#more screentime etc and we get to know them better BUT a lot of my favourite characters actually tend to be antagonists or just

[magpod-confessions]

(loosely responding to a confession i saw a while back, but just a lot of stuff in general)

i don't like how the fandom is so quick to slap labels like 'sexist, racist, misogynistic, etc' onto anyone who dislikes a certain character. i know these things are very much an issue, especially in fandom culture, but it's really anoying when people will just throw those labels around just because people dislike a character that happens to be a woman of colour. because 1. people are allowed to just dislike characters 2. people can have perfectly good reasons for disliking minority characters that have nothing to do with them being part of a minority group

specifically i want to talk about preferring michael distortion over helen distortion. obviously michael is widely depicted as a white man, while helen is widely depicted as a black woman so it's easy to look at the general favouritism towards michael and shout racism and misogyny. but that doesn't account the numerous reasons people could have to prefer michael over helen that have absolutely nothing to do with helen being black or being a woman. So, I present several such reasons:

(now, to the people that are going to say "why are you comparing them?? they are different characters and you should treat them like it" first of all, why have you read this far. second of all, that does not apply here. these are not two seperate characters. these are two different interations/personas/whatever of the same being. comparison should be expected if not encouraged)

michael is more interesting than helen. becuase michael is the distortion when jon and the viewer know very little about the distortion and the fears, he gets to be more cryptic, he can hint at things and and be all mysterious and vague about the nature of himself and the world. helen on the other hand is the distortion when we have a much better idea of the distortions nature and the fears and how they work. thus, she has less opportunity to be cryptic and vague and mysterious, which , in my opinion, is one of michael's best qualities-and what makes him so loved by the fandom. helen attempts to be weird and cryptic like michael, but it's just very repetitive and boring because we already know how everything works and there is very little she can hide from us

michael is a more 'iconic' character. this basically comes down to, he's more quotable. he has his whole trademark laugh and all his great quotes "i am not a who archivist i am a what" "how would a melody decribe itself when asked" "does your hand in any way own your stomach" "there has never been a door there archivist your mind plays tricks on you" i could go on. i'm sure helen has some great lines as well but i don't know any off the top of my head, which honestly proves my point a little. anyway, helen doesn't have all that. probably becuase the writers didn't want her to feel too similar to michael but yeah. this reason is a bit basic but it's still true

michael is made to seem more important. I just want to clarify, what i mean here when i say a character is more importamt here, is that the podcast makes this character seem more important. they both had their effect on the storyline, but the show definitely makes one of them seem more important and influential (this reason encompasses a lot of things so i'm sorry if it gets a bit ramble-y) this kinda ties in with the michael being more mysterious thing. micheal is treated as this mysterious unknown character, a potential threat, an antagonist at some points. Michael affects the characters quite a lot, and jon specifically seems to dwell on him a lot. So despite having a lot less screentime than helen, he's built up to be quite an important figure. Helen is not treated as important by the show in the same way. by the time she comes along, the whole mystery and drama of the distortion has already happened, so she isn't that important. she becomes a little irrelevant to the plot, occaisionally popping in to bother jon. and that's what she's really framed as —an annoyance, a bit of a nuisance, but not that important or influential. especially in season 5, she becomes almost a comedic relief character. mag 187 is the exception to this, where she is very important for about one episode before being almost immediately forgotten about. her effect on the characters is made to seem important only in retrospect. michael remains relevant even after his 'death' because he plays an important role in jon's struggle with his humanity and his conflict over gertrude's morals. even though michael has very little screentime compared to helen, every bit of it is made to feel relevant and important to the overall plot. I AM NOT SAYING MICHAEL IS ACTUALLY MORE IMPORTANT THAN HELEN. YOU CAN LOOK AT HELEN'S EFFECT ON THE PLOT AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE. I AM SAYING THE PODCAST ITSELF CLEARLY MAKES MICHAEL SEEM MORE IMPORTANT. sorry i just want to be super clear on that

michael has a more tragic/serious backstory. we all know what i mean here. michael shelley being manipulated and decieved and betrayed and kept in the dark, to become a monster that's whole purpose was to do those same things to countless innocents—there's so much that can be drawn from that and it's so poetic and interesting. it's also relevant to the overarching plot of the podcast like i said before. and like i mentioned before, helen is treated as a more funny character, not as serious or tragic as michael. don't get me wrong, there is tragedy in her becoming but it is not explored in the podcast canon. you can definitely talk about the srious stuff of helen's character but it isn't as grounded in canon if you do. also michael's death seems more tragic because michael shelley was framed as super innocent and undeserving of his fate while helen richardson was canonically kind of an asshole (not saying she deserved it either of course)

helen replaced michael. this relates to what i said at the start of this list—helen is going to be compared to michael as she is literally his replacement. for one, that does set michael fans against her slightly already because she's complicit in his 'death' a tiny bit. but the real problem is, she's expected to live up to michael—while also being different enough that it doesn't feel like the same character—which i personally don't feel that she does. i think i'd like her better if she was her own character and hadn't replaced michael, and i think that's a big reason that many people that prefer michael don't like her as much. it's also a valid reason to dislike a character. also, this has absolutely nothing to do with her being a woman of colour in fanon. if she was another white boy i'd still probably dislike her when she didn't live up to michael standards.

that's all i can be bothered to write, i think i had more ideas but i forgot sorry lol. anyway, notice how none of those reasons had anything at all to do with helen being a woman or often being depicted as black? if michael had been a woman of colour and helen had been a white man instead, these reasons would still apply

anyway i spent so long on this i thought of a couple reasons someone might preferhelen because i still love her and i don't want to make it seem like i dislike her. i don't. i just prefer michael but helen is still definitely top5 tma characters for me for sure.

we get to see the distortion adapt to it's new identity as helen which is super cool (i do not understand why no one talks about this.like hello????? it's so interesting?)

sometimes it's nice to have a more funny character, especially the juxtaposition between the more dark stuff of the podcast and lighthearted moments between helen martin and jon in season 5

i like her more subtle manipulations and the whole 'fake friend' thing. i thought that was a really interesting concept and a good way of bringing something new to the distortion

anyway, i know that white-twink-favouritism is an issue within the tma fandom (and dare i say tumblr as a whole) but let's remember than not everyone who likes or dislikes certain characters or prefers one character over another does so because they are sexist or racist. there are so many different reasons for someone to dislike or like characters that have notihing to do with race or gender.

i notice this debate particularly with michael and helen and i agree there could certainly be an element of sexism and a bit of racism too (not racism so much because she is not canonically black it's just a fanon thing so racist people probably just see her as white idk) but i think most people have genuine reasons like these to prefer michael and should not be called sexist or racist for having preferences.

🗣️ if i remember right mod i know you prefer helen so disagree with me if you wish. I'M NOT SAYING MICHAEL IS OBJECTIVELY BETTER THAN HELEN I'M POINTING OUT REASONS THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE PREFER HIM. i'm not really here to debate whether michael or helen is 'better' i just wanted to point out something that annoys me a bit

oh my god you are so right anon. at the end of it all both distortions are just. the distortion. michael was more impactful to the actual story as a whole, being one of gertrude's assistants, but helen is also super important in jons journey into avatarhood. both of them affected how jon sees himself through this ( him seeing himself as a monster definitely is also from the distortion ) in their own ways , and while helen is more of comedic relief , she still is new. she's fresh. she is a blank slate for the distortion after having been michael for so long and that is so interesting , especially with how she feels at the very start after merging. - deceit

Agree agree agree. I love helen sm and I find her incredibly interesting (and well the disortion in general) and I do prefer her over Michael personally (partly bc im gay as hell), but I definitely understand why ppl love Michael sm. And yea I dont think ppl should be called sexism or racist over liking a character. Like theres a big difference between liking a character for genuine reasons and liking them bc you have a bias. Idk yea - Rosette

[beanghostprincess]

I have this thought for quite some time, coming mostly from my twitter and Reddit interactions.

I kinda love the amount of hate I see towards Buggy. People hate how Oda loves this clown and keeps bringing him up, how he is getting more connections to story, how he gets that high bounty. They hate him because he doesn’t have powers, or isn’t smart.

And the fact that so many of them try to cope by putting Mihawk in place of Buggy is incredible. Mihawk is not some lost friend who is having insanely deep contention to shanks, BUGGY IS.

But I guess he’s not “cool and powerful” enough and they don’t get why shanks could be friends with “someone like that” (actual take I saw a lot).

