#the sake of fans needing fanservice?

[waitmyturtles]

I’m going to be binging Step By Step after I wrap up Make It Right 2 tonight. I’m so here for it. I really thought I couldn’t do it with work and life commitments, but I’ll make it work. In the words of @shortpplfedup​, I’m ready to watch a show made by adults, for adults, about adult topics. 

But also -- today’s Big Commentary about BL fans complaining hard enough about their fake ships to get an actual show edited is just....

Some of them need to go back to school for art comprehension lessons. Learn to read between the lines. Lemme just leave this here.

[bixels]

The Ryoko Kui interview's reception is such a disaster over a pretty normal (yet still flawed) interview between a non-Japanese fan and Japanese artistic. This is discourse for discourse's sake, and it's no surprise that almost every Twitter user I've looked at who's using this interview to parade Kui around as a goated mangaka standing strong against Western ideology is anti-trans.

Like, I do think the interview was kinda wonky with its focus on fandom culture, which Kui clearly didn't have much interest in. But sometimes that happens. Sometimes interactions between two people, especially a fan and a creator, two people who view and interact with a piece of media in completely opposite perspectives, don't click. Does this really need to get blown up into a "West vs. East culture war" issue.

Anyways, Kui saying "I don't consider my audience's interpretations when writing. I leave it to their imaginations, but I have my own read on things too" is the healthiest, most normal thing an artist/writer who wants a non-parasocial audience could say. Artists and writers use this line all the time. If Kui didn't enjoy autistic Laius or Farcille headcanons, she would have probably voiced/signalled her discomfort, like she did on the topic of Senshi fanservice. Overall, Kui handled the interview really well. Props to her to sticking to her guns and keeping a healthy disconnect from the fandom. While I think the interviewer could've/should've been more tactful and restrained, the flaws in their questions is not a symptom of the woke mind virus trying to wriggle its way into the pure Japanese psyche. It's the sign of an over-eager fan who sees a piece of fiction differently than its creator.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

I really hope Larian doesn't listen to a lot of the fan requests and even some of the petitions. I'm sorry. I don't mean this in a shit way,

But they need to work on the foundations of the game before adding things like fun new kisses and shit

Like I cannot believe the things being addressed instead of fixing the issues that exist within the game, and I hope the devs don't fall into a fanservice pit prior to fixing the glaring issues, unfinished portions, disproportionate companion experiences (WYLL *COUGH* WYLL)

I've reblogged someone recently who pointed out exactly what needs to be worked on first and like,

I'd love it if the Fandom could get behind things like finishing the upper city before trying to make side NPC's romancable or some shit I'm sorry I know they're your fave but please don't de-rail Larian from focusing on game breaking issues by harassing them for content that was never intended to be included when they still have sooo many obvious issues to be fixing

Also Astarion may be a fan favorite, but I'd prefer if they stopped tweaking him and just set him aside for a hot fucking minute to deal with other things. Sure the ass grab is nice, but they keep changing his facial expressions and camera angles and yet they haven't been able to add in all the ambient romance dialogue for all the companion romances. For God's sake Wyll has HOURS less of content but they have to add Kiss tweaks for Astarion who has the MOST content? It shouldn't be a priority. Leave Astarion alone and focus on the rest of the game

I know im.sure it's the difference between an easy fix and a hard fix, but I'd rather wait longer for the big stuff than have little nonessential tweaks tbh

[yarrayora]

see, like, sometimes i see bsd fans commenting about how it's weird for asagiri to make the tanizaki siblings incestuous or the whole lolicon gag with mori and elise but the thing is both of those things are based on the real life tanizaki junichiro and mori ougai's works

naomi is, of course, based on the novel naomi, a story about a man who groomed a young girl into a westernized woman and it ends up with her turning the table by dominating his life. which is why the junichiro in the manga is unable to say no to his sister. while the irl work is mostly a commentary about the cultural change in taisho period, the siblings in the manga focuses on the unhealthy relationship of the protagonist jouji and naomi. you might find it disgusting and that's okay. but the character dazai is also created based on the real dazai osamu's uncomfortable depiction of humanity's ugliness. it just doesn't make sense to allow one depiction but not the other.

elise is named after the love interest in the dancing girl, but the power that creates her is named after the real mori ougai's erotic novel that is secretly about his own sexual experiences. you can argue that there is no need for elise to be a child because the character in the dancing girl isn't one, and vita sexualis itself is more about the author-slash-protagonist's struggle with having sexual desires in a society that champions moral purity.

but the thing is elise isn't even a fanservice character. she isn't depicted as someone the audience should find desirable for one. when it comes to lolicon fanservice you can expect either excessive depiction of innocence or at the very least elise getting jealous when mori gives attention to someone else. but even her mocking is just that, mocking. we were never shown her returning mori's affection even in a tsundere way.

the biggest hint is actually the fact that in beast au, a timeline where mori gives up his position as the mafia boss, elise is an adult. it shows that the child form of elise is symbolic of mori's desire to control those with the power he wants to obtain i.e. dazai and yosano. it's so much easier to gain power over other when they're a child and you're the authority figure, after all. so when he no longer chases after that ambition, elise becomes an adult.

tldr; asagiri didn't necessarily make tanizaki siblings and elise for the sake of fanservice but it's definitely because he actually pays attention to the literature that inspires him

[dadattebayo]

So today I bumped on this post and wanted to share some thoughts on the subject, but the account I reblogged it from seems to be off now so I lost my post and no one sees it. Still want to keep it, so...

