#not really worth it but if you do watch watch the censored cut

[uspiria]

Kite (1998) dir. Yasuomi Umetsu, Yuki Iwai, Keizo Kusakawa

[twig-tea]

GL odds and ends 6 October 2024

I haven't been as good at posting about shows as I wanted to be, so I'm trying a round-up format instead because it feels like a lot of GLs skirt under the radar. It's exciting that we're in a time when there's enough GL airing that it's worth doing a round-up! This was a great week for the lesbians to figure themselves out, so it feels like a good week to start. No idea how regularly I'll do this, need to figure out a cadence that makes sense.

Currently airing (with thoughts up to Oct 6):

Reverse 4 U 5/8 (Thai, Tuesdays 1:00 PM EDT, Netflix / YouTube) This week the girls finally sorted themselves and we got set up for the main plot to start next week. I was initially really stoked about this one and then a little bummed that it's not taking it's very cool premise and the stakes it establishes as seriously as it could be, but I'm still hoping it will start to have real stakes in the main plot stretch.

The Two of Us s2 ep 6/6 END (Thai, 29 Aug-3 Oct 2024, YouTube) It was so great seeing women in their 40s being romantic together but I did not love the plot of this one; I find their romantic conflicts too juvenile (lots of easily-triggered jealousy). The moments they're being sweet are great though.

Unlock Your Love ep 4/8 (Thai, Wednesdays, GagaOOLala / YouTube [cut version]) This is the first episode that this series felt a little more assured; I liked the series this production company produced with a short run time, it feels like this series has been worse off for its longer episodes. That being said, when these couples get to do their thing like in this episode, they have good chemistry.

Chaser Game W s2 ep 3/8 (Japanese, Thursdays 12:30 PM EDT, GagaOOLala) @lurkingshan is already doing a great summary of this week to week in her JQL weekly round-up!

Affair the series ep 6/8 (Thai, Fridays 11:15 AM EDT, iQIYI/ YouTube) Finally! I liked that it was Ek pointing out that Wan was unhappy the entire time she was gone that finally got Pleng to give in to her desire to be with Wan. This show is so melodramatic but the emotional threads follow and the character motivations are clear and consistent; I'm enjoying it in spite of not loving melodramatic storylines in general. It helps that the acting in this one is excellent.

The Loyal Pin ep 10/16 (Thai, Sundays 12:15 PM EDT, YouTube) Glad we finally got confirmation of Patt's history! And I'm relieved Anin knows she has an ally, though I feel like it's given her false confidence that worries me. These two are stressing me out by how bad they are at being careful but I do love how desperate they are for each other, as well as how beautiful this show is.

Red Whisper ep 2/8 (Korea, Wednesdays and Sundays, YouTube) Starting with cheating is not my fave but is par for the course with these SukFilm short series; my fave so far has been their first GL so if you haven't seen that yet I'd honestly recommend that instead.

Recent One-offs

Out of Breath (re-release in a bingeable version; Korean, YouTube) Highly recommended! Also the creator, Soo not Sue, announced she's working on another series to hopefully air before the end of the year, which I am super stoked about.

The Suffering of Xiqing Mountain (Chinese (censored), YouTube)

Sastra film app YouTube channel has several short Cambodian GL series that come out weekly Honestly they are not to my taste but I don't like gatekeeping GL especially from smaller markets. I check in on these time to time and if there are any that I think are great I'll give them a shout-out

Ditto above with JPC media YouTube channel for Thai GL shorts if there are any that stand out to me I'll say so

Recently ended that I haven't had the wherewithal to write about:

Hoshikuzu Telepath (fansub) Thank you to @yuiyuihan for your hard work making it possible to watch this series! I I haven't read the original manga but I do know they changed the kiss communication to a forehead rest; Unsurprised that this adaptation, starring idols in the same group, would be left ambiguous in terms of whether their feelings are friendly or romantic. I liked what this series was trying to say, but in all honestly didn't love the execution. It's too bad because I absolutely love the concept of an alien being helped by girls obsessed with building rockets.

The Secret of Us 8 eps [complete] (24 Jun-15 Aug 2024, YouTube) I first included this in my recommendations from the summer and then retracted, but I ended up liking this series and then never updated again. So to set the record straight: Though it lost me in the middle, the ending on this series won be back over. I really appreciated the way this series handled filial piety and balancing that against personal happiness. I appreciated SO MUCH that the main characters decided together how to handle Lada's situation with her mother. I finally understood too late that Earn believed the lies Lada's mother told her in ep1, and that affected some of their decisions in the middle of the series. I still think the execution was wobbly, but the acting and chemistry between the two leads carries this series through. This has some of the best domestic fluff in any GL, as well as my favourite GL counter lift to date. And it's gorgeous. Tentatively recommended with the caveat that you do have to either enjoy or power through the melodrama in the middle.

Starting soon:

Apple My Love, Thai, 12 October, GagaOOLala

Pluto, Thai, 19 October, VIU

The Nipple Talk, Taiwanese, 1 November GagaOOLala

My Ex's Wedding [in theatres in Thailand 14 November]

Petrichor, Thai, 23 November, TBD

[aerodaltonimperial]

Hello SkateGoat GOAT, keeper of the secrets

I'm writing fic and I have learned the basics of the lore, thank you for their history, read the wikis, seen the matches etc.

I've got a good feel for characterization and all down, could you rec a couple promos or something for each of them where they're allowed to talk at length in Kayfabe? I'm having difficulty getting a feel for their dialogue / external voice / vocal quirks, the commentary team narrates over so much even in my own head

HI, FRIEND, I ABSOLUTELY CAN AND WOULD BE HAPPY TO HELP IF IT MEANS WE GET MORE AMAZING FIC!!! YIIPEEEEEEEEEE i am very excited now!!! I'm going to put this under a cut, because it got long.

In terms of promos, there are some that immediately come to mind that might be useful. Jack is harder, only because his character has gone through so many transformations, but the promos he was doing last summer remain some of my most favorite things in existence, because they are so DAMN FUNNY. (They also serve to be a great look at his sense of humor, which is VERY DRY.)

7/26/23 Dynamite - after Jack beats Hook for the FTW (his "I Beat Hook" shirt will literally never not be hilarious.)

8/26/23 Collision - the FTW funeral scene. (Bonus points for Jack putting his own ass on the jumbotron and then almost corpsing when he had to look at the photos, literally the funniest man alive.)

If you go back prior to this, Jack getting dinged by the censors because they couldn't get to him fast enough REMAINS funny as hell, especially because after, he made a shirt about it, so I'd also rec Jack coming back at Christian Cage after Christian turned on him.

Additionally, to get more of the Scapegoat feel, he was dropping promos constantly in NJPW, so those are definitely worth watching. They are a bitch and a half to track down, and if you try to put them on Youtube, they immediately get hit with a copyright lock. However, since I am insane, I have the one where he says fuck on my Google drive, so you can watch that here.

