#the zone cast cosplay

[nexuspudge]

𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒖𝒔 𝑹𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 𝑰𝒏!

[starlight-seeker]

So uh

Remember my Lup cosplay?

This?

Yeah. She had a GLOW UP. Here’s some pics from the con recently with my boyfriend as Barry 🥺👖💋🌂🔥

@normalcryptid

Nerd. 💙

[ofmdrecaps]

09/06-07/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Ruibo Qian; Vico Ortiz; Kristian Nairn; Anapela Polataivao; Erroll Shand; Andrew DeYoung; Kay Buchanen; RoseCityComicCon OFMD Panel; Tell Tale Voting Reminder; Another Call To Action; Help Matt Maher go to ECCC!; Love Notes; Daily Darby / Today's Taika;

Hey Crew, I'm working on reaching out to folks to get permission to post more Rose City Comic Con pictures! Hope to have more up tomorrow.

== David Jenkins ==

David and Kinga got married! So happy for you Chaos Dad!

Source: David and Kinga's Instagram

== Rhys Darby ==

SO MUCH RHYS today! He was out doing comedy at Largo LA!

Source: LargoLosAngelos More Comedy with Rhys, 9/10/24 at 8 PM in LA! Learn more!

Guess who's substack is up!?

Source: Rhys Darby's Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

The Toronto International Film Festival is on! Indigenous.tv is reminding you to keep an eye out for Taika!

Source: Indigenous TV

== Ruibo Qian ==

Ruibo is in Shanghai!

Source: Ruibo Qian's Instagram

== Vico Ortiz ==

Vico and Ane are cosplaying Crowley and Aziraphale at Rose City Comic Con!

Vico will also be part of the Drag Pac's Youth Town Hall on Sept 14, 2024 at the Plaza De La Raza LA! Wanna check it out? Visit their site!

Source: Vico's Instagram

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristian Djing "Hold the Decks" for us!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

== Anapela Polataivao ==

Our beloved Auntie's movie TINĀ (MOTHER) will be premiering at the Hawaii Film Festival this year in October!

"HIFF44 opens at the Consolidated Theatres Kahala with the World Premiere and directorial feature debut of Miki Magasiva’s nuanced drama from New Zealand/Aotearoa. Samoan actor Anapela Polata’ivao (ONE THOUSAND ROPES, OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH, SHORTLAND STREET) portrays Mareta, a well-respected and gifted vocal coach in her community, who finds herself at a crossroads, needing to find work after the tragic death of her daughter, a death she is still processing. Mareta goes out of her comfort zone to become a substitute teacher at an elite, all-white private school and forms a choir that begins her healing as a matriarch and caregiver. Director Miki Magasiva and actress Anapela Polata’ivao are scheduled to attend HIFF44 Opening Night."

New Zealand/Aotearoa 2024 | English, Samoan w/English Subtitles | 124M

Source: HIFF Instagram and Website

== Erroll Shand ==

Everyone's sending love to Erroll for his role in The Twelve! Really hoping it'll be available outside of NZ soon!

Source: Jodie Rimmer Instagram

== Andrew Deyoung ==

One of our writers had their new movie premiered at the TIFF!

Source: FilmAndy Instagram

== Kay Buchanan ==

Our fabulous leather worker-- Kay Buchanan has a new movie coming out that she worked on props for! Grafted, a AoNZ horror film will be released in AoNZ on Sept 12! Check out the trailer on her IG!

Source: Kay Buchanan's Instagram

== Rose City Comic Con ==

Our crewmates over at @adoptourcrew were kind enough to share updates from the Cast Panel at Rose City ComicCon this weekend! If you have twitter, you can check it out over at Adopt Our Crew Thread. If not, you can see them below!

Source: Adopt Our Crew Twitter

== Tell Tale Voting Reminders! ==

Only a few more days to vote for Stede and Ed in Tell Tale TV's Battle of the Ships! Please vote here when you get a chance!

Source: Tell Tale TV's Instagram

== Another Call to Action! ==

Sounds like there's going to be another anniversary trailer happening on 09/15! Several crewmates are asking to QRT David's Tweet here with the text "Because The Night Belongs To Lovers #OurFlagMeansDeath" and something a little extra to help keep from being flagged as spam! Let's get ofmd trending again that day!

Source: Lucy's Twitter

== Help Matt Maher go to ECCC! ==

Looks like a few of our crewmates talked to Matthew Maher (Black Pete) and he really wants to go to Seattle! Let's help him get to Emerald City Comic Con, if you have a moment, please put in a request to have him as a guest at their next con! Thank you to Mira (@/havethisonelife on twitter) and @/Callousnstrange for trying to help Matt!

Source: CallousnStrange / Mira (HaveThisOneLife)

== Fan Spotlight ==

= The Gay Pirate News Hour =

The inaugural episode of Gay Pirate News Hour is out now covering a month's worth of OFMD fandom news and speculation including David Jenkins getting married, Rose City Comic Con, and reasons to clown about season 3. GPNH will be live on youtube once a month!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram/Youtube

== Loves Notes ==

Hey there lovelies! I've been sitting with my Dad in the hospital for a few days, and it's given me a lot to think about. Today especially was particularly hard, and I wanted to send out a couple reminders I think are important.

It's okay to be scared. Things don't always go as we plan, and scary things DO happen, and you are absolutely valid in feeling fear in the unknown.

It's okay to ask for help. Sometimes, even if you are the proudest person in the entire world, you need help, and it's okay to ask for that help. Even if you're estranged, or have difficult relationships, ask for help, the worst that can happen is someone says no. Better to know for sure then not ask.

You're absolutely wonderful lovelies. You. When you're scared, when you're happy, when you're sad, you're beautiful, and you're wonderful, and you deserve love and help just like anyone else. Please ask for it if you need it <3 Rest well, I'm rooting for you.

Source: MichellCClark Instagram

== Daily Darby / Today's Taika ==

Today's theme is hair, gifs courtesy of these wonderful folks, @piratesleeves and @unaragazzadelnord

[14dayswithyou]

The gang at Disney headcanons?

Ren He'd secretly want to go on all of the fast paced, thrill-seeking rides and haunted attractions; but he'll stay by your side and go on all the rides you want to instead. Ren will pay for you, and you only — everyone else has to supply their own ticket and money to buy food, drinks, and souvenirs. He also won't let anyone else sit next to you and will 100% take up the entire seat if necessary jdhgjhds

Moth They're with you in spirit! Right now, Moth can't afford to travel abroad just to go to Disneyland T_T But if they could, they would prefer meeting the Disney cast and taking pictures with them! It might even give Moth ideas on who to cosplay next.

Violet She'd want to check out all of the attractions and landmarks! Lots and lots of photos are taken that day, and she'll happily go dressed (vaguely) as Kida Nedakh if you wanted to dress up as well ^^ She also somehow keeps getting seated next to Teo on all of the rides, and it takes everything in herself not to unscrew his safety harness every time.

Elanor One of the only two who actually has a plan for the day ^^; She has the entire map memorised and the most optional route from A to B fully panned out. El is usually the type to bring her own snacks, sunscreen, and spare hats for everyone; and greatly prefers to stand to the side and wave at the gang while they zip past on all of the rides.

Conan Designated Dad™️ of the group and the other one with a plan. Conan is probably the one who carpooled everyone to and from the airport/hotel, and will most likely be the one who drives everyone back to Corland Bay. Like Elanor, he's more than happy to sit on a bench while everyone else has fun. He'll wear the Mickey ears if you put them on him — but only if you share your photos of the characters to his phone later (so he can show them to his daughter!)