Sorry, with all respect, but I just don’t get it. Like … WHY should we stop asking them about the thing they actually play? What exactly so bad happens to them if we do? By the thing I mean Haladriel as a ship. They play it. Literally.

Come one, it's obvious the show itself launched the ship. Intentionally, using all classic cinematic tools to make the exact romantic subtext visible to the audience (like gestures, poses, camera angles, looks eyes to eyes, sensual whisper) so we could definitely read it as romantic even if they refuse to confirm it openly. (Due to the possible unhinged reaction of the lorebros, I’m sure) So basically the show implied romance between them from the beginning, and now since they are stepping back, we just have to be ashamed to ask questions? Surely the actors give more interviews then the showrunners, because they are the faces of the characters, their representatives, they could give you the insight no one else could give since they play it and are the most involved in their personalities and emotions. They should be able to explain their motives and thoughts. This is how the acting craft works, they must FEEL the character. This is why for fans, hearing actors discuss a ship is like hearing the characters discuss their own feelings.

See what I mean? Typical romantic cinematic hint.

So again why shouldn't we ask them? why not let the actors talk about their interpretation? Miriel and Elendil's actors shouldn't be asked about them too, or it only concerns Morfydd and Charlie for some reason?

For god sake we all know the ship is doomed, there will be no future, but still the show revolves around them, even in the end of s2 he still mentioned she's his queen. But there was not enough interaction, mostly ambiguous one that we have to explain and develop ourselves, so why should we be deprived as well of their vision and of any extra detail we would like to know from the first hands? | don't feel like it.

And I think people just need to stop decide for the actors how they feel and being overprotective over literally nothing. Shipping is a part of any fan culture. And the actors are not made of glass, they actually are even supposed to speak out. Once again: the show presented and developed the ship. The actors play the characters of this ship. They play the feelings we all see. They are aware of the subtext. They do not feel ashamed to play it. They are not ashamed to play those characters. So we don't have to be ashamed to want to know more about what they play, what they mean and what is their vision on it. There is no harm being caused.

I actually miss good all days when the actors were not considered this sensitive. like for example during the promotion of the X-MEN both Mcavoy and Fassbender got unstoppably asked like million questions about their MAGNETO/XAVIER (Cherik) ship, they were shown fanarts and fanfics, even the explicit ones, they even had to read out loud some about themselves (yeah-yeah, not their characters, but specifically real-person ship aka FassAvoy). No one got offended. One can say they even encouraged it. Homosexual ship. McAvoy was married at that time. Still they were goofing around, touching each other and hugging all the time, talking about their character bromance and generally spreading fanservice all over the fandom. They were having fun alongside with the fans. This was gold.

By the way the same story with their characters: they are a protagonist and a villain , two opposites with sort of cosmic connection, they just won’t let each other go peacefully. There is love, hate, friendship, rivalry and pain. Some fans see them as a friends/foes, shippers like me see them as lovers. This ship is giant, and thank for the actors interaction and involvement into the fandom it just got deeper and much more exciting.

Highly recommended to explore.

Remind you of something? 🙃

[goingbuggy]

I have I think weird ask and that’s why I choose anon option

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Why did oda made uta? What it gave us? It is interesting choice alright? It’s not my first idea soooo why? I like her btw

I think a lot of One Piece movies tell stories that Oda might have wanted to include in canon but couldn't for one reason or another. This depends on the movie, of course -- Stampede is mostly just fanservice for longtime fans, but I'd argue movies like Strong World and Film Gold pass as condensed 120-minute arcs, albeit to varying degrees of success. Film Red falls somewhere in the middle of that; it's bogged down by nonsensical subplots, fanservice, and the execution of its musical format, but at the heart of it is a story that I believe Oda did want to tell. Above all else, it's a dissection of Shanks that is severely needed in-universe.

I do think Uta was a character crafted for the sake of the movie, but she fits in with Shanks in a really good way, so I think what she conceptualizes is an idea that Oda has always wanted to explore about Shanks. His character is guided by a moral compass which often directs him away from fulfilling relationships and his own happiness. He is a protector, first and foremost, but if hurting you is the only way to ensure your safety, he'll do that too. His decisions are based on his idea of the greater good, and he is so selfless in this pursuit that it leads him to neglect the feelings of others in selfish ways.

Uta is the direct consequence of her father, as many children tend to be: she is what Shanks made her, all the anger and abandonment and emotional neglect. Shanks thought he was setting her free, but she became trapped by her own unstable mind and suffered and spiraled. He is a man of good intentions, but his ideals come at a cost, which Uta embodies to the fullest.

In a lot of ways, I think the story is also an interesting examination of parenthood (when it's not going off the rails). As a parent, you want nothing more than for your child to be happy -- to do right by them, do what's best for them. But sometimes this can end up hurting them them the most. Shanks tried to protect Uta from herself when he should have just been there for her as she learned how to live. That's why the final scene hurts so much; it is the greatest failure for Shanks, as a father and protector, to watch her go this way. But when she makes her final decision on her own, he respects it, sticking with her until the bitter end. He is there for her, but it is far too late, and so he is forced to face his own flaws as a parent -- as a human being. Film Red may be a bit of mess, but it adds meaningful shades to Shanks, which I can greatly appreciate.