For Darby, I'm less familiar with his promos and more familiar with the fuck-ton of other things he does interview-wise. The thing about Darby is that he really doesn't have kayfabe, lol, he's mostly just himself with a ring name. So you'll generally get a pretty good sense of his mannerisms from his normal interviews. And they trot him out for those pretty constantly haha.

But one of the better kayfabe ones is actually the video he did about he and Jack's tag match in the pillars storyline, since there's quite a bit there.

9/27/23 - Darby and Christian's kayfabe interview with JR (during their feud in the fall)

For both of them, I also recommend watching their episodes of Shots with Brandi. They're not kayfabe, but you get a really solid look at their speech mannerisms during the back and forth. You also get Jack's insanely dry sense of humor and one of Darby's most horrifying stories ever, so just A++ all around on those.

HOPEFULLY THESE HELP!! It's always the nicest feeling when you write a line of dialogue and you're like oh. Oh yeah. That's definitely them. So I hope these can assist you in getting that feeling! 💚

[ceasarslegion]

While doing my dishes tonight I listened to a podcast where Jordan Belford's ex wife discussed her relationship with him and how it was comparable to a two-person cult. And when she was asked about what she thought of how she was portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street she said she really didn't have any problems with how she was written or the movie itself because on screen Jordan was very much the same crazy-eyed abuser he was when they were together, and even laughed at a few of the clips saying "I WISH I was as sexy as they made me look!"

Hearing that helped me articulate something that has been bothering me for a while regarding social media's attitudes around the portrayal of victims and minorities in fucked up cinema that isn't all sunshine and rainbows: it feels like people we dont even know are speaking FOR them/us without actually asking anybody involved in it. Or if they do, that one person is treated as a monolith for their entire minority/abuse victim group as if their word is the absolute truth of if the portrayal is good or bad, and those are the only two options possible, and only one can be chosen, forever and ever, and if you don't agree with the ultimate answer you must be supporting the abusers.

It also made me think that I really should watch TWOWS again. I lived in the mideast at the time it came out so getting my hands on a complete uncensored copy of it was impossible. And it was so censored in theaters that "wolfing" became a slang term over there for when a movie was so slashed up by the censors that it wasn't worth seeing anymore. I really didn't see most of it when all nudity, drug use, spousal and child abuse, references to sex/masturbation, and use of the word "motherfucker" were cut from every movie out there. That's like 80% of that film man why did they even screen it at all 😭

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E1) Steven Universe: Revolutionizing LGBTQ Representation in Cartoons

Hey there, I’m Mia, and welcome to the first entry of my blog! All of my posts are going to follow a similar structure, with the first half being about the show I’m covering, with a summary, what I enjoyed about it, and all that good stuff. The second half would explain what effect it had on the greater cartoon landscape, or what it represents in the industry. Today I’m going to be talking about a cartoon that’s very close to my heart: Steven Universe. The show first aired in May 2013 on Cartoon Network and ran for 5 seasons, a movie, and a single-season epilogue series. It’s about this kid named Steven, a half-human half-alien hybrid, who’s being raised by three ancient alien warriors named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (as you can see in the intro). Together they fight monsters and protect the earth from danger. These aliens are called gems, and every member of their species is based off a different kind of gemstone, from physical, chemical, and spiritual standpoints (which I think is REALLY cool, by the way). Over time, Steven Universe’s focus goes from wacky adventures to exploring deeper themes, such as grief, toxic relationships, depression, and living up to other people's expectations. The show has been praised for its absolutely stunning animation, incredible songs, and the way they developed their characters. It also has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you care about that kinda thing. 

Now let me tell you, I absolutely LOVED this show as a kid! I watched every episode as it came out, I drew fanart (see the picture below… Also ignore how bad it is. I drew it when I was like 13, okay?), I made my own gem-inspired characters, and it really impacted my view on the world. A major part of the show is its message of treating others with kindness and acceptance, which I try to live by to this day. 

Now then, how did it revolutionize queer representation, do you ask? Well, a majority of the characters on this show are part of the LGBTQ community. Stevonnie is a nonbinary character, the first out of many to appear on the show. Pearl is in love (though it’s unrequited) with Rose Quartz, Steven’s late gem mother. Every gem character on the show, in fact, are feminine-presenting agender beings. And Garnet, the most important character for this section, is actually two characters: Ruby and Sapphire, who were so in love that they vowed to fuse together and live as one for eternity (super adorable by the way oh my goodness). All of these characters were probably my first time seeing prominent non-cishet characters on TV, and the same thing can be said for a lot of people around my age at the time. It wasn’t easy for the show to do this, however. The most explicitly queer characters, Ruby and Sapphire, had to be censored in many non-North-American countries, with kisses cut out and some languages using masculine pronouns to refer to the more butch of the two, Ruby.

Despite all this pushback, Rebecca Sugar (the creator of the show) and their crew worked hard to make sure their characters were allowed to be who they really were on-screen. All this came to a climax during the 2018 episode “Reunited”, where Ruby and Sapphire have an entire on-screen wedding ceremony to celebrate their love. This was a HUGE deal at the time, and even countries where equal marriage was banned HAD to air the episode, due to about a million other plot-essential things happening during the second half. I vividly remember staying up until midnight JUST to watch the episode as it was released online, as I was extremely invested in the pairing.

Being able to have a queer wedding episode was no easy feat, and the Steven Universe crew had to fight hard with the network executives for them to allow it, but in the end, it was all worth it. After SU was able to break boundaries for queer representation in cartoons, other shows came along and were able to have out and proud LGBT characters as well! Adventure Time, which Rebecca Sugar started working on before moving to their own show, featured a kiss between two of its lead female characters: Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. The Owl House had the Disney Channel’s first openly bisexual protagonist AND first nonbinary character, Viewers were able to see a beautiful relationship blossom between Luz Noceda (the main character) and Amity Blight, her girlfriend, and Raine Whispers, who uses they/them pronouns has to be one of my favourite characters in the entire series!

Though this representation doesn’t only mean a lot to the world of animated television, it also means a lot to ME. I’m nonbinary and queer, and my family isn’t the most accepting of people who share my identities, so it meant the world to little 13-year-old Mia, who was ashamed of who they were, being able to see characters who were just like them! Those characters, as unimportant as the casual viewer might find them to be, allowed me to see parts of myself represented for the very first time. People like me were able to exist and be themselves, unapologetically, and it inspired me to do the same, many years later.

Okay, I just realized how long this entry was, so I’m ending it here, but in my defence, I had a LOT to talk about! Thank you all for reading, and be sure to tell me what you thought in the comments section! Also, if you have any cartoon series you’d like to see me cover, I’d love to hear it (though I already have an extensive list LOL). See you all in the next blog entry!

