#there's not a big enough demographic for either subject so i just have to scream in my room about it

[deep-love-fan-blog]

Corpse Bride this, Ghost that, stop talking if you're not gonna read my 100 page dissertation comparing and contrasting Deep Love and Candyman (1992)

[rametarin]

We deal with this, “fiction is reality” shit EVERY. GENERATION.

And I mean it comes back among authoritarians playing to sheep EVERY fucking generation on different pretenses.

It always boils down to a bunch of people that are insecure about the effects of culture and media on other people, and as a flimsy pretense/pretext to restrict access to things to other people “in society” for their own safety and sense of security.

And when it comes to, “obscene literature” or illustrations, the source is always jealousy, insecurity and an attempt to reduce other people down to a demographic statistic. Whether it’s reducing black people to a caricature and acting like hip-hop just turns the kids into violent, drug abusing, psychotic felons, or imagining pornography is what turns people into horny fucking do-nothings, it’s always about control.

And we’ve put it off for so long. We’ve put off the conversation about just what demographic these people play to in order to get traction and followers and staying power and warm bodies for their movements. They’re the demographic that makes antis- work, the demographic that screams for censorship because illustrations “hurt them personally,” or “cause men to hurt them.”

I’m talking about women. Particularly, cis women, as trans women are not in numbers enough to affect anything, and it is EXPLICITLY IMPORTANT that the source of the offense and complaint come from the population that are the gateway through which the next generation is born and brought up.

Individual men may be so clueless as to assume the way degeneration works is a person is left improperly or negligently nurtured, and so just make bad decisions because, “they were never taught better.” They embrace the idea that people only do bad shit because, “the society,” isn’t paying attention, or that individual people are just blank slates beholden to the righteousness and morality of the cultural hivemind of said society. That Society is an objective effect, and if bad people exist, it’s proof to them that there’s something wrong with said society.

But individual men know that the bad actions of other men are not caused solely by “male culture,” or the absence of it, or shitty “role models.” They see the shitty natural inborn attitudes of other men, and despite being raised in shitty conditions, naturally develop a good head on their shoulders, and despise actions like that. As men you can’t HELP but grow up watching boys around you make shitty decisions based on shitty impulse control and, no matter how often they’re punished, how much they’re loved, how much they’re compassionately talked to, STILL act the fool and wind up as terrible, stealing, violent adults. As men you can’t do anything BUT reconcile that some people are just fucking shitheads, and the idea as a man YOU should be punished or treated like the “association” of men itself is at fault, smacks of sexism. The same sort of sexism women’s lib supposedly is against- at least, when it happens to women.

Women, however, are not men, are not privy to the thoughts and feelings of men. Men are abstracts to these women, many of whom are so solipsistic or gynocentrist that they just see men as a class of monsters in a videogame. Just a pattern of individuals that surely must all get their code and culture from “society.” Clearly, when there’s bad men about, it’s proof this “society” isn’t doing everything it can to mollify and gentrify those horrible beastly men to make them safe and not dangerous and productive.

These women that see men like living aggregates for society, imagine that in order to “keep men working properly,” they need to not have “bad moral influences,” treating pornography and access to drugs and literature like a cleaning lady treats dirt on linen. They imagine that the only reason rape or murder or theft by men occurs is because “there’s a problem with men, thinking that is okay.” Like the only reason your average man isn’t running around violently raping people or killing them is because they sang enough hymns at church- by force. Or because they were prevented from, “getting deranged by wrongthink.”

So with this in mind, how do they imagine porn affects men, male minds, and this big abstract-turned-monolithic-concept called, “society?”

Well, they imagine fiction is reality. That if “people of lesser intellect” read a thing, then they’ll inherently believe it, because, “it presents itself as factual and reality.” When.. no. That’s not how it works. They believe, absolutely, that without some mechanism there to go, “BUT WE’RE JUST PRETENDING THO, IT’S NOT REAL!” that will inherently make people, whom all have tenuous and toddler-like grasps of reality and object permanence, think a thing in fiction is real and applies to reality.