I can’t wait for buggy to be more important just to see everyone lose their minds. If he gets to laugh tale, the best day of my life. And I’m not even that big on Buggy

These takes make me so angry because they're just??? Not true at all??? Most of these opinions come from the general audience and dudebros who don't take the time to analyze Buggy and just accept his character the way other characters see him. Instead of stopping for a second and thinking about why he does what he does and why Oda likes him so much, they just assume he's the lame clown everyone in the OP world thinks he is. Which is, in my opinion, extremely sad. And you don't even have to analyze shit?? Like, okay, I get it. Chapter 1082 is crucial for his character and perhaps if you don't read that you might think he's useless and Oda uses him too much for what he actually does for the story (bullshit, by the way, I'm just trying to find a reasoning behind their shitty takes). But after reading 1082??????????? Okay???? Whatever. Buggy haters get on my nerves, not because they don't like Buggy, but because they don't understand him.

Saying Buggy isn't smart is uhhh. It's just not true. The fact that he's constantly placed next to the biggest, most feared, and strategic pirates in the world just doesn't help him at all to prove that, tbh. I'd be scared af if I had gone through all the things he has, honestly. Like- People- People just ignore Water 7 and the whole thing with Usopp being a coward but wanting to be more than that because of his dream and that being scared doesn't necessarily mean something bad??? I think people just forget entire arcs and scenes to post these things. Buggy might not be the bravest but he understands the pirate world better than anybody and he's genuinely smart, he's just constantly placed in situations that force his character to be scared af (for obvious reasons) and everyone looks down on him for that. Which makes total sense for his character because his whole thing is feeling inferior and being compared to others when he has many talents himself. He isn't dumb, he just has the worst luck in the whole fucking world. Or the best. It sort of depends.

I think he lost his bravery and sense of adventure when he gave up on his dream, but now that he's being more confident in the fact that he could achieve it, we will see him using his full potential. And I am so, so excited for that. The speech he gives in chapter 1082 changed my life and it's easily my favorite chapter from the whole manga. I really, really hope they do something with that. I want him to have all the wonderful scenes he deserves.

And, okay, about the Mihawk thing: I don't agree with that that much? Like, okay, I can see people often making Mishanks relationship more than what it actually is, but tbf, Mihawk is barely a character here because Oda hasn't given him screentime of his own. He's always there for another character (Shanks, Zoro, Cross guild, etc). What we do know about him is that he went all his way to find Shanks and tell him about Luffy?? Like. Okay, babe, I know what you are. What we do know is that Shanks and him have something going on and I would really like to know WHAT exactly. I'm not even a huge Mishanks shipper but I completely understand why people like it. I prefer other ships like Shuggy and Cross Guild but, well, I don't think they use Mihawk to take over Buggy's place. I think they just want Mihawk to have some story because Oda barely gives him one. But I can see where you're coming from, though. I can see a lot of people using Shuggy's dynamic for them sometimes and it bothers me because these two have their own thing and they could easily just?? Ship both things??

People saying they don't understand why Shanks would be friends with somebody like Buggy is so funny to me, because we barely know anything about Shanks either, lmfao. He's the cool and powerful role model of the main character. He's literally the most cliché thing in the whole wide world, shut up. And I absolutely love him and he has wayyy more personality than these types of characters usually have, but I am tired of seeing takes like this as if Buggy wasn't one of the most interesting characters in this manga. But, also, Shanks would just?? Kick these people's asses for this shit. Saying you don't understand why Shanks would be friends with Buggy is just admitting you think the same way people in-world think about him, which is just admitting you don't understand his character. At least people in-world think that way because they don't know Buggy's story. You know Buggy's story. You should know why Shanks is friends with him and cares so much about him. But also?? Even if Buggy truly was a fucking loser with no talent and no dreams. Saying Shanks needs a reason for being friends with him is so dumb. Have you considered that... Sometimes... Most of the time... People don't have a reason for being friends with somebody and you don't need to find a reason for somebody's love?? Like- Perhaps Shanks just fucking loves Buggy because that's his childhood friend and he doesn't care about his abilities or talents. Perhaps he just loves him for who he is. I don't think it's that hard to understand, honestly.

You're not that big on Buggy, but I am. I really am. He's probably getting a tragic ending with Shanks but I do not care. If he ever gets to Laugh Tale or- Or if he ends up believing in himself finally. If he gets closure with him (which he will get, because Oda loves these two too much to leave them without closure). I will be the happiest person in the whole world. My mind and body say "Luffy king of the pirates!!" but my heart cries of happiness every time I think about Buggy being the king. I love him so fucking much.

[agalychnisspranneusroseus]

Out of curiosity, what's your opinion on Amphibia's decision to have Marcy in a coma and possessed for 95% of season three?

I have mixed feelings about it, I wish she'd gotten more screentime because she's my favorite character and I love her, but I understand she and Sasha are relatively secondary characters compared to Anne and the Plantars so I don't expect the new fave to just take over the show overnight. I do think a big part of the first half of S3 felt like a waste of time that could have been better spent, like, I would have dedicated at least one or two more episode to Marcy (and one more to Sasha), though I don't know exactly what for. I just have a vague idea of "eehh, I feel like a little bit more Marcy is needed here". Plot-wise, I think there's not a lot of space for her in S3. She's stabbed at the end of S2, then possessed, then Sasha breaks her free and they immediately need to fight the big bad together. There's not a lot of space for More Marcy in between these plot points unless we mess with the pacing. We have:

A longer Olivia and Yunan in which Marcy gets to do more stuff?

More episodes of Marcy inside the Core?

A Marcy-centric episode after she's released from the Core before the three girls leave to fight it?

I don't know what ELSE she could possibly do in Olivia and Yunan. I'm talking about quantity (of time) rather than quality here because character-wise that's another discussion. If we're talking about just screentime, I think Olivia and Yunan kinds covers it just fine. It doesn't meas with the pacing and it does what it has to do.

More Marcy in the Core would only be justified if we give her something to DO inside there, which is a good solution because she certainly can take the oportunity to do research into its memories and stuff, learn its weaknesses, resist its attempts to integrate her etc etc. I think the best option would be to give her an actual goal in there, idk if that would constitute "fighting back" necessarily (because I think making her completely helpless and dependent on Sasha to release her has a narrative meaning I don't want to lose) but if she's trying to go behind the Core's back to find information, that would give her more stuff to do and therefore more screentime. The thing is, we already have an episode seeing Marcy inside the Core, so idk if that would make a huge change quantity-wise.

That leaves us with the option of giving Marcy time to recover before the big battle, which... would really mess with the pacing.

Quality-wise there is some stuff we can do. She never properly confronts Sasha, for example. She never has any kind of conversation with Anne about what happened in True Colors. I think a solution to this would be to not make Darcy completely separate from Marcy, but to fuse them together a little bit. This might be a very silly example but I'm thinking about Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna from My Little Pony and how they're the same person but also like... Nightmare Moon is her evil/corrupted side? I would have loved to see Marcy be brought down to her lowest moment and somewhat "accepting" joining the Core, which wouldn't mean she's willingly joining Andrias, just that she's... giving in. She loses the will to fight in a very emotional, non-rational way. It's not as much a decision as it is her being dragged by the current, half-unconscious. Darcy then WOULD be Marcy, in a way. She'd be her worst and most repressed side brought to the surface, stripped of all inhibitions, trapped in this irrational haze. In that way, Darcy fighting Sasha is actually Marcy fighting Sasha through the metaphorical lenses of a mental breakdown. She's still possesed but in large part, she's also just corrupted, and that leaves enough space for her to continue with her character arc.

I think having Anne think about her more and actually talk to her parents would change a lot. It wouldn’t give Marcy any more real screentime but it would give her more presence if you know what I mean. Another thing that would help would have been to give Sasha an extra episode dedicated entirely to her grieving Marcy, if only to expand on their relationship.

TL;DR: I too wanted MORE MARCY in S3 but think it'd be really difficult to make it work without changing huge chunks of the plot. Imo the solution to give the viewers MORE MARCY lies in the nature of Darcy rather than not having Marcy be possesed, in a coma, or just randomly giving her more episodes, which would mess with the pacing. Quality > quantity is what would work in this situation.

Finally, ik this is a controversial topic and people tend to get really mad over it, but I don't like to complain too much (just a little) so I want to clarify that despite the constructive criticism I would offer the writers, I still love the possesion arc, I love Darcy and I love this show. Solid 9/10 I enjoy it a lot despite its problems and the lack of Marcy in S3 hurt but it's something I can tolerate. Sadly sometimes we need to accept our fave simply isn't the main guy and that's ok (that's why we have fanfics! Currently I'm reading awiw and I'm eating it up!)

