#mia discussion

[yunwooz]

personally for me i think people are getting a little too quick and comfortable excusing tyong for MAYBE owning a censored version of that manga.. it's still wildly disturbing and has nuances that may not be so simply censored

[bamgeut]

Hi! Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the whole mia situation. I agree whole heartedly with your stance, I just wanted to provide a light defense of soobin on the whole mentioning thing (with the caveat that your feeling a totally valid, I just wanted to share my thoughts). I'm guessing that the reason that soobin felt comfortable mentioning the anime was because there is a 15+ version available. They have been careful about 18+ media in the past; I remember a live where a member (I want to say beomgyu?) was talking about a drama that they liked, someone in the comments reminded him that it was 18+ and he quickly backtracked and said that young moas should wait to watch it. Soobin has also cut off controversial topics in the past, like when he was complaining about the twitter/X change, but when he realized it was a due to change in leadership he changed the topic and said he didn't want to talk about it anymore. I think there was a lot of confusion due to misunderstandings on the international fan side. Which is not to say Korean fans are always right, that is very obviously not the case, but I do think it's fair to note due to things like i-fans being unaware that Korea had a censored version of the anime, as well as the mistranslation of the word 'provocative'.

That's all to say, it's still fair to say this was a bad judgement call on soobin, and hopefully he's more mindful in the future. Just wanted to talk it out!

that's actually a great point, i hadn't thought about it from that perspective! but yeah, if we assume he was watching the 15+ rated version then it would make sense i guess. we can't be sure, considering he said it himself that it was disturbing, but that's something we'll never know, unfortunately. i'm with you on that part about the international fans though, as far as i've seen the korean fans don't seem too bothered by this whole thing. and the mistranslation really didn't help huh 💀

thank you for sharing your thoughts babe, i'm glad we can all discuss this without going for each other's throats 😭 (xwitter i'm looking at you)

[tubapun]

Hey that relationship chart just made me think. You ever think about how one day Mia might be channeled into a body older than hers. That Maya will one day ask her sister's spirit to come back to her and be struck by the youth her body regains. Maya will, for all we know, one day be 28. But Mia? She's always 27. Forever. She will never know a version of herself in her 30s. Or 40s. No one will. Maya will not only outlive her sister, but out-age her. And it will not take long.

[velvees-archive]

Dual Destinies spoilers (5-3)!

How this short exchange between Phoenix and Athena nails Phoenix’s characterization absolutely boggles my mind. His cageyness masked by his warm expression, the wistfulness and exhaustion behind his every word. His devotion to the friend he wanted to save, his admiration for Mia Fey, and the sting of betrayal come together in just two screens of dialogue + minor shifts in his expression, and somehow he manages to suppress the memories with a cheeky “it’s complicated.”

Phoenix is so profoundly human.

Screen recording I took if anyone wants to see the interaction, music, sound effects, and all.

[elbiotipo]

I just don't see any enviroment as pristine or free of human influence. I don't see humans as being apart of nature. And I don't see human activity on nature as inmoral or undesirable. Which does not mean I support paving over everything or building farms everywhere. I just think humans build landscapes, it's what they do.

Whenever being hunter-gatherers in cultivated forests, creating rice terraces, building skyscrapers, managing silviculture systems, deforesting to plant soybean monoculture, creating aquaculture in the deep sea, building small fishing towns, or preserving rainforests for tourism, humans are just part of nature. It is our culture that defines what kind of landscapes, what kind of ecosystems, grow around us.

We can either embrace this and build landscapes and ecosystems that will allow us to preserve our planet and recognize the importance of nature to our well-being, or keep the stupid "humans are a plague" way of thinking and keep the sharp dichotomy human/nature, which will only bring us to half-solutions at best.

[nuzlight-mia]

[CONT. FROM HERE]

Necrolie is unable to get a word in at all, despite Mia's multiple sentences, her text box refuses to make way for Necrolie's rendering her mechanically speechless.

Your consciousness is suddenly booted from The Nuzlight like a kick to the head. You manage to fight past the dizziness, feeling like you might wake up from a dream you weren't ready to finish yet, and zone back into the game.

