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[anjanabm]

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[floral-hex]

I broke 2 mugs today while moving 😔 one with an alligator that says “later gator” and an arkansas/missouri railroad mug I got a couple of summers back. My poor babies…

[screamting]

Once again trapped in trying to figure out what Wayne Industries actually Does. "Everything!" yeah sure but they had to get there somehow. Amazon was an online bookstore at first there was a lot of very rapid growth between then and now.

Usually I hear that they started as a shipping business which makes sense when Gotham is 90% waterfront, but at some point they had to transition from just shipping other people's things to shipping things they made as well. I suppose if they started making their own transports for shipping (starting with their own steamboats and later trains and cars) that would make sense. Maybe in the industrial revolution they even bought their own steel mill upon getting tired of having fluctuating prices or a steel shortage and just deciding they were going to get their own damn steel and sell the extra instead. If they chose to manufacture higher quality steel instead of cheapest possible steel that's also laying the groundwork for them to be well liked by their customers. Not railroad barons but making the steel to lay the railroad and build the trains. It's the 1800s so they have a couple patented medicines by then as well that are.... not really medicine but no one has officially noticed yet. They ship their own chemicals out west for a good time.

In 1880s Alan Wayne makes the building that becomes Wayne Tower?? Which I think is much too early, but apparently we were building sky scrapers in 1888 so business must have been booming I fucking guess. This is also the man that has them go corporate.

Of course the railroads start to fall out with the growth of cars and car lobbying. They are still used along with boats for transport but with railroads not being built as much and not being maintained and the union wars, Wayne Industries has to make a pivot somewhere to stay in the race. The family can have a lot of personal money but the business itself is still going strong in Gotham even before Bruce takes over.

I guess if they're already in shipping, they're probably importing as well by then. They may have started with steamboats but then in WWI and WWII all steel factories started producing things for the war efforts, surely they made a couple big ships by then capable of crossing the Atlantic, if they weren't already in oceanic shipping by then. It lets them ride out the great depression because of government maritime subsidies that were a little out of control until the new deal kicked in. That would've also presumably kept WI employees working in the depression and cemented them harder in the city as smaller businesses closed around them.

The patented medicine starts shifting to actual generics that are a little less Heroic post 1918.

Maybe at around that point was when WI started manufacturing... sort of everything. You get your ships, and all the things on board that you need to run a ship. You get your ovens and stoves and big pots and your radar and hell your sailors can even buy their boots and uniforms from us.

When WWII ends they shift back to transporting other people's goods but also maybe more luxury vehicles as well. Cruise services. Some nicer kitchen installations. Kitchens on land even. Get a nice WI electric mixer. Get your waterfront boots. Get your generic ibuprofen.

At that point we're closer to Martha and Thomas' era and they're just... Along for the ride I guess. Thomas is a figurehead CEO. He's off doing medical school and mostly just shows up for formalities, while Martha works in the Wayne Foundation (either the only thing Thomas really made or opened in the 60s to try and get Gotham really booming) as a charity liason. They're still not really celebrities as much as a charismatic couple in high circles. WI doesn't need them to function. It's basically just funding them as they do their own things.

And then the murders happen

And then Bruce, over eighteen, shows up having inherited the figurehead CEO title and his entire family's controlling stock in WI, and announces they're going to be doing things his way now.

The CEO/Board of directors is supposed to do things in the best interest of their stock holders.

If Bruce is the controlling stock holder, they do what he says his best interest is.

[daystarvoyage]

The Dana Terrace Vs Vivienne Medrano, The Great Debate of Two Female Creators

Hello Starry Knights, This is the lovely Kyoko Cane, The Brown Sugah Queen, & cosplayer who performs and visits numerous cons throughout, while making blogs/vlogs on animated media & entertainment.

as you know or are new to this page, I am an artist who also dedicated my fashion in drag, on all my platforms along my artwork & discussions (be it anime or Western) that can affect real-life even fandoms, with a variety of videos.

the title of the post is about The two proclaimed talked about animators, Dana Terrace & Vivienne Medrano, I'll be critiquing how these two women of animation tackle the industry. This will have strong opinions from recent interview videos I've watched.

(I'll be calling Vivienne VIVI FOR SHORT & letting you know, if I were to watch ones in the future affecting my post come on the comments to ask freely, AND YES ALL PROJECTS AND TOPICS ARE NOT WITHOUT THEIR CRITIQUES, FLAWS IF YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT, CHECK OUT THE DAYSTAR VOYAGE, DON'T HATE, APPRECIATE! )

OK LETS GET STARTED In this 3-part segment

1. The Different Artstyles That Made Us Love These Shows.

Vivis work (Helluva Boss & Hazbin Hotel)

Now We all know as fans & lovers of animation when we hear a series that's greenlit after viewing on a television screen, in a magazine, or sponsored in commercials, right? As for these two,

The first time I heard of VIVI's work was on a YouTube ad commercial in line & premiered for the pilot, I was fully captivated by its groundbreaking story, from hazbin hotel to the comedy in helluva boss, along with its ghoulish Beetlejuice-inspired art style.

(which I'm a sucker for the niche, indie projects & gothic horror.)

observing her sketchbook on YouTube, I was drawn in by the captivated humanoid shapes she sketches, along with her fluid & flowing style.

the worldbuilding version of heaven & hell drew me in, after watching hazbin hotel. The pilot had a lot to offer from its dreary horrific turns/obstacles from its character debut, story & distorted beauty that there was a lot to tune Into along my first episode of Helluva Boss,

Now we are gonna get down to lore storytelling and character growth.

(and im fully aware of how the fandom treats the rest of the main & supporting cast not letting them flesh out including the females, btw)

Vivi has so much to offer, after watching the latest episode of Helluva Boss and finishing Hazbin Hotel, I see she has the potential to make a good show on drama & sell it, however with her controversy coming through I feel she needs to learn on how to perceive herself online, so makes it hard for me not to hate her series, be it art and her work.

(its truly good when it wants to be as for the writing ima get to that later. with the stolitz & lumity discourse on part 2)

The owl House by Dana terrace

Now you all know by now, I am a full-on Owl House fan regardless of its show ending early, and my many critics on Dana Terrace drew me in with her macabre art and full-on passionate skeletal pieces after looking at her socials and sketchbook online, as a debut showrunner who made her great stance on lgbt representation she has cemented herself as an acclaimed cartoon creator.

However, she does have her flaws ever since rewatching the series, and a lot to learn about the business, after rewatching The Show and yes I have notes written to prove them,

To add I felt if alex Hirsch wasn't on the project, everyone wouldn't watch that show since yall want it to be the next GRAVITY FALLS,

I love the fandoms that discuss the errors of these creators cause it gives more insight on how to portray yourselves on in the real world, cause lemme tell you, it was all watered down I'm get to that in a minute

one problem i have with particularly since she's a good artist & creator is her depending on certain tropes to carry out her cast, cause some may be harmful, along tropes being flanderized & the writing of character being generic & stereotyped.

She needs work on being a better showrunner cause those skills need Cleaning up including writing certain characters on who gets the spotlight.

NEXT SEGMENT

2. The Good, Great, Bad & Ugly in Fandom Discourse,

Vivis Work (Wow Yall can be Wow)

Vivienne Has made her mark in the YouTube market ever since making her pilot debut on Kesha video & hazbin hotel pilot,

I'm so glad for her contributions towards the indie market cementing her way to showing great representation in the general audience for an adult show, not to mmention disablity rep, yes an adult show and that's not without its controversy,

with her grand debate, I feel everyone took this woman's artwork turning it into something ugly, which is so uncool.

and I for one will not stand for the hate trains of now popular shows flip-flopping and then float back to it cause your series is acclaimed now, let's be real she deserves her crowns and laurels, Just keeping it real, regardless cause its a fire show

The fandom has shown their love of the show cause it knocked down so many doors in many ways, but let's be real the audience is now geared toward children cause we all know, this generation can be doing some crazy things, the way they all need to tone down the language, and let characters breath in the show

which I feel viv needs to work on the jokes. I get, it's an adult show which is concerning and it's a Gen Z world where people have access to computers 247, which contributes to all the nasty discourse and crass behavior not to mention,

fandom needs to calm down her fans when it comes down to her work and the way stoliz is perceived.l can be questionable, not to mention how the females are written which I do know the key word for this below.

cause i rarely do find the females are compelling, but yet to fleshed out like the rest of the male characters so misogynist comes into mind in this show and how it sells

there some moments it only aims to the infamous ship Stolitz (and doesn't let other characters breathe (this is a problem with the owl house which ill get to right now cause the pacing is wow smh)

(next to the owl house which I'll get to cause OMG)

THE OWL HOUSE FANDOM (GRRRR) lemme calm down

If you haven't seen my posts, including the bashing and discourse there's also a list I swear lemme quote

in the words of Biggie Small - if you don't know now ya know.

The owl house fandom i was on ride or die for lumity. however we all know how that ship got it start and built up cause they expected it to be this thing to say (F you to Disney) which is good cause disney had its comuppence howver, after the show ended

fans have become the most foulest ugliest & disrespectful fandom ever since the Steven Universe, Voltron and miraculous incidents,

its sad to see how these two franchises fell into the worse cases, the two creators may come across not caring of there fandom acts cause there's a saying

The captain always goes down with his ship MEANING

A captain should not have to sacrifice their life or crew, simply because the vessel they are in control of is in distress

There’s two fandoms such as Steven universe & voltron fell from grace into toxicity down below that are prime examples

The Owl House fandom has got to be some of the most entitled, uppity if not (racist) fans!

yall clearly have not listened to other fans or can't take criticism, yes the show did make very feminist undertones and the male characters didn't shine at all in their titular episodes or moments, which doesn't help at all.

Since Dana drew inspiration from Powerpuff Girls

(which comes on and the writers being all female, might have some damaging effects)

Cause its stifled the male characters in a way where there not as prominent or impactful,

So this word MISANDRY comes to mind

The fandom has gone down to the point of no return, I mean,

one fan from a webcam interview WANTED DANA's ADDRESS EWWW! (in one disccus video0

its not that the Disney drama was too blame for the project, (to an extent) which I'm proud for the fandom for banding together on animation, but need to take off the lgbt glasses, cause boy the show's writing was pushed in favor of that.

CONGRATS You did at the cause of Harassment and bad behavior in fandoms,

NEXT TOPIC

3. Make The Business Makes Sense & epilogue

THE OWL HOUSE

Dana Terrace has the makings of doing good shows however when it comes down to an audience to kid she has some major damage control on how the fandom will come across,

i mean have we not learned from the Lilith and Camilla toxic issues, you can tell the show likes to demonize the adults which is unacceptable, and can damage storytelling and characters.

the truth i feel there needs to be proper staff on how to write POC, ethnic and cultural representation In the show, Amphibia, Molly mcgee, Haileys on it and other break-out shows did it better,

hell even Amphibia doing those cuisines food culture in Frogworld, can you imagine the boiling isles taking on Hispanic cuisine.

Which i felt could've hit a mark on luz home life and culture if written & fleshed out,

Like the staff didn't know how to write those topics, they've coulda gone so far with it but unfortunately fall flat in that area,, not to mention the fashion. UGH

sigh.

ViVI WORKS ( i try not to make this quick but i can discuss more on comments be NICE)

Vivienne Medrano has good fashion and business sense

its important to have that cause having a Cloud Nine franchise coming from nothing can do wonders for how you are perceived as an artist,

The discourse has come due to her take on the controversy on platforms talking on her many harsh topics

(in my opinions she too needs to work on controlling scenarios & damage control that can affect her

So tried but yeah

vivi is a dominant artist who takes her business seriously so I am glad to have her flourish in Spindlehorse,

but just i wish i cant help but fall outta love with her work, knowing of the problems in today's animation comesacross how you say even snowflakes can break under if heard by there favorite creators.

lets be honest these two can learn from each other. and vivi does sure know angles and promoting

very glad to get this written so I put some thought into this

i wish nothing for the best for these awesome artists and creators thank you all for coming so far and have a wonderful voyage thanks.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Psycho Analysis: Princess Azula

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

This is one of those characters I should’ve done a long time ago, but just never got around to because I felt it was just way too obvious. I mean, come on, Avatar: The Last Airbender is considered one of the greatest works of western animation. Everyone and their mother has talked about this show at some point, so what could I even add?

Well, as it turns out, the way people talk about Azula is exactly what inspired me to write this! I have never seen a character so completely and critically misunderstood! Hell, this is a character that people like to disregard the core themes of the story to talk about! Discussion of her online made me so genuinely angry that I decided fuck it, it’s Azulain’ time! So here we go, my 200% anger-fueled analysis and review of the mentally-unstable Fire Nation princess who terrorized the Gaang!

Motivation/Goals: Azula has basically made it her life’s mission to be the ultimate tool of the Fire Nation, and specifically her father Fire Lord Ozai. To that end, she does basically whatveer he tells her to do? Kill the Avatar, conquer Ba Sing Se, take out her brother and uncle… So long as what she does has a net benefit for the imperialistic goals of her country, she’s down for it, and doubly so if she thinks it will get her even a little crumb of daddy’s attention.

Performance: Superstar voice actress Grey DeLisle of Literally Every Fucking Cartoon Ever Made fame lends her voice to the crown princess of the Fire Nation, and her smug, condescending delivery really sells Azula as a manipulative schemer who is constantly playing 4D chess to outmaneuver her opponents. I think I might even go so far as to call this one of DeLisle’s finest performances ever, for reasons pertaining to her delivery of lines in certain parts of the story that will be described below.

Final Fate: Azula’s fate is a perfect example of the show’s excellent writing because it robs us of catharsis in an extremely narratively satisfying way.

Throughout the finale, we watch as Azula’s mental health rapidly declines as literally everything in her life spirals out of her control for the first time. This is a girl who has defined herself as always being two steps ahead, always having everything firmly in her grasp, and yet her brother has run off with the heroes, her two best friends “betrayed” her, her father gives her the throne but only because he is crowning himself the Ultra Super Cool King Deluxe, and she is constantly grappling with feeling as if her mother viewed her as a monster while also subconsciously knowing that Ursa did truly love her. Keep in mind, all of this is happening to a teenage girl, so is it any wonder she completely and totally snaps?

Her final Agni Kai with Zuko during the height of Sozin’s Comet is epic, but it’s the conclusion where she is defeated by Katara and left as a sobbing, flailing mess that really knocks Azula’s character arc out of the park and cements her as the ultimate antithesis of Zuko. He had the guidance of a good, kind father figure, while she was stuck with Fire Hitler; he had a group of friends to love and support him, while she only had companions who put up with her out of fear and turned on her when they finally had enough; he was able to come to terms with his past traumas and grow to be better because of his numerous support systems, while all she had were toxic influences that led to her essentially collapsing under the weight of her internal conflict. She is what Zuko could have been if no one lent him a helping hand… and it is soul-crushingly tragic. The last we see her, she is a broken mess of a person, someone who has literally lost everything in their life, had the sole purpose of their existence stripped from them, and has just been reminded that she lost because she is a lonely, miserable, pathetic individual without any friends.

After her being on top for almost the entire show, this should feel like a triumph! But it’s not. It’s sad. It’s tragic. There’s no joy to be found. And boy oh boy, is it fucking powerful.

I’m just going to ignore what happens to her in the comics. It’s better that way.

