#or a revolutionary opinion

[d-does-art]

*crawls out of art block dungeon*

Here's a page of a comic I've been thinking of. I don't know if I'll finish it, but posting might help motivate me. Or I'll move on to the next thing, haha.   

[yujeong]

I wasn't planning on engaging with the original post, and I *really* don't want to play defense for BOC and Pond right now or in general (about pretty much anything), especially on a pretty negatively biased post about Pond (like damn, people's hate about this man should be studied in a lab). However, I wanted to share @femslashedtires reblog due to the info they provided about the acting challenges in the show. Thank you for explaining, because it's important to give credit where credit is due in my humble opinion. I really, really liked THC and came to love the boys because of it, so it's nice to see at least one person appreciate the good things it offered.

I know this post is only for like two people, but I’m going to make it anyway. So, my obsession with Dead Friend Forever finally reached critical levels and I resorted to binge-watching The Hidden Character just to get more content. For those that don’t know, The Hidden Character (which they literally call “THC”) was the reality show Be On Cloud used to cast DFF. It is bad. Like really bad. And not in a it’s-so-bad-it’s-good-type way. It’s one of the most exploitative pieces of media I have ever watched. I walked into it with a favorable view of BOC, Mile, Apo, and Pond (the CEO), and walked out of it hating all of them.

A small collection of things that happened over the 11-episode run:

Everyone was told that they had to share every single aspect of their life with the viewers or they would be eliminated. And, in fact, the first person eliminated was told that it was because he wasn’t being open enough with the audience. They filmed these boys—one of whom was only seventeen at the time—talking explicitly about their sex lives. Which is, of course, fine to talk about. It’s not fine to air it on television! Even some of the games themselves contained sexually suggestive content (i.e. Which do you prefer "eating" with—your hands or your mouth? If you were to cheat on your significant other, would it be just sex or a full-blown affair?)

During the first part of the show, everyone had a secret that the other players were supposed to guess. One of the player’s secret was that he used to be homophobic. (Questionable casting for a company that only hires men, but I digress). He was praised for having changed his mind. In contrast, JJay’s secret was that he was raised in an abusive household and had once hit his father. Pond crucified the poor guy for this. He made him sit there in front of the whole cast sobbing and apologize for hitting his dad who was an abusive asshole.

After the first half of the show—which served absolutely no purpose at all—we finally move onto the acting portion. This is, after all, supposed to be a talent competition. The judges were so mean. Especially Apo. He was like the Simon Cowell of BOC. There was no constructive component to their criticism. The fact that any of these people are still acting is honestly unbelievable. I would have gone home and cried myself to sleep and then never stepped foot on a stage again.

At one point, each of the groups was assigned a scene from KinnPorsche to act out (because BOC very clearly owns no other IP). One of the pairs was given the scene where Porsche gives Kinn a handjob in the bathroom. I wish I was kidding. 

The judges constantly told the contestants to make their scenes feel new and different but any time the actors actually tried to change anything, they complained it was “too” different and the original script was already perfect so who were they to think they could create something better. Once again, Apo and Mile, the original actors of these scenes, are the ones judging them! Like of course they like their version better. What is even happening??

And finally, the whole fucking thing was rigged for Ta to win. Like don’t get me wrong, I love Ta and I think he did a great job, but he was the only one who came into that competition with a built-in fanbase and the winner was chosen by popular vote.

It was all just…baffling. Especially from a company that claims to be trying to change the industry. Like if you want the industry to stop being so exploitative to its actors, maybe start with yourself? It also makes those condescending “how dare you watch our shows just for the NC scenes” press releases they do every week even more annoying.

I have no clue what the reaction to this show was while it was airing but god I hope they never do it again. It literally makes me feel so weird watching DFF now. I feel like those poor kids are being held hostage. Maybe CEO Pond’s been the one under the mask the whole time 🔪

[k16is]

[domiiomii]

Sevika is my favorite character but it is hard for me to analyze her because I feel her ending is so unfitting for the rest of her writing and feels so forced it makes me second guess every other thing that was established about her, it is truly sad to me how the conclusion for such an interesting character ends up being imo a lazy way to tie lose ends for the rest of the abandoned Zaun vs. Piltover class war plot line.