Jae Bee lines straight to the bumper cars and the closest water park with you (and by extension - Ren), Leon, and Teo in tow. He's the one that gets chewed out by Elanor for not waiting half an hour to finish his churo before swimming, and also the one to buy cute little Disney accessories for Maple. Jae probably won't go on any of the rollercoasters, but he'll happily go on all of the teacup rides!

Leon Happily goes along with whatever you have planned! He doesn't really have any expectations or desires, though he does find the thrill rides/rollercoasters especially interesting. Would probably be the one going on the drop towers and laughing his head off while Jae is screaming for dear life and Ren is stone-faced next to him.

Teo All of the little kids will 100% mistaken him for Gaston, so you have to be the one to pull him away before he starts swearing and saying vulgar phrases. Teo probably prefers going on the scary rides just to watch your mortified expression and have someone cling to his biceps. He'll also sneak off into the restricted zones for fun, so make sure to keep an eye on him (or ask Elanor to).

Olivia Only came along because she won free tickets from a raffle. She situates herself next to Ren and Teo always, and gets a bit irked whenever Ren follows after you like a lost puppy instead of her. Olivia would want to try all of the different foods and get a souvenir to remember the day by! She might also ask you to burn any embarrassing pictures of her from all of the fast-paced rides.

Kiara Doesn't mind paying for everyone, and is most likely good friends with the hotel manager at the place you're staying at (so you knoooow you're getting good rooms!!). Would likely be trying all of the foods with Olivia or taking photos of flowers for her mood-board/fashion inspiration folder back in London. Secretly buys matching cellphone charms for herself and Elanor. If you catch her, she'll most likely buy one for you too.

[catgirlscout]

Johnshi Week 2024 | Day 3 | DnD Headcanons

Since the prompt for day 3 of #johnshiweek2024 by @johnshidaily was DnD Au, I thought I'd share some headcanons for Johnny and Kenshi.

You can also read them and chapter 2 on my Ao3!

Johnny would definitely go all out. He would make up a whole intricate backstory, act out his role, and put on a full cosplay for every session. His dice match his character, and he even bought and painted a miniature himself.

I can imagine that he would also love to be the DM and create his own little TTRPG campaigns. He loves improvising and gives each side character a distinct voice. Everyone always gets super intense during fights, and he feels very proud of himself for being able to pull his friends into the scene. If they would struggle making a character sheet, he would help them and throw in some prompts.

Back in school, he used to be a real nerd about DnD. He still has all of the books. This is really where his love for screenwriting comes from.

As for his character, he is really diverse. He loves to make new ones and figure out every little detail about them. In a game with the MK1 cast, I think he’d be either a Paladin or a Bard. I’d personally choose Paladin over Fighter in his case, because he wants to fight for the right cause and be a knight of the people. And if he’s playing as a Bard, he’s definitely gonna try to romance everything and anything!

He loves playing as any race that isn’t fully human for the fantasy experience. Non-human species have a special place in his heart. So, his choices would probably be Halfling, Orc, or Dragonborn. Perhaps even Elf, but he would probably stray away from your typical perfect, never-aging Elf, even though he’s fancy like that. But he prefers the whole underdog, having to train hard to become the hero storyline. Twist villains or morally gray characters are also totally his thing.

Kenshi, on the other hand, never had time for games in his youth due to growing up with the Yakuza breathing down his family’s neck. But of course he let his best friend Johnny talk him into it. He’s pretty new to DnD and doesn’t quite get the rules yet, but once he’s in the zone, he really gets sucked into the world-building, exploring everything there is and leaving no stone unturned and chest unopened. It’s become his escape from reality in a way, at least for a little while.

His character would probably be pretty true to himself, and he would make choices based on what he would do in real life. Of course he always fights with a sword, preferably an old family blade that wields some type of magic. He doesn’t roleplay so much, although he begins talking very epically when he’s making important decisions. From that point on, his character goes through a lot of development.

For class, Johnny advised him to go with Warlock, but Rogue would also be a good alternative. Race-wise, he would most definitely go with Tiefling, as that is closest to what he feels like, and the fiendish ancestral origins fit best with his actual background. When given the option, Kenshi also always chooses to lose his eyesight one way or another, if he doesn’t start out blind. Both Liu Kang and Johnny have continuously told him he doesn’t need to, but he does it anyway. The self-insert is real!

[pink-lightsabre]

c3 105 thoughts dump

when... are we getting new opening titles... please i wanna see more of dorian in the beginning credits...

IMOGEN GIRL WHY ARE YOU NOT INSIGHT CHECKING THIS CONVERSATION. WHY ARE YOU TAKING THIS AT FACE VALUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oooooooooooooh she's gonna broadcast downfall. "it'll harm everyone." while that is true. i dont think yall can hoard that information. personally.

we really didn't do any check about that. wow. that feels ill advised!!!!!!!!

a mass poisoning???????? perhaps a little like molaesmyr?????

it could be a trap! that's true! which is why IMOGEN NEEDED TO DO A CHECK ABOUT IT!!!!!!

do not. try to bargain with fearne's bio dad. please.

oooooooooh what IS ira doing. that's a great question.

"i thought we would have A plan and now it seems like we have A LOT of plans." dorian that's so relatable

man i wish the silken squall was at this meeting. i understand that theyre not bc they're very isolationist but. i want to see dorian interacting with his parents SO bad

the judicators are still so fucking creepy. and the fact that aeor had their own arcane version FUCKS me up.

"it's pretty low... 24." LMAO

i hope someone gave vex advanced warning that dragons were gonna be there. otherwise her favored enemy ranger sense gotta be going BANANAS.

braius flirting with dorian. absolutely hilarious. 12/10 sam i love it.

"i've got my faith in you. and my finger." // "it's a pretty big finger." // "dont underestimate me." ROBBIE

RARY'S TELEPATHIC BOND!!!!!! THE GROUPCHAT!!!!!!

pie dice!!!!!!!! i love that.

oooooooooooooooooooh who is there. WHO IS THERE!!!!!!

fearne being poly is so special to me. i love it.

robbie cosplaying as dorian with the deep necklines of his shirts. is chefs kiss.

braius sticking his nose EVERYWHERE. way to go sam.

HELLO MATTHEW WHAT THE FUCK

DORIAN'S DAD IS THERE?????????????????????????

APPARENTLY I WAS WRONG AND THEY ARE THAT ISOLATIONIST. OH MY MCFUCKING GOD.

i need to run laps around my house. i cant handle this.

oh no cyrus looked like their mom. D;

"i'll shake it off."

DRAGONS!!!!!!!

FIRE ASHARI!!!!!!!!!! robbie gets to know the feeling of a character he voiced being there! i love this for him.

related to that. i cannot w a i t for the robbie daymond c4 permanent cast member announcement.

zone of truth cast by a fucking dragon!!!!!!!! my god that's so cool. but jesus christ what is the DC on that. 20 apparently!

robbie calling himself the rizzler. hate that. LMAO.

it's not bolo. and that is a TRAGEDY. LONG LIVE BOLO.

VOX MACHINA TO THE MALLEUS KEY. LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

people being upset that vm gets to take down the malleus key and m9 gets to take down the weave mind while bh takes down ludinus. understandable i suppose but COULD NOT be me. i love how interconnected c3 is to everything and i love the other heroes getting to take other shit down.