And naturally, they see men as people of lesser intellect. So they reason, those dangerous statistical anomalies are just men that haven’t been browbeaten, and whom are subject to any given negative influence or writing or opinion or culture that preaches values and ideas incongruent with their preferences, as women. Therefore, they conclude, fiction that does not preach their “good values” is in fact advocating bad ones, bad habits, bad moral character, bad mental health- call it whatever you want based on your generation. It’s ALL THE SAME SHIT. All the same knee-jerk moralism based on justifying societal and institutional use of force to restrict and arbitrate and judiciously enforce and justify dictating censorship and good-think. It’s just a question of where that basis comes from.

And theres’ ultimately no reasoning with that culture of women when they grasp hold of a thing that appeals to them, flatters and justifies their prejudices and biases. You can sit there colorfully or dryly explaining the ways in which this shitty point of view is wrong, much as you can try to walk back a persons beliefs in their homophobia that they base on religious purism or use the purism to validate their homophobia, but you cannot just get them individually to give up those nice, comfortable beliefs.

And when grouped together for mutual support and validation, it becomes this negative-thought, field of fucking SHEEP braying “Nuuuh-uuuh!” and arguing for restriction of content and sanitation and disbarrment from certain subject matter to be in consumable porn or literature or even just art. The only thing keeping them in check being the consequences for vandalism, and the ability for a community or institution to police out the bias usurpers that would seek to enter their foundations and run them on behalf of the values of these easily upset, insecure sheep.

every FUCKING generation, it manifests in some manner. Be they from church ladies, to radical feminists, to intersectional feminists. If you capture the imaginations, insecurities, jealousies, foster and sanction them, interpret them, get young women believing them, participating in the romance that tells them the way to change the bad things or take the edge off the bad men is to foster and enable authoritarianism (be it regional social, regional institutional, or federal institutional) then you have this neverending avalanche of unending support for it. Be it from dictators, or just from pure ideology from a doctrine. They’ll do it. And stubbornly and obstinately believe in whatever compliments their biases, to the contradiction of everything.

And while you can remove a man and his influences on the next gen from the home, from the social radius of the next generation to be a significant source of culture and how they relate to young people, removing women from the equation, from whom the next generation comes from, is virtually impossible. So a male zealot, already susceptible to scrutiny and punishment for being so wild and zealous with their beliefs, can be retaliated against, muted, beaten and removed from relevance until they censor themselves or change their tune.

But you cannot do that to a female human, or women/mothers as a sex, without both women AND men taking it as an attack on humanity at their most prime and kernel. It has to be done with disproportionate authoritarian state power that does not fear mass dissent and violent retaliation, or it isn’t done at all.

So these zealous Karens that embrace wholly these ideas enabling authoritarianism under a banner they approve of, are allowed to propagate unchallenged, and even if challenged, cannot be subdued or subverted. Their own little cliques and echo chambers and lack of desire to even consider their positions are wrong. Any attempt to point the fingers at this very real, disproportionate and characteristic, objective power female humans have just on the basis of their sex and how that relates among them socially, can and will be trash binned arbitrarily as, “sexism.” Despite the fact, it’s absolutely true.

So long as women that believe “society” is an objective, monolithic thing from which, “that other sex” and other women get their marching orders on how to BE what they are, and don’t see them as billions of individuals with their own ambitions, instincts, inborn personality and character flaws, independent of “society’s failures,” believing those people can be saved or corrected IF ONLY WE CENSOR EVERYTHING or make all media “good thing,” we’re just going to have people with illiberal beliefs asserting their dominance and insisting it’s for the soul of the species, society and the planet.

I mean yeah there are male antis and shit, but honestly. Tell me honestly. How many fucking deranged fandom people that are doing shit like mailing cookies with sewing needles backed into them are male gendered or male sexed, either? As uncomfortable as it may be to acknowledge or consider this might have a sexual grounding, I’m sorry. Not acknowledging it is simply rejecting reality.

[annabethfuckingchase]

The Princess and the Half Bloods

It was eleven at night when the music started floating into Annabeth’s open window.

Fast-paced and loud, the punk music seemed to flow directly into her already throbbing head. Writing a four page paper on the demographics of the Confederate army during the Civil War this late at night will do that to you, especially when you have dyslexia. The cool, fresh air from the window was the only thing keeping her sane right now.

