#merch mishandling

[theliterarywolf]

You ever see a situation boiling up and all you can think is 'Wow. It's almost as if you had done this ONE BLATANLY OBVIOUS AND EASY THING then this issue would never have gotten to this level.'

[genericpuff]

I've watched both (this is a hazbin hotel ask btw) but tend to keep my eyes closed to merch sales (and such forth) unless it can pierce my five degrees of separation

also gotta admit that I've been not keeping up with HB since... honestly the since the season end. yeah I'm behind.

What do you mean they're waiting for what's functionally pamphlets? It's taking MONTHS for a pamphlet?

That's funny in the bad way 😭

yeah so from MY UNDERSTANDING (i.e. correct me if I'm wrong) the playbill was part of some exclusive package deal where buyers would receive some keychains, trading cards, and a playbill which was supposedly going to be filled with exclusive interviews/quotes/background information/etc. about the show's production. That playbill was exclusive to the pre-orders, meaning if you didn't pre-order this merch package, presumably you could still purchase the merch package on its own (or possibly its parts separately on the merch site like the keychains n junk) but the playbill would ONLY be sent to those who pre-ordered.

The pre-orders started around a year or so ago, but then roughly 9 months ago when the bundles started to show up, people reported that the playbill - literally the centerpiece of the marketing - was missing.

Since then, the playbills still haven't arrived, but customers have gotten TWO separate emails written from the "characters" of Hazbin Hotel updating them on the situation. Yes, you read that right, the emails meant to update people on the part of their pre-order package that was still missing - a package that cost them $76 and again, the playbill was exclusive to - were written in-character like a roleplay post in a message board forum.

And for some reason, the A24 staff decided that Husk would be the best character to deliver the bad news, a character who is, like many characters in Hazbin, just an asshole.

It's wild that this even got approved as an official email from the A24 team because let's face it - if you had spent $76 with the good faith expectation that you were gonna get everything you were promised in return for that $76 is this really the response you'd want to get? I'm not exactly sure when this email was sent out but according to some of the people reporting on it via Twitter, it was around the end of January (so the end of the month that folks were expecting it to roll in). Not a great way to tell people that the product they're waiting on - and didn't expect to be missing in the first place - was delayed.

Months later, a second email rolled out, and A24 sort of learned their lesson, not by actually addressing their customers as human beings, but this time as Charlie, who is at least not a complete dickhead.

It still doesn't really answer any questions though because it's putting the responsibility on fictional characters to explain what's going on. So of course everything is masked behind the "teehee, Alastor did a naughty and Niffty got stuck in the printing press machine!" roleplaying talk which literally does not actually tell anyone what's really going on, just gives them a vague impression based on what they chose to make a fictional character say.

Sure, it's nicer than Husk, but it's still disingenuous and frankly just cringe esp when this is concerning the interests of paying customers.

I don't know if this is Vivzie's doing or someone else on the A24 team, but it really feels like they're trying to operate the same way HH would have operated back when it was just a Youtube series... but it's not a small-time Youtube production anymore, it's a full on Amazon show with hired employees and a customer base that expects the thing they paid for to actually show up. So at best this is just really immature mishandling of a situation that should be taken at least relatively seriously.

And really, out of all the things to delay... the playbills? Really? For anyone who's not familiar with what a playbill is, it's literally just a booklet. Professional, "Playbill" branded playbills that you see in legitimate theatre productions are (if I recall correctly) anywhere from 30-60 pages, but a lot of those pages are often dedicated to ad space of other productions and companies, with maybe only 10-15 pages dedicated to the actual production. People love collecting them though because you typically only receive them when you go to see a play itself, so it can be a great souvenir from limited run productions.

It's kinda like comic collecting for theatre-goers, they can serve as memorabilia or as "proof" that you were there to attend a specific show. Though playbills don't tend to accrue as much value as much as comics can, they can still have a lot of sentimental value.

Hazbin Hotel isn't a play though. It's a streaming show available on Amazon Prime that anyone can watch anywhere in the world. It doesn't exactly have the need for something like a playbill, because the exclusivity is simply tied to how much extra money you're willing to give them for the pre-order, not to any sort of unique in-person experience of going to the theatre and watching the show live with your own eyes.

Granted, Hazbin Hotel does obviously take heavy inspiration from theatre culture as it is itself a musical, so I can understand the novelty and appeal of creating a unique playbill for it. I just don't really understand why that's the item that got delayed when a booklet containing exclusive info should be one of the easiest things to make, especially when it comes to production costs (printing a bunch of playbills shouldn't be anywhere near as expensive as producing keychains and trading cards).

But there was an update on reddit about this a couple weeks ago and it seemingly contradicts what A24 - sorry, 'Charlie', sigh - said months ago that they were working hard on specifically printing and packaging the playbill orders-

FINALLY the HH fandom gets a real human being from A24 responding, but they're saying that the designs are still being worked on??? So this means they haven't even started printing the things yet?? So that's an entirely DIFFERENT issue that hasn't been addressed up until this point.