[rinriya]

BG3 ending (spoilers)

I finished BG3. And I.. I'm so devastated right now. Not in terms of relief or "oh, such a good game has come to an end, idk what to do next", I just don't understand what happened. I am disappointed. I need to speak out. Otherwise I feel like I can burst into tears because of indignation.

And I beg DON'T READ THE POST FURTHER if you haven't reached the end. There will be plenty spoilers. DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME.

So. Is this really the end? Is this… what we've been so actively waiting for 3 years? Maybe there will be DLCs no less than another full-fledged act? Otherwise, I cannot understand what was the point MC to do all of this?

I.. damn, this is hard. I waited so long for this game, but now I criticize it. Okay, phew. I'll get myself under control. Phew. Sorry.

We were promised different outcomes, different endings, many choices. But what did we actually get? You either save Orpheus (the Emperor becomes an enemy), or help the Emperor (Orpheus dies), or you/your companion turns into an illithid. And like.. who cares if you continued to refuse the powers. It's unavoidable in any case. You cannot form an alliance, you cannot win without a tadpole. You are linear in your final choice.

Your companions?

Wyll leaves to Avernus. Karlach returns to Avernus. Astarion can no longer stay in the sun, he begins to burn and therefore runs away. That moment… it broke my heart. My MC romanced him, couldn't he followed Star? Was it not possible to add some extra scenes? It doesn't matter to anyone. He ran away? Well meh who cares. Only Shadowheart says something like "oh, how sad, he can no longer walk in the sun."

I wanted to help him damn it! Both him and Karlach. And Lae'zel too, but game not allowed me to do so, forcing to choose: either the giths fate, or your ally. Choose.

I wanted my friends to live happily even without tadpoles! Why the hell I was saving the world, if my companions can't be happy? For the sake of a good ending, I should have let Stari to perform the terrible dark ritual? Or turn Karlach into a squid? Minsc and Jaheira are just fanservice for old fans. More or less good end has Gale (still with bomb inside him), Shadowheart and the Emperor himself.

And what about all my decisions? Where are their consequences? What happened to the vampire spawns? With a grove? With the forest? With Hell, where we killed a mighty devil?! With the Ironhand clan, who now have a new leader? Larian Studios, was it really so hard to write at least in text about everything that happened? Like in DOS2 at least? Or about our companions future life. At least about them!

It feels like even if I decided to play as pure evil.. there would be no difference, because I just don't know what my actions led to. But I can't play evil, I just can't hurt anyone. Yes, I'm boring person who loves happy endings and when everyone doing great.

BG3 received its fame, glory, attention. Obviously will receive a bunch of awards, because its ratings beat all records, but inside me.. there is just emptiness. I can headcanon a happy ending with Astarion, truly free Lae'zel, who will be no longer chased by Vlaakith's servants and Karlach with repaired heart. But it will all be in my head. Not in the game. Baldur's Gate 3.. is like a beautiful (really beautiful) wrapper, but the candy inside turned out to be simple and not very different from the others.

I'm sad. Very sad. And I'm sorry for this flow of words. I had to speak out. Now I feel a bit better. I really want to hear your opinion, because now I'm mentally hurt. I obviously triggered the high expectations for this game and get a painful kick for that.

[galacticleague]

speaking my truth on npmd because im thinking about this alot. i think the reason it falls flatter than tgwdlm and bf as a musical is that tgwdlm and bf have a running theme — want.

(whole thing undercut)

the cast of tgwdlm want human connection - charlotte wants sam to love her, bill wants alice to love him, mr davidson wants his wife to choke him while he jerks off etc etc, and eventually paul goes from 'i want what anyone wants, money, kids, a partner maybe idk' to - to put it simply - wanting emma (putting it very simply, if i went into detail this post would go off the rails). this switch is what makes him vulnerable to the hive and this want to live and to survive and to be happy with emma is satiated by pokey by giving him the connection he craves via hivemind, this is how it works for everyone. they want to be happy, pokey makes them happy by removing any need to want anything in the first place.

similarly, in bf, the adults of hatchetfield are still miserable and they want to be happy, they have this void within them that they feel they need to fill with products and consumerism. if they buy this stupid fucking doll their kids will love them, they will be happy, etc etc. and this want to be happy is similarly satiated by wiggly via the cult - they have something to worship, or - in lindas case - people who worship them. they have purpose, or at least they think they do, but whether their problems have actually been solved or not - they are still content.

but in npmd, this is less solid. theres that bit where they have to sacrifice what they want the most, but this is near the end. its kind of all over the place, and this wobbliness(?) is sort of just emphasised by the fact that there is no specific lord in black, its all of them. now i loved the summoning when i first watched it because im obviously a huge hatchetfield fan so i like. know who these characters are but as ive seen others say, alot of npmd does rely on knowing hatchetfield lore - understanding injokes. and in hindsight it just... isnt great for the cohesion of the plot.

tgwdlm and bf both have specific themes, specific lords in black, they have subplots but they have a solid throughline that is easier to follow. to me, npmd feels like its all over the place and it just feels kind of...mid for lack of a better word.