But the consistent beat and the screaming of the lyrics by the boy next door were working hard to undo all the relaxing that the night breeze was doing for her. There was no way she could focus on her work with all that noise not ten feet away from her. She kept her legs crossed under her laptop but let the top half of her body flop backwards on her bed, burying her head in her pillows. There was no doubt in her mind how the conversation was going to go, but she really needed to get this paper done.

Sighing, she sat back up and unfolded her legs, going over to the window. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, back to her, belting out the song and playing along with his guitar. He was singing and playing in a different key than the song, weaving his own sound into it. He was good, very good. Not that Annabeth would ever admit that to him. Especially when his window was wide open and that sound was keeping her from her work.

“Percy,” she called, leaning out part way out of the window. He didn’t hear her. She tried again. “Percy!” Nothing. She leaned out as far as she could without falling and yelled, “Perseus Jackson!” He hated his full name.

It worked. He looked behind him, frowning. He seemed annoyed to see her, which was fine as she was constantly annoyed to see him. 

'What?’ He approached his window and called over the music, 'What do you want?’

“Can you turn that music off? Or at least turn it down?”

“I can’t, I’m practicing. Besides, this is a great song!” he shouted to be heard.

“Well I have to write a paper and I can’t focus with it so loud. I have to get it done tonight because tomorrow is the football game and-” she started to explain, but he cut her off.

“Why don’t you just shut your window, then?” he rolled his eyes and started to turn from the window.

Annabeth could’ve tried explaining about the calming effect the open window had on her, but she suspected that wouldn’t get her very far. Though to be fair, the route she chose didn’t get her very far either. “Why don’t you?” she shot back. “It’s eleven PM, you shouldn’t be playing it that loud anyway. Some people are trying to sleep. What about your mom?”

He faced her again. “What is your problem tonight?” he asked exasperatedly.

“What yours?” she demanded. She was starting to get frustrated. “I’m just trying to write a paper. You don’t see me screeching at all hours of the night when you’re trying to do your homework. If you ever did any, that is.”

“You are my problem! My practicing is every bit as important as your paper.”

“How is your hobby as important as work I need to do for a class?”

“Just close your window! It’s not like the whole world is subject to your personal rules!” He was nearly screaming at her now, and she wasn’t sure if it was to be heard over the music or because he was growing increasingly upset.

“It’s not even a personal rule! It’s being polite! I have to do this work because I’m a productive member of society. You aren’t. You sit there, playing in your little band, not even making an effort to get out of your garage, not doing anything in school, not preparing for life at all! What are you going to do, Percy? Because you’re going nowhere fast!” Something that looked like hurt flashed in his eyes, but Annabeth blinked and it was gone, so fleeting it might not have been there at all.

They had both been leaning out of their respective windows, hands braced on the sills to keep from leaning out too far, but now Percy lifted one hand towards her, middle finger extended. “Sit and spin, Princess,” he snarled.

Annabeth growled and slammed her window closed, the glass shivering from the force. Percy slammed his right after, despite the fact that he had technically won the argument when she had closed hers. Idiot. She flounced onto her bed and crossed her arms angrily, glaring at her unfinished homework. She stayed in that position until her father came knocking to check on her.

“Hey. What was all that noise?” he asked, looking around for the damage.

“Me,” Annabeth responded curtly.

Her dad rolled his eyes. “Thanks, but I’d figured that out myself, funnily enough.”

She sighed. “It was the window. I slammed it.”

“Why?”

“Percy Jackson is a problem.”

He chuckled and leaned against her door jamb. “You two used to be so close. Couldn’t separate you for anything. Why do you have to go picking fights with him now?”

“I don’t!” Annabeth cried indignantly. She flung her finger toward the window. “He purposely antagonizes me.”

She glanced over into Percy’s room, where she could see that he was in the same predicament. Sally, his mother, had come to see what had happened and the conversation seemed to be going exactly the same as Annabeth’s, down to the finger pointing through the window at her. She quickly put her hand down.

“Okay, kid, whatever you say. Just keep it down and try not to break anything,” her father said, turning back to his home office.

