#mook does art

[mookthecoroner]

Tfw you accidentally get into Star wars the clone wars.

Anyways here's my goobers because I compulsively make characters and cannot stop

First we have Manthras K'neel, a Jedi who's whole schtick is self discipline, they grow to become a seriel Padawan master, picking out the troublemakers and "hopeless cases" (ft their first Padawan they watched grow up, yet to be named)

Next we have CT-1201 "Asher", the head fire, health and safety officer in the Corrie guard. He's on the verge of a breakdown and going to get violent about it if nobody takes the guidelines seriously. (Did I come up with a fire safety officer uniform because I could? Yes. Yes I did.)

He runs the fire response team in the guard, might make a long post about my boys if I feel like it.

Anyways yeah :D

[iwantadamusername]

i blame @smilysstuff

Agent Massachusetts, or "Mass" adores all that goes boom and relishes in any opportunity to Chill--she also prefers the ODST helmets, always nicks one every time hers gets replaced

[mookthecoroner]

I did a comic because it felt needed

"You're losing blood" no I know exactly where it is. The floor. Don't ever underestimate me.

[boodlesofdoodles]

hello BASEketball tumblr nation. i have a doodle

also i know i haven’t posted in forever.. i’ve unfortunately been bitten by the trey and matt bug (again..) and have been just. drawing south park and medias adjacent art non stop ☹️

[stoic--rose]

if she fits, she sits (non colored version under the cut)

[margotstjust545]

Spider-Man's Canon Cryptidization

As much as I love how Batman went from respected lawman to urban legend, I feel people fail to appreciate the Marvel equivalent. Peter Parker's alterego went from 'literally a wrestler with a gimmick' to 'he might maybe have once been human? We hope?!' in the eyes of the average civillian/mook.

Like his origin is clearly human, he's a tv performer and it's understood that his webbing is a gadget he came up with for the schtick. Then a little later when the Xmen become more popular and have more of an effect on the Marvelverse, you get the whole 'mutant scum' angle. But it eventually becomes clear that no, whatever this guy is, 'typical mutant' ain't it. (The alien suit debacle does not help with this at all.)

By the mid 80s Spider-Man is basically a cryptid, helped along by how the choreography and art style changed enough to show him moving in a way that is very inhuman, striking from the shadows, gravity optional. There's a whole arc where he adventures overseas and just straight up passes for a supernatural being so as not to compromise his secret id.

Then whenever anybody interacts with him long enough for him to start quipping they realize he's just a huge dork. Like, you know the inhumanly strong man-shaped shadow that can tell you pointed a gun at him from two blocks away without looking? He's going to give you a punny nickname while tying you up with a semi organic compound hitherto unknown to science. It's so funny.

Edit: just caught the typo in the title T-T

[stillwesleepp]

INTRO!!

(PLEASE READ AND MOOT MEEE)

name: Violet

age: 15

pronouns/sign: she/her + pisces 𓆉

fav bands/artists: alex g, arctic monkeys, beach house, buddy holly, chappell roan, cigs after sex, david bowie, deftones, eyedress, duster, gigi perez, hole, jeff buckley, modern baseball, mom jeans, weezer, lana del rey, mac demarco, McCaferrty, mazzy star, mook, nirvana, my bloody valentine, oasis, pixies, radiohead, slowdive, talking heads, the proclaimers, beach boys, cranberries, the cure, the frights, the flat sundays, the smiths, tv girl, wallows, wisp, and more!!

(not in order!!)

MOVIES: dead poets society, donnie darko, tpobaw, heathers, scream, it, thirteen, american psycho, little miss sunshine, little monsters, love actually, twilight, harry potter, jennifer’s body, 500 days of summer, ferris buellers day off, the breakfast club, the swap, great expectations, archie’s final project, pearl, titanic, scott pilgrim vs the world, ladybird, free guy, jeepers creepers, clueless, ruby sparks, easy a, the duff, dinner in america, final destination, 50 first dates, radio rebel, speak, 13 going on 30, and more!!

