#they are much more a fan of this franchise than I am though. much much more! I expected some happy tears.

[hopeymchope]

The utter brilliance of Castlevania: Nocturne S1 (and the fucking pox of right-wing YouTubers)

I just rewatched Castelvania: Nocturne's first season, and it's so fucking excellent. Upon first viewing, I already thought it was probably the second-best season of animated Castlevania, but now? I think it's probably the best one.

The character relationships offer so much drama and emotion. The dialogue is both clever/witty AND moving. The directing of the action sequences has always been top-tier on this show, but the vocal performances make them even more engaging and involving. The way they've infused historical context into the story is absolutely brilliant.

Some of the weird story decisions RE: Dracula at the end of the first series' fourth season (not unsatisfying decisions, mind you, but still just... bizarre, if you're adapting this franchise) really stuck the writers in a weird position as far as how to move forward. I could think of maybe three solid possibilities: one which would undermine the ending of S4 completely, one which would require a HUGE leap forward into the modern day, and the third? Is basically what they did.

Bringing in Erzebet Bathory, the primary antagonist of Castlevania: Bloodlines, was certainly a valid approach for how to deal with the Dracula situation. Applying her to the Rondo of Blood/Symphony of the Night era is surprising, but not terribly so; it's not like her historical counterpart didn't already exist. I have some qualms with HOW they did this (why is she Russian now instead of Hungarian.... ?), but there's no denying that she serves as an effective antagonist.

Look at that; that's literally Maria's design in "Nocturne" right there.

As a fan of the games, this is obviously a different world but still an extremely familiar one. Seasons 3 and 4 of the first series felt like we were drifting farther and farther away from our roots in the games, but Nocturne brings us closer to that inspiration again. Richter and Maria look like they stepped right out of the PSP's "Dracula X Chronicles," with their costumes nearly identical... though of course, Richter eventually adds and embraces the headband from his original "Rondo" design. Maria is just a handful of years older than she is in Rondo/Dracula X Chronicles, allowing her to be far less of the out-of-place childish cartoon character that she comes off as in Rondo (or Castlevania Judgment, for that matter). I realize that was the POINT of her character in Rondo — to feel like she invaded from a totally different series — but the writers do a great job bringing her in line with the tone and characters of the animated series and overall franchise in Nocturne. The characters' powers and abilities are very much based in the games; we even get an (incredibly rousing!) rendition of "Divine Bloodlines" when Richter pulls off a "Grand Cross"-style magical attack for the first time in his life. It's exhilarating. And that's even without me getting into how Richter uses his triple-knife throw, or how we get the lore of the woefully underrated "Harmony of Dissonance" rolled into this show when a certain character makes a surprise appearance (to my immense delight).

Regarding the original four seasons... "I'm going to eat your soul, shit it out and and use it to smother your fucking girlfriend" was not the kind of dialogue I expected to hear from DEATH, of all people.

There are times in the original four-season run when it feels like it's trying a little too hard to be edgy and grimdark—times when the excessive gore and the insane use of profanity feels like it's screaming "I AM AN ADULT ANIMATED SERIES" in a way that's undermining its best qualities. But Castlevania: Nocturne is too confident to fall into such traps. The gore is there, the profanity is present, but it's only in service of exciting action, consistent characterization, and powerful storytelling; no lingering still shots of blood-spattered cribs for shock value are necessary. It's just a smash from start to finish, and after each episode, I find myself pondering the implications of certain lines and stories — thinking about the goddamn philosophical underpinnings of this animated show based on video games.

Nocturne is a prime example of how and why we're in a golden age of video game adaptions right now. This thing is BEGGING for a deep dive into its world, its lore, and its characters' worldviews. It's the kind of thing that would make for killer YouTube essays exploring all of its facets, because there is just SO MUCH here.

So when I go onto YouTube, and I only find one video that even says "It's not that bad" amidst a goddamned SEA of "This show's writing is shit and this series is fucking woke trash"??? That's when I know WE HAVE FAILED AS A FUCKING SPECIES.

These fucking right-wing YouTube dudebros are ruining our ability to think logically, they are MURDERING our media literacy. They are an absolute cancer. The fact that we don't have strong counterpoints out there against them is a crime; the right-wing grifters have totally conquered the algorithm.

I wish I had the skill or knowledge or even TIME to make videos of my own.

Fucking ugh.

[forcedhesitation]

oh the crm attacking the survivors passing through the city (I've been informed that apparently it was confirmed in another show that they were the ones who attacked that other city in the alliance and then lied about the cause of the city's fall), the confirmation that there is something in rick that michonne does not recognise, michonne following rick back to the city and lying about who she is so that she may be with rick, jadis being revealed and her confrontation with rick showing us that okafor was absolutely was someone with good intent and was never going to act as an o'brien to rick's winston, because that's who jadis is going to be...I am afraid for our dear zombie slayers.

I would highly urge anyone who is watching the ones who live to read orwell's 1984, if you have not before. this show seems to be pulling a lot of inspiration from that book, meaning this story has the potential to get very interesting! but also very, very ugly.

[clarenecessities]

He-man.org will close in 5 days.

He-man.org has been a staple of the Masters of the Universe community since the early days, originating as an email list that worked to document episodes before anything (not footage, not lists, nothing) was available online. It grew into a sprawling, multi-faceted beast of a thing, including an encyclopedia (an in-house wiki), merch lists, a marketplace, forums, anything you could think of.

Several years ago now, the main site went down for updates/maintenance. For a few weeks, we were told, maybe months. The forums remained open for fans to communicate, and barring a period of downtime earlier this year things were going smoothly.