i think there were some moments that were just kind jarring? i guess? like if i loved you coming directly after ruths death was really strange, tonally. i wish they spent more time on ruths death tbh she deserved better. richie got two songs and an opening scene. anyways i digress- i feel like whenever i think about it im always like. i just wanted More. which is weird cuz its already like 2 hours long but idk. IDK!!! if i loved definitely felt unnecessary to me- like just conflict out of nowhere. i would have liked more build up to it. maybe im just salty that it took up stagetime that could have been used to grieve ruth but. sorry for the random if i loved you slander i think my point here is that some moments and some subplots felt more tropey, injokey or like fanservice??but not in a sexual way?? - is that the right word to use idk - than actual compelling plot moments. tgwdlm is an incredible work of theatre and uses subversions of tropes to communicate a great story, bf is a detailed criticism of american consumerism and how capitalistic societies force people to rely on products to make their lives better, npmd is. high school drama with ghosts. it just doesnt hit as hard on its own.

i dont want to be one of those "im a better writer, and THIS is how i would have done it!!!! im going to fix this!!!" people so im not going to do that but i think something i would have liked to see was focus on just one lord in black, probably nibbly because i feel like he fits the most and has the least preexisting story. i mean for gods sake, why does wiggly have the most speech time out of all the lords in black again!!! he already has an entire musical about him!!! greedy bitch- well i guess thats kind of his thing. i think i just want to see more of nibbly tbh, he has one nmt story and he only shows up at the very end. anyways that was kind of a side rant sorry gang. there isnt a problem with having a story featuring all the lords in black, but i think it just doesnt quite work in npmd for like structural reasons as well as plot cohesion.

i did enjoy npmd, im not pretending i didnt, but narratively it is the weakest hatchetfield musical and i just wanted to put my finger on what it is specifically. please dont take this as like hate or slander, i am a huge starkid fan, but i think it is important to consume media critically.

also i am not a professional i am a teenage drama and english lit student who likes media analysis and narrative design so just. take everything i say with a grain of salt :)

if you read all this, thankyou and if you disagree please lmk what you think(civilly.i do not want discourse in my notes)!! i could be hugely wrong about this and just need to think more about npmd and id love to see others' analyses!

[valyrfia]

About rpf, might I also add that this is even weirder to keep on public spaces when you consider that this is about sportsmen.

I mean with kpop as an example, the idols would expect people to ship them considering that they do play a lot into the fanservice aspect of their relationship. And even there, there are boundaries about what to post in certain places.

But it's even worse in this particular case because the drivers don't farm on fanservice, it is not a part of their job, this isn't what the signed for (except maybe for some teams who push the bestie agenda a little bit too much. and in those cases, it's less weird because there is a context, it's the reactions the teams expect if that makes sense).

Like idk we know that some of them are chronically online (charles my beloved), we know that they have their S/O and families in social media, and we know how the tiktok algorithm is. be careful about what you post/how you post it

Yep! All this! In a lot of cases, RPF arises from the need of some public figure to cultivate a parasocial relationship with fans in order to sell stuff. Sportspeople don't have to cultivate parasocial relationships in the same way (and in fact some actively discourage it, Max being the biggest example which is why it's a little insane that he's ended up as one of the faces of the biggest RPF ship in the sport), and so you can argue they didn't really 'sign up' for this in the same way that someone who had to cultivate a parasocial relationship for the sake of their career might be expecting.

[animentality]

Durgetash deniers now turned into “fans are corrupting the artistic vision of Larian to being fan service!”

Damn, 4 lines of dialogue really destroying Larian’s artistic vision. Not like there is a team of creatives who might take outside criticism and critique and use it to improve the story. Guess they should never add new content for the companions because we wouldn’t want to corrupt Larian’s vision.

They had no issue with Larian removing the Franc Peartree letter months after release, though.

Also, Larian adds bad shit all the time, like making Lae'zel more polite when she leaves the party, or Gale less mean when he needs a magical item.

These are worse sins.

Adding shit, not replacing or removing it, is far better.

Also lmfao, "fanservice."

We are a small fringe group of weirdos. They added four lines for our sake, because they knew we'd be annoying about it.

This is not the worse fanservice in the world. It's not even glaringly in your face. It's just there like an Easter Egg for us to find.

Damn losers.

They're just mad cuz they're wrong, and they hate being wrong.

But you'd think they'd be used to it by now.

[sweetescapeartist]

A DBS MANGA CHAPTER 102 REVIEW. KINDA...

Some stuff about chapter 102 of the DBS manga I don't really like/I want to quickly discuss. Meant to post this last month but didn't. I'm behind on a lot of things.

All those folks saying True UI is Goku's strongest form... The upcoming chapter says otherwise. Goku uses the silver haired UI form & Beerus apparently views that as Goku at his strongest. Heck, Goku calls it his best move. Good job Toyo for creating True UI (black hair) and confusing fans to believe that was stronger than Mastered UI (silver hair) when in reality True UI is simply UI Sign (black hair) that changed how UI works so it matches more closer to how the anime depicted the technique. UI Omen in the anime allowed Goku to use his emotions, but the more control he has over them, the stronger he becomes until he transforms into Mastered UI. UI Sign in the manga was depicted as Goku needing to be emotionless & stated that emotions hinder the power. This was from the ToP Saga all the way until Toyotaro "created" True UI to function off of controlled emotions like how the DBS anime always has & gave it Omen the name "True Ultra Instinct." [Link to a long post that I paraphrased, so you ain't gotta read it unless you're really interested.]