“I’ll break him and his stupid speakers,” she muttered under her breath. She looked at her mostly finished paper and sighed. It’d be fine for tonight, she could do it in the morning. Coffee and quiet were what she needed now.

In the Chase household, there was nearly always a fresh pot of coffee either made or brewing. She wanted to stomp the whole way, but instead Annabeth crept into the kitchen, wary of her father’s warning and her stepbrothers sleeping. She returned a few minutes later with a steaming mug, holding it closely with both hands.

As soon as the door was closed, she locked it and went to her closet, pulling up the little rug that decorated the floor. A little square, two feet by two feet, lay underneath. A little indentation just big enough for her fingers was carved out as a handle and she pulled it up. Hidden there was a vertical tunnel that went down for a while, ending well below ground. A rusty old ladder was attached to one of the walls, and Annabeth slid herself into the tunnel until her feet rested on one of the rungs. She carefully lowered herself down with one hand on the ladder and her back braced against the opposite wall, desperately trying not to spill her coffee.

She reached the bottom- without spilling a drop of coffee she noted smugly- and walked down the hallway to the metal door at the end. There had been a handle on it once, on both doors, that wouldn’t unlock without a key but Sally had taken them off long ago so the kids could play in the bunker beyond.

The Jackson’s and the Chase’s had been close as far back as anybody could remember. Her great- times whatever- grandfather and Percy’s great- times whatever- grandfather had built these houses themselves over a hundred and fifty years ago. During the Cold War, Annabeth and Percy’s grandparents had built the bunker together, preparing for the possibility of a nuclear war. When Percy and Annabeth were five, their parents had shown them the bunker and allowed them to turn it into their private fortress, complete with an arsenal of nerf guns and makeshift nuclear missiles for playing war and some old furniture that was no longer needed in the houses above. The toy weapons still sat collecting dust in a toy box in the corner.

It had been years since Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase had been friends. It started as a normal drifting apart, as friends do. It hadn’t turned openly hostile until Annabeth had started dating Luke in the eighth grade. He was a senior in high school at the time, and Percy had said one day that it was inappropriate. He was right, of course, but she hadn’t seen it that way at the time. She’d accused him of being jealous and things had spiralled from there.

The funny part was that Annabeth had actually been the jealous one, when he started dating Rachel. Or maybe it wasn’t actually all that funny.

Annabeth sat down on the torn up couch with her feet curled under her and sipped on her coffee as she got lost the past. She had come for some quiet, and she had certainly gotten it. It was almost too much. The silence was ringing in her ears.

She leaned over and turned on the old CD player that sat on the little table next to the couch. A song was just ending and ‘She’ started to blast out from the speakers, way too loud, but it didn’t really matter now that she wasn’t writing. Annabeth leaned her head back on the armrest, closed her eyes, and began singing along.

“She, she screams in silence, a sullen riot penetrating through her mind.”

“Waiting for a sign, to smash the silence with the brick of self-control.”

Annabeth shot up from her relaxed position, a little bit of her coffee sloshing out of the mug and landing on the concrete floor. She hadn’t even heard Percy come in through the door that led to his own room. She narrowed her eyes but still sang the next line. “Are you locked up in a world that’s been planned out for you?”

“Are you feeling like a social tool without a use?”

“Scream at me until my ears bleed!”

“I’m taking heed just for you.” Percy came over and lowered the volume on the CD player before sitting on the opposite end of the couch. “I didn’t know you liked that kind of music.

She scowled but answered quietly, “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. What are you doing down here?”

“I come down here a lot at night, actually,” he replied at the same volume.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and spoke in a normal voice. “Yeah, I know.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised. “How?”

Annabeth gestured to the CD player. “You change the cd every couple days.” Then she pointed to the corner, where a recliner sat. “Sometimes you leave your jacket on the chair when you fall asleep in here. Which I know you do because I’ve walked in on you crashed on the couch. I come in here in the mornings.”

Percy nodded. “I know. You leave coffee cups.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrows. She hadn’t realized Percy ever noticed her early morning escapes. He’d never mentioned it. Then again, she’d never said anything about him coming down here either.

