#media discussion

[descendant-of-truth]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

[blackcat419]

This is a really great video that talks about something I’ve noticed for a bit.

Stories that are trying to be more feminists or more female focused often miss the mark because they’re not telling stories about the women but placing the woman as a narrator in a man’s story.

Stories set in historical settings seem to think they must make the woman someone who could survive in modern society instead of exploring how a woman lives in that society.

These stories do a disservice to the women of their stories because they fail to actually see the women as humans in their own right and instead as mouth pieces for a modern audience to comment on how shit the past was.

My favorite line from the video is “the women of myth are not the untold stories, the women who we only know existed because we know they died are the untold stories of the time”

This is why I think HotD fails its female characters. These aren’t women in a fantasy historical area, they are modern mouth pieces to be used as commentary (Rhaenys is a blaring example of this). They are not allowed to be humans in this world like their male counterparts, they have to be modern women who we see tell the story of the men around them.

@ambrosia-v-black

@cherrysoulth

[a-doubleh-x]

A discussion on the problematic elements of Dandadan

TW: Nudity, sexualization, SA

Greetings everyone! As most people on this platform are probably aware, episode 9 of Dandadan sparked a bit of debate within the fandom. It was little compared to the controversies behind episode 1, but some of the takes I saw parading this time around still shocked me. That's why I wanted to sort my thoughts and wait until everyone cooled their heads before joining the discussion.

I invite you to take a deep breath with me before continuing, should you want, as this has already turned into a heated topic for some people.

*Inhale* *Exhale*

Still with me? Good.

Let's start with the focus point of the debate. Does Dandadan sexualize teenagers? To determine that, let's observe the definiton of sexualization. According to wikipedia: "Sexualization is the emphasis of the sexual nature of a behavior or person. Sexualization is linked to sexual objectification, treating a person solely as an object of sexual desire."

So, following with this definition, sexualization is essentially focusing on the sexuality of a person. You with me so far? Therefore, one can say that any show or work of art that places a significant light on the sexual aspects of a person or group is liable to sexualizing, possibly objectifying that person or group.

Of course, like most things in society, this is highly contextual. Someone can find sexual appeal on a work that isn't intended to be sexy and someome can not find any appeal in a sexualized work of art. This may be due to either the individual's preferences, the authorial intent, the presentation of the art piece, etc.

I think this distinction is why Dandadan provides some ambiguity, as some people find sexualized aspects in this show while others don't. Let's take the infamous abduction scene for example.

What is the purpose of this scene? One can argue, for instance, the purpose is drama, as this is a dangerous situation where the protagonist is restrained in front of a threat. One can also argue the purpose is comedy, as this is an inherently ridiculous situation timed after hours upon hours of disbelief.

In my case, I, myself will argue that this scene is heavily, heavily sexualized. The context is pretty clear to me. This scene references a rape fantasy. The restrained victim, the assailant in a position of power, the forced nudity, everything about this scene is charged with fetishism.

Yes, a scene can have many interpretations and most of them can be valid. Some may be evident within the context and some may be buried in the subtext. But that doesn't mean one is more relevant than another.

I think it is frankly ridiculous that some people feel the necessity to defend scenes like these to death, focusing on of the aspects in order to downplay the other. And yes, while I do recognize that this scene can be read as a symbolic representation of Momo's spiritual repression, yadda, yadda, I think there is an obvious front stage visual that should take presedence.

I will take a precious moment to mention that everyone has the right to enjoy any media they want for any reason within the comofrt of their own home. No one has the need to argue for the virtue of the shows they enjoy, but I've seen people behemently trying to downplay the problematic aspects of this show, which is actually a huge breach of respect to anyone who is made uncomfortable by the light depictions of sexual assualt.

Going back to episode 9, some people have made the argument that because the characters aren't depicted in a sexual situation, no sexualization is taking place just because the characters are naked. The argument being that it's simply played for laughs and whatnot. And while I agree the situation itself isn't necessarily sexual (fighting an alien lock ness monster), it is still an obvious case of gratuitous nudity.

