#there's other individual issues i love but that's that in terms of 2+ issue arcs

[jewishcissiekj]

The Stark Hyperspace War arc is so good I've gotta reread some Star Wars 1998/republic arcs

[datgameguy]

God do I love how Ame and Suvi’s conflict is representative of the wider conflict between Witches and Wizards. (Long ass post incoming)

First lets look at the conflict in Chapter 2 about trusting Sly’s predictions of the conclave compared to other Citadel diviners. Witches are about community and connection. Ame trusted Sly because he had a connection to Wren, no other diviners in the Citadel had Wren’s trust that we know of just Sly. Wizards on the other hand put their faith in institutions and hierarchies. If Sly’s predictions are contradicted by those of several other diviners with more influence in the system, then his predictions should be discarded. (Also keep in mind that Sly was relegated to obscurity because his predictions were largely about things that didn’t line up with the Citadel’s priorities)

So we get tension at the end of Chapter 2 because Ame (through Wren) has a connection to and trusts more in Sly as an individual than the Citadel’s diviners as an institution. Suvi on the other hand hears Steel say that a group of diviners might have contrary evidence to what Sly predicted and instinctively puts her trust in the institution over the individual.

As a result Suvi and Steel dismiss Ame’s concerns about Sly’s predictions until Ame gets so worked up about the issue that she takes drastic action to return to Toma and prepare. Of course Suvi is right to be upset with the manor in which Ame leaves, it’s incredibly reckless and could have lead to several civilians (and Eursalon!!) getting injured or killed. However she fails to see her and Steel’s roles in pushing Ame into immediate action. Steel never took Ame seriously, and Suvi largely agreed with her.

And now we get to Episode 25 and Suvi’s scathing tirade against Ame.

A big theme of this arc seems to be how both Witches and Wizards look down on one another. Steel has her line about Witches seeing Wizards as “devious, paranoid, and buffoonish,” while Suvi blows up on Ame for “that smart ass tone about Wizards.”

And you know what they’re right. Witches do look down on Wizards.

I find myself wondering how Ame, Witch of the World’s Heart and the steward of humanity, could NOT look down on Wizards. The Wizards of the Citadel may be the brightest minds humanity has to offer, but they use those gifts to fuel a seemingly endless war with Ruve and Gouthmai (a war that threatens the lives and homes of Eursalon’s family). The Citadel seems to glorify violence (remember in Chapter 1 when Suvi proudly displayed that she spilled blood on behalf of the Citadel?). We also know from Kalaya that over time the Citadel went from what was essentially a huge university, to a homogeneous and militarized society.

Thats without even mentioning how Steel herself proves the Witches assessment of Wizards correct! Steel concocts a plan for Suvi that is devious in its intentions, paranoid in its secrecy, and buffoonish in how it could undermind the meeting of the Coven and cost both Ame and Suvi their lives if discovered. While Suvi is lecturing Ame on judging Wizards she has unknowingly agreed to a plan that proves all of her assumptions correct.

Suvi is probably my favorite character in this campaign. Aabria absolutely BRINGS IT every session. I’ve no doubt that many of the things listed in this post crossed her mind and were intentional. After all, the Citadel is a defining part of Suvi’s identity.

Wizards exist in a world that does not take them seriously. We’re 25 episodes in and spirits and witches alike have constantly referred to Wizards in pejorative terms. It’s not hard to see how someone like Suvi, born in the thick of the world of Wizards would cling to the Citadel as the lone institution of the world that advocates for Wizards. Because Suvi is a wizard she is preemptively judged by nearly every witch and spirit in the story. So of course she’ll judge them too.

After all, wouldn’t you?

[shorthaltsjester]

if i ever have to see another thought piece on the description of the white picket fence outside of fjord and jester’s place in mighty nein reunited indicating jester’s unhappiness in the relationship i will burn the world to the ground.

a) heteronormativity doesn’t exist in exandria !

b) fjord isn’t your Typical Male Love Interest Guy. if i ever have to read someone say that shit again i’m gonna (correctly) assume they haven’t paid attention at all to campaign 2 and any of fjord’s character arc.

c) perhaps, jester lavorre, woman who was raised on the ideology of romance novels and sexuality as exchange, might just find it uh… not a terrible thing that the white picket fence is falling apart outside since… fjord explicitly does Not feel like those romance novels to her, instead he feels comfortable. the way that a brightly painted but rarely used house might, especially when the couple in question spends most of their time adventuring together… which is an essential part of jester’s motivations throughout the campaign.

d) the reason fjord and jester seem unhappy in the reunion might be because, well, uh, whereas everyone else was getting a “vacation”, jester and fjord’s life together (specifically the fact that Fjord Loves Jester Enough To Risk The World (Momentarily) To Save Her) was the inciting action for an apocalyptic demigod being released - they Were unhappy. who wouldn’t be given those circumstances. jester nearly died, and fjord felt like the god that once saved him had now abandoned him, i am so truly sorry that their romance was not satisfactory for your vision of atypical romance (which, by the way, is literally reinforcing the restrictive romantic tropes you think you’re criticizing, so good job i guess). i would be much, much more concerned if jester and fjord Weren’t clearly dismayed.

e) both fjord and jester are individuals whose entire lives and character are defined by the expectation (both external and internal) that they behave and emote a certain way. that they’re in a relationship with someone who they feel that they can show that they are frustrated with or disagree on the layout of their house with or have different ideas on how to deal with the looming threat of a demigod is incredible. jester and fjord are emblematic of a relationship in which the characters Aren’t meant to be, but they Want to be together and they want to understand and support the other person so they work at it. we wouldn’t have conversations like “you seem disheartened..” “i am very disheartened! you almost died!” if they didn’t take the time and care to communicate with one another.

f) if you want a honeymoon era joyful queer romance, yasha and beau are right there! they are explicitly horny and in love and bright about it! if queerness is your measure of “trope breaking” i am very sorry to tell you that queer people partake in white picket fences, and i’d actually argue that in terms of Lifestyle Metaphor, beauyasha are more adherent to the whitepicket fence, nuclear familyism. this isn’t a detriment to them, just, very literally, beau works a 9-5 where she comes back to her housewife who gardens and cooks dinner and their future includes explicit reference to children. comparatively, fjord wants to address some issues in his past, jester is an artist, and both of them are interested in adventure for the foreseeable future.

g) if you truly think that a single part of laura’s description of the part-time abode of fjord and jester overrides every interaction and choice that both laura and travis make towards fjord and jester caring for each other in a deep and meaningful way that goes beyond the weird fandom constructed Man/Woman characters being portrayed by a married couple i truly, Truly have no idea why you even watch the many hours of content that cr is when you could… play/write your own shit.

[royboyfanpage]

Hi, I love your page! What are your thoughts on Roy and Connor's relationship?

Hi! Thank you so much, I'm glad you like my posts :) and thank you sososo much for this ask, I love Roy and Connor's relationship and I'm glad I have an opportunity to talk about them. Sorry it's taken me all day to answer, but here you go :)

Short answer? That's his little brother.

Long answer?

I know that "fanon Batfam is canon Arrowfam" is tired and overused, but I really do think that, especially with Roy and Connor, there is some truth to it. While they haven't had too many interactions in canon, there's still a clear arc their relationship takes which I really like.

I don't like Chuck Dixon's Green Arrow run, obviously he's a shitty person but also his writing just isn't for me, but one of the few parts of it I did enjoy was Connor's first meeting with Roy in Green Arrow (1988) #97, prior to Ollie's death. It first establishes one of the most present themes in their relationship, which is the differences in relation to Ollie, and the contrasting experiences of being their father's sons. Roy's the son who grew up with Ollie, he knows him personally, the good and the bad, but his status as Ollie's son is still constantly in question, you can see it back in Longbow Hunters, Ollie calls Roy his son but still denies that that word has meaning ("Roy's a hell of a kid, but he's not mine. Not really.") Whereas Connor, there's never been any doubt that he's Ollie's son, he's his flesh and blood, but he never knew Ollie until he was already in adulthood. He knows Oliver Queen through magazines, but not personally. That's why when Ollie storms off after finding out he's Connor's dad Connor's shocked, but Roy isn't surprised when he hears that from Connor. He knows Ollie, and he knows how his fears of commitment would make him act. While this is only a minor theme of those specific issues where they first met, Roy helping Connor understand what it means to be Oliver Queen's son is one of my favourite parts of their later interaction.

After Ollie's death, there is some tension between Roy and Connor, particularly around Connor joining the JLA in Ollie's place and becoming the new Green Arrow, first mentioned in Teen Titans (1996) #12-

-which is later expanded on in Arsenal #2.

This is really the first time we see Roy and Connor have a heart to heart, and it shows Roy's inferiority complex. Due to tumblr photo limit I can't show more pages for this, but I think the one I chose is the most poignant because, at least in my eyes, it shows the insecurities both of them have in terms of their relation to Ollie, and how each of them address that. Roy's loud, he'll openly speak his mind and say what he feels, and that's why it's primarily about him (that and that it's his mini and Connor's a guest). Roy openly admits feeling inferior to Connor in his position as Ollie's son, even after Ollie's death. Connor, he's quieter about it, and gets spoken over by Roy before he can actually talk about his feelings (which is a pretty consistent problem Connor faces where people expect him to listen but not talk). But you can still see it in his body language, the shadow over his face looking downwards, and while he isn't allowed to finish his sentence you can still tell what he's about to say, that Roy's more of Ollie's son than he is. They both know that the other hasn't actually done anything, but they're not to blame for each feeling their own individual emotions.