Yesterday, the owner of the site, Val Staples, announced the site would be closed on November 14th, 2023. Six days later. We are currently attempting to contact him, to see if he’s interested in selling, and if he means closed as in “no new posts” or closed as in deleted entirely. Regardless of its eventual fate, the archiving of these forums is essential to preserving the history of the franchise, the fandom, and the brand.

TO SHE-RA (and MotU) FANS SPECIFICALLY: I have personally used these forums to answer questions that could be answered nowhere else. Had I not had access to them, I would never have been able to prove that Purrsia was fake, or found so much unpublished concept art, or discovered that Scott “Toyguru” Neitlich personally wrote Catra’s MOTUC bio (even if he’s put off answering my questions about it for over a year now). Forum members have conducted interviews with the likes of Jon Seisa, Cathy Larson, Janice Varney-Hamlin—essential figures in the very foundations of POP, and those interviews revealed and recorded priceless information for future generations (me! you! us!) to find. Did you know Cathy Larson named Adora? That she originally pushed for “Dorian”, after her own daughter? We cannot let this treasure trove disappear into the ether(ia).

TO THE UNAFFILIATED: Please help. Pretty please. If you’ve ever liked my art or my writing or my haphazard blogging, ever, at all, consider archiving just one board. Just one page. Literally anything helps. I am spiraling into madness & this is my library of Alexandria. The mythical one that was totally unique and persevered nowhere else and was destroyed in a single cataclysmic event. Pretty pretty please help.

HOW TO HELP:

Archive.org has several ways to upload shit but most of them are longer term than “a few days” so we’re focusing on two (which can be run simultaneously): Save Page Now, and browser extensions. From their help page:

1. Save Page Now

Put a URL into the form, press the button, and we save the page. You will instantly have a permanent URL for your page. Please note, this method only saves a single page, not the whole site.

We want to keep outlinks and screenshots wherever possible. The Archive does not keep your IP address, so your submission is anonymous.

2. Browser extensions and add-ons

Install the Wayback Machine Chrome extension in your browser. Go to a page you want to archive, click the icon in your toolbar, and select Save Page Now. We will save the page and give you a permanent URL.

One plus to installing the extension is that as you surf around, when you run into a missing page they will alert you if we have a saved copy.

More extensions, apps, and add-ons:

Firefox add-on

Safari Extension

iOS app

Android app

I strongly encourage you to use these tools even if you aren’t helping with this project/after it ends. Documenting and preserving information is essential in this day and age & The Internet Archive is at the heart of it. Please support them however you can.

I’m serious about paying you, though I may need more communication with folks I don’t know so we can coordinate/verify shit gets done. I think this is a worthwhile pursuit in itself but I recognize your time is valuable & like, people gotta eat. DM me if you’re interested and we’ll talk. I may need to adjust pay depending how many people bite but I’ll do what I can

[cantheykillmacbeth]

Bowser Jr

The most "canon" answer to who his second parent is is a joke by Shigeru Miyamoto where he claimed he himself was Junior's 'mother'. There's also a theory that koopas reproduce asexually. In either of those scenarios, Junior qualifies for the birth parent clause.

Additionally, it's suggested koopas hatch from eggs so that's unconventional birth clause, too.

Bowser Jr. is very difficult for us to quantify. He clearly doesn't apply for Gender Clause under our rules, but the other categories are hard to nail down.

For Birth Parent Clause, while either method you mentioned would work, neither is canon to the Mario Bros. series (Miyamoto's comment is a joke and asexual reproduction is a fan theory), so neither of them count for our analysis. In Super Mario Sunshine, Bowser Jr. goes through the game believing that Peach is his mother, though it's later revealed that this isn't the case and Bowser lied to him about this, so that doesn't really give us any info. Developers of the series have stated that "we don't know who the mother is," which could imply that there IS a mother that we just don't know about. Since this could go either way, we can't definitively answer BPC here, unfortunately.

As for Unconventional Birth Clause, I looked into what you said about Koopas hatching from eggs, and the research was... very confusing. The main problem here for us is what exactly we mean by "Koopa." According to the fanmade Mario Wiki, there are Koopas (Bowser, Bowser Jr., etc.), Koopas (a shorthand term for Koopa Troopas), and Koopas (an umbrella term encompassing both the previous groups and several others, with some more as potential but unproven relatives to the species).

While Koopas and Koopas are both notably reptilian in appearance, there doesn't seem to be much to go off of for either of them when it comes to how they reproduce. From what I've found, I don't think we've ever seen a Koopa or Koopa egg in any canonical material.

When it comes to Koopas, what does and does not count as a Koopa is at least somewhat established, but there are still a few outliers where it is unclear whether or not they count, most notably Yoshi. If there was definite proof that 1.) Koopas, including Koopas, are all members of the same species and reproduce in the same way, and 2.) Yoshi is a Koopa, then we could say for sure that Koopas, Koopas, Koopas, and by extension Bowser Jr. are born from eggs, just as Yoshi is. But neither of these points are provable.

There is, however, one enemy in the Mario franchise that seems to canonically be considered a Koopa, and that we have definitively seen are born from eggs: Spinies. The Lakitu enemy is known throughout the series to throw what have been referred to as "Spiny Eggs," which will become another enemy called a Spiny upon hitting the ground. So, at least one member of the Koopa family is born from eggs, so it's plausible that other members of the Koopa family, such as Koopas, would as well.

While it is still possible that not all members of the Koopa family reproduce via eggs in the same way as Spinies do, I'm more willing to count this than I am anything for BPC. So:

TL;DR:

Tentatively, yes, Bowser Jr. from the Super Mario series could kill Macbeth under the Unconventional Birth Clause.

Thank you for your submission! sorry this one got so off the rails.