(also not in order!! sorry it’s a lot!!)

SHOWS: House md, my babysitters a vampire, gilmore girls, never have i ever, on my block, obx, stranger things, xo kitty, ginny and georgia, heartstopper, tvd, omitb, and more!! (i just can’t think of..)

BOOKS: tell us something true, tpobaw, american psycho, dead poets society, great expectations, the outsiders, harry potter, and more!! AND POETRY

(i don’t read a lot but i plan on reading more)

ACTORS: robert sean leonard, ethan hawke, paul dano, zackary arthur, jake gyllenhaal, matthew lillard, kyle gallner, dylan minnette, jack dylan grazer, timothee olyphant, drew starkey, adam brody, justin long, evan peters, walker scobell, logan lerman, giovanni ribisi, james mcavoy, kris lemche, bill hader, christian slater, and more!!

what i’ll post: i’ll post mostly movie or music stuff and mostly dead poets society things. I’m gonna try and post more of more things i like but depending on how well this post does and current obsessions i’m not sure exactly what i’ll post. Like X/twitter i’ll probably post my thoughts, hopes and dreams of course, but probably not as much as on twitter.

MORE: i love cats, poetry, art, some science, i hate math, american, learning french currently, im mostly always in my room listening to music or watching tv. Im currently watching house and after i finish that i may start watching Dexter. and i love horror movies!!

OTHER THINGS TO FOLLOW ME ON!!

[idreaminmugiwara]

Okay, my honest opinion of MHA 431, even as a multi-shipper?

What was that?

No seriously.

What was that??

I am baffled. My flabbers are gassted. I am disappointed.

Did I want to see them grown up and see how they were doing post chapter 430? Yes.

Did I wish them all to follow their authentic happiness and have happy, fulfilling adult lives? Also yes.

Did this feel completely shoe-horned in and did it diverge almost entirely from the arcs of the characters prior to this chapter and let down every expectation I didn't even know I had? OH MY GOD YES.

Also the art felt sloppy? Maybe rushed? At least comparatively.

Horikoshi's art has always stood out to me because every single panel is so emotionally potent. His art jumps off the page and hooks you. It's like drugs. The only panel that grabbed me in this chapter was this one, because it's the closest to what I would consider to be his usual standard. Like this panel slaps.

Also that absolute look of LOVE that Todoroki is giving Deku here. Tooootally not contemplating a fic about the two of these mooks now, nope, not at ALL.

Okay the biggest elephant in the room. IzuOcha. I just...like....

Look, there was close to zero tension leading up to the Predator hand hold moment which incidentally held zero emotional impact for me.

I also honestly feel like it does disservice to Ochaco's growth as a character. She canonically does have feelings for Deku (in high school, mind you) but I thought she'd more or less grown past them when she realized that part of what she admired and loved about him is that it represents the person SHE wants to be, the kind of hero she wants to become.

And what even is Bakgugou and Deku's relationship now? We spent 430 chapters watching their relationship deepen and evolve into something that becomes so important that it ends up saving the entire world only for that super uncomfortable car ride and a bland wave from Bakugou as Deku runs to get the girl?

I never expected BakuDeku to be canon, just so we're very clear. This is a shonen and I'm not that naive. I also want to remind everyone freaking out about IzuOcha : just because it's canon doesn't mean your headcanon is cancelled. BakuDeku is one of the most beautiful ships in anime, at least for me, and nothing will ever change that.

It's just....if this was going to be a canon epilogue tying up alllllll story ends, all character arcs, this was possibly one of the laziest and least fulfilling ways I think they could have done it. If the story had spent even half the time developing Deku and Ochaco's relationship as they did his and Bakugou's , maybe I"d feel differently, but MHA revolves very, very intentionally around the two of them and a bond that one may consider legendary.

Y'all this felt like fanfiction, and not even good fanfiction. I was maybe one of the few that was relatively okay with chapter 430. I think Deku as a teacher is a beautiful twist and very true to his character. I LOVE the idea of Uravity starting counseling for people with quirks. I think Bakugou bouncing around the hero's rating list makes sense given his character, but this....this just wasn't it for me. My headcanon says this all ended at 430.