"time is short." // "and so am i."

"ash. just for a few minutes. lock it up." THAT'S RIGHT DORIAN.

ashton i swear to god... do not blow this...

PHEW thank god braius can lie. my god. SPECTACULAR work braius. way to fucking go.

PLUS FOURTEEN!!!!

saint graham... sam what the hell

travis peer pressuring his wife into using her abilities. i fucken love it.

LOVE the contingent from the matron's temple supporting laudna. absolutely wonderful.

i want. the first thing. that dorian's father says to him. to be about dorian wearing gold.

ashton going to talk and EVERYONE going "no no nonononono!!!!!" hugely relatable

okay okay that wasn't bad actually!!!! way to go ash!

magical girl fearne in her titan transformation. amazing.

a bard with performance anxiety! truly i love that so much. robbie ur mind. absolutely genius.

orym can you step up and talk about all dorian has to offer

ROBBIE YOUR MIND. ABSOLUTELY GENIUS.

F I N D G R E A T E R S T E E D

"orym totally blue screens" oh so relatable. a HUGE mood. i've also been that horny.

chetney reminding everyone that he's old... old as balls...

all the speeches were so good. i am. of course. absolutely biased towards dorian's.

OH THESE TITLES F U C K

does chetney have A KID

liam GLARING at matt while he's playing dorian's dad. EXTREMELY relatable.

"word of cyrus's passing has reached us." O U G H E "we wanted to make sure you were properly aware." excuse me whilst i sob on the floor.

oh no. oh no this is not how i thought this was gonna go. oh no i'm gonna cry. dorian "locks up with physical affection" storm. my favorite for a reason.

OH NO SAM WEARING THE FRIDA HOODIE. I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE. frida still doesn't know what happened to fcg....

NOT DORIAN CRYING IN HIS FATHER'S ARMS

aaaaaaaaaaand there's the other shoe dropping! "those willing and capable" because you think dorian ISN'T?

y e a h this is more how i thought this was gonna go. oughe my heart.

there's dorian's anger! oh it is so precious to me.

i'm gonna throw up dude. oh my god. matt and robbie i love you. IS THE ZONE OF TRUTH UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a deeply revealing question!

A CEREMONIAL BLADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"a smile and a look in his eyes you've been chasing your entire life. pride." O U G H E

"you made my favorite toys growing up." HAHA I KNEW IT.

THE C-POPPERS!!!!!!! chetney has a fan club this is so great.

"can i get a painty." m a t t h e w

chet calling imogen his assistant. what a throw back to dorian and imogen at the masque in jrusar.

braius you silver tongued motherfucker.... god that's so good

PIKE!!!!!!!!

THIS IS TRUTHBEARER. LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

that's so funny. oh my god.

HOW MUCH HE LOVES DORIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! liam obrien i am kissing you on the mouth

LIAM OBRIEN I AM KISSING YOU ON THE MOUTH

dorian and orym having so many conversations AROUND how much they love each other. never actually saying it. or talking to each other about it directly. makes me want to chew concrete.

oh ashton....................... i love u. i really do.

"i think what she said was trustworthy" AGAIN YOU WOULD HAVE A BETTER IDEA IF YOU DID A CHECK ABOUT IT

imogen and keyleth... kiki saying imogen reminds her of a younger her... saying she's gonna need to convince the rest of vm to do this malleus key mission... oh i am sick

matthew.......... why the random d20 roll

oh if we're going back to nana morri does that mean SOMEONE will FINALLY ask orym about his not new anymore magic and how/why/where it came from. or if there's a conversation between orym and nana morri about the state of his deal since fcg died.

chetney you dumbass. that was NEVER gonna happen. HER CALLING HIM A YOUNGIN. amazing.

the BQILF lmao

y'all simply HAVE to be more careful with ashton and the worshippers of the luxon. this is how people get kidnapped and experimented on in underground layers.

oh the tragedy of ashton only getting to be okay and not in pain when he's in the titan form. ugh that makes me so sad.

god i love callowmoore so much!!!

ASHTON BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAREEEEEEEEEEFUL

chetney is so excited about having a fan. i love this for travis so much LMAO.

NOT WHISPERS ABOUT WAYLOND

"he made me a beautiful toy boat! i gave it to a street urchin." LMAO

THANK YOU MARISHA FOR CALLING OUT DEALS MADE WITH NANA MORRI

this is truly so funny. i relate to this man so much.

"this is the room you're gonna die in." // "i'm okay with that."

[secret-diary-of-an-fa]

Doctor Who: Rogue Review (Doctor Hoot. I Swear That'll be Funny the End of this Review)

You know, I never thought I’d be this grateful to see a murderous owl-person kill someone with lightning and then steal their face, but here we fucking are! Six episodes into an eight-episode run and I’ve never been happier to see Regency ponces get fried with space-electrics. Y’see, Rogue is yer basic bread-and-butter Who episode: a confined environment with a colourful cast of characters who serve as cannon-fodder for a quirky monster-of-the-week with a batshit crazy motive. The Doctor and Insert-Companion-Here show up for a good time then realise there’s a monster-of-the-week at work (because the Doctor is a man who can’t go five minutes without running into something that wants to eat human bones or enslave a planet or whatever) and then they Do A Thing that solves the problem. Along the way, there’s some romance, some cheap shots about how shit and unequal the past was (yeah, ‘cause the 21st Century’s a fucking rose garden- people in glass houses should probably learn to jack off in the basement, etc.) It’s all very funny and energetic and entertaining but at the end the status-quometer has moved maybe one quarter of a degree. In any series of Doctor Who from 2005 to 2015, Rogue would have come and gone largely unnoticed: an enjoyable bit of filler rounding out a twelve-to-thirteen episode run because it can’t all be Daleks and Weeping Angels and meditations on man’s inhumanity to man. Here, in the year 2024, it arrives like a cool, refreshing glass of water in a desert, brought to you, the viewer, by a sexy little butler in very formal hot-pants.

See, aside from Boom! (which had a very good point to make and made it very well), this series of Who has been… well, it hasn’t been bad. Russel T. Davies can write a diverting 45 minutes of television and nobody can take that away from him. But it hasn’t reached the stellar heights of certain the original Who come-back either. Between the Space Babies being creepier than that episode’s monster-that-wasn’t-really-a-monster (NEWS! NEWS! NEWS! unsurprising twist is unsurprising!), Jinkx Monsoon not getting the acting direction she needed to make Maestro properly terrifying, the giant slugs that literally didn’t move the entire time they were on screen and a woman in black whose power was making people run off in a surprisingly camp way, this series has felt very short on effective antagonists. I mean, I get that the vibe we’re going for is ‘the real monster was mankind all along’ chic, but that’s The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror, not Doctor Who. It’d be like if Red Dwarf suddenly came back as a serious drama (aside to whoever’s making the upcoming three eps of Red Dwarf: PLEASE DON’T DO THAT, THERE ARE SO FEW THINGS LEFT THAT I LOVE THAT HAVEN’T BEEN RUINED). So, when, within the first few minutes of Rogue, one Regency Ponce grabbed another by the lapels and fried him with lightning before assuming his form (and then we got a shot of something with a beak), I was like “Oh thank fuck for that! I thought the death-ambulances from Boom! were going to be the only interesting villains this season!”