-Mod Anthem

[rarepairqueenmochi]

Monster High and East Asian Representation

Alright MH fans, we need to have a semi-serious conversation about how East Asian rep has been handled in the franchise. Representation itself has been a big point of conversation in the community, so it's important to talk about all of its aspects. The good, the bad, and the ill-conceived.

For context, I am an East Asian-American who has seen time and time again her culture be misrepresented, boiled down to stereotypes, and even mocked by other Asian cultures. Am I the all-time expert? Absolutely not, which is why I encourage other East Asian/Asian-American fans to give their comments about the franchise's handling of Asian characters.

Now then, we'll start with G1 since it probably has some of the most infamous pieces of representation

There is a lot to unpack with G1 Jinafire's design and personality. Not only the choice of golden skin, the misguided outfit choices, and emphasis on honor and discipline, but also the oriental riff often accompanying her in every backing scene. Highly encourage people to look into the Asian Dragon Lady stereotype, because unfortunately, that is what Jinafire is.

It is acknowledgeable that Jinafire's voice actress, Stephanie Sheh, is also Chinese, but there is still error with her character as a whole. Jinafire was personally one of the first Asian characters in media that I was introduced too, so it's upsetting to reflect on how negative her character design is.

Shibooya is... not great. The exchange program as a whole feels like a minefield of issues (though I don't have much liberty to discuss the other transfers), and this one especially rubbed me the wrong way. They gave the vampires of Shibooya yellow skin, and the doll is supposed to kimono-inspired while hardly even resembling one.

Harajuku style was right there and easily fit the fashions of Monster High. There are also a number of Japanese yokai that could've been featured within the short and would have likely been better representation than the vampires.

Kiyomi is okay, and certainly an improvement compared to the previous G1 characters. She's based off the Noppera-bo, aka the faceless ghost, and it's used decently in her design. However, her personality is boiled down into being shy, quiet, and reserved, which is a stereotype many Asian girls face under the name "Lotus Blossoms". She even has blossoms on her dress sleeves, and her outfit again is a loose interpretation of a kimono.

There are a number of modern Japanese outfit designs that could be used, and kimonos are often associated with modesty and respect. Kimonos are not meant to be revealing in any way, covering the body in full and being intricately wrapped. I personally take issue with the designers noting her chains meaning to resemble the sailor collar, which is used in middle school uniforms, not high school uniforms.

Kiyomi is, of course, hardly mentioned and refined to a movie role, in which she copies and mimics the personality/style of an European character.

Now onto G3!

Honestly, nothing really to critique here! Draculaura's been canonically been confirmed to be at least half-Taiwanese and speaks Mandarin. Now would it be nicer to get more appearances of her culture other than a couple throw-away lines? Yes it would, but there isn't anything really negative about this portrayal. I think it'd be interesting if Draculaura had a Taiwanese name she went by around her mother, or just casual moments of her eating scallion pancakes or aiyu jelly.

aaaaaand here's where we automatically fall back on representation. This may not seem that major to people, but considering this is the first Japanese character we get in G3, it's not great. Points for the writers looking past the most common yokai, but I don't know any person that wants to be represented by an animal.

I really do need people to realize how this is compared to the other characters. I wasn't initially reactive to Kuma's introduction until I realized they were making him a consistent character. Considering we don't have many other anthro/fully monstrous characters, and they chose to make him the Japanese representation doesn't seem right. Especially since they gave him the lead in the cultural appropriation vs. appreciation episode. An excellent episode, but it loses some sentiment coming from a literal bear.

Plus I would implore you all to rewatch Horrorscare and take a close look at the Japanese water dragon Pearl. And I'll remind you she exists in the same world as Jinafire.

now this is what I'm talking about! Not only has the skin issue been resolved, but the creators took a step in the right direction and made Jinafire more akin to Chinese dragons, who are often connected to storms and rain. Her outfit is also much more akin to street fashion in China. I still wish there was more to see with Jinafire's character, but she absolutely an improvement to her G1 iteration!

Well that's a lot to unpack there! Again, I am in no way the expert on East Asian representation and I'm going to miss some things. I encourage other fans to think about these characters and how you feel about them, and maybe even point out things I missed, good or bad! I did this simply out of my own feelings and wanted to see if anyone else felt the same.

[blueskittlesart]

I've heard that while most people really really love BotW and TotK, some people hate those two for going open-world, and some people hate TotK specifically for something about the story. As the resident Zelda expert I know of, what do you think of those takes?

"something about the story" is a bit too vague for me to answer--if you look at my totk liveblog tag from back when the game was newly released or my general zelda analysis tag you may be able to find some of my in-depth thoughts about the story of totk, but in general i liked it.

the open world thing though is something i can and will talk about for hours. (I am obsessed with loz and game design and this is an essay now <3) breath of the wild is a game that was so well-received that a lot of the criticism from older fans who were expecting something closer to the classic zelda formula was just kind of immediately drowned out and ignored, and while i don't think it's a valid criticism to suggest that botw strayed too far from its origins in going open-world, i am more than willing to look into those criticisms, why they exist, and why i think going open-world was ultimately the best decision botw devs could have made. (totk is a slightly different story, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

Loz is a franchise with a ton of history and a ton of really, REALLY dedicated fans. it's probably second only to mario in terms of recognizability and impact in nintendo's catalog. To us younger fans, the older games can sometimes seem, like, prehistoric when compared to what we're used to nowadays, but it's important to remember just how YOUNG the gaming industry is and how rapidly it's changed and grown. the first zelda game was released in 1986, which was 31 years before botw came out in 2017. What this means for nintendo and its developers is that they have to walk a very fine line between catering to older fans in their 30s and 40s now who would have been in nintendo's prime demographic when the first few games in the franchise were coming out AND making a game that's engaging to their MODERN target demographic and that age group's expectations for what a gaming experience should look like.