Whether you find nudity inherently sexual or not (that's a whole other discussion) in today's modern age, most people in fact do. Ask anyone on the street if they'll be embarrassed by getting naked and the answer will overwhelmingly be yes. And while fiction has the luxury of dealing with fictional characters, it doesn't mean the respect that is showed by showrunners to their characters musn't reflect the respect the respect people show in reality towards each other (most of the time).

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "So what?" "It's not like there aren't a million other shows just as frisky as Dandadan, if not worse!" "Relatively, it's rather tame." "Why should we care if the characters get naked in this show?"

And yes, while one can argue there's sleazier and more problematic shows than Dandadan out there, I think one of the most problematic element is the reception itself in the western world.

This is a rather old topic, so I'm sure I don't need to explain to you the problems with sexualizing teenagers. Teenagers are a vulnerable and impressionable age group that shouldn't be treated lightly in media. Otherwise, there are risks for that age group, such as making them coveted for age inappropiate persons.

Maybe teens in their underwear aren't a big deal for you, but they are a big deal for me and they're a big deal for anyone who cares about their safety. Anime has very different standards in its country of origin than the standards we have in the rest of the world and we musn't forget about our perspective if we don't want to fall into bad influences.

There is an implicit bias communicated through the use of gratuitous nudity that this is a desirable situation. Yes, usually the characters don't get naked *because they want to*, but it's not like the situations are clearly engineered by the writer in order for them to happen.

Just because the main story has a message doesn't mean it's flawless, nor that authorial intent is all that matters when it comes to reading a story. I, personally, would argue that Dandadan's main story is bogged down by this type of scenes that undermine to an extent its contextual themes of body autonomy.

Take for an example the most infamous episode aa of yet, episode 7. Acro-Silky's story is played *completely* seriously, she's a woman who, in the face of debt, has to sacrifice her own body by prostitution in order to be able to raise her daughter at all. And yet despite her efforts, she's beat anyways and taken the most important thing for her.

Now, imagine that the same light tone used during the abduction scene or the naked alien fight was used during this sequence.

Doesn't feel the same, right?

Why doesn't the rest of the show treat itself as seriously as these scenes? It is a problem, because inconsistency in narrative creates confusing messages, such as "one thing is good, one is bad". Acro-Silky being exploited is tragic, but Momo and co being exposed in front of the entire school is silly.

Now, yes, for those who think I'm being too harsh, I will admit there is probably no such thing as a perfectly cohesive piece of fiction without its own contradictions. I'm sure there's plenty of folks out there able to put two and two together, but I'm certain there even more folks who aren't.

We need to be on the same page for things that matter. While there is plenty of good that has come from this show, such as healthy relationship standards or advocacy for compassion, all that work is for naught if people are still misled by the negative aspects of the show.

I hope this post is useful for somebody, if not by itself at least to contribute to the collective conversation in any meaningful way.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time! Peace! ✌️

[ultimatefartwizard]

NOT FUCKING AGAIN! THE MUSICAL ( TF EARTHSPARK MESSAGES AND MANDROID'S GENOCIDAL HORRORS EDITION)

Holy shit I am losing my mind... @monocle-teacup you better read this <3 (dead serious though cuz wtf)

Also of course as always, spoilers ahead this time for season 2 of earthspark so dont want it? skedaddle (s2 isnt worth caring about though, trust me)

Also again nobody go witchhunting or harassing anyone, this is discussion of media and someones poor takes on some clear themes in a show.

Okay you're using THE TERRIBLE WRITING OF S2 TO PROVE YOUR LITTLE HORRIBLE SLIMY GENOCIDAL GREASEMAN IN THE RIGHT???? WHY ARE YOU VOUCHING FOR HIM. WHY DO YOU SAY HIS IDEAS ARE RIGHT AUUUUGH-

How you continue to have terrible takes astounds me 💀 You can't be serious man how are you this like,,, braindead? And ignoring all of what S1 is trying to teach even before S2 came out? oh wait.

You choose your attraction of a gross ass man over LITERAL IN YOUR FACE PLOTPOINTS BECAUSE YOU'D RATHER MEATRIDE YOUR BABYGIRL MANDROID OVER EVERYTHING THE SHOW HAS BUILT UP. Not like you probably ever cared to connect any of the dots.