They also address the topic of legacy in relation to Ollie in #3, and how there's this unspoken standard to live up to that neither of them ever really can. Roy's Ollie's mentee, his protege, he should be Ollie's legacy, and yet he's not Green Arrow, he's not in the JLA, and he's still coming in second place. Whereas Connor, he is Green Arrow, he's Ollie's legacy, he's in the JLA, but he's a better martial artist than archer.

I wish they'd gotten more opportunities to interact while Ollie was dead because there was SO much potential for them during that period, but alas.

And now, I get to talk about one of my top five comics ever: Boys' Night Out, Green Arrow (2001) #32. Yeah, sure, the whole issue only happened because Ollie wanted Connor out of the house, but it's also the first comic to really explore the brotherly relationship between them, particularly in terms of Roy being older. Roy takes Connor bookshopping despite his own boredom-

-And then takes him to a strip club, where they have another heart to heart.

This page specifically is so important to me, because it's one of the few instances where Connor's actually being heard. Particularly in the 2000s but also in the 90s, a lot of Connor's character was defined by him being the voice of reason, the one who'll talk people down and listen to their problems, which ignores the fact that he's actually a pretty young guy, usually younger than the people he's helping (I suck with ages, I'm pretty sure he was 18 when he was first introduced which, by rough estimate using the Lian Method, would make him around 20-22 in the 2000s). I'm not saying that diminishes his emotional intelligence, he's clearly very emotionally intelligent, but it is a lot of pressure to put on someone that young to constantly be the one holding his family together. That's why I think this whole issue is so important for Connor, it's his chance to actually just be, and Roy's the best person for that. Despite what some fanon and canon characterisations suggest, Roy is absolutely not emotionally immature. Hell, you could make a pretty solid argument that part of the reason he took Connor to a strip club in the first place was to bring up the issue of Connor's sexuality. While asexuality wasn't as popularised as a term back then as it is today, the idea of Connor being queer was very present during Green Arrow (2001), albeit often used as a punchline, and while they're there Connor even gets referred to as a "friend of Madonna" by one of the workers. And while in Roy's head Connor was either gay or just had a low libido at that time, his "you're you and Ollie loves you" speech could very easily be interpreted as acceptance of his sexuality, even before Connor himself had figured it out. It acknowledges that, while Connor's good at helping other people work through their own problems, he's still a young person struggling with his identity, not understanding why he's so different to those around him, even his father. And Roy picks up on that, and tells him that it doesn't matter who or what he is, that what matters most is he's Connor, and him being Connor is enough to warrant love and support.

But Roy also doesn't treat Connor any differently to how he'd treat anyone else. When Connor says something Roy disagrees with, he calls him out

And I think Roy's treatment of Connor as an equal is very important. He doesn't depend on him or treat him like he's this pinnacle of wisdom, but he also doesn't coddle him and treat him like a baby. He calls his ass out, when he needs to! Roy's still a very loud and outspoken person, and he's not gonna change that because he and Connor had a heart to heart. I feel like a big problem with a lot of characters who enter into a family dynamic is that sometimes their writers change who they are at their core in order to have them fit into a specific role in the nuclear family, and while yeah, Roy's absolutely playing the role of an older brother in this issue, he's still Roy Harper, which I think is crucial. And conversely, Connor also calls Roy out when he does something he doesn't like!

I'm running low on the photo limit so apologies for the quality of this collage, and I couldn't fit it in frame but for context Roy just knocked out a robber who Connor was trying to talk down. Connor explains to Roy his reasonings, and Roy apologises! I think this also highlights the differences in terms of their characters. They're both very protective of their families, but Roy tends to act first whereas Connor thinks things through. Roy saw Connor with a gun pointed at him and immediately took action, which contrasts Connor's reaction when Roy gets shot in Outsiders #6

Connor's more of a rational thinker in times of crisis, and he tends to try and think things through and avoid rash decisions, whereas Roy's very much an immediate responder if his family's at stake.

And then it ends with them actually acknowledging each other as brothers!

The ending of Boys' Night Out is so important to me, honestly, and it demonstrates one of the most important features of their relationship- trying to figure out what brotherhood means. There's not a big hug at the end, there doesn't need to be. Just an acknowledgement that they're in each others lives, that they're brothers, and it doesn't matter what that means. It's cool. I adore this issue so much, I had to make like half the post about it because it's so good and it's such a good example of why filler issues are needed. Sure, Williamson's run has it's sweet moments, but an issue like this where two characters just get to interact in a low stake scenario will always be so much more impactful than one hug in a big event.

So, yeah, I think my short answer sums it up pretty well. They're the brothers ever.

[oshinohoshi]

Oshi no Ko Ch 164 Thoughts

I don't know what the return policy is on manga chapters but I'd like to return this chapter and ask for a new ending

I have reasons beyond "I hate this because it depresses me" but honestly I fucking hate it because it depresses me

Aqua died smiling. Great. He also died horribly in graphic detail. It's impactful, sure, but it also felt gratuitous. Maybe I'm just sensitive but it was awful to read

This arc is called "Toward the Stars and Dreams." I guess Akasaka was being clever and he meant nightmares

Akasaka said in a conversation with Mengo that he wanted to portray despair:

A: I guess the emotions I want to show are the pain of living and despair. M: Aka-sensei, are you in despair? A: I live with hope! M: But... What you want to depict in the manga is despair? A: Hope and hopelessness are two sides of the same coin, and that's what I want to show. M: So, what you're trying to depict is a form of hope? A: To make a star shine you have to put them in a dark place.

But I never viewed OnK as a story primarily about despair. If hope and hopelessness are flip sides to a coin, Ai's death portrayed that a lot better

Aqua's is a poor imitation. Deciding your life's worth is to die needlessly for your loved one is not the same as experiencing deep regret mixed with the relief of learning in your final moments that you loved like you always longed to

Aside from Ai and Hikaru, the characters generally got happy endings even if they had to go through hell first

I thought the story was moving towards a slightly bittersweet ending where Aqua finally took a step towards healing and living for himself. I didn't think Ai would have said, "I love you" to her kids if this whole thing was gonna end horribly

Boy do I feel like a clown

Maybe it would be more palatable if Aqua had died for revenge. I'd still have issues with it in terms of expectations, but at least the murder-suicide of a victimized individual wouldn't be framed as self-sacrifice

Can we all just agree that Aqua was NOT born to protect Ruby?

And if we had to go this route, couldn't the loose plot threads have at least been resolved first?

It really sucks that Ai's wishes for her kids to be happy and for Hikaru came to naught. It all seems so pointless now

I guess if there's one thing I can say that isn't bitterly complaining, it's that this chapter made me depressed for nearly a week since the leaks came out. If OnK wasn't something special to me I wouldn't care so much, you know?

Aside from the Aqua panels, I don't know which are the most psychologically damaging. I think it's a tie between Akane collapsed on the shore dressed to the nines, Ruby smiling while signing something for a little girl in a bow, and Miyako's face

The below panels hurt like hell now:

Although there's no way we'll have time to properly touch on the guilt Miyako is likely to feel so just throw it in the bin with every other offscreen moment from the last couple arcs

Everyone gets to be miserable but only for 2 chapters so they better be quick about it

Next chapter: Ruby won't kill herself unless Akasaka has committed to the worst possible ending in which case I'll have to declare him a genius with a vision that was simply too advanced for my puny mind to comprehend.

Instead, we'll time skip to Ruby taking her son, Aqua Ai Hoshino-Narushima, to the Hoshino family grave to pay respect to his namesakes. Then Hikaru, who managed to secure a nearby plot, will rise from the dead, do a fancy coat flip, and moonwalk away.

Man, I really am depressed about this ending though.

[invertebrates]

bug toys!

alright, here’s my mini-guide to getting into the world of Weirdly Articulated, almost entirely Japanese bug toys.

some caveats:

1) most of these toys aren’t great for kids. they have a lot of small lose-able, breakable, poke-able parts and can fall apart pretty easily. 2) i’m in the US, so i’m not quite sure how to acquire these things if ebay and Buyee don’t work for you 3) ‘bugs’ for the purpose of this guide (and entire blog tbh) is any invertebrate why would i want fake bugs when i can get real bugs? 1) fake bugs don’t die and can be neglected forever. they will never bite, sting, poop on you, or be stinky (unless you make them stinky) 2) fake bugs can be handled constantly, they will not get stressed out or pick up any germs from you 3) fake bugs can be much larger than real bugs, or be species that would be impossible or unethical to own or breed. they can even be fun made up creatures 4) fake bugs don’t require any kind of tank, substrate or food, and they will not breed uncontrollably (or at all) 5) they cannot escape and become an invasive species 6) buying them doesn’t support shady or unethical ‘breeders’ who just take bugs from the wild (not saying all bug breeders do this, but it’s definitely a problem with certain kinds of bugs)

this is not to discourage any responsible bug-culturing you might want to get into, but for me, as a pretty depressed person without a lot of space, these are all big plusses!

onto the fake bugs

ikimono encyclopedia

unfortunately these photos will be some dark toys against dark backgrounds because i am a goth bastard and everything i own is black. sorry.