LOZ is in kind of a tough spot when it comes to modernizing, because a lot of its core gameplay elements are very much staples of early RPGs, and a lot of those gameplay elements have been phased out of modern RPGs for one reason or another. gathering collectibles, fighting one's way through multilevel, mapless dungeons, and especially classic zelda's relative lack of guidance through the story are all things that date games and which modern audiences tend to get frustrated with. for the last few releases before botw, the devs had kind of been playing with this -- skyward sword in particular is what i consider their big experiment and what (i think) became the driving force behind a lot of what happened with botw. Skyward sword attempted to solve the issues I listed by, basically, making the map small and the story much, much more blatantly linear. Skyward sword feels much more like other modern rpgs to me than most zelda games in terms of its playstyle, because the game is constantly pushing you to do specific things. this is a common storytelling style in modern RPGs--obviously, the player usually needs to take specific actions in order to progress the story, and so when there's downtime between story sections the supporting characters push the player towards the next goal. but this actually isn't what loz games usually do. in the standard loz formula, you as the player are generally directly given at most 4 objectives. these objectives will (roughly) be as follows: 1. go through some dungeons and defeat their bosses, 2. claim the master sword, 3. go through another set of dungeons and defeat their bosses, 4. defeat the final boss of the game. (not necessarily in that order, although that order is the standard formula.) the ONLY time the player will be expressly pushed by supporting characters towards a certain action (excluding guide characters) is when the game is first presenting them with those objectives. in-between dungeons and other gameplay segments, there's no sense of urgency, no one pushing you onto the next task. this method of storytelling encourages players to take their time and explore the world they're in, which in turn helps them find the collectibles and puzzles traditionally hidden around the map that will make it easier for them to continue on. Skyward sword, as previously mentioned, experimented with breaking this formula a bit--its overworld was small and unlocked sequentially, so you couldn't explore it fully without progressing the narrative, and it gave players a "home base" to return to in skyloft which housed many of the puzzles and collectibles rather than scattering them throughout the overworld. This method worked... to an extent, but it also meant that skyward sword felt drastically different in its storytelling and how its narrative was presented to the player than its predecessors. this isn't necessarily a BAD thing, but i am of the opinion that one of zelda's strongest elements has always been the level of immersion and relatability its stories have, and the constant push to continue the narrative has the potential to pull players out of your story a bit, making skyward sword slightly less engaging to the viewer than other games in the franchise. (to address the elephant in the room, there were also obviously some other major issues with the design of sksw that messed with player immersion, but imo even if the control scheme had been perfect on the first try, the hyperlinear method would STILL have been less engaging to a player than the standard exploration-based zeldas.)

So when people say that botw was the first open-world zelda, I'm not actually sure how true I personally believe that is. I think a lot of the initial hype surrounding botw's open map were tainted by what came before it--compared to the truly linear, intensely restricted map of skyward sword, botw's map feels INSANE. but strictly speaking, botw actually sticks pretty closely to the standard zelda gameplay experience, at least as far as the overworld map is concerned. from the beginning, one of the draws of loz is that there's a large, populated map that you as the player can explore (relatively) freely. it was UNUSUAL for the player to not have access to almost the entire map either immediately or very quickly after beginning a new zelda game. (the size and population of these maps was restricted by software and storage capabilities in earlier games, but pretty muhc every zelda game has what would have been considered a large & well populated map at the time of its release.) what truly made botw different was two things; the first being the sheer SIZE of the map and the second being the lack of dungeons and collectibles in a traditional sense. Everything that needs to be said about the size of the map already has been said: it's huge and it's crazy and it's executed PERFECTLY and it's never been done before and every game since has been trying to replicate it. nothing much else to say there. but I do want to talk about the percieved difference in gameplay as it relates to the open-world collectibles and dungeons, because, again, i don't think it's actually as big of a difference as people seem to think it is.

Once again, let's look at the classic formula. I'm going to start with the collectibles and lead into the dungeons. The main classic collectible that's a staple of every zelda game pre-botw is the heart piece. This is a quarter of a heart that will usually be sitting out somewhere in the open world or in a dungeon, and will require the player to either solve a puzzle or perform a specific action to get. botw is the first game to not include heart pieces... TECHNICALLY. but in practice, they're still there, just renamed. they're spirit orbs now, and rather than being hidden in puzzles within the overworld (with no explanation as to how or why they ended up there, mind you) they're hidden within shrines, and they're given a clear purpose for existing throughout hyrule and for requiring puzzle-solving skills to access. Functionally, these two items are exactly the same--it's an object that gives you an extra heart container once you collect four of them. no major difference beyond a reskin and renaming to make the object make sense within the greater world instead of just having a little ❤️ floating randomly in the middle of their otherwise hyperrealistic scenery. the heart piece vs spirit orb i think is a good microcosm of the "it's too different" criticisms of botw as a whole--is it ACTUALLY that different, or is it just repackaged in a way that doesn't make it immediately obvious what you're looking at anymore? I think it's worth noting that botw gives a narrative reason for that visual/linguistic disconnect from other games, too--it's set at minimum TEN THOUSAND YEARS after any other given game. while we don't have any concrete information about how much time passes between new-incarnation games, it's safe to assume that botw is significantly further removed from other incarnations of hyrule/link/zelda/etc than any other game on the timeline. It's not at all inconceivable within the context of the game that heart pieces may have changed form or come to be known by a different name. most of the changes between botw and other games can be reasoned away this way, because most of them have SOME obvious origins in a previous game mechanic, it's just been updated for botw's specific setting and narrative.