“But what are you doing down here now? I thought you were listening to music in your room,” she pushed, looking up at him and hating that she had to look up. For most of their childhood, she’d been taller. Only in the last couple years had he hit a series of growth spurts that put him above her.

“And I thought you were writing a paper in yours,” he countered. “I came to just… get away for a little while.”

She nodded slowly. “Yeah, me too.”

“I’m sorry. About what I said earlier, “ he said nervously after a long pause, picking at a frayed part of the couch. “The, you know, sitting and spinning part.”

“Yes, thank you for clarifying.” A small smile lifted her face and he returned it. “And I’m sorry about what I said about your future. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Don’t be,” he sighed. “You were right. We’re never getting out of Jason’s garage.”

“You just need to start playing some small gigs first. Parties, bars, that sort of thing. Maybe get some recording time and make a demo to hand out to people. You’re… actually very good,” she forced out.

Percy’s smile grew. “You think I’m good?”

“When you aren’t interrupting my schoolwork, you definitely are. I haven’t heard the rest of your band but if they’re half as good as when you were playing earlier, I’m sure you could get anywhere you want to go.”

“Thanks, Annabeth.” He put his hand over hers on her knee and stared off in the distance, thinking. She didn’t move her hand and neither did he. “We have recorded a demo, actually. Christmas gift from Jason’s mom. But we don’t really have any recording execs to give it to. We mostly hand them out for free to anybody that seems interested. Which is mostly just family and some friends. Grover and his girlfriend Juniper are probably our biggest fans.”

Annabeth looked at him, contemplating for a moment. Then she looked down at her lap. “Look, I don’t know if this will help much, but The Big House is a kind of bar slash music venue in the city. Sometimes industry execs hang out there, looking for new bands to sign.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” Percy said. He still hadn’t taken his hand back and it was warm where it touched hers.

“Well, I kind of know the owner. Actually, I work there semi regularly. I could set something up for you. And maybe we could start selling your CDs. You know, assuming you guys are any good,” she offered, throwing in the barb in case she was getting too friendly with him. He didn’t answer for a minute and she glanced back up at him. He was staring at her, mouth slightly agape. “What?”

“You’d do that? Really?” He looked like he couldn’t believe she’d do something kind for him. Which, she mused, shouldn’t have surprised her. It had been a long time since she and Percy had been kind to each other. 

“Well sure. It’s a win-win.” She took her hand back and put on a haughty air, conscious of Rachel. She probably shouldn’t be holding hands with another girl’s boyfriend, even if it was warm and comfortable, familiar. She shook her head to clear it. “You get to play for other people and maybe one day get signed, and Chiron- the owner- loves me for bringing him new talent that might bring in more customers. If you’re willing to play regularly, that is.”

It took him a minute to formulate an answer but then he was enthusiastically babbling. “Yes, yes, of course. We’d love to play there regularly. I mean I’d have to talk it over with the band, but I’m positive they’ll be in. And that’s such a good idea, selling the CDs there. I just- thank you.” She found herself wrapped up in Percy’s arms, getting squeezed just slightly too hard. “Thank you so much.”

“Any time, Percy,” Annabeth laughed when he let up enough for her to breathe.

He pulled back and it was his turn to contemplate her. “Really? You mean that?”

“Yeah, sure. Why not, right?” she shrugged, a smile still on her face.

“Well then, you’re hired.”

“What?”

“You’re hired. You’re going to get us a gig and a place to sell our demo, you more than deserve it,” he grinned. 

Annabeth paused for a moment, considering. “Yeah, I could do that. Actually, I’d be great at that.”

“Don’t I know it. Looks like we’re going somewhere after all, Princess.”

[marvelandponder]

In the Shipping Biz, We’d Call This a Crack Ship

Well now, isn’t this adorable? Two characters who, before now, haven’t had screen time together get to share an adorable nose-boop (which in kids show terms is third base). And yet my mane 9 ships sit on the shelf. There really is no justice. 

So, I’m a bit behind on episode reviews thanks to midterms and finals, but with a few days before the season comes back on air, I at least have a chance to catch my breath.

Which would be a good time for a breath of fresh air.

And I wouldn’t quite go that far with this episode, but I still find it fascinating in its own way. 