so, these being Japanese toys, I’m not entirely sure of the correct terms for them. these are pretty much just the search terms I’ve discovered over time that work to find them. as far as I can tell, Japan LOVES bugs and has a very enviable appreciation for them, they don’t seem to be considered nearly as gross or weird or bad as they are in the west.

these are a series gachapon or capsule toys. you can get all kinds of awesome little toys, which are often strangely detailed and often high quality, from vending machines in Japan.

here are some current listings from ebay to give you an idea of the variety and prices:

they also have a lot of cool fish and reptiles in this series. prices can be a bit steep, but you’re usually buying the whole set of toys pictured, not just a one-off. they’re usually a few inches, pretty well painted and articulated, and come as individually wrapped kits you have to put together. i will say, sometimes it is hard to snap the legs into place, so if you have hand/joint issues you might need some help putting them together. usually, a lot of these toys might be the same model but repainted, and sometimes there’s duplicates. the two mantises in my photo are from a set of 6, and there were 3 sets of 2 identical boys, so I could display one with the wings out and another one folded. they’ll also sometimes come with a little piece of clear plastic and a stand you can pose them on top of.

just from the sheer variety they offer, and relative affordability, this would probably be my first recommendation for getting into bug toys. they have beetles, mantids, caterpillars, wasps, ispods, crabs... i’d love some myriapod sets but we’ll see!

i usually grab these guys off ebay. they’re also available on Buyee and there may be more, cheaper options over there, but I’ve noticed with the import/holding fees, buyee and ebay come out to be about the same most of the time. (for anyone confused, Buyee is an English import service that lets you buy stuff off Japanese sites and auctions, since a lot of Japanese sites only want to ship inside Japan)

these are also just the gachapon bug toys from one specific company. there’s OTHER companies making other sets of really good bugs but I’ve had so much luck with just this one term I haven’t branched out much yet.

Fujimi Living Thing Arc

these are slightly bigger models made out of slightly harder plastic (well, the mantis is bigger; beetles are about the same as the ikimono guys) that are a bit more intricate to put together. they come with assembly instructions, but of course they’re in Japanese. you can pretty much follow along with the pictures though. the painting details aren’t quite as nice, but they have a bit more articulation. not as many choices with this set, though they do have a crawfish I wanna snag. they also have some goofy JP style monster dinos.

i bought these guys off hlj.com but it looks like they’re on ebay(and buyee as well I’m sure)

Revoltech RevoGeo

you’ll probably recognize this name if you’re into transformers or other toy collecting. these guys are gonna be by far the most expensive ($90-$120+) but they are extremely large and high quality. this one is super articulated, the individual leg joints and mandibles move, wings move, about the only thing that isn’t articulated are the individual little tarsomeres/feet segments or the abdomen segments. not as much choice here either, I think they have a beetle, ants, crab and a scorpion plus this wasp. these also come mostly assembled, you can usually just snap the wings on or maybe swap out a few parts (iirc this gal’s stinger can be removed)

i got her off bigbadtoystore.com, though they may be available cheaper elsewhere. BBTS is infamously a bit pricier than other toy stores but they’ve always been very reliable and quick for me.

this BIG isopod

this one won’t be as helpful. these may be part of the same series as the ikimono (they were just labeled bandai gachapon) but they are much larger, this guy’s like 5″, came fully assembled and is pretty articulated. they can even roll into a ball! all their little legs move! i’m pretty sure they’re meant to be one of the large deep sea isopods and man, a 1:1 revoltech model of one of those would be a dream.

completely fake bugs!

had to share my little starship trooper warrior bug collection :^) the big one and the one directly under it are 90s kenner toys I believe, the bottom-right one is a funko, the red one is from a tabletop set, and the guy on the left is a figma model that is unfortunately ridiculously expensive nowadays.

one nice thing about fake real bugs: there is not a crazy collectors market for this so this stuff should stay pretty affordable. unless real normal bugs somehow become a huge pop sensation i think it’s just us weird nerds that are into them.

other search terms to try: bandai insect insect gachapon (or gashapon) nature gachapon

that way you may be able to track down listings for individual toys that should be a bit cheaper! here’s a sample what bandai insect got me on ebay:

happy fake bug collecting!

you may noticed I haven’t mentioned one form of bug that has a lot of the same advantages as plastic bugs: dead pinned insects in shadowboxes. i do have some of these, but i am reluctant to support places selling them nowadays because few are ethically or responsibly sourced, and the same sellers often kill and sell endangered bats and other vertebrates for display. plus mites got into half the ones i had and turned them into dead bug dust. if mites ever develop a taste for plastic i will be sad about my collection but the world will be saved from a lot of nasty garbage so it would ultimately be a Plus.

so unless you personally know the person that pinned the insect, i would be very cautious about buying dead things from random online stores or dealers at ‘curiosity’ or ‘oddity’ shows and things like that, since it’s all sourced from alibaba and whatnot anyway. i swear i saw like 5 different people selling the same dead octopuses in orbs at the last curiosity show i went to. they are cool, but i have no idea where those octopuses came from and i doubt the people selling them did either.

[hotpinkstaples]

Hey so I'm interested in writing for bartkon week, but I like doing frankly excessive research on characters before I try writing them...and honestly I don't really want to read all of SB94, impulse and YJ just to get a handle on what I'm doing, that's a lot even for me. I know some general stuff about the both of them, but not to the point where I'm like "Ah yes, I understand the soul of the matter" So I was wondering if there were like any specific arcs or points of characterization that I could read through to get the dynamic right?

shfkjdsfd ngl, I'm the worst person to ask bc my romance with BartKon didn't even start with BartKon....... it started with Clark/Bart from Smallville 😭😭😭 I'm exceptionally weak for Kryptonian/Speedster romances, but whereas Clark/Bart was the gateway, Bart/Kon is where my heart resides. And I don't ship any other Kryptonians with Speedster. Literally just Clart from Smallville and BartKon from the comics. Just giving you context so you don't think I'm some subject matter expert with a phd in BartKononomics ...... I am just a lady in her thirties who has carboard boxes full of sb/imp/yj singles cuz Clart made her Feel Things when she was a kid and she decided to Do Something about it (aka read comics).

BUT TO YOUR QUESTIONS!

If you want a high level overview of the ship, @radioactive-earthshine's KonBart Manifesto is a great place to start. It has the ship's Best Highlights, and really sums up why there is a small but dedicated fanbase to it. Dedicated enough that I broke my near-ten year cold turkey of mainline DC comics because my main man Bendis put BartKon back on the map while I was living my life blissfully unaware that DC had even hired Bendis to begin with and that the Diamond distro monopoly died. I was shocked. Still am. Two things I never thought would happen in my lifetime.

Now to understand the soul of Bart and Kon.... you're gonna have to look at that things that don't really have Bart and Kon on the same page. Part of the reason why BartKon Speaks to Me is because their relationship progression over the year directly ties back to their individual growth as characters.

So reading material 1: In Impulse, Bart starts off as the speedster equivalent of a feral bobcat, but slowly progresses into an empathetic, understanding, and an overall Good Man. Much of his story deals with the harsh realities of simply growing up different. Running theme of Imp fandom is that Mark Waid created and wrote an autist with ADHD without meaning too, and by Allah he sure did. It's fascinating because Bart harbors both grief and rage due to his predicaments, and the adults in his life are incredibly unkind (even if they are well-meaning), so Impulse has always been, in my understanding, the slice-of-life that really helps Bart to come of age into a Man and a Great Hero. You don't have to read the whole series, but if you can read at least the first twenty or so issues, you'll find yourself rooting for the little man and see how he shines in terms of empathy, understanding, love, and dealing with unresolved rage/grief/loss.

Reading material 2: Superboy is a trick and a half because it deals with issues of child neglect, grooming, the allegory of child star exploitation, and so on and so forth. The BartKon implications are There, but the reason why Superboy is incredibly important is because Superboy as a character is more than just his parentage. Contrary to popular belief, Geoff is NOT the main man in this story. Reading even just the first twenty issues of Superboy will show you Kon was failed by most of the adults in his life, and Superman is NOT his villain. Or the root of his daddy issues. Bro didn't even have a name until much later. If you wanna know who Superboy REALLY was before the Geoffian Era, you can read the first twenty odd issues. If you wanna go earlier, you could read his parts in Reign of the Supermen, just to get an understanding as to why he HAD to be the way he was during this time.

Reading material 3: I do not recommend reading all of YJ 98 for the BartKon bc YJ 98 is hijinks fun. It's GREAT reading for absurdist and comical situations, but only really works with context from Impulse and Superboy to get to the BartKon heart of it all. Not to say YJ 98 wouldn't give you the BartKon goodness, it sure does, but the soul doesn't come together if you don't get how Bart evolved in Impulse and how terribly Kon was treated in Superboy. You can read really anything in YJ to have fun with the group, but if you wanna fast track, you can read the last twenty or so issues and Titans/Young Justice Graduation Day.