So yeah, again, I don't have any stakes in this and it's definitely not something that I'm like, putting a lot of emotional investment into, but it has still been fascinating to check in on every now and then. Big condolences to the HH fans who paid $76+ for this package and are still waiting for the MAIN CENTERPIECE to show up - if you're one of those fans and are now reading this, you're probably gonna be waiting a little while longer because apparently they haven't even designed them yet 💀😆

[blossomthepinkbunny]

Poor rendition of queer characters in HH and HB

Here I am again talking about queer representation in Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, this time just more generally. Because it's always a little weird to me when people claim HH/HB to have good queer representation, when in actuality most of the queer characters are either just blatant stereotypes or get mishandled somehow. And with Helluva Boss recently winning the Queertys - Web series reward I think that this is probably a pretty good time to acknowledge that kind of stuff (as people have done before).

TW: Sexual assault, R@pe (when referring to the actions of characters)

Blitzø (Pansexual): is very sexual and seen on screen multiple times either having sex or just having had sex. Pretty much fits the general stereotype of queer men always being sexual and also the stereotype of pansexuals just sleeping with everybody. Like, he literally screwed the mutual Ex of his coworkers even though he knew how much that guy hurt them.

Stolas (Gay): also mostly sexual (from how he was introduced) and he is in a pretty terrible "relationship" with Blitzø, which includes coercion, SA, Power dynamics and fetishization. Another very sex-driven queer man. Also just great proof for the people assuming that queer relationships are inherently predatory, unhealthy and never work out.

Moxxie (Bisexual): is often forced into a very feminine role because even in relationships with women, queer men always have to be pointed out to be feminine and putting a guy in a dress is funny I guess.

Fizzarolli & Asmodeus (Queer): they're actually better than a lot of the other characters here but there is still some of that uneven power dynamic going on with them and there are obvious issues with their relationship. Overall they aren't too bad though. They didn't get that much sexual focus and what they got is kinda warranted since Ozzie is the Lust demon. But there is that one scene with Fizz stepping out of his car with Dildo confetti canons (I think) and that was sorta weird, since in an episode before that they presented Crimson as being homophobic and stereotypical for assuming queer men are all obsessed with dicks. Which is just interesting because thats most of the queer men in Vivzepops stories.

Chaz (Queer): just a sexually abusive asshole because we definitely needed more predatory queer men in this show.

Sally May (Trans mtf): basically the single recognized trans character in both shows and she only had one line. After that they made fan merch for her which consisted of her in a bikini with her bulge being drawn pretty visibly (multiple times). Of course there's nothing wrong with Trans people who don't have surgery but it's just a tiny bit weird to me that fanservice merchandise is what she got reduced to, when something like that wasn't even the joke of the only line she had in the show and because she hasn't recieved any kind of focus after that.

Angel Dust (Gay): now there is a lot of stuff that could be said about Angel. On one hand he is another very sexual gay man whose screentime often just consists of sex jokes and references. On the other hand that's a big point for his character. How he tries to act confident in his sexuality when in reality it's the main source of his problems. Though he does often harass other men in the show and that's just so unnecessary. Talking about Angel mostly leads into discussing if he is good representation for SA victims or not, which is something I don't want to talk about that much because I feel like it's not my place to judge that as someone who never has experienced SA. I'm gonna say that I do find Viv's treatment of him outside of the show insensitive (with the pro-shipping, diminishing Valentino as an Abuser and general sexualization of the characters) but as far as the portrayal of him in the show goes I've heard different opinions and you should read the discussion's of actual r@pe survivors about this topic if you want to know about more about it.

Husk (Queer): I don't have anything to say about Husk. He is a very refreshing queer man in these show's and there is nothing bad about him I could think of right now.

Valentino (Queer): for him I mostly want to talk about how he is treated outside of the show which doesn't sit right with me. He is a villian in HH so it's understandable that he is gonna do effed up stuff. I also like that the show tries to make a point about how men get sexually assaulted too (wether they succeeded in that inside the show I'm not gonna judge too hard like I said). But there are a lot of people who not only sexualize him, but also his actions and his relationship to Angel and from what I know Viv never really spoke out against that. She actually interacts with people who do that stuff and I it's just kinda gross.

Vox (Queer): I also don't have a lot to say about him. He and Val are a couple so he is dating a r@pist but he is also a villain so you can't really expect more from him. Especially since he would still be interacting with a r@pist even if they weren't dating.

Alastor (Aromantic, Asexual): is obviously not interested in relationships or sex but his identity is pretty much ignored by a huge amount of the fandom. Vivzepop never say's anything about people blatantly invalidating him like that. It seems to me like she doesn't care about characters who can't be involved in shipping but still wanted to have more diversity in her show so she just called him AroAce. In Hazbin Hotel he isn't bad representation though. His sexuality is never the focus but thats fine, it's mostly just the treatment he gets outside of HH which I don't like.