On that note, I gotta get back to my bkdk longfic.

Only an entire third act to go, nbd.

PS: if you DID enjoy this chapter, please don't let my analysis take that away from you. people are allowed to like what they like and ship who they ship. I just needed somewhere to process my feelings.

[miss0atae]

Mark plays Aek, a senior student in sport club who is a born leader.

Jimmy plays Pao, a normal kid who major in sciences and has few close friends.

Keng plays Pat, a collected, calm and observant person.

Zee plays San, a wild character who has a bad temper.

Tonnam plays Toto, a senior in cheerleading club.

Park plays Gus, someone who loves his friends and who is willing to get hurt or make sacrifice for them.

Max plays Torn, someone who cares for and loves his friends. He stands up for what is right and he is unafraid.

Yim plays Tee, Thorn's younger brother who has a "dominant" personality and he is obsessed with zombies.

Nat plays Night, an easygoing guy who doesn't like to be in trouble and loves solving any kind of problems.

Cartoon (Toon) plays Nan, the big sister of the group who is extremely tenacious and she is a fighter.

Dream plays Mook, a caring person who takes care of others and she is also very strong.

Pang plays Fah, the youngest of the group. She is skittish and easily frightened.

Tommy plays Jean, who helps others and is ready to fight if necessary.

(Nink) Chanya plays Lily, a manly girl who is selfless and altruistic. She is a close friends to Gavin.

Tutor plays Gavin, close friends of Lily who is a manly guy and very self-confident.

Boss plays Pooh, an observant person who is discreet, sensible but also reliable.

Praew plays Prao, a clever and pretty straightforward woman. She is cool and strong, but also unafraid.

Net plays Earth, a person who loves his friends and he is resolute.

Nunew plays Non, a university student at the Faculty of Art who has a fighting spirit.

Janis plays Ning, a quick thinker who is also skilled and a clear decisive person.

Namping plays Qi, a character who has a unique perk.

Pock plays Dr. Kanchana, who does everything for her child and who will make mistakes but she will try to fix them.

I don't know what character will Weir play or what will be his role in the series. To be seen...

Every pictures come from Zomvivor IG

[mookthecoroner]

found myself scrolling through the zeltron tag and fell in love with Lyric (shes so pretty and fun!) and remembered i had this dumbass and got hit with the spiderman meme, drew it because why not :D

...may end up playing Old Republic because of this ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

✨Dash Starbolt and his trusty protégé Lyric Ornette✨

[mookthecoroner]

Thrower, hazes traumatizes Shinies as a hobby (Dont worry, he doesn't go splat)

[cartoon-buffoon]

Watching a kwite stream while I do stuff and he is like going through his viewers screentimes and there is a shocking amount of time people spend on character AI. Now a specific person who spent a LUDICROUS amount of time on it prompted him to tell that individual "go find whatever character you're talking to on AO3, sort by kudos, and read!" Or something of the sorts. And I have to agree with that sentiment 100% as this is more or less my personal stance on AI and how it's used modernly: IT FUCKING SUCKS! I don't support AI used for creativity because it's not fucking creative at all, AI art, writing, and even chats, I support fucking none of that and I dislike anyone who does. I have a friend—the same friend who's my beta reader and is probably reading this so call out to you quartz, ya bitch—who uses character ai and I've been trying to get her to stop because it's awful. To those who think their (very sad) character AI addiction is okay as well: all you're doing is feeding a machine and making it replicate text better, you're basically training the tech so the company can then use that tech for whatever—NOT GOOD I GUARANTEE YOU—purposes, you're apart of the problem. Talk to people online, talk to people irl, join discord servers, do fucking SOMETHING that involves interacting with real people instead of soulless AI. ESPECIALLY if you're a creative, if you're an artist who draws and naturally is appalled by AI art and you use shit like character AI you're a hypocrite and should come to your senses.