Reading material 4: The Geoffian era..... I wouldn't wish Teen Titans 2003 on my worse enemy. Funniest thing is that at the time, I was just starting to watch Smallville. In love with Smallville!Bart already, I embarked on my Superboy journey.... had mixed feelings, so I stuck mostly to the 90's content. Ended up reading impulse a decade later, but long story short.... the Geoffian Era set a Tone and Direction for Bart and Kon that never sit well with me. There IS story there, if you are interested in reading about Daddy Issues, Masculine Identity, and a shit ton of other stuff that really pulled Kon away from his roots and made him more of a Emotionally Tortured Super. If that floats your boat, you may enjoy it. You can read a handful of comics from this era. Just know that in the end, he suffers anyway, just in an ugly ass outfit. The only real bit I'd recommend forreal forreal is when he dies. His whole arc in the Geoffian Era really just tells us he doesn't know how to live and thus he... dies. It's sad bc the writers before him despite having tortured Kon relentlessly, never really made him so...... hopeless.

Reading material 5: Flashpoint.... Bart dies, but I personally did not feel much for him because Bart didn't feel like Bart in the end, but yeah, he kicks it. This is where I pretty much kicked DC to the side too, minus the mistake that was reading RHATO. You can read Kid Flash Lost if you'd like.

Do not read New 52.

Reading material 6:.... my main man Bendis. No you do not have to read all of YJ 2019, but BartKon reunion and then Bart's explication as to WHY he found Kon is all you need. Bendis, despite the hate he gets, actually shows that he has great love for the YJ line. BartKon especially. The bald headed demon proves yet again that he care not for the world, only for his faves, which I'm cool with bc BartKon are me faves.

I know. A lotta reading. Those numbers I gave you.... you can also just read half of what I said kjdhgkhd Googling also helps! I know it's not always feasible to read so many comics, and I'mma be real, the Tone for many may not entice you either. Impulse feels like a slice-of-life to me, but YJ's an absurd shounen, and Superboy is the saddest book you'll ever read that is absolutely hilarious when you can accept that 90's writers just Did Not Care. Geoff hates Bart and Kon. New 52 is not real. Bendis actually loves BartKon a LOT, so you can just read their tidbits and find peace in the fact that Bart Allen, the loneliest fucker in existence, found his Kon El, who is the saddest fucker in existence. Something something, I will find you even if God wants us both dead. And God (editorial) did. I don't know how Bendis pulled the shit that he did, but he put a decades old rarepair back on the map after the Geoffian Reign. And Geoff hates Bart and Kon.

Happy Reading/Googling/Researching!!!!

[frauleinandry]

a persona 3 reload review

uuuuuuh so i was meant to post this like... two weeks ago, but then real life hit me in the head like a frying pan. now that i've had the time to edit this though, here are my thoughts on p3re! this is also a minato route review, as i played kotone's in P3P (i know it's not his canon name, but i don't want to use makoto due to P5 confusion).

on the whole, reload is a fantastic game. the gameplay easily rivals P5R, and surpasses it in some aspects. the new content is typically great. i also enjoyed minato as a character (well, as much of a character as persona protagonists are anyway), though that leads me to the main gripe i had with reload...

... and that's the lack of kotone's social links. to be precise, two of her social links, the absence of which greatly hurts the overall story.

don't get me wrong, i'd still rank reload a solid 8/10, but it could have been a 10/10 with the addition of those two links (plus one other spoiler thing), and I think that's a shame.

my in depth analysis is under the cut - note, it's very much not spoiler free.

okay, so, i'm gonna split this into 3.5 segments - the good, the mixed, and the bad (you'll find out what the 0.5 is later).

1. the good:

minato - while i'm still a kotone girlie at heart, he's not a bad protagonist at all! his dialogue options have a very distinct personality to them unlike joker and yu, and his character arc is one of the best of all of the persona main leads. an aloof, apathetic boy who learns to love the world/his friends so much he's willing to die for them... it's good!

koromaru - minor, but worth mentioning. you can pat him, and it's so cute. in fact, everything about him is perfect. from his all-out attack screen, to his animations, to... well, everything. no joke, if I needed to sell this game to a non-persona fan, i'd use him as the main draw.

hangout events - while I think being able to chat to everyone in the dorm already made SEES one of the more developed casts, having additional scenes really helped flesh out the party members who are less prominent in the plot (fuuka, pre-january aigis, ken). more things to do at night is also great, given there was nothing to do in the evening after maxing your social stats in the older versions. the perks they give you are great too, but i'll talk about that more later.

voice acting - not gonna lie, i generally don't like the persona dubs, and normally always play with the JP audio. given reload features some of my favourite voice actors though and was basically fully voiced, i decided to give it a chance this time. and i don't regret it! while some actors are definitely stronger than others, none of them were actively jarring, and quite frankly, they hard carried a lot of the social links. kudos to the cast!

strega - while they could have gone a bit further with it (jin needed a linked episode for sure), takaya finally got the development he sorely needed, and his and jin's final battles were actually interesting, instead of being annoying distractions from nyx. in fact, i'd say takaya's new content is easily the best of the new reload exclusive material. in portable, he made no impression on me whatsoever, but now, he finally gets to be the anti!minato he deserves to be.

1.5. the tartarus (aka good part 2, electric boogaloo):

i have so many things to gush about in terms of the new combat/exploration system, i decided it needed its own section! the glow-up tartarus got was massive. i was pretty disappointed when i heard they were keeping it randomly generated, but somehow, atlus pulled it off! i'll talk about individual things below.

collectables/monad doors - one issue with OG tartarus is that it's monotonous. breakable collectables make it much more entertaining to romp through though, as smashing things is Fun. the monad doors interspersed throughout are another good addition - if you want a break from roaming, you can challenge them, but if not, that's fine!

floor layout - another thing that makes tartatus more fresh to explore is that the HD graphics really make the differences between the blocks pop out. the generally smaller floors with more unique layouts really helps too.

shifting - it's baton pass, though without the ridiculous power/sp bonuses that made baton pass a little bit too gamebreaking in persona 5. in other words, perfect!

theurgy - out of all the battle-specific improvements, theurgy and the personality traits have got to be my favourites. showtimes were fun, but too random/gimmicky to be that useful, and ultimate skills tended to fluctuate between being absolutely gamebreaking or too SP intensive to be worth using. blending them into one feature with a content-specific gauge fixes all the problems with them while keeping everything that made showtimes/ultimate skills good.

ambush mechanics - this was one of the things i was most worried about before playing reload. ambushing in P5 is fun, but ambushing in the other persona games...? not so much. reload manages to fix this though by making the shadows less sensitive, which makes the early game a lot better, and but introducing dash-ambushes once the floors get bigger. if the persona 6 ambush system works like this, i'll be happy.

navigator skills - fuuka being retooled to work more like a playable character was an A+++ decision. making her skills player-activated but with an SP cost is so much more immersive than randomly getting a stat boost/enemy info.

unfortunately, while i think most of the tartarus additions were great, there were a few new mechanics which weren't... dreadful, per say, but could have been implemented better.

great clocks - they're better than nothing, but quite frankly, i would have preferred it if benched units got 50% exp instead. they incentivise you to drop two units for a period of time, which is annoying, given i want to use everyone on my first playthrough. late game, great clocks are also a pain to summon, for reasons i'll talk about below.

twilight fragments - i think they're a neat idea in theory, but they need to be easier/more reliable to farm. once you finish off the bulk of your social links/elizabeth's requests, replenishing them becomes a nightmare, which is annoying because you need them for great clocks.

2. the mixed:

while reload did a lot of things right, as per above, there were some things that didn't quite hit the mark.

linked episodes - i'm gonna be blunt. anyone who thinks these are better than social links is smoking something. one thing i like about party member social links is that it gives them a subplot outside of the main story, focusing more on their mundane struggles as opposed to their supernatural ones. half of the linked episodes just develop the main plot more though (and really should have just been included in it), meaning the linked episode exclusive subplots are underbaked.

another problem is that some of the linked episodes are just... kinda badly written. ryoji's completely lacks his existential dread, akihiko's comes off as a poor attempt to make his arena behaviour less OOC, while shinjiro's... it feels like persona 5 writing, in the worst way possible. it's like atlus completely forgot that subtext is a thing that's Good, actually.

while I have been fairly critical of them so far though, there are a couple of linked episodes i liked. koromaru's actually worked with the format, given he's a dog, but the real winner here was takaya. i loved all of his. if linked episodes appear again, i'd rather they be locked to antagonists like him.

art direction- i'll say right now - the UI is fabulous, the model shaders are great, and tartarus looks fantastic. the environmental design on the whole though is a bit iffy - a lot of the environments didn't translate to the super HD very well, and the lighting sucks in general. i needed to turn down the brightness it was so eye-searing. the animation of the 2D cutscenes is also pretty mediocre, and while the 3D cutscenes tend to look better, they're held back by some of the character models looking a bit goofy (mitsuru's is probably the biggest offender). i also think they were too scared of making the sprites 'ugly', and therefore on the whole they're slightly less emotive than the ones in the older versions of the game, which is a pity.