Before you is the title screen again. You hover on it, regaining your bearings. It seems you're unable to rejoin The Nuzlight, perhaps you can ask her nicely to let you back in...

------

OG ask:

[bxnesandstxff]

spending money on books instead of food

[rmbunnie]

I am alone on this barren earth (Jason Todd liker and Mia Dearden liker who honestly thinks issues 69-72 of the 2001 Green Arrow run are fun and good and would really like to talk about them beyond "Jason Todd was ooc and irredeemable there because he was trauma-dumping on Mia but also everything he said was fake and made up and he was manipulating her to become his sidekick and he blew up her school in retaliation because she didn't so really we should ignore the whole comic as bad writing /or agree he should just be read as an sadistic sidekick killer" (None of which is true and over half of which is directly stated to be false in the comic's text) but all people ever have to say about the comic is weird wrong takes about the three pages in which the gym fight happens ripped out of the very interesting and fun surrounding context)

[art-the-f-up]

Now that Felonies and Other Love Languages is complete (!!) and I don't have to worry about spoiling anything I can finally share the brainrot moments and some of the most fun conversations I had with @miabrown007 about characters throughout the fic. mostly includes me hating on Luka.

also, bonus:

this collab was sm fun

[yunwooz]

Would you please be able to link the video essay on mia that you listened to? I’d like to see for myself what kind of content it is as I’ve all i’ve seen is the anime being described as dystopian with some gore/shocking moments. I’m leaning towards the side of some of the idols being unaware of the source material and possibly only watching it because it was such a highly rated show but watching that video essay may put things more into perspective for me. Thanks!

Yes absolutely! There's definitely a lot of nuance to the conversation in trying to figure out what is true of some things and untrue of others, so I found this video really helpful in understanding more beyond just reading about it ^

[bamgeut]

Hey! I just want to say, I'm also soobin biased and I pretty much landed at the exact same thought process as you after reviewing the whole situation, so I felt a lot of relief seeing someone lay it all out so well. It was a confusing and messy situation, so I just wanted to say I appreciate the effort you put into doing research and considering all the factors. I feel like a lot of people haven't done that at all (both of the side of defending and condeming), so it's been a really frustrating time.

yep, it's been a whole mess. i'm glad people are taking the time to research and think about it for themselves though. like i said whether you decide to unstan or not, it's all cool as long as it's your own decision! the extremist behavior i've seen (mostly on twitter) only does harm to everyone involved, for both sides, so it's great to see that people around here are taking a breath and taking it slow rather than jumping to one side or the other.

[dragonsbluee]

A concept: A Percy Jackson and the Olympians X One Piece crossover featuring Percy, Annabeth and Grover (other demigods may show up), but it starts with the most unexpected character: Grover.

Grover who has not been on a quest in a while.

Grover who wakes up in a new world, on strange boat, no Percy or Annabeth in sight, a world without Nymphs and Satyrs, a world that is unrecognizable. Grover, who panics, notices that the boat has a goat figurehead and lies straight to the faces of the Straw Hats. Suddenly Grover is their Klabautermann. How else is he supposed to explain being a half-goat?

Turns out Merry (the actual Klabautermann) is still around, but only Grover can see her for now. So, they decide to work together and keep up the lie as Grover hitches a ride with this random pirate crew as he tries to find his friends. Except, he's also spent a lot of time around angsty, self-sacrificial, depressed, powerful teenagers, and well, he can't just leave them alone. He's a protector, and if he's going to pretend to be their ship, he should commit.

Fast forward to Grover, basically acting as a ship's guard/protector of the Straw Hats. After all, a little woodland magic never hurt anyone too bad.

He and Usopp get really close, and he lets the crew know about Merry existing because he doesn't want to keep them from loving her:

Grover: So, I'm not the only spirit on this ship.

Luffy: Woah! Double haunting!

Grover (absolutely bullshitting): yeah, I'm just the spirit of the trees Merry was made of; it's why my name is Grover, like a grove of trees! The spirit of your boat, the true Klabautermann, their name is Merry!

Usopp: Can we meet her?