[xxk3vonicaxx]

An unhinged ramble about why I have a disliking for Voxval/Staticmoth from Hazbin Hotel and comparing them to my own OCs for what feels like 5 minutess:

This isn't what I normally post buut I wanna ramble about something I used to slightly likee (rant under the cutt) X"DD

I could go on and on about why I don't like Hazbin Hotel (you knoww, blasphemyy, Biblically inaccuratee, S/A glamorizationn, the voodoo stuffss, etc.), buut I'm not gonna do that todayy, today I'm gonna talk about Voxvall (or Staticmoth buut I'm gonna call them Voxval), the ship between Vox and Valentino from the signature show itselff

My problem with Voxval iss, welll, is that neither of the characters have characterr. To be precisee, they're supposed to be villains but they lack what it takes to be actuall, intimidating villainss, often being used with one or two personality traits in mind and nothing moree (Specifically Valentinoo)

In his introduction in episode 2 alonee, Val is simply called something of a whiny crybabyy, which is what he acts like throughout the majority of the time he gets screentime in the episodee (I know about episode 4, I'll discuss it laterr). He doesn't look intimidating at alll, something that he should be considering the build-up we had gotten from the comics Viv made in the pastt, or with Addictt, or with the texts/calls Angel had been getting from him throughout the episodee

He doesn't have much of a characterr, he's not intimidating and he doesn't appear to actually act like a threateningg, serious villain throughout his introduction at alll, which is why it feels so jarring when we see the texts Angel's getting from Val to Val throwing a temper tantrum on Velvet's call with Voxx

If anythingg, if Val was so upsett, he would've come to the hotel himself before Vox even showed upp, he would've tracked Angel down on his ownn! (the guy owns the porn industryy! He'd have connections or witnesses that would see Angel at the Hotel and tell him through thatt) He knew Angel was at the hotel prior to Vox coming theree! Why didn't he come there on his ownn, that would've made him an actual threatt!

Buut nooo, we didn't get thatt, we got Vox calming Val down as ship-baitt-

"Buut Kevinn! What about the Val in episode 4!" The Valentino in episode 4 is literally word for word based off of R2's r*peficc, plus they storyboarded both Addict and the video for Poisonn. It's artificiall

Speaking of Voxx, he's probably the best character in this show from voice alonee (and that's not saying muchh)

Vox here is reduced to the trope of just "comforting the big, strong mann" or simply being the straight mann, and I'm not here for itt, that's literally all he is throughout the entire episode with Valll-

Likee, neither of them have much of a personalityy, they have jobss, they have titless, buut not much of a personalityy

What's Val's character aside from being a rapistt? What's Vox's character except being a manipulatorr?

"Buut Kevinn! Val's cunning and manipulative andd-" Noo, you're lying to yourselff. You're thinking of fanon instead of realityy, you're thinking of Val from before the show actually came outt. I'm talking about the Val from the actual showw, the show that airs on Amazon Primee-

And they're canonn! They're canon from only after being in 2 (slightly 3 if you count episode 4) episodes together without next to no buildup whatsoeverr, 'cause of course R2 ships it tooo! And knowing that Viv's friends with R2 of course she's gonna make it canonn

Likee, I'd have not as much of a problem with it's sudden inclusion in the finale if it were actually built-up uponn, buut it's just suddenly there with nothing building up upon it prior to the finalee, it's jarringg, much like a lot of things within this showw

It would've been better if it were actually built up upon within the seasonn, and then actually having it appear in season 2 if the Vs were to get more screentimee

Seee, you can have ships with villains and make it workk. Much like a normal shipp, you have to build up upon it so that it doesn't feel artificial and appear at random out of nowheree.

Probably the best example that I could give of this would be the ship of my own OCss, Kabastion (that being Kevin and Sabastion from my own showw ((El Origen De Los Shadows)) respectivelyy

With Sabb, obviously he's a rapist and a murderer (no dip sherlock he's literally the main antag of season 1 because of thatt) but he's intimidatingg, from his introduction alone in the show you can already tell something's off with the guyy, he's actually shown to be manipulativee, rather than being a whiny crybabyy, he actually proves himself to be a threat by the end of episode and throughout the entirety of season 1-

With Kevinn, from where he is in his introductionn (juvie for murder and committing a sch**l sh**ting) and his description from Sab while he visited him in juvie in season 1, you can already tell that he's a threatt, moreso even with his behaviors proving himself to be that wayy, the guy's proven to be cunningg, manipulative and unpredictable along with other thingss, which is even moreso highlighted in season 2 alongside with his crimess-

Buut the thing iss: Their crimes aren't their characterr, it's not what their personality iss. They have a similar personality to each other and THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINTT, they're sadomasochistic psychopathss, Kevin would rather have a partner who's exactly like him so he won't get boredd, same with Sabb! And their relationship is built up upon throughout season 1 and highlighted in season 2!

I could talk about these two so much and how complex these two are buut that could be for your own character analysis for those who actually watch the showw ('cause they're meant to be analyzed and not taken at face valuee)

Anywayy, my point iss, is that if you want to make a good ship with two villainss, you need to make those villains have actual character and personality within the source materiall, Voxval has nothing with that to make their characterss, and in turn the shipp, appealing to those who don't indulge in fanonn

Aside from thatt, this toxic yaoi was made in a lab with no development priorr

[takosan]

Spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen, Bleach.

The other day I saw someone post that Jujutsu Kaisen was a better manga before it became mainstream and Gege felt pressured by fans to write in a certain way and the story went awry after becoming mainstream. (Can’t find the post now so paraphrasing here but it was basically about the ending which has left many people disappointed.) I’ve been thinking over the post and I don’t know if I agree. For one, most artists want their work to reach more people. Not only does that mean commercial success, more income, future opportunities, etc but also it means you created something which resonates with so many people. If you become mainstream and then feel pressured by your fan base, that is something you have to resolve as an artist internally, by holding true to your vision. This is not to say that fans are always right or kind or generous (I mean here we are reading leaks…) but to blame fans for the writing in the manga doesn’t seem right. So where did it go wrong?

This is my take on it and of course feel free to disagree.

Personally I think Gege kind of set up his own problems and they were foundational and early in the manga. This right here:

In Gogo, we had a character who was canonically the strongest in the world. Undefeated. Yes, his students have potential but Gojo’s techniques were unrivaled. This by itself was not the issue. There are lots of manga with overpowered teachers/leaders. I just watched Bleach, and the head captain Genryusai Yamamoto is the OP character. In Hunter x Hunter, it is the chairman, Netero. Both of them are defeated and killed by a foe who is introduced as the gravest threat, etc etc. The issue is the suspension of disbelief that fans are expected to perform. How is this little tot of a protagonist going to defeat an antagonist who could defeat the strongest good guy in that world? This is also why I will always get on my soapbox for Hunter x Hunter and Togashi’s writing. Gon never fights Meruem (because he would be swatted aside like a fly) and his fight with catperson (whose name I have forgotten) has horrific consequences. Togashi’s solution was not to give his protagonist a training regimen at Planet Fitness for three weeks. The ant king’s death is so much more realistic. Netero’s means of killing the ant king are underhanded because he acknowledges that they were NOT on the same power level and even his technique was no match at the end of the day. Also other powerful characters who could have taken on the ant king are not introduced until later. The writing and plot development was brilliant, believable, and had us weeping for EVERYONE. Togashi wrote an ethical dilemma about whether the ant king’s murder was justified into that fight.

Bleach is probably a better comparison to JJK because it is also setting up Ichigo to fight Yhwach who has defeated all the canonically strong characters (the head caption, royal guards). No doubt he is going to get new forms, new swords, and fifty chapters where he nearly dies three times. (At the end of it, we will want the fight to end and Ichigo to win because we can’t bear to read another chapter 😂) The difference between the two though, and this is where Gege compounds his mistake, is writing Gojo as a fully fledged character in his own right with plenty of screentime. You end up with people rooting for the supposedly secondary character rather than your protagonist. We might overlook Kubo killing the head captain - he barely appeared in the story, didn’t have much of a personality when he did appear, and was not written as an attractive, interesting, compelling character. He was just a placeholder for what Soul Society represented. It might not be the best writing but we can forgive it. Because the manga focuses us on Ichigo and other characters who we are invested in. Kenpachi v Unohana was rich. Kyoraku inviting Haschwalth to tea was comedy. Mayuri as some mad scientist perversion of a sunflower was dazzling …and puzzling. The same is not true for JJK. Gege wrote BOTH Gojo and Yuji into the spotlight, AND routinely disappeared characters (Nobara?) until they randomly showed up again. As the reader you end up asking where characters are offscreen because there isn’t a satisfactory answer. I don’t think I understood the culling games. The pacing in the ending chapters has been very off. I don’t know if fans can be blamed for this. Personally speaking, the last stroke of brilliance in the plot for me was Gege boxing Gojo (because it makes Gojo so heartrendingly human, to pause at the sight of the one he cares, whom he killed). After that it felt like the plot didn’t know what to do with Gojo.