Charlie (Bisexual): doesn't have a lot to her sexuality. This is something I talked about pretty lengthy in my other post, specifically about the lack of Sapphic content in both shows, so I won't go into too much detail here. Her relationship with Vaggie would probably be the best in both shows if it wasn't for the fact that they both never get the real spotlight as a couple. And there is that thing in Vivzepops stories where the women are pretty much sexless without men and that's obviously something that is generally an issue when talking about the lack of Sapphic representation (which is also a topic heavily tied to sexism). Charlie's portrayal isn't necessarily stereotypical but that's just because there is nothing to her identity in the show.

Vaggie (Lesbian): like I said I already talked about the Chaggie relationship so now I wanna focus on something I didn't even mention in that post. Her name literally being Vagina and that's apparently funny because she is a Lesbian so she obviously likes Vagina. That's just incredibly stereotypical and also excludes Trans Lesbians and Asexual Lesbians who don't want sex. The whole joke was that Adam named her that because he is obsessed with sex and he's a jerk. But her name was always Vagina even in the pilot (from what I know Adam wasn't conceived then and neither was the idea that Vaggie even is a former exterminator).

That's all the queer characters I could think of. I hope I didn't miss any.

I thought about including Millie here too. But she was also already included in my other discussion post and I still don't know if she is canonically Bisexual of if that is just a headcannon so I didn't put her here.

I'm just gonna say that i don't have a problem with queer men being sexual (or any queer person in that regard). But it's pretty much every one of her queer male characters. This is especially bad when a lot of the relationships are toxic as well.

I just think too many characters fit stereotypes and to me that isn't good queer representation. If you like the depiction of queer characters in HH or HB that's good for you and you don't have to agree with me. But you also can't really deny a lot of this stuff and you can't expect others to just be fine with bland, hurtful and sometimes even toxic representation like there is in these shows.

[bugeyedfreaks]

while I'm so glad to see the recent surge of more ppg merch conceptually, I'm still annoyed that it's all using the 2016 reboot designs for some reason? Like, compeltely separate from ppg 2016 as a show, i just feel like the designs are weaker. It especially bothers me that Blossom's bow isn't candy red and tall and sharp anymore because it's such an icon feature! Her bow being rounder and less red makes it look like 2 uncooked hotdogs on her head 😭

It seriously DOES look like two hot dogs. It’s not cute. Canonically, Blossom is a wiener (see: Criss Cross Crisis and Not So Awesome Blossom), but do they have to rub it in? 😩

But you’re right, and I agree: I am also very much not opposed to new merchandise, but it really frustrates me that they aren’t consistent with the brand. I would genuinely love to be a fly on the wall to find out what their strategy is by doing stuff like this. Do normies just not care (likely)? Do the people in charge just not care (likely)? I see Warner Bros. doing a really good job with a lot of their other brands (and I know these are films, so maybe it’s comparing apples and oranges, but I’ve really liked how they handled the Barbie movie and Beetlejuice sequel marketing and merch) so when I see them mishandling the PPG, I just don’t get it.

[billyboyblue]

Even just seeing Shane's and Ryan's faces makes me feel sick now. The idea that they never thought of their poorest fans and their fans overall before betraying everyone's trust like that is laughable. They just bet wrong. They knew exactly what they were doing. All three of them, Sara. But it's also qwhite interesting that Lim (a permissive racist) and Ryan (spineless) were getting the hate as these masterminds and Shane some poor wilting flower.

These douche canoes had adsense, Patreon, YouTube subs, sponsorships, live shows, Merch. The fact that they mishandled their finances so bad that that wasn't enough to sustain them is somehow our fault. They are the definition of sellout. So now they'll get all those things plus, watcher+ money and all it cost was the trust and understanding of fans that have been here since the beginning. But it's super chill, clearly their fans have more in common with Paul brothers fans than I thought. Fuck em all.

Money hungry hacks.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Good things that happened today:

Ate some cinnamon rolls my mom bought.

Watched a decently decent Doctor Who serial that introduces Sarah-Jane Smith. I had fun.

Mom helped with taxes and made me realize I make a lot of money...Huh.

Watched Jacksepticeye's videos of Poppy Playtime in preparation for Chapter Four's release. Hopefully he'll play it and the abusive community won't make him stop like DeltaRune's fandom made him want to stop making videos for future chapters.

Ate ice cream cake while celebrating Mom's birthday early...I have a great mom, you guys.

Watched a video by FootofaFerret where he went over the supplementary material about The Owl House, going over shorts, books, toys, and holy shit it REALLY makes you realize how overly screwed over The Owl House was by Disney's mishandling of the series. There was ONE short mini-series that doesn't even last five minutes, the two books the show has are retellings of episodes to help kids read, and the only merch the show got is fan made stuff and funko pops about FOUR characters out of The Owl House's large, colorful cast of wonderful characters...I'm in rage, but the video itself was at least interesting. Check it out if you must.