Now while I do recommend reading fanfiction if you want more content featuring your favorite characters there's also the aspect of people with social anxiety just wanting something to talk to and their use of AI chats. That's fair, as a person who suffers from crippling social anxiety to the point I can't even fucking talk to people at stores or order food without rehearsing it 14 times beforehand: you genuinely just need to try. Like that sounds condescending but I guarantee you there will be a group of people or even a singular person either irl or online who will like you and want to be your friend, it's hard but you just need to try. If you have some sorta talent share it online and eventually there will be at least one person who will interact with you and maybe you can build some sorta friendship from there. My entire point in saying this is don't be a mook and feed AI, be better and have actual meaningful human connection because slop like character AI is a soulless novelty that does nothing but isolate you.

(oh also: Don't give me the bullshit that "oh fanfiction is cringe and AI chats are wayyy better than the shit I've seen" because the pillar you stand on is made of salt. Fanfics written by some 13 year old on Wattpad at least has a soul and effort put into it making it a better read then AI chats, not to mention that writer will probably get better if they continue to write. You are not above fanfiction and are equally as cringe, you are below it if anything)

[styrmwb]

Rambling About Magic the Gathering X Final Fantasy - Final Fantasy X (Part 1)

The 3rd of 4 highlight games that get a Commander deck, X is another game I really love, but it's been a while since I've played it so I feel like some of my memories have degraded. I am very much looking forward to its cards, though.

Auron's Inspiration

This art is not only incredible, but it also LOOKS like the FFX cutscenes. It uses that legendary Auron quote as flavor text, which is really what validates this mostly functional card to me. Auron's so cool, dude.

Combat Tutorial

One of those more "generic JRPG" cards, but honestly, X was the best choice for it regardless of it was getting a bunch of cards or not. I suppose XVI could have also been a good one, but the flan tutorial is iconic. It's also funny that it involves helping someone else out.

Ice Flan

And, as mentioned above, the flan tutorial is iconic. If any game was gonna get flan, it would be X. Though, actually, IV could have used it as well, with the Flan Princess. I do like the flavor of ice turning into freezing turning into the stun counter.

Ice Magic

As usual, tiered cards cool. Lulu gets to show up. Good card. This one is a little more interesting than the fire magic one, since it relies on putting cards away, like it is freezing them.

Stuck in Summoner's Sanctum

Surprise appearance by Dona, Isaaru, and his brothers! The art's fine. It's not my favorite. It does work for that story scene of being trapped in the sanctum.

Summon: Shiva

Finally, here's another one of our iconic 3 summons. Shiva could have been from literally any game. But, I do like the X design, so I'm not mad they chose this one. Yet again, it uses that stun counter thing for ice magic.

Syncopate

It seems this is a classic MtG card reprinted with an FF flavoring. Giving Seymour an annoying counter is perfect, because Seymour is annoying.

Al Bhed Salvagers

These guys, like the Shinra Reinforcments, are a really good mook to fill out the armies. I don't really understand why they have a sort of lifesteal, and I wish their flavor text was IN Al Bhed, but the art looks very classic Magic, and I like that.

Jecht, Reluctant Guardian/Braska's Final Aeon

ooooooooooo THIS is what I'm talking about. I love Jecht, I love the Final Aeon, I love the Saga Summons, this is amazing. All of his arts are incredible, but I really love the intensity of his alt art, and how clear Zanarkand is. His flavor is great. Once he gets to the core enemy (Sin), he becomes the Final Aeon, who is a hulking brute of destruction. Amazing card. I think if I'm being really selfish and pedantic, I would have loved some Otherworld lyrics flavor text.

Overkill

Oh this one is hilarious. It's like, the opposite of the Jumbo Cactuar. I don't need to explain why this flavor is perfect. It looks like the enemy in the card is Sinspawn Geneaux!

Summon: Anima

Oh both of Anima's arts are beautiful, the coloring is fantastic. I love how pain hurts you, as it should. Anima is in torment, so you have to feel that and it'll do insane damage in return.