[actual-changeling]

Hi, I saw your offer for a more specific trigger list for OFMD season two. I’ve been looking for more info because suicide can be triggering for me but I really want to watch, so if you’re able to give more detail that would be really awesome. Thanks regardless

Of course! I will put the details under a cut. This pretty much (so far) only applies to the first three episodes, it gets less heavy after that.

Warnings for discussions of suicidality, attempted suicide, and general violence. Oh, and obviously heavy spoiler warnings for ofmd2. I will try to only spoiler anything related to suicide and not say anything about the rest of the plot.

During the first three episodes, Ed is an incredibly bad mental place, engaging in substance abuse, mentally torturing the crew, and being in a super unhealthy, borderline abusive relationship with Izzy.

It gets to the point where Ed puts a gun to his head and threatens to kill himself (but doesn't), then shoots Izzy in the leg for mentioning Stede; the crew initially hides him but Ed finds him regardless. Then we get a very triggering scene in which Ed tells Izzy that he had a dream in which Izzy kills him, presses the gun into his hand, and then stands with his back to Izzy, expecting him to kill him.

Izzy refuses to ("too much of a coward to do it yourself" or smth along the lines) and Ed then leaves him. We hear a gun shot and the message is very clear - Izzy shot himself instead. Not much later, however, we find out that he tried to kill himself, but he was weak, his hand slipped, and he just has a cut on his forehead instead.

Ed then tries to commit murder-suicide by sailing into a storm and forcing the crew to either kill him or have him shoot the mast and kill them all. Izzy shows up, shoots him to stop him, and then the message is that the crew kills Ed, which is what Ed wants.

Ed is not dead (although we DO see what we think to be his corpse), but stuck in a sort of purgatory in which we have some frank discussions about what makes life worth living. In the end, Ed chooses to live and wakes up.

I hope that was comprehensive and not too triggering to read, it's definitely very intense and they do not censor or scoot around any of the topics at all. It never felt ableist or belittling or anything, though. I actually felt rather seen and understood, even though it was hard to watch without knowing what exactly was going to happen.

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!!

[hughiecampbelle]

I mean you know I had to come and be shipped. Male character please. ISTJ, Virgo, and Gryffindor. The Eldest Sibling. I'm 5'9 which is considered average and in my family is considered short. Trans Dude with long hair because I refuse to cut it although this also means I've lost more hair ties than I can keep track of. Glasses. Penchant for wearing graphic t-shirts, patterned button downs, jeans, or hoodies if the weather permits. I own no single pair of normal socks anymore (that's a fact I pride on, they're all some sort of pattern). Sarcastic. Quiet until you get to know me or until I'm comfortable. I swear a lot which shocks people. Mentally Ill (depression, anxiety, OCD). Autistic. Dream Job is to be a film editor or honestly in the industry in some capacity. I watch too many movies in about every genre. Read a lot, probably more than I should in comparison to actually adventuring outside. But I love roaming cities, heading to concerts, plays, musicals. Record store trips, thrift shops all the time. Listen to any genre of music and have too many favorite artists to list. Irrational fear of deep sea fish. Favorite color is green. Favorite animal is a tiger. Does this help, hopefully! Honestly if you're overwhelmed with ships don't bother with mine just take it easy and I'll be fine. PS. Obv your shipped with Roman, I just. Yeah I mean you two would absolutely vibe.

Noah!!!! I ship you with: Kendall Roy!!!

He loves your sarcasm. He can't help it, whenever you have a comeback or comment, it always makes him smile. You're fast with it, too. And you don't censor yourself. You're like that with everyone. He loves it. You can keep up with him, with Rome and Shiv. You have endless comments about his father though you're smart enough to keep those between you and him. He also loves how much you swear. The word fuck is like um or like with his family, it's between every word. He appreciates that you can keep up, that you're not shocked or disgusted by his own swearing. It doesn't make you a bad person or any less smart, it's just a way of expression.

You love that when he puts his mind to something, he gets it done. Kendall can get a little one minded when he's focused on something. That can be a little annoying to others, when he gets that focused, but you like it. It brings out this determination in him that you don't often see. It shows you, and the world, that he isn't just Logan Roy's son, but an entire being and entity on his own. That he's far more capable than people give him credit for.

Your relationship is emotional. Kendall is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. After being on a high and making pitches and taking over as CEO, he gets low and needs to isolate and typically drifts to the water. It's not always easy dealing with that, but you make it work. You make sure you're always communicating, talking, and working things through. He really is grateful for you and all that you do. You knew going into it that he was a complicated person with a lot of feelings and not that much, if any, support from his family. It's work, but in the end it's completely worth it. You love one another so much.

Your first date is to a record store. You know from the beginning that Kendall favors one genre above all else and is constantly wearing his headphones. You love fishing through the records and CD's, telling him all about the different artists and genres and time periods. And he loves to listen. If it were anyone else he might've been bored, but you make it interesting, you make it fun. You make him want to learn everything there is to know about all genres and types of music. It's a store you visit often after that, making fun of one another and what you listen to.

Relationship Headcanon: Kendall always keeps a hair tie on his wrist for you. He always replaces is when you need one. You never noticed for the longest time, he just always seemed to have one. Then one day it clicked: Kendall doesn't need them. His hair is too short. He wears them for you, when you need one. You don't say anything about it, but it's something you're reminded of often whenever you look at his wrist. He's doing it for you, because he loves you and cares about you and thinks about you.

Screaming, crying, I want to vibe with Roman so bad he is baby boy!!! I really hope you like it! 💜💜💜

[eruthiawenluin]

should i watch spn be honest

is it worth it

I am not recommending it, strictly speaking, but if you do, watch like… the first 5 seasons, and if you really need more, up to the end of season 7.

As for the rest, it’s a very hit-or-miss cashcow built on canon inconsistencies because of fan service and an extreme bias in Dean’s favor. And, I cannot stress this enough, the majority of the late seasons writers didn’t even watch the entire show. There’s actually a line in early season 13 where Sam says that Dean chose to “help” him when he was “evil” rather than leave him for dead. This is literally the exact opposite of what happened, but it got twisted into Dean saving him because of confirmation bias. And if you saw the infamous scene from 15x18, it’s pretty clear that Dean does not really reflect the things that Cas says. But, again, fan service.

By extension, if you do watch, stay far away from the fandom.

Going to talk about the bigotry of the show below the cut here (tw for talk of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and abuse apologia).

