 most significant Google ranking factors that websites should focus on in 2017.

1. Page authority

Page authority is one of the most critical Google ranking factors that every website owner who is hoping to rank highly on Google SERPs needs to be mindful of in 2017.

Page authority refers to the authority/credibility of your page in the eyes of the Google spiders/crawlers. The ‘Big G’ determines the credibility of your webpage by looking at your website’s link profile.

Basically, the higher the quantity and quality of inbound links pointing to your webpage, the more authority it will enjoy on Google SERPs.

Image Source: Backlinko

In fact, if your page isn’t authoritative, Google won’t rank it at all.

I’m sure you’re wondering how to increase your website’s authority now?

The answer is simpler than you might think: practice white hat link-building strategies. Reach out to similar bloggers, website owners or businesses who enjoy untapped authority on the web, and pitch for guest posts, infographics, etc.

For each and every page of your website, try to embed as many high-quality inbound links as possible. But don’t take the easy route of buying links! Trust me, this is not going to do you any good.

Instead, try a deep linking strategy to build better page authority.

Image Source: theoffbeatstory

2. Link relevancy

As discussed above, Google determines how authoritative your website is based on the quality and quantity of links connecting back to your website/web page.

But there’s a catch: it’s not just about getting many high-quality inbound links, it’s also about getting relevant inbound links.

Yeah, you heard me right!

Google pays more and more attention to the relevancy of the inbound links that point back to your website.

In fact, as Andre Weyher, the former head of Google’s web spam team, revealed in an interview, the relevance of links is the new PR as far as Google rankings are concerned.

Aim at getting as many high-quality inbound links as you can, but make sure all of these links are relevant. Focus on link building only from authoritative and relevant sites. This will help ensure that links pointing back to your site are from sites or blogs that are from the same industry and niche as yours.

For instance, if you’re a digital marketing agency and publish content on technical SEO, social media marketing and content marketing, you should aim at getting inbound links from sites with a higher page authority that publish content on the same topics as yours.

3. Content length

It may surprise you to learn that content is one of the most important ranking factors. In fact, content is the second most important signal that Google uses to rank websites on its SERPs.

But it should be no surprise.

For over a decade, content has been the essential fuel that drives modern-day marketing machines. More and more businesses now rely on content marketing to increase traffic, generate leads and optimize lead conversion rates.

The only problem is that now 93% of B2B marketers use content marketing, there’s a lot of white noise on Google. So how do you make sure your content is able to cut through all of the white noise, drive traffic to your website and rank higher on Google SERPs?

Here’s how: don’t keep on creating and publishing short-form (aka useless) content, day in and day out, as it is not going to help you rank higher.

Instead, create long-form content that is ideally more than 2000 words in length.

Longer doesn’t necessarily have to mean boring. Carefully craft your content to cut through all the fluff and only include information that your target audience is looking for.

As this study by SERPIQ (one of Google’s top 10 results) shows, long-form content consistently ranks better on Google SERPs.

Image Source: theoffbeatstory.com

4. Content ‘thinness’

Now that I’ve spilled the beans on the impact of content length on Google rankings, it’s time to impart that sites with ‘thin’ content which offers little or no value to people are dropped like a stone by Google.

Let’s talk about what ‘thin’ content is.

‘Thin’ content is any content that adds no or little value to a related search query. Remember Google’s Panda and Penguin updates? They sought to identify content farms (sites with low-value content stuffed with keywords to rank higher) and scraper sites (sites that featured duplicate content) and penalize them. These days, Google’s updates are focused primarily on sites with ‘thin’ or near-duplicate content.

Though Google doesn’t formally penalize sites for having ‘thin’ content, it may potentially misguide Google spiders when they are trying to find unique page content amongst the ‘thin’ content. This may result in low SERP rankings.

So what should you do?

Google crawlers prefer assigning better rankings to sites that provide original, robust content. So remove or no-index pages with thin or duplicate content. Include archived and category pages in this list. Delete or ‘no-index’ such pages.

After all, these pages often add no value to Google searchers anyway. So, if you are holding on to these pages, you’re actually pushing down your Google ranking.

5. Average time spent on page

Here’s a shocker for you: most blogs have an average bounce rate of around 70 to 98%.

This means that when someone lands on your blog page, they don’t spend more than a few seconds there before abandoning it.

So how does this impact your Google ranking?

Google pays close attention to how much time people spend on your web page when it comes to ranking your site on its SERPs. If people tend to spend more time there, Google assumes your page is informative and ranks you well.

Image Source: Backlinko.com

If you’re thinking your bounce rate doesn’t really impact your ranking, please be advised that they are a very important ranking signal for Google.

Now it’s time for the big question: how do I reduce my bounce rate?

Here’s your answer: be clever when creating content. Add a lot of ‘Bucket Brigades’ and compelling headings into your posts. Structure your blog posts well, too, by including data points and quote boxes.

Here’s what Bucket Brigades look like:

Image Source: theoffbeatstory.com

Make sure your web pages are visually compelling and clutter-free. Ensure that your links and calls to action are properly positioned, and leave a lot of cell padding around your CTA buttons and links.

Remember, the better, more informative and more interesting your website looks, the higher the average amount of time spent on your page and the better your Google SERP rankings will be.