Sidequest: Play Blitzball/World Champion, Celestial Weapon

FFX, with all of its just... terrible sidequests (if this is a hot take I'll happily be on fire) is PERFECT for getting a sidequest card, especially this one; and I'm even happier that it turns into Wakka's ultimate weapon, cause he's the funniest guy and it lets you reel it up. I also love that you need to get 6 or more combat damage; those are the goals you're scoring.

Blitzball Shot

So, great card idea, amazing art with the painting style; I wish it was more specifically Jecht Shot, though I suppose we do get that in the Final Aeon, kinda. They really love Wakka in this set. The trample is great; kick the ball past the enemy into the goal of the player.

Ride the Shoopuf

This is stupid, and a dumb card, but in a way that makes me smile. They just HAD to reference this silly line. I do like how it can become a Shoopuf.

Part 2 time here!

[sunshinemoonrx]

GoGoV 31-36

AH...WE REACHED IT...

I suddenly kind of wish Daimon was the weird black sheep of the family who did "rescue work" as a wandering martial artist of justice rather than a cop with this on the side, because he's very memorable here.

Anyway, I really enjoy the gradual arc of Salamandes stepping out from his siblings' shadows; there's no single big moment of usurpation, he just loses his patience more and more. Even when their mom declares "okay lil bro's in charge now", he's already been yapping about that for a bit, and the other siblings don't really listen anyway.

I really like 31 including this bit about the importance of having an actual good relationship with your siblings, cause a lot of TV does just kinda assumes family automatically loves each other deep down. Also nice to see them really paying off the parallel between the hero and villain families. The core family relationship is a huge strength of the show! All the ways they help and annoy each other are really believably layered and mixed together. You really get that "one moment I love this guy, the next I need to punt this guy out the door" you feel with real siblings.

Also: They got the Metal Hero chaos dimension in this show!!!

My beloved.

Most of the rest of this batch were pretty good--32 was goofy, 34 was intense--I would have a lot more to say about it, from the intense and nuanced emotions to the sick as hell final fight scene, but @biomic 's liveblog of it kinda has everything covered as so frankly just check out such posts of these:

And 35 and 36 were entertaining zany high-concept spy/heist and martial arts dramas, respectively.

33 was...weird? (and not in the good way, like Milk Judo Piledriver). It could have been an all-timer (a monster gets magic'd into being comically shy around girls, defects from the villains in exchange for confidence lessons from the heroes, you know their eventual battle is going to be tragic), but then it spent quite a bit of time on that old chestnut, "how cute high school girls are", which c'mon, man. It then kinda dials it back by showing he's also shy and falling over around like, old grannies and toddlers, so it's clearly not just a sexual thing, but the emphasis really threw me off enjoying the episode. I dunno, Matsuri even does some ~sexy disguise changes~ and they're mostly not even actual sexy costumes. Speaking of which, further weird moment in 35 where Matsuri sees the crystal they're guarding that's this super important new energy source and repeatedly not listening to this is all "uwaaaah but it's so prettyyyyy" because, idk, girls are frivolous and like shiny things? It's really out of line with her characterisation so far. (This stuff is what caused that previous post where I was like, checking under rocks for Arakawa, but he was apparently nowhere to be found here!)

Still, big upside is 35 did have Dinus as a cat burglar seemingly just for fun? Like, she eventually goes after that super important crystal, but not before doing a bunch of other heists of just random shit. And good for her. The first scene where it keeps cutting between narrated comic panels and live-action footage is really fun, makes me wonder if this is a tribute to some manga that was big at the time.

Meanwhile 36 I admit I kept thinking everyone was tricking everyone else based on similar episodes I'd seen before, and then it turns out everyone was just being honest and sincere, and frankly the episode was much better for it. The monster really did leave the villains for the pursuit of ultimate martial arts knowledge, Daimon's old master really did take up the monster as his new student, and so on.

What's really important, though, is all the "mooks in fun costumes" content we got this batch.

I didn't keep a Dinus Gallery as I went along this time, but she's been pretty highlighted lately, so I have been well-fed.