I was thinking about this because I found this concept art of how Sevika would use Silco's office as her room after his death and it is so harrowing how for Sevika her entire life was Zaun's liberation.

The thing about her is, unlike Silco who at least had Jinx, she 100% sacrificed her whole personal life for revolution and thus perhaps her compromise to it was even higher than Silco's and then she becomes part of the same system that she spend her whole life fighting against? How do we make any sense of that?

I see Sevika leaving Vander, because of his refusal of fighting against Piltover, as such an important point for her character and I would argue probably the most important we see in establishing who she is, her ideologies and how much she is willing to sacrifice for that dream. Then Act 3 happens and it is such a weird watch for me because clearly the writing was trying to re-establish her as a sort of Vander figure with the whole "we don't hand over our own people" thing (even though I would argue her motivations where ideological while Vander's were personal), her giving a speech on Vander's statue, under his shadow. It feels like an attempt to make her into a "good-zaunite" by making her into a completely de-fanged version of herself and what that ends up meaning is her becoming non-threatening to the status quo and instead becoming part of the system, legitimizing it and therefore protecting it.

In this regard I think that Sevika choosing to follow Silco might be as important as her abandoning Vander. I find their relationship very interesting because they have similar ideologies and Silco is so dependant on Sevika and they both know it, for over 7 years she could have abandoned, betrayed or disposed of him but she didn't because she understood that violence was the only way to liberation and in that path she did all sorts of reprehensible things just like Silco for that ultimate goal again with the understanding that violence was necessary, she chose Silco because she understood that liberation would come through struggle not by manking deals with your oppressors like Vander did... And then just like Vander she ends up doing exactly the same thing, rendering all those years of struggle, all those actions, violence and atrocities meaningless.

And so for me most of what we knew of her character and what was established about her ideology becomes nonsensical when we see how she ended, either you take it as she completely betrayed herself and what she fought for her whole life or she was never the person the writing showed us her to be and just acted without thinking all those years (?). Furthermore we are shown just few episodes before the end how the people of the undercity don't even listen to her, so again it is just confusing how she ends up as a council woman for a city that doesn't even want her.

Ultimately if this was some sort of commentary about how revolutionaries can become sucked into politics and be de-fanged in favor of becoming part of the system rather than fighting it I could accept it even if I didnt like it but with how reactionary and anti-revolutionary s2 is, it just feels more like a "see? violence is never the answer! if you want change just become a diversity hire and change the institutions that oppress you from within!" /sarcasm

[opikiquu]

[liontamarin]

they're shittalking touga 😌

[kazthisnuts]

daily sketchhhhh #8

this is just me tryna find a design that i like for my goat sabo

my procreate got glitchy and resorted to my 7yo dawing tablet that is just as messed up

you also get a asl+uta bonus bc i said so

i am obsessed with them

[lulu-the-bugaboo]

Something interesting to me about Ace and Sabo is that both of them have conflicting personalities? I find it a little hard to explain. Both of them seem different on the surface compared to how they feel about things internally. However, I personally see a main difference in how this goes for them.

With Ace, while for example he seems joyful, friendly, goofy, confident and such on the outside, he has a lot of insecurities on the inside that he keeps to himself and traits like being cynical, low on self-esteem and angry. BUT the positive traits are still him being him. He isn't trying to fool others by putting on an act to seem different. What he is doing is hiding parts of himself and not fully showing people what kind of person he is as a whole.

Meanwhile, with Sabo, I would say he is actively trying to hide his true feelings and struggles by putting on a mask. In dressrosa both when he is battling Fujitora and in his reunion with Luffy, you can see that he is trying to seem like this cheerful and chill guy and while his act wavers when it comes to talking about Ace he slips back under it immediately afterwards. It doesn't come of as fully natural. You can see it more clearly when he is talking about Cobra's death with Dragon and Ivankov and how he says he doesn't care all that much as long as it serves their purpose, which is NOT what you see when you actually see from him in the flashbacks. I also think that's why he has conflicted feelings about the flame emperor nickname.