Evilness: So here’s where things get really interesting, because while Azula does some truly evil things throughout the show, there is a tendency to exaggerate just how awful she is because most of her evil actions are just things she says she wants to do/has done. Combined with her smug, arrogant demeanor and it’s easy to believe she would do these things, but we don’t actually witness them. To wit, while she taunts Sokka about torturing Suki to the breaking point, when he finally reunites with her she sure doesn’t seem as cripplingly broken as Azula implied. I think it’s important to note that, as Azula is a massive liar, if we don’t actually see her do something (even something she’s threatening to do), it’s not really a mark against her. She’s a cunning manipulator, after all, conquering an entire city without lifting a finger.

On that note, though, she does have plenty of wicked moments under her belt. She conquered Ba Sing Se for the Fire Nation, she constantly tried to kill Aang and her brother while they were on the run in the Earth Kingdom, she had her friends locked up for defying her… Like she’s one messed up daddy’s girl. Even taking into account the inherent tragedy of her character and the fact she’s a teenage girl, she still kind of steps up to crossing the moral event horizon. She’s very much the product of grooming in an environment meant to espouse the joys of fascism and imperialism, and since she never had a strong guide like Iroh her moral compass is busted.

With all that being said, I think she’s a solid 5/10. She does some really nasty things, but at the same time a lot of what colors the perception of her is stuff she only implies. Also I’m not considering any of her pre-breakdown fights with Zuko as truly evil; this is just how siblings are. You bet your ass sibling squabbles would look just like that if they could shoot fireballs from their hands.

Best Episode: For all her badass moments, awesome schemes, incredible fights, and powerful moments… “The Beach” might be her best episode. This might sound crazy, but I stand by it; I think showing us an awkward, human side of her really helps to sell that Azula isn’t actually some unstoppable force. She’s just a teenager who has no social skills and can’t exist outside of the confines of being a royal or a warrior without looking like an absolute weirdo.

Best Quote: After outmaneuvering season 2’s arc villain Long Feng, who concedes to he rand says she’s beaten him at his own game, she flippantly replies, “Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player.” I don’t think even Jet got so brutally murdered. It’s the sickest burn in the series aside from Zuko’s scar.

Final Thoughts & Score: The whole reason I even wrote this Psycho Analysis is because the constant and critical misunderstandings of Azula I see online constantly piss me the fuck off.

There is a subset of Avatar fans who completely and steadfastly believe that Azula is in fact an irredeemable monster, a complete sociopath with no redeeming qualities who needs to suffer and die. They reject any attempts at assessing the character in a more nuanced light, because “why can’t villains just be evil?” They treat her as if she’s some sort of pure evil being instead of an emotionally stunted child.“She’s crazy and she needs to go down” might as well be the mantra of these media illeterate Avatar fans, parroting opinions that mirror the words of Iroh after Azula almost killed him but ignoring that crucial context as well as Iroh’s entire character. Like, do these people actually pay attention to the core themes of the entire show? You know, mercy, redemption, humanity, the importance of all life? Did they miss the part of the finale where these core themes were cemented by Aang removing Ozai’s firebending with energybending, or were they too busy bitching about it being a deus ex machina to realize it’s thematically appropriate?

Like they want Azula to just be this evil, unredeemable cartoonish villain in a show that explicitly says no one is like this. There’s even a point in the final episodes where it’s pointed out that genocidal colonizer tyrant Ozai was once a sweet, cute little baby, and didn’t just spring forth as a fully formed Red-Hot Hitler. Azula is a person groomed by an unrepentantly evil father to be the Fire Nation ubermensch, the ideal tool for the conquest of the rest of the world. She was never allowed to have a normal childhood, as evident by her awkward behavior and social ineptitude when she’s actually allowed to cut loose and be around people her own age in a relaxed setting. Everything that she is—a liar, a manipulator, an attempted murderer, an egomaniac—are all the result of Ozai’s upbringing, being entrenched in the propaganda of her nation, and a lack of authority figures with a moral compass in her life. She didn’t have an Iroh to guide her, all she had was Ozai. In this sense, Azula is as much a victim as she is a victimizer.

But she is a victimizer. She is still consciously making bad decisions, she is still doing evil and sometimes appearing to enjoy it. There’s no reason to believe she couldn’t turn things around if given a helping hand like her brother was (though there would need to be a lot more effort due to her being in Ozai’s company unimpeded for way longer than Zuko), but she’s not some innocent little bean who’s being persecuted by others. Azula is still a villain, and viewing her as just a mere victim is a disservice to the character just as much as painting her as an inhuman monster. She is a very nuanced character, but she never gets the sort of POV work Zuko does to fully flesh out what’s on her mind and let us see the world through her eyes so the work done for her is more subtle, at least until her final breakdown. At that point, the show is literally beating you over the head with the fact she is an incredibly tragic character whose entire existence is pitiful and broken, and who lives as a mirror to Zuko, showing him a dark path he could have walked down if he didn’t receive love, support, and compassion.

Ultimately, Iroh wasn’t wrong when he said “She’s crazy and she needs to go down,” but I take it with emphasis on and. Azula is, in fact, crazy. She is incredibly mentally disturbed, her mind warped and molded by her father to the point she breaks if she starts to lose control even a tiny bit. And, as an antagonistic force working against the heroes, she does indeed need to go down. I’m sure he wasn’t too happy with his near-death experience, but you will not convince me that the sweet old Iroh, who himself changed and redeemed himself after being a fucking war criminal who nearly conquered Ba Sing Se, could not see the nuance in the Azula situation and genuinely saw his niece as some beast to be slaughtered.

But that’s enough with the ranting, let’s get to the actual final thoughts and score for Azula. She is one of the most engaging and magnificent villains in animation, a real firebrand (heh) whose numerous schemes are gripping to watch, building her up as someone you want to see finally get defeated only for the writers to pull the rug out from under you and remind you just what Azula really is. Avatar had no shortage of brilliant and subversive writing, but I think Azula’s ultimate arc is an unsung masterpiece among it. The character is so mired in discourse these days it’s easy to forget it, but she genuinely is a grand character.

For her score, I’m gonna say she gets a 9/10. She’s easily the best villain on the show, far outshining her rather generic father, the deliciously hammy but ultimately rather shallow Zhao, and the scheming but relatively minor Long Feng (to say nothing of the numerous minor villains that range in quality from wastes of time like Combustion Man to genuinely amazing and horrifying like Hama). I think the only thing holding her back from a perfect score is that sometimes it feels like things fall into place a little too perfectly for her, and she doesn’t face setbacks too much until the very end, but considering the immensely powerful culmination it’s nothing that ruins her. Azula is a character just as rich and deep as anyone else from the show, and I really wish more people looked at her with nuance.

I also wish the fucking comics didn’t exist. Maybe I’m asking for too much.

[plasticfangtastic]

American Royalty. Ch. 10

A Homelander X F! Reader/Dadlander fanfic.

A/N: sorry for the delay, I wrote another fic and that ate my time, hope y'all like the chapter, there's only 3 chapters left and the epilogue and now that kinktober its done I should be able to post the remaining chapters on time, if ya like to be on the taglist plz leave a comment with a request. prev. chapter here:

Tags: mild gore, angst, slow burn, fluff, oc characthers, child neglect, dadlander, romance, some spicy and murder.

Chapter Ten

Reconsidering

A lavish prison.

More rooms than ideas to fill them with– mere latrines for kisch. 

Floors that screamed ugly opulence, the kind that made you yearn for the simplicity of owning nothing, of forced minimalism... or tasteful decor.

When you cracked your neck to witness the enormity of the seven story mansion (not counting the cellar basement and the terrace) the price tag had frightened you to the core more than the height, making you feel more than inadequate in visitation, as you had come in jeans and an ironic t-shirt to accompany him (not that you had a choice)--  as Homelander pulled you around from floor to floor, forcing you to walk alongside him from beige rooms to white rooms, past rich dark wood doors. So heavy they hurt your wrist, you worried for your future.

These were the things you could only witness in pictures.

“I hate the carpet.” He said coyly, trying to stand close to you without frightening you.

Looking down at the rug you’ve taken your shoes off for-- it was luxurious, it was nice for the somewhat dark library, the smell of curated cedar and walnut genuinely intoxicating. From a second glance it matched his taste in your mind, but you guess he was a lot more finicky than he already was– perhaps it wasn’t soft enough for him, you thought.

“I'd rather we just have the floors bare– it’ll be easier to clean.”

“Concerned about the maids already?”

“Maids?”

“Honey, you don’t think I expect you to clean this thing by yourself?” He gave you a playful pat in the back– even with superspeed you’ll wear yourself out…”

The real estate agent who kept rubbernecking at your direction, raised his eyebrow as he saw how stiff you were next to your fiance.

Pressing yourself against the aged stone of the terrace fence, the city seemed so far away as you looked down from so high up, wondering if you could fall quick enough, if he would catch you right on time or make it easy for himself and play the tragic broken hearted hero. The cold breeze kissed your temples as you processed the jarring passage of time.

Kaleem, his wife Alessia and your co-worker Chrissie dropped what they were doing when you broke the news that you’ve gotten engaged, they’ve already gotten it from the breaking news report and online but actually hearing it out of your mouth cemented it, it wasn’t a lookalike sharing your name marrying Homelander! But you! Their hardworking and worn out cook. 

Who never once mentioned him before, who never described your baby daddy, who gave no hints… yet to them who thought were your friends–if not confidants, felt betrayed.

They were friends of yours but the fear of Homelander’s and Vought had been so great you never wanted to disclose who’s Helena’s father was to anybody, they had formed very strong opinions over the time they’ve known you but at the sight of half a dozen black suits entering their pizza shop– you probably would have never been able to tell them on your terms, anyways.

 You had no choice now but to divulge.

After having been made to lose a day’s work and being informed they would have to agree to some sketchy stuff regarding selling your situation to the public, you owed them an explanation– at least the financial compensation for their cooperation was generous.

Right now you were a stranger.

You told a version of your story, adding to what they already knew, like everybody else their image of Homelander was firmly cemented after 20 years of exposure to the bastard, it was hard to view ‘The Nation’s Favorite Dad’ was the one who threw you on the streets, nobody spoke much while you melted into the booth, your sight so far away, as the light’s buzz drilled into your brain.

“Is the dick at least good?” Chrissie slurped loudly on her coke– I mean go get your bag bitch, just don’t let him make you sign a prenup and when you get divorce take half his shit.”

“Slightly above mid… his mouth tho…” You did smile there.

“Is it little?” 

“I wish… shit hurts. Can’t sit straight afterwards... he's just so quick! Thank god his mouth isn't just good at speeches” You chuckle dryly.

Chrissie began spacing her fingers until you rolled your eyes in embarrassment, poor Kaleem sat in his corner pretending to be blind.

You both shared an ugly snorting laugh, cackling from the absurdity of the situation.

“You wouldn’t be the first woman to marry for benefits– trust me I seen a lot of ‘90 day fiance’ and my aunt Lucia’s been married to my uncle for 32 years– she met him a month before the wedding and only for the green card.”

“32 years?” That was dreadful.

Alessia was quite relaxed about the whole ordeal, if anything it was the most stimulating thing that had happened in recent years and seeing a six-year- old tutor her teenage son was exhilarating.

“She said he has a big dick and uncle works the night shift… works great for her– pretty sure 2 of their 7 kids are his” 

“Is this the aunt Lucia that came and did our light fixtures? I feel sorry for your uncle.” Chrissie said.

“Yes– she's happy, and don’t be… Uncle Frank may have a whole other family in Mexico, but that’s a whole other business.” She said loudly– look you had it rought, and fuck him. I thought killing the dude at that rally was a bit much, but dumping you in the streets– way worse than murder! Look, we got three kids and if this dumbass died on me– I don’t know how I would cope and if some hot rich asshole asked me to marry him… I might ‘cuz college ain't cheap.” You could laugh, watching Kaleem agreeing he would do the same if she died– Homelander is cute and has money. You said it yourself– you don’t have to love him. He’ll meet somebody else and end it, but Helena it’s your main priority here not him, and I mean after everything you’ve been thru you deserve to cruise thru life.``

“I don’t think John is going to let me fuck around…” You groaned, resting your head on your forearm as you sunk deeper– I don’t have to be happy, right?”

“It’s overrated.” Chrissie said– Helena would probably finish college by 12, and that if she takes her time.”

“Thank you guys for encouraging me in my new ‘Sugar Baby’ journey– I always knew I had it in me to be an amazing hoe.”

It wasn’t what you wanted to hear… to them who just like you had to break their backs to keep the roof over their heads, it was an enviable golden opportunity and in this economy one couldn’t really afford to miss out on such opportunities… 

“Just pretend you like him if he’s ever around, I guess.” you mention.

“It’s gonna be hard ‘cuz I like Noir more.” Chrissie says leaning across the table to pat your shoulders.

So here you were admiring the Upper East Side, in the nicest street, in a coveted building that he had every desire in the world to make you ‘Lady of the House’, it was beyond extravagant it even had an elevator… so there was some appeal.

Ashley followed him like a lap dog as he listed a billion much needed remodeling decisions to bring back the home into the office spaces by force, in case he decided to purchase the edifice.

“So you like it? This is the fifth house we’ve seen… you said you wanted a yard and space.”

“Needs more plants… is a great location…” you said softly, still looking down, pretending to not notice Ashley was writing that down too.

“But do you love it?” he pressed rubbing your shoulders– we can still get the penthouse… even if it's only four bedrooms but great open concept! Or the condo right in front of Central park– but that one is only 3 bedrooms which might tamper with our plans… although the one in 63 street, classy and it has a cinema.” 

He kissed your forehead, after speaking quickly.

“Do you love it?” You asked, fixing his hair once he got too close to you– this will be your home too.”

“Is pre-war” He whines playfully– is so pretty… the brownstone… the history…” He gives you the most pathetic attempt of ‘puppy eyes’ you’ve ever seen, a smile creeps onto your face without permission which he takes graciously– I can see us here.”

“You’re not hanging a giant american flag anywhere in this house!”

“A small one?” He pouts.

“In your office… and it better be small, John.” You rested your head on his chest– The kitchen… is awful.”

He was touchy, your skin numb to his touch at this point, he wanted to kiss you and hold you until you cherished him, but he wouldn’t force it. 

You just had to keep smiling and thwart most of his approaches, but you know if you gave him just enough affection he would be unable to notice the wicked game you were playing– forcing him to move at your dictated pace, to keep him on his toes yearning that you would turn and pamper him, never knowing if his affections were welcomed or not, but knowing you gave yours to him and he welcomed it.

You could see Ryan and Helena growing up happy, and safe. 

You and those two children sitting by the fireplace, enjoying hot chocolate and opening Christmas presents.

You would in fact not choose this house just to spite the man, who had fallen in love with his grand vision– not that the chosen house was worse, just one floor shorter, just as massive as the other and still in a great location… so Homelander didn’t complain too much… just a little.

The boxes increased but there was still so much to fill up, even with his stuff it wasn’t enough to fill the gaps… he would not spare you from the American flags, tragically as it sounds. 

At least it was framed and matched the decor of the gallery and dining room. As you unpacked and watched the movers bring the beds while the kids argued about who kept which floor– Helena demanded the fourth floor already making executive decision to turn the empty rooms into labs and  offices for her future endeavors, while Ryan wanted to be normal child and stay in the same floor as his sibling, ultimately pushed to the fifth floor after multiple rounds of rock-paper-scissors, and a paternal mediator who said they had to settled it with another round of games which sadly Ryan lost.