So, you probably already know (because why would you be reading about Doctor Who if you’re not also watching Doctor Who? It’s not like its a monolith of cultural relevance any more), there are two plots going on in Rogue. The A-plot is that shapeshifting Murder-Owls (the episode calls them ‘Childer’, but they’re fucking Murder-Owls and I will fight anyone who says otherwise) are killing people to assume their form and ‘cosplay’ as human beings. They’re bored: it’s how they pass the time. The B-Plot, meanwhile, involves the Doctor having a whirlwind romance with the titular Rogue, who is a bounty-hunter from the future sent to capture or kill the Murder-Owls. Ultimately, the two plots tie together in a way that gives the episode its emotional heart. Without spoiling anything, the Doctor must sacrifice his budding relationship with Rogue in order to save the day from the monsters-of-the-week, while Rogue, whose been playing the heartless vagabond all episode, must knowingly sacrifice the same in order to save the Doctor’s companion, Ruby, knowing that that friendship and her wellbeing is more important than his own, thereby proving that he was worthy of the Doctor after all, even though proving it means they can’t be together. On paper, it makes perfect sense. In practice… it has some flaws. See, there’s a lot going on in Rogue and the generally fast pacing of Fifteen’s adventures is much in evidence here, but a compelling romance- even a compelling flirtation- takes time to execute properly. It kinda feels like the two don’t really have enough breathing room: they fall for each other in record time because the plot demands it and then get irrevocably separated at the end, also because the plot demands. There’s no sense of slowly building attraction and mutual chemistry, which is a shame, because Rogue himself is an interesting character who, in an ideal universe (one where, for example, season lengths didn’t keep shrinking and squeezing out grace notes) he might have come back and developed properly. Now, even if he does come back, they rushed through so much of his relationship with the Doctor, I’m not sure how they’d salvage it.

I suppose I should mention the fact that it’s the Doctor’s first gay fling. Oh, would you look at that, I just did and now we can move on. Joking aside, I do have some thoughts on the Doctor’s signwaving sexuality, but since none of them are dementedly homophobic or, conversely, overtly Pride-y, they’re not really relevant to this specific episode: they’re more general notes on characterisation and how to do it well from the perspective of a budding professional writer WHO IS GOING TO BE READING AT A PROPER LITERARY FESTIVAL LATER THIS YEAR LIKE A FUCKING BOSS, BY THE WAY! Really, I think the pacing issues here would kill the flair regardless of the gender of the other person involved and that’s kinda all I can add for now. I feel, however, that I can’t really blame writers Kate Herron and Briony Redman. They’re working within the constraints of a shortened season part-funded by an American corporation that doesn’t understand it and produced under the aegis of a showrunner who, while perfectly competent, seems to have lost the magic he had when he brought the series back in 2005.

If all this sounds a bit negative… well, it is and it isn’t. Yes, my opinion of this season of Doctor Who isn’t high compared the show’s heyday, but I am enjoying it enough that I want to see it improve. I don’t critique out of hate, but out of love; out of a desire to see something I cherish learn and improve. We know Doctor Who can be better, so why isn’t it?

But this episode, specifically? Yes, it’s good. The problem is that in most previous seasons it would have been below-average good, whereas in this season it’s above-average good. On the one hand, that’s a bit sad. On the other hand, it’s proof that there are still people around the BBC who know how to write an episode of Doctor Who in the classic mould, and that seems like a good foundation to build on.

[takaraphoenix]

I'm halfway through the first season of One Piece and I'm so madly, deeply in love with this.

The most important part about an adaptation is staying true to the characters. Not only do these actors perfectly capture the personalities and quirks of the Strawhats, they also look perfect. The fact that this adaptation didn't shy away from the anime hair colors is impeccable to me, I love that so much. Not to mention the accurate casting according to what Oda-san once said the characters would correspond to in our real world.

The costumes? This is... this is like watching a cosplay gathering, honestly? The most source material accurate costumes I've ever seen in an adaptation, I think? Down to the little details! I mean, they could have gone off-script beyond the most iconic costumes of the main cast but every little costume detail I recognize from the anime makes me so overjoyed.

The dynamic between the actors. Oh, it's also been a hot minute since I rewatched the anime from the start so seeing them all start out as freshlings, getting to know each other, it's such a joy.

It's also just the little details, like hearings Bink's Sake in episode two?

This feels, fundamentally, like something made by someone who really knows and loves One Piece - and that's more than you can say about most adaptations.

And the effects look good too! I mean, of course does the stretchy lad look weird because humans aren't supposed to be able to do that, but him, Buggy coming apart and back together, the Sea King? All the weird anime-things that are easy to incorporate in animation, they're... working?

I'm also in love with the fights. And that's a genuinely baffling thing to say for me, because I hate fight scenes. So much. I'm known to just skip forward during Lord of the Rings rewatches when there's fighting, I always zone out when movies or shows have fighting sequences, but something about the way these are choreographed makes it really exciting to watch because they feel more like, I don't know, dancing? In that they're interesting to watch and not boring punch-punch violence?

I am having the time of my life watching this. I'm enjoying every minute of this show. I thought, at best, this would be a good laugh - because how can you adapt OP with actors - but... they made an adaptation faithful to both characters and plot, and they made it fun to watch and I'm baffled and excited and grateful for that, because how did I get lucky enough that my favorite anime of all time is the... first anime in history (known to me) to get a good American live-action adaptation?

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Resurrect Bracket (Losers Bracket) Side A

ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to [make it to the finals]

Propaganda below ⬇️

Temenos

so his whole thing is he's an inquisitor who is just fundamentally bad at being a priest on account of he does things like forgetting scripture and not being able to help but doubt the institution which gets everyone hes ever cared about killed. he's gay. he says shit like "careful, i bite". he's in yuri with a holy knight. he's one of my favorite characters and i want to beat him over the head with a cast iron skillet

fucked up gay little cleric who was supposed to grapple with the fact that the institution he serves is corrupt except he has been in doubt from the very beginning and very clearly doesnt put much stock in the scripture hes made it his lifes work to preach. hes kinda a freak with it. every line he speaks is said with the cadence of a gay guy checking under his nails while ignoring you as he talks. i have to hit him with mallets and shatter him into pieces.

This man is the world's worst clergyman. He's a high ranking member of the holy inquisition, but nobody respects him and he mostly just uses his position to investigate random murders for fun. He regularly forgets how the bible goes and little kids have to correct him on how the plot goes of the jrpg equivalent of jesus's resurrection. He has a holy knight for a boyfriend. He tortures people for information any other character can just ask for. His best friend out of the rest of the main 8 is an assassin and gang member. He tries to get people to commit crimes with him. His story is about uprooting the corruption in his church and killing high ranking church members and also Literal Fucking Jrpg satan. He regularly blasphemes and everyone around him looks in horror as he shouts at god and encourages people to become atheists. His catchphrase is "doubt is what I do." He is still somehow the most devout character in the entire game despite being a total fuck up of a cleric who does not deserve to be here whatsoever. Pls let him win it'd be SO FUNNY

Hes genuinely just the funniest guy. Very little about his story has to do with the faith but like. He routinely roasts the entire pantheon of in-universe gods. He beats people up (metaphorically of course) as one of his main game mechanics. He got stamped as the resident gayboy SO fast. His starliner definitely has higher intelligence than wisdom even though clerics use wisdom. Every chapter he appears in he solves a mystery by zoning out so hard his god blesses him with extremely vivid hallucinations. He's so deeply fucking traumatized. One of his battle skills is fully just beating his enemies up with his staff. He ends up defunding the police. He can very casually become a thermonuclear bomb but in a very holy way. His best friend is a 23-year-old assassin that exclusively calls him "Detective". Is he Catholic (ish)? Yeah, but he certainly doesn't always act like it.