Grover: Soon! She's a little weak, but Klabautermann can manifest if they are well-loved by their crew.

Nami: Wait, if you're the grove of trees, are you dead?! Are we walking around and living in your corpse?!

Grover: what? no, no-

Usopp: Oh my god we're MONSTERS!

Luffy: AHHHHH Grover we killed you! I'm sorry!

Zoro: Do we need to build you a shrine to help you pass on?

Sanji: No stupid! if anything we'd have to burn the ship!

Usopp: WE CAN'T BURN MERRY!

Chaos descends upon the ship

Grover: I may have fucked up.

[sk1nn1sblog]

Anything over 100lbs in unaccaptable for me...

[elbiotipo]

Catgirls, or more like catpeople, with more non-human features.

Oh, you met one, and you might think it's just a girl with cat ears. Sure. You've heard of them.

But look a bit closer. They have hair on their heads like humans and their body hair distribution is mostly the same, but you feel it (after asking, of course), and it's clearly not hair but soft and thick fur, the longest hairs are more like manes. Functional whiskers that do operate as an actual sense, something that you can't actually feel yourself. Eyes with full irises, shining in the dark or when you look at them from an angle. When they yawn, you can notice the pattern of sharp teeth and the sharp tongue. The skull shape is noticeably different, and you can tell the placement of the ears is different down to the ear channel. The more you look at them, the less human they look even if, evidently, they stand in two legs and and can talk to you like one.

You look at them closely, talk to one, and you're not talking to a human wearing cat ears. It's not cosplay, it's not something to be cute or appealing, they're not like that to appeal to you, they're like that because they are. You wonder where the "cat" part ends and the "girl" part begins. You realize there is no end or beginning, they're neither.

[bradassholemajors]

Wtf Is Shock Treatment’s Deal? (Or, Local Critic Discovers Escapism and Having Fun In The Midst of Late Stage Capitalistic Dread)

Watched Shock Treatment for the first time this week, and I am a changed man lol. Here are some disorganized thoughts:

I think something that makes Rocky Horror so special is that it can be as deep or not-deep as you want it to be. Like, if you want to think about the cultural implications of the themes portrayed (hedonism, gay & trans liberation, gender roles, the Invasion-of-the-Body-snatchers style infiltration of outside queer forces, the downfall of the safety contained within a collective identity), you can absolutely do that! There’s so much to be interpreted there!! But if you are just here to see Tim Curry looking incredibly sexy and violently thrust along to the Time Warp at a midnight showing with a bunch of cool strangers, that is absolutely awesome, too. Slay!! Take what you want.

BUT SHOCK TREATMENT MANNNN??? Shock Treatment is a whole different ballgame lol. Like, it is also a thematically rich goldmine, if you’re willing to squint a little— in terms of content included, not necessarily how it’s portrayed within the narrative. In the words of Barry Bostwick here, “it was a statement about the future that we weren't quite ready to explore. We didn't really even have the mental emotional vocabulary to understand what Richard [O’Brien, the creator] was trying to say.” I think this is spot-fucking-on!!! It’s absolutely frighteningly prescient, especially today in terms of the commodification of mental health. Like, woah. Janet being crowned “Miss Mental Health” felt like such a Gwyneth Paltrow moment. Cultural prophet Richard O’Brien saw the dark cloud of Betterhelp and wellness culture galloping over in the horizon in the distance of the American landscape, and he set out to warn us.

I still don’t quite understand what happened in the movie. I still don’t know what my takeaway was supposed to be. And I guess if you’re a little insane and love having fun doing thematic analysis with weird media (like me), taking Shock Treatment seriously may be right for you, lol. But thematically overall I think it’s safe to say: it’s a lot less coherent than its predecessor. It’s messy. It’s not interested in being flawless. It’s not interested in appealing to an audience. It’s barely interested in being a sequel. Shock Treatment is lowkey pointing and laughing in the face of those who showed up expecting a masterpiece— which admittedly was me, because I take Rocky Horror pretty seriously. (I put off watching Shock Treatment for a while bc I wasn’t sure about how it would affect the Rocky Horror Universe I had in my head.) If not for the internet reviews prepping me, I would have walked in completely expecting another nuanced perfect symphony of a movie to measure up to Rocky Horror’s magic.