For me, the episode itself isn’t as memorable as I think it could be, and with both Big Mac and the CMC participating in a romance plot it’s hard not to draw comparisons to Hearts and Hooves Day, but there are a number of entertaining elements in there that make it a decently good episode.

That said, as someone whose held discussions about shipping and canonizing ships before, the subject of romance in Friendship is Magic is one I find myself coming back to a lot (like I did for Pride month). 

Because friendship is and rightly should be the main focus of the show, romance is relegated to either married couples, or weirdly enough, the boy characters.

... Yeah, no, not kidding.

Apart from Rarity’s two fleeting crushes (and not counting the EQG movies), Spike and Big Mac are the two characters most frequently and profoundly affected by romance plots. I think there’s a bit of role reversal, in a way: The two most prominent boy characters are the ones who either have an ongoing crush that lasts multiple seasons, or get involved with different romantic interests at different times.

But, anyway, no matter the character, in episodes dealing with romance, the plot is structured in such a way that a friendship lesson can be learned. I think that’s why this and Hearts and Hooves Day ended up having so much in common: Big Mac is both minor enough to not require multiple episodes per season, but major enough for a romantic development to have some significance. 

And of the characters who are close to him, the CMC do seem like a good choice to learn the lesson about fairytale romances being vastly different from reality. 

I’d actually argue Spike might’ve been an even better choice than those three (what with his ongoing crush and all), but since Sweetie Belle is the best choice of all and you couldn’t have her going by herself, boom, the crusaders as a whole unit.

There’s just enough to differentiate this from Hearts and Hooves Day, but I definitely wouldn’t want a pattern of episodes that are this similar to past episodes emerging. Tread lightly, writers.

So, yeah, apart from Equestria Girls, this is the first ongoing relationship to be started with a Mane Cast member, and I’ll be interested to see where they take it from here! 

Will we see their relationship take center stage in an episode going forward? Or, maybe just a few moments sprinkled throughout episodes showing us that their relationship is developing in the background?

Either way, definitely neat to incorporate a romance that isn’t pre-determined to end with marriage. 

But, anyway, let’s talk more about the episode itself!

One aspect in particular that seems to be a lot more divisive than I expected was this little shit:

Hellooo, Vincent “Waifu Stealer” Tong (for real, though, he’s honestly such a great voice actor, I’m glad to have him back any time)

Now on the the one hand, I can understand the sheer loathing this bugger produces. I survived the days when Justin Beiber was a popular young tween on the road to super-stardom despite many eardrums screaming no.

But then again, I survived the days of Justin Beiber. I’ve earned this parody. Plus, being born in the late 90s, I grew up in the early 2000s, which is a time I lovingly refer to as 90s backwash.

Oh sure, the 2000s had their own emerging... “Style” (she said, as if she doesn’t still enjoy it unironically on occasion), but the days of manufactured boyband pop groups with frosted tips and a deep love for their gurls was still clinging on, to the point that there was a lot of parodies, loving or otherwise. Those parodies are what I lived off of.

For those of you who grew up with Fairly Odd Parents, Chip Skylark. Any of you Simpsons fans might remember an episode with the Party Posse, a boyband composed solely of 4th graders with the dubbed voices of dreamy teenage boys.

Even just recently Gravity Falls featured a boyband called Sev’ral Times, and Star Vs. The Forces of Evil has Love Sentence.

So I guess what I’m saying is, there’s a special place in my heart for boyband or girl group parodies, and Feather Bangs (god, what a name) is no different.

I can get the malice, but I enjoyed him way too much.

And they even made him a likable character in the end. Who knew cloned boyband pop sensations could be socially anxious? Good twist on an already funny character.

As to the moral, I really enjoyed it. It’s the perfect thing for the target demographic to learn because they’re the ones currently being surrounded by all those fairytales Sweetie Belle was reading.

Plus, no matter what you’re age, I think you can appreciate the sentiment that the constant onslaught of perfect, storybook romances in media doesn’t translate to reality---and not even in a pessimistic way. I’ve seen shows that take that moral to sad, but real places, as in, even if you try it can be near impossible to get it right with someone.