[theprodigypenguin]

Fans who cite Luffy and Ace as some of their top characters while vocally hating on Sabo and every aspect of his arc are so embarrassing, like baby girl, your faves would actually hate you 😬

[11-angry-bees]

when i was little i asked my dad if the american revolutionaries would have been considered terrorists bc i learned about tarring and feathering and also the boston tea party in school at the same time as the US government was hunting osama bin laden and i think that explains a lot

[island-in-the-shadows]

Truly, my sympathies to people watching IWTV and are getting tired/bored of different perspectives. I'm not bored or even remotely tired.

Interviews by their very nature are perspective based. The story has this specific framing. As did the first book. They added to it with Armand now being an active participant and Daniel being more seasoned at interviewing. I understand how Armand's very edited and hyperbolic take on events that Book Lestat describes in The Vampire Lestat rubs people the wrong way. I do think that one could argue the way Lestat writes his own autobiography is the objective truth (note Armand in his book does not contradict Lestat). However, sorry to say, there is never an objective truth. The truth is always subjective.

I was raised by a whole family of lawyers and if I learned anything is that you can spin things in any way, but an objective truth will never exist. Not in crime, not in person to person storytelling, not in fictional storytelling. Hell, viewers seeing the SAME show CANNOT come to a consensus. Why? Because we all put our thoughts, experiences, and feelings to it. That's all perspective.

We see Louis give Armand a kiss in bed. Some think aw domestic and cute. Some think Louis is deliberately withholding and rewarding Armand for good behaviour. Some saw the act they put on in E2 as some version of truth and domesticity and some think it's only an act. Some think Dreamstat is actual Lestat out there somewhere and some think it's Louis' conscience.

Yes, the narrative will confirm one thought or another on some things but not all of them. They're deliberately left up to interpretation. Something btw, Lestat urges the reader to do in TVL when he does not go into details about his time with Louis and Claudia. And part of that has to do with perspective.

We could have a straightforward narrative with no corrections and no perspectives. But would that be as interesting as seeing how minds that far exceed our own twist and bend and interpret events? Would it be as interesting as seeing a vampire who tells himself a story so that he can carry on living despite being miserable? Would it be as interesting as this vampire who tells himself a story get pushback on what he's saying by someone who notices errors and inconsistencies? Would it be an interview at all? Or would it be, as Daniel put it in the very first episode, "a fever dream told to an idiot."

If you want a straightforward non-challenging version of the story, the 1994 movie exists. It's not perfect and a lot of details are missing, but there's only one, unchallenged perspective to it. And even then...how many people didn't (want to) see the queerness in it?

TL;DR I get being frustrated or tired or bored by the way the show is trying to tell the story, but at least it's doing something a little different and not word for word.

[ball-of-butter]

youre like the only account i look at on here for red queen content (specifically maven) so please go full psychological analysis on maven please. i love your posts they itch my brain perfectly

omygosh anon 🤭 tyyyy tyyyy

theres so much to say about maven and its kinda crazy considering he doesn’t get that much actual page time. so keep in mind that many people could have different interpretations of his character, since he is quite elusive. and i may or may notttt be biassed idk.

the first thing i believe: he's a character that, for all his supposed motivations, had no ambition or dream of his own. he was a complete vessel of his mother’s spite, so he makes for a pretty interesting paradox. mare was haunted by a ‘false’ maven that didn't exist (debatable). cal was haunted by an ‘erased’ maven that used to exist. what is maven haunted by? everything and everyone? he’s a ghost himself, he’s the one who usually did the haunting, but even when you get his POV in the books, there’s a tragedy in the negative space you find. there are clear holes in his psyche that he also subconsciously attempts to fill (his memories always fight to bubble to the surface, but they invoke feelings he can’t feel anymore) and never can. despite how pissed off he is at everyone and everything, he so very clearly yearns for love and approval, to the point where he is absolutely delusional about it. there he was, shocked that mare would reject him after he imprisoned and betrayed her and the scarlet guard. here’s him outraged that anabel lerolan would side with cal after he plotted her son’s murder.

elara basically sculpted a monster, and i don’t think that can be debated since its pretty clearly stated in text. even maven knew what she took from him and the extent of the abuse— but he didn't care because she gave him the love he craved. she couldn’t fill it all, if maven’s obsession with mare was anything to go by. i do think elara genuinely loved and adored him, but i don’t know if i would use the word ‘enabler’ for her because it seems too soft a word. maven is elara. elara dies and maven can’t survive on his own for long without her. he was her iron fist in a way, but neither had much interest in norta as a country like most scheming for the throne usually do– which i find so interesting. it wasn’t political, only personal.