Good things about me:

I'm fun.

I'm nice.

I'm a decent writer.

I have good ideas.

I am not a horrible person.

[biscuit-and-jam]

THIS is one of the aspects that I hate the most about the handling of Angel's plotline. Interacting with this fandom will be near impossible once this bullshit REALLY kicks in. Can't wait for people to ignore his role in the story and start to simp for the r*pst character

Man, I think when talking about the mishandling of angel dust's SA (beyond the meta stuff) it's important to recognize that, even though there's many good scenes that showcase his trauma and situation. One of the core problems is the reception of The Abuser character as well.

You can't portray a matter as heavy as this while at the same time giving said character merch drops and being lenient with people ignoring his role in favor of just?? Admiring him? Or the way he looks? It's about the disconnect between "I think SA is being handled seriously and respectfully" and then turning around and doing THAT, or making posts like "bully this man haha" with replies like "lol he's bald" HE'S ANGEL'S R*PST???? Fandomifying him creates such a weird rift and a vibe of unseriousness. And if people wanna be like "Well it's not that deep he's just hot" then they forfeit the right to proclaim the SA plotline is being handled well. You can't have it both be serious and unserious

Like if people wanna simp over this mf that'd be on them, but no one can say that the SA stuff is handled respectfully if we let it go unchecked, that's all

[ynbabe]

I actually think Williams future is looking pretty good? I don't necessarily think James is lying about their upwards projection (this is coming from a Logan fan btw) and to a certain extent, I think he's even right.

Their fixing their biggest problems (the whole Microsoft word doc situation...), and they have a solid line up for next year. They have two strong drivers who are experienced and can give the feedback about the car that Williams will need. They also have a lot more sponsers on their car, and we can assume Santander isn't going to stay at Ferrari/ will go to Williams with Carlos (though this isn't exactly a done deal looking back at Fernando and Santander staying after he left). Carlos will bring in a lot of sales too with merch and advertising in general.

They also will most likely have the Mercedes engine for the 2026 season which is supposedly very good (major reason why people suspect Alex signed his renewal).

It really sucks, but being a junior academy driver doesn't seem to mean much when it comes down to things.

I think that it was the right decision, but that also doesn't mean that I'm not praying that Logan will find a seat somewhere though, even if it's not on the F1 grid!

Hmm while all this is absolutely true and they have a good driver pairing for 2025, Williams is not good at handling both drivers equally as we’ve seen, they always favoured Alex now we have Carlos up in the mix and he isn’t going to settle for second driver in Williams, and Alex isn’t going to take a back seat after all this time of being the priority.

And while they may have everything packed down in the technical aspects of the thing they have and are going to continue to lose fan support in they’re treatment of Logan, we still don’t know the extent of his mistreatment (even if the rumours have been dismissed, Logan isn’t going to talk shit about his employer)

While it may look like a good decision, personally I feel like this whole situation was grossly mishandled, where Logan was continuously given the poorer, heavier car, with no update and once even have to use parts from last year. They can’t expect a driver to perform when they don’t give him the tools to do so. Cause we’ve all seen how talented Logan actually is, out qualifying a redbull around 7or 8 times now.

And ngl I feel like this is a questionable decision from Carlos’ end as well, it’s going to be interesting to see him go from the contender team to a bottom tier one.

[helioshellion]

Hiiii um so I've been in love with this blog since I first got into RGG. I stopped engaging with the fandom sometime after I got halfway through Y5, because I found Mirei and Majima's story rather upsetting tbh. I could rly only find comfort in the fact that some ppl at least acknowledged that this series mishandles heavy topics (esp when it pertains to female characters), but even then, I was still seeing a lot of mischaracterization of my faves and/or brushing off of key flaws and traumatic events, by both the actual writers and the fans. Which just made RGG hard for me to enjoy overall because like. Everything felt so watered down and patronizing to like... peddle more character merch or something? Idrk. But then there's YOU and holy SHIT. Your art and AU designs are so galaxy brain. I would argue that you understand and respect these characters more than their creators at times. Everyone has depth and history, nobody's just a plot device, stuff connects in ways that feels more natural and interesting—I could go on forever. And not to mention your OC designs are just MWAH MWAH MWAH!!!! I think complete creative control of RGG should go to you and I want fifty copies of every fan game you come up with it's so inspiring ok thank you goodb y e

I think there's something really interesting in focusing on details that even creators rarely look at for their own characters. I think that's something I've always handled how I engage with media. I enjoy being critical, even if sometimes it seems I'm hypercritical, it's enjoyable to grow your perspective by forcing your brain to analyze what you're absorbing no matter what, the positive and the negative. That's sort of my philosophy when it comes to character writing. Thank you for this message. It was hard thinking of the words to reply to this with because it was just. really kind. I want to create more and write the sort of stuff people really enjoy.