Oh, to help you do that, I have a previous post I made where I pinged you! You should read it before you read anymore, it'll help with what I'm about to preface here. Please READ IT.

Okay, time to dig into literally EVERYTHING ALL OVER AGAIN BECAUSE YOU CAN'T SEEM TO LET GO OF THIS MAN AND HIS OBVIOUS LACK OF HUMANITY IN HIM AND CONTINUE TO SEE SOMETHING THATS NOT THERE. I will start off by saying the quality of the writing for season 2 and season 2's entire disregard for season 1 don't discredit season 1, no matter what nonsense there is. I hate season 2 for all its going for thus far and its just genuinely a waste of my braincells to try watching it again. There are also things not specifically related to mandroid but are also pet peeves that show your lack of attention to detail.

How. Did you miss this. Humans have been living with bots for 30 to 40 years at this point they don't bat an eye at them because THEY THINK THEY'RE JUST SOME BOTS CASUALLY WALKING AROUND. They don't give a fuck about the terrans; only a select few know they are even earth-born bots. Transformers have been living amongst humans casually don't you think they wouldn't give two fucks and know not to gawk at random robots walking around like they just started existing?

You saw the Philadelphia episode (I hope? because you act like you haven't) or really any episode they are just chilling and walking around, you didn't notice nobody gave a damn? What about Optimus, Elita 1, and other bots? Would you randomly gawk at a group of sapient beings walking amongst you who've been there for a lifetime?

No.

They had to hide FROM GHOST not FROM THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE. Ghost would have tried to capture them and imprison them by deeming them a threat for merely existing, not humans as a whole. The fact you miss this entire detail is incredibly sad.

Okay now onto Mandroid stuff because you never stop meatriding him MY GOD

Huh, maybe you need to USE YOUR BRAIN and realize he was not protecting earth. He -thought- he was, because he perceived them as vermin who need to be wiped out and a threat to humanity. Like I said before in my last post DECEPTCONS DO NOT EQUAL ALL OF TRANSFORMERS OH MY GOD. Plus with this season its clear there can't be the same writers on this team. They have sacrificed the story for toymaking opportunities DON'T YOU THINK MAYBE HE'S NOT RIGHT JUST BECAUSE S2 SOMEHOW SAYS THE -CONS IN SPECIFIC (NOT ALL BOTS MY FUCKING GOD)- ARE TO NOT BE TRUSTED AND ARE DANGEROUS? USE YOUR CRANIUM THAT EVOLUTION HAS GIVEN YOU. Mandroid conflated every single transformer with a twisted ideal in his head born out of hate, not from a true sense of danger nor did he separate cons and autobots or unaligned bots in his head from the conglomerate "evil" he thinks they are.

As above so below, you're DEFENDING HIS TERRIBLE GENOCIDAL BEHAVIOR BY BEING LIKE "HE MIGHT HAVE DONE BAD STUFF BUT AT THE END OF THE DAY HE WAS JUST PROTECTING EARTH" over a giant guardian robot who's being mind controlled and had no intention to do this or will of her own. Why are you so adamant on convincing yourself he was a good or commendable man? Where is your basic comprehension of anything in this show at all. HE TRIED TO COMMIT GENOCIDE ON A WHOLE RACE OF BEINGS WHO HAD BEEN COEXISTING ON EARTH FOR YEARS. It's not something you can go 'erm acshually-" on.

He literally killed EVERYONE who was a transformer; even if their death wasn't permanent they still died because he saw them all as a disease needing to be eradicated.

He has no sense of humanity, only hate in his heart and the need to destroy. How do you think he was protecting earth when he had succeeded at murdering an entire population off the face of the earth even if it's only for about 5-10 minutes? HOW ARE YOU THIS BLIND TO MEATRIDE HIM THIS HARD.