6. Domain authority

You might not know that the domain authority of your website or web page plays a significant role as far as Google SERP ranking is concerned, but it does.

Domain authority is actually a metric that includes 40 different ranking signals and rates websites on a scale of 1 to 100, where 1 is rated as the worst and 100 is rated as the best.

Obviously, the better your domain authority; the higher your ranking.

Image Source: Backlinko.com

While a large number of experts believe that you can’t really do much to increase your domain authority because it takes time, it doesn’t solely depend on domain age.

Here are a few things you can do to quickly increase your domain authority: first, extend the expiry date of your domain name to send a signal to Google that your site is trustworthy. Try to get as many high-quality and relevant inbound links as possible pointing to your website, then smartly sprinkle your target keyword throughout your long-form content.

7. Keywords in title tags

Keywords are so important that you can’t really think of ranking your blog or website without it having keywords in it.

But did you know that Google carefully considers keywords used in your title tags when ranking websites on its SERPs? It actually gives more weight to pages that use keywords in the beginning of their title tags.

Image Source: Backlinko.com

This is because Google spiders are able to instantly figure out what the page is all about if target keywords are placed in the beginning of title tags.

For example, let’s say your target keyword is ‘Google Adwords Tips’ and you have two title tags.

Title Tag #1: Google Adwords Tips: 5 Tips to Get More With Google AdWords

Title Tag #2: How to Get More with These 5 Google AdWords Tips

Now, can you guess which title tag will rank better on Google SERPs?

No prizes for guessing which! It’s Title Tag #1. That is because this title tag uses the keyword right at the start of it, making it easy for Google spiders to understand what the page is all about.

8. Keyword positioning and relevance

Now that we’re talking about keywords, let me also reveal that Google pays close attention to how you position your target keyword on your webpage.

This means that Google crawlers carefully check for keywords in your page URL, in your posts, and in your H1, H2 and H3 tags. Placing keywords in these areas makes it clear to Google spiders that your page is focused on the target keyword.

But here’s a shocker: if your page content doesn’t really match with your keywords, your site may be penalized by Google. Yeah! That’s true!

The days when Google only paid attention to the keyword density are long gone. Today, it looks for keyword relevance too.

So what should you do?

Smartly structure your page using relevant keywords. Place keywords in the first 100 words of your posts, in your page URL, and in your H1/H2/H3 tags. Don’t forget to include keywords in the beginning of your meta descriptions. That’s important, too.

9. Page load time

Slower page load time dramatically affects your pages’ performance. In fact, a one-second delay in page loading time means 11% fewer page views.

It gets worse: 25% of visitors will abandon your site if your page doesn’t load within 4 seconds.

Remember, Google is the world’s largest search engine and it takes its’ user experience seriously. So naturally, it penalizes sites with a slower load time by drastically dropping their rankings.

Image Source: Backlinko.com

Now, it’s not rocket science to understand why page load time remains one of the most significant Google ranking factors that you should be mindful of in 2017 and beyond.

The question is how you can improve the load time of your slower web page.

First, analyze your pages’ loading speed using Google’s flagship product, PageSpeed Insights tool. Then, based on the analysis of your page speed, upgrade your server. Don’t forget to minimize your HTML, CSS and JavaScript files as well as all redirects.

Optimizing images may also help you reduce your page’s load time.

10. Responsive design

Mobile devices make for 51.3% of internet usage globally. Considering how many people now use mobile devices for Google searches, it’s easy to understand why Google takes responsive design so seriously when it comes to ranking websites.

A study conducted by Google revealed that over 67% of users prefer buying from responsive sites and 61% of users abandon non-responsive sites.

Image Source: theoffbeatstory.com

Google penalizes sites that aren’t responsive by dropping their rankings.

Image Source: theoffbeatstory.com

Remember, if you’re looking to rank higher on Google SERPs in 2017, you’ll need to adopt responsive design.

Bonus tip: Steer clear of website pop-ups!

As you may already know, if not used correctly, pop-ups can annoy your visitors to such an extent that they will abandon your site and never return. Statistics show that 70% of Americans get annoyed by irrelevant pop-up ads.

Since irrelevant pop-ups can ruin your user experience, Google recently announced that it will start penalizing mobile sites that feature irrelevant pop-ups. Google may soon implement this update for desktop sites, too.

So it makes good business sense not to use irrelevant pop-ups on your site. Better yet, avoid using pop-ups at all.

Wrapping up

So, there you have it – 10 of the most significant Google ranking factors to consider when looking to boost your website’s ranking!

Go ahead and put this learning into practice, and get set to rank higher on Google SERPs in 2017 and beyond.

I’d love to hear what you think of these top 10 Google ranking factors – let me know by leaving a comment down below.

Guest Author: Saumya Raghav is the founder of The Offbeat Story, a blog that aspires to help small businesses and startups minimize the marketing costs of generating traffic and improving conversions. A blogger and conversion scientist by day, he is an avid Jeff Bullas and Brian Dean reader at night. He loves to write on topics related to digital marketing, technical and international SEO, web analytics, startup and small business strategies, growth hack strategies and conversion optimization strategies. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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