I get tired of the same expressions in this Super Hero Saga. Its a pouty or surprised face accompanied with an oval shaped mouth. Toyotaro is overusing the hell out of that. Here's a compilation & I left out like 4 other panels with this same expression. (There's more in CH 103)

I saw ppl talking about the poses when Goku & Gohan fight look cool.... Looks pretty stiff imo. At least from what I've seen. Lacks a feel of movement. And you don't even see most of the fight. It doesn't make it cool imo. We've seen MUI in action against powerful opponents. If MUI Goku & Beast Gohan are close to equal strength, why not show actual combat between the two other than the aftermath of clashes? There was more attention to choreography with Gohan vs Trunks & Goten than there is with Gohan vs Goku. (Chapter 103 does better with the combat for Goku vs Gohan)

Toyotaro doing the "this form is called such & such" is weird for me. Seems like he's trying to hype up Western fans or something. Like when Goten & Trunks name Gohan's potential unleashed form "Ultimate." Its just dialogue for the sake of some sort of fanservice. Some ppl will like it, others wont. I just wasn't a fan of it. Feels like its placed here just for fanservice. If they called it ultimate & didn't draw too much attention to it, I would've prefered that. Its naming it but not stopping the narrative flow.

Also wasn't a fan of Goku asking Gohan is his new power was SSJ2 or SSJ3. Goku knows dang well Gohan's Potential Unleashed form is far stronger than SSJ2 & was stronger than SSJ3. He should've just asked "So, what's this form of yours?" and leave it there.

Some Vegeta fans are calling him a proud uncle when he smiles at Gohan & Goku about to spar. No, he is a Saiyan who is ready to see a good fight just as Broly smiled when he watched Goku & Vegeta fight. Is there some pride there? Yes. But Vegeta ain't no uncle figure to Gohan. That's Piccolo & Krillin.

Why are Carmine & Soldier 15 there on Beerus' planet? Goku could have just had his sons & Trunks put a hand on his shoulder then teleported. And why would Gohan see Carmine & 15 who shot at his home & at him, turn Beast out of anger, then hop into the same vehicle as them as if he forgot what happened in the last chapter? It was literally a few seconds ago.

This was just for them to record Goten & Trunks in their costumes (can they even keep up with how fast they are moving?) And it just seems like a plot device that won't matter at all. Anyone remember 7-3 in the Granolah Saga?was there for a moment & served no purpose other than a reference. I bet this with Carmine is for a simple joke to be quickly thrown aside.

[umbraastaff]

I'd love to hear your general thoughts on the new gn! I personally think Wonderland was a little rushed, but I loved reunion tour.

was fun in some ways and fell short in others! i overall i agree with you on that as well. more specific thoughts, in no particular order:

some really really cool visuals in this book. lucretia in the hourglass at the start, some awesome panels with space and the hunger and stuff... barry regaining his memories on page 212 is probably my favorite page in the whole book

the choice to make the Chug & Squeeze be painting instead of pottery is baffling to me. the title of the place made sense with the original… the choice to change it so that it doesn't fit, and then also make fun of that, feels a bit like i am being made fun of as a fan/audience member, regardless of whatever the original intent was

(compounded with the total loss of the original depth in this scene… no vulnerability from taako, just a good 'ol fanservice kiss…)

similarly bizarre, the choice to make lucretia lose 30 years instead of 20...? 20 not bad enough? she needed to be 60 instead of 50? what's happening lol

i feel vindicated on a spiritual level for being the only person i can remember drawing mullet ponytail barry - like 95% of fanart i see draws him either short haired or with long hair free n out like in HTBG graphic novel... never ponytails. im winning

more bafflement with magnus even THINKING on the question of forgetting julia... the kalen thing is a much more interesting conflict to me given (a) it makes sense to be uncertain about and (b) relates directly back to his love for julia. and they established AND NAMED kalen in eleventh hour, why not use that...

feels like they swing back and forth on how much they trust the audience to pick up subtext... being hit over the head with magnus continuing the "id hate it shut the fuck up" thing to rly look at the camera and wink and tell us how much he loves julia, but then the comic version of the "love barry trust barry" was VERY dependent on picking up cues and seeing taako's attitude change

speaking of, i did really love the "love barry trust barry" scene. and both times lup jumps into barry's arms is so cute ugh

i know it's a product of how rushed everything has to be putting 10+ hours of audio into a singular COMIC book, but for fuck's sake, removing KEATS..........?????? so now lydia & edward have no depth??? & no parallel/foreshadowing for the way liches work??? OKAY???

mannequin magnus design and the way they enabled him to do expressions was preddy good. enjoyed it. also the whole possession + wonderland final fight action is cool and fun

while i am disappointed the bell is all fancy and weird instead of being a very plain and small thing as it was described in canon (which felt more in character for barry), i DO really really really like the flower on top... the wither-and-bloom motif... tasty

oh yeah griffin disappearing is such a great way to foreshadow a thing beyond planes coming down to consume... ahh i love playing with meta stuff

so so much good barry content man. so much. thank god we got so much good fun reunion tour stuff. hes so dumb as rocks i love him

actually pretty cool they more explicitly canonized the explanation for barry physically attacking davenport. also barry/lucretia interaction so so so so good

as cute as the original scene is with them planning and writing the note for magnus' body, i think the way they split the party in this version was smart

i dont need to contribute more to the pool on fan feelings on blue twins, BUT given there was no choice but to have her be blue, lup is very cute

taako falling to his knees instead of like pointing the staff at lucretia... :/ eh

given how much literally this entire series has suffered from being so scrunched up, i'm also not SUPER looking forward to stolen century and S&S being condensed into one book, but ohhhh wellllll

TL;DR i don't really read these books because i have a lot of faith in the way they Tell The Story, but it still had a lot of fun moments and scenes and visuals that got my heart! fun to see thorough visual takes on my fave podcast.