I honestly doubt they knew about her, let alone understood the glyphs everywhere. They were just mapping ancient tunnels and figuring it out; Croft also probably forbid anyone from entering due to the DWELLERS, not Terratronus; she was well off course and well protected/hidden by dirt and freaky alien monsters. Even if they somehow DID know, GHOST probably just utilized Terratronus to justify imprisoning dozens of transformers; whether they were cons, neutral, or autobots that didn't want to be part of a government mass incarceration and control program. Mandroid probably didn't give a shit at the moment because he was busy trying to squash literal children like bugs. Shut up about this stupid attempt at the executives making money off of random plot bullshit and toymaking opportunities.

AS STATED IN MY LAST POST: YOU ARE CONFLATING DECEPTICONS WITH ALL TRANSFORMERS, AS MANDROID DID. ONE GROUP DOES NOT EQUAL ALL OF THEM, AND DOES NOT MAKE TRANSFORMERS AS A WHOLE DANGEROUS IF THERE ARE INDIVIDUALS WHO CAUSE TROUBLE. MANDROID SAW ALL TRANSFORMERS AS A THREAT EVEN IF THEY HAD BEEN LIVING WITH HUMANS PEACEFULLY FOR DECADES. YOU ARE HERE SIMPLY REITTERATING A STUPID AND NULL POINT THATS PROVEN WRONG AGAIN AND AGAIN IN S1. His reasoning behind his actions are "we need to get rid of these filthy dangerous vermin who are invading our precious planet." Also the chaos terrans being born evil is a horrible plotpoint and groups being born evil is terrible writing, just like the entirtey of Season 2 because these new writers on the team understand nothing about the show as is. (Yes, most of the writers in s2 never worked on s1)

This one. this one enraged me. This is the most recent post I'd seen about mandroid as of writing (june 8th) and you have SERIOUS AUDACITY to say this. HE KILLED ALL OF THE MALTO BOTS AND TRIED TO KILL ROBBY AND MO; WHAT MAKES YOUR FUCKING MANDROID LOVING SHRUNKEN AND POCKED BRAIN THINK THAT HE WOULD TEAM UP WITH THEM LIKE SOME BUDDY BUDDY ADVENTURE? HE ATTEMPTED AND COMMITTED GENOCIDE, UNETHICAL EXPERIMENTATION, CHILD MURDER, AND MORE.... HE WOULDN'T MAKE JUST """""SMARTASS COMMENTS""" HE'D STRAIGHT UP HATECRIME ALL OF THEM.

I'm not gonna be nice with this last one. You are incredibly media illiterate if not just lacking basic cognition to think he of all people would willingly team up with people he wanted to kill off during season 1. You watched the finale of season 1 and GATHERED NOTHING FROM IT. You, in all your 34 years of life, somehow have not obtained a single gram of "maybe I shouldn't vouch for and defend a person who's xenophobic and wants to commit genocide" despite enjoying writing and HISTORY. HOW ARE YOU ONE TO ENJOY HISTORY YET MAKE NO CONNECTIONS TO ATTROCITIES COMMITTED BY PEOPLE TO WHAT MANDROID IS DOING AND HOW THEY ARE WRONG AND ENTIRLEY UNFORGIVABLE. At this point I believe you to be willfully ignorant to pass off your crush on this man as okay and convince yourself he is right somehow; even going as far as to utilize this new season as an excuse for him.

Your audacity to think he is anything other than a pathetic horrible man with terrible and morally bankrupt goals and actions somehow will be nice to groups of people he hates astounds me to no end. The show gives you all you need to connect the dots and you haven't. I'm aware i'm likely talking to a brick wall because you're likely willingly ignorant to excuse yourself or will never read this but I will call out this nonsense regardless. It comes off as extremely weird and bordering on you just believing in the ideologies he spouts.

I will say this again to make it clear; Mandroid is a stand-in for people who believe in racist and xenophobic ideas, and will stop at nothing to destroy them. The transformers are an allegory for refugee immigrants, and the terrans are first gen decedents. You continuing to believe his lies and defending him just borderlines on you upholding racist ideals. (That might sound deranged af of a claim but considering the context... yeah)

TLDR for lazy people: This fool pinged in this post is claiming a character who ATTEMPTED TO COMMIT GENOCIDE as being in the right somehow with his ideals/actions and not a total morally bankrupt person. Meatriding getting in the way of logic.