After a laborious day, you two just sheepishly laughed as you stared at your bedroom, both leaning against each other as you laughed, staring at the wooden cross dividing the two beds and matching nightstands– all so very circa 50’s catholic chic. 

You two just laughed about how absurd this was in execution, a part of you wished to just put the beds together instead of making your great-grandmother proud.

“Y’know we could’ve fit two kings in here…” He said while staring at the space.

“I thought you wanted me close-by.”

“Double’s were the perfect choice.” He replied quickly.

It took weeks before you reached a boiling point with your live-in situation, to see him walk around your home in that stupid suit, his mind longing for the familiarity of his abandoned penthouse was frustrating, he himself didn't expect to miss it either– He felt like a guest that refused to leave instead of your fake fiancee, this wasn’t him staying overnight at your previous domicile levels of awkward, that had been a challenge on its own, even if now you skipped the pillow walls and sleeping on the floor… God knows how many times he picked your unconscious self up from the ground and laid you to bed, while he sat next to you reading a book in the dark– this was an alien living in your house calling himself the owner. 

Before you knew it your heart stung as you dragged the two kids to the nearest Target to bulk buy the man some loungewear, both from exasperation and as request from his son who mentioned he didn’t really own much clothes, and what little he did own he didn't feel like washing every 2 days just to chill around the house... and as his future wife you gave yourself automatic permission to buy him clothes… just anything that would get him out of that suit.

Ryan had never been to many stores before, much less a Target, it hurt a tad to see him fascinated by the colorful aisles and the abundance of people…knowing he had grown in a compound, the mother in you just wanted to squeeze him and apologies for it all, but you instead just squeezed the handle bars and let him pick snacks that caught his fancy.

It was hilarious that you would find yourself doing this again– back then buying for him had been difficult, he wore very little but he liked your input, he simply wore what you told him, but after so long you had no idea what he liked anymore– this wasn’t food… this wasn’t easy… so the plainest sets were your best bet.

There was something fresh about this, as you perused the aisles with the kids in tow, thinking of buying him some jeans and clean button ups, Ryan picking up colorful socks while Helena opted to pick him a shirt just to fit in.

You had fun, you looked forward to sprousing his wardrobe, watching this scene play out made you feel as if you were normal, until somebody took your photo at the checkout in your least flattering angle.

It took another week before he opened up to being undressed and exposed in cheap pajama pants and white t-shirts, it would take three weeks for him to do so without being told to– plus enough complaints about people trying to photograph them after seeing the Homelander lounge in the terrace, served as added motivation.

You told yourself it wasn’t too bad to cohabitate, as you saw him slowly get more and more comfortable in his new environment, as you watched him become softer with your kids, as you found yourself having pleasant breakfasts, found yourself being welcomed home and conversed over coffee about your day or his day– not even bringing up his concerns about you still choosing to work in Lucci when you could do so much better too often, giving up on teasing you with buying you a restaurant, or upcoming publicity stunts when you weren’t in the mood to listen to the drivel.

Staring down from the roof garden looking at the brownstone buildings around and the pale light, pleased by the subtle fragrance of flowers behind you, he seemed so normal as you watched him from across the coffee table.

He kept sipping on his latte looking miffed before turning around and asked about why Elmo had been staying over for the last 3 days, to which you reminded him he sent his dads to sort some business in Singapore.

“Does he have no other family?” He thought of Singapore– it was quite urgent… they decided to fuck us up.”

“You and them booked them for acting classes plus they have their first suit fittings tomorrow… easier for them to leave Elmo here and have us take care of that– they’re a team-up. They should be close.”

“I know! But why does he have to sleep here? He’s a boy.” He seemed concerned.

“‘Cuz we got the space…?”

“It doesn’t seem appropriate.”

“Oh you freak.”

 He was still stiff around the edges but you could bear with it, as you saw him and Helena bond you knew your daughter was handling him well– your target was Ryan now. 

You asked him to help you around the kitchen more, taking your time to teach him without pressure, scolding his father when he acted like it was undignified of him to help around the kitchen and forced him to eat whatever he'd made, making him feel proud when he took charge of dinner even if it was slightly too salty at times and his impenetrable skin resulted in chipped knives… 

 You helped him make those cute films and took him out to the cinema, buying him books on the subject, encouraging him to join art clubs, to try as many extracurriculars he was interested in and to ignore his father as he pushed Ryan to join sport related clubs, when all he wanted was to make dioramas with his new found friends, instead. 

Homelander didn’t have any issues with Helena for her selections were sparse, just the chess club, and some science club she was quickly losing interest in… if anything he was being pushy about piano– and god knows how he managed to bring that piano to the fifth floor without breaking anything.

Is not as if she was already taking too much in-between physics, science and math classes… and working casually at Vought, but he didn’t seem to care. Helena assured you she could handle it, telling you to focus on your tasks without worry and you listened.

Ryan liked your support, it helped you get closer as you allowed his friends to enter the house for his little projects, he liked when you twisted his father’s ear to let him be just in case he began to disapprove, he began to trust you.

Helena wasted her afternoons in the office between daycare, superhero training and shadowing her father or Ashley, reading his meeting notes, writing them for him, or as he called it assisting him, learning about the company and the labs from her privileged position– the whispers of curious passerby wondered why Homerlander would keep his daughter so close, it had taken the building by surprise to learn that this little girl had been his child all along even if rumors had spread prior… but the once cute anomaly began to gain a insidious reputation in the underbelly of this company, something that made them more uneasy than just her strange demeanor from before.

“What’s that on your dress?” You noticed a brown stain on the hem of her dress.

“Iodine.” She said while taking her clothes off, Homelander said nothing as he picked after her.

Homelander gave you a stiff smile as he scrunched the clothes into a ball before your kid ran up towards the bathroom, mentioning she’s a tad clumsy with the equipment as he walked past you.

You didn’t need to know that the duet had some quality father-daughter time to the misfortune of some lab rat.

He stared at the chunky bloodstain sliding down the wall.

“I can explain.” She panted, staring at her work as her eyes spun around the room.

“It’s pretty obvious what happened, no?” He said stepping on top of the unidentified– "I'll have somebody come clean it up, darling.”

“You’re not mad?” She asked, genuinely nervous, fidgeting with her fingers as her head throbbed.

“Why did you kill him?” He stared at the smashed patty with curiosity.

“He resisted termination… forcing me to defend myself… he took my assistant.”

Homelander looked at the other corpse and its mangled remains, spilling around her boots.

“Why?” He spoke with a boor.

“Self-defense.”

“You took your time doing it… you could have cut his oxygen supply and killed him in a few minutes, instead you” He kicked a shattered bone– made it agonizing.”

“Tch… if he attacked me I would’ve lost control of the bubble…” She gasped lightly trying to kill the headache inside her– the math… the math makes sense. My formulas make sense. But it's them… these samples aren’t fit, they aren’t meant to be like us. They are worthless!”

She leans towards the wall, smacking her forehead against the wall full force, Homelander jumps on his heel but doesn’t reach her as she mutters incoherent curses under her breath, his hand stop just inches from her.

 “This one wasn’t too bad… I thought I cracked it but then I noticed…” Helena was pensive looking at images he wasn’t privy to, as she spoke with a light airy voice as her lungs emptied for her to speak once more— I cull it.”

She squatted picking up a loose tooth from the ground, examining the perfectly structured canine, for the first time Homelander felt uneasy about her.

“Is not often that I feel…”

Homelander raised a curious eyebrow, taking a step closer towards her, Helena tilted her neck to look at him, her sight so detached it didn’t seem possible for a child to make such an expression.

“Excited. The simulations always succeed but the human variant poses an interesting angle I hadn’t previously considered… truly successful adult specimens… V24 almost recreated the perfected serum but with nasty side-effects… programming the serum is obtainable but adult humans continue to reject it or somehow create variants as if the host alters the code live”  She flicks the tooth– Is like Frederick left me a puzzle.”

“So are these just pieces” He waved his fingers nonchalantly at the messy remains.

She scoffed standing up and patting her knees clean.

“You know why I play piano?”

He shook his head.

“Because in order to be good at it… you have to foster talent… but no amount of practice can’t beat those blessed with a gift… supposedly. So I have to solve his puzzle because I cannot believe that that coward was blessed more than me.”

“You think Vought has beef with you? So what will you do with all your failures? Murder them?”

“Is it murder to cull a deformed goldfish? No… that’s just mercy.” She stands up fixing her hair– It’s not beef. Is a challenge he left us with.”

His smile is so wide his skin creaks as it stretches. 

He picked her up to plant a kiss on her chubby cheek.

“You’re such a messy child.” He kissed her again– you got your pretty dress dirty.”

“Sorry.” She moped– sorry about all of it… you must think I'm a hack.”

“Is okay princess… daddy will just buy you a new one… and a new dress.”

You didn’t question the stains on her dress, god knew what sort of chemicals and stuff she had to play with, and how much of it wasn’t built for the size of her hands.

The more you saw him return to that man you once loved, you felt down the spiral of considering giving him a second chance– Helena was happy, she was smiling, she was playful, your quiet daughter had blossomed under your mutual care, seeing him domesticated, seeing him interact with genuine joy with her had began to melt your heart. It didn’t help that he look so delectable in compression shirts, as he came back with the kids without a sweat on his brow, Ryan just as dry with nothing more than messy hair and then your daughter dropping to the ground half-dead from the walk… what you had stared at mostly had been his ass in those black tights.

“Honey it was only 20 miles.” He sounded a bit frustrated– gotta get her fit otherwise she will get outperformed.” He turned to you sounding a tad aggressive– she’s my daughter she should be able to handle it just like me and Ryan.”

“Mommy!” she cried.

“Most humans can’t even do twenty!”

You picked her up, not caring she was covered in sticky sweat but as you draped your child over your shoulder kissing her head as she whined, you caught an improper glimpse at him, no doubt he caught a couple looks from passersby on his way here– even by this city standards he was wearing too little.

“Go change…” You said with a light blush on your neck– don’t be a dick to her, she wasn’t born a copy of you.”

He pestered Helena for the rest of the evening, giving up once she barricaded herself in her bedroom.

“Spending all her time inside books is not gonna do her any good… she needs exercise.”

“I think you got the kids mixed up, dear.”

He moped in the living room pursing his lips, one sentence away from crossing his arms and whining like a child.

“Look I think it’s great that you want to train her but… she’s not like you. I would love for her to have inherited some of your physical skills– it's just not gonna happen.”

“I know. I don’t know why she’s so different from me… yet she has to get better…” His sight lingered on the roof– You think she’ll move her dresser out the way.”

“She’ll move it when she wants to– and don’t think about getting in there thru her window!” He almost complains but chooses to stay quiet scooting closer to you on the couch– What?”

“You seem mad…”

“You harassed our kid all day and made her upset… but I was mad before it...I made the mistake of googling myself after somebody at work made mention–  have you seen the shit that people are saying ‘bout me online ‘cuz of you.”

Homelander shook his head lightly.

“I only google myself.”

“People are saying nasty shit. Hurtful shit… saw my mom getting interviewed… that was nice… she certainly made me feel like shit.”

“Want me to kill her?” Homelander spoke in such a bored tone, his head finding his way on your lap with the smoothness of a cat, unconsciously your hand took to his hair– Or something else?”

You stared at him and considered it, your mom sort of had it coming if she was going to paint herself a saint for her 15 minutes of fame.

“Don’t kill my mom, John. I just don’t want people saying I’m a bad mother because my kid went to a “shit public school” in the projects.” you said annoyed.

“I’ll see if Vought can write you a fluff piece.”

You believed him, choosing to put your anxieties away as he nuzzled into your stomach and let you watch TV without care as long as your hands kept pampering him making little commentary as you watched true crime videos.

Rolling in your bed you turned to see his back on the bed beside you, you signed readying to play dirty, your body awoken to something sickening.

“I know you ain’t asleep, John.”

His ears perked, he turned to see your silhouette in the dark.

“I can’t sleep.” You whispered– mmm…so” you signed lightly– can you get your dick up?”

His ears perked up, lifting himself by his elbows as he adjusted to face your darkened silhouette, your cheeks reddened, mildly embarrassed, your mind wandered back to the sight of his clothes, to the tussling of his hair and the glint in his eyes as of late… and of that last sudden night of intimacy.

“Oh. O-okay… might need some stimulation is not like I got a crank down there.” he faked being annoyed by your request.

“I stopped taking the pill…” His piercing eyes illuminated the room for a brief second just to catch a sly smile ‘bout to fade away off your face– so you wanna put the mommy in MILF or not?”

He tripped out of the bed to jump into yours, clawing his way back towards you, as the little voice in his head blared sirens.

Latching on your neck, ripping your clothes open as you tried not to chuckle at his messy desperation to fuck you, you closed your eyes and thought of nothing but the hundred different pleasurable sensations prickling you– it had been so long… your body sensitive, writhing over his hungry touch, wherever his hands and his lips got to taste you felt it twice as strong.

Whatever he was imagining in his head was happening none of it was relevant– this was simply a mutually beneficial exchange. Nothing but lust, it had to be lust because you didn’t see Homelander underneath you, as you rode him, as he let you fucked him just as hard as he wanted to fuck you– you saw the John that he had killed so many years ago... but somehow you didn't hate the sight.

He wanted to devour you, he was needy and pent-up and you took it all graciously, for one night you two used each other equally.

Finding himself delighted and more aroused at the squeals and mewls coming from your delicious lips just as much as you enjoyed the moans and guttural grunts that came from him as he cried against your chest, crying for your kisses and directions, liking the way he craved your scent once again.

You were better than his molasses drenched memories.

Homelander teeth gilded over your neck, the thought of him ripping and gnawing on your flesh lingered as he brought you to an orgasm. 

To be so close to death as you touched heaven… you heaved, melting into the mattress letting him lumber atop of you, too delighted with the end result to complain… looking down to find him kissing your chest, whispering sweet grunts as your hand pampered his hair, you tried not to smile at that satiated goofy expression on his face, at the flickering light illuminating your skin as he purred around your touch.

He was so easy to win over… it scared you.

My Taglist-- @demodemo909 @immyowndefender @fromforeigntofamiliarity @ghqstfqce

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Nintendo-vember Level 3: Dobson and his Toxic Nintendo Nostalgia

Nostalgia can be toxic. Now bear in mind, I did not say that it IS toxic, but that it can be toxic. This assumption that because we have pleasant memories of something, that it was always good all the time. A desire to get that back, ignores all the good that’s come since then. As well as all the bad stuff that was there too. And it poisons you. Making you more suggestible to deception and your own greed. Who is to say that your own past is more important than someone else’s future? And because you want something that may not have been real at all, the farther the goal post gets. Because you can’t really reclaim it. So it just gets worse and worse and you get greedier and more desperate for it, because what you really want is never going to come. Until in the very end, you become the thing you hated in the first place. Lewis Lovhaug – March 2018, Infinite Crisis

Everything I did for this month so far, was going to lead directly into today’s , actually long in the works, post. Cause today we go over the comic, that as far as I see it, may actually be Dobson’s most (in)famous one out there. The one that painted the public’s opinion of him more so than anything he would ever do when starting to draw “political comics” under Trump. The one that defined him for all of deviantart and kiwifarms from 2010 onward. A comic that will always show up, whenever someone online even remotely talks about him. The one that I have seen more times than any other being used for threads on /co/ for Dobson. A comic that is neither about politics, feminism or even part of any of his comic series. A comic that is truly centered around the concept of toxic nostalgia, rather than whatever Andrew Dobson was going for and that fits perfectly to the theme of this month.