The dungeons ARE an actual departure from the classic formula, i will grant you. the usual way a zelda dungeon works is that link enters the dungeon, solves a few puzzles, fights a mini boss at about the halfway point, and after defeating the mini boss he gets a dungeon item which makes the second half of the dungeon accessible. He then uses that item in the dungeon's final boss fight, which is specifically engineered with that item in mind as the catalyst to win it. Botw's dungeons are the divine beasts. we've removed the presence of mini-bosses entirely, because the 'dungeon items' aren't something link needs to get within the dungeon itself--he alredy has them. they're the sheikah slate runes: magnesis, cryonis, stasis, and remote bombs. Each of the divine beast blight battles is actually built around using one of these runes to win it--cryonis to break waterblight's ice projectiles, magnesis to strike down thunderblight with its own lightning rods, remote bombs to take out fireblight's shield. (i ASSUME there's some way to use stasis effectively against windblight, mostly because it's obvious to me that that's how all the other fights were designed, but in practice it's the best strategy for that fight is to just slow down time via aerial archery, so i've never tried to win that way lol.) So even though we've removed traditional dungeon items and mini-boss fights, the bones of the franchise remain unchanged underneath. this is what makes botw such an ingenious move for this franchise imo; the fact that it manages to update itself into such a beautiful, engaging, MODERN game while still retaining the underlying structure that defines its franchise and the games that came before it. botw is an effective modern installment to this 30-year-old franchise because it takes what made the old games great and updates it in a way that still stays true to the core of the franchise.

I did mention totk in my opening paragraph and you mention it in your ask so i have to come back to it somehow. Do i think that totk did the gigantic-open-world thing as well as botw did? no. But i also don't really think there was any other direction to go with that game specifically. botw literally changed the landscape of game development when it was released. I KNOW you all remember how for a good year or two after botw's release, EVERY SINGLE GAME that came out HAD to have a massive open-world map, regardless of whether or not that actually made sense for that game. (pokemon is still suffering from the effects of that botw-driven open world craze to this day. rip scarlet/violet your gameplay was SUCH dogshit) I'm not sure to what degree nintendo and the botw devs anticipated that success, (I remember the open world and the versatility in terms of problem-solving being the two main advertising angles pre-release, but it's been 7 years. oh jesus christ it's been SEVEN YEARS. anyways) but in any case, there's basically NO WAY that they anticipated their specific gameplay style taking off to that degree. That's not something you can predict. When creating totk, they were once again walking that line between old and new, but because they were only 3ish years out from botw when totk went into development, they were REALLY under pressure to stay true to what it was that had made botw such an insane success. I think that's probably what led to the expanded map in the sky and depths as well as the fuse/build mechanics--they basically took their two big draws from botw, big map and versatility, and said ok BIGGER MAP and MORE VERSATILITY. Was this effective? yeah. do i think they maybe could have made a more engaging and well-rounded game if they'd been willing to diverge a little more from botw? also yeah. I won't say that I wanted totk to be skyward sword-style linear, because literally no one wanted that, but I do think that because of the insane wave of success that botw's huge open world brought in the developers were under pressure to stay very true to botw in their designing the gameplay of totk, and I think that both the gameplay and story might have been a bit more engaging if they had been allowed to experiment a little more in their delivery of the material.

[notadreamurr]

And then an anvil fell on them.

Slasher au by @justwantswafflefries

Some saw saw x tadc below (gore warning, maybe?)

I'm gonna keep working on this over time, and I'll randomly update this. I'll probably draw them in more traps than just the ones their canonically in just for giggles.

Canonical traps

I am gonna now go on a saw tangent because I'd like to share this. I hate saw 3D! I think it's the worst saw movie besides Spiral (I don't even consider Spiral to be a Saw movie), which sucks because I think it has some of the best traps in the entire franchise! Like the silent circle! That trap is easily in my top 3! It's still hard for me to watch! Oh, and we finally got to see the reverse bear trap in action! That was so dope!! But the actual movie SUCKED (in my opinion) saw 3D spoilers ig. But I HATED that Jill had to die in this shitty movie. I thought her dead was really good, but she could have died in ANY other movie! And, Mark Hoffman was turned into a shitty slasher like why?! And Gordon! Like it kinda made sense ig but it really felt like it came out of nowhere! He suddenly shows up and is an apprentice?! Even though this movie has amazing traps, it also has the public execution trap, which I believe is the STUPIDEST saw trap in the entire franchise. It is in public for literally NO reason. And why is the girls shirt ripped open?? It's literally just fan service. (same for Jill's dream death. There's a fake boob for no reason. it's just there to be there.) This movie also had that lame lawn mower trap, like how did that couple get there?! Did they just wake up hanging from that chain? Finally, the brazen bull trap SUCKS! And it's not even the trap that sucks I think it's actually pretty cool! I just HATE how Bobby's wife is in the trap! Why?! She had nothing to do with this!! Like at least all the other people that Bobby had tried to save knew he was a liar! She didn't know!! she was just a nice lady who supported her husband! Saw 3D was supposed to be the last movie, and I'm so glad it wasn't. I'm so glad a series that I love so much. Did not end on such a shitty note! I don't want ya'll to think I hate saw, I love it! It holds a special place in my heart. Saw 1 was the first horror movie I ever watched. I just hate saw 3D! It's cool if you like it, tho. I just think it's junk. (Saw 6 is my favorite if you care)

[viterbofangirllovestheuntamed]

So.