-No cheers to you, Wizard and Cupid

[liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiily]

i thoroughly enjoy media without strict moral dictation. i hate preaching, almost sermonic media. i find it far more beautiful when the media lets you make up your own meaning, it adds to the discourse of the piece and you can have deeper discussions with people over whatever issue it discussed.

[ace-robot-has-matcha]

Tell me a show you watched that you think would have been better with a 20 episode season instead of whatever it got. I’ll go first:

Dead boy detectives

Dead end paranormal park

Inside job

Cuphead

Hazbin hotel

Man I sure miss 20 ep seasons :(

[giphit]

hate how the mcu has made people interact with media.

saw a yt thumbnail like "what is the point?" talking about thunderbolts.

it's like people are conditioned to view full movies as something that needs justification and a specific place in a wider story. but no!! we can just have movies!! the winter soldier is the best mcu movie by a lot and it works fully standalone.

[verybigvag]

There's been a lot of recent discussion with Angel Dust, his scene Poison, and Its interpretation. I would like to talk about it.

⚠️ Trigger warning for discussion of Sexual Violence/Assault, Abuse, Drug Use, fetishization, and In*c'est mention ⚠️

I would like to start by saying that I wanna be able to have more posts like this and discuss topics both serious and not for media/entertainment here on Tumblr, however, I would like to keep articulate and not too long but that won't be the case here lol.

In Episode 4 of Hazbin Hotel 'Masquerade', there is a musical scene showcasing Angel Dust singing 'Poison' about his trauma and current situation of being sexually abused, and taken advantage of by the porn industry and how he copes with drug addiction, masking himself and relying on his hypersexuality to get through it with the possibility of losing himself to it all and killing him in the end.

While the scene doesn't show his assault outright, it is rather disturbing and obvious imagery of his situation. Back in 2017 there was a music video for a fan song Addict turned soft canon at the time. It was the original showcase for what we will get for Angel dust as a character and his nuances going into the show, as well as the first instances of Valentino taking advantage of him. While the music video isn't as dark as poison, he does an amazing job at just that. Not needed to go so far and yet it's so obvious through the animation.

Now the question I would like to give my opinion on is, Is Poison fetishizing Angel's abuse? In my personal opinion and the show's intention... No.

Poison is a disturbing scene, it's dark and almost uncensored. There's an argument to be made that it's supposed to make you uncomfortable and while that is true, nobody should use that as justification to talk down to victims when they have something to say. I'm a victim myself and frankly, I'm conflicted on how I feel about this. I think the scene does work in the fact that it gives Angel's perspective well what he sees and how he wants others to perceive him. Then we have the fact that the show is presenting that angel situation is something to take seriously but will characters harass others and the occasional r*ape joke. (Sir Pentious in the most recent example)

People are conflicted and at times it's unsure how some perceive this. It's almost whiplash to see SA played for laughs then later in the same episode, we see a character stand up to their abuser and is presented as a triumphant moment, a starting point and Proof he is strong and can make it out and is also protecting his friend, showing he good character traits, someone who cares for other and wants to protect them.

I think people are right to point out its writing issues with its comedy and tone armor and victims have every right to point that out.

There is more to this situation I will get into later in the post that Understandably makes people uncomfortable given the context.

It's almost like a popstar giving a performance, letting their persona out on stage; either Kampy, unapologetically themselves, hypersexual and glamorous. This is very common with mainstream I industry musicians/pop stars.

While it's not the case for every artist, it's well known that most are subjected to sexualization from the audience and media (unless they lean into that hypersexual persona).

Angel Dust is a product of his trauma and environment. With that I don't think the show will actually get into how unethical and exploitative the porn industry is (which I think they should), rather just how Angel is being exploited.

Now whether fans like it or not, your favorite media will be criticized for both warranted and ridiculous reasons.

There seems to be an issue with the stans of Hazbin Hotel and constantly deflecting any criticisms of the show. This isn't the case for all the fans but it's still common, unfortunately.

There are people who don't know what it's like to have a history of sexual violence and grooming, and that's ok. It's something I never want to wish upon anyone. It'll affect you for the rest of your life. Some days are better than others but it's not the same for everyone, and universally Trauma is processed differently. There will be experiences that many can relate to; Hypersexuality being one way, some want to reclaim themselves and disassociate sex from the experience and the feelings of uncleanliness that comes with it.