[myfandomrealitea]

"Understanding that fiction is not reality. It does not create victims."

I don't know if I can agree with that, there definitely have been instances where shipping has created victims, real people shipping to be exact.

Both Harry Styles & Lois Tomlinson from One Direction and Camila Cabello & Lauren Jauregui from Fifth Harmony have publicly spoken about how fans shipping them put a major strain on their respective friendships and how they would like fans to stop.

Ofc most ships will never reach the amount of popularity needed to actually become a real life problem, but it is possible.

Fiction does not create real victims in that if I write about someone being raped, nobody is actually getting raped. Nobody is a victim of what happens within my fanfiction.

Just like the very legal defence of how thoughts are not actual crimes. I can think about overthrowing the government. But it only becomes an actual crime if I prepare to, or try to.

Likewise, I can write about all the murder I want. It doesn't make me an actual murderer.

Fiction does not create real victims.

Fanfiction itself is not to blame for how actual, real people, interact with and expose content to other real people. It wasn't people writing fanfiction who made those celebrities uncomfortable. It was the actions of the people who bombarded them with inappropriate content and interactions.

Mark Fischbach and Sean McLoughlin are a prime example of this. They knew people shipped them. They knew people wrote explicit fanfiction and drew explicit fanart. They didn't care. It was a separate part of their fandom they did not involve themselves in.

It only began to cause, as you say, real life problems when certain people began to harass their real life partners over it, began to tag them in or send them explicit content, and began to try forcing Mark and Sean to actually fanservice them.

Mark and Sean didn't ask people to stop shipping them. They asked people to stop forcing the ship on them in real life. They asked people not to harass their partners, not to send them explicit pornography, and not to force them to change how they behave in order to make it easier to construe it as romantic or sexual.

What people do with content will always be more inherently harmful than the actual content itself.

That is, again, why respect is such a huge part of proshipping and the RPF community. Why there are certain rules we follow and processes we follow in order to not be those people. The heavy emphasis on why things like tagging are so important is not only for our sakes, but for the sakes of the people we are using creatively. The only way they can avoid certain content is if we religiously give them the tools and meet the criteria they need us to in order to be able to.

[dlartistanon]

I have to be honest, after everything I heard I went into Lone Trail anticipating Muelsyse character assassination-- nay, *annihilation*, for the sake of Doctor-sexual fanservice and I was ready to be disappointed. But having finished reading Lone Trail myself now... What? Her homescreen lines are utter horseshit, I completely agree, but her actual character writing in Lone Trail fits that really good analysis post by meeblo so accurately that I can't believe meeblo didn't read LT before writing

"The more I think about Lone Trail the less I like how they executed the story."

So, let me preface this with with preemptive TL;DR: If you are a fan of Silence as a character, you probably really enjoy Lone Trail.

If you are a fan of any other character, especially Muelsyse, and ESPECIALLY if you don't like or don't care for self-insert pandering, you're likely disappointed and/or frustrated with Lone Trail. I am the latter.

Let me just copypaste what my friend has to say (plus my own replies and commentary) since they can articulate the feeling better than I can:

I'm sorry. I just can't imagine a world where Saria, who means so much to Muelsyse, is nearly assassinated and in awful shape, and *she knows that* and is like "wassup doctor, heard Saria's in trouble but lets hang out"

Me: Exactly. This does not make sense with what we know of their relationship. Especially since she's later worried sick/almost breaks down at the thought of losing Saria for real

I'm just going through the story and so much of it doesn't make sense to me. And it's (I'm not done but getting there) just *so depressing* how much of the event is eaten up with kind of pointless/uninteresting doctor babysitting? She should be front & center in all of this. There's so much to work with and play with but so much of it does not make *any sense*. Muelsyse did not need to be hobbled by this. Hell, so far as I've read, Doctor didn't need to be there or could have done it on their own. Fucking frustrating.

Me: I'm not that familiar with Guide Ahead, but I can't help but imagine how much better/more concise Lone Trail could've been had they handled Samuelsten in a similar way to GA's central trio. Don't shove Muelsyse to the side, make her an active agent in the story, with the people who matter to her

I mean I’ve made it to CW-7 and as someone who’s in the middle of all of this (often by design) I’m puzzled that she’s one of the least interesting parts of the event? Kristen, HoHo, Nasti, Jara are great. We know why it matters to her but she’s on the fringes the entire time. This should have been done like guide ahead but guide ahead was much better and leaner by virtue of not needing to dedicate half the fucking event to talk about how great and interesting the doctor is. There’s no reason doctor couldn’t have been with Kal’tsit the entire time. That would actually make sense. But nope.

"It's Saria you want to see, It's Kristen who you're looking for" but why don't we just stick you with Doctor the entire fucking event and you can act like you're just on a little adventure. Cannot believe I have to rely on the furniture to give what the event should have.

This might be a controversial take, but I wish all this giant lore dump with Doctor, Priestess and Kal'tsit had been relegated to another vignette or main chapter with just mentions of Kirsten/Kristen and Rhine Lab. It's taking up much too much of Rhine Lab's event. Instead of *way too many flashbacks* with Doctor/Kal'tsit/ whoever, we could have had this building up Saria/ Kirsten/Muelsyse with their past instead of the one 3 second glimpse we got. I am so mad at this stupid fucking decision. Rhine Lab Event: featuring Rhine Lab as glorified cameos

Reply: Yeah its so annoying. It takes up sooo much god damn space and for what? And for what ? It doesn’t belong. I swear to god i wish we focused on, idk, the main relationship between saria and kirsten (and mumu but my faith is lost) instead of kirsten only showing up at the very end

Yeah, I'm sure glad FERDINAND got the most screen time out of all Rhine Lab. Just *what*. But the lore dump, while *fine* is just fucking egregious and does not belong here. This could have been referenced elsewhere and they could have fleshed out everyone else.