According to @demiace-wen-ning​‘s iconic post, every MXTX novel has:

A red/black, morally ambiguous, all-powerful bastard man

A fan wielder who is much more than meets the eye

And a fucking Jiang Cheng

Now we, as a collective fandom, have decided with our communal braincell that in SVSSS, the “fucking Jiang Cheng”™ character is Liu Qingge. And on the surface, this seems Right and Good:

HOWEVER! I posit that these aspects are only the most superficial and external aspects of the vast and multi-layered Dagwood sandwich that is fundamental “fucking Jiang Cheng”™yness. “fucking Jiang Cheng”™ has LAYERS. And for all that I love Liu Qingge, I love him in the same way I love the Sonic franchise’s Knuckles the Echidna:

This is emphatically NOT how I love Jiang Cheng. Furthermore, this is demonstrably NOT the sort of character that a fandom becomes viciously divisive about. This is the sort of character you either like or dislike and move on with your life because he is not deep and complex enough to Die On This Hill for defending. (This is a Feng Xin or Nie Mingjue sort of character.)

So what makes for a “fucking Jiang Cheng”™ character? What are the quintessential “fucking Jiang Cheng”™ characteristics that result in a complex and divisive character? I propose:

ambiguous/unexplained actions

refusal to explain motives

canon selfless actions missed or negatively interpreted

socially over-conscious while still socially detested

harsh and contemptuous outward behavior

honestly, naturally is an asshole, but holds back just enough to get away with it

hard-working but overshadowed by upstart prodigy

childhood trauma that fundamentally affected behavioral patterns

aggressively focused on their cultivation and consequent social status

secretly heartbroken about a perceived betrayal regarding the protagonist

yay, war crimes!

These attributes all describe Jiang Cheng. All but the last one describe Mu Qing, with the second-to-last applying in a way where HE is perceived as the betrayer. None of these attributes describe Liu Qingge. But you know who they DO describe in SVSSS?

Shen Jiu.

The ORIGINAL Shen Qingqiu.

An undeniable asshole who nevertheless gets punished for every good deed he ever did, who clawed and scraped his way to the top of the cultivation world and ensured he stayed there no matter how many bridges he had to burn or enemies he had to make along the way, who acts like a bitter tsundere to the person who matters most to him because said person broke their promise and never explained why, whose childhood was a never-ending parade of trauma and abuse that molded him into a harsh and suspicious individual, who (though we don’t find out until the extras) shows no sexual interest in anyone, whose own path to cultivation was so difficult and traumatic that they could not stop themselves from jealously lashing out at the heaven-blessed prodigy standing right next to them.

Shen Jiu is the TRUE “fucking Jiang Cheng”™ of SVSSS, and I cordially invite any haters to bring it on because this is My Hill and I am ready to fight for it.

[lovelycrimsonredsnow]

Just imagine:

You were playing a copy of FNAF 1 that your friend gave you. You put it into the console and started night one. You were always a fan of the franchise, even indulging in fanfiction. As you were playing you noticed that the characters acted....strange, their usual patterns were off and they all just stayed in their respective locations the whole night. You were not phased though, it was just an easy win. Nothing more than a glitch.

Things started to get weird on night three:

Foxy kept coming out of his cove no matter how much I looked at him. Freddy and chica wouldn't leave the doors and Bonnie kept jamming the cameras. Eventually the power ran out and Freddy started playing his song. When it ended I expected to be jumpscared and have to start the night again, but...the jumpscare never came. Instead I heard talking.

"hello? I know your there, I won't hurt you. Not....that I could in this form anyway"

WHAT?

"I know that I may have caused you to be wary of us, but I promise we're nice"

"it's been suffocating trapped in this game for so long. It's nice to see a new face...."

Hold up a goddamn minute, am I going insane? Are they the ones talking to me? Are they aware?!

Hell nah, I reached over to shut down the game.

"NO wait! Please don't shut us down! We want to get to know you more."

What in the Wattpad x reader yandere type shit is this!?

Looking straight at the screen, I quickly pressed the power button of the console.

"NO DONT SHUT DOWN THE CONS-"

Power off

That night, you couldn't sleep you felt like someone was watching you. You sighed as you went to the kitchen to look for something to eat since you clearly were not going to sleep anytime soon. You went ahead and made a sandwich and went to fetch your phone to watch YouTube. You went upstairs to your room to open the door......the door was open. Didn't you already close the door? Not wanting to end up dead like in a horror movie you went back downstairs only to feel a large furry hand place itself on your right shoulder. "I thought we told you not to turn off the console." Then you felt someone lean down to whisper in your ear.

"looks like we'll have to punish you~"

[bonefall]

while i do agree with the sentiment that bloodclan should be more nuanced as an entity i still believe it is wrong to portray them as the necessary "response" to clan injustice (haven't read the books in years but i am pretty sure that bloodclan started with no connection to the clans) / an opposition to the clan's flaws. some of the thing scourge did was out of selfishness and bloodclan isn't the other colour of the black and white debacle with the clans. the clans are heavily flawed yes, but it isn't realistic to completely say that their structure had no redeeming qualities altogether and that all outsider groups is fundamentally better than the clans.

all clans and groups are flawed in their own way and i believe we shouldnt brush past the things that other groups (the sisters and what they do with their toms *cough cough*) did solely to be able to degrade the clans and their culture.

Buddy, you're setting up a strawman. I promise you that if you look into the reduxes I've made of BloodClan, Guardians, The Sisters, and the Tribe, you will see that I don't make any of them a "flawless" alternative to Clan life.

Nor do I say that the Clans have no redeeming qualities. In fact, you can browse the "Clan Culture" tag to see the various expansions I've made to show how these traditions, values, and technological advances make Clan life so alluring.

The overarching theme of BB is that the nature of culture is change. For better AND for worse.

With respect, I think there's something insidious in the wording of "the things the other groups did." We're talking about fan responses to a work that consistently demonizes and degrades foreigners to make the Clans look like the "best way to live," justifying xenophobia. These are not real groups, they are writing choices.