Also just want to say that I do feel for Gege. I can’t imagine carrying the burden of such high expectations. I am sure the pressure was high, and I think we already know that mangaka are so overworked. It’s something Togashi has talked about when he explains why HxH has been so slow. It can’t be easy to keep churning out issues. And I do wonder about editorial oversight because Gege couldn’t be solely responsible for some of these problems. I don’t support writers being hated on. We can feel disappointed and not like how a story played out, but at the end of the day the writers are human too and also have feelings. At the end of the day we have to give credit to Gege for creating this interesting story world and for giving us characters who entertained us and drew us in.

Anyway this post has become long. I haven’t watched Naruto (which I’ve heard praised for its writing too) so curious how that show handles OP characters who are not the protagonist.

PS - Mayuri. What even is this 😂😂😂😂

[my-pjo-stuff]

For the Great PJO Ask Analysis event:

You've got a topic in PJO you'd like for me to analyze?

Presentation of race and gender: such as Charlie Beckendorf, Annabeth Chase, etc. and how those types of representations are good/bad for the audience.

Want to share YOUR analysis of stuff with me and my followers?

Annabeth Chase is not a heroine as the fandom makes her out to be. As a daughter of Athena, she's shown to be ruthless when it comes to anything, even forming relationships. Her attitude, derived from her fatal flaw, arguably makes the books difficult to read at times because she's so critical of what others do. Alternatively, she's a traumatised young girl who has had many people abandon her. What's your thoughts on her?

Want to hear my take or shares yours of different characters and aspects of the PJO universe?

The films, though poorly written and ill-received by critics and most fans of the books, were integral to get more people to read the books. Opinion on both films?

Thoughts on Luke's character in the films or the series?

Thanks for the ask! Presentation of race and gender

In my honest opinion? It seems to be more...brownie points collecting from me when Rick introduces any female or POC character in the books. I am only on The Lost Hero as of now, but from what I observed are these facts only ever just present and don't really contribute a lot to a character, while most major characters still tend to be white and male. For example Beckendorf. Yes he is a canonically POC character which is GREAT, but at the end of the day not only did he get 0 story with his race- he almost immediately got killed off too to serve as a plot device for Silena's story. I also seem to notice that while yes, there are quite a few female characters they are still consistently weaker than the men and tend to be reduced compared to them when it comes to combat. Annabeth for example, while no doubt being an important character she doesn't really fight much. She's a LOT weaker compared to Percy, and even if we go with the "well she's a strategist, not a soldier" angle then she also doesn't seem to do THAT much strategy? Clarisse comes to mind for a female fighter- but even she seems to lose against Percy whenever they fight or have an altercation and otherwise just isn't explored much or shown much. Piper from what I've seen does have an interesting set up and does seem to be very important- but just like other female characters she doesn't seem to be an equal match to Leo and Jason. You don't have much exploration of her native american side. Now I understand that you can't give every character equal amounts of screentime- but it does feel rather weird to me that the most powerful, important characters with the most screentime seem to be white men. The again to be fair, A) I'm a white teen girl so what do I know about race and B)Not yet finished with HOO so there are still chances for it to get better and have positive examples. But so far main and important characters still tend to be white, and if they are POC it doesn't have much influence of the story to the point of the race being easily swapped with no changes. And personally I do think that while representation to have is nice and good in the short term, it can grow harmful or less effective in the short term as any culture or issues are ignored. It can easily gives the impression that things such as racism or prejudice don't exist. The fact that most POC characters so far seemed to be rather unimportant side character (with expectation to Leo and Piper) in a setting where their race doesn't even matter is also meh for me. The fact that there's pretty much no female main character who could ever even think about going toe to toe with their male counterparts also reflects harmful ideals. Annabeth Chase is not a heroine as the fandom makes her out to be.(.....) What's your thoughts on her?

I think she's a bit bland to be honest. Like yes the set up is very interesting and certainly has many possibilities- but it's not explored enough. The first person POV from Percy is partially to blame for this, but I would have loved to see more on her thoughts. For example: She reacted pretty hostile to Luke in the first two books after the betrayal. In SOM she was angry above all, in TLT she didn't even seem to be very suprised or sad at how Luke betrayed camp. To the point of her first words when finding it out being "may the gods curse him" and basically what amounts to "yeah makes sense that it was him, I can see him doing that" Now could this simply be Rick's inconsistent writting? Yes most definitely, but I still think she should have been explored more. What went on in Annabeth's head? How did she feels? What did she do in that time she was captured by Luke, and pretty much directly protected by him? I'll be for real and say I find both her and Percy pretty bland in terms of character. Said it once, said it again- great set up imo but bad development.

Opinion on both films?

Thoughts on Luke's character in the films or the series?

Imma be for real here and say that I didn't really like the movies that much? But it's not like I hate them, they just weren't my cup of tea. Personally I'm one of those people who say that an adaptation should always be as close as humanly possible to the source material. Same goes for Luke in the movies- I do admit his casting was PERFECT, but otherwise? He didn't really have the same charm to me as he had in the movies. SHOW LUKE ON THE OTHER HAND GOES HAAARRRDDD. While I do still have my gripes with the show (especially with how Percy and co. missed the deadline and the way they did Hermes and Poseidon) I do think they did Luke pretty well. Even if I had preferred a book accurate casting did Charlie definitely bring over the right vibes. The changes in the scorpion scene are honestly understandable imo, considering that they now have a solid plan of Luke's character it makes more sense. NGL the show is sort of my biggest hope to get people to stop demonizing Luke for no reason. If hotness could save Draco SO CAN IT SAVE LUKE.

[albaqae]

NIMONA SPOILER RANT!!!

Soooooo I watched it a bit ago and OH MY GOD???????

The way they gave nimona a more pear shaped body as a kid really meant a lot to me, u don’t see that many kids like that in media, and as a child it felt like because I wasn’t like kids on tv i took up more space than I was supposed to (the good old “why do my thighs look like that when I sit” and “why are my shoulders wider” and ofc! The “why isn’t my face as thin as them?”) IDK I HAVENT SEEN LOTS OF PPL POINT IT OUT BUT IT MEANT THE WORLD TO ME??????

Altho Merida rlly helped me out w that but kids are still rude!

Bal also put out so many questions, like why do we feel we need to prove ourselves to other people? And why does it tend to take up a bigger seat than our morale? And the way it started to erode off his character was so realistic I feel also because they were so throughout with it, they didn’t just show the viewer “love urself” they actually DEMONSTRATED how that position FEELS

It felt like it was happening to YOU

And I really love they made a character gay without making it a CONFLICT, it feels like whenever people try to make movies about queerness, they can get lost in the homophobia and conflicting gay identity, and it can sometimes overshadow over the characters themselves (their intentions, feelings, etc replaced by labels and social customs so much that the character is just lost), and in the end of it, it leaves me super unsatisfied because I never KNEW who this was even about!!!

But here yes it was a plot point, but the characters felt real, like they actually loved each other, it made this conflict between feeling like one has to choose just a million times more important

I CARED about what happened to these characters

I feel that a part of that is how they made goldenloin the screentime of him regretting what he was going to bal, like u saw the raw, unresolved conflicts in his eyes every time he cornered him and ofc the “im fine, commander” scene REALLY just completes it all

If this movie was around when I was a child, I think it would’ve saved me a lot of heartache and maybe would’ve made me feel a bit better about being “too much”

And a lot more if I saw it when I didn’t know what my identity was (fun fact- I still dunno!)

And THE ANIMATION. THE ANIMATION. THE ANIMATION.

Ima just say- I’ve never seen characters melt onto each other that well, and even LESS in 3D ANIMATION??????

Also nimona’s unapologetic feral energy and how it both brings her up and throws her down- I just discovered a lot of myself in her and idk i guess I’m trying to be kinder to myself and ruder to those who aren’t kind to me (??)