3. the bad:

minato's social links - the vast majority of the minato-exclusive social links are just flat-out not great. serious props to the voice actors here, since they hard carried them. quite frankly, they're just... bland, except for maya's and suemitsu's, which. uh. have problems. on the topic of social links, while i'm happy the romance isn't mandatory anymore, i don't like how half the girls explicitly confess to you. i much prefer the more subtle vibes of the P5/P4 romantic options, as yeah, most of them can lead naturally into romance, but they don't make the MC feel like a harem anime protagonist (derogatory). it kinda brings to mind this twitter post; sometimes, subtlety is simply better.

the absence of shinji and ryoji's social links - i can live without saori, rio, and most of the new and improved SEES member social links, but this is where i draw the line. while shinji dying is better storytelling, just like with chidori, having the option to save him is also important. lock it behind new game plus, yes... but keep it. also, him priming kotone to support akihiko one he's gone is far better than him just flat-out telling minato that he's dying. ryoji's missing social link though is infinitely worse. where is his slowly mounting horror as he starts poking holes in his backstory? his desperation to validate that he's actually real? that he exists?! like yeah, it's nice that the linked episode doubled down on his bisexuality, but i'd rather keep the psychological breakdown aspects of it, y'know?

the difficulty - i started playing reload normal - the level i'd typically use for a blind run of a persona game - aaaaand swapped to hard the second i unlocked theurgy. even then though, the game was a cakewalk until january hit. while i love theurgy, the game is absolutely not scaled around it, especially since you can charge/concentrate them. doing that, you can easily rack up thousands of damage without even going ham with fusion. unfortunately, reload is just... really easy.

the plot's too faithful to the original - while reload added new content, it pretty much left the story untouched outside of the beach scene. that's... not good, as persona 3's narrative had some pretty big problems. the biggest issue is the unchanged pacing - the strega storyline really needed to start a month earlier, and ryoji needed an extra month to integrate with the characters due to his lack of social link. this is one of the things i'm explicitly docking a point for - reload still doesn't kick off until the yakushima arc, which is well over a third into the game.

despite my criticisms, i do want to note that my experience with reload was predominately positive. it's (extremely) sad that you still need to play portable to experience the full persona 3 story, but p3re is still a fantastic game, and has a lot of gameplay features i'd be delighted to see in persona 6.

that's all i've got to say for now - until next time!

[sun-undone]

i'm finishing up yet another rewatch because when am i not rewatching this godforsaken show and all throughout season 2, i kept honing in on all the times we see JJ with that fucking flask and how it is NEVER ADDRESSED. the most we get are the two moments in 2x01 and 2x03 when Kie's telling him to chill out before school and then when she takes the flask from his hand when she thinks he's asleep.

the fact that the closest we got to any acknowledgement of that being a deeper problem was always framed around jiara???? and now we know from the EW articles that JJ's mental health is gonna be a bigger deal (thank fucking god pates i love you and i never said anything bad about y'all) in season 3, which is the jiara season??????? it's all connected and i truly cannot believe i am praising writers for basic set up and payoff but !!!!!! i really thought the flask was their half-assed way of giving JJ some kind of individual arc when they totally dropped all his other plot lines (restitution and Luke/abuse trauma) but i could not be more happy to be proven wrong.

(i mean, they might be talking a big game now, it all comes down to the actual execution but i'm still so fucking excited that they've specifically mentioned taking a look at the pogues' mental states and it gives me a lot of hope okay)

everyone's already said this but i really think we're gonna see JJ struggling hardcore with being back home and not knowing what his place is as the dynamic of the pogues has changed so much. Cleo and Pope are paired off, since we now have confirmation that she'll be staying with him and his family. John B is gonna be reunited with his father, and he and Sarah have got each other as well. Kie has her parents to go back to, as strained as that relationship is. JJ is very clearly the odd one out.

poguelandia is the first time that JJ has ever been away from the obx. he has never existed outside the bubble of what it means to be a Maybank in the obx. so he's gotta feel so free, right?? he can provide for his family by fishing and they can get by just well enough to survive and live off the land and they have each other, and that's always been enough for JJ.

and if he and Kie gravitate closer on poguelandia like we all think they will, then all of that happiness and a taste of his surf trip dream will suddenly get ripped away from him when they have to go back home, and he's absolutely gonna spiral. he's gonna pull away and deflect and overcompensate with alcohol and use all the other immature coping mechanisms we've seen him use before, and i am so fucking ready for this angst holy shit cause there's just been so much set up for it. the pates love a fast burn so i think we were all kinda worried about the slow burn with jiara, but my expectations are officially sky high. i'm so glad that they're using the established character flaws and insecurities for JJ as part of the angst, and i'm assuming Kie's issues with her parents will be the external force adding onto that and making it even angstier.

it's not mind-blowing writing whatsoever, but after season 2 kinda let us down in terms of giving us insight into JJ's headspace, i'm just over the moon to see that it might've all been a set up for something bigger. they knew they wanted to save the deep dive into JJ's trauma for the jiara season because it's so integral to understanding how JJ receives and doesn't receive love. you can't put JJ in a romantic plot line without addressing all that trauma and self-hatred, and it's something fic writers have created masterpieces about and i can't stop saying it but i am just so fucking happy that the pates are putting it in canon. they really do care about these characters huh

if season 3 ends up being a disaster and the trauma plot line is disappointing as hell then no one saw this i didn't write it you didn't read it

[strangewomanactuallylargebass]

Ranking the Madagascar ☆comics☆ (because why not)

Before I get into it, I'll lay down my criteria for what exactly counts as a comic in this ranking. For one, it has to actually be available (so I'll unfortunately be excluding two of the TPOM comics since they are not available to read anywhere). For two, I'll be doing it in terms of the physical copies I own - that means for the ones I have singular issues of I'll count each issue as it's own comic, but for the ones I have graphic novels of I'll count the entire graphic novel as one comic. Maybe I'll rank every story individually eventually, but that'll be for another time. I also want to preface this by saying that despite any negatives I may point out in the ranking, I do still love all of the comics, and they all have something exceptional to them that makes them worth reading. Anyway -

15. DreamWorks Classics Presents Madagascar #2 - Game On: This one...isn't great. The stories aren't very interesting, and feel pretty pointless overall. The first story involves Melman thinking he's sick while on Madagascar, and the other two involve the zoosters getting involved in hijinks back at the zoo. There are a few standout moments (including one of my favorite quotes ever from Julien), but overall the stories just aren't that engaging.

14. The Penguins of Madagascar #3 - Operation Wonder From Down Under! Part 3: This story is also isn't too interesting. There are some funny moments with the penguins encountering some jerboas who want to rule the world, but other than that the story just feels like it's trying to take up space and fill in the gap between issues #2 and #4.

13. Penguins of Madagascar: The Great Drain Robbery: This comic has a few stories all set after Penguins of Madagascar, and showcase the penguins travelling between hideouts and missions. It has a lot of potential, and that's the problem - that potential is never taken advantage of. There were so many cool stories set up, and with a few more lines of dialogue explaining some things the stories could've been taken to another level. Instead, the stories feel confusing and all over the place, jumping from one point to the next with no rhyme or reason. There are of course some fun stories and jokes, but overall it is just such a shame that the full potential of this comic wasn't realized.

12. The Penguins of Madagascar #4 - Operation Wonder From Down Under! Part 4: I'd say at this point in the ranking is when the comics go from "alright" to "pretty good". The penguins finish a story arc here and finally reach Australia. There are some great jokes with the penguins not understanding human technology, and there are some fun interactions amongst the penguins themselves (especially regarding a few panels that have Kowalski and Rico interacting). When the lemurs and penguins finally meet up again, there are some parts that feel exactly like an episode of The Penguins of Madagascar.

11. The Penguins of Madagascar #1 - Operation Wonder From Down Under! Part 1: This comic is pretty good. It feels exactly like the setup to one of the specials in TPOM, and it feels like an exciting return to form. The penguins are being skeptical and doing their paranoid-military thing, Julien and Maurice have their usual back-and-forth thing going on, and the cliffhanger at the end puts the reader on the edge of their seat, excited for what's to come. The only downside is the art style - it's alright for most of it, nothing special, but some of the time (especially in regards to Maurice's character design) it is truly awful.

10. Madagascar #1: The art style in this comic is actually fantastic. There are some great character moments, and the banter between Alex and Nana is on point. It's a fun little romp through the New York City streets, and it's always nice to see Nana interacting with Alex again. Since this comic presumably takes place some time before The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper, Nana is much more mellow in regards to her attitude towards the animals; however, she still very much acts like her usual self at times.

9. Madagascar #4: This one is great! The penguins get a great introduction, and it feels like there's a nice blend in personality between how they act in the first film and how they act in the other movies and show. The way the zoosters and penguins go about achieving their goals is actually quite reminiscent of Merry Madagascar, in a way, but without feeling like a useless rehash. There's some nice character development, fun jokes, and a surprise cameo appearance from the lemurs!

8. The Penguins of Madagascar #2 - Operation Wonder From Down Under! Part 2: This is my favorite issue of the Wonder From Down Under story arc. There are some great backgrounds and character designs utilized in the jungle setting, and it really makes the most out of the series' art style. The jungle animals are fun, the story is progressed in an intriguing way, and Kowalski and Skipper have some great back-and-forth conversation. Also, the backup story featuring Private's birthday is really touching.

7. Madagascar 3: Long Live The King!: This comic has two fun stories that serve as a prelude to Madagascar 3. We see the penguins and chimps get up to some shenanigans in Monte Carlo prior to the zooster's arrival, and there's a hilarious (though admittedly somewhat predictable) twist at the end. The backup story with the circus is great, too, and there are some really emotional moments between Vitaly and Gia.

6. The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation Weakest Link & Other Stories: These stories are fantastic, and feel like they were ripped straight from an actual episode of The Penguins of Madagascar. The first story has some unique pairings of characters, showcasing some character interactions that we never really got a chance to see in the show itself. The second story has some fun moments with the penguins finding out more about the lives of humans, with the penguins coming closer together by the end.