I like looking at her : )

[soul-dwelling]

Thoughts on the clowns going from an interesting representation of one's dark side and the temptation to induldge self destructive madness, into just generic faceless mooks with no personality or point besides bloating the already overstuff moon arc?

It’s wrong for me to generalize, but it seems like most final arcs in serialized stories suffer when they introduce new characters or details that inevitably will not get enough time to develop. This should work: it’s the last arc, break all the rules, so long as the result ends up being a spectacle or too cool not to do or so shocking but concise in reiterating the message that has been reinforced over and over in this story…and the clowns just don’t do any of that--the spectacle isn’t engaging enough, I thoroughly enjoy clowns in pop culture but even these clowns in Soul Eater aren’t that engaging visually or personality-wise, and nothing about the clowns does much to reinforce any message, or at least reinforcing the message of “fear is always with you” in any fashion that another part of the manga didn’t reinforce better. 

And I don’t mean that Soul Eater should be criticized only because the clowns don’t get to develop to their full potential: I can’t think of any series where even main characters reach their full potential in their entire story because that’s not how storytelling works, that’s perfectionism and hence a fool’s errand. No, I mean that the characters and details are just there without any sense of progression, elaboration, or sometimes any use to the story aside from cannon fodder. 

And that is what the clowns feel like: cannon fodder, antagonists that can be done away with easily not only because their personalities are so limited that we feel almost no sadness or any other emotion when they are gone and not only because their power sets are so dull that they can easily overpowered by the protagonists and we won’t miss losing that power set because they weren’t cool enough at all but also because they are dehumanized so killing them off is not regrettable. Oh, Stein wasted a ton of clowns? Who cares--they weren’t human, and they were barely humanized at all, including, again, in terms of having almost zero personality. 

And yet, all of this could be salvaged if the clowns had something to them that was reflective of the larger themes of the story. As you point out, the clowns in parts of Soul Eater were indicative of a character’s dark side. We got to see how jealous Maka can be, how fearful she is of losing her father and her friends and teammates, and how powerless she feels without Soul. All of that is much needed character progression. Yes, I can be frustrated that it still feels a bit forced similar to throwing these details in during the Book of Eibon arc, but it makes sense that Maka would be this emotionally raw after Crona was kidnapped. It is also visually striking: look up just about any Maka clown art by Z-Raid and other illustrators. 

But even then, aside from Maka, what did the clowns actually show us about any character’s dark side? 

We get that with Justin--but even then, the clowns themselves don’t have much in the way of personality to get a sense of how they corrupt Justin. Granted, just about all of Justin’s story only works because of how little is given to us to show how he got corrupted. We know the “why,” we get belated clarification when Justin fights Tezca. But the clowns never have much in the way of personality to give us a sense how this unfolded. It’s good storytelling potential, likely something someone else did in their own fan works. But I wish Ohkubo had committed to some choice. We already have Ragnarok right there at times acting like a bad conscience on Crona’s shoulder--is that how a clown should act towards Justin? Should it be like the Symbiote telling Eddie what he wants to hear, more like what we got in Weisman and Cook’s Spectacular Spidey animated series? 

Edit: I forgot to mention--elliotthezubat once again handles this stuff better: Justin's dilemma works better if you have it more like a clone of himself talking to him, a conversation between two Justins to emphasize different dimensions to his personality and the potential split happening, or the potential for one side overwhelming the other.

When the clowns did pop up to fight for Medusa against Black Star and Tsubaki, and against Team B with the Thompsons, was there really anything gained? Any character progression for Black Star was actually more from fighting Crona, not from fighting a clown, to demonstrate where Black Star and Crona could have gone had each one had different intervention by a parental figure, Black Star at least having Sid and the DWMA, Crona being stuck with an abuser like Medusa. But did the clown unlock any such insight into Kilik, Ox, Kim, and their partners, or Liz and Patty? The clown was just a scientific experiment without any personality of their own. (See also how Ragnarok gets reduced to almost a non-entity as the series persists, and his commentary on what Crona is going through is sorely missed, whether to add insight or just some Falstaff-ian comedic relief with how dire things are getting.) 