I’m still figuring it out lol

[stellaferous]

SPOILERS FOR THE RECENT GLADION & MAGEARNA EVENT !!!

some of my fav scenes from the story 👇

all in all i really liked this event !! i'm happy that whenever DeNA writes stories with Gladion at the forefront, they end up being more fleshed out instead of the typical "shallow friendship" stories they usually make, i suppose this says a lot about gladion's character as a whole 👏

random dump on some scenes in the event:

i love when he said get lost to colress LOL i know it's part of his character to be blunt but i didn't expect that to be his response 💀

so did lear not host a party at all and lusamine just asked to borrow his manor as part of her plan??? either way she's clearly rich enough to make such a demand 💀💀

i know a lot of us were shocked to see gladion pair up with magearna of all mons, but it honestly makes PERFECT sense 😭 it's an artificial pokemon who loves to be researched upon and gladion fears it will end up being alone because of this, THIS EXACTLY PARALLELS SILVALLY 😭😭😭 his sense of justice and moral compass is so strong like this fits his character perfectly he just doesn't want magearna to suffer a similar fate

cool to see that his "sygna suit" was really just a fancy outfit he had to wear for the event and was not modelled specifically after magearna, but i guess we can headcanon that lusamine tailored that suit for him as part of her plan lol

also i honestly loved to see that gladion is capable of being formal when he has to LOL i know a lot of people object the idea of him becoming aether president but i personally dig the idea, regardless what people think happened between him and lusamine i feel like taking a job where he gets to care for pokemon and research them ethically (in a way he thinks is right) is a perfect fit for his character

^ to add a bit to this, i also like when he can just act like a rich kid with manners when he needs to, but the second someone acts against his morals he just goes back to being stubborn and brash 😭 all this fits my headcanon that sometimes he helps out his mom with aether foundation work by travelling to different regions to care for pokemon/assist pokemon professors, etc + my headcanon of him being able to speak more "proper" when needed IS NO LONGER JUST A HEADCANON 🎉🎉🎉

i LOVE when he has nice interactions with his family, especially his mom 😭 definitely a hot take but i'm perfectly fine with lusamine repairing her bond with her kids, the SM USUM timeline stuff is a bit messy but in my opinion i prefer when after she recovers from the neurotoxins shenanigans she earnestly works to fix her relationship with her kids, because i personally believe that even in SM she was supposed to be redeemable--not because "she deserves it", but because her being redeemed could strengthen the story's message about navigating a tragic family and fall from grace, ofc this depends on your interpretation on these events in the first place but i always felt like a happier ending was better suited for the aether family (i made another post abt this a while back lol... might rewrite it again)

also gladion calls her mom while lillie is more formal and says mother right??

to sum it up i love this story because everything abt gladion is true to character + his motivations for wanting to care for magearna are perfect + i love the little things they added to his character esp for confirming my headcanon + more interactions with his family + not like DeNA's typical "friendship" stories + IT FINALLY GIVES GLADION THE SCREENTIME IT DESERVES EVEN IF THIS EVENT FEELS A BIT SHORTER THAN OTHERS 😭😭😭🎉🎉🎉💗💗💗

[youngjusticeslut]

Since we can almost all agree season 1 was the best. What do you think made it so good and so favorited compared to the three seasons?

Given that I've recently finished rewatching Season 1, I feel like now is an excellent time to answer this ask.

In my opinion, Season 1 of Young Justice is the best, and none of the following seasons even come close to matching it. At its core, Season 1 introduced us to this core team of teenage heroes and told the story through their lens. There are a few defining key features to this season that makes it stand above the others, and they are as follows:

You did not have to know any comics history in order to understand and follow the plot. This is, arguably, one of the most important elements of Season 1 that the other seasons (Outsiders and Phantoms in particular) fail on. Each character is a unique take to their comic counterparts. In the case of Kaldur and Artemis, they remain completely separate and can almost be considered characters that are completely unique to the show. In the case of more recognizable heroes (Wally, Dick, Superboy and Miss Martain), Season 1 gives them enough of a refresh that they feel new, but with familiar elements that make them fun to watch and get to know. Easter eggs don't detract from the plot, and remain just fun little things to point out and commend for their inclusion. Unlike later seasons, which pulled heavy elements from DC comics and wove them into the plot, Season 1 is accessible and enjoyable to everyone and isn't just for those who've read the comics.

The core cast of characters. Season 1, primarily, focused on the Team (Aqualad, Robin, Superboy, Kid Flash, Miss Martian and Artemis, sometimes Red Arrow.... and later, Zatanna and Rocket). These characters were the main cast, and every episode revolved around a story that put them in the spotlight. Every character (with the exception of Rocket) got at least one episode focused on their their development and gave them a chance to shine, and the audience a chance to get to know and appreciate them. The famous couples (Spitfire, Supermartian, etc.) got proper build up and were pretty fleshed out, making them endearing to the fandom. Unlike later seasons, which have outrageously bloated casts and relationships that got maybe 50 seconds of screentime (I'm looking at you, Wonderbird), Season 1 invested in its characters and let them lead the story, making them feel all the more real and the story that much more genuine. This is why the harsh transition between Season 1 and Invasion feels like a heartbreak. We spent 26 episodes falling in love with the core Team, and now all of a sudden we're expected to care about an entirely new cast with no support, explanation or buildup. It felt like being cheated out of 5 years with this cast, and even now we still don't have answers to a lot of questions in the gap.

Show, don't tell. I won't get too much into this one, but if you've been following me throughout Outsiders and Phantoms you'll know how much I loathe the amount of "telling" instead of showing. Season 1 does this so much better. Missions are played out, instead of explained to viewers through excessive monologues. Characters let their actions speak for them and actually had the time to play around the plot, instead of letting the plot making the decisions for them.

The reality of it all. At the risk of sounding like I belong on Twitter, Outsiders and Phantoms has an insane amount of 'woke' storylines-- for the sake of being woke. Don't get me wrong, several of the topics brought up in these later seasons are extremely important topics and I can understand why they're included; they're just not executed well. Compare this to Season 1 where the natural reaction to the events of Failsafe was that everyone on the team needed therapy to discuss it. There was no cheesiness, no hammering on the head about it. Action --> Natural Consequence.

I can really go on and on about how amazing Season 1 is, but truly, it was so good. I wish we'd gotten 4 seasons just outlining 4 years with the Team, getting to see them grow and change and be together. The rest of the seasons are fine, but none hold the charm and sheer power that the first have, and for that it will always be top tier in my book.

[year2000electronics]

Hi, just being curious, what do you think is the greatest difficulty you’ve faced carrying out the storyline in your ask blogs (aside from potential burnout)?

Is there any time where the asks were not going towards the direction where you’d want them to go, and how did you steer the story back on track?

Do you have any techniques giving out clues or keeping the pace of the ask blog?

[sorry these are a lot. Of questions. It’s just, it’s amazing how you are able to run multiple successful askblogs, and I’m curious how you did it]

OOOH THESE ARE SOME INTERESTING QUESTIONS! really pickin at my old noggin here...

id say probably the most difficult part is like... ok through my tenure ive obviously had some physically taxing moments, moments of people being way too mean, people being way too NICE, people complaining that every single member of a giant ensemble cast doesnt get the exact same amount of screentime etc etc, but id honestly say the hardest part is just. making the medium Work. when i run an ask blog like this, im basically asking people to drive the story forward with no promise of whether their choices even like. Matter. if youre not tethered enough to your asks, it can feel like youre just asking people to put a coin in the slot and letting the story play for another page. you have to play this balancing act of wanting to tell the story you want to tell while also needing peoples' help to get there. thats why an engaging story and endearing characters are so important. i wound up telling people here on my main that y2k would end with a good ending specifically because i got people concerned i genuinely would end it with a Bad End, but still even knowing that people would tune in. so its like. i always have to make sure its Engaging enough. for people to be willing to play this game with me at all. the hardest part of fishing is getting the fish to bite yk.

2. YES ALL THE TIME LOLLLL a lot of the time i will end up either picking an ask from before the topic came up and answer that one, or plant my own decoy ask. basically jingling keys at people HJSSKHASGK. but sometimes even that doesnt work! benrey in y2k has a very touchy complex about his helmet specifically because I DIDNT HAVE SPRITES WITH HIS HAIR. and i thought that his hair was kinda boring compared to what people were probably expecting (its very short and simple i draw his hair like bootleg barney) so i ended up having to answer that little thread by having an explosion and then presenting my own resolution (gordon calm him down :)) i like to think ive gotten better at key jingling though haha. usually the two types of key jingling topics i find work best are either little plot teases or a 'now back to what we were doing' ask, but if you dont want things to advance quite yet, i usually use questions that will elaborate on a character trait or introduce a new character fact

3. dont be me. /j ok actually the thing about this specific medium is like. people will send me asks guessing my twists WAAAAY early on but the thing is i can just. choose not to answer them. hehe. id personally pay attention to how often people are guessing your twists though because like. its BOUND to happen if you lay out clues some people will pick up on them. if theres not a lot of people guessing, then you can lean more into the big sting reveals of like 'NOOOOBODY EXPECTED THIS' but when a lot of people have guessed the twist, i usually make sure to present it in a way that doesnt imply that there was nobody on the right trail or that people got bamboozled. as for the clues themselves. well im about to figure that out myself again! i have some clues i need to lay in bmfe!! dont get discouraged if people pick up on what you thought was really subtle, cos like. literal day 1 of episode 3 someone literally made a powerpoint saying 'LEADING LIGHT IS BACK' and i was like ok i was just on my first crumb DAMN. as for pacing, it doesnt matter if you get the blog done in one month or one year- what does matter is PLANNING. if you know what your goal is, what your landmarks and checkpoints are, youll be able to stagger stuff successfully no matter the length. some of the best-recieved parts of y2kvr were parts i went into the session going 'this is my goal for today' for. the goals dont even have to big, it could even be something as small as like 'get from place a to place b'

SORRY THIS GOT LONG but ty for the question! reflecting on my process is interesting :]

[thefinalboss387]

Okay so I am currently watching through Black Sails for the first time and

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOOOOOVE THEIR PORTRAYAL OF EDWARD “BLACKBEARD” TEACH

Gonna explain why under the cut. And also ask some questions that people who know a lot about pirates and/or are familiar with other great pirate shows/movies can hopefully answer for me!