We don't need others who have an unhealthy attachment to a show to constantly speak over those who disagree with Angel's visual representation of his sexual exploitation/assault. Many have stated they don't have any issue with their scene, AND MANY others disagree and They are BOTH right to feel that way. We don't need fans who are selective with victims and their input on a serious nuanced topic.

The sentiment should be that we shouldn't be speaking over anyone who's been victimized, groomed, assaulted, and experienced similar circumstances. Whether they validate your opinions or not.

I still want to clarify, that it's ok to enjoy dark media. It's ok to enjoy what you want. In my opinion, there is a point where you go past safe consumption to obsession with problematic media that's concerning.

If you want to enjoy Valentino and Go ahead. Villains are popular for a reason and it's easy to enjoy characters who are Kampy yet evil in nature. Merchandise of villains is nothing new so I don't see why it's an issue now (unless it depicts said inappropriate tendencies in a glamorized light)

With that said, there was understandable discomfort knowing the artist who storyboarded poison.

I would go into details here but I recommend you go and read this thread by Uninformed Artist, It goes over everything you need to know but to keep it short, they have a r*ape fetish.

People are free to feel however they want about this, especially since there could be a chance Raphielles may have had interior motives but at the moment we can't say for sure and if so, it was conveyed at all in the scene. personally, It feels disingenuous to claim that they want to take the said topic seriously but aren't considerate of the team representing it.

Speaking of that, I may diverge a bit but I want to give an example...

This reminded me of another similar situation with another animated show; Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

⚠️Incest Warning ⚠️

.

.

.

On Twitter an artist who goes by Sheldon made this below regarding a scene they storyboarded for an episode in season 2 called 'The Lair Games' and yes it did make it into the show.

Sheldon replied to a user who partakes in problematic content

To clarify, TCEST is what people refer to as shipping Any of the Main Brothers; Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, And Michelangelo in the TMNT franchise. Yes, this means romantic/sexual.

There was much discomfort from many fans that was warranted given the implications. While something like this will never be implied for Canon for any TMNT iteration, it's weird knowing there may have been certain intentions from Sheldon.

With that said there was another reply clarifying the original tweet was a joke. I'd personally say it's really weird to make that type of joke in the first place and attract people you don't want to interact with and it's not a funny joke to begin with.

But I sincerely hope it was just a terrible joke in bad taste, That's hope I'm personally going to take it as this was about 2 years ago and the rise of the TMNT has unfortunately ended. Hazbin Hotel, however, is just getting started.

I do wish the best for the show and that it grows into something amazing, along with the writers getting into their element and doing these characters justice and I hope there is a bit more consideration that goes into depicting more serious topics later on.

So, I'm not sure how to end this but here we are. I would like to thank all of you for reading. If you have your input feel free to add on!

Make sure to be kind to each other and stay hydrated 💛💛💛

[enlightenedrobot]

So here’s a project I’ve not advertised at all. No Requests: Live! From the Tavern is an Adult focused Edutainment series focused on discussing Art, Music, and Media. Each episode is broken up into segments that work together in a playlist including various other videos on Youtube. This means Music Videos, short films, and other video essays, curated together with extra commentary from the host of the show, Tavern Barz.

That’s a weird and unnecessarily complicated format, why are you doing this?

It’s really easy in this day and age to use Youtube videos as a replacement for other content. I mean, why watch a two hour movie when you can watch a 20 minute recap? 

This is a bad habit. Critique is important aspect to a good media diet, but a diet consisting solely of critique misses the point completely. In order to talk about media, we must also experience it. 

This format means we don’t directly compete with the art featured. Rather, Tavern Barz acts as a museum curator, and the other media in the playlists serve as the actual art itself. The original videos will get their view, and… as a nice little bonus, I get to avoid the copyright bots.

Why are you using a cartoon?

I mean, I’m an animator. I don’t know what else to tell you. Why does the Chocolate guy use chocolate when clay will last longer?