But the thing was? Watching Shock Treatment, it ended up I did not really care!!!!! I was having the time of my life!!!!!

(more under the cut whoops)

Wtf was going on!!!!!!!!!!! Who knows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still don’t quite know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I loved it!!!

This reaction of such joy, just letting myself vibe out made me think because when did I start getting surprised when watching a movie is more pleasurable than not??? Isn’t that the entire point of media??

I think with the modern commodification of media analysis and examining pop culture up close, I’d argue that Fun Media without a message is actually pretty hard to come by— at least in mainstream culture. Even stuff as sanitized as Disney movies are now digging into like generational trauma, appealing to what seems to be a collective search for depth (or at least the appearance of depth.) Modern neo-nazi brands of fascism wields power like never before, horrific images of violence follow everyone left and right. Sometimes it seems like this open secret, that everyone knows there’s this looming darkness at the forefront of our minds at all times.

So this transition from Rocky Horror to Shock Treatment felt actually sort of powerful to me. Rocky Horror’s generation-long reverberations of shamelessly depicting sensual revelry are so powerful; it’s bold even for today! (Of course, we all know transvestite isn’t a term commonly used today, but looking at it through the lens of its time, it becomes clear what a miracle the movie is. Knowing what it must have meant to queer people at the time it became a phenomenon— giving them a real space to be themselves in a hostile world criminalizing who they were, in a time of oppressive pressure to stay silent — that is the type of brave blatant acceptance hard to come by in any era.) Rocky Horror is something I don’t know if will ever happen again, and its sequel seems to concur.

Shock Treatment has been called a cash grab but I beg to differ. If you’ve seen it, no offense: but does this seem marketable to you??? It seems like it’s a Richard O’Brien project (already wacky) that went through several levels of development hell and heavy modifications through the creative process. Said with the utmost respect… it may have got away from them a bit. Put lovingly, Shock Treatment lowkey kinda sucks a little at times. It’s silly, it’s got a huge cast and musical fun galore. It’s serving B-movie realness. I don’t say this to bash on it, I say this with a bemused respect— I think the existence of Shock Treatment is as much a miracle as Rocky Horror (aren’t all creations???)

So in the first iteration, we have advocacy and fighting for freedom for those long silenced… but also, Shock Treatment seems to allow the creators to just let themselves have fun. Aren’t they both revolutions in their own right? Does everything have to be lasting cultural milestones or does our enjoyment matter in the moment? I’d argue we need both as human beings to thrive. It comes back to that Rocky-Horror-experience philosophy I covered where you’re taking what you feel you need most from the media you consume: a message or a celebration of just being here.

In conclusion, sometimes shit doesn’t have to be that deep. More movies should just say “fuck it, we ball” and give you the most absolutely incoherent fun time of your life. I love not taking things seriously, and I love creators willing to not take their work seriously. Perhaps Richard O’Brien also had a premonition with Shock Treatment in the sense of how he just had fun with it! Maybe we need less attempts at masterpieces and more attempts at just creation for the joy of it— or both, because joyful creation makes masterpieces!!! I’d love to see more creators of every skill level and every background, known and not known, say fuck you to capitalism and expectation and marketability and just say, we’re gonna do it anyhow, anyhow!!!

[rosy-cozy-radio]

Enjoy some more of prosecutor Maya Fey!I had fun drawing these sprites :)

I can imagine Maya being the type of lawyer who loves slapping desks to make a point, and the Phoenix feels compelled to slap his desk even louder (while the judge sits there nervously)

Also fun design notes! Since she’s mentored by Morgan in this AU, I tried to make her design a little more similar to Morgan and Pearl’s designs (flower in her hair, pink bands, darker purple colors) but still hopefully very Maya-esque! Also tried to base her “oh no prosecutor pose” on her existing nervous sprite.

Her design will be changing a bit in AA2, but I’ll cover this AU’s version of AA1 first. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish my Edgeworth design soon. (Phoenix is still the same)