Ladies, gentlemen and inbetween… I give you, the Localization one.

Released in 2010, a time when Dobson was still trying (and failing) to sell himself more on the image of just being a quirky nerd and Nintendo fanboy whose work you should support because he only wants to make others happy, this became a comic that genuinely cemented further in the eyes of others, how much of a self-indulgent and extremely manchildish prick with dumb taste he really was.

How, some here may ask who are a bit too young? Well, let me give you context…

For starters, by the time Dobson released the comic, he had already quite a bit of a reputation online for being a prick to other nerds. His infamous “West vs East” comic which he created “as a joke” to vent about the popularity of anime in the mid to late 2000s had been published three years prior and had, in combination with a lot of derogative journal entries and posts on deviantart and other pages, earned him the ire of many people. In addition, his failed or outright aborted “original” content had painted him as a quitter, who despite wanting all the fame someone could muster online, was not willing to put the necessary work in it.

Dobson was, for a lack of a better word, a bully among nerds who tried to use his platform to shame people for being “nerdier” than him or enjoying stuff he didn’t, while also playing the victim card for people not interested in purchasing his product or calling him out on his hypocrisies and flaws in opinions.

In that regard, Dobson was pretty much ahead of the curve to some “woke” companies. Insulting your customer and then being surprised when no one wants to buy your shit.

The other thing to be aware of, has to do with the history and popularity of Nintendo characters at least pre-1995 in America.

For the few not quite aware and as a quick reminder to everyone: Videogames back in the 80s and very early 90s (like 1990-92) did on average not necessarily have what we can call “complex” lore when it came to videogame stories and characters. At least not to a degree as we would get later in the mid-90s and onwards. Aside of (J)RPGs most games were simply focused on moving a character from one end of a level to the next and the story as to why we even bothered for Megaman to fight the Robo Masters and who the heck Dr. Wily was, was printed in the manual on a small page.

And Mario and Link were no exception to that. Mostly because they also had only very few genuine main titles under their name. By 1989, The Legend of Zelda had only two NES titles under its name, while Mario had (if we don’t account for non-jump n’run games in which he was shoved into because of his status as Nintendo’s mascot) the three main Mario Bros games for the NES, one game for the Game Boy, Mario Bros and the two Donkey Kong titles.

Lacking quite a bit in characterization game wise, Nintendo of America in order to sell the stuff had to partly make the characters appeal to the audience via localization done through merchandise and non-game related products. And early fans of these characters would obviously crave for it.

Enter The Super Mario Bros Super Show, a cartoon series produced on order of Nintendo of America by Haim Saban and DIC Enterprises (the same ones who would give us “The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Captain N” and “Inspector Gadget”) that ran from September 1989 till December of 1989. Using the first two Mario Bros games for the NES as basis for the character design of the show, the show itself had otherwise little to do with the games. Ignoring the live action segments, the actual animated episodes would have plots in which Mario, Luigi, Toad and Peach (the later going by the then American official name of Princess Toadstool) traveled into whatever territory and had to deal with Bowser (or King Koopa as he was known) in a plot that had elements of some book, movie or anything else to parody.

In addition the show would later have Legend of Zelda based animated segments, of which 13 were produced. Those featured Link living in Hyrule castle with a more active “power woman” Princess Zelda and a fairy companion named Sprite and the two having to deal with Ganon, who was more of a dark wizard than a warrior based demon.

Overall, the shows were not really all that great compared to other stuff that existed cartoon wise, with some aspects of the characters feeling jarring nowadays. But honestly, for the sake of this article, I watched some of them and frankly they were not that terrible. They were typical 80s cartoon fanfare, which among other things included some animation errors and dumb slapstick. Especially the Mario segments were very slapstick heavy and Mario and Luigi were mostly characterized by Luigi being a bit of a scaredy cat even before the games did show him like that, Mario being rougher than you would think and dumb jokes about Luigi and Mario loving pasta and other Italian dishes. Because you know, Italians are only known for their cuisine!

The Zelda segments also had a bit of an “odd” character dynamic imagined for Zelda and Link. Zelda was a bit of a jerkass commanding bitch and Link could be a horndog trying to always flirt with her or trying to get a kiss.

There is one moment in an episode for example, where Zelda sits on Links bed after just having stopped some condor from stealing a piece of the Triforce guarded in Link’s room. Right then Link enters the room, sees the Princess sitting there and immediately says “smooching time” and tries to jump her to make out.

Minute 3:15 – 3:20 more or less Yeah, I think Pepe le Hyrulian would not really sell well with more modern audiences and sensitivities.

All that said, I can understand people having a soft spot for the show and enjoying it unironically. It is just that I think most of them would also be intelligent and understanding enough to see, that these shows did NOT give the ultimate interpretation of who or what these characters and their games were. Truth be told, even back then those things weren’t really acknowledged by Nintendo. Sure, Nintendo of America may have given the okay to do those things. But in Japan, global headquarters gave more or less a rat’s ass about it. They were busy making the NES and Gameboy profitable and worked on Mario Bros 3.

Truth be told, the most “characterization” Mario even got in Japan at the time was as followed: Shigeru Miyamoto thought he should be Italian and from New York. The former because he “looked” Italian to him (as a result of the mustache), the later because Donkey Kong, the game Mario originated from, was inspired in part by King Kong and King Kong is set in New York. Mario didn’t even have a name originally, having been known by Jumpman once. The origin of his Mario name is, that after Minoru Arakawa (president of Nintendo of America at the time) got into an argument with a real estate developer named Mario Segale, who Arakawa owned rent money, the game developers decided to name the character Mario. Which may or may not have been meant as a “take that” against Mr. Segale. But if so, it’s one that backfired.

But I digress. Point of that entire elongated history lesson is, that Mario and Link were in terms of characterization mostly defined to some 80s kids, by their depiction in the American cartoon, which had however very little in common with what the games were about. It was e.g. the cartoon who popularized heavily the entire idea of the brothers being from Brooklyn and having been transported via a magic pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom, while in the actual games, such a backstory was never really given. As evident by even the actual American instruction manuals for Super Mario Bros 1 and 3 I checked out online for this. Look them up.

And again, most people, even the kids, could accept that the animated show and what the games were, differed.

Then came the 90s, and with more titles under their belt, Nintendo of Japan decided to flesh out their mascots more to increase their popularity, resulting in Mario, Link and others getting “official” personalities as shown by their behavior in games and not just the inofficial ones via non-canon foreign material. And again, most kids and people were okay with that. After all, the games were what really mattered to them in the long run. Plus I think that as long as the games would simply “capture” the spirit of whatever they liked in the characters iand games n the first place, they would be okay with it.

But not Andrew Dobson.

Born in 1981 and likely not owning a NES up until the cartoon aired, he jumped onto the show as an eight year old and became a fan of it. In fact he enjoyed the Zelda cartoon so much, even as an adult he would draw fanart about it

Nothing at all wrong with that in my opinion. You like something, you have the ability to create fan content for it, go for it.

But as we more or less already established via the Howard and Nester comic, Dobson was as a person dead set that only the thing he liked or was first exposed to counts and not whatever others thought. Something that supposedly may explain why he genuine hates Bowser Jr and Yoshi, as evident by these tweets made a few years after the Localization comic was made.

And yeah sorry, but how can one hate Yoshi? Yoshi is an adorable pet dinosaur you can ride. You know how many kids would have loved someone like that in their life? Gues if Yoshi was less into vore and more into inflation, Dobson would have liked him more.

Speaking of the comic -and to finally get back to it- even Dobson admitted years later that the entire point of it is to simply piss all over Nintendo and that he was annoyed that his “beloved” American continuity got erased in favor of the “dirty Japanese” one. Despite the fact that the Japanese one is, as he himself admits, official.

And boy does he take the piss on it. To the point I want to call him R. Kelly.

So lets dissect how his stand is just the typicla strawman affair, unfunny and at times quite frankly outright homophobic, sexist, hypocritical and racist.

First, the art. As always, it is just “great” to see the degree in animation being fully utilized here. No background but skyblue, everyone looking more like a doodle, the use of the fillbucket, the director having 5 fingers on his hand in the second panel, but four in the fifth, getting the numbers of fingers on Mario completely wrong, missing out on Peach in the last panel and so on… brilliant! How come Disney would not hire someone who could draw like that! Oh right, because standards. Though those have gotten quite low over the years

Every single person working on this needs to be blacklisted.

But of course, the true brilliance comes through the writing. Starting with the strawman executive coming off as if what he does is something new. That he is the “evil soulless corporation” who doesn’t care for his employees and creations true personality and forces them to fit into some mold for the audience to enjoy. The “audience” and consumers also being more or less indirectly insulted by the way Dobson presents the entire affair, as he seemingly wants to blame “those damn kids” for ruining his favorite childhood characters.

But Dobson, I thought you loved corporations hating on fans.

Then we come to what the characters are supposedly changed into.

(warning, upload of the comic for the third time, so you cna always see what I refer to)

First, Mario being no longer from Brooklyn and that he is supposedly an Italian stereotype. As a non American, I have to ask: Why is it so important that Mario has to be from Brooklyn? I get the feeling the only reason people like Dobson or Moviebob care about it, is because they want to deep down culturally appropriate the character. Assure he is in some way of American culture and doesn’t belong to some “dirty, foreign country”, even if they have to go for a compromise and make him a dirty half blood Wop. I mean, I will say this: Yes, Mario has an accent that is stereotypical. And? I take a stereotypical accent and being otherwise a determined but friendly everyday hero over him being stereotypically obsessed with pasta and no personality conveyed through his actions aside of being a bit mean and bossy to his brother, as was the case in that dang cartoon.

The thing here is, Dobson was genuinely convinced that Mario’s portrayal as given by Charles Martinet, Mario’s VA from the early 90s up until August of 2023, wasn’t just stereotypical, but also racist, harmful and culturally insensitive. Something he believed even back in 2017 and resulted in a minor twitter meltdown

Look, I will say this here: Yes, Martinet’s voice for Mario is kinda stereotypical. And I did my research. Unlike Martinet, Lou Albano, the original voice of Mario in the Mario Bros Super Show, was actually of Italian heritage. Born in 1933 in Rome, having immigrated to the USA shortly after he got baptized in the Vatican (you can’t get more Italian than that!), he certainly was more authentically Italian than Martinet, who was born in California. Heck, Martinet’s father is actually French and he spend more time in France in his youth than in America or Italy. The story of how Martinet got his gig as Mario is also well known and painted by a rather stereotypical joke involving Italian food.

But to paraphrase the twitter user Dobson argued with, I think that all things considered, Martinet gave Mario and all the other characters he voiced over the years just a certain warmth and fun to their personality with the way he delivered his lines, that he managed to convey and define the cartoonish true nature of Mario and Co for many generations to come. And even now that he has been retired from the role, he is still a name recognized for the character. A character no one, not even freaking nationalistic Italians, seem to have a problem with. So, mangia un cazzo, Dobson. You sound just like the assholes who tried to get rid of Speedy Gonzales and in doing so pissed off all of Mexico.

Next the way he talks about Peach. Okay first, the Popeye arms are again just something from the cartoons. Or at least he believes it cause…. Well

Does that look like Popeye arms?

Second, he is essentially saying that Princess Peach, unlike the cartoon version, is a bimbo. Why, because she is blonde and you have some sort of deep seated hatred for blond people? Also, Peach hasn’t fought with Mario together in really any NES videogame either, Dobson. Oh what, Mario Bros 2? Aka the reskinned version of Doki Doki Panic? The way he talks here about Princess Peach is just utterly sexist, as he essentially devalues Peach as a character, just because she plays a damsel in distress often times. Which doesn’t even necessarily mean, that she isn’t a badass in her own way, even in that role. I mean, she is still the sovereign ruler of an entire nation and in Super Princess Peach -which seems to be the game he references when it comes to her being “over emotionally”- she saves the day all on her own. Sure, she is emotional in the game, but the entire premise of the game is centered around everyone’s emotions going haywire along Vibe Island, including the villains. Bet Dobson hasn’t even played the game back in 2006 and just went off on some shitty rumor. Not to forget that this statement is utterly false. Peach has also been a great supporting character and fighter in games such as Super Mario RPG and Super Paper Mario, which were released BEFORE that comic. And nowadays she is also known as a great character in stuff like the Mario + Rabbids games plus she will get her own upcoming Princess Peach: Showtime game for the Switch. Lastly, let us not forget every game where, even if she played a damsel, was still important to the plot by defying the villain as best as she could. Not to forget the current movie, in which she still kicked ass while going out all in pink.

So, after he has been racist towards Italians indirectly as well as sexist towards women embracing their brand feminity (boy, don’t want to know how 2011 Dobson would have then reacted to the Barbie movie of 2023), let Dobson be judgmental about anime fangirls and also rather homophobic, by the way how he tries to tear down “modern” Link.

There are four things I hate the most about the Link panel, which make it frankly in my eyes the one where Dobson’s hatred and own nastiness really shine through.

First, the accusation that the “changes” to Link’s design past “Link’s Awakening” can be attributed to anime fangirls. Showing both his true hatred for women when they don’t fall in line with his views and his stuck up shitty opinion about anime fans and combining it with latent misogyny. Look, I have seen thirst anime fangirls myself a lot over my lifetime. But they were not the demographic to “ruin” Link. If anything, I think that the popularity of Cloud Strife in general with others may have slightly influenced Link’s design for Ocarina of Time. Which in itself also had been in development at least since spring of 1996, till its release in November of 1998. And even then, that is a stretch I came up with, cause in my opinion someone in the development team likely just thought “Hey, what if we move on from the more cartoony look of the late 80s and early 90s and try some “darker” fantasy elements, without going full Berserk?” And that is how we got Link in that game. Because of some developers trying to appeal design wise to a general audience, not just a random group of made up strawmen. You want to see games pandering to actual Yaoi fangirls aesthetically? Play Enzai or Twisted Wonderland.

Second, again his hatred towards blond people. I really would like to know where that comes from, because I doubt it was only related to some random bully in school being blond.

Third, the way he uses the word effeminate and describes post Ocarina of Time Link essentially as “nonthreatening”.

For starters, considering Link rams his sword into Ganon’s skull in Ocarina of Time and slashes away at many of his enemies, which is way more threatening and violent than just poking them with a stick in 2D overhead view, I wouldn’t really consider him “non threatening”. I like to call him and many of his future incarnations, badass as fuck. Even the cartoonish, childlike Link from the Wind Waker continuity, who didn’t just stab Ganon in the head, but put his sword in there for good. It also is kinda laughable how Dobson uses the word “non threatening” in a negative manner, seeing how over the years ever since he sucked off Steven Universe, he would whine on twitter and other social plattforms again and again how males in media are always resolving conflict only via violence and are not in tune with their emotions. In other words, he once considered being more or less pacifistic a negative trait.

Also, “effeminate”? Okay first, Link looks like this in Ocarina of Time…

What exactly looks “effeminate” about male Link here, or at least let’s say more “effeminate” than for example in a character like this?

Second, we all know that if Link all off sudden looked more like Guts from Berserk or the protagonist of DarkSoul (you know, more “manly”), Dobson would throw enough of a hissy fit, he would likely come back from his sabbath and whine how Nintendo is embracing toxic masculine traits in his characters. All while also blaming PS3 games for some reason for that.