5. Penguins of Madagascar: The Elite-est of the Elite: Right about here at the top 5 is where the comics go from "pretty good" to "you should absolutely check these out because of how great they are". This comic has a fantastic multi-part story involving the penguins and the North Wind teaming up yet again. There are twists, turns, and awesome action set-pieces. Everything is cohesive with one thing directly leading to the next, and feels like if The Great Drain Robbery had managed to reach its full potential. It's overall a lot of fun, and there are some really neat short stories at the end that expand on the North Wind as well as give us some cute moments between the penguins when they were babies!

4. Madagascar #2: I had always imagined the zoosters having more escape attempts besides the hot air balloon in Merry Madagascar, and this comic delivered on exactly that. There are some hilarious panels and pages with all the animals working together to get the zoosters off the island, and each attempt is better than the last. It's nice to get to see more of how the zoosters felt in their time on Madagascar, and the lemurs are the standout as usual.

3. DreamWorks Classics Presents Madagascar #1 - Hide & Seek: As I briefly mentioned with the last comic, I always find it so interesting to see the zoosters' lives on Madagascar in between the first and second films. This comic, then, fully delivers on that. We get to see so many great moments with the zoosters transitioning from life in New York to life on Madagascar, and the penguins are fantastic in their brief appearance here. Also, in the third story Maurice is definitely the stand out and is the best character.

2. DreamWorks Classics Presents Madagascar #3 - Let Them Eat Cake: The first story has some great interactions between King Julien, Maurice, and Mort, and Julien's personality feels like the perfect blend between his movie personality, his All Hail King Julien personality, and his TPOM personality. The second story is a bit of fun, though not anything too spectacular. The third story, however, is what really makes this comic one of my favorites. The premise involves Julien placing a property tax upon the beach the zoosters reside on, the zoosters subsequently retaliate. This has got to be one of my favorite stories of any of the comics, and as a whole helps elevate this comic to something fabulous.

Madagascar #3: This comic is simply stupendous, phenomenal, fantabulous, and any other similarly descriptive words. The plot involves Julien finally making his way back to Madagascar after abandoning it all those years ago in the second film, but finding out that another lemur has taken his place as king in the meantime. Our main lemur trio is just the best, and the royal competitions Julien has to take part in make for a great setup for some hilarious jokes. The rival king is just as stuck-up as Julien, yet seemingly even more self-centered and ignorant. The ending is one of the best parts, and makes for this comic to be a wonderful addition to the franchise as whole. While it's a shame that there weren't any real references to AHKJ or TPOM, it's understandable since this isn't the type of franchise to be completely interconnected.

And those are my thoughts. While there were a few missteps here and there, taken as a whole I am so glad the comics are a thing that exists for the franchise.

[siena-sevenwits]

Jan 1 - Day #2 - A Fortnight of Books

I am loving these prompts!

Most surprising (in a good way) book of this year?

"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen

I was shocked how glad I was that I read this, because I knew it mostly as an example Chesterton and similar authors of the rough time period used to discuss the controversial feminist ideas of the day. In other words, I knew it by reputation through the lens of "'A Doll's House' reflects everything wrong with how we think about women and marriage these days." This is not to say the historical context/critical reception at time of its release is not important - this play would fall flat without them. But taking the play on its own terms, here's what I say. Nora is 100% right about the problem she and Torvald face - even though they do their best to love each other and have been happy in the lesser idea of marriage society has shaped them to believe in, there is no respect or maturity in their marriage and it will ultimately fail. Nora has her eyes opened to the idea of what marriage should be - utter self gift of each to the other, striving and sacrificing always for trust and respect, together helping the other thrive in all that they are, as a team and in their own individuality and in their responsibility to their children and community. A marriage with no stupid delineation between love and respect, a marriage of equals. She has no words for it, but what she's talking about is a ToB marriage, in fact.

But she realizes that society has fed her and her husband extremely messed up ideas about what it means to been a good upperclass woman or man, and to have a good marriage, and that they're not equipped to embrace what a true marriage should be. So she walks out and leaves no contact information. I think she made the wrong choice. I think what we see in this play, as horrible as the situation is, is a Flannery O'Connor time moment of grace. The true ugliness of Nora and Torvald's relationship has been made clear, and the contrasting beautiful marriage they both desire has been made manifest. This is awesome! This is what a play SHOULD do! The solution it proposes leaves a lot to be desired, but I think that's only because neither Nora nor Ibsen knows how to solve the problem, and making a clean break is all that they can come up with. But it seems to me that in that moment of grace, Nora and Torvald should have determined to make one, last incredible try. Separation might have to be involved, for a time. Certainly extremely hard work and brutal honesty would have to be involved. And there's nothing to say they would be successful - but if they only gave it one chance now that they KNOW the truth that was hidden from them... And that's why I like this play. I disagree with how Ibsen wraps it up, but he was RIGHT to raise this issue to the light back in his day, and I think the conversations around it must have been stupendous. Where is that post about how all fiction has been touched by sin, and you can focus on that, but you can also find where it has been touched by truth? So I have a complex relationship with this play, but am very glad I read it. Oh, and Nora has such an amazing arc.

(Some of this may be off - it's been nearly a year since I read it and some bits are hazy.)

Most disappointing book/Book you wish you enjoyed more than you did?

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

I DNF'd this one. Ugh, I was so excited for the new Cosmere book - bought it the day it hit the shelves, and everything! But the good parts became overshadowed for me by all the immature body stuff and "sneaking peeks." I roll my eyes in this book's general direction. If you want to make a point about vulnerability, there are better ways to do it.

Sanderson, if Stormlight 5 isn't an awesome series finale to make up for this, you're the one who's getting magically turned into a coat rack.

[chimerafeathers]

[personal opinions about dunmesh op 1 vs op 2 visuals, mild namedrop spoilers below]

tbh while i liked the first dunmesh op’s song a lot, the visuals REALLY didn’t do it for me in terms of establishing tone, character, overall plot or vibes of the story…

almost half of it is static or minimally animated images, and the first section of the giant characters standing stoically with eyes closed in various landscapes does very little to convey anything meaningful about them as individuals or their role in the story. like, i could see that imagery for a more low-key ED, and i think it would work really well. (i'd never replace Ryoko Kui's art from the EDs, but in a different universe where they had a more standard animated approach.)

but for the first op, that’s supposed to set the tone and hook you on the world & characters….ehhh. especially since Kabru, Namari, and Shuro/Toshiro are featured equally to the main party, but Kabru and Namari get very little screentime in the first cour, and Toshiro gets even less and is barely even mentioned. meanwhile, there's only one food/cooking-related shot right at the end. the biggest focus of the first arc is barely present in the op.

they spend a huge amount of time just kinda teasing characters that won’t be properly featured or introduced for a while yet—shots of the Canaries, Toshiro's party('s legs), Thistle, the Winged Lion, are all exciting to see *as a manga reader*, but they feel out of place for the first op. the first arc primarily focuses on our main party and their interactions with the dungeon itself and the monsters within it, and, you know, cooking.

the main party's personalities, monsters, and food. those 3 things were either severely underrepresented or completely absent from the op 1 visuals, and i really felt their absence more and more as time went on.

2nd op on the other hand......love love love. WAY better representation of the characters and what the show is actually about! there's so much more humor and personality, it showcases the camaraderie of the main party, it flips back and forth between the party hunting/gathering ingredients to cook and BECOMING ingredients that are getting cooked, there are so many more monster designs and interactions, it still manages to show off upcoming characters and designs without detracting from the overall feel or focus.....it's EXACTLY what i was hoping for from the op switch so i'm absolutely thrilled!!

i like the new song, but i have less to say about it specifically, other than the visuals being timed to it really nicely. i could be wrong but i feel like people who are "meh" about the new op maybe just care about the music part, or at least weigh it more heavily, whereas i'm somewhat the opposite. it's hard for me to imagine someone comparing just based on the visuals and thinking that this:

somehow matches the tone and vibe of the show better than this:

but, people have different perspectives on things, so there probably ARE people who genuinely prefer the more solemn and mysterious atmosphere of op 1 visuals to the more “cutesy” op 2, even if i personally think they feel out of place for arc 1.

to be clear, none of this is to say the visuals are *bad*--i have the stitched image of Laios (& co) and Falin (& co) reaching towards each other as my phone background--just that i felt like they emphasized the wrong things for this first arc, and were maybe better suited to an ed.

i'm really, really happy that op 2 completely fixed every "issue" that i had with the first one!

[reikunrei]

i know i’ve already talked about this half a dozen times but i’m really sooo so excited to see Steve and Jonathan interact more. like, it’s obviously been set up that at this point they have to be teamed up in some way, and i’m just chomping at the bit for that kind of interaction.

like, it’ll probably be against both of their wills in some way, or at the very least against Jonathan’s, and so now they’re stuck together and it’s awkward because neither of them really know each other. and they’ve saved each others lives like a dozen times at this point, and watched each other kick ass again and again, but like...