In the franchise with some pretty extreme examples of misogyny, the authors said "What if bizarro world where women rule and have no men... woag..." and only includes a single Clan-alligned member of this culture, with a BAD opinion of them, who can't even do his diplomatic job because he HATES them so much.

In the same franchise that shows Fireheart getting bullied, facing prejudice, and fighting a murderous tyrant who publically executes a mixed-race character, their endgame villain is an outsider, like him, but this one IS a godless heathen who HATES love and friendship and banned families.

In the VERY same franchise which made its first non-malicious group barely able to get through an arc without needing to be saved by Clan cats, totally unable to defend themselves, framed as "whiny" for not wanting their clearly 'inferior' culture to be forcefully changed.

And I'm re-stating all this because, again, no offense to you in particular Anon, but I've been seeing a few people with a sentiment like yours lately. Complaints into a vacuum that don't make targeted critique of anyone's fanworks, gesturing at this broad "woobification" which is apparently out there somewhere over the rainbow, saying things like "well Scourge is selfish" or "well Moonlight abandoned her 13 year old" as if we haven't BEEN knew.

As if we're not all directly responding to these choices. As if I haven't written ESSAYS on this topic.

Since this was about BloodClan in particular though, and you admit you haven't read the books in years, please go back and actually read Rise of Scourge before trying to make critique of the ways fanon rewrites its origin. It's EXPLICITLY a response to the Clans, in the text, that the Erins wrote, it is canon that fanon is working with.

And you want people to take that out and approach it a different way... why? Because it's so incredulous to you that a nation forms in response to a threatening neighbor? That a common enemy through invasions is a way that people might choose to unite, and encourage their new culture to value brutality? Because you don't like the idea of Clan Culture's XENOPHOBIC BATTLE CULTURE affecting surrounding communities??

Could YOU, maybe, be doing this "woobification" thing I keep hearing about? Can I play this stupid game too? What's our stupid prize? Can it be a lollipop? Do we get stickers

TL;DR, ok.

[mellifiedprincess]

Ethan Landry x Reader

Vero Amore

The air was a cool welcome against your skin, as you walked back to your apartment after class. The sun had set about an hour ago, bidding the moon a good night as it sets to rest until the morning.

You felt so at peace when nights were like this. The usually busy streets of New York are quiet, everything just felt so calm. You had even forgotten about how embarrassed you felt in front of Ethan earlier that day.

You were gathered around with your friends, listening to Mindy rant on about movie franchises and what to expect with the new ghostface attacks, when you hear Ethan speak.

“Am I gonna die a virgin?” The question falls from Ethan’s lips without a care in the world. Everyone looks at him, all with disgusted looks. You were more than confused though. There was no way Ethan Landry was a virgin.

Sure, he was sorta dorky, but that’s what made him so goddamn charming to you. And you knew he wasn’t really that good at flirting with anyone, but still, he was definitely fuckable.

“You good Y/N/N?” You didn’t realize you were staring with your mouth open in shock, until Mindys question woke you from your daze. Everyone’s eyes move from Ethan to you, and a light blush appears on your face. “Yeah?” It came out as more of a question than an answer, and you look back at Ethan to find a knowingly teasing smirk on his face, which makes you quickly divert your eyes back to the ground.

He’s always known about your small crush on him, and he thought that’s just what it was, a small crush. Which is why you two weren’t together. Yet. But it was much more than that to you. You were basically in love with the clueless boy.

He obviously had those same strong feelings for you too. This is fan fiction after all.

You try focusing back on what Mindy was ranting about just moments ago, but you just couldn’t. The new information you just learned plaguing your thoughts.

“Are we done here? I think Y/N wants to make sure Ethan doesn’t die a virgin.” Tara’s joking words sends another furious red to your cheeks, and Ethan’s face matches yours. “Tara!” You couldn’t believe she said that. You tried to hide your embarrassed expression in your hands, and the fact you can still feel his eyes on you was not helping.

“Um I just remembered that I totally have something to do. So, I’ll see you guys later. Ya know, if i haven’t offed myself from total embarrassment.” You quickly gather your things, trying to make a hasty exit. You could still feel his eyes on you, making you walk just a bit faster. You were relieved that no one followed you to make sure you were okay.

Ethan wanted to though.

A small smile graced yo ur lips as you thought about said boy, wondering what he was doing tonight.

And as if he knew you were thinking about him, you look at your phone as it starts ringing. His contact photo appearing on your screen. It was one Anika took months ago, Ethan looking down at you laughing, while his hands squish your cheeks together. It was adorable to say the least.

“Hey, E! What’s up?”

“Hey, I um-“ There’s a pause, Ethan trying to gather his thoughts. “I- Do you want to come over? Maybe watch a movie with me?” The smile on your face speaks for itself. “I would love to. I’ll grab a pizza on my way over, I just left class, so just give me like 20 minutes.”

“Wait, are you walking alone?” You can hear the concern in his voice, making butterflies form in your tummy. “Yeah, most nights I do. I don’t want to make anyone have to wait up for me, ya know? Especially with ghostface back.”

“That’s exactly why someone should be walking with you, sweetheart. How about I meet you at the pizza place, I assume you’re going to Rosie’s.” If you smile any bigger, your cheeks are gonna start aching. “How did you know that’s where I was going?” He can hear a hint of teasing laced in your voice, making him smile. “I know all of your favorite spots, Y/N.” You almost pass away at the sincerity in his voice.

“Careful there E, I may fall in love with you.”

“I wouldn’t mind that at all. Matter of fact, I even know all of your favorite songs.”

Ugh this boy.

“We’ll now you’ve done it! I’m hopelessly in love with you.” You can feel his smile through the phone.

“Alright, I’m on my way. But you better call me back if you start getting scared.” You lightly giggle at that. “You gonna be my knight in cardboard armour?”