Third, how exactly would Dobson define effeminate here? I mean, the term is already defined as being derogatory, the most common definition I found by Merriam-Webter online being as followed

Effeminate: having feminine qualities untypical of a man : not manly in appearance or manner

Effeminate: marked by an unbecoming delicacy or overrefinement

So, Andrew “I hate all men” Dobson, has a problem with a character not being “typical” or stereotypical manly male? The same guy who praised the She-Ra reboot for its portrayal of Bow and fucking worships that fat fuck below as one of the best protagonists in a cartoon of the last decade…

Has actually deep down a problem with people embracing more female interests, qualities or just looking more feminine in appearance, even though the later may not be by choice but rather genetics? All while also having the audacity to say then this years later?

I find this just genuinely hate- and hurtful. Not just a simple complaint about a design choice regarding his supposed favorite fantasy game hero, but a “deep cut” towards people who just enjoy things not considered “stereotypically manly” or may feel not comfortable falling in line with gender expectations. I mean, what? Is a man now supposedly not manly in Dobson’s eyes because they like musicals, sweets are capable of showing empathy and other emotions or like to dress up in certain ways or take care of their appearance?

It is just disgusting to me, because I know people, both male and female, who had to deal with bullying and name calling a lot simple because they didn’t quite fall in line with expectations by others or struggle with their own identity partly because of expectations vs reality. And as evident by THIS comment TheHypocrisyofAndrewDobson received once it isn’t just “a joke” to people genuinely affected by that sort of mentality. And again, this derogatory use of the world and complaint towards “modern” Link comes from someone who years later would whine about toxic masculinity, put women on pedestals even if they are abusive, likely jerked it off to Link in Gerudo gear following Breath of the Wild and in the biggest ironic “twist”, loves the cartoon incarnation of Link, whose catchphrase is “Excuse me, Princess” and needs a restraining order as much as Warner Bros gave Pepe lePew.

And to finish this panel off (yes, we are still not at Samus), of course the next complain is how Zelda and Link are “no longer love interests” … now I apologize in advance towards any moderate shipper out here, but I am going full snarker mode now for this part. Okay?

Dobson… the fact that you cared so much about shipping two fictional characters in a series of children games, for a console primarily played by kids, while you were being in your 20s and above is pathetic as shit. I know that you have no one in life who genuinely loves you, because among other things you are incapable of either feeling or identifying true love while also being a selfish little shit, but to be so thirsty for affection that you project that need on some pieces of data or lines of color, makes you a bigger loser in my book than any republican who lost the primary against Donald Trump in 2015. The fact that you look at a piece of fiction and your immediate thought is “oohh, these two characters together would look very cute hugging, kissing and doing things I touch myself to at night”, while things such as plot progression and character development likely play second, third or fourth fiddle, only confirms to me that shippers (at least the once acting like you in that regard and other fields) are a fucking blight on any fandom and the world at large.

Now with that shit vented, I once again apologize for going that far, even for “comedic purpose” towards the people who actually can recognize when they go just a bit too far with shipping. But this isn’t just annoying in regard to this comic, it is annoying with Dobson in general. If you are even remotely aware of how he treats the LGBT subject for real as well as what he truly enjoys about Legend of Korra and Miraculous Ladybug, you know he is thirstier than someone stranded in the Gobi desert. Just look at his pic of Zelda and Linkle he made in honour of Hyrule Warriors.

I can kinda taste his urge to touch himself there.

To me it is just dumb to define any story out there and the characters in it by simply “are they getting together or not” because romance to me in storytelling is an additional flavor, not the main ingredient. It is one reason I really do not like Miraculous Ladybug for example. And the fact that Dobson seems to define Legend of Zelda a lot as a franchise by the “shipping potential” of Link and Zelda as implied by that panel, irks me in all the wrong ways.

I mean, for the most part the appeal of the Zelda games isn’t the “romance” between the two, it is traversing the land of Hyrule and saving it from evil while going on a big adventure. And let us be real here, Link and Zelda weren’t really an item pre-Ocarina of Time either. In the NES and SNES games they were essentially strangers to each other, with one filling the role of damsel in distress even a bit harder than Peach did. After all, Peach may be a princess, but she actually rules her kingdom. Zelda on the other hand is daddy’s little girl in those and other games post 1998. And the relationship they had in the cartoon, the one Dobson likes to call a “may they, won’t they” thing is in my opinion not cute, but toxic. She is a demanding bitch that calls him names at times, he is a horndog who needs a lecture by Sexual Harassment Panda and none of them improves character wise over the show.

What a misogynistic piece of shit

There is a reason I consider Tetra, Zelda from Skyward Sword and the “Wild” Zelda the better interests, because not only do Link and Zelda here have better chemistry and are both nicer and more respectful to each other in a manner, they also support each other in very heroic ways. I mean, Zelda in Tears of the Kingdom willingly sacrificed her own conscious just so Link can have a shot at defeating Ganon and saving Hyrule in the future, while Link wants to do everything to save his friend. If that isn’t impactful, tragic and has so much romantic potential, I don’t know what else would count.

But hey, supposedly the cartoon is better. And the 365 Days Trilogy is a great love story with no unfortunate implications involving sexual relationships and abuse. *snark*

And then it is Samus turn. And I really have to wonder, if Dobson ever even played a Metroid Game before Other M anyway, as he hates games with scary elements and FPS.

Aside of once again whining about changing the hair color (Dobson seems to be something of a reverse Aryan enthusiast), he acts as if the addition of the Zero Suit in Metroid was a cardinal sin and “sexist crap”, to entice more men to playing her game.

Okay… for starters, the Metroid games were already enjoyed by a huge male demographic long before that or before even Metroid Prime. Samus wasn’t a “played by females thirsty for representation” only character, as that comic seems to imply. She was considered a female badass hero from the moment she first appeared and her design is deliberately inspired by Ripley from Alien. And skimpy? Again, Dobson doesn’t seem to know what certain words mean. Skimpy would be when the outfit would show more off her skin or was barely there. This is a skintight jumpsuit, that also has a function in the game as a less movement restricting suit compared to Samus armor. Heck, just watch this video, that guy gives some decent explanation on the suit itself.

And yeah, I can agree that in certain cutscenes more so than the actual game, it does put quite a bit of emphasize on Samus “attributes” so to speak. But are we really trying to insinuate that the Zero Jumpsuit is more sexist than the character stripping off to her underwear as was the bonus ending content of the initial Metroid games?

And if the issue is that the skinsuit makes Samus more “sexy” and that Dobson does not want to see sexy characters in Nintendo games…

He should reevaluate the fact that he enjoyed the above later.

There is also this little tweet I found after the fact, Dosbon would make later in 2015, where he actually more or less confirms the idea, that he thinks the Japanese only care for Samus in a “sexy skintight” manner, by making this dumbass “joke” comparison

Ignoring the fact btw, that the pic on the left was drawn by Samus original designer Hiroji Kiyotake. Again, Dobson trying to discredit the Japanese. And don't get me even started that he enjoys Other M or takes more offense to the shoedesign of Samus in Smash Bros than anything

Finally, and to wrap this thing up, we reach the final panel, showing the executive declaring that the “old” stuff shall from now on be brushed off like Dobson tried to brush off his fetish artist days, all while the “new and improved, but truly despicable” pretenders of his favorite childhood heroes are behind him. Mario lobotomized to say MAMA MIA while his eyes look like he is possessed by the retardation of Talus, Link being a “silly girl who makes silly movements with her hands and likely just wants to hang out with cute boys”, while Samus looks pissed and just wishes she was in something less degrading for her than this comic. Like Other M.

Honestly, this comic just stinks of loser entitlement and as stated prior, toxic nostalgia. Dobson has never really been a creator of decent stuff, only a consumer who demands the next product as soon as he hungers for it and will be utterly judgemental to petty and spiteful degrees, when he doesn’t get what he wants or suddenly thinks he sees something “problematic” to it. And to him, already the fact that stylistic choices and aesthetics changed over time, a natural progression of things if you ask me, is “problematic” in his eyes. Dobson would have rather had for Zelda, Link, Mario, Samus and Co to be undefined postholders he could have projected himself on, or outdated 80s stereotypes and toxic men, because that is the first thing he was ever exposed to when it came to those characters. Why not go even further, Dobson? Erase the Switch, the Wii and any other game console post 1989 from history, so that gaming itself never evolves past the 8-Bit era. Let’s destroy Pokemon, God of War, Kirby, Sonic and many other franchises and characters, because they are not the “true heroes of the Golden Age of gaming”. Let’s see how you will like that, when they come for your beloved Skyrim.

Bottom line, Dobson is a nostalgic pig, stuck in a past he looks at through rose tainted, grease covered glasses and this comic more than anything written before and after that embodies the mentality quite as well. And even though he tried to play it off as a joke, anyone with half a brain saw through what it was really about. And they made Dobson know, partly through less words than I used here, why they thought his opinion and by extension he, sucked.

Dobson wasn’t just playing the overzealous Nintendo fan for shit and giggles. He was, this overzealous, almost destructive and utterly disrespectful fan, who believed in the superiority of his favorite childhood toy over the consoles of others, even if that included pissing off his own “kin” or accussing Nintendo of being problematic dirty foreigners. Just look at anything he would type in regard of Super Smash Bros for the Switch, like how pissed he was at the fact he had to put effort into getting his favorite character to play as. Essentially insinuating, the game and people enjoying it were crap, just because he was biased towards fighting games to begin with. And look, being critical of aspects of a game, is one thing. But some of the things Dobson found to complain about? Pathetic, childish and utterly irrelevant in the bigger picture of anything

I want to punch him in the throat for this voice alone...

And if you think Dobson being an opinionated Nintendo fanboy is cringe, wait till we get to him being an opinionated PS3 hater.

But before that, I want to tear at least one of his shitty Zelda opinions a new one…

[foxydivaxx]

Idol Sanji headcanons part 2

- He has multiple personas which you can see in his songs:

Mr Prince (yes that Mr Prince): His default persona. His pop star persona who is sweet but also dangerous and sexy in a cold calculated manner

King Nasty: his inner slut. This is the persona most people are familiar with

Brooklyn Rage: This is his inner gangster. Like if he is in this mode, bitch run

- He has the foulest mouth of the Strawhats. He is rapper no surprises

- He enjoys being a bratty sub which makes Zoro’s work even harder

- He has a lot of sex toys hidden in his room

- He has a lot of cars

- He shakes his ass a lot xD

- Zoro is more than his baby daddy and lover. He is his best friend

- He is worse than Nami in regards to the love of money. Yeah he loves the cash

- He was once a stripper during his younger years and did that to hustle for money

- He deep down does not value himself

- He often masturbates to videos and photos of Zoro

- He always does the more sluttier photoshoots

- He started smoking at the age 12 as a coping mechanism

- He loves clubbing

- According to Lelouch, Sanji had the highest grades of all the trainees under their label years ago and he was the most popular trainee at the time

- He is the member of Aogiri with the most collaborations for obvious reasons

- He suffered from an eating disorder that would later rebound during his idol years

- He used to hate his looks and body and wondered why anyone would want him. Still struggles with that today

- He and his dad both released albums on the same day. He ended up outselling the old man which greatly angered Judge

- He does not use the Vinsmoke name. Instead he uses his mother’s maiden name as his surname

-He sees Luffy and Chopper as his little brothers

-All those moans and orgasms he does in his songs? Those are not fake according to him. According to him, he masturbates in the studio to create those sounds

-He is an ATL dude due to spending most of his time growing up there even though he was born in New York but moved down to ATL with Zeff with his siblings

-His mother got shot by his dad when he was 3 years old. He rapped about this, literally destroying his dad and exposing the truth about the old man and destroying his reputation and ending Judge's career. A lot of people mock Judge, saying that his son is more gangster than he is. Judge has tried to hurt Sanji but his plans always backfire

- His mother was a pop star and was in a famous girl group before launching a successful musical career. So Sanji inherited all his talent from his parents but he got his mother’s looks, kindness and charisma

-He has been a victim of domestic and sexual abuse, first at the hands of his dad and later a lot of his exes

-Jojo's villain club are huge fans of his

-In fact every single villain you could think of love this guy to the point where many consider his songs "The Ultimate Villain Playbook." since he tends to play a villainous role in his songs since the character he seems to exude is a sexy evil Homme fatale

-As far as he is concerned, he is an all round entertainer. All that matters is that everyone has fun

-He was and still is the main moneymaker and breadwinner for the family for years because Ichiji unfortunately got shot but survived whilst selling newspapers on the streets

-The biggest scandal involving Sanji was an old sex tape of his from his stripper days resurfacing online. Pudding leaked it thanks to Judge but the plan backfired as that sextape made him even more popular than ever as it helped cement Sanji's sex symbol status

-He has the video with the highest amount of views on YouTube thanks to said sex tape scandal (Might as well add this to my fanfic)

- Don’t even dare try to sabotage him and his friends. He will destroy you

- There was one part in one of his songs that more or less defines him as a person:

Sticks and stones may break my bones,

But I am no lazybones,

Motherfucker left me for dead,

Yet I still stand,

You asked me why I do this shit?

This life goes way beyond making hits,

Started off as a poor weakling,

These days I answer to the name King

- He has a tattoo on his back close to his ass and has one on his ankle

- Sanji’s character’s stance towards women and feeding others is a reflection of real life Sanji’s past. The guy has been a victim of abuse for years and also his character’s interactions with women in the show is as a result of the things women like Pudding had done to him in the past

- He loves leather especially leather catsuits and wears those a lot

- During his Aogiri days, Sanji was not Sanji without his famous round shaped glasses. So many young idols would later emulate the style for years to come. Also his signature leather catsuits have made apperances in a variety of videos ever since

-He looks just like his mother

[thececeverse]

THE FIRST ALBUM … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

SINCERELY is the debut album by CHOUKA AIKAWA. Released on July 26th, 2024 by Republic Records, it has since been hailed as one of the best and most unexpected debut albums of the year. The album’s concepts, subject matter, and even packaging were all praised by critics, and its release cemented Chouka as one of the industry’s newest pop princesses.

TRACKLIST … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

GIRLS DON’T CRY

CAKE

SINCERELY ! LEAD SINGLE

EYES ON ME ! SECOND SINGLE

LUXURIOUS

RETURN TO SENDER ! BONUS SINGLE

SILK ‘N DIAMONDS

CELEBRITY

VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM ! THIRD SINGLE

G.O.Y.D (GIRL OF YOUR DREAMS) ! FOURTH SINGLE

HEART ON MY SLEEVE

PHOTOCARDS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCE … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Album of the year! Chouka truly brought girly pop music back, and everyone agreed. Sincerely—like her debut single—was a huge success. The album was announced just a month prior to its release through a video Chouka posted to her social media accounts. It featured her writing a link onto a pink card before signing it, and the same link could be found in the captions of each post. Turns out, it was a link to preorder the album. At around the same time, Chouka’s website was updated with the link, along with the album’s title and cover art.

Now this news went viral, with the term “she’s releasing an album” being Tweeted over 500,000 times. Within a week, Sincerely had garnered over 400,000 preorders, and it had hit over one million by July.

Three weeks prior to the album’s release, Chouka posted a silent video of herself in a studio in Sweden, along with a few-second snippet of one of the instrumentals to her album. The post gained over 3.5 million likes within the first 24 hours, and it garnered over two million views on Twitter.