[chaifootsteps]

Honest to God I can't wait for a whistle-blower to happen over the blatant fraud/mishandling of business Vivienne is conducting. She's lied to patrons, she's cyphening for nearly an open ponzi-scheme given how much she desperately offers merch sales and offering positions within 'Spindlehorse'. The fact that there legally isn't an official business license of commerce or an address for spindlehorse 'studio' is super obvious. It's only a matter of time the spindley legs of the horse will snap to break over the weight of vivs crushing sins that are underpayment her animators and treating them like subhuman trash acting like she's a key-frame veteran when she's just a SVA student who had an okay thesis film within holidaze. :/

Can't wait for season 'three' and halfway through viv gets arrested for blatant money fraud for her patreon to get shut down. Her patreon is the animators' paychecks and it's fucking telling, only a matter of clicking precious seconds before it collapses.

Aside from agreeing with all of this, just letting you know that "spindly legs of the horse" is one of my favorite metaphors to come out of this whole thing.

[doubleddenden]

Onto gen 6, aka XY. The art style at this point is sort of shifting into more unique silhouettes and towards the more modern style. It's a mixed bag, excellent when done right, bad when done wrong, but 3/5 of these guys are pretty good

It's also worth noting this is the first core game to introduce character customization- it does kind of become a trend of blander designs=character customization down the road, but for what it's worth, Calem and Serena are decent enough as vanilla designs.

Serena is probably the face of gen 6 for many, but that's also probably because they used her in the anime after skipping an mc as a traveling companion in gen 5. It should also be noted that while no exact ages are given in game or anime, both the two Serenas are of different ages- anime is closer to Ash, so like 10 or 11, and game is somewhere in her upper teens- she and Calem are possibly both at least 18 because of some dialog thay suggests they are a couple years older than Emma, who is apparently 16. That would potentially make them the oldest core series mcs, which imo is just really nice so that you can look better in the clothes you pick for your characters, and makes for high quality blank slates- especially considering that XY were, for a lot of people, a homecoming of sorts. Idk about yall, but the kids I know don't like to play pokemon games so much as buy cards and merch, especially at the time XY came out- everyone in college was suddenly into Pokémon again after acting too cool for it after gen 3- so I find that an older looking character fills out the design a little better and is truer to the more realistic adult audience that probably comprises most of the actual players.

On a design basis, Serena is probably the most feminine design for any femc, and is sort of a callback to Leaf in a few ways. The thigh high socks are a nice addition, the skirt is a look and is a nice break between the black of the top, socks, and shoes- about the only mishandled aspect I'd say is the different shade of reddish pink for her hat and purse, which I think should either just be the same shade of red or should just be white. The sunglasses are non functional, but they are a decent touch. She's also the first and so far ONLY blonde vanilla mc we've had. The design reads very much like your typical European girl that non Europeans probably fantasize about- kinda fitting considering Kalos is the first European region (and so far the most fashionable). The mega bracelet is also a good addition that blends in flawlessly. 9/10 design.

Behold, the last MaleC with covered ankles, circa 2013, prior to ZA anyway. Truly a sight to behold. Calem isn't really my favorite in the mc circles, and unfortunately most guys that played him will tell you that we got shafted for character customization while the girls got pretty much everything and more. In fact, you could arguably make a better looking guy character by customizing Serena if you don't mind a little femboy to your design. Likewise, you could make a pretty cozy looking tomboy or femboy with Calem. As a vanilla character, I think the better features are the hat, sunglasses, and boots, which I think are pretty cool and probably more practical among the mcs. The rest sort of reads like the typical European boy that non Europeans fantasize about, with a taller and slender figure- hey, that fits with Serena in a way, both being similar to the stereotypical tastes men and women project onto their desired foreign partner, if that makes sense, with Calem probably appealing more to people who like guys than ARE guys. But it's not a terrible look, in fact XY still has some of the best clothes you can wear for a guy in the series- my personal favorites being a black jacket, white shirt, brown pants, the default boots, and a white beanie with sunglasses because the game forces you to wear a hat. It's a 7/10 for me, definitely was a relief that you could customize him.

As for rivals, Calem and Serena leave a lot to be desired. They basically do the bare minimum of being a rival and aren't really that good at it, and they don't really have much personality beyond being a tad competitive with us. Mega Absol also comes out of nowhere as their ace when we all picked up the Mega Kanto starters from Sycamore. Imo, they should have just given them the stronger pokemon to the one you pick, and that'd fit more thematically- but they probably only went with Mega Absol to give it to SOMEONE, and also to avoid having to think too hard on what to do with their teams if you were to pick Fennekin AND Charmander. Regardless, I feel that more could and should have been done to make them more... memorable, because they're a severe downgrade from gen 5. 5/10, at least they did the bare minimum.

And now we move onto the "friends" who are technically considered rivals. Look, if we count Wally, we gotta count these guys.