The final arc had two major opportunities to justify the importance of the clowns: the characters as their own entities, and the characters as reflective of the path Stein could take. And then the arc fails to live up to either potential. 

Let’s start with the latter first: like the clowns, Stein is falling more and more into madness--and then on the Moon he just doesn’t, instead weaponizing the madness to lay waste to Asura’s forces, re-establishing that even under madness he is still the same person and his commitment to Death and the DWMA does not falter. I’m not asking that the story continue to milk the angst of Stein after Buttataki’s murder, or take the path of the first anime and show Stein falling under Medusa’s sway. But with this being the last arc, this is the last chance to re-establish Stein is a good person. We need that Iron Giant moment hitting us over the head: we didn’t need the Giant to say, “I am not a gun,” but it summarized the point in an obvious fashion. Where is that moment for Stein? Is there a quotation or a panel from the final arc that I’m neglecting that adequately summarizes how Stein’s fight against the clowns is a rejection of the path Stein could have taken and in his last battle in this series recommits to his characterization, how he has progressed throughout almost 100 chapters, where he goes next, and some larger message the manga is trying to say or at least tie into the ongoing themes about courage, fear, and collaborative work? I don’t get that from Stein’s fight against the clowns, but maybe someone else and can share that quotation or panel. 

As for the clowns as their own entities: what do they serve, in terms of their own character progression, or as larger allegorical or symbolic value, or as antitheses or foils to our protagonists? They just seem to be a grab-bag of mythological and literary references: rabbit on the moon, the story of Kaguya. What is Kaguya supposed to tell us in Soul Eater as a foil to Kid? Or, how is she a continuation of ideas Ohkubo is toying with when writing Blair and then later Tamaki in Fire Force? None of these questions really interest me because the potential answers are dull: there is barely anything between Kaguya and Kid to indicate a battle of differing philosophical viewpoints, Kaguya’s shtick is somehow more dull than Blair’s and lacks the other dimensions Blair has (whether in the manga or because fan writers are better at handling her), and the path from Kaguya to Tamaki is just a reminder how gross Ohkubo is when it comes to his attacks against feminism and readers who just get tired of his endless horny misogynistic bullshit. If you just want naked Kaguya, then just go naked Kaguya--that’s more honest and a clearer understanding why this character is here than dressing it up (so to speak) with pseudo-intellectual posturing to try to make her presence and maybe even this arc and this entire manga into something it’s not. 

Or, they’re just leftovers from B Ichi, seeing as they are called “Dokeshi” in the original Japanese version of the Soul Eater manga. Super--this is somehow the less annoying version of Ohkubo’s same trick, that being waiting until the final arc to gesture back to the author’s previous work. I should appreciate that the final arc of Soul Eater referencing B Ichi is a harmless Easter egg, compared to the final arc of Fire Force ruining the continuity and thematic cohesion of Soul Eater. 

And that’s not even getting into how the clowns just re-populating because of Asura’s almost infinite power of madness. 

At least “madness and fear are always with humans” is a clear, understandable message. But clowns? I get that clowns are scary to a lot of people, and their exaggerated details and potentially inhuman grotesque shape is decent shorthand. But this also feels like a failure of using the images to address the message: not everyone is going to find clowns scary, even taking something from childhood enjoyment and making it fearsome isn’t much of a deep message: “I made the things from your childhood edgy” strikes me as lazy. It’s as bad as Ohkubo assuming breasts can only be maternal and must be only a yearning for maternal love as in the final chapter of Soul Eater, or Ohkubo’s regressive cisheteronormative approach to sex as existing only for baby-making and that the idealization of sex appeal is embodied only by an underage teenage girl (again: Ohkubo is fucking gross, fuck this guy) in Fire Force. 