The album’s title track and lead single, “Sincerely,” was released a day before the album dropped. Like Chouka’s debut single, this song was also a massive hit. The music video—which was shot at the Palace of Versailles and inspired by Marie Antoinette (2006), the fashion of Rococo-era France, and Madonna’s VMAs performance of “Vogue” in 1990—garnered over 40 million views within the first day, surpassing “Girls Don’t Cry.” It topped YouTube’s trending page, and topped both the Spotify and Apple Music charts. Chouka would end up breaking Olivia Rodrigo’s record, with “Sincerely” becoming the highest streamed song on Spotify in regards to first day streams.

Like its predecessor, “Sincerely” topped charts in numerous countries, and it remained atop the Oricon charts for a staggering sixteen weeks. The song was leagues more popularity online in comparison to “Girls Don’t Cry,” which—to the surprise of Chouka and her fans—led to her first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Upon the song’s debut, it had sold over 300,000 units, and would go on to sell 1.5 million by mid-September.

“Sincerely” would be praised for its catchiness and sound reminiscent of early 1990s house music, with critics calling it “the 21st century’s answer to ‘Vogue.’” The song was also praised for the carefree, cheeky, indulgent, and “I don’t give a fuck” tone that it set for the rest of Chouka’s album, despite not being the opening track.

Of course, the album’s other singles also did just as well! “Eyes on Me” was definitely a crowd favorite, with many praising its unapologetic “girlishness,” comparing it to singing alone in a pink, frilly bedroom. The song’s music video was the main talking point, though, as so many people loved the references to various nineties and 2000s chick flicks, such as: Clueless, Jawbreaker, Legally Blonde, Mean Girls, A Cinderella Story, Uptown Girls, and 13 Going on 30.

“Eyes on Me” would debut at No. 2 on the iTunes chart and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it would top charts everywhere else, including on the Billboard Hot 100 Excl. US chart. It stayed on the charts for four weeks before falling off completely.

“Strawberries and Cream” debuted at No. 11 on the Billboard chart, unfortunately not cracking into the Top 10. “G.O.Y.D” fared much better, however, debuting at No. 8 on the chart. Like before, both songs entered the Top 10 in other countries outside America.

The cherry on top was the music videos, though. They were all filmed to appear as if they were their own individual short films, all connecting to form an overarching story about love and relationships. “Sincerely” begins with Chouka writing a love letter to someone and preparing to send it off. “Eyes on Me” starts with her slipping the letter into a mailbox. “Strawberries and Cream” deals with her receiving a letter back, but it turns out to be a rejection, which causes her to tear the letter up (it turns out to be a fake version of the letter). “G.O.Y.D” (which was notably inspired by various Old Hollywood films such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Funny Face, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s) has Chouka convincing herself that she doesn’t need a man and that her crush missed out, and she writes a scathing letter in return, but in the end, she decides to not send it.

Critics were in love with every MV, and Rosettes were all down Twitter absolutely singing their praises. They were praised for their clearly expensive visuals, along with the movie style cinematography, themes, aesthetics, and overall story. Each MV broke into the Top 10 of YouTube’s trending page, and each obviously received millions of views (unfortunately, though, “Strawberries and Cream” had the least).

Overall, the album was a resounding success. Fans were unsure if the praise that “Girls Don’t Cry” received could be sustained with the release of an album, especially since it was a larger project that Chouka had never tackled before. Clearly, though, she had surpassed everyone’s expectations. And, of course, Rosettes were thrilled that she finally got that No. 1 single.

STYLING … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

ERA HIGHLIGHTS … ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

Girl this era was everything!

First off, the promotion for this album was heavy. Y’all thought “Girls Don’t Cry” was huge? Well, damn, this blew miss girl out the water!

Chouka was all over televisions across America, and in other countries, as well! She had an interview with Kelly Clarkson (again), she was on GMA, she was on The Zach Sang Show, she did the Buzzfeed puppy interview, she did a “What’s In My Bag” with Vogue Japan (again!), she had five hundred magazine interviews … like girl, Chouka was doing it all!

She performed on TRL for the second time, and that was just a precursor to all the award show performances that she would give.

You know how Chouka didn’t get a chance to perform at Coachella because she only had two songs to her name at that point? Well know she has twelve, and she scored a set at Lollapalooza!

She had such a blast, girl. Like the way Rosettes turned out for her was truly insane … like to the point where she was tearing up onstage. And that barely happens! She had so much fun during her set, though, especially since the fanchants were so loud and her costumes were so good! She also performed on the same stage as Melanie Martinez, so of course she got to meet her!

And of course Chouka had to do overseas promo too! Her first stop was Japan, so she was on Music Station again, she had a cute little photoshoot with Marie Claire, and she also appeared on her first variety show! Her episode was so fun like literally she’s so charming.

Japanese Rosettes have mutually decided that every time she has a comeback, they have to organize a café pop-up. So that’s exactly what they did!

Like last time Chouka went, she signed some autographs and took pictures … just had a great time!

Chouka made a stop in Korea again! We cheer! Although her music show appearances were (once again) limited, as she only performed four times, she still got to meet so many idols! They were all down her TikTok doing the “#SincerelyChallenge,” and some of the most notable were Julie from Kiss of Life, Xiaoting and Bahiyyih of Kepler, Chungha, literally every member of Haute Pink (@hauteplnk), and Baebi and Sena of Venus (@venusvity)! Additionally, she also held another fansign! Over 13,000 fans attended this one, and Chouka received so many gifts! Like literally, the back wall was covered in bouquets and pink gift bags by the end.

She had another photoshoot with Céci (she was literally on every magazine cover this era) and shot a campaign for Etude House while there, and she was supposed to appear on Knowing Bros but couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts … sigh.

However! There was news going around that Chouka had agreed to star in an upcoming drama! Rumor has it that her co-star is supposed to be Cha Eun-woo so!

Chouka was also in Brazil for Lollapalooza, too. And the vibe was even better in comparison to the US sjuwjhdhe. Like Brazilian Rosettes absolutely adored her, and her Portuguese was surprisingly good! She just had an absolute great time … she was even doing football chants with the crowd too like we love her!

After she came back to the US, she went straight to award shows. She first went to VMAs, and girl, she was literally that girl of the night. Like she was wearing pink archive Versace! She looked so good on that carpet, and she stood there and posed for so long that Jason had to drag her away jsjwjjsjs. It’s not her fault that the photographers were hyping her up!

Chouka was actually a co-host that night, and she presented an award, so rest assured that she was changing outfits like eight times. And they were all in shades of pink, ofc! She also won her first music award ever, as she won the award for Best Pop!

Like girl she beat out Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo … Rosettes were on Twitter yelling!

Her performance was towards the end since of course the VMAs had to extend their watch time (every time Chouka appears on something Rosettes will literally flock to watch it), but when it happened? Oh, the girls were simply not ready!

Taking heavy inspiration from Madonna’s 1990 VMAs performance of “Vogue,” she had Marie Antoinette written all over her. The performance first started with an extended intro of “Sincerely,” and with male backup dancers performing vogue-style choreography. They suddenly stop and bow, and Chouka comes out from backstage with four female dancers (her court, of course). Her hair is piled up high and powdered pink, and she’s dressed in this absolutely huge, Rococo-era gown! Unlike Madonna’s “Vogue” performance, though, after the start of the first verse, Chouka rips off the skirt to reveal a shorter one!

Like “Girls Don’t Cry,” subtle costume changes were very common this era, along with Chouka’s use of paper fans for every live performance. And speaking of fans, every time she did the “#SincerelyChallenge” with someone else, she would give them a fan, too! And they got to keep it as a gift. ♡

She next went to the AMAs and had a great time (won New Artist of the Year, too!), and she even got a chance to attend the MAMAs! She performed at the ceremony in Japan and had a killer dance break, and she was also reunited with Haute Pink again! They were sat next to each other at the ceremony in Hong Kong, and they were chatting the entire night. Chouka is truly their secret seventh member at this point.

The last thing Chouka did before her tour started was attend Jingle Ball! Of course, like every time before, she had fun! Rosettes turned up in droves, and they even got a little gift bag as thanks. Although not all of them got something because Chouka’s team underestimated how many people were actually going to be there … but at least there was a handwritten letter in there!

She was supposed to attend New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, but she wanted to rest before her tour. And also she spent New Year’s in London so she wouldn’t have been able to go anyways sjiwjsjjd.

Her tour (which was titled the Return to Sender Tour and girl, people noticed that!) started at the beginning of next year, and unfortunately, it was pretty short and limited only to North America, Asia, and parts of Europe (including Italy, luckily). Despite that, though, it was a cute and fun little tour! Chouka actually sold out every show on her roster, which was surprising to her but unsurprising to everyone else. Like yes, girl, people do like your music!

Now after Chouka’s tour ended, Rosettes thought that was it. However, nothing’s ever it for her snjwjjeje like y’all should know this by now!

“Return to Sender” (the tour was named that for a reason!) was released as a bonus single sometime in March, and everyone ate it up. They were so invested in the lore at this point, and since the letter Chouka ripped up in “Strawberries and Cream” was revealed to be a fake in “G.O.Y.D,” they were all wondering what happened to it! And Rosettes could finally breathe a sigh of relief since they finally got their answer.

In “G.O.Y.D,” Chouka was trying to convince herself that she didn’t need a man, but in “Return to Sender,” she knew she didn’t need one! As the title implies, in the MV, she literally sent the rejection letter back! Like she truly did not care! It actually ends in the same boudoir that “Sincerely” started off in, and it ends with Chouka writing herself a love letter instead!

It was truly such a cute little message. Rosettes were in love with her character’s progression from being lovestruck to being unbothered and okay with self-love like we love that here!

Since we got a bonus single completely out of nowhere, Rosettes were hoping and praying that either “Heart on My Sleeve” or “Silk ‘N Diamonds” would be released as singles, too. Unfortunately for all of us, though, that literally never happened. And when I tell you Rosettes were so pissed off at her, I mean it jsiwjejjdjs.

However, “Silk ‘N Diamonds” would get its flowers in due time, no need to worry!

Like “Girls Don’t Cry,” the creation and subsequent promotion of Sincerely was all covered on a documentary, which was released on Chouka’s music channel! It was shot more professionally this time and didn’t have any personal footage by her, but it was still a great doc! A lot of celebrities made appearances (such as SZA and Taylor Swift!), and throughout the entire documentary, you can tell just how well Chouka handles stress. Truly the most admirable girl on the planet.

Jason was with her every step of the way, and we love him for that. He was always reassuring her, taking care of things for her, making sure that she wasn’t overworked … like he was literally starting to act like Chouka’s second manager and she had to tell him to slow down hshejjejs.

He quite literally has a fandom of his own within Chouka’s fandom! Like he’s so beloved to the point where every time he showed up during one of Chouka’s schedules, Rosettes would cheer for him, too!

By the end of the era, Chouka held a huge beach party in Spain to celebrate a successful era, and half the industry pulled up! Everyone had to wear pink (of course shwjjdjs), and the party literally went on to three in the morning. It was just so incredibly fun, and every guest got a signed copy of the album, a box of Dior perfume, and a rose! Some notable guests were Paris Hilton, Bella Hadid, the Haute Pink girls, and Klara of Venus!

All in all, what an amazing era! Chouka once again proved that she was the It girl, and she blew everyone’s expectations out the water. Sincerely was truly one of the best and most surprising debuts in history, and fans couldn’t wait to see what else she had in store. ˗ˏˋ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ˎˊ˗

[frostdemigod]

I found someone selling a cement clear card!

I have a nice lady lined up to buy 5 of them for me (arriving in october with some other cement merch to ship all at once)

but I found someone randomly selling this online and already has the physical goods so I'm buying myself a sixth copy right now

unfortunately, I need to buy the whole batch (except corroseum they weren't selling him from the batch lmao) but luckily I have two friends who want the quibai and plume ones so it'll only be pinecone who rots in my house lmaooo, but she's an engineering pal of Shana's so I might keep it for myself somewhere~

I already have a poncirus sticker after all~

[angstics]

From The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson (2006)

Reprise found a perfect example of just that kind of fan base with a punk-pop fivesome from New Jersey called My Chemical Romance. Although the band’s album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge came out around the same time as McKee’s, it was their second album. The first, on an independent label, had sold 10,000 copies, which suggested a small but strong core following. So five months before the second album’s launch in May 2004, Reprise started giving tracks to Web sites focused on that core, such as Shoutweb.com and AbsolutePunk.net, to get the buzz going among the faithful in hopes that it would spread.

The label also pushed the band on PureVolume.com and MySpace.com, two relatively new (at the time) music-heavy socialnetworking sites with an exploding user base. It gave exclusive live tracks to PureVolume for promotions and premiered an Internet-only video for the band’s first single, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).”

Once the tracks were out there, Reprise could watch how they did. Using BigChampagne file-trading data, the label could see growing interest in “Not Okay,” but also heavy trading and searching on the track “Helena.” On the basis of that, it made “Helena” the next single, and, helped by requests from the band’s core fans, the song got airplay. By the end of the summer, “Helena” had become the band’s biggest radio single by far.

As the band went on tour in September, Reprise extended the promotions to Yahoo! Music and AOL, including audio, video, and a heavily promoted live performance from Yahoo!’s studios. Meanwhile, fans flocked to the band’s Web site and MySpace page. My Chemical Romance now has Warner’s largest email list.

The album went on to sell 1.4 million units, making it one of the biggest hits of the year. Most of that came after radio and MTV embraced the band and brought it to a larger audience, but it all started online, where the band’s core audience had cemented its credibility.

What was the difference between My Chemical Romance and Bonnie McKee? Talent differences aside, My Chemical Romance had the advantage of an existing base of fans, both of its first album and its live shows. There were thousands of people already hungry for more from the band, and when the label gave them what they wanted, in the form of early online content, they returned the favor with strong word of mouth, including radio requests. And that, in turn, got the band the airplay that took it to the next level of popularity, acquiring a new, larger, set of fans.

McKee, by contrast, was a relatively unknown artist, who had rarely played live. Although people liked what they heard on Yahoo!, it wasn’t enough to trigger real fan behavior. They didn’t buy the album, and they didn’t clamor for more. On MySpace today, My Chemical Romance has more than 1 million “friends”; McKee has 12,000. Word of mouth makes all the difference.

[scriptdeviant]

... To be honest ...

It's not that good.

Even when he (painfully) suppressed his Inner Art Critic™, it still wasn't that good. One might even argue it to be a 'waste of supplies', but ...

He placed the small canvas back on the easel. The over-saturated drips of sloppy lines cemented the earnest frustrations of Mr. Zucchini. In hindsight, it might have been not-so-great to recommend a self-portrait for Zucchini's art practices. Pepperman may have refined his skills that way, but given the existence of Fake Peppino it may have been ...

Well. Regardless of the discomfort, Zucchini had given it his best attempt. Even his fury filled lines showed he cared enough to be upset over the quality. And as long as he cared to try, he'd get better. Maybe not PEPPERMAN better, but better. Kind-of-sucking at art was a little more constructive than consistently plotting revenge, anyway...

Anonymous asked: Pepperman why are you even giving that frog a chance. That clone's nothing but trouble. He's just going to keep throwing himself at Peppino until he either finally realizes he's not him or he finally gets beaten to a pulp for the last time. Are you seriously going to give someone like that a chance because he so HAPPENS to like your art? Really? He probably only likes your art because it's the only art he's really seen within the Tower.