Before I go any further, I want to preface everything by saying that I just finished season 4, episode 5 today. It’s my first time watching the show (so please don’t spoil anything beyond that episode for me), and so far I can happily say it is one of the best TV shows I’ve ever seen. I’m SO impressed with the layers and depth of the story, how literally EVERY action has consequences (even the ones you don’t expect), etc. This show has all the political intrigue and power dynamics of Game of Thrones, without the noticeable decline that show unfortunately had. Season 4 has been AMAZING so far and I don’t expect the next half of the season to disappoint me. I’m genuinely starting to get a little sad that I’m so close to the end, because... NOW WHAT???

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THE SHOW UP TO SEASON 4 EPISODE 5

My only real experience with pirate fiction or history at all before this show was really Pirates of the Caribbean and Peter Pan. Even Treasure Island I’m largely unfamiliar with - I remember watching the Muppet version as a kid, I loved Treasure Planet but admittedly haven’t seen it in decades, and I barely remember either version, but yeah. I was recently in a pirate mood after that new Peter Pan movie came out on Disney+, Googled recommendations for a good pirate show, and Black Sails was the top of that list. And BOY am I glad I gave it a shot!!!

In particular, I found myself REALLY drawn to the character of Blackbeard. He showed up pretty late in the story so obviously I have a lot of other favorites as well, but he won me over VERY quickly. I’m at a point in my watch through where Teach is now dead, and unless he keeps coming back in Miranda-style visions (doubtful), I thiiiiink I’ve seen his entire story and am at a place where I can comfortably talk about his character arc?

Honestly, my only complaint is that I wish we saw more of him. He only ultimately shows up for like maybe 10 episodes, but MAN what a presence he brought with him!! As soon as he first showed up in that cabin being confronted by his ex-wife’s angry family, I was excited. He was played by the late RAY STEVENSON!!! I’ve only seen that particular actor in one other role, but he was my favorite Dexter villain BY FAR, so I knew he’d kill the role. I’m also super excited to see him in the upcoming Ahsoka show, but that’s neither here nor there lol. I feel like Teach’s overall lack of screentime hurts his chances of landing himself in my “favorite characters of all time” list, but I need time to digest the show for a bit before I decide on things like that. Because in the limited time we DO get with him, he hits all the right buttons for me!

I know Blackbeard is a super-famous real life pirate, and that he shows up a lot in popular fiction, but the only real knowledge I have of the man is what we saw in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. His portrayal in that movie was.... fine? I didn’t dislike him, but he definitely didn’t impress me either. He was a serviceable villain in a franchise that has had way better and more effective villains.

I work with kids, I serve as a mentor figure to them, and honestly my mission is to be the adult I wished I had in my life when I was a kid. Mentor/mentee, parent/child, “found family” relationships are something I LOVE to explore in fiction. Since I also tend to love villains, a lot of my FAVORITE fictional characters of all time are villains that explore a more toxic, dark side of those mentor relationships.

What I love about this portrayal of Blackbeard, primarily, is his relationship with Charles Vane. Despite how dangerous and arguably toxic both men are, their relationship was surprisingly sweet.

Blackbeard is a SCARY dude, and he very quickly establishes himself and makes it clear that he hates how soft and docile pirate society has become in his absence, and immediately goes about building a crew of hardened badasses that violently prove their worth to him. Yet, everything about his relationship with Vane is empathetic, understanding, and gentle.

Now, obviously, Vane is one of the most hardened and badass characters in the show. It’s easy to see why someone like Blackbeard would take a liking to someone like Vane. He grows to see Vane as a son, and despite the betrayals Vane puts him through, Teach never holds it against him, never lifts a finger to harm him, and even passionately seeks to avenge his death after the fact. His absence for literally half of the show’s run is because Vane betrayed him and exiled him, and in his words, he left because he would’ve had to kill Vane if he stayed.

He reveals, privately, to his lover that he is slowly dying from shrapnel in his chest, and wants to cement a legacy for himself through Vane - a fact that he never actually TELLS Vane or anyone else because he doesn’t want to manipulate or guilt him. Everything about Teach’s motivations revolved around Vane. But even beyond that, he grows something of a mentor-y dynamic with Jack Rackham after Vane’s death, and it’s implied that he took Israel Hands under his wing before Vane. He is entirely driven by his need for a son, even if that son is not biological -- after Vane’s betrayal, he laments that only God makes sons. As someone who also really wants to be a parent, and has a lot of mentor relationships instead, I really relate to that sentiment and feel the heartbreak behind it.

I genuinely love his style. A brilliant tactician, yet so ruthless and violent in a fight. I loved that he would be sword fighting people, only to randomly pull out a gun and shoot his opponents in the face. I loved his death scene and his utter defiance right until the very end. He wasn’t looking to make a statement, or inspire a riot, he just wanted to fuck with his murderer and ruin his moment.

So, I have a question for the pirate enthusiasts out there. How accurate is this version of Teach? Did he have this tendency to take people under his wing and mentor them despite his ferocity? Are there other fictional portrayals of him out there that have that quality to him? Even in Pirates of the Caribbean, he was pretty notable for the relationship he had with Angelica, who may or may not have been his daughter, but how genuine and caring that relationship was is left pretty ambiguous from both sides.

Either way, Black Sails is really sparking my interest in pirates in general! I recently purchased Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag on Steam, and plan to play that very soon. I went and downloaded the shows Crossbones and Our Flag Means Death, but haven’t started watching them yet. I downloaded the anime One Piece, but am unsure when/if I want to watch it because holy crap it’s a huge commitment haha. It also occurs to me that I should probably read/watch Treasure Island, but I am fully aware that the pirate characters are two-dimensional villains without any of the complexity or nuance of Black Sails, so that’s disappointing. I know almost nothing about any of those above shows/anime/movies/games though so I’m in for a ride!!

But, my pirate enthusiast friends, another question: Any other great pirate media out there I should go consume?? I already know I’m going to miss this show when it’s over so I’m already starting to look for the next thing to watch to keep myself busy!

[rescuefield-arch1]

i have thoughtsTM ( and spoilers )

objectively the movie is good, could have been a lot worse considering who we're dealing with but still. i had already watched half of the movie through clips and thought maybe there would have been missing parts to tie one scene with the other in a cohesive way, instead it's really just like that and it ends up looking like a bunch of cut scenes put together ( in a way that's too obvious, meanwhile sometimes they'd have landscapes as transitions etc etc )

dylan was a good villain SURPRISINGLY ?? he's unnerving and traumatized as fuck and his arguments are fair / foreshadow things we technically don't know yet according to the timeline but are sort of brought up in re7 & re8 ( fair enough, it is a prequel to those games after all. maria is the femme fatale just as she was in vendetta but hey she gets to talk this time around !! one win for girlbosses destined to fail. dr taylor was just... there. his scenes with claire made me cry but that's because MY GIRL IS CARRYING IT

now on the subjective... the screentime was not shared equally ( not that i expected it anyway ) and some of the dialogue is ?? i need to know more about what's up between claire and chris, they seem tense around each other until she gets infected / almost dies, and that comment jill made at the lab was out of pocket so she definitely knows something. i think claire and chris have some sort of clashing in regards of how to deal with the fight, but then again this is all speculation since you know how it is

i hold claire and rebecca dear to my heart !! best team up ( and i actually have so much to say about them speculation wise, not in a ship way but in the way that i think claire's a lot more comfortable around her than chris and i think this is not their first time teaming up for something lmao ). claire and jill care about each other so much and i'm glad to see it's finally being shown on screen as well. claire and leon barely interact which i already knew so it's okay lmao, i'll need to watch again later because i think i saw a blink and miss moment

all in all, the movie is good, a step up from the last movie released ( aka infinite darkness, which i feel wanted to do the same thing plot wise but didn't really hit the point. dylan is definitely a better written and more compelling villain than jason so i guess in a way capcom read fans' complaints and tried to make it better - which they succeeded as i already mentioned above ). the soundtrack is great, 10/10 will watch again

[beanghostprincess]

Why is shanks/buggy so underrated in this side of fandom? It’s much more loved in Japanese one, one of the most popular for shanks. I feel like this one prefers other mlm options for him and I don’t get it. It got better after OPLA I think but still. Sorry for my English!