Shauna is probably the most rival you get for the first half of the game, and is pretty much the glue holding together the friend group. She's got a lot of energy, is cheerful, super friendly- and now that I think about it, she and Bianca were probably GF's first steps towards doing away with the proper rival types we'd have before. As a character though, I like her, and I kind of find it a little sweet that she maybe kind of develops a small crush on the mc. She's not strong, but I do appreciate the balls to stay right in the thick of it against Team Flare- she knows she's weak, but she still tries, and that's a pretty admirable trait as a person. I wish you could do more with her when all is said and done, because after giving you a baby of her starter, all she does is hang out in front of *your* house for some reason. Definitely reads like she's hoping for a little more between the two of you, but is doomed to be in a romanceless Pokemon game. We'll always have the fireworks, I guess. 8/10 friend.

As a design, she feels like a combination of various other characters- the hair feels a bit like Rosa and the pants feel like Hilda, for instance. She definitely reads as a significantly younger character than Calem and Serena, although I do know full grown women that still look pretty young, so maybe that's the case. In 3d, she definitely looks more in our age group, so it might be Sugimori's art making her appear younger. She is very, very girly, if you couldn't tell by the pink and frills, but the black accents are a very nice touch. The shoes definitely seem very out of place on her as a design- a lot of people called them "hooker shoes" when she first was revealed in 2013. Idk if I'd go that far- I definitely can't see them as being practical for exploring a forest, let alone long hours of running across cities or Kalos's natural landscapes. Again, fiction, so impracticalities be damned, but I would have probably made them more like sandals or something more realistic for the age range. The design is very leggy, which i do like longer legs, and even though those shorts are TINY, she reminds me a lot of a friend of mine that also kind of dresses similarly and makes it work. 7/10, not the worst and certainly cute imo, could be a little better tho. Gives little sister energy.

Okay, Trevor and Tierno are probably the most forgettable characters if it weren't for them popping up so much in the story. I would definitely prefer Emma join the main cast instead, or for Tierno to give his whole thing to Shauna and Trevor to the rival. You only battle them a couple of times, and they're basically worthless beyond a swords dance scare from Tierno's Crawdaunt. For that matter, their starters make zero sense considering we're in Kalos and there are a second set of starters to pick from- I think the anime handled that a little better by giving these two the Kanto megas, although that might be wasted on them tbh. At any rate, Pikachu is weird when we have a Dedenne or Helioptile that would probably be more appropriate for Trevor, and I'd argue a Clauncher or a quiver dancing bug would fit Tierno better. Completing the pokedex only and being a dancer just doesn't really work for them, and again, I feel like they'd just be better suited being dissolved and incorporated into the other two. 4/10

As for designs, Trevor, like Shauna, also reads as younger, and I hate his fucking hair. We need more gingers, yes, but why is there SO. MUCH. The rest is a basic nerdy outfit with- god dammit GREEN AND ORANGE AGAIN. All in all, pretty forgettable and boring. 4/10

Tierno is... sigh. I'm a fat man. I've always been fat. Even when I get fit, I'm a fat man. Pokemon has only made a handful of fat characters. So why is it that they can't seem to make a fat male character that isn't purposely something to laugh at? Oh of course, give the fat guy an ice cream shirt, make his legs super tiny and make him a dancer, and let's give him the worst Tepig fade you can get. I get that Sugimori is a Japanese man from a different culture and time, but god, please, if you're going to design a fat guy, look and talk to actual fat guys. At least Google plus sized men's fashion or something. We are not all built like this and we are not this huge ball shape. At least he isn't given a "I wanna lose weight" character arc, and he seems comfortable with himself- that's great actually. But idk, just a more realistic and genuine take would have been appreciated. Maybe instead of dancing, he could be into photography for the beautiful sites, an artist, maybe he could have a plain black shirt or a mega Pokemon design on it, maybe he could just have styled hair and normal legs- i could go on. 5/10 on design, could be worse I guess and I understand he's meant to be a cute and cartoony guy, but it's not for me.

Gen 7 next

[optionalopinion]

A thought just occured to me.

What if Quackity was secretly partnering behind the scenes with duolingo for his translator, which was until now, ai free apparently?

I only think this because he said or implied heavily he wanted this translator of his to be eventually a twitch application for streamers, may have plans to partner with them, and twitch apparently even sends notifications praising him, or so ive seen in screenshots maybe I misunderstood what is happening in them.

On top of this, duolingo has given him a shoutout before when no other learning app has done so, and while this is not evidence indicating anything, if correct there is a correlation if not out right connection between Quackity's team and Duolingo I at very least speak for myself when I say I am uneasy about this.

Not only is Quackity potential partnering with a company that just fired their human staff team in favor of AI thusly making Quackity's claim to not using AI potential risk to become a lie, but he also just got in legal trouble about general abuse of human resources both having those working under him abusing his temporary workers AND having someone who is considered still to this day EXTRMELY suspect for not only mishandling and pocketing money, but also potentially being his pedo brother.

Like if this is partnering with Duo thing is true im sorry that is shadey af and I hope Quackity reads the room and does the smart thing before this blows up as yet another "quackity mistreats his workers" drama again.