Yes. While it was a caricature of the real Peppino, it still moved the clone in ways posh pieces profoundly pressed professionals. If there was one thing he wasn't about art, it was a hypocrite. Pepperman's work had meant something to Zucchini the way several pieces meant to Pepperman. The only difference between him and his idols was that Pepperman wasn't over-packing museums and constantly selling out online.

Maybe it's a little vain, he can admit that, but there's a little more to it too.

Without a prerequisite of good or bad, he grew attached to the 'started from nothing and still not quite getting anywhere artist.' The Tower that Fake Peppino had come from was gone. The frog had been, supposedly, wandering and scheming before he became Zucchini. Without a shadow of a doubt, he did encounter more art along his way. It was everywhere, after all, even if most didn't realize it. And that attachment stayed. So much so that he forged his new identity around it.

...Wouldn't that imply he has a SOUL? Art is what separates the men from the actual frogs, after all, and with a SOUL comes the ability to learn and chang— ...

Brushes pitter-patter onto the ground. He blinked and stared down at them. Awkwardly and carefully, he plucked them back up in his hands. He could feel a new crack in one of them. Man. As much as he enjoyed diving into egregious essays analyzing every word ever, they were ironically less fun when they were about Pepperman himself. He sighed, and picked at his cheek.

❝ While its true Zucchini and Peppino may never get along... ❞

❝ ...That doesn't mean there can't be more to his life. ❞ He placed the cup of brushes back on the table. He remembered the way Fake's unstable form pressed atop him like a weighted blanket. He remembered the genuine joy that the otherwise monstrous creation showed. There had to be more. ❝ He came to me for help. I refuse to add to his problems by rejecting that request. ❞

[patricksmusicblog]

24 Tracks of my absolute favorite songs and artist from the first year of the 2020's. Meant to be played in order.

Alchemist & Freddie Gibbs-God is Perfect: Track 2 and the most hard-nosed track from Freddie Gibbs and Alchemist's acclaimed album Alfredo. Alchemist's beat is menacing and hypnotic, Gibbs's rapping is nimble, and his lyrics are as cold-blooded as you'll hear from him, not to mention the hook is a bit of an earworm.

Westside Gunn- $500 Onces ft Freddie Gibbs & Roc Marciano: My favorite track off what is Westside Gunn's best project in Pray for Paris. Produced by Alchemist, whose beat is a perfect mixture of classy and sinister and the perfect for street-wise MCs to speak to their lifestyles. All have great verses here, with Freddie and Roc shining on the track.

Conway The Machine- Dough and Damani: Produced by Alchemist, he laced the fourth track off Conway's from King to a God, with one side feeling light and opulent and the other grimy and hard-nosed. Conway's normal, braggadocious, somewhat humorous, and always street-oriented style carries the track.

 Benny The Butcher-Legend: Produced by Hit-Boy, the Buffalo rapper self-cements his legacy on the triumphant track. He touches on making to where his from where he came also, makes references to himself, and compares himself to NBA legends. It's one of the best tracks on Burden of Proof.

Princess Nokia- Wash & Set: On this track, Princess Nokia faces adulthood head-on. She speaks to the weight of dealing with taxes, rent, and college debt and melancholically reminisces on the more innocent times in childhood. It's a wildly relatable track to me. 

Logic- Dadbod: My favorite track off Logic's album No Pressure. It is a track with a smooth jazz-rap feel that speaks to Logic, maturity, fatherhood, and the beautiful mundane minutia that comes with it. It's one of his sharper hooks on that project.

TOPS-Colder & Closer: A brisk synth-pop tune from indie-pop/dream pop band TOPS off I Feel Alive. It is a song about nostalgic love that looks at you with rose-tinted glasses, and no matter how things go, they can't get over you or vice versa. The relationship grows colder, yet they get closer. Great track. 

Megan Thee Stallion-Captin Hook: A high-octane raunchy track from Megan The Stallion off her EP Fever. Megan speaks to taking the dominant role and getting what he wants out of any situation, sexual or otherwise. Her flow is sharp here, and her charisma is always magnetizing. Liljumadethebeat does the Beat it's interesting; it's has a thumping bass and bounce and sword slice through it that gives it punch.

City Girls ft Doja Cat-Pussy Talk: A catchy tune from Miami Duo the City Girls with help from Doja Cat. It's a 3 verse track about how money Will go long way toward sexual advancement with them. Jt has the best verse here, and Yung Miami's hook sells the track. 

Cardi B ft Megan Thee Stallion-Wap: "Wap" A sex rap anthem by two of the biggest personalities in rap. It's fun, funny and was surprisingly a little controversial in the summer of 2020. The best verses belong to Megan, who's just a more fluid flower than Cardi(not that Cardi doesn't do her thing on the song). I really like the beat and sample choice on the track produced by Ayo the Producer and Keyz. It's a joyously raunchy tune that holds up today. 

Noname- Song 33: On much more grounded and serious areas of Summer 2020, you had the back and forth between J. Cole and Noname. This was sparked in the wake of the tragic events of George Floyds murder as Noname got on Twitter to criticize rappers who speak on black struggles in their music but were silent online during the protests. This prompted a response from J. Cole, who was essentially saying he wasn't as deep and educated as people may think and that instead of criticizing, she could be helping him to find a way. Hence we got Song 33, a rebuttal to the notion J. Cole even decided to write a song about her in times like these when there were bigger issues.

Princess Nokia- Just a Kid: Princess Nokia recounts the childhood trauma she experienced, going from a broken home to foster care to eventually being abused by her caretaker. It's a dark track that's sure to be relatable to those who go through similar issues. 

Lady Gaga-Stupid Love: "Stupid Love" is a big booming pop song from Lady Gaga off one of her best albums in Chromatica. Produced by Bloodpop, it has a hard-driving beat, Gaga's typical dramatic flair, and a catchy hook. It's one of the better pop songs of 2020 and, to that point, one of the best from Lady Gaga in a while.  

Drake & Future-Life is Good: Released at the top of 2020, Drake and Future's "Life is Good" kicked the year off properly with a track that felt two bangers stitched together to create a whole banger. The first side is Drake's who comes in a smooth, nocturnal beat as he speaks to grinding, considering his 2018 L an inconsequential slip-up and other braggadociousness. Future, as you'd expect, takes you right to the trap, speaking to drug dealing, guns, promethazine and Percocet consumption. Both are on point here. 

Future & Uzi Vert- That's It: One of the most fun songs of that year and one the best on Future and Lil Uzi Verts joint album. This is because Future is so passionate on this and so serious about being the flyest in the game on this. Not to mention he finds a perfect groove and melody on this one. 

Lady Gaga & Arianna Grande-Rain On Me: Such a great pop duet between Gaga and Grande here. Arianna brings smooth-tinged vocals, and Lady Gaga brings the concept and is also strong vocally. It's a great get-through-it song that says, " hey, things aren't perfect, but I'm still here and pushing forward. I love it. 

TOPS-I Feel Alive: I love the warmth of this track; it's a warm Sunday morning of a track. It's a Dream pop track about what it feels like to be in love. Lead vocalist Jane Penny is great on the song and switching her pitch on the record.

Megan Thee Stallion-Circles: The second track on Megan Thee Stallion's debut album and one of the better songs on the album. She speaks to haters she got and addresses things that happened between her and rapper/singer Tory Lanez. I like the production on this one Prod. Cool N Dre & Rick Starr Did. 

Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist- 1985: 1985 is the opening to Freddie Gibb & Alchemist's Alfredo. It's a great tone setter with those epic guitars and light percussion giving Freddie Gibbs a space to be gangsta Gibbs as Freddie Speaks and referencing Michael Jordan's 85' team being reported as a cocaine circus. Gibbs flow is great here, it's an essential listen on Alfredo. 

Westside Gunn-Shawn Vs Flair: From the Premo produced beat to the Prodigy sample opening up the track, the song screams 90's east coast boom bap nostalgia. It's great, at once artistsy and gritty.

Mozzy-The Homies Wanna Know: Mozzy gets reflective and speaks to the reality of the streets and checking those who may or not be of the life comes of the weight of what comes with being a part of it. It has a chill piano laden backgroud I've always enjoyed.

Westside Gunn Ft Benny The Butcher & Conway The Machine: Daringer went crazy productionwise on this one. Beautifully methodical and dark beat here. Griselda could do no wrong in 2020. Benny, Conway and Westside on a beat in 2020....*Chefs Kiss*.

Freddie Gibbs & Alchemist ft Conway The Machine-Babies & Fools: A Smooth beat from Alchemist lays the canvas for Gibbs and the Machine to wax reflective about their past, they sound like uncles at the cookout just trading stories about how their past and how it effects them now. One of my favorites on Alfredo.

Conway The Machine ft Westside Gunn & Benny The Butcher- Spurs 3: Beat Butcha cooks up a beat that feels methodical almost meandering really but it's brooding enough to work for me. Conway and Westside are nice here but I like Benny's verse the best he brings the agression the track needs.

[baked-bread]

Anime North 2023 - Haul

Total cost: $335 (all prices are in CAD)

Figures:

Total cost: $185 + 150

Love Live! Sunshine!! - Mari Ohara - Super Premium Figure - The First of Aquors (SPM) - $30

I think that she's so cute! I was having a difficult time deciding between a few Mari prize figures, but I definitely like this one a lot. :)

Fate stay/night - Saber - Nendoroid (#250) 10th Anniversary Edition (Good Smile) - $60

I bought her at the Nominoichi! I've never owned a full-size Nendoroid so I'm really happy to own her, especially at this price. :) She hasn't been unboxed in over 10 years... The seller was originally selling her for $70, but I was really happy to see the price drop near the end of the night, and that's what ended up cementing my decision. I love Saber so much and I'm really happy about this one. :D

Hatsune Miku - BiCute Bunnies - ~White Bunny Baby Pink~ (FuRyu) - $50

She's so cute.... and also now the largest figure I own. The stockings are made of real material (which is a cool touch), but the fabric pills a lot in the back. I don't think the stockings were executed well at all. Regardless, I think she's adorable and I absolutely love her. >_<

Hatsune Miku - Noodle Stopper Figure - Sporty Maid Ver. (FuRyu) - $45

I absolutely love the noodle stopper figures that have released recently. I love maid outfits, so I'm so overjoyed to have this one. >_< She's so cute.... it makes me want to buy cup noodles on purpose so I can take a picture of her with it. For now, she sits quite nicely on the edge of a shelf. I think I actually prefer this style a lot over figures with stands.

Manga:

Total cost: $20

From top to bottom:

Persona 3 - volumes 8 and 9

Persona 4 - volumes 7 - 10

Steins;Gate 0 - volumes 2 and 3

The Beguiling's stand at Anime North has select volumes of manga for 4/$10 every year, and I always look forward to it! I already own volumes 1-6 of both the Persona 3 and Persona 4 manga from their stand in 2019 (the last time that I attended the convention), so I'm up to 10 on P4 and I'm missing 7 on the P3 one! I don't own volume one of the Steins;Gate 0 manga, so I'll end up pirating it online. Overall, I'm always really happy to get them so cheap, especially since most of the manga I've accumulated over the years is actually from them at this price.

Artist Goods:

Separate page for full artist links is located here: ♡

Total cost: $120

From left to right:

NIJISANJI - Millie Parfait - acrylic charm (moecinna) - $15

NIJISANJI - Yugo Asuma + Millie Parfait - acrylic charms (NIKOORIN) - $25

I love these charms a lot! I was so excited to see one for Yugo. :O There were a lot of artists selling Nijisanji merch, but OP was the only one with him. >_< I have moecinna's charm on my keys and NIKOORIN's charms attached to the backpack that I take to work! They're all so cute! I put moecinna's charm on the lanyard with my badge, and I got some compliments on it while waiting in line for a panel, too. :)

Project SEKAI COLORFUL STAGE! - Nightcord at 25:00 - print (Nemururin) - $20

Her art was so pretty! I really wanted the Luxiem print, but it was sold out by the time I decided on the purchase. :( Spent my last $20 here! I was debating on whether or not I'd get her Wonderland x Showtime print or her Nightcord at 25:00 print, and Nightcord won out. If I ever see the Luxiem print up for sale again... 👀

Ichigo Magazine Tee - shirt (Ocean In Space) - $50

I absolutely love her art! I saw a post online a week before the event saying that she'd be there and I was so excited, except I couldn't find her in the artist alley. It took me an embarrassing amount of time to realize that her booth was in the dealer's room. >_< The shirt itself is really comfy, and the fact that it's mostly polyester is a godsend to me! (I have a lot of texture issues with cotton and don't wear it unless I'm leaving the house.) I normally wear a medium, so I bought that, and it definitely does come really oversized! I think that makes it even more comfortable, honestly. It was an intense debate on which shirt to buy, but I'm really happy with this one and I think it's so cute. ^^

Sanrio - Cinnamoroll - phone grip (uukipi) - $10

(Phone case not included, LMAO.) A ton of artists were selling phone grips this year, which was super cool! I've never used a popsocket-type phone grip, but it's actually pretty nice. :O All of the phone grips from uukipi were super cute, too, which makes me really happy. :)

Miscellaneous:

Total cost: $30

Love Live! μ’s x SNOW MIKU 2016 (Bellplans) - clear file - $3

I wasn't aware that this collab even existed! I really like Love Live! and I really like Vocaloid, this is like a collab made in heaven. The file's still in it's original packaging (which I haven't removed), so it was a bit difficult to get a good picture of it! I'm surprised that I got it so cheap at the Nominoichi, but I'm really glad that I did. :)

From top to bottom/left to right:

Code:Realize - Cardia Beckford - rubber strap - $2

Diabolik Lovers: More,Blood - Ayato Sakamaki - deka keyholder

Love Live! Sunshine!! - Yoshiko Tsushima - acrylic keychain

Love Live! Sunshine!! - Kanan Matsuura - acrylic keychain - all keychains for $5

I can't even explain how much joy I had when I found Code:Realize merch! :O I love the keychains so much, too... The girl running the table was really nice, and a lot of things were discounted right before the end of the Nominoichi, and the keychains on the bottom were 3/$5!

From left to right:

Pokémon Scarlet/Violet - lanyard - given to me by @form-sweet-form! Thank you so much!

Café Delish 2023 - Zelda heart pin, rubber bracelet, maid café ticket - $20 (for admission to the maid café)

This year, I attended the con with someone that I'd met in a DMMd server! She was super nice and it was so fun hanging out with her. :D Her cosplay of Aoba Seragaki was so good, too... She gave me this lanyard when we met up with each other! I had to wait in line for an hour and a half to get tickets for Café Delish for the both of us... it was so worth it though, it was so fun! ^^ I should've shown up even earlier, we couldn't get tickets at the same table by the time I made it... As souvenirs, I have a pin, a rubber bracelet, and a Polaroid with the maid at my table (which I will not be posting on Tumblr, as I'm not exactly eager to post my face here). I definitely wish to buy tickets for Café Delish again, and I hope to see her in the future as well!

Bandori! - 8th live - mini file map

Everything here and below were free goods given at the Nominoichi for whoever wanted them!