The show is a MotW format, but they appropriate a lot from indigenous cultures when they should and could just take from general folklore (see the title of 1x02 for example… and the awfulness of 1x08). It also features a lot of copaganda. I’ve noticed a pattern where half the time, antagonist cops are black men while protagonist cops are white women, which goes hand in hand with some of their villain choices…

On top of that, Dean has an Asian fetish (this is a consistent joke of the writers spanning as far as season 3 to season 14, from what I’ve seen) and subscribes to a magazine called “Busty Asian Beauties.” There is an episode in season 13 where he raises a gun to a young woc in an episode that specifically highlights how she is affected by racism, and then she gets fridged for her white woman love interest the next episode…

Sam is the more progressive one (he’s meant to be the liberal to Dean’s conservative) but in earlier seasons at least he’s a very lukewarm liberal. He gets some explicit character development on the bad points here (such as how he views prison) but the show never really moves on from the copaganda in general. If anything, it actually leans into it more with time. One of the protagonist cops absolutely abuses her power over a man in her custody and is still justified by the narrative even though the guy ends up proven innocent. All in the name of being a girlboss ig?

They tried for a Feminist spin-off (about two cops who adopt some wayward girls), but the series is actually deeply misogynistic. This is obvious from the get-go. Dean’s introduction to the show as an adult is him making Sam’s girlfriend uncomfortable because she’s underdressed, for example. He actually only gets worse, as he goes on to show a consistent interest in minors, have him be a peeping tom (even as late as season 11), and call every woman antagonist gendered slurs.

It’s been said on repeat “Hey, maybe don’t headcanon a sexual predator as queer…” and responses to that have varied from “No, he’s not a sexual predator” to “He is a sexual predator but queer men need to be represented as predators!” He’s painfully heterosexual though and any jokes people take out of context to suggest otherwise are just playing on the fact that he’s hetero so him having “feminine interests” (such as soap operas) would be “funny.” All of this is especially ironic when you consider that Sam was more or less confirmed MLM in s4 (barely past the censors) but is considered “the straight one” by fans.

They also brought a dead woman character back from the dead to give as a “gift” to Dean and show zero perspective on how she feels being literally objectified in this way. She is then expected to parent these two men she does not know. Wild.

Dean is predictably homophobic as well (though it doesn’t show up in explicit terms as often as his misogyny+racism) but fans either don’t acknowledge this or call it overcompensation.

And if I went into the topic of Dean’s abuse, we’d be here all day, but it’s an endless stream of abuse apologia from start to finish, from how John abuses his children to how Dean abuses Sam and Cas, even to people torturing Sam.

So, yeah, watch to your own detriment. The characters obviously inspire a lot from people, but the entire series is a wreck.

[heyheyitsjae]

So I've been seeing this shirt go around a lot without context, so I thought I'd add some on to why this penguin was funny in the original show (and so why the creators decided to put it on a shirt) and why the joke falls completely flat on the shirt.

So first thing worth noting is that Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, despite how much fowl language is in them, don't really do slurs. While the show is crass, it tries not to be outright offensive. Jokes are rarely made at the expense of minorities and, when they are, are usually from an antagonist as a way to vilify them. Only one actual slur has been spoken in either show, a single R-word in the (now non-canon) Helluva Boss Pilot.

Recently the show put out an episode called Mission: Antarctica. It's a promotional short that's only 4 minutes long and largely disconnected from the overall plot, so I'd recommend watching it for yourself to decide if its funny or not.

In this short our three Imp protagonists are investigating a murder in the Antarctic. While there they wind up cornered by a by a bunch of penguins. (Who, we later learn, were the murderers.)

One of the Imp's goes: "Do you think they're friendly?"

We then cut to the penguins. Being birds, they can only communicate in squawks and honks. However, English subtitles are provided to understand them.

They start out going "Who are they, what are they?" over and over. Eventually the leader penguin steps up, silences the crowd, and lets out a single squawk that's translated to "*slurs*" (I clarify, no slur is actually said. A bird noise is made out loud and the subtitle is censored.)

Another one of the Imps screams "NOT FRIENDLY" and the rest of the episode is the Imps running away from and fighting off a screaming crowd of penguins, with occasional "*slurs*" text pop ups surrounding the crowd.

At the end of the episode the Imps escape, blowing up most of the penguins. The short ends with the leader penguin from earlier walking out into the middle of the crater and shaking his fist at the sky with one last "*slurs,*" which is where this shirt gets its art from.

Now the joke of this bit is very similar to the Mr. Frog + Jimmy Fallon bit from S1E2 of Smiling Friends. In both cases a character says something rude as a way to get you (the audience) to root against them, but the rude thing is entirely censored. This allows you to fill in the insult with whatever you think would be the most insulting and vilifying for the character to make them a bad guy, without actually insulting or alienating any group of the audience.

I know Tumblr has terrible media literacy (see Larz from Steven Universe or Valentino from Hazbin Hotel) so I'll repeat. The penguins saying "*slurs*" is the show's way of telling you the penguins are the bad guys and should be rooted against.

If you're still confused on what makes this joke funny see Tumblr's tried and honored tradition of uploading a picture of Pingu with a furrowed brow saying "noot noot" in situations you'd say "fuck this" or "fuck you." It's about the same.

Compared to Mr. Frog though this joke has an additional element. Since both HH and HB have avoided slurs so vehemently, having the penguins use them subtly implies they are more rude and vile than previous antagonists like Adam, Valentino, or Mammon despite the fact that they are two foot tall flightless birds.

So that's what made it funny in the episode, why does it fall flat as a shirt? Well, the complete lack of context.

The original joke is essentially "our world has no slurs, do you think these people are nice" followed by "we are bigots and want to kill you." This shirt is cutting out a ton of the joke and only leaving the punchline of "we are bigots and want to kill you."

Firstly this makes the joke incomplete. It's like having a shirt with a chicken saying "to get to the other side" or Grunkle Stan saying "her aim is getting better." Sure if you have context of the full joke these can remind you of it and be funny, but for most people it's going to be completely nonsensical.

Secondly, the specific punchline here is massively hurt by lack of context. If you walk around with a shirt that says "slurs" in public people's first assumption would be that you want to say slurs, which ain't exactly a good message.

That said I can think of one way to potentially save the shirt. You could take a screencap of a different scene in the episode, where Blitz and Millie leaning against filing cabinets and barricading a door with the penguins trying to slip around. Have the many "*slurs*" text around the penguins and give the two Imps a speech bubble that says "we gotta get out of here!" Without actually hearing the squawks this still isn't as funny as the short, but it changes the message of the shirt from 'I'm a penguin who says slurs" to "I'm trying to get away from penguins who say slurs" which is infinitely funnier.

TLDR the creators made a joke about someone being rude by not actually saying anything rude, but by cutting out all context it sounds extra rude.

quickest and most efficient way to get people to not talk to you

[licorishh]

I finished Black Ops 2 yesterday and I have some... thoughts 😭. Fair warning, I kinda put it through the ringer and bash it a bit because I had a less than enjoyable experience so if you absolutely love it then... yahoo for you, I guess. You are not my target audience per se but you are welcome to educate me if you feel that I have wildly misinterpreted the way this game works.