Also, while not impossible, i find his claim this translator does not use AI to be very suspect, and hard to believe, like I am open to being wrong, but im very skeptical about the idea and am not entitely sold, and I see more people supporting it because it is made by Quackity.

My breakdown as to why is because there are a lot of things that people do not technically consider AI but functionally are by all technicalities are AI, just extremely simplified in both function and method, including text to speech and most translators, Quackity is not even the first "live translator", there are others and Im sure most modders could figure out how to make exactly what Quackity is doing.

The only difference is Quackity claims his isn't AI based and his is meant for Twitch vs being a phone app, but who is to say Google won't reach out to twitch and ask to import an app that is just that, a translator backed up another big corpo with far money than he is playing with.

And not even touching up upon the elephant in the room that is Dream having a near identical copy of Quackity's translator for the QSMP like that doesn't raise questions, why did Dream know what Quackity translator mod look like and how it functions in game? Is that not raising any number of red flags to anyone?

Knowing about the translator is one thing, and even going as far as to "release"/show off "his" translator first before Quackity adds to this mess, like ok, is it actually the same? Did they actually co-opt is before Dream's name was thrown under the bus for valid reason? Is Quackity lying and capitalizing on the fact Dream's name is no good now and stole Dream's work? Dream and george are coders, maybe they helped build it, but they split and Quackity took what he had to work with to be finished by someone else?

Like, it rots in my mind, and has for months now, especially after the drama came out suggesting Quackity to be a shadier person he lets known, hes very secretive even to the point of being seen as shadey by some fans and sometimes for honestly valid reasons.

Like his Five Hills Merch company that claims to work with multiple CCs but only does so on a technicality when Quackity makes merch with other creators, like the deck of cards featuring other members of las nevadas or even QSMP with the egg merch, but otherwise its a grey area of if they count as "other CCs"

Look, the point is is that Quackity has a history of being shadey. There is not a solid line of any proof he is bad. He has been so secretive about his business and himself that if he is in the wrong and is actively partaking in shadey business practices we will need someone to dig fucking deep, not condoning stalking here but it would need a lot of research to be done.

[tokiro07]

A while ago I saw you did a top 5 list of Favorite Shonen Jump girls in ongoing series. Is it possible to do a part 2 of that on maybe a top 10 Shonen Jump girls on series that already concluded? I suggest a top 10 since obviously there are way more concluded series.

You sure know the way to my heart: asking me to make an itemized list of things I like!

Anonymity Requested (Cipher Academy): I'm sure you knew this one was coming since @wickedsick so RUDELY kept me from including her last time! A real nasty woman, easily one of the most interesting characters to read in Jump. Losing Cipher Academy meant losing her, and my heart aches every day

Youka Naze (Medaka Box): Speaking of nasty women...I did previously put her below Nienami on my Top 10 Medaka Box characters list, but the criteria for these lists just feels different, and Naze is undeniably more of a "Best Girl" for me than Nienami

Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia): We love a bisexual polyamorous queen, and her character arc was a strong motivator for keeping me reading even after my interest in the series had started to wane. I don't love how her story ended, but I'm hesitant to say I hated it either

Chrome Dokuro (Reborn!): Akira Amano's crowning achievement in narrative fumbling - easily had the most fascinating character premise in the entire series which inherently lent itself to a potentially great character arc that resulted in her doing absolutely nothing of import ever. Still, I can't resent Chrome for how she was mishandled, so I love her all the same

Nao Okiba (Martial Master Asumi): I went in biased towards MMA thanks to Hinomaru Zumou, but Okiba's design and personality both immediately locked me in. She's easily the part I miss most, even beyond the lost potential for more Hinomaru callbacks. That said, Hanagasaki definitely gave her a run for her money...

Ikumi Mito OR Rindou Kobayashi (Shokugeki no Soma): For the life of me I can't decide which of these two I like more - I like Nikumi's characterization a lot better, but Rindou's design is just so good. Gun to my head, I think I'd go with the character I like more over the design I like more, but Rindou's got enough personality that I can't just unilaterally drop her from the rankings

Mitsuri Kanroji (Kimetsu no Yaiba): I've cooled down a lot on Demon Slayer in the years since it ended, and unfortunately my feelings for Kanroji have gone with it, but I still feel great fondness for her when I see art or merch of her

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck (Bleach): Purely an aesthetic attraction, she looks like if Monet were a centaur instead of a harpy. Legit, I can't remember a single thing about her personality outside of her child form, but she's a green speargirl, you think I'm not going to love her???