I have finished Lone Trail! Cumulatively, I love about two chapters worth of it! I definitely had high expectations but even if I'd had mediocre expectations I would have been let down. Not enough of the Rhine Lab founders, needless lore dump that could have gone elsewhere. It felt fragmented and like a hodge podge of things. Saria, Muelsyse and Kirsten felt like cameos in the entire event. And I'm sure the intention of this was to elevate just how goddamn special the doctor is, but the way it was written, it felt like no one at Rhine Lab gives a single solitary fuck about Muelsyse in any real capacity. These are the people she's had and adores. Yes, her loneliness was a sort of focus of the event, but the way it plays out does make it feel like "yeah, you're right to be lonely. Thank god for doctor!"

So much of my irritation is not only was she reduced to a love interest for Doctor, treated poorly by everyone at RL, she had zero agency in the whole event. She really was just floating passively for the most part. Muelsyse in Lone Trail: 1. Looks for Kirsten/ doesn't find Kirsten/ abandoned & not said goodbye to by Kirsten. 2. Looks for Saria (eventually) stopped by Saria. Saves Saria, doesn't talk to her again/ is not acknowledged by Saria. 3. Nasti tells her she's a crybaby & to get lost I mean, it really is no wonder she wanted to off herself. She built Rhine Lab with them from the beginning and this is how the event chooses for all these people to treat her? It's unbelievable.

Me: All that to make Doctor look better in comparison, right? It's jarring bc it's such a far cry from the brief concern Saria showed towards her in DV and doesn't even follow up with her claim to want to save Muelsyse in LT. Where's the consistency? She remembers that Mumu is fragile, but we don't even get a scene or mention of checking up on her after crashing back down to earth?

At least in Kristen's case, she remembered Muelsyse exists afterwards with the plantlife onboard, but it's not even presented as wrong or a character flaw how Saria ignores Muelsyse in the end, even though she literally saved her life. Just... nothing. This is the defender who protects others? The one that she fell for?

Yeah “when you’re emotional you forget that you’re fragile” & okay this is a devastating day for her so fuck her very much! No need to check on how she’s doing losing a long time friend and colleague, how she was in a thing that literally crashed but she saved *her*. And this isn’t even about Samuels in particular! This is how she was treated by the people with an established history that matter to her. Obviously the game is pandering, but given how literally everyone in the game, from the actions she can see, treats her like she is disposable trash. It’s no fucking wonder she’d be like “oh wow doctor!” Because at least they treat her like a human being who has feelings and who hurts? The fact that Saria doesn’t even reach out, that she has treated her like a stranger for the most part doesn’t track. Why did they make Muelsyse the “hero/ star” of the event banner? She’s forgotten and mistreated by everyone, gets almost zero game content, her file and voice lines are a mess and she doesn’t influence the story in any way at all. This event as a Rhine Lab story was trash.

Me: It felt so much more like a "Silence" story with Rhine Lab as window dressing. They clearly didn't have any editors around because how can you SAY that these people matter to Muelsyse but then not PROVE it? The lack of care, the disrespect towards her and other characters in relation to her is just astonishing

I like Silence a lot but wtf was she leading this? The whole thing is the conflict with Sarsten w/ Muelsyse in the middle. She got a new outfit, talked to Parvis, rehashed a conversation w Saria for the 10th time? This should have been all Muelsyse / Saria/ Kirsten but they barely existed in the event. And who the fuck polled whoever else to decide that Ferdinand and the creep Josh should get the rest of the time!Why so much build up with Jara / her closeness to Kirsten to not have any interaction with them? WTF were they doing.

I could probably write an essay about all the things I felt didn't work as a Rhine Lab event. This might have worked better as a vignette just to keep it tidy. But I think the other thing for me is that… hrm this event almost assumes that all you've seen of Silence is the manhua and thus wow! Growth! She loses the glasses and gets a new style to show that off. But the Silence of this event is the Silence we've had in the game since day one. The one in Mansfield and in Dorothy's Vision who is kind of certain about what is wrong and what is right and will stand up for that. So to me there wasn't any growth there. Because we'd already seen that growth/ that was the person we've known since the start of the game. A lot of this event kind of relies on… either not having read the manhua or exclusively having read the manhua. Because if not for the manhua you don't know/ understand why there's that Kirsten/Saria divide and how much it means. It's all very weird.

And kind of to add to my little rant… DV and the manhua allude to Muelsyse being extremely close to Kirsten and being her sidekick. But in neither the manhua or any of the events do we see any of that. Instead we get Nasti (who I like a lot) in that role and--- I just don't get it. You'll be less disappointed if you don't read the manhua. lol A ton of Muelsyse's character development and her relationship with Saria is highlighted there and this event just kind of decides to burn all of that to the ground. But if you want to see why the final chapter matters/ is special/ yes, read it.