There is genuinely nothing I can say about this game other than the fact that it's the first Call of Duty game I've ever played that I actively dislike, which sucks, because it's one of my favorite franchises and y'all frickin' know by now I'm of the opinion the original Modern Warfare games are three of if not the best video games ever made.

First of all, BO2 is so freaking glitchy??? Genuinely unplayable sometimes. Models spawn and despawn at will, textures flat-out disappear (in one of the first missions when I pulled Woods out of the train car thing his arm suddenly turned black and it just. Never got fixed for the remainder of the mission), voice lines don't trigger or they trigger multiple times (that happened three times in the part where Woods shoots Mason thinking he's Menendez; completely ruined the immersion), the way the voice lines are censored with the graphic content turned off is absolutely ridiculous and causes whole entire sentences and sometimes even whole pieces to be cut out when there’s only a word or two needing to be censored; it's insane. Did they even test this game before release?? WHO QA'D THIS?????? And I played the whole thing on an Xbox Series X we got like three months ago so don't frickin' tell me it’s my system. 😭🙏

This is a VERY common complaint, but the AI in this game is abysmally bad. It's unspeakably bad in the strike force missions but even in the base campaign I might as well have had no teammates at all.

He also has, like, no reason to even be considered a threat up until the VERY END OF THE GAME when he finally launches the attack. Up until that time we didn't see him do literally anything worth the game making him out to be this terrifying Makarov-esque adversary. Why should I even care??? And he says the stupidest cheesiest most Dreamworks-villain junk and he's just so fundamentally NOT dangerous that it's almost awkward to watch.

I was hoping Menendez would be another cool villain to get invested in, but... goodness sakes he was not. He's boring and flat as freak and the motivation they gave him for doing all these things is wildly underwhelming and makes no sense at all. I get it, dude. Your sister died (accidentally, I might add) and you are apparently so creepily obsessed with her and so unable to live without her that you... become a supervillain with a master plan to overthrow the major powers of the world by launching a cyber attack......???????? Like???????? Where is this coming from????????????????

(To clarify, I'm talking about the bit be

David and Harper are... fine, I guess? They just didn't really jump out at me like at all. Salazar's whole character just annoyed me and made me roll my eyes. It didn't feel like a betrayal; just a halfhearted attempt to shoehorn in some shock value. That and the whole bit with Menendez taking over the ship was just... so dumb. There was no lead-up to it and yet somehow I completely saw it coming.

It also felt like the exposition in this game was crazy. The whole time it felt like "Menendez is bad! Menendez is soooo bad! He's so so so so sooooooooo bad! Trust me bro he's like AWFUL" but then he just. Never... actually does anything. Until the very frickin' end of the game. That and the characters frickin' kept narrating everything that was obviously happening but didn't explain literally any of the parts I had trouble keeping up with.

Smaller nitpicks but really?? A THIRD voice actor for Hudson??? And this one just sucked. Didn't sound like Hudson at all so it made me feel practically nothing when the guy got capped. It didn't remotely feel like the same Hudson from BO1 and Cold War. Not at all. That and all the ridiculous scenes with fast switching between camera angles and slow-mo. It felt so frickin' cheesy in a dadgum Call of Duty game. Our lives are supposedly on the line with a supposedly reaaaally really bad (<- like really really bad trust me guys 🙏) bad guy right outside the door and you're gonna do a 2002 quick-zoom on Salazar as he pops the other two soldiers in the room. IT'S JUST SO UNNECESSARY I'M SORRY 😭😭😭

Don't even get me started on the ending when you either capture or kill Menendez. It's over so quickly, he's literally JUST STANDING THERE WAITING TO BE CAUGHT, and no matter which option you pick, THE GAME INSINUATES THAT CORDIS DIE IS GONNA KEEP GOING ANYWAY SO IT DOESN'T EVEN FREAKING MATTER. If you kill him he becomes by his own admission a martyr and inspiration for Cordis Die, and if you capture him, he frickin' says "Yeah lol I'll escape again (<- JUST LIKE HE ALREADY DID EARLIER IN THE GAME WHICH THEY LITERALLY EVEN BOTHERED TO POINT OUT BECAUSE HARPER REMINDS DAVID THAT CAPTURING HIM DIDN'T WORK LAST TIME) so I'll see you in a year" SO ALL OF THE EVENTS OF THE GAME JUST ACCOMPLISH FLAT-OUT NOTHING. NOTHING IS ACHIEVED IN THIS GAME. LITERALLY NOTHING.

On TOP of all of THAT, CHLOE SERVES NO PURPOSE. IN THE BAD ENDING MENENDEZ DOESN'T EVEN NEED HER BECAUSE HE LAUNCHES THE BIG BIG BIG BAD ATTACK SO THE WHOLE DEAL ABOUT BRINGING HER BACK AND SALAZAR SUBSEQUENTLY KILLING HER JUST MEANS GENUINELY NOTHING.

This game was so maddeningly frustrating I cannot quite even. Normally I'm either neutral with a positive lean or I really like COD games (World at War is the only other game I've been more "meh" on but that one at least had a very sensible story and felt like a Good Game). Black Ops 2 is just... bad. It genuinely astounds me that this one is most people's FAVORITE. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE LOVE ABOUT THIS GAME SO MUCH IT'S COMPLETELY UNPLAYABLE AND NOTHING MAKES SENSE AND IT'S OVERDRAMATIZED TO SUCH A LAUGHABLE DEGREE THAT I FEEL LIKE I'M PLAYING A ROBLOX SHOOTER I CAN'T EVEN FHRJSJDHDHD

Maybe I missed something. I don’t know, but I played it with my dad and he feels the same way. He was nicer about it because he likes to pretend like bad things aren't as bad as they are but he definitely was confused by many of the choices made for the story and was frustrated by the blandness of Menendez' character.

It's unfortunate because I really liked what Treyarch did with Black Ops 1 and Cold War. They really popped off with those and then just royally flunked with this one. I don't know what happened. Even the models look like they were straight-up made by a different studio. It feels completely out of place with the rest of the Call of Duty games. There's zero flow or synergy or connection beyond some nostalgia bait with Woods and the couple of times Mason gets to do something (Alex, not David).

It feels like a Titanfall fan-game reject at its core. Maybe that's harsh or whatever but like honestly. Just. Eugh.

[heibaicom]

The Benefits of Web Series Over TV Shows and Films

There is no doubt that Web series have taken the world by storm, but their revolution in India is on a whole different scale. Web series have created excitement around the world, mainly because people have immediate access to new content, not just national, but international as well.

The success of Web series in India is largely due to their effectiveness in eliminating the major shortcomings of the industry. In fact, these were serious issues that had plagued the industry for quite a while.

The debate still exists- which is better?

There are a number of advantages to watching Web series over traditional hindi tv shows and movies.