Oh! This is actually such an interesting question. I was talking about this the other day and I came to a conclusion with my friend about this. Basically, there are a lot of things to take into consideration here. The screentime, the age of the characters, the chemistry, how they're perceived by the fandom and canonically, etc etc etc.

The first thing I thought about was the screentime, honestly. Shanks and Buggy grew up together and they have a deep bond, however, we've only seen that through flashbacks (one in quite literally episode 8 of the anime, another one in Wano that isn't even about them and they're just side characters in this flashback, and in chapter 1082 of the manga. But it's not even a proper flashback because we already saw that when Shanks talks to Whitebeard about Buggy, it's just Buggy's interpretation of it) and we only have like one scene of them together that isn't even two minutes long. So, quite obviously you'd think "well, the ship isn't as popular as other ships because they barely have any screentime" and I think it's correct but also not quite. And also, this would also have to apply to the Japanese fandom at the end of the day. Fandoms don't give a single fuck about screen time if the chemistry is right, really, but there's always this factor, y'know. Lawlu has less screentime than Zolu and yet it's more popular somehow because people absolutely love their dynamic. Then, if you stop to think about it, both Satosugu (Jjk) and Soukoku (Bsd) have the same dynamic and concept as Shuggy, but they're by far the most popular ships in their fandoms. They're basically the same ships but Jjk and Bsd give them proper development and story because they're shorter series. One Piece is a long show and we still have many things to see, even if we know it's gonna end soon, so I guess that we'll still have to wait to see more of Shuggy. Once we do, I'm sure it'll become more popular. Also, Shanks' personality is very diverse because he's all mysterious and all, so I kind of understand why people don't want to make content because they still don't have him figured out.

But then again, screen time isn't really the problem. It's just one of the factors. If they had more screen time, they'd be more popular for sure, yes, but it's not exactly what makes them less popular in this side of the fandom. Otherwise, it'd be equally as popular on the other sides too. The Japanese side of fandoms is different from this one and tbh they often don't take into consideration things like cancel culture and proship discourse or the standard beauty regarding age because they just post whatever they want and scroll past what they don't like (god I fucking wish we were like that because I am so done with these things). Besides, isn't Buggy like a very beloved character over there, aside from Oda's favorite? At least from what I've seen, they take his character way more seriously than this side of the fandom does, honestly. And it bothers me because he's such a complex and great character, and people never see it because they use him either for memes or to keep saying "omggg turns out the clown is hot!! Can you believe I want to fuck a clow-" yes, Samantha, we know you want to fuck the clown. It's not weird. It's not new. Do you even like the character, at least, or you're just using him to say how kinky and quirky you are? (And I don't even care about the sexualization of characters because, again, fictional characters are fictional characters and you don't have to take everything so seriously. I have tons of characters I don't like that much but only stan because I find them hot and that's alright. But damn, it bothers me sometimes).

Anyway, with this, I wanna say that there are other things to have in mind when talking about this.

Recently (I know it's not exactly new but in fandom years? Recently) there has been a huge thing surrounding the term "old men yaoi". People are so down bad for middle-aged men and they see two of them together and they instantly go "omg they're soo married" but that's- That's it? That's just it. They don't even ship them, they just find the concept of older men hot because "omg he's such a dilf" and they want to fuck both of them. But they never end up doing anything with it. They try to be so groundbreaking like "ohh I am SO woke by shipping these two old men! See? Breaking stereotypes!" because both irl and online, age has always been a very stigmatized thing. Apparently you can't be in a fandom if you're older than 25 because then you're weird, and if there's an actress older than 50 she's instantly useless for the industry.

What I want to say with this is that most people in the fandom are young. They're young and they like attractive, young, hot people and they don't want old, unconventionally attractive men. They don't want them unless it's to give a "hot take" and to be super progressive and woke. Do you know what they like? They like Dilfs. They like Shanks because he's conventionally attractive and good with kids and he's the standard for a Dilf. Because he's hot and mysterious but also silly and quirky and "he's almost forty that is so hot something something daddy kink". And they don't want to see him fucking someone his age because God forbid this man has a personality outside being a Dilf. Younger people in the fandom constantly read y/n fics regarding Shanks because they want him to fuck them and not Buggy. And they can't project in these old men, so they publicly say "oh, Shanks and Buggy are so married" because it's just a fact the fandom made clear, but they don't really like the content. Because liking Buggy sexually, apparently, is just so weird. Or as a character. Nobody wants to say their favorite character is the failguy clown. It's a hot take when you say that Buggy is hot because people keep being all weird about it when... Uh... He's- He's just a clown. Guys. It's not weird. Or bad. Who raised you to think that? God, I find Monet extremely hot and she's half-bird. Could we please normalize these things? They're fictional characters. And also, stop reducing Buggy to his jokes or the fact that he's a clown because his character is GREAT and complex and it just bothers me so much.

This makes me think about this whole "background couple" thing. Which are basically couples that are canon or that are so popular and obvious that people, instead of making content for them (because why would you make content for a canon couple?) just place them in the background instead. There are so many fanfics in which Shuggy is a background couple. Or studies in which, instead of analyzing them, they're used only for parallelisms. This happens with, idk, Saboala? Frobin? Yamace? People don't like couples that everybody agrees on. They don't like m/f ships because they can't be woke!!!!! And queer!!!! (when they easily could but whatever). They don't like ships that everybody likes because!!!!!! They're canon already and why would you write about them???? And so, Shuggy stays a bit more as a side couple instead. For being old and unconventionally unattractive and not having much screentime, but being extremely popular. Not in a "content" way, but in a "knowledge" way. Even the general audience thinks their bond is crucial to the story, c'mon.

One of the differences that this side of the fandom has with the Japanese one, as I mentioned before, is the cancel culture and proship discourse thing. They just don't have that concept. And that's perfect, honestly, I wish we could just scroll past what we don't like too and live peacefully because the discourse is getting tiring. And also you have to admit that, because of the anti propaganda going around, now fandoms have turned into the most puritan thing in the world. Beware! Sex! Age difference between fictional characters that have a consensual and healthy and mature relationship! Oh! God forbid teenagers have sex with people their age! Ohmygodjustshutup. And so, Shuggy isn't a problematic ship. Not even close. But inside the OP world, people do say they are brothers. They keep talking about each other like that, too. And I don't even think it's the typical "we say they're like brothers so you don't think they're gay because they're both guys and guys can't kiss" (I am having flashbacks from the IT fandom). They do have the same parents. Like- We all agree Shanks and Buggy were both raised by Roger and Rayleigh and they consider them, if not their dads, parental figures at least. Right? And you're aware that doesn't make it incest, right? Both things can coexist. Foster families are a thing. Lots of people who grew up together and consider the same people their parental figures end up dating because they don't see each other as siblings. Well, most people don't see it this way and hear the word "brother" and run from it like it's a fucking virus. The Japanese side of the fandom doesn't give a fuck because they're fictional and because they're y'know, not brothers? And even if they were, cancel culture and proship discourse is so fucking stupid to them because they follow the "don't like don't look" thing. But on this side of the fandom, a lot of people see them as brothers and the other half sees them as a divorced couple and apparently nobody knows how to fucking read this manga and have a proper fandom experience without jumping to each other's throats at the minimum disagreement.

So, to summarize: People on this side of the fandom don't like Shuggy THAT much and it isn't such a popular ship in comparison to the Japanese side, because young people don't like older men together, they don't focus on unconventionally attractive characters, are afraid of any little possibility of cancelation, and also, well, Shuggy doesn't have much screentime anyway so there's not much we can do with that.