He constantly commits heresy and doubts the gods but is still the not-Pope's right hand man

Listen, imagine you'd go to church and your priest gets roasted by kids for forgetting how the bible goes. That's him, canonically even. He's like if a redditor who wants to be a detective was cosplaying as a holy man. He's someone whose whole thing is doubting the gods and the church, to the point where he makes another person question his faith too, even though he is technically The holy man. He's absolutely unhinged and gay. He's 30 years old and absolutely does not look like it. He's traumatized, and cannot be sincere and honest about his feelings even once. He should go to therapy actually. Like desperately. For his sake and everyone around him.

he is from the faith but he doubts everything around him to find the truth through it........ also i'd like to see him torment the crotchety priest i had to do a face-to-face confession with in high school. it'd be funny.

FATHER BROWN BUT MAKE HIM GAY AND PLAGUED BY TRUST ISSUES. This man will forget his own sermons, beat people up for infos and, at the same time, gets to be the fantasy equivalent of a youth pastor. He somehow manages to be the most unhinged person in a party that includes a vengeful math professor who can and WILL mug people. He might not be the most devout Catholic of them all, but he is definitely the *funniest* one. Give it up for the world's shittiest priest!

i’m gonna be honest temenos is a TERRIBLE catholic but he’s funny and i love him. he also has a weird gay thing going on with a paladin it’s great.

Link

Well, maybe not specifically catholic. But behold, OFFICIAL ART: https://cdn.wikimg.net/en/zeldawiki/images/a/ab/LinkPraying.png

in the original legend of zelda game there’s a bible (localized to the book of magic due to nintendo of america’s guidelines), a cross in the adventure of link, and in a link to the past, there’s art of him kneeling in front of a crucifix. hyrule has its own religions but there are undeniable christian roots.

[autumnbrambleagain]

fondly reminiscing about dark souls pvp, let's rank them

Dark Souls 1

Invasions: Hard to access, if you want to do a low level pvp twink invasion you have to earn it by beating half the game at a low level. Still a chance to run into people 100 levels higher than you who are invader-catching. A chaotic mess, positively. Sometimes you chase a newbie as they run in fear. Sometimes Havel ambushes you. Sometimes infamous hacker Tallgeese sees you but he likes your funny bloated sorcerer cosplay where you cast the laugh spell a lot, so they banish you from their world and send you a message saying "That was amusing. You get to live." You have no idea what you're going to get. A true disaster mess. I miss it every day. You were indicted. 10/10.

Darkroot Garden: A fun sidezone where people invade you all the time, or you can invade people who dare to trespass. Lots of fun shenanigans. Work for a hot cat monster protecting Artorias' grave, the flavor adds a lot to the meal. 8/10.

An Arena or Something?: I think they eventually added a 1v1 pvp zone but everyone just did fight clubs in Oolacille or Undeadberg and that was fun too. No thrill of the hunt, though. Nothing staked, nothing gained, nothing lost. Masturbation. 6/10.

Dark Souls 2

Invasions and Counterinvasions: Holy shit. You mean blue cops now show up to HELP people being invaded? Fantastic. But there's no unlimited red eye, and soul memory means you eventually outlevel your desired zone no matter what (without the ring). You have to do the tryhard arena to get reliable red eye cracks without cheating in an infinite amount. Takes a lot of the luster out of it. BUT, but the level designs lead to a lot of super fun shenanigans, and the chance of fighting, or being, a bluecop, made it more fair for newbies too. Bonfire ascetics means you can reignite a zone and be invaded in it even after you beat the boss once, letting you draw in invaders to fun zones and have silly battle times. Incredible build possibility compared to the last game, with only a moderate chance of running into identical meta builds, lots of creativity if you stick to it. Ultimately loses a point off perfect because of the soft caps on invading, makes it up for all the other improvements. 9/10.

Bell Towers 1 AND 2: Basically Darkroot Garden, you and another rando invade in waves against someone and their friends. Hang out and see how long you can last before you have to run for the exit, or invade people over and over and see how you can ruin their day. 10/10.

Rats: Be the final boss of a dungeon you get to build up over time. Holy shit. The rat king is so fucking hot and he has an entire storyline where he goes from hatred for humans to dreaming of a day where you live and die together as one because of you showing him humans can be loyal and worthwhile too. Holy shit. My king. Work with your rat allies, set up traps, pick your position, bombard them from afar with magic or a bow or ambush them or just stand at the door like the final fucking boss encounter. Get sucked into someone's rat world and try to touchdown travid football them or dig in and fight them back. Fucking fantastic. Holy shit. The best it ever was. 999/10.

Blood Arena: And if that isn't enough, you can just queue up for some 1v1 tryhard face-smashing. Fine enough. Basically grindr for pvp. More build variety than DS1 makes it not so asinine and straight pvp without stakes or environment shenanigans has something to say for it this time at least? 6/10.

Dark Souls 3

Invasions and Counterinvasions: Well, they existed I'm sure. Undid a lot of DS2's limitations on it, but also didn't introduce anything special. ?/10? Kind of depends on where you invaded, when, who. Could be fun, could be boring, could be frustrating. If you liked invading in the previous dark souls you'll have fun enough in this one/10.

Another Forest I Guess: None of the flavor of the first one, and pretty much only visited by low level peeps. Covenant leader is a dead wolf that won't even talk to you. It was... fine. Mindlessly rehashing Darkroot Garden, down to you defending a bunch of Artorias cosplayers. Eh. 7/10.

Anor Londo Is Here For Some Reason: I don't know why you're working for Aldrich because they insisted none of the covenants have dialogue or personality this time around. It's just this but on Anor Londo. But, the monsters are on your side and there's a bunch, and the level is super fun to fight in, so it gets a bit of a pass. 8/10.

Mound Makers: Holy shit. This should have been more fun than it was, and it was already pretty damn fun. The ability to turn on other invaders and work with the players was really neat, be a cooperator and help them against monsters and then turn on them, hilarious, but it didn't get as much play as it could have but that's just on people not being funny enough with it. I wish the covenant had any explanation as to what a mound is or why you're building it, but at least it had a covenant member who explained anything to you. The game's redemption more or less. 9/10.

Arena: A lot of the PVP got shunted into the arena, but it was a decent arena system. Lots of build variety this time around, too. Didn't mind it one bit, but it felt a bit like masturbation when you could be having more organic pvp encounters. 6/10.

Elden Ring

Invasions and Counterinvasions: Only possible on people who already have a cooperator summoned. Usually multiple cooperators. Giant areas and chance to invade anywhere means you can never prepare or control the environment. Constant gank squads, moonveils, rivers of bloods. Rare that you find someone who wants to be invaded or enjoys it, usually people ganking or doing boss runs or coop and they resent having to deal with invaders. Stacked so heavily against the invader it's like they got tired of people complaining about how much it sucks to be invaded they decided to just make it miserable for invaders instead to discourage it from happening. 4/10 at best.

Arena: Again, feels more like masturbation instead of organic, natural pvp. Lots of neat build variety, though! Don't really get anything out of doing it, though. Uh. Wait. Wait is this all there is what do you mean it has less PvP zones and options than the original dark souls holy shit

Concluding Thoughts

Dark Souls 2 was the best dark souls and Elden Ring is the worst, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk

[regarding-stories]

Chill and slice of life: Wotakoi

Something I enjoyed very much was Wotakoi: Love is hard for Otaku, a slice of life series showcasing eventually six main characters grouped around otaku couple Hirotaka and Narumi. There's no grand romance or strong drama there but a quiet exploration of the otaku culture and relationships for young adults that have settled into the world.