While a dose of realism has it’s place, I also like what FIM has to say about it. That fairy tale romances are unrealistic, but real romances are about caring for another person in the way they want and need to be cared for, and in the end that’s something just as magical.

 It’s just... real nice.

Also, D’AAAAAAWW.

Sorry, had to get that out of my system. 

Details, Thoughts, and Whatnot

It’s the little things that make me smile.

The line delivery on “A spy pirate. A spyrate” sums up my sense of humour 

I love that you can go back and see Sweetie Belle reading the book of fairy tales on the trip

I think this is a rather nice way to give us more ways to develop the ponies of Our Town/Starlight’s Village, if we so choose to revisit this place; nice that these characters can have connections to the outside world now

The CMCs continue to be adorable children. Just, like, the urgency in Applebloom’s voice when she says “Ya gotta tell her!” as she’s, like, shaking her big bro and being all supportive... these three are precious

When Big Mac goes for the kiss while Sugar Belle’s sleeping, I’m just sitting here like

The duet is a lot of fun! I wouldn’t say it’s one of the classic MLP songs, but it’s a delightful sequence, and gives the animators a chance to throw in some more inventive and colourful imagery in an episode that’s largely set in a drab desert town

Oh! And it looks like Sugar Belle isn’t the only one hooking up with someone. Night Glider and Party Favour, huh? As someone who can ship pretty much anything it comes as no surprise, but like, I can ship it

I like the shelf thing. Sure, you could see it coming, but it illustrates the moral really well, so what the hell: when it’s cute, it’s cute.

And I think that’s a good phrase to sum up this episode. It’s not a true standout, but it’s got a few charms here and there to make it a worthwhile episode. another good entry in the season.

It’s good to be back. But hey, I’ve done other stuff before! Here’s the link to my reviews, my editorials, and hell, here’s the last three things I’ve done, to make it even easier for you:

LGBT+ Editorial, Trailer Analysis, and Comic Con Coverage

Year of the Pony

Special Thanks to Millennial Dan on Deviantart, who made the Microphone vector for the logo!

Huh. Big Mac Really Does Get All the Mares

[37h4n0l]

Oh great, so now a lowly anon can't even come to vent to the one person they think would understand their sentiments, because someone's going to feel offended and write you an essay on how it's 'not all YOI fans' instead of maybe, idk, acknowleding that there has to be something off about the fandom as a whole if so many people are already sick and tired of it (some even to the point of making anti-blogs, which I don't necessarily agree with, but at least can see where they're coming from).

And oh, about 91d being ‘hardly a brainpower draining masterpiece’ - sure, that is, if someone knows how to make a use of their brain in the first place, which apparently is too difficult of a skill for your average viewer, judging from how many people did not understand the ending or where it came from, completely misunderstood the characters, thought of Avilio and Corteo’s relationship as the central one to the plot etc. I guess your average brainpower may not be enough sometimes.

And here I am now, issuing an essay as well, because I want to express my position on this very clearly. (Massive longpost).

I’m sorry if my latest reply came off as hostile towards either side of this issue, I didn’t intend it to sound like that. For anyone to whom this is not understandable; this is about the fandom, which can many times be a big influence on how someone perceives the show as well. To put it in the simplest terms, seeing something over and over again everywhere makes you tired of it quickly, whether it’s about an entire franchise, a ship or a common fan theory or opinion. I will speak for myself; although I’m not as salty as you are, anon, I’m annoyed at how yoi and vikt/uuri are all over the place. Mostly when they keep appearing in other fandoms’ tags (the one where it went the furthest would be the ks tag, that hellish corner of tumblr). The ‘not all’ part is included in all this. If I decided to go after every yoi fan, I’d be going after people I like, followers and friends of mine. 

I don’t think I have enough involvement in the yoi fandom to start denouncing its failures internally. I’m part of this weird group of people who liked certain things in yoi, maybe watched it as it aired, thought it was an okay-ish show but got over it quickly and didn’t keep obsessing. I think a line needs to be drawn between behaviour that simply pisses us off personally and more ‘objective’ problems (I put it in quotation marks to refer to things that are a nuisance to a wider group of people). 