Censorship is less prevalent

The biggest advantage of Web series, (at least according to viewers who believe in the creative rights of a creator), is that the Film Censor Board of India has not yet loomed over the OTT content in India like a hungry vulture. As a result, many filmmakers and producers prefer OTT platforms to screen their films or series without having to deal with unnecessary cuts and censorship.

It appears that OTT content will not need to be censored in India (fingers crossed). Unlike movie theatres, OTT content is mostly made to be watched privately.

With OTT platforms, mature content can also be easily separated from family content. This makes it easy for those who want to avoid mature content to avoid it.

Talent that's newer and better

It is web series that have deservedly recognized actors like Pratik Gandhi, Shreya Dhanwanthry, Tripti Dimri, Jaideep Ahlawat, and many others. To maximize box office collections, directors tend to cast actors who have a strong fan following. As a result of their subscription-based revenue model, web series and movies do away with relying on a star's fame and cast the best actors for the role.

A greater degree of democracy has been achieved in talent recognition and awarding thanks to web content.

The best release for great writers and better stories

As well as actors, web series have also brought talented writers to the fore like Sudip Sharma, who wrote 'Patal Lok'; Gaurav Shukla, who wrote 'Asur'; and Richie Mehta, who created 'Delhi Crime'.

It was Shupp Sharma’s dream to become a storyteller that led him to quit his conventional corporate job to create ‘Pataal Lok’. In addition to writing the story for movies like ‘NH10’ and ‘Udta Punjab’, he also wrote the incredible story for Sonchiriya. Though Sonchiriya did not do well in the box office, it received critical acclaim throughout India.

It is a tragedy that films like Sonchiriya, or creators like Sharma, whose stories are critically acclaimed and really worth watching, don't do well at the box office because moviegoers have specific aspirations.

It is true that the same themes work wonders on OTT platforms because it is a subscription-based model, and people are willing to watch serious content on such platforms. Pataal Lok is an example.

Stream anywhere, anytime

The greatest reason why web series are so popular with young and working people is that you don't have to wait for them to be broadcast. You can watch them anytime, anywhere.

Web series made in six to ten episodes have become more and more popular due to the binge-watch culture.

In light of the points above, it is obvious that web series have an advantage over traditional television shows and movies.

Future hindi movie hd are definitely on the rise. With the efficient way in which web series have eliminated many of the shortcomings of the Indian film industry, the entire industry has grown more positively in the few short years since OTT platforms were launched, than it has in the many years since it was founded.

OTT is by far the best way to ensure a continuous and adequate influx of good content and talent into the country. At least for now.

[labyrinthoftartarus]

getting things off my chest(⚠bad grammar)

The writer's paralysis has indeed struck me.

As you may have noticed, I have been inactive for the past few months. Ever since June, while I was ready to embrace my new writing spirit, I waited and waited... but it never came.

Writing has always been my medium to say whatever I wanted. My online communities and socials have been a medium to express who I am without censoring parts of me that are bad. UNFILTERED CONTENT.

But lately, it feels like I have been robbed of all my liberties and freedom involving social media. I need to close myself off and project this fake persona of myself.

It feels so off. Whatever I used to do freely online within a small community has evolved to me keeping a vague persona of who I really am.

11 drafts in labyrinth of Tartarus blogpage

6 drafts in my main blog

You do see where I am going with this, right? Ever since May, I felt like I couldn't write. I couldn't write a single sentence, and with each day, I dissolved into more and more despair. Grief over the absence of writing.

I lay down, depressed, scrolling endlessly on social media. Consuming nothingness and waiting, waiting for a sign.

I feel like I got everything that I want in life. I feel like I satisfied my goals, but then... something is missing.

It feels stagnant, really. I do not look forward to anything in life. Do not get me wrong- I feel happy, but these little flits of happiness do not equate to satisfaction.

I DO NOT FEEL SATISFIED.

I feel I am in a constant state of frustration- over how things are spiraling out of control each moment, and I simply do not want to stop it. I feel very meek, I suppose.

As each day passes by, I feel smaller and smaller, devoid of all the things I thought I was. I may be worth more now, logically speaking, but emotionally I feel so weak.

...

...

...

cut your enemies off and never keep them close

Now, hear me out; I do not care if anyone says that we should always be in close touch with our enemies BECAUSE ITS A LOAD OF BS.

The more you are in company with people who drain you, the more miserable you will feel.

During the times when I was not in contact with people I hate, I felt... so in control of my life, so relieved, and so peaceful.

I FELT CALM. AND HAPPY.

But the moment I was back in contact, I felt distressed and scared. I felt like I was constantly being watched.

why toxic people SUCKKKKK( i mean really, the suck the happiness out of you)

Toxic or not, the people who make you distressed and feel the opposite of calm ARE MOST DEFINITELY THE people you gotta cut off.

Trust me, I know how it feels. The feelings and the memories will weigh more than how they make you feel now, but it isn't worth it. It will just drain you more.

Instead, just cut em off.

BE HAPPY

Because you will reach a point where you don't even think of them once a day(ME!!!! AND IM SO HAPPY I REACHED THERE, TRUST ME, IT WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY AS WELL.)

[fallsouthwinter]

You Got Got the Rhythm

I have mentioned a few times (mostly to @gaykey and @devil-taemin, the usual suspects) that I’ve been wanting to write meta on Taemin and his songs – well, I guess in this case it would be his MVs more than anything, but anyway, since people seemed to enjoy my Bad Love meta so much, I figured why not go ahead with this?

I do, however, have the distinct feeling I’m in more danger of being raked over the coals for this meta, but I have so many thoughts and feels about this. I flat out told my friends that sometimes I have to remind myself that there’s no reason to think of Taemin as Nonbinary (ENBY), even though every time I watch him and listen to his music it’s like looking in a damn mirror.

For the purposes of this meta I’ll be looking at the full version of the MOVE MV because it has a bit more story to it, so it’s much easier to explain what it is I’m seeing here. Meta under the cut, and I use the term queer yet again.

(a huge thank you to @musingsofabooklover and @itsumademo for their help)

Full disclosure: I’m nonbinary, specifically androgyne. Taking from Gender Wiki about Androgyne people, it says “[...]it’s a nonbinary gender identity associated with androgyny. They have a gender which is simultaneously feminine and masculine, though not necessarily in equal amounts. [...]In terms of social gender roles most androgynes feel various degrees of discomfort with the expectations of the gender binary. They may use a combination of feminine and masculine clothes to better communicate their nonbinary status, but there is no ‘correct’ way to present.”

Keeping this in mind, I have a tendency to gravitate towards people who display or present as gender non-conforming, but with Taemin it goes much deeper than surface level pretty boy presentation. I do talk more about that later, but what I really want to get into is his MOVE MV. I love this music video, especially the duo version where he’s dancing with his choreographer, Koharu. The amount of gender envy I feel is off the charts (and Taemin is very good at making me feel this – like how are you doing this so effortlessly king??) And it’s not like I forgot the whole reason behind the dance choreography in the first place. But let's move (hah!) to the OG MOVE mv, shall we?