Me: Nasti's in the role bc we had to have our self-insert fix with the hot new playable op :/

yeah. with the same motivations. but all of that should have rightfully been hers I really do think they just gave Muelsyse's role to Nasti And the cherry on top of all of it was at the end when Muelsyse is like "Huh did the three of us actually dance together or did I make all of that up?" I just can't with that final slap in the face to Muelsyse and all of them. Like her talk about loneliness is fine and well done and the little history but so much left a lot of questions.

Me: yeah… it's just. wow. there were nuggets and seeds planted that had potential, but they didn't bother to actually cultivate and develop those relationships and dynamics at which point why even include them at all

Yeah, I’ll include that in my rant, but my last point on that end is Saria’s “I would do it over again” doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read the manhua— and just doesn’t jive with what is presented in the events with her that is much more clinical. And I’ve said this about multiple things— but a story should be able to stand on its own without having needed to read a manhua for additional context— and especially when having read the manhua you’re left with ??????

[puffmais]

I'm tired of all the negativity and unfairness that is happening regarding the ifylita series. The fact that this drama is undoubtedly the very best bl production we got this year, yet sh*tty things keep coming and as a fan I'm done already.

Let's start from when Bright and Nonkul said since the very beginning that they won't be doing any fanservice or sell any ship just for the sake of making the series popular. This? This was brilliant, and I totally applauded them, because great actors like them don't need to do any of those things just to be relevant or successful. But of course, there was a big part of the fandom that was upset about this, saying that they should do fanservice for the series to become even more popular and whatnot. Things here were already becoming agitated.

Then, all the solo interviews that Bright was getting, in which all the questions were about the ship, fanservice, not a single question about his future work, his upcoming projects, nothing. It all revolved around that topic to the point that he had to clarify it with his most serious expression about how he doesn't want to grow his career based on a ship. And a ship that we all know won't be ever real because we are all aware of Nonkul's real-life relationship. So, even if they sold a ship, what would be the point? Nonsensical.

And here I have to talk a little bit about Nonkul's love life. I'm happy for him, congratulations to the couple, and I wish you all the happiness in the world, but the fact that he talked about this in not one, but two events which he attended with Bright, in which his co-star had to leave just so he can keep answering all those questions about his personal relationship... that's a no from me. There is a time and place for everything, and even he said that he would answer those questions during solo events which is alright, but then he did it again and... no. I respect him as an actor, and as a person, but those actions were not right.

And even after seeing how Thai media treats Bright, as if he's not there, as if he didn't star in the series, as if he's not one of the main cast in the drama... and they just keep disrespecting him, writing awful articles about him, never putting focus on his acting career, it's like they're all plotting to go against him.

Then we got the happiest announcement which was the special episode's date we were all waiting for, finally something to celebrate, right? Well, almost. Yes, it's great, and I bet the whole fandom is partying, but the fact that after that announcement we found out that Nonkul's upcoming drama is set to be released the day after ifylita's special episode??? What is happening? As far as I know, that drama was supposed to be expected for next year, but right after the special episode, really? Nobody can't tell me that this is not all plotted, nothing here makes sense. And of course, this is not Nonkul's fault, he's not the one who decides when the series is released, but this is too much. I'm actually speechless because he has another series going on right now (The Office Games), and another one is going to be released like??? Never seen this before, it's like they are not giving time to the audience to enjoy his current projects, and we all know they want to release this drama right now because of their real-life relationship.

Another thing: the constant topic about Bright and Nonkul hating each other's guts, where did that come from? Who started this? I even talked about this with a few ifylita fans during a podcast because we couldn't believe the sh*t that people were saying. I read this here, on Twitter, on Reddit, on Instagram, on TikTok, it's everywhere. People are just writing bullsh*t everywhere, discouraging people from watching the drama, saying that the main actors can't stand each other, and can't even breathe the same air, are you all okay out there?? At which moment did the actors express rejection to the other one? When did they ever talk badly about the other? Perhaps you are all expecting them to be best friends or something, and maybe they are just co-workers and that's it. Even Bright said they only talk about work, and that's alright, they do not need to have the deepest bond out there. If you have never worked once in your life, you won't understand this: work-related relationships rarely end in friendships, maybe you keep talking with some people, but real friendship? Yes, that's pretty uncommon.

And let me tell you that if they did hate each other, then why is Nonkul always talking about a possible second season? Would you want to work once again with someone you supposedly hate? Please, start using your brains for once. These two actors respect and support each other, stop making up things, we have enough already.

I'm tired mentally, and I'm done, I'll keep spreading the ifylita love everywhere because it has become my favorite bl series, I'll keep supporting the actors, but I'll ignore all drama that will happen in the future, because it has been a month since the series ended, and we haven't had a single peaceful day, and it's too much. I've seen plenty of people on Twitter wishing and praying that bad things would stop, and they don't, so on my part I won't involve myself anymore. We don't deserve this, we all just wanted to enjoy a great drama, not be angry, sad, and frustrated every single day. That's it.

[secondary-colorentimy]

have you seen the sonic x shadow game yet !! im so hyped

AHH !! sonadow generations yesss!!! (sonic x shadow!!! look it up on google!!) but for real generations was previously my favorite sonic game for years so im pretty excited to see it remastered, i hope its good loll!! 😭 or at least decent 👏 cant wait to play it !! and the shadow stuff!! argh it looks so cool, usually im not a huge fan of shadow being inserted where he doesnt need to be simply for the sake of shadow being there (i think a lot of his appearances are fanservice nowadays) but it looks…promising!