You see, Narumi and Hirotaka were childhood friends, bonding over their love of games, manga, and similar pursuits. Hirotaka is an obsessive gamer, completely unashamed about it - and almost unashamed about his social shortcomings as well. Narumi walks the tightrope between appearing normal and hiding her otaku obsessions and actually living them. She's in on the deep end, though, publishes fan works, enjoys men-on-men love manga (yaoi) and is up for gaming, anytime. She however left her last job because she was outed as an otaku and left by her boyfriend. And in her new job she immediately runs into Hirotaka and discovers her reserved coworker Hanako is actually a hardcore otaku obsessed with cosplaying.

Being in full blown denial she goes drinking with Hirotaka only to tell him she would never date him, he's deep in the friend zone, and also not her type, while also admitting that she only dated assholes that did not really accept her for who she is. In the end, Hirotaka asks her to date him regardless, and Narumi agrees in spite of all she said.

Soon they are joined by Kabakura (the supervisor) and Hanako who are both also otaku who secretly date, and we watch them hang out together and build their friendship. Kabakura is a very closeted otaku who obsesses about manga and anime. He used to be sports rivals with Hanako in school and asked her to date him right when it was clear they would never compete again. They are a very stable couple while getting all heated up and fighting each other very often. This also stems in Kabakura not being able to express his feelings which makes Hanako, the outwardly confident woman very insecure. (Hell, Kabakura is the only character who's addressed only by his last name.)

Hiding in a society where everybody pretends

Both couples hide their relationships at work but spend significant time with each other, exploring their various nerdy pursuits. It's great to watch these four go full nerd on topics, join their passions, fight over them, get all hot and bothered.

One of the cutest scenes is when Narumi runs into Naoya, a cute barista, and they seem to hit it off while Kabakura and Hanako watch, with Kabakura all obsessing about the inappropriate closeness between the two, to the point that Hanako teases him that he's not Narumi's dad. The resolution is that Naoya is Hirotaka's little brother (which was obvious to Narumi) and the only normie in the cast, drawn into the world of otaku by the initial four characters. He's naive to a fault and an eternal sunshine of positivity, a strong opposite to his reserved, outright cold and unsocial brother.

Eventually he runs into the extremely shy introvert Kou and due to the way she dresses misses the fact she's a girl. Being unable to really make social connections due to her anxiety and obsessive thinking, Kou is also an extreme gamer like Hirotaka. She just doesn't get a chance to hide from Nao who elbows his way into her life. She's also incredibly adorable as a character and I'm personally glad every time I see her.

Once the cast is complete we see them put in various situations, like a company trip to the hot springs. Or Hirotaka and Narumi going on a date with a "no nerd stuff" rule. Or Kou being Nao's protector in games.

The actual romance between Narumi and Hirotaka is suggested to be a very slow burn for two consenting adults, hindered both by Hirotaka's shyness/problems with expressing feelings and how familiar they already are around each other. Things go even more slowly between Kou and Nao. I started volume 4 out of 6 (ended) and so far nothing has happened between the two. I hope it will.

But Wotakoi seems to go at its own pace and its view of human relationships seems more grounded than all these big feelings/dramatic confession stories, clearly aimed at a crowd that has already cooled down a bit over the realities of romance. It shines a loving light on the insecurities of its cast members and their relationships to each other. And while it takes place in the same kind of locations you would see in many other Japanese shows, it transports a completely different feel.

To me, Wotakoi is like a relaxing bath at the right temperature. It has charming characters and it lets us into their lives. Instead of being goal-driven (who does the protagonist end up with? will the heroine be won over?), it meanders like a river in nature, generating engaging situations and the small confessions, fights, and scenes of shared love that can flower in the more every-day way. I said it's relaxing, but it's never lame.

In fact, I'm very interested what will happen to all of them. If I had one criticism then it's that by now it has too many in-game scenes. In spite of what I said about it "meandering" I have the feeling it does go somewhere and that ultimately it's a romantic show about expanding feelings and familiarity, and in some sense I can't wait for that to unfold.

[EDIT] PS - I finished the collected manga volumes. Wotakoi gets even better as it races towards its end. I treasure all its characters. Go, Ko-kun!

[theultimatefan]

Superman, Supernatural, The Flash, Local Sessions Highlight Fan Expo Portland Panel Programming

Exclusive programming is a highlight for many FAN EXPO Portland attendees, with a wide variety of panels from start to finish. From “The Flash” Grant Gustin and panels with some of the stars of various iterations of the “Superman” franchise, to Jared Padalecki and six other “Supernatural” standouts and “Twilight” celebrity Q&As, to industry, cosplay, gaming, anime and entertaining, informative sessions from all areas of pop culture, the event has unveiled its lineup of more than 100 programming panel, screenings and meetups, Friday through Sunday, January 24-26 at the Oregon Convention Center.

FAN EXPO Portland programming operates multiple rooms throughout all three days during show hours and into the evenings. In addition to a landmark “Superman” session with Tom Welling, Dean Cain, Tyler Hoechlin and George Newbern and one with seven stars of “Supernatural” along with Q&As with headliners like Christopher Lloyd, Temuera Morrison, Dante Basco, Kate Micucci, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Catherine Tate and many others, there are dozens of informative, entertaining panels by superstar creators as well as cosplay, gaming, trivia, film, horror, podcasts, screenings and other pop culture themed sessions, many conducted by Portland-based organizations.

And programming extends beyond the panel rooms, with a Book Nook (Room X124, highlighting preschool and Head Start students, with a book drive for the Children’s Book Bank), as well as the Community Zone highlighting the best in local organizations, charities and interactive content.

Fans can review the entire event schedule at fanexpohq.com/fanexpoportland/schedule/. All panels are free with event admission. Just a few of the highlights include: Friday: • 4 p.m., So You Wanna Cosplay an AU: Everything you Need to Get Started, Panel Room B/B110 • 4:30 p.m., Into a Grimm World with Bitsie Tulloch and David Giuntoli, Theater #2/B113 • 5 p.m, The “One Piece” is Real! Q&A with Colleen Clinkenbeard, Luci Christian, Sonny Strait, Ian Sinclair and Michelle Rojas, Main Theater • 6 p.m., An Evening with Christopher Lloyd, Main Theater • 6 p.m., Drawing “The Simpsons” with Bill Morrison and Mike DeCarlo, Panel Room B/B110 • 6:30 p.m., Bovvered! A Conversation with Catherine Tate, Theater #2/B113 • 7 p.m. Hazbin Hotel with Blake Roman, Erika Henningsen, and Amir Talai, Main Theater • 7:30 p.m., Murder Mystery – Midnight at the Masquerade, Panel Room A/B119