[i-am-autistic]

My hottest Jonathan Byers take as a Jonathan enjoyer is that while he has been undoubtedly sidelined. It's not like a major crime or close to character assassination. In fact I'm fairly certain the writers still have a lot of love for the character. Idk if yall remember what TV shows were like in the 2000s and early 2010s but when fans and writers didn't like a character, they'd either just die or barely get any screen time. Re-watching the show. While Jonathan isn't as prominent in s3 and 4 as he was in s1 and 2 he still always gets a storyline on his own, constantly involved in action(Him,Nancy and Lucas actually carry s3's final act action wise). S4 he doesn't get to be in much action anymore but he still gets the best action scene of the season for me and gets his own arc. I mean like can we just be honest and say he had much better writing in season 4 than Steve did. And also they had similar amounts of screentime. I thought he was the best written teenage male on the show in s4 by far. If you actually go back and watch it, he gets similar amounts of screentime in s4 to Eddie and Steve. Idk maybe I'm wrong here but I've seen writers literally kill characters, make them awful people, totally write them off the show,etc. The writers of ST have never really tried to ignore Jonathan or make him awful. They still use him a lot. S3 is a bit of an exception, not the rule. But I still think he gets great scenes in s3. Keep in mind Jonathan is also not the most popular character on the show, he's most likely the least popular lead character on the show. The writers have no real need to keep him there or give him big scenes. And this is sort of all happening while Stranger Things has an exceptionally large cast for a relatively short show. It's about 8 hours of content per season(little bit more in s4 I know) and there's about 17 leads in this ensemble. It's hard to give everyone extended amounts of time. Most shows with casts that big will have 40m X 24 eps for like 16 hours. Maybe they don't talk about Jonathan much or he's not in promotion much but even that is kinda false. While he's very tiny on the ST3 poster, he is the main money shot of the trailer for the main s3 trailer. He got his own corner! On the s4 poster, like him and Argyle got the same amount of space as Joyce,Hopper and Murray. He also was somewhat associated with a big part of the s4 iconography with Surfer Boy Pizza. I ngl thought they'd actually have him work at SBP but he didn't but it's still very much something he's associated with since it's his friend that brings it in.

[zr-stein]

Voltron Sucks

I know it’s not exactly groundbreaking to say that Voltron is a bad show, but I thought I’d put my thoughts out there.

The thing about Voltron is that all the ingredients of a good show are there. You’ve got an evil Empire with a distinct design, giant Lion mechs that are sentient, interesting and distinct characters, immediate plot hooks for Shiro, Keith, and Pidge, cool space magic, and more. And that’s just the very beginning of the first season. There were so many things that worked in Voltron, they just...failed to use them effectively.

There are many, MANY issues in Voltron (the queerbaiting, the monster of the week filler, the nonsense deus ex machinas), but I wanted to touch on some of the ones I found most annoying.

#1: Allura should have been the leader of Voltron after Shiro. I don’t know what the writers were thinking to have Shiro want Keith to take over leading after him, because all of Season 2 shows Keith to be a hotheaded loner, and then later on in the show he literally ditches the team to go be a member of the Blade of Marmora (yeah Keith, becoming a rebel/saboteur is a much better use of your time than being the leader of Voltron). Allura is a leader, she was a leader during the entire show, and she frankly deserved to pilot the Black Lion.

Also, it’s a tiny thing, but the Paladin’s Armour color should always match their Lions. Having Blue Armour in the Red Lion, Red Armour in the Black Lion, and Pink Armour in the Blue Lion made me want to tear my hair out.

#2: Hunk should have been treated better by the narrative. The poor dude barely got any serious moments in the entire series, and easily 20% of his screentime is devoted to jokes about how he’s a coward with a weak stomach. Hunk is the second or third most capable engineer among the Paladins, he’s a great cook, he’s dependable, trustworthy, and has a strong moral code. I wish we had gotten to see more of that Hunk.

#3: Voltron itself really should have been stronger. A lot stronger. This is supposed to be the Defender of the Universe, a nigh invincible mystic sentinel against evil, and it gets knocked around and “nearly defeated” practically every other fight.

Things that challenge Voltron physically should have been saved for very important fights against well established threats (Zarkon, Lotor, etc). By having Voltron get knocked about and damaged as often as it is, it has the opposite effect to what was probably intended; we all know Voltron isn’t going to be destroyed, because every other time before now they pulled through just fine.

#4: The Castle of Lions is too empty. This is partially a complaint about the fact that the CoL is the size of a Star Destroyer and yet has a crew of less than a dozen people, but that’s just a nitpick.

My real issue is how Voltron is so isolated from the rest of the galaxy. They come in, save the day, and then leave. They eventually coordinate a rebellion Coalition, but that group operates outside of the CoL in their own ships on their own planets, and it’s such a missed opportunity. You have a ridiculous amount of space on the CoL, why not take on a couple dozen alien allies? We see hints of this in S8, with the Atlas; Voltron now has allies to help coordinate, wings of fighters that can handle less important tasks, intelligence gatherers, maintenance engineers, and more. Just do that, but earlier, and with aliens!

That’s all I’ve got for right now. God, imagine if the She-Ra crew had written Voltron, we might’ve actually gotten a good show.

(Pidge is the best character in the show and the single amazing episode in the show is about Pidge.)

[gunsatthaphan]

Hallo Freundin! 👋

I will share my random ramblings with the class this time around. 😇 So here we go!

Okay, I’m going to put this out here. About Between Us. For clarity: I watched the Uncut Version. (My bank account is very grateful that Between Us is finally over. 🥲) So I don’t know how much and what got cut. But anyways, here are my two cents. Do with what you want. 😌

I don’t think Between Us was bad. Not at all. But if I am very honest, it did disappoint a little bit. (Which tbh, seems almost impossible to avoid with the enthusiasm and anticipation I felt about it beforehand. 🙈) Maybe it’s the extensive number of plotlines, or the fact that the main plotline felt a bit dragged on in the end.

But I think there’s also another reason. (And correct me if you disagree.) To me, it felt as if the stories were told in the wrong order. Particularly, the WinTul story was started way too late. So that when they had their resolution, it seemed unrealistically quick to me. In contrast, for some reason the romance between Manow & Pruek remained a storyline for the entire series. And I am seriously still wondering what was so pressing that it remained a “problem” to solve for 12 episodes. 🫠 It was also the weakest storyline because Manow’s insecurities were never fully elaborated on. And so it seemed to me like the odd one out.

I thought Bee and Prince had a really strong storyline. And both that storyline and WinTul’s created a strong parallel to the main theme (me thinks) of Between Us itself. While it doesn’t have the theatrics of UWMA, it does serve strong motifs about “finding yourself,” “forgiveness,” “feeling inadequate,” and “getting to know someone else.” Plus, more importantly: letting someone get to know you.

While WinTeam put up the question: how well do you know someone when there’s just the physicality? WinTul sort of gets the reverse question: how well do you know someone when you don’t know what they look like? The overarching idea is that you don’t, unless you take the time. But at the same time, you do, better than you think. The story of Bee and Prince gave a whole new spin on this story by inserting the issue of status and celebrity into the mix. And the contrast between the private person and the public persona (bonus points for getting real about the pressures of being queer and a celebrity).

Tldr: I would have started with Bee and Prince, then put in Win and Tul, and end with Manow & Pruek. 🤓

Oops, I’ll quit the rambling! 😅 I just cannot stop talking about this show. 😍

Love,

— Thel. 💚

hi there Thel!!! 💜

thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts!!

Generally speaking Between Us was a phenomenon for me because it had so many tropes & aspects that I usually don't like such as the mains not getting together until the last second, an abundance of side couples, characters acting juvenile, repetitive scenes & lines, certain stories going in circles etc. but for some reason none of that bothered me too much here? 

Like we had 5 couples which is usually way too much and not all of them were 100% satisfactory but I think they did a really decent job with giving them an equal amount of both screentime and development. WaanTul had the perfect slowburn for me and I'm okay with how they wrapped it up but the ending was not appropriate for the overall pacing. It went at 30% speed for 11.5 episodes and then it went to 100% within seconds lmao. That could've been handled a bit better imo. But as I said I'm okay. Also I don't think it was told in the wrong order. To me the narrative made sense and felt coherent but maybe that's not what you meant lol.

Manaow and Pruk had a good story setup but it remained a setup and was not delved into as much as it should have so I agree with you there. I still liked them and their energy a lot though. to be honest they might be one of my favorite het pairings in a bl. I really really like them and I would 100% watch their show if they had one. 

Prince and Bee did not catch my attention at all in the beginning. I had no interest in their story as I was over the celebrity x mundane trope and also I'm not a fan of Benz. BUT that changed towards the middle of the show. When they actually got together and specifically their conversation in the bathroom was where I was like okay. I like this lol. They had a very nice conclusion and their chemistry became a lot better over time. I liked it. 

So overall all of these little stories had their little flaws but they did good. And I agree with what you said about the plots fitting into the overarching theme of the show which is getting to know each other, letting others in and offering a safe space to the people you love because that was indeed the common ground for all stories. And it’s also something that wabisabi generally does very well with their shows imo. Most of their productions are similar and they’re known for their cheesiness lmao but they do offer a very heartwarming portrayal of relationships and friendships, also the antagonist not being a person but your own inhibitions is something I really like and they did an excellent job with showcasing that in BU as well. Which makes it a flagship wabisabi show in that sense but in the best way possible imo. It’s exactly what I appreciated about UWMA too. 

I ended up giving it an 8.5/10 which, considering I went in in zero expectations, is almost like hitting the jackpot lmao. I’m very happy with how it turned out and I’m glad we can talk about it here lol. 

thank you again for sharing and have a lovely day! 💜 

xxx