Melk II (Toriko): A nostalgia pick; I got into Toriko at a time where I would read a series' Wikipedia and TVTropes pages in their entireties before getting into it, so naturally I got Melk's gender reveal spoiled for me, and I got SUPER endeared to her. I thought she was going to be a major recurring character, which sadly turned out not to be true, but now she represents an aspect of my personality and past that I'd long since forgotten, so those feelings of attachment came rushing back the moment I saw her name again

Terra/Chi-Chan (Earthchild): Say what you will about Earthchild as a story, Terra's design is fantastic - the imagery of a God who holds the Earth in her mouth as a lollipop has stuck with me ever since she first showed up, and her blue hair highlighted to look like the rippling waters of the ocean is simply gorgeous. I also just found her pretty intimidating as an omnipotent antagonist, like if Medaka Box's Ajimu were actively aggressive. I think if Hideo Shinkai had baked in a bit more variety to his world, he could have drawn out Terra's role as an antagonist in a lot of super interesting ways, and i hope he gets a chance to show off his design sense like this again in the future

This list went a lot differently than I thought it was going to when I saw the ask, and I had an absolute blast writing it! Thanks for giving me an excuse to revisit some old faves!

[salad4sgo]

hi salad hope you are well ! after you are done with your current batch and reclaims, can we please get an update on the 2ha manhua and omodoki merch?? their status on the sheet hasn't updated and its been 3 years since i ordered (im not in the fandom anymore for merch so i want to plan accordigly... ^^;)

Thank you for allowing me more time, more that you already did. As I mentioned before, some of the merchs arrived to me, but some didn’t. I shipped out what I could, and followed up with the store re the missing items. They made a delivery to my warehouse before the summer, but I checked the pictures from warehouse and there are still missing items. At the moment, I’m trying to identifying undelivered items from warehouse’s blurry pictures, to request refund for them.

If there is any mishandling/mismanagement of this GO, it is because of THE STORES, and me (I’m the GOM, so even if I didn’t do anything wrong, there is a level of responsibility that I have to take), so I hope you don’t feel hesitant in reaching out to me via email. Pretty please! I’d like to make accommodation to you. Also, for me to check if I miss-deliver to you or if there is any misunderstanding.

[patchesjam]

i would actually love to hear the business-related drama from tubbo. every time he mentions his beef with certain companies it sounds worse and worse. i would love it if some of the streamers were able to band together to take out some of the shittier companies and i feel like tubbo would be on the front lines if it weren't for legal issues

oh my god anon yes you get me i am almost even more curious about this than beeduo i am soo nosy about company drama i reckon probably a lot with various merch companies especially revolt because they were called out loads, i guessed misfits because i thought they mishandled tubnet but tubbo seemed up for signing with them again so idk but i would be so interested to know about that

[woomycritiques543]

I saw your take on vivziepop and I was like woah what the heck Viv? I am a Black asian Non Binary trans person I wanted to ask some questions only another non binary person can answer. one I can get more advice on especially for my mental health as a trans enby because it's been bothering me a lot.

Why do people love to erase us nonbinary and trans folk? Why do they love disrespecting us? Seeing the posts and evidence against Viv makes me super upset that I feel like I'm basically not allowed to exist as a trans nonbinary person. Or that were not allowed to exist as human beings because we keep on being erased. I didn't know Viv would take it this far by Erasing a Clearly trans character in the show for queer people. Does Viv hate nonbinary people too? Because I don't see a damn enby character anywhere at All! For a queer show runner she should stay consistent! But she's not! There was actually a horrible person on Twitter somewhere that said you can only be non binary if you are intersex??? Which doesn't make sense to me at all because it's different!? I... I'm super offended by Viv and people disrespecting us. I am non binary and trans so that's that! I will never be erased!

Im cis, but I am ok with being referred to with different pronouns besides "He" and "It" since im not comfortable with those. But to answer your question, there is a freind I know who is nonbinary, so I decided to ask for their say, and this was his response:

"I understand the frustration. Personally it makes me upset to see in Helluva Boss's case that Viv can have gnc queer men as jokes, and the one trans character we get has 3 lines and tons of merch making it feel like we're only valued as something to sell.

Let alone it hurts to see characters like Moxxie are treated like jokes for being gnc when for me it feels like Im being told there's something wrong with people i know who are gnc. Or like me who considers themselves trans masc but has long hair and isnt passing.

I want to think Viv means well, I really do, at the same time I'm not gonna pretend she didn't have a trans masc character who in the show was now a cis and only gave her trans woman character 3 lines and then sold a ton of merch of her in a way that feels even more unpleasant seeing that a character who was intended to be trans masc was made to be cis.

Viv can say she hates terfs, but she actively supported terfs in the past and hating terfs doesnt mean youre normal around trans people.

I think when we face things like this its all the more important to be vocal about it. Not just the times things are mishandled and how and why but when they're good as well. It can be great we have a trans girl character, but it doesnt feel as great when you erase another trans character and seem to only use said trans woman character to sell merch. It borders on performative especially because Viv is indie and has far more control than most people.

Im not sure if that covers enough but lemme know!"

-from, (will only send the blog with permission.)

DISCLAIMER:

CIS FANS, DO NOT DERAIL THIS POST.

THIS IS FROM A TRANS PRESPECTIVE SO DO NOT ARGUE OR DERAIL!