Saturday: • 10:30 a.m., Cartoon Academy with Joe Wos: As Easy as ABC, Kids Zone/A109 • 11:30 a.m., Idolfest/Japanese Idol Culture, Theater #2/B113 • Noon, From Executive Producers Dwayne Johnson, Brian Volk-Weiss, And Dany Garcia – “Roboforce: The Animated Series” Sneak Peek, Theater #3/B111 • Noon, “The Flash”: A Heroic Journey with the Cast, Grant Gustin, Danielle Panabaker, Candice Patton, and Tom Cavanagh, Main Theater • 12:30 p.m., Spotlight with Corbin Bleu, Theater #2/B113 • 1 p.m., Spotlight on the Superior creator Dan Slott, Panel Room B/B110 • 1 p.m., “Twilight” Unveiled with Peter Facinelli and Rachelle Lefevre, Main Theater • 2 p.m., Hook, Zuko and More: A Conversation with Dante Basco, Main Theater • 2 p.m., Breaking into Comics with Ben, Kevin and Mostafa, Panel Room B/B110 • 3 p.m., Create Your Own Bookmark, Book Nook/C124 • 3 p.m., KPOP and JPOP Random Dance Play, Anime AQ/A105 • 3:30 p.m., Spotlight with Kate Micucci, Theater #2/B113 • 4 p.m., One Piece of Yamato! with Michelle Rojas, Theater #3/B111 • 4:30 p.m., Bringing Smiles to Kids in the NW, Panel Room A/B119 • 5 p.m., Plus Ultra! The My Hero Academia Voice Actors Panel with Colleen Clinkenbeard, Luci Christian and Monica Rial, Main Theater • 5:30 p.m., Feeling Super: Representation of Mental Health in Pop Culture, Panel Room A/B119 • 6 p.m., The Many Faces of Superman: A Tribute to The Man of Steel, with Tom Welling, Tyler Hoechlin, George Newbern, and Dean Cain, Main Theater

Sunday: • 11 a.m., Camera, Culture, and Combat: The Legacy of Filipino Martial Arts in Comics, Film, and TV, Panel Room B/B110 • 11:30 a.m., Voices Behind the Games: Meet Troy Baker, Theater #2/B113 • 11:30 a.m., How to Cosplay and YouTube with a Disability, with Colleen Cosplay, Panel Room A/B119 • Noon, The Many Faces of Temuera Morrison, Main Theater • 12:30 p.m., FAN EXPO Portland Kids’ Cosplay Red Carpet, at Cosplay Red Carpet • 12:30 p.m., Get Ready for a Fun Time with Kellen Goff, Theater #2/B113 • 1 p.m. Out for a Bite: Meet James Marsters, Main Theater • 1:30 p.m., McLovin and Beyond with Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Theater #2/B113 • 2 p.m., Guy Gilchrist, Jim Henson’s Cartoonist, Theater #3/B111 • 2 p.m., The Winchesters & Beyond “Supernatural” super panel with Jared Padalecki, Mark Sheppard, DJ Qualls, Alexander Calvert, Samantha Smith, Jim Beaver and Mark Pellegrino, Main Theater • 2:30 p.m., The Weight of Loss; Exploring Death in Anime, Panel Rom A/B119 • 3 p.m., Epic Tales with John Rhys-Davies, 3 p.m., Main Theater • 4 p.m., From Hell to Hotel: A Wild Ride with Hazbin & Helluva, with Richard Horvitz, Bryce Pinkham, Vivian Nixon Williams, Blake Roman, Erika Henningsen and Amir Talai, Main Theater

FAN EXPO Portland features the biggest and best in pop culture: movies, TV, music, artists, writers, exhibitors, cosplay, with three full days of themed programming to satisfy every fandom. Portland is the second event on the 2025 FAN EXPO HQ calendar; the full schedule of events is available at fanexpohq.com/home/events/.

[theanimeview]

[Event Review] Anime Pasadena 2023

By: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee

TL/DR

This was a very enjoyable and well-attended mid-tier convention (around 15,000 attendees) with a lot of official vendors, art vendors, and English VAs hosting panels/meet-and-greets. Spend one day if you’re mainly planning to shop; spend two days if you also want to attend panels. Plan to arrive as soon as possible in the morning because once parking at the convention center fills up, additional parking structures in the surrounding area will require a good amount of walking to get to and from the convention.

Location: Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E Green St, Pasadena, CA 91101

Date: 4-5 November 2023

I attended for Day 1 and spent it mainly on shopping and slightly on exploring. The venue was an appropriate size given the scale of the event. It felt spacious enough to house all the vendors, main stage, gaming area, photo op zone, and still had open floor space in the hallways to sit, rest, or eat. I also appreciate that there was an information table at the entrance to each building in the venue.

Food options abounded, starting with a couple of food trucks that had incredibly long lines in the outdoor plaza on Green Street and a conveniently-located Starbucks that was part of the convention center itself. The location in downtown Pasadena also afforded attendees a wide variety of surrounding restaurants. My friend and I ended up getting lunch at the soft opening of a new restaurant a couple of blocks away called “Tokyo Chick.” They had a banner up across the street from the convention center to attract hungry con-goers who didn’t want to wait for up to an hour for food from the food trucks. Considering how busy it was at Tokyo Chick, we liked that the wait from the back of the line to receiving one’s food was around half an hour. Everyone was required to take their order to-go, and the to-go boxes were placed in a Tokyo Chick-branded reusable polyurethane bag that could be brought back to the restaurant for a discount on your next order. If you find yourself at Tokyo Chick in the near future, I recommend trying the karaage!

Health and Safety Policy

The Pasadena Convention Center states on their website that they are in ADA compliance with everything from designated parking, to restrooms, to service animals. As is somewhat standard now across California conventions, there was no strong encouragement to wear masks, and masking was entirely up to individual preference. While I did I see several attendees wearing masks, the majority of people were not and I did not observe any pressure or harassment of masked individuals by unmasked ones, or vice versa.

Vendor Hall & Artist Alley

Cosplay Areas

Cosplayers freely roamed the venue and were concentrated most heavily in the outdoor plaza on Green Street. This area is where people could best admire the cosplayers from afar, or interact with them and ask for photos.

Entertainment – Attendee Experience

Once we made it to the front of the registration and badge pick-up line, there were no more long lines to contend with (not counting the lunch lines)—just convention fun! Between the Entertainment Hall, Cast Panels, and Artist Alley, I spent the majority of my time in the Artist Alley and enjoyed every moment.

Of course, every mid-size and larger anime convention worth one’s salt has a Main Stage, and true to form, the one here was playing a lineup of anime soundtrack cover singers, emcee jokes, and trivia contests with the audience. The photo booth area on the same floor as the Main Stage had many banners of popular anime, but the views were always obscured by people sitting on the floor or at round tables in front of them, so they were not very accessible for photo takers without having to ask for people to move. There were also giveaways to celebrate the 5th Anniversary of Anime Pasadena, but we arrived too late and decided not to participate since they had run out of everything we would have been interested in. However, other than these small letdowns, we had a great time and experienced a lot without feeling overwhelmed.

One lingering question I had about the convention management was that there was a dedicated convention center staff member in the Entertainment Hall (Dragon Hall Z) catching everyone at the door and verbally directing them to go straight downstairs towards the Main Stage area. The whole ground floor was off-limits to convention attendees for undisclosed reasons. It would have made more sense to have physical cordons, like retractable-belt barriers, and a sign put up to communicate this in addition to having a staff member present to ensure compliance.

In closing, Anime Pasadena was time and money well spent, and I encourage any anime fan who will be in the LA area in early November to plan for next year’s convention!

Final Judgments

Venue: 5/5

Staff: 5/5

Organization, Layout & Management: 4.5/5

Organization, Media Use: 5/5

Attendance: 5/5

Affordability: 4/5

Overall: 4.75/5

–

[cyarskj52]

The Religious Ecstasy of the Bravo Fandom

Photo: Bethy Squires

“Is this all for Vanderpump? What’s going on?”