Steve probably still thinks about the fact that Jonathan took those sneaky photos in his back yard, and while Jonathan did apologize to Nancy for it, he and Steve never talked about it again. and Jonathan definitely still thinks about all the shit Steve said before they had their fist fight (how the Byers are a bunch of screw ups, how it’s not surprising that Will “died,” how they all deserved it, etc.) because of course he’d still hold a grudge over that! it was shitty!

and even if they’ve saved each others lives several times now, that doesn’t automatically negate the shitty things they’ve said or done to each other on a personal level. and the fact that Jonathan still defaulted to making a jab at Steve about him being unable to be “in charge” proves that he still thinks that, to some degree, Steve is still very much like he was in high school. like, he knows that, on some level, Steve has changed, having likely heard tons of praise from the younger kids... but how much of it does he really believe, you know? it’s a high stakes situation, of course Steve is gonna try to save people... but what about when they’re outside of a high stakes situation?

as the audience, we’ve seen Steve steadily improving across all seasons, and he really didn’t learn how to be a wholly “good person” until the very end of season 3, i think, and his friendship with Robin was just the beginning of that growth tbh, at least by way of changing the way he thinks about and views the world and his relationships with other people. but Jonathan has seen, like, basically none of it first hand. they don’t hang out, they don’t talk. hell, even after the season 1 fight with the demogorgon, we learn (in season 2) that Jonathan just “disappeared,” per Nancy’s words. Jonathan didn’t stick around, and we see that, when Steve appears, Jonathan slinks away. he and Steve do not have a relationship right now.

and i really truly think that some sort of forced team-up that results in a heart to heart between the two of them would do astronomically well by their individual character arcs.

something about how Steve is still in love with Nancy, and still hoping it’ll work out between them, but talking more with Jonathan and learning just why Nancy likes him so much, and how her and Steve aren’t quite compatible anymore, and maybe never were, because maybe even the true Nancy that Jonathan loves so much isn’t the Nancy that Steve knew and still fawns over. like, it would allow Steve to move on or come to terms with the fact that he doesn’t need to be in love with someone or be in a relationship in order to be whole. he might want Nancy, but he doesn’t need her.

and we’ve still never really seen Jonathan’s trust issues addressed on screen (i will forever be sad that we didn’t see Jonathan letting Argyle into his life), and having Steve poke that bear, to talk to him and make Jonathan second guess his feelings about Steve. like, words cannot describe how fucking badly i want Steve to finish his apology from season 1. like, as far as i can remember, it didn’t seem like Steve went to Nancy to apologize to her first. he went to the Byers house to apologize to Jonathan. only, he got interrupted by the plot he was totally unaware of. and i can bet that Jonathan forgot about that, but maybe Steve hasn’t. and once they’re alone together, air thick with awkward tension, he thinks, fuck, this dude hates me, and i know exactly why.

like, just imagine having that final link closed for the both of them. Steve finally getting to apologize for the asshole things he did to Jonathan, owning up to what he did and not hiding behind something like, “well, i saved your life, so you have to like me now.” like really owning up to everything he said and did to Jonathan. and Jonathan just gawks at him because, oh. fuck. and Steve would just have to keep talking, because Jonathan is stubborn and a little caught off guard. so Steve is saying stuff like, “I’m happy for you and Nancy, you make a great pair. i’m sorry i broke your camera, that was really fucked up. i’m glad that Will ended up okay. like, really glad.”

and then imagine Jonathan muttering out an apology, after way too much silence has passed, and Steve just kinda blinks at him. and Jonathan says it again, “I’m sorry, too. for, you know, the pictures and... and for... you know...” for being a dickhead to you all these years when everyone else was telling me you were a good guy. he can’t say that, though. to Steve Harrington?? that would be too vulnerable for Jonathan. at least right now.

i’m just so !!!! about them and the potential for more interactions between them!! like their relationship is still so fragmented, they’re the only two who have yet to reconcile and gotten to know each other on screen. and i honestly feel like if we don’t get just one little awkward team-up between them where they’re forced to talk about their feelings, the two of them will stall out and not be able to move forward in their arcs. because if they really want to lean into this love triangle with Nancy, Jonathan can’t keep going to Argyle for advice and Steve can’t keep going to Robin, and Nancy can’t be caught in the middle with her split attraction between the two of them. the two guys have to talk to each other, to learn who each person is, so that Steve can move on and accept Nancy’s feelings for Jonathan, and Jonathan can stop being a defensive prick around this guy who’s otherwise a perfectly lovely friend to Nancy and everyone else.

[when-wax-wings-melt]

worst part of canon

worst part of fanon

for kotlc please please please (as someone who is slowly entering the fandom)

1:

leaving out, like, the issues regarding rep + lowkey racism and such... I'll say the dropped/2D characterizations for like, a LOT of the characters (esp the poc but not getting into that). What shannon did was set up a super interesting universe with compelling characters, start off their arcs with them being stereotypical (ie biana as the girly girl, keefe the jokester, etc) and then build from that to develop their personalities.

And I have no problem with that, except it seems that along the line she forgot what she was doing. biana stopped being her own person and started being an accessory to what other people needed. keefe became this sad guy who doesn't know when to stop. people lost individual motivation and goals. (if this was intentional or as a result of sophie's narration and therefore warping the narrative to her pov those are conversations I can accept but not entirely, considering idk if that was what shannon actually intended)

and I like how some of them turned out, but most of them just fall flat. I'm fixated on him rn so I'll say an egregious example of this is fitz, and how he was set up as this lovely perfect guy on a pedestal (stereotype) who was shown to lose his temper and not know how to control his emotions (development) and then... it was kind of dropped? Idk. makes me mad.

2:

This one's pretty easy. People in this fandom (I'll say myself included, but I think I'm doing better w this) tend to take their opinions and often headcanons as indisputable truth. they don't often listen to other povs, including ship wars and in terms of characters and such. the ship wars in this fandom are kind of hellish. thankfully, keepblr tends to be much better about this (or at least my circle here) but there's def issues with it as well

[pbear]

Ranking Black Clover OPs

This is a personal ranking. All of them are actually solid OPs and I think Black Clover consistently makes good ones.

Max of ten videos to a post so the bottom ones link to the OP.

13. Stories by Snow Man (OP 11)

Not bad but it doesn’t do too much. A little basic. Kinda checks all the normal boxes.

The shot of the map is cool

You flash through a bunch of characters.

Group Black Bulls shot.

I thought they were showing flashbacks but there are episodes that revisit Kahono and Kiato, Zora’s backstory, and the Queen of Witches which is nice.

Awww Loropechika :(

Some magic and fighting shots

Yeah, it’s not outstanding

12. Eien ni Hikare (Everlasting Shine) by TOMORROW X TOGETHER (OP 12)

Starts off with some cool shots of squad members against shots of their captains (expect Yami ofc because you couldn’t fit all his kids)

Yuno finding himself surrounded by his friends in the Golden Dawn is really sweet.

Some magic fighting with the captains this time which is super cool

Asta and Yuno growing up as they run together is sweet too.

Not much that I found interesting but it looks nice

11. Gamushara by Miyuna (OP 5)

Solid but doesn’t stand out too much.

The song has grown on me from when I first watched the arc.

I was intrigued that in the opening shots of the Black Bulls, Vanessa and Finral are in different shots when they’re shown together a lot of the time. I think that’s because this point in the story is when their individual stories start getting focused.

Back to the illustrations in the grimoire which is cool.

Vanessa seeing Rouge for the first time is so touching as she realizes the power she holds.

Ending shot of the squad is always good.

Definitely more of a static OP

10. Grandeur by Snow Man (OP 13)

I love the song for this one.

The surprise watching it for the first time is that you find out Asta becomes even more buff.

And then he goes sword surfing.

Good action

Amping up the threat of the Dark Triad well

The hints at Nacht and Liebe are nice

Actually doesn’t show too many characters. The Black Bulls (as a squad) aren’t really there.

9. sky & blue by GIRLFRIEND (OP 8)

I thought this song was not appropriate for this point in the series the first time I watched it. Like, the elves are wreaking havoc and we’re having this nice little calm tune. It is a good song though.

Good action in this one.

Lots of elf trauma.

I didn’t notice the brief shots of Leo and Luck until I rewatched it to make this list, but they’re appreciated for their moments during this arc.

Lots of Asta and Yuno focus.

I feel like I don’t have much to say about it.

8. JUSTadICE by Seiko Oomori (OP 7)

I like the symbols of the squads in time to the song

Great group shot of the Black Bulls

I wasn’t sure why Grey and Gordon were both screaming but once you know, it’s great.

Mimosa in the spotlight because she’s important this arc being on a team with Asta.

Cool Zora shot.

Elf trauma.

Yami being super sus about William and William also gets this creepy shot where black hands grab him.

HENRY REVEAL

Everyone coming towards Mereoleona at the end to form the Royal Knights is nice.

Screaming Black Clover at the end is such a moment

7. rakugaki paige by Kankaku Piero (OP 6)

Lower down in terms of song for me but the visuals are damn good.

Love some of the transitions in this one.

The opening shots of different wizards in environments similar to their magic type is cool. Then, they all fade to black which is where Asta appears. Very nice.

Interesting that Asta and Yuno are reaching out to each other instead of their normal fist bump.

Lots of action in this OP and it’s great.

The transition from Finral and Langris in red to Noelle and Solid in blue is satisfying. The parallel of sibling issues.

Zora seeing his father is a good transition too.

That shot of Langris angry is scary but it transitions to Finral opening his eyes to see his friends protecting him :’)

6. Paint It Black by BiSH (OP 2)

This OP changed as the arc went on. I was skipping it on some episodes and when I decided to see it again, I had to take a step back. Then, I watched it almost every time.