In the first verse, we see him dancing with his girl crew, but it keeps cutting back to him dancing by himself in the rain, like there’s a way he wants to move, but right now it’s just a fantasy. What's interesting to me is during the first and second verse, you see him in this strange place, with his face covered in a glittery shell that only sort of resembles a human skull; while the girls' faces are uncovered, they’re all facing away. NOTE: the glittery mask always vividly reminds me of the parts in Kim Jaejoong's MINE MV where his face is covered in rhinestones, making him look almost completely featureless. 

The next time we see our dancers in this strange place, Taemin is (occasionally) unmasked, but the girls' faces are glitching. This can be viewed several ways: him voluntarily masking himself, because people don't need to see everything about you - it's called privacy, dammit. It can also be viewed as him being forced to hide or censor parts of himself: if he presents feminine, he has to cover his face; if he presents masculine, that feminine part has to be hidden away.

Not a single facial expression

In the second verse, he sees Koharu out on the street, someone who looks very much like him. They're foils for each other, one person is a bit more masculine and one is a bit more feminine, but not by much. Suddenly he's dancing, his face is uncovered, he's dancing with his girl group, no one is hiding, and we don't see that strange place again. The song itself goes on about how, regardless of how you look, you’re beautiful, you’re worth seeing, and it sums itself up neatly in the bridge:

Not a single sentence can express all of yourself

Because we are perfect just the way we are

Don’t even worry at all, just like that, repeat

Just like that, repeat

In the MV, he dances, he shows off his body, and of course it comes off as sensual because gender focuses on bodies and how we look at them. But at the end of the day it doesn't matter who you dance with or why, or how, we're just people, they're just bodies, there's absolutely nothing to be ashamed of regardless of the face you present to the world.

I’m building off something someone said (who or where escapes me) about Taemin; when he's dancing with male dancers? He's one of them. Dancing with female dancers? One of them. Dancing with both? He's both of them. By himself? He's neither. Dancing with Koharu? He's all of the above, fuck you and your expectations.

I think sometimes people forget, even genderqueer people, is that gender can be expressed however you want. Going further, even if someone is completely cishet and presents in a gender non-conforming way, they are still queer in a way – I mean, really, being queer ultimately means you fall outside of what society expects in terms of gender and sexuality. Gender is a lie and a trap, and forcing ideals for what is supposed to be masculine or feminine hurts all of us.

Honestly, from the stories I've heard, Taemin could have very easily gone the route of toxic masculinity to prove himself, yet instead we have him embracing it, going 'You know what? I'm a guy regardless of how I present, fuck you' and THAT makes me realize what an incredible person he is. He chose to become more accepting, and to react with kindness and understanding when the world hurts you? That, my friends, is strength.

[vicsdeangelis]

Do you think the boob thing was intentional or just an accident on Victoria's part bc there is a vid of her on stage when it happens and it does look like an accident

1st one: i didn't watch the performance. y'all would have to actually pay me to do that lol but going off of what they said, the thing about "free nipples, not just now, all the time", it does sound on purpose. especially because they said that before the performance. honestly, i don't know. who knows anything with them anymore, honestly? the thing is, in my view, is that it doesn't matter. planned or not, nothing was achieved. mtv just cut away from her. they changed nothing. did they forget how to make a impactful protest? what happened to the band that kissed in poland as a stand against homophobia and gave a short but good speech about it right after?

this one? it was meaningless

2nd one: like, yeah, i agree. people viewing women's breasts as inherently sexual, which is the reason this type of censoring happens, is misogynistic as fuck. tumblr's stupid "female presenting nipples" shit fills me with rage to this day. it's something worth talking about, but that's not what they did. they didn't talk about it, they didn't really make a statement about it. all that happened was that vic's nipple was on display, mtv cut away as soon as they saw it, and then they were like "we censored mtv 🤪" on social media. like, no, no you didn't. please tell me they're not actually delusional to think they did Something there

[sjweminem]

Is top surgery worth the lack of epic tits. Will I be real boy then

i promise that most people would tell you differently and they are the ones to whom you may want to listen more but. in MY experience???? god no. if i could go back i would never do it again- but i don't want you to get the wrong idea, you should probably get MORE of an idea re: why i feel what i feel and endured what i did. so. storytime about That Year (many of you already know which year 😭) but first i want to start on a light note because BOY do i know the epic tits struggle!! i was so proud..fuckin 5'8" with 32Ds that were so naturally perky even the surgeon commented on how that gave us options.....rest in peace god's greatest creation

AND!! before i begin! do keep in mind you do NOT have to get a wholeass mastectomy, i mean it's fat that hangs off your chest, no arbiter of maleness. you could totally go for a breast reduction down to the precise size/shape you want, then as for passing, depending on your clothes, binding would be easy as hell and for other clothes, not even necessary! i wish i had the foresight to do that

my surgery experience was traumatic (not the actual surgery, my doctor did an incredible job) but i was in for a slide leading, as months went by post op, into the year i. died forever (2015) as the person i was. simple. it began w being left with this tremendous, unfixable ribcage and sternum deformity that we always knew was there but my boobs were big and hid it- but getting that vest and bandages off was a horrible, horrible experience. facing what was underneath, what i had so been hoping would be a body that felt, perhaps, even more like my own, like all the experiences i'd heard and the big step it meant blah blah etc- i quit my AMAZING JOB for this! i thought i had an even bigger future!! but i fainted when i saw that deformity in plain sight, and one which turned out to be on THE most severe end of standard cases so i found little solace in looking up other images.......i was worse than all of them. and that future i had in reach and was kinda counting on eventually dropped me, too. zero life structure, just this frightening body to look at all day.

so naturally being on the schizophrenic spectrum i bodyslammed into a full blown, unrelenting dissociative/depersonalization state and effectively began cutting ties with my body (even going so far as to cut IT off lmao you can do some seeeeerious shit if you have analgesia!!! 😭 even still- like last month i tracked some major healing w photos and my left arm looked to be in fucking livor mortis.. another reason probably to not listen to how i answered your question). i stopped feeding the fuckin thing, thought i might lose enough weight to PHYSICALLY leave it??? overdosed on dilaudid that i shot up w one of my IM hormone needles & snorted ambien, sat on my floor day and night bloodletting into jars as much as i could get out of myself till approaching fainting, bc that jar of blood meant SOME part of me was able to escape! this is a VERY very condensed and censored little back-cover summary of what 2015 meant, and still does every minute of my life.

this is zero of what you asked for really, but i can't speak simply about the worst trauma i've ever endured (and i legit WATCHED my dad die), it is so heavy in me it rages in me physically i can't speak it quickly, and unfortunately it happens to begin with that simple operation, and i think you should know whom you're asking and what advice to perhaps take with a grain of salt..cuz if i PERSONALLY could do it all over again i never would have gotten that mastectomy, but that has sooooo much to do w my wildass unique factors!!