This is Ohkubo latching onto a small set of visual details or story tropes he likes and not letting them go. And it again disrupts what we already had: we go from Shotaro in B Ichi being a good guy who is clownish and literally turns into a clown as a final power-up form, to clowns just being absolutely evil in Soul Eater. Again, what is it with Ohkubo taking something from a previous manga, introducing it into another manga--and then taking a completely different approach in that new manga that contradicts what he did before? I can appreciate an author changing their mind over time, but it also comes across as a failure to let the previous work stand on its own and a refusal to let the message of that earlier story persist without needless contradiction by a later work. It comes across less as the author maturing and changing their mind with time and more like a creator who just wants to keep contradicting themselves for the sake of spurring on an argument (and more attention for the sake of more book sales).

[lachievpoststhings]

The Simpsons Season 18: My thoughts

'sup, here's my review of the 18th season, the last one before the movie! Little fun fact about this DVD set, it exists solely because of people online complaining. Season 17, which was released on DVD in 2014, was originally planned to be the very last Simpsons boxset. This ticked off a lot of collectors who now had a 2 season gap in their collection (but we'll talk about that another time). Season 17 was almost the last boxset but diehard fans wrote into Fox saying they wanted more DVDs so we finally got this set in 2017. The lesson here is, DVDs are better than streaming and sometimes, bullying corporations can work.

Favourite Episodes:

The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer

I like the introduction of Fat Tony's son, Homer and Bart in the mafia, the truck, the truck truck, the truck truck truck, and especially the twist at the end (full disclosure, I haven't seen the Godfather or the Sopranos and don't really intend to start on either one).

G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)

We've got Homer in the Navy, why not Homer in the army reserves? The Looney Tunes inspired sequence is enjoyable as hell and I love how Marge helps Homer outsmart the military.

Moe'N'a Lisa

I love me some Moe episodes. I will admit, he does come off as a jerk in this one, but that was because of peer pressure and he and Lisa do make up in the end.

Ice Cream of Margie (with the Light Blue Hair)

I like Homer as an ice cream man (and especially like the design of his truck) and Marge making art from the ice cream sticks. The conflict near the end feels a bit forced but the way they make up is still very sweet (and I mean that in two ways).

Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Three Times

Again, I love a good trilogy episode. I'll admit I don't know anything about The Count of Monte Cristo but I still liked the parody, as well as the one about Bart's friend and the Batman parody.

Springfield Up

This one may retcon a thing or two but it's still entertaining seeing how these characters grow over every 8 years. And once again, why is it that I still don't have The Rutles on DVD?

Homerazzi

I dunno, I just thought this one was funny. I don't always need a good reason.

Marge Gamer

The 2007 style online video game stuff and the reference to Bend it like Beckham may date this episode a tad but I still enjoyed it. I like when they mess with the format a tiny bit once in a while.

Crook and Ladder

It's fun to see Homer and the others as firefighters. I mean, okay yeah, they do end up stealing stuff but there's always the hope that they'll get better, specifically Homer. Even then, it's still depicted in a comedic way. As a whole, I still quite enjoyed it.

24 Minutes

A good 24 parody, or at least I assume it is, I've never actually watched 24 but I think it still works even though I haven't seen the original. Give it a watch, this episode is pretty good.

Not so Favourite Episode:

The Boys of Bummer

Sorry to sound like an exaggerated angry YouTube reviewer for a second but this might actually be one of my absolute least favourite episodes. Bart ends up losing a little league baseball game and the entire town, THE ENTIRE TOWN, constantly bullies and harasses him for it to the point where he has a mental breakdown, falls from a tower and ends up in hospital, at which point the whole town, knowing that he's in the hospital, STILL boos him! Sure, they stage a new game just for him to win so he can regain his confidence at the end but that does not save this episode at all. Also, Homer's B plot is kinda boring. Yeah, this episode is just terrible, it's too mean with not enough comedy to balance it out, I say give it a skip.

As a whole, I still enjoyed this season. brought back memories of 9 year old Lachie looking forward to new episodes every week on channel 10.

GET THAT MODERN LOGO OUT OF MY FACE!!

That's more like it.

Well, that's it for this review. Join me next time when I will have a look at The Simpsons Movie (which is likely going to be difficult to sum up in my own words) so stay tuned for that.