Despite the Vanderpump Rules reunion being one of the biggest entertainment events of late, there are only a few options for communal viewing experiences at ground zero, a.k.a. Los Angeles. I end up at Junkyard Dog, a vegan sports bar in Silver Lake, because I want to get the communal fan viewing experience for Scandoval’s final installment. There’s an official viewing party at SUR just six and a half miles away, but it’s $75 per plate and some cast members will be there. Would football be as fun to watch if the opposing team were watching with you? (I also chose this one because it’s the building where Elliott Smith shot the album cover for Figure 8 — the layers of dark-sided Hollywood bullshit are too much to resist.)

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I expect a big turnout, but even I’m stunned by the size and devotion of the crowd. There is a borderline religious tone to the proceedings, what with the sacrament of white wine and the line of devotees patiently waiting to get in for their turn at communion. We’ve all come here for that most Young Life, youth-pastor-y of feelings: fellowship.

“Yeah, this is all for the reunion,” I tell the would-be patron of this bar. “The line is superlong, and isn’t moving, I’m sorry.”

“Do you work here? You look official,” she says, referring (I think) to the fact that I’m in all black. I only realized when I went out the door what Vanderpump villain I’d accidentally dressed as tonight, sans white nails.

“No, I’m a reporter. This is my Tom Sandoval cosplay.”

“Okay, wow, now I’m scared of you.”

There is no room for camp appreciation of Tom Sandoval’s fashion choices at Junkyard Dog tonight. This is a Team Ariana affair. I spy three “Send it to Darrell” hoodies, a shirt that says “Never Trust a Tom,” and one girl in a Vanderpump Dogs hat and Bravocon crop top. This is a die-hards only zone.

“Pretty much everyone I interact with on a daily basis is a Vanderpump fan,” Riley Hamilton tells me. His Vanderpump Rules–centric podcast, Turtle Time, is unofficially sponsoring the event. The pod’s producer was the first to suggest the watch party for the first reunion ep. It was a smaller affair, in the bar’s back patio. “Intimate,” is how one person described it to me. The next week, the bar reached capacity. Tonight, there is a line down the block, and the bar sells out of White Claw by 8:40, 20 minutes before the reunion starts.

“I was just doing this for Riley,” says Junkyard Dog’s Thomas Hobbs. “He said he’d bring in like 30 people.” Hobbs looks around at the mass of Bravo fans in his bar and exclaims a somewhat overwhelmed “Bro.” He says this set of watch parties is the first reality-TV programming the bar has put on. Given the turnout, it probably won’t be the bar’s last.

Not to rain on his parade, but the furor surrounding Scandoval feels one in a million. Somehow a cheating scandal on a Housewives spinoff has captured a nation. Vanderpump stars Ariana Madix, Lala Kent, and Lisa Vanderpump went to the White House Correspondents’ dinner, for Peter’s sake. I spoke to a couple in line who have been watching the show since the first big cheating scandal in season two. “It’s hard to explain to other people,” the boyfriend says. “They’re like, ‘They cheat all the time. Why is this different?’ But it does feel different this time.” When pressed, he says what makes Scandoval special is the extent to which, in the words of James Kennedy, Sandoval’s a liar. “The guy is so conniving. Everyone else is so dumb, they get caught immediately. And now that he’s caught, all his transgressions are coming out.”

His girlfriend calls it a “perfect storm of events.”

I’m seated next to a mother-daughter duo who’ve come up from Long Beach for the spectacle. The mom is a patron of Turtle Time, and she DM’d Riley about when to come. “That’s how I got a seat at all,” she says. “To be honest, I wish I’d come sooner.”

These people are longstanding VPR fans, and Mom has even met Tom Sandoval. I ask her to confirm or deny that he smells bad, a rumor that’s been circulating on TikTok since Scandoval broke. She says he smelled normal. “I told him, ‘You’re my favorite … couple,’” she says. That’s the whole scandal in a nutshell, isn’t it? Sandoval thought people loved him, but really they loved Ariana and supported her choice to stay with him.

When the reunion begins, the bar cranks the sound system so loudly that the speaker closest to me keeps shorting out. Andy Cohen speaks in an echo, as each TV is timed just slightly off. But the entire bar is immediately locked in. The crowd yells in support of Scheana in her restraining order trailer. They boo Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss. Someone yells “Liar!” after the first thing Raquel says.

Certain moments have been replayed in trailers and TikToks so much that they take on Rocky Horror Picture Show levels of audience participation. When Ariana calls Raquel “subhuman,” people shout the line along with her. And when the Uber One “Good As Gold” ad comes on, the whole place is awake with song. It’s a tent revival during the Great Awakening. We are the ones who are Good As Gold.

Raquel’s seeming dissociation during the entire reunion does not go unnoticed. “She’s gotta be on beta-blockers,” the woman next to me speculates. There’s very little compassion for Raquel to be found in the bar or on the screen – even in Lisa Vanderpump, who defended the Toms in previous parts of the reunion. “Welcome, Lisa, where have you been?” the same woman says when Lisa calls out Raquel’s conversation with Ariana about her and Sandoval’s sex life.

“I mean, Lisa’s never going to miss an opportunity to criticize a woman,” I retort.

“Okay, good point.”

This is that fellowship I was looking for. We hash out what we’ve just seen during commercial breaks, pausing only to applaud Ariana’s Bic razor commercial. (One woman is the first to notice the ad, looking up at the screen as if she had a vision of a saint.) The whole bar is yelling, and clapping back at Sandoval. When Madix finally breaks down and cries, the audience looks at her with the overwhelmed and mournful faces of teen girls swooning at the Beatles. When the show cuts back to Ken Todd’s now infamous pot-stirring, the entire bar goes wild.

The people who had been waiting in line are now lined up on the sidewalk, watching the show like that scene in every old superhero movie when people huddle in front of TVs in a department-store window to learn what nonsense the Joker has gotten up to this time. A bartender finally takes pity on the outside crowd and serves drinks to those who are within the outdoor-dining zone on the sidewalk.

By the time we get to the “big twist” in the last five minutes, everyone is exhausted. Everyone except one woman, who is having a personal conversation with Raquel through the TV. She is sitting, but she is heated. “Just say it!” she hollers at Rachel, begging her to tell the truth for once. The last five minutes of the episode consist of Raquel’s final talking-head interview — maybe of season ten; maybe ever. She breaks away from Sandoval’s coaching and gives what she says is a fully honest timeline of the relationship.

“I knew it!” the woman yells, with the verve of someone moved by the spirit, as she stands up and pumps her fist. “I fucking knew it. Yes!”

The crowd disperses. Some people stay for Lala’s appearance on Watch What Happens Live, while others close out of their tabs. People hug good-bye, either to the people they came with or new friends they made along the way. I walk down Sunset Boulevard, still vibrating with the collective energy of the vegan bar turned live theater experience for a night. The big twist promised by producers was neither big nor particularly twisty, but it still felt great to bask in the vindication of my fellow Pumpheads. We all fucking knew it. But doesn’t it feel good to be fucking right?

[wessasaurus-rex]

Wanted to do a re-designed Kravitz cosplay. I have this costume that fits very well on me and I am definitely wanna use my long hair again, since it grew a lot the last time I cosplayed him! 

Hope you guys enjoy! 

[starlight-seeker]

Did I ever Mention I got Lup fully finished?👀🌂🔥