But also, I don’t really have any desire to host the show as myself. There’s a hundred and ten other Youtubers who will get on camera to talk about stuff, and like, I don’t have the room for that. 

Besides, Tavern is a character distinct from me. As a writer, I have full control over the narrative I want to tell, and placing myself in the center of that just feels weird. Tavern’s allowed to act and be weird and hypocritical. Tavern is allowed to grow as a character in ways you can’t really depict through the lens of literal documentary filmmaking. 

So that Cyclops character isn’t just your rantsona vtuber avatar?

I mean, in a very literal sense, Tavern is a Vtuber. They are a virtual character serving as the host for a real show on Youtube.

But Tavern’s also an OC with lore and a planned Story Arc. The pilot is admittedly pretty bare bones with all this, but I intent to incorporate more story elements as the series goes on.

Alright, so what’s the lore then?

Tavern Barz is the Cycloptic owner of the Tavern Barz Tavern, a fifth dimensional divebar thar exists all across Time and Space. After several eternities of service, Tavern thinks they know it all.

This is not true.

Is this project family friendly?

Not really. The main character is a bartender, so there's a lot of alcohol focus. Plus, a lot of the featured videos will also contain plenty of adult themes.

The pilot is pretty mild. There's some swearing, but nothing too serious. But the non original videos might have adult themes. I have some later episodes planned, including one focused on The Male Gaze, and in those cases, I can't in good conscience recommend these videos to minors.

All in all, I like to call the tone of the project comfortably adult. I'm not going out of my way to be edgy, but I'm also not censoring myself. If this were an actual TV series, it's probably be TV-14. Edgier than the Simpsons, not as edgy as Rick and Morty, so about the level of Futurama.

When will this project release?

April, 2024. As of the time of this writing, the first episode is basically finished except for the credits, but I also need sometime to compile my sources, write descriptions, and make some thumbnails, as well as advertise the project.

Follow Me on this Account if you wanna keep up with the project. You can also see my other links at https://norequestslive.carrd.co/

[pastelkittyx]

One of my favorite aspects of Smiling Friends’s world building is that video game characters are literally actors and video games in universe are basically interactive reality shows or something. Just something to let you know!

[sokumotanaka]

Why even have stars and stripes be an American hero and just make her a Japanese hero stationed in Hawaii or something?

The narrative for MHA is so weird cause they call for help from the whole world, everyone says "sorry we kinda need our number 1's" and American's num 1 comes and dies defending Japan.

And in my head I go "wouldn't that either cause an international incident or warrant some form of mention AT ALL!? Side note ; Horikoshi mention that Shoji (the guy who barely got screentime, and told spinner if he fought injustice that he ve "setting them back 30 years") offscreen solved prejudice and brought an era of peace. I love people telling other POC that if you're facing injustice, be a good second class citizen and wait quietly...

Anyway there are alot of characters who loose threads and no goals around. Why couldn't Todoroki or Jirou, Ojiro or Mina have a "And they been flying out to America to help since we owe them for losing their number 1."

Think about what happened with all might. All might lost his powers on TV and Japan was unraveled, in chaos and new villains popped up because of the now open Power vacuum with the "strongest" now gone...so why wouldn't anyone think American wouldn't be the same?? I'd imagine as soon as they shown her being turned to dust America would panic.

And don't say it wasn't cause I saw movie characters watching the final battle on TV. Point is there's a startling lack of anyone in MHA even batting an eye to the same thing they wanted sympathy for now happening to another nation- it makes zero sense.

[descendant-of-truth]

I think the other reason I don't really get into ships as portrayed by fandom culture is that it seems like the mindset is more like. "I want these characters to be in a Romantic Relationship(TM)" instead of "I want these characters' relationship to be romantic"

What I mean here is that, so often I see pairings enacting romance tropes to the point of heavily altering or downright replacing their original dynamic - as if the people behind it only understand romance as a series of checklists to tick off. Couples like to kiss and sleep in the same bed and flirt with each other, so it doesn't matter who the characters are, if they're a couple then naturally they'll do those things, right??