I was excited for this arc because Luck was getting attention and the OP reflects this but at the split shot of him half crazy and half as we normally see him made me think “That’s concerning”

I like the red, blue and black throughout it. Very reminiscent of the rustiness of Asta’s sword too.

Watching the arc, I liked trying to identify everyone’s grimoires as they flew past at the beginning.

5. Haruka Mirai by Kankaku Piero (OP 1)

Start of the show so it’s mostly Asta and Yuno based which is fine because you haven’t met many characters yet but I prefer the ones that include more of the characters

I like that the shots of the Black Bulls and Captains are like illustrations in the pages of a grimoire.

I remember this OP making me think Magna was going to be more important than the other Black Bulls because there’s a shot of him riding on Crazy Cyclone with Asta and Noelle. Like, I thought they were going to be a trio or something.

This is the OP that they play during scenes in the show so it has some nostalgia as the first one and it shows how much Asta has grown.

Being the first OP, it hits different and has a special place, but I think there are better ones down the line.

4. Black Catcher by Vicke Blanka (OP 10)

Cool OP because there is a drastic change between its two versions

Song is really good.

The first one fits that point in the story well because it’s colorless and raining and everything seems hopeless.

Secre flying through the air as the past plays out and then a shot of Asta shows how she’s been around for years.

Cool action fighting the devil.

When light breaks through the darkness and Secre cries :’)

As for the second version…

Secre falling through the sky but she has the Black Bulls cloak on now is nice.

I like Asta running through the illustrations of all these people he’s met. It’s recalling all the adventures he’s had so far.

Creepy shot of Gordon’s family which probably jumpscared me the first time I watched it

I want to punch Damnatio in the face

Some cool action

More foreshadowing ooooooo

Another good ending shot of the Black Bulls

3. RiGHT NOW by EMPiRE (OP 9)

Hype OP which is good for this arc

DRAMATIC LIGHTING

More elf trauma

Interesting that the first shots of the Black Bulls don’t show their faces really

I like how they show the backstories of Finral, Luck, Gauche, and Noelle on backgrounds that look like their grimoires.

Really good action shots

Mereoleona and Fuegoleon are going feral

Asta breaking through the black is cool.

Oooooo foreshadowing

2. Black Rover by Vicke Blanka (OP 3)

OH BOY

This was one of the openings I already knew before watching the show and I could not wait to get to it. Having the context just made it better.

Never skipped this OP. Ever.

Song goes so hard.

I was so excited that we were going to see Yami in action

There’s also a small fight with Magna, Luck, Asta, and Noelle against these cloaked figures you assume are the Eye of the Midnight Sun. They’re the characters we mainly know so far and it’s a cool bit.

This is the OP that I feel sums up Black Clover as a series the best. Like, I would show this to someone to try and convince them to watch the show.

Guess Who Is Back by Kumi Koda (OP 4)

YESSSSSSSS

An OP I never skipped

This song goes so hard.

While Black Clover is the OP that I think sums up Black Clover, this is pure Black Bulls awesomeness. It’s so hype.

I like shots of the grimoires. They’re fun.

I love their dramatic ass poses at the beginning with the lighting shifts.

The shots of Asta, Magna, Luck, Vanessa, Finral, and Noelle going from rougher sketches to more vivid and dimensional (I don’t know how to describe this). I want to scream at this part, it’s so good.

Then, the group shot at the end as they face Vetto.

It’s just so so so so amazing and gets you excited.

[battlekidx2]

She-ra Season 5 Re-watch Thoughts

This season the animation and art design is easily at its most beautiful. The actions are more fluid, the use of color is phenomenal, and the character’s faces and bodies are at their most expressive yet. I really loved the She-ra redesign and prefer it over the original design they had by quite a lot. I loved the scenes where softer colors were used. This is especially prevalent in the final episode after Adora defeats Horde Prime. The colors were breathtaking and it’s clear the time and effort that went into making the final shots be ingrained in your memory. I know it will be ingrained in mine. I thought the animation bumps between seasons 2 and 3 and seasons 3 and 4 were impressive but this is on a different level. It’s like everything was taken up to 11.

She-ra never lost sight of its characters and always managed to keep the focus on them and their struggles despite the larger than life stakes that were happening around them. This season paid off the character arcs of Adora, Catra, and Entrapta really well. My favorite episodes were the ones that were intensely character focused (corridors, save the cat, failsafe, heart). The show knows what its strength is and holds to it.

I came into this series not sure what to expect. I wasn’t familiar with she-ra (I had seen he-man) or the characters and hadn’t read Noelle’s work. So when I watched the first season and saw how nuanced and complicated the characters and their relationships were I was enthralled. I woke up every night that a new season dropped at 2 or 3 in the morning (based on which time zone I was in) to binge the season. I was so impressed with the character work of the show. There aren’t many shows that manage to blow me away with its characters. A large part of that is the fact that I could connect with a lot of the characters and understand them. This show managed to help me in ways I didn’t know I needed at the time and helped me distance myself from a toxic family situation. My thoughts on the show are biased because of this but that’s the case with everyone when it comes to media. There are going to be certain things that connect more with some people than others.

There’s a good and bad way of a show knowing what it is. This show takes knowing what it is in a good direction. It knows it’s a character drama that has the relationships and individual character arcs front and center and it uses the war setting as a vehicle for these things. Not everyone will like this because this makes it so the show focuses on consequences for personal actions more frequently than for war related actions. It isn't a war story. This worked for me, but won't for everyone.

In this season it uses Horde Prime and his “cult” as a metaphor for organized religion which is used to complete Catra, Adora, and Hordak’s arcs of self actualization and coming to terms with what you want and that you have a choice. This I think is done well because of how it matches with it's themes of working through programming and unlearning toxic behavior ingrained by your upbringing. I can easily say that She-ra has produced some of my favorite characters and I loved the conclusions to their arcs.

My one real issue with this season is that I think the tonal issues were jarring. To break it down it went from the premiere “Horde Prime” which was pretty dark showing the hopeless position of the rebellion and Adora’s struggle with her identity now that she-ra is gone and her suicidal drive to push herself to be useful to “Launch” which has a lot of things that are played for laughs and just felt like an odd shift especially considering that it is followed by “Corridors” which is an intense character study of Catra and her pain and loneliness and deals with her coming to terms with the fact that a lot of her anger and pain was misdirected at Adora all these years and that Adora has truly cared about her.

Then “Corridors” is followed by “Stranded” which is much more lighthearted and while it does deal with Adora coming to the decision to go back for Catra and her conflict over doing what she wants over what would be best for Etheria while Glimmer and Bow reconcile (or start to) a lot of the episode is used for levity. Catra is in a life threatening situation so while the reasoning for the main characters making this stop make sense the shift and lack of urgency at times doesn't work well in the context of the season.

Then that episode is followed by “Save the Cat” which is one of the most emotionally charged episodes of the show which has Adora refusing to make the same mistake she made in the pilot and refuses to leave horde prime’s ship without Catra even if it is the death of her. Adora places Catra above everything else. This episode is heartbreaking and calls back to all their misunderstandings, pain, history, and disconnects. This episode is followed by “Taking Control” which I think does a much better job of keeping the tone of “Save the Cat” and moving the plot and character arcs along. But then it’s followed by “Perils of Peekablue” which, while it’s a fun episode, it is very jarring to be pulled out of the very dramatic and dark episodes that came previously. Scorpia's sacrifice at the end worked really well as a precursor to what is waiting for our heroes when they get back to Etheria though so this episode had a better transition to the next than the ones that came before.

I am usually pretty good at being able to switch tones with a show and I think the balance between dark and light has been done very well in this show before in “Princess Prom”, “Roll with It”, “Mer-Mysteries”, “Pulse”, and “Princess Scorpia” to name a few. These episodes however didn’t mesh as well for me. I still enjoy watching them, but I think watching season 5 as a whole makes it clear that these episodes break up the tension too much. I will admit I am a bigger fan of drama than I am of comedy so I gravitated towards the much more serious episodes within the show like "Hero", "Promise", "Remember", "Failsafe", "Light Spinner", etc. I understand why there’s comedy, but I think that instead of having entire episodes dedicated to comedy they should have mixed it in like they do with the ones I named above. I’ve gone on a bit of a tangent because, while She-ra does almost everything else I want from a show, I think this is easily its biggest problem.

I think this season is my favorite season. (It’s a very close race between this season, season 4, and season 3) This season managed to pay off just about everything that was set up in the previous seasons and that is a near insurmountable task for any show. I haven’t felt this satisfied by a series finale in a very long time. The final episode tandem heart parts 1 and 2 left me speechless and I immediately started re-watching the series. I don’t know exactly what it was and how to put it into words, but that finale really hit me. It really felt like what the show was always building towards.

The fact that this big grand war ended not with a big battle, but with Adora and Catra finally coming to an understanding of both themselves and each other felt true to the show. Catra and Adora’s love-hate relationship has been the heart of the show since the beginning and it was their falling out due to their disconnect that kicked the show off in “The Sword” so it’s fitting that it’s them fully reconnecting and understanding each other that ends the series. The emphasis and climax of the show isn’t the big epic battle above, but the love confession happening below. The fact that the show manages to stay so personal and focused despite the stakes being the fate of the universe is a testament to how well written this season is in my opinion. The show comes full circle and I couldn’t have been happier with the result.