From the same Nominoichi seller that sold me the keychains: a whole bunch of goods given for free (originally $2 each) at the end of the night! I took a lot of them, so I ended up handing her some money (separate from the keychains LMAO) as thanks. I didn't realize until I'd gotten home that I accidentally took two of one of the envelopes. >_< If anyone happens to want the spare, I don't mind mailing it as long as you can pay shipping. Interestingly enough, the back of them has the 7-Eleven logo? These envelopes are made of plastic (clear file material) and super cute. :)

From left to right/top to bottom:

Tsukipro - Yaegashi Kensuke - Alive & Growth fan club card collection

Uma Musume Pretty Derby - Mejiro McQueen - tin

Senran Kagura - Yumi - acrylic keychain ver. A

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai - Kobato Hasegawa - mirror

Ocean in Space - sticker

Pins:

Fire Emblem Awakening - Tharja, Gaius, Henry, Chrom

Fire Emblem Fates - Xander

Dream Daddy - Damien Bloodmarch

DRAMAtical Murder - Clear, Virus, Trip

(Pin artist - unknown. If anyone can find out who drew any of these, please let me know!)

Everything from the top (except the sticker, that one came free with the shirt purchase) is from the keychain seller! All of the pins are from another seller that had a box of pins they were giving away for free. I actually don't know much about the shows and games that they're from... I think that I want to look into Tsukipro especially! I do think that all of the goods are super cute, though. :) I was especially surprised when I peeled off the backing of the Kobato metal and found out that it was a mirror, I didn't expect that at all. :O They had other DRAMAtical Murder pins, too! I gave the Aoba and Koujaku to Raphaela (from form-sweet-form), since those were the only ones that she wanted. :) The other DMMd pins are over here, in her Anime North post! Especially happy about the Clear, Virus, Henry, and Damien pins, since I love those characters especially. :)

From left to right:

Akuyaku Reijou wa Ringoku no Outaishi ni Dekiai Sareru - postcard

5-Toubun no Hanayome ∬ - postcard

(I have no idea what the third one is from. If anyone knows, please let me know!)

Postcards! I think that they're super cute, so I picked these up from the keychain seller as well. I've never heard of any of the medias that they're from, though. The maid one is especially adorable.... I'm such a huge fan...

Overall, I had so much fun attending Anime North, and I'm really happy about the merchandise that I picked up from the convention! I've never had the money to own larger figures (over the many cons I've been to, I have two prize figures, one of which was a gift), so I'm so happy that I can actually collect them now! There are so many Miku figures that I want... Going to a convention as an adult with a job is such a freeing experience. I hope to go again next year, check out more panels, buy a lot, and hopefully go with a friend or two again!

[phoebebarac]

FINAL IDEA - COLLABORATIVE ARTS PRECINCT

Sip and Paint & Collaborative Art Wall

There has been a common theme with restructuring urban waterfronts, where either the area is developed into a non-place, or it creates a social elite cultural area (Kostopoulou, 2013). Meaning either no one is using the space, or one social group is. Thus, there needs to be a combination of both sides, which includes the existing qualities of the area - infrastructure, nature, historical, and cultural - to be integrated with the innovation of social and economic change (Kostopoulou, 2013). The North Shore Sip and Paint classes have various genres and materials that are inviting for any social group. Additionally, the collaborative art wall constantly provides an area for artists to promote their art. There will always be artists who want to publicise their talent. Thus, the space is constantly being used, and can easily adapt to ever-changing trends.

Will be held here:

(Randolph, E., A. (2016). Young People Painting at an Outdoor Art Class [Photograph]. Dreamstime. https://www.dreamstime.com/editorial-stock-photo-young-people-painting-outdoor-art-class-americana-park-avenue-rutherford-nj-usa-local-business-holds-park-image74212273)

There will be food trucks to purchase dinner, which will be on the dock:

(Shorty’s Food Truck. (n.d.). Home. https://shortysfoodtruck.com.au/)

Tables and chairs set up in the hangar:

There can be a collaboration with Brisbane’s local artists, and have a different artist each night. Every artist has their own style, so people would have the option to paint all genres and with all materials.

For example, looking at some of Brisbane’s most famous artists, Paul Franklin is known for his colour and texture predominately through abstract and pop-themed work (Wye, 2021):

(Franklin, P. (n.d.). Ice Gold 120cm x 150cm White Blue Gold Textured Abstract Painting [Painting]. Franklin Art Studio, Brisbane, Qld, Australia. https://www.franklinartstudio.com.au/collections/brand-new-paintings-for-sale-online/products/ice-gold-120cm-x-150cm-white-blue-gold-textured-abstract-painting) 

Another example is Erin Nicholls, who does oil paintings of landscapes primarily (Wye, 2021). Classes could be something simple as it would be a 2-3 hour session, and similar to:

(Nicholls, E. (2023). Neon [Oil Painting]. Erin Nicholls, Brisbane, Qld, Australia. https://www.erinnicholls.com/other-artworks-2)

A good incorporation could be sidewalk chalk art, and the cement space by the hangar could be utilised in those sessions:

(Roskopp, J. (2020). How one family’s sidewalk chalk art brings joy to neighbors during quarantine. Click on Detroit. https://www.clickondetroit.com/features/2020/07/03/how-one-familys-sidewalk-chalk-art-brings-joy-to-neighbors-during-quarantine/)

There would be and inclusion of 1 session a week on Aboriginal paintings, and have an Aboriginal take the class. It would also be a great opportunity for the class to learn about the culture and history. Additionally, this enhances the site and experience for visitors as it utilises the unique, historical, and cultural aspect of the space (Kostopoulou, 2013).

To book a session, you can do so online and the layout would be a month-view calendar with the images of the painting they would be doing in that session on that day with the artist and time:

I considered adding the skill level - e.g. beginner - but I didn’t want that to deter people from participating. Such as, marking a session as ‘expert’ may discourage the beginners to come.

There will be a wall built where artists can rent the space and paint their art on their section. There will be a dedicated section for up and coming Aboriginal artists also. It would be built down the middle of this path:

I thought to put it on the left side, but then that only showcases one side of the wall. So I thought to put down the middle so more artists can show their work.

There could also be a collaboration with art suppliers who sell their products at the end of the sessions, or at some sessions. Since the customers would be interested in art, it is a good way for these companies to be promoted. In return, they can supply materials for the sessions at discounted prices.

There can be sessions throughout the day, however in summer, late afternoon would be ideal as it is cooler and since this is outside, there is no air-conditioning. There will be shading, similar to this:

(Project Shade, (n.d.). Our Products. https://www.projectshade.com.au/our-products/)

Sessions will start at 4pm Monday-Friday and will finish between 6pm-6:30pm. Then, there is the option to purchase dinner that is from Eat Street as there will be food trucks and everyone can eat in the hangar on the provided tables and chairs. This will be dependent on whether Eat Street owns any moveable food trucks that can easily be relocated. Looking through the images of Eat Street, there are a few places that look like they’re in vans. Any sessions that finish at 6pm on Fridays and Saturdays, there will be no food trucks but there will be encouragement to go to Eat Street for dinner. There can be different food for each session, so then all stores from Eat Street are promoted and it isn’t the same people working each week. There will be sessions held on Saturdays also, considering half of the targeted age group (20-30) are full-timers and may not have days off for the weekday sessions. However, there are companies that are open 7-days and the full-timers’ weekends aren’t Saturday and Sunday. For example, Amart Furniture’s full-time workers have a Friday and Saturday off, or a Sunday and Monday off. Hence, thinking from these workers’ perspectives, they could want and appreciate a relaxing, affordable activity to do on their days off, which may not otherwise be considered as they are a more niche group than the Monday-Friday workers (Dunn, McGuirk. Winchester, 1995). The time of the Saturday sessions will vary depending on the time of year, due to the weather. There could be morning sessions in Autumn and Winter, then they can be in the afternoon in Summer and Spring. There will be no sessions on Sundays as the employees are working on casual rates, but this could be an option in the future to expand when it gains popularity.

To reign in the excitement for the 2032 Olympics, as we get closer to that there can be classes based on the Olympics. Such as painting athletes, equipment used in sports (e.g. pool, hurdles), and green and gold themed art.

I considered having sessions start at 6pm during the week. Looking from an insider’s perspective, making the sessions start at 6pm seems to be more accessible for full-timers and provides more opportunities to come to classes. However, thinking from an outsider’s perspective, it is not appealing to be driving out to North Shore - which would be a distance for some - straight after work, where they will be tired, to come to a park in the dark to paint (Dunn, McGuirk. Winchester, 1995). So, I decided against that.

There will be a wind screen attached to the hangar, so if there is a lot of wind or rain, these can be used and keep the guests comfortable and enjoy their dinner. This can also be used for the sessions if needed.

It will cost $50pp. Other Sip and Paint’s cost between $60-$70 (Fridas, 2023; Paint Juicy, 2023; Pinot & Picasso, 2023). Thus, by dropping the price attracts the audience as it is cheaper than all other classes, as well as free, easy-access parking, and it being outdoors. Even though it is cheaper, it is not too cheap that would make people question the value of the classes. Once it grows in popularity, then there can be consideration of raising the price to meet the market.

What makes North Shore’s Sip and Paint different is that it is outdoors, consequently, the business climate is what puts this concept at a competitive advantage to the pre-existing Sip and Paints (McGuirck, Winchester, Dunn, 1996). Additionally, the creative placemaking for this concept has built on the park area by adding these sessions outdoors, on the grass, in nature, and utilising the open space. Rather than, introducing infrastructure that damages the land, instead, showing respect to the land, whilst enhancing the area, increasing visitation, and accommodating to societal changes (McGuirck, Winchester, Dunn, 1996; Dunn, McGuirk. Winchester, 1995). Moreover, the majority of the locations are in West End, CBD, and Fortitude Valley. These locations have paid parking as well as difficult parking. However, Sip and Paint at North Shore has heaps of free parking, and right by where the classes are held, there will be no worry on missing out on a park also because Eat Street doesn’t start till later on those overlapping days. There is also multiple public transport options if needed. Additionally, I could not find any Sip and Paint’s that offered the purchasing of dinner. Some offered snacks - like cheese and crackers - while others are BYO. The only things staying the same are the painting sessions, and BYO alcohol and cooler.

By adding the wall for artists to rent and display their art, enriches the art-focused environment, and contributes to the creative placemaking. Galleries and museums are similar to this wall, however, I could not find anything where the artists are painting on the wall from scratch. Thus, increasing the competitive advantage over the other Sip and Paint classes - also provides inspiration and something vastly different for the class-takers to view - and galleries/museums as this amplifies the business climate (McGuirck, Winchester, Dunn, 1996). Moreover, this wall will always associate with the shifts in the local economy as it is very easily maintainable and adjustable to societal changes (Dunn, McGuirk. Winchester, 1995), similar to the Sip and Paint classes.

SWOT

[inked-shadows]

Squirming under the eyes of the Overseer, Clara studies the room. Carved into the walls are many different runes to nullify spells. The table and chairs are made of solid magiform; invulnerable furniture with the spell-stopping walls.

The Overseer has a thick file the they are reading from. Clara waits in silence, fidgeting in her chair.

"Clara Thorne." The Overseer's voice is low and deep. "Age 30. Born July 3rd. Average student grades when compared to her class. Noted for being extremely kind and patient. Currently employement is an online storefront selling handmade blacksmith items."

"Yes, thats me," Clara says. She know it wasn't a question, but she confirmed her information.

The gaze of the Overseer flashes to her and the back at the file.

"Magical affinity: pyromancy," they read.

"Yes," Clara sheepishly responds, "that is also correct."

The file is snapped shut in the Overseer's gloved hand and carefully placed on the table. They lean back and cross their arms over their chest.

"Do you know why you are here?" they ask Clara.

"I was... never really told," she replies timidly.

"Is there anything that you can think of to be the reason?"

"Nothing comes to mind."

The Overseer shifts once more. Their heavy and durable coat making sounds that seem to echo in the room. Clara's shoulders drop, and she fixes her eyes on the table infront of her.

"The average pyromancer lives about 20 years. The oldest pyromancer was 25 years old." The Overseer's statement is a harsh truth to all fire users.

"Until me," Clara says, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Correct," they reply. "Even with those that reach 25, they tend to only live that long because they get banned from practicing magic after major injuries. The injuries causing the user to perish at that age."

Counting her breaths, Clara focuses on the table infront of her to keep from panicking too much.

"Yet here you are: no major injuries, no criminal charges, and still practicing magic. Pyromancy students from distinguished schools have some sort of arson charge on their files all the time. Yet somehow, you have no charges and have outlived a decade of graduates from those schools. The question becomes how did you do it?"

She is surprised about the constant of arson crimes from students, but remorse quickly follows as she hears about the decade of dead graduates. No words escape Clara. She sits there opening and closing her mouth a several times.

The Overseer notices the loss of words, and asks a new question, "How do you burn with your fire?"

"That not how I do it," Clara replies, taking comfort in a familiar topic. She looks up from the table to her interrogator. "I don't burn with fire. I can't fully describe how I reach for it."

"Do your best to."

"My best analogy is related to blacksmithing. If you don't know anything about either metal you're working with, the temperature of the forge, or if your tools are bad; it will never turn out. If you try finding aluminum and accidentally get magnesium, it won't work because they're two different metals. If the temperature is to low or to high, your metal won't work for you properly. If you tools need refreshing, then don't start a new project."

"How do you relate to your magic?"

"Checking the area where I'm casting, wearing proper clothes, and having safeties in place in case of emergency. I have a giant cement warehouse structure near a river on my property. The floor is a mix of sand, gravel, and dirt. The walls are cement and metal. No part of the building is easy to catch on fire. Sure I practice big impressive fire spells, but I also light the wicks of candles without melting the wax."

The Overseer pulls out a pen and notepad from their coat pocket. As they write down a few things, Clara feels nervous again.

"Why the candle exercise? What made you practice that?"

"It's for precision. If I only want to light the wick, then any melted candles means I failed. When I was young I wanted to light a candle, but I kept making my flames to big. As I learned blacksmithing from my father, I learned that accuracy with the flames' temperature is also important."

The Overseer writes some more notes as she talks. Clara doesn't dare to stop her story to ask about the notes being made.

She continues, "I did have some trial and error when practicing with my magic, but I alway knew how to stop myself and anything that I may have caused. Fire extinguishers are common in my house."

Clara finishes her tale. The Overseer writes a few more things before putting the notepad away. They get up and put a gloved hand to the door, letting magic unlock it.

"Ms. Thorne, you are hereby dismissed and free to go home," they say.

"That's i-- I mean," Clara stutters,"thank you Overseer. It's was nice to speak with you. I hope the rest of your day goes well, Overseer." She leaves the room.

Walking through the rest of the Magical Administration Headquarters, she feels every fearful stare at her and pretends not to notice the people pressing themselves against the walls to avoid her.

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

A few weeks later Clara checks her mail and sees an envelope from the Magecraft Education and Learning Department.

Dear Clara Thorne,

It has com to our attention that you are the longest living pyromancer we have ever seen. The Overseer of All Magic stated that your self taught lessons with different fundamentals may be the cause of your extended life.

We have ask you to review the average pyromancy lesson plan for classes and see if there is something could be changed for the betterment of all students.

Sincerely

Abigail West

Head of the Magecraft Education and Learning Department

On a small pice of notepad paper that was also in the envelope was a short handwritten message.

Please consider this.

I want to lessen the deaths from pyromancy

-Overseer Velt

Pyromancy is ridiculously dangerous. Most pyromancers die before they turn 20 and 25 is considered ancient by their standards. You have reached 30 and show no signs of slowing down.