[akatsuki-shin]

I... I don’t often call out anyone specifically using social media before, but... I saw this among the reblogs in my first post about MXTX novels English release announcement and I feel that this is just too much...

I’m not going to tag this with the fandom tags because this is literally just my personal rant, and I don’t want unpleasant things to appear when people are happily browsing the tags.

I also censored the person’s blog name. It’s not like I want people to mass attack them.

But I do have some things I want to say about this kind of mindset.

And this is gonna be a long post, so I’ll cut it with "Read More” later below as not to disturb anyone’s browsing experience.

Why do they have to split the books into multiple volumes?

First, you do realize that the original Chinese version and other languages versions are also in multiple volumes that don’t always be published on the same date, right?

SVSSS has 3 volumes, MDZS has 4 volumes, TGCF has 5 volumes.

With the English release, both SVSSS and MDZS get +1 volume while TGCF gets +3 volumes.

Why you ask?

Have you ever considered how long a single Chinese word would be if written in alphabets?

The word “人” in Chinese only needs 1 (one) character, while in English it would translate to “P E O P L E” = 5 (five) characters.

The word “知己” in Chinese only needs 2 (two) characters, while in English it would translate to “C O N F I D A N T E” = 10 characters, or “S O U L M A T E” = 8 characters.

Now apply this to an entire novel. FYI, TGCF has more than 1 million word count in Chinese, so you can do the math by yourself.

I mean, just go watch the donghua or live action in YouTube. One single sentence in the Chinese sub is often translated to two or more lines in the English subtitle.

And have I mentioned that the English release will have:

Glossary

Footnotes

Character Guides

And I’m going to repeat this once again: In China and other countries that already get their official releases, it is also NOT always all released on the same date as a single set/box.

So yes, (not) surprise! For the Chinese release and official releases in other countries, you also often need to purchase multiple times, pay shipping fee multiple times, and wait for certain period of times until all volumes are released.

It doesn’t only happen to MXTX novels, it happens to almost all novels, be it danmei or not.

Why don’t they just wait for translations to finish and release it all at the same time/as a box set? Why the span of two years?

On my part, I already say above that in China and other countries that already get their official release, it’s also not always published all on the same date.

Other than that, I’m not an expert at book publishing, much less when the publisher is not from my own country. But maybe consider the following:

They’re releasing 3 (three) hugely popular IPs all at the same time. Maybe the preparations take more time and effort to ensure everything is flawless?

Since it is very rare (or maybe never, cmiiw) for danmei novels to be published in English, maybe the publisher is testing the market first? Because if they already release them as a huge bundle from the start and it somehow flops, the loss would be very big. If it works well, then good! Maybe for future danmei release, they will consider making a box set or releasing them within shorter timeframe. 

In terms of marketing, if they wait another 2 years to release it all at once, will the momentum still be there? You can say “so in the end it’s all about money”, but if not sales number and money, what else should the publisher expect to receive for their work? They’re already putting a lot of effort buying all three IPs from the Chinese publishers, proofread or even translate some from scratch, pay translators, editors, illustrators, printing companies, etc. If it’s not selling well simply because they release it at the wrong time, aren’t all these efforts going to be wasted? And you can bet there will be no more danmei published in English if their first try already flops merely because of losing the momentum.

Are there any other rules or regulations they need to comply that prevents them from releasing everything in one go? But once again, even in China and other countries, it is also not always all released in one go, so this argument is already invalid from the start.

But they make it so expensive like this!

I’m sorry to break it to you, but I’ve compared the prices to MDZS Japanese release + TGCF Thai release and... The price isn’t really that much different.

Btw, I’m using Google’s currency converter, in case anyone wants to know where does my calculation comes from.

Okay, so here’s MDZS Japanese version from CD Japan:

One volume of MDZS Regular ver. cost 1760 yen. This is 15,96 USD before shipping. There’s only like $4 difference.

There’s also the Exclusive ver. that cost 3660 yen (32,92 USD) but we’re not gonna talk about that because they’re basically making you pay for the bonus, which is some acrylic panels and illustration cards.

Now here’s TGCF Thai version from Sense Book:

Translation using Google Chrome page translate:

One volume of TGCF costs 360 baht. This is 10.77 USD before shipping. So there’s about $9.22 difference.

Again, notice the difference of word/sentence length in the Thai words and English alphabet.

"But there’s still difference in price and other releases usually gets merchandise!” - Correct me if I’m wrong, but the US is probably one of the most expensive countries in the world. Do you think the materials, printings, and manpower cost is the same with other countries? Especially compared to one in Southeast Asia.

“But it’s xxxx times more expensive than the original Chinese version!” - Excuse me, the original Chinese version doesn’t need to pay for translators, proofreaders and editors with multilingual skills, and purchase the IPs? If you think it’s more worth buying the Chinese version, then by all means go ahead.

------------

Some last words...

I’m not looking down on those in difficult financial situation, but hey, I’m not filthy rich either? I come from a third world country and even if I’m a working adult, I’m still in working middle class + I got my parents to take care of. My country’s currency is literally just a tiny 0.000069 USD per 1 Indonesian Rupiah.

Every single fandom merchandise that you see me bought, either I’ve saved up for that or I sacrificed other things to buy that. I just don’t show the struggle to you guys because why should I? I’m just here to have fun about the fandom I love, not to flex my struggling financial condition.

These official English release of MXTX novels? All 17 books are going to cost me almost HALF of my monthly salary. But hey, I think it’s a good thing that they didn’t release it all at once, so that I can save up between months to purchase them all and plan my spending better.

If you feel the price is expensive, especially if you have to ship from outside North America, consider the following:

Book Depository provide free worldwide shipping

The books’ ISBN numbers are all available in the publisher’s website, just show it to you local bookstore and ask if they can order it for you

Plus, there are already hundreds of generous fans doing free giveaways in Twitter, even the publishers are helping to signal boost this. You can go and try your luck if you’re really desperate.

Lastly, I know how much love we all have for our favorite fandoms, but remember that fandom merchandise is NOT your primary needs.

You are NOT obliged to purchase any fandom merchandise if you can’t afford it and you should ALWAYS prioritize your primary needs.

Also, if you still want to read the fan-translations that are still available, alright go ahead. But remember that the translators themselves already said fan translations in English are now illegal. You can read it. We all consume pirated contents at one point. But don’t flex about it and diss the official release just because you can’t afford it.

I don’t know if the person who made that reblog tags are going to come at me or not, but even if they do, I literally don’t care. I’m not gonna waste my time arguing with someone with that kind of mindset and will block them right on the spot.

Also Idgaf if they call me out or talk behind my back, I literally don’t know them, so I don’t care.

End of rant.