now then there lies the debate of choice— some maven fans are completely comfortable heaping all of the blame onto elara and calling it a day. but i think even elara was failed in a similar way maven was. red queen is cool because it shows how evil is encouraged and nurtured in oppressive societies, how certain individuals even in privileged positions will be abused and neglected, how vices are taught to be hidden rather than treated and how violence is perpetuated as the surest, most permanent decree. every character is affected by this system in some way, and i could talk about it for years but i’ll save you the time. my point is that this would apply to maven, but that doesn’t make him void of choice. it’s sort of predictable that he would make the terrible choices he did in the series considering he never had the chance to escape what predestined narrative was already planned for him, but no one was physically forcing him to burn his initial into mare. no one was physically forcing him to try slaughter a whole race of people. no one physically forced him to blow up naercey, or taunt cal after forcing him to murder his dad, or psychologically torture mare when he kept her as prisoner. yes, there’s nuance but maven is also much too comfortable with being a terrible person, because thats what ultimately earns him love, respect and approval.

i don’t think maven could’ve been saved, not because 'the damage was too bad,' but because he had no desire to be saved, and no one but cal had wanted to put in the effort to save him. i always find it interesting how cal secretly resented mare for killing maven, even though it was such a longtime coming, and he would never voice it because considering all maven had done to her, she had more than the right. but i don’t want to yap so much about maven’s relationship with cal because i’ll be here forever. nor do i want to talk too much about his relationship with mare. i'll only say that when i was talking about his death scene i did mention how much of an impact both of them had on each other, how maven was so scary to mare because he was a viable twisted path that represented the worst of her. i think mare could’ve been (my biassed interpretation) a path for him too, but he was so far gone by the second book and especially after elara’s death that he never considered it (would’ve been too late for him then anyway). i have some thoughts on the chances of maven rehabilitating if he had the tools and will to. some thoughts. they won’t go here though.

lastly i just want to link this post which had super interesting additions by @lucy-the-cat that delves into maven from a psychological perspective. its sooooo well written and i still think about it to this day.

last thing i wanna do is glaze a bit so im just gonna 😭 its refreshing to see this sort of villain be portrayed as an mmc who isn’t attractively suave and super misunderstood and depressed and supremely intelligent for what he does– maven is intelligent and sad, but he's presented as a floundering, insecure, delusional brat that the fmc understands entirely. something so refreshing in how he can only either be hated, and at best, pitied.

[k16is]

who do you think anthy has the most to least beef with on the student council.

[theartisticcrow]

Okay I'm sorry who the FUCK was gonna tell me that Mr. Piece-Of-Actual-Human-Garbage-That-Got-Reelected-(Somehow) is threatening to annex Canada? As in basically take invade and take over Canada? I thought I was safe over here!

No no no no no no no no no no I thought it couldn't get worse I thought it couldn't get worse no there's no way this actually happens. There's no fucking way this country is actually gonna just let this happen. If they fucking try anything and the rest of the world just lets it happen I am actually fully serious when I say this

I will commit arson. I will commit so much arson. I am not joking. I'm not a coward like some of you guys on here. I will burn down several buildings. Because if that happens, there's no hope for me having a good life. If that happens and the everyone else in the world lets it happen, I will lose all hope that things will improve.

If if people let that happen. If it succeeds... Do people understand how serious that is?

Someone please I don't fucking care if you die in the process I mean like I'll think about you a lot and I will be so grateful for what you did whoever you are but please PLEASE SOMEONE KILL THAT STUPID FUCKING MAN! HOW ARE PEOPLE SO BLIND? HE'S NOT YOUR FUCKING GOD STOP TRYING TO SUCK HIS DICK.

BRUTALLY MURDER HIM THE SAME WAY HE'S ABOUT TO DO TO SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE AND ALREADY HAS

This is not an exaggeration. This man is the Hitler of the 21st century. He has to die.

[transmascutena]

people who say kanae is the least interesting character in utena don't get it