And that's where the whole thing starts to lose me, because I would assume that the appeal of shipping characters is, y'know... the characters? Rather than just, the idea of a couple? If I'm thinking about how it'd be cool for them to be in love, my first thought is always "so how would they show it," because just like everything else about a person, the answer is going to be different on a case-by-case basis.

Maybe the characters involved aren't really into kissing, but they like arranging date activities. Maybe they aren't committed to the structure of dating at all, and just want to be around each other whenever they can. And even if they are the types to like doing traditionally romantic things, that doesn't suddenly erase whatever else they had going on before they started adding that on top of it.

I'm not saying that the more typical romance tropes and activities are bad, just that they're applied kind of excessively, regardless of whether or not they actually work for the characters involved. I want to see my favorite characters having relationships that are true to who they are, not what the stock depiction of a couple says they should be.

[letmelickyoureyeballs]

whatever I still prefer henry cavill as geralt. Just cause the book version was ugly doesn't mean he always has to be.

Referencing this post. This is basically a long rant about hot actors in media, and adapting books to media. I love The Witcher in all forms, so please don't think I'm hating on the show.

Just want to start off by saying I absolutely loved Henry Cavill as Geralt and I'm super sad and disappointed that he left. He is a huge Witcher lover and played all the games and read all the books, so his performances were always spot on and he really put all his love in the role. Kudos to him and honestly I can't imagine a better actor to play Geralt.

Now for the main part of this ask. I know when a book or whatever gets adapted that it won't always be the same. I know there will be differences that either improve the story or not, and that some things work better in books vs movies and vice versa. The main gripe that I talked about in that post(that was just an observation; I'm not hating on the games or show) was that the games and show made Geralt hot when in the books he really isn't. Granted people keep wanting to fuck him in the books, so there must be some appeal, but generally, he isn't described as handsome and is ostracized a lot from society for his looks and who he is. He's a mutant. Plain and simple.

I do think the show was able to show this whenever he drank a potion with the black eyes and veins, and how pale he became, which was pretty spot on.

But what I was trying to get at is how every piece of media seems to have to have a hot/attractive protagonist or characters. The audience I guess needs someone that they are attracted to, to like the story and want to watch it. Would half the movies and TV shows out there be as popular as they are with ugly/unattractive actors? Not saying that ugly actors are bad and shouldn't be cast. Just that attractive actors seem to be the default, even when the story is based around the opposite of that.

Like I stated in that post, a big part of the books(besides the main plots) is how people treat Geralt for his mutations and looks, and how that view changes as they get to know him. Yes, he looks freakish and non-human and scary at times, but he isn't all of that. He is a nice, caring, and protective person who does the right thing, even when he doesn't have to. He goes against his looks and it's growth for him and the people around him. This in my opinion is not reflected in the games or show with a hot actor.

How is the message of "Don't judge a book by its cover" supposed to be seen with a hot actor who doesn't look "evil" or "ugly"? How is the audience or the people around Geralt supposed to grow in their understanding of him when the only "weird" looking things about him are his white hair and barely yellow cat eyes that you can't really see? Again I know that not everything from the books would be in the show, but I wish this was one thing they kept in, or at least made more of an effort to replicate.

Another thing that someone else mentioned that I'll link here, is the fact that Geralt would not be ripped like Cavill, and if he did have a six pack it would be from malnourishment. A big thing with Witchers is that they are pretty much dirt-poor. Therefore Geralt would not be able to buy enough food to replace the calories he was losing from traveling and fighting. Another thing that was kinda ignored when adapting the books, and instead getting an actor who is ripped.

To conclude this anon, no he doesn't always have to be ugly just cause the book version was, but I wish that he was, or at least was more freakish looking. Henry Cavill was a good pick, but was he the best one? Depends on what you want to watch I guess. Do you want a hot actor who can use a sword and kill things? Then he's perfect. Do you want more of a story realizing that looks don't matter(random examples: The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Deadpool) who also swordfight and kills monsters? Then maybe Henry Cavill isn't the best.

[thefaearealwaysamongyou]

Me n Egg were discussing the quality of spto

I just felt like this was important to share.

[matt0044]

"Modern" is a right wing dog whistle in media discourse.

It always tries to be coy about it but we should all know the truth.