Things I personally don’t like: Vikt/uuri ship dynamics, simply because I’ve seen way too many ships like that already and I find them boring due to the lack of angst. Yk’s lack of character development and how the fandom still pretends there was one, as if it could be settled by simply making a stereotypically ‘nerdy’ character do a cool thing out of the blue. The way there’s a yoi or vikt/uuri AU for literally everything, every fandom and every ship. This fandom idea about vn and yk being yp’s ‘parents’, ignoring yp’s anger and disappointment towards vn and antagonism towards yk. I must emphasize how I’m not sitting in front of a computer screaming in utter rage at these things; it goes more like me sighing deeply and going like ‘not again’. 

Wider problems: CALLING PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE YOI HOMOPHOBIC. I want to underline this at least thirty times. Calling yoi progressive, innovative and a pioneer of gay representation while hating on fujoshis and the yaoi/shonen-ai genre. Yoi is (sorry for putting it bluntly) a fusion between a sports anime and a shonen-ai, except the latter would at least have explicit gay romance, while the vikt/uuri kiss was declared by the author to be ‘up for interpretation’. SHIPBASHING, especially the one against otay/uri for it supposedly being underage. Spamming another fandom’s tag with complaints about how yoi is much better than that particular thing (coughKScough) even if it’s an entirely different genre.

I’m reserving a separate paragraph for the Crunchyroll Awards shitstorm. I don’t have a very definite position on anime awards in general and how they should be held (if there’s even an objective way to do that), and while my personal annoyance towards the CR ones persists, I’m not surprised it went the way it went considering it was based on audience votes. Still, calling yoi ‘anime of the year’ is a bit of a stretch. I would’ve personally worded it differently, maybe ‘most popular anime of the year’ or ‘audience favourite’ or something like that. The ‘art is subjective’ versus ‘quality’ debate is a very complicated one. Someone could say that since a lot of people liked yoi, that must mean there was something about it in which it exceeded other anime; and while it’d be hard to pinpoint what that is, we should consider that good PR plays a great role in this as well - being able to target the right audience at the right time and advertise in a compelling way. I remember the times before yoi was released, when all we had was the trailer including the infamous ‘only I know your true eros’ scene; plenty of people were already sold back then. Of course, when you have high expectations of something, you won’t start watching it as some overly analytical movie critic to nitpick every detail. People like their expectations to be fulfilled. Besides the overall quality, there are other things to argue about, and what is often brought up is the animation. Consider: if someone was asked whether yoi had the best animation in 2016, you’d expect them to admit it didn’t, wouldn’t you? And yet yoi won the animation award - by popular vote. We can argue whether it’s more fair to have a committee in the judging process, but letting the audience vote has a downside; mainly that votes won’t always be used as intended. Crazy hypothesis; could it, perhaps, be that a lot of people were emotionally attached to yoi and voted for it in every category? Popular vote is what leads to initiatives being cancelled when 4chan decides to troll them, it leads to Boaty McBoatface and things like that. 

Now, after this huge rant, let’s move on to what happened in the 91d fandom. In my opinion, it’s not like people didn’t have the ability to understand - they didn’t want to. Simply because they perceived avil/ero (let’s censor this word as well for safety) as ‘problematic’ and preferred to ignore the role it played in the plot. It doesn’t elevate people who understood the ending above anyone, it just shows that somehow a lot of people have a very biased view on this - some for not wanting angst to exist, others for not wanting homosexuality to exist - and it results in a huge chunk of the fandom ignoring hints. If yoi was blown up by PR, 91d had the opposite problem; it’s hard to tell whom such a show should be targeted at, so they didn’t go with a precise demographic, they just released material and waited to see who was attracted to it. Is 91d for Fujoshis ™? The hints at gayness are too subtle for that. Is it for people interested in the plot and not the emotional side? How do you explain the last episode and the ending to them? Maybe this is also the reason why the fanbase is so unusually small. 91d is just hard to categorize, that’s the conclusion I came to - and people want it to belong to already existing tropes very desperately, which is where the reaches come from. 

As for this entire discussion; anyone is always welcome on my blog to give their two cents on it, anon or not. All I want to avoid is 1) anyone attributing malicious intent to me 2) people assuming I think things that I haven’t explicitly stated.