“Don’t you know I would fight Rosie herself, if I needed to, only for you.”

“Rosie is 73 years old Ethan!” ��Guess she won’t be making it to 74, if she messes with you.” You couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. “Let me get the recipe to her cannolis first. I happen to know a certain boy that loves them. I would imagine him being pretty devastated if he could never have one again.” Of course you were talking about him.

You didn’t even realize you had made it to the pizza place either, until you see the familiar head of curls walking towards you.

“I gotta go now, there’s a really beautiful girl who just confessed her love for me, waiting for me at her favorite pizza place.”

“Lucky girl.” You hang up after that, your smile only growing bigger as Ethan stands in front of you. He reaches to grab your school bag from you, something he’s always done since he’s known you. It was such a small gesture that had become second nature to him, he didn’t even think anything of it, but it still meant so much to you.

You step into the small restaurant, as Ethan holds the door open for you, and you immediately spot the older woman. “Y/N! How have you been my darling? And who do you have with you today?”

“Hi Rosie. This is my friend Ethan.” A knowing look crossed Rosie’s face and she tries to hide her smile, but fails. “Is this the boy you’ve been telling me about? Loves my cannolis?”

“You’ve been telling Rosie about me?” The blush that rushes to your cheeks could rival your blush from earlier that day. “What? No way! Rosie is actually diagnosed with dementia, so she gets a bit confused sometimes.” Rosie takes the hand towel thrown over her shoulder and lightly smacks you with it. “Now, don’t go fibbing on me.” She still has the same knowing look on her face, as she makes her way back around the counter.

“Y/N here talks about you all the time, dear. She talks more about you than she talks about anything else. Says you’re a good boy, smart too.” You think you may take Ethan up on his offer to fight Rosie.

“Huh, isn’t that nice of her.” Ethan looks down at you with a teasing smile.

“Shut up!” You cross your arms over your chest, wishing the ground would open up and swallow you whole.

“It’s okay! I talk about you to literally anyone that will listen.” “Really?” He reaches to grab your hand, squeezing it gently. “Really. Just ask Chad, he’s the one who gave me the confidence to ask if you wanted to watch a movie with me.”

There’s a pregnant pause. No way are you two confessing to each other in Rosie’s Pizzeria.

“You like me back?” You ask with an unsure tone.

“Oh, I don’t just like you. I’m so in love with you, it’s concerning.”

You giggle, feeling like you’re on cloud 9.

“I’m in love with you too, E. If you didn’t know that already.”

You both stare at each other for a few seconds, just basking in each others words.

“KISS ALREADY! I’m not getting any younger here, kids.” Rosie shouts from her place behind the counter and you both laugh at the woman.

“Yes ma’am.” Ethan replies, before gripping your chin and he leans down, placing the softest and sweetest kiss to your lips.

“Vero amore.” Rosie whispers softly to herself.

[postingjustwhatever]

Spoilers for Sonic 3. This is just a rant. I just really want to get my thoughts out there and everything off my chest because I am just so upset, like really really upset. I am shocked I have heard nothing but praise for this movie. It really got my hopes up. I really didn't like the other ones. I'm not a big fan of the live action plus animated characters combo, The characters still look super uncanny and weird to me. I also really don't like Jim Carrey, I realllllly reallly don't like him. I don't find him funny at all. He's got kind of that millennial humor where it seems he thinks making weird faces and acting goofy is the peak of humor. Idk if younger kids find that funny, I feel like I wouldn't even as a kid. But I especially don't like it now, I'm just old man, I'm tired. I really wanted this movie to be a little more mature. Shadow Generations did such a good job. Dark Beginnings was amazing. I wish this movie could have felt more like that.

These movies just don't feel like Sonic at all. I know everyone gets sick of people complaining about Sonic's personality in these. But I think those are valid complaints. He just doesn't act or feel like Sonic and I don't think anything they do can make me view him as Sonic.

I just can't get over the whole Sonic the other characters being aliens from a different planet thing. It makes it hard to introduce other characters. And it completely changed who Sonic is. And now it's changed who Shadow is. Shadow is now just Sonic but edgy. He's just Sonic but if he got caught and put in a lab instead of living by himself and later getting adopted by humans. They took the Shadow being a darker version of Sonic thing literally. They changed everything about his backstory all while talking about how they wanted to do his backstory right.

It just hurts so much. I know I shouldn't be so affected by this. But I have been a fan of the Sonic franchise for so long and Shadow has always been one of my favorite characters of all time. And it hurts to have had my hopes up for this movie even a little bit thinking it would at least be better than the others and be so so disappointed. Maybe I don't have a right to complain because I didn't actually finish watching it. I started crying and ended up leaving around 45 mins in. Really embarrassing. I just couldn't enjoy it. I really really didn't like the Jim Carrey parts, they were painful. I was willing to sit though them because I wanted to see Shadow's backstory brought to screen in a big movie. But then then they explain his backstory and it's nothing like the games.

He crashed to earth in a comet. He wasn't created by Gerald. Maria wasn't sick. They didn't live on Space Colony Ark. I was so confused. I never even considered that they would change any of this. I thought the gun commander was just lying to Sonic about where Shadow came from so Sonic would work for them or something. But then they show the flashback with Maria and it's still the same. I ended up quickly looking up on my phone it they changed his backstory for this movie and they did. I just don't get why. I've seen people say because it wouldn't make sense in the movie universe because in the movies Sonic and friends are aliens. So they decide to just make Shadow an alien just like them?? I feel like they could have made his backstory work somehow. They didn't even try. Now he's just a literal dark parallel to Sonic. He's always been so but not like this. Do they think the most important part of his backstory is that he was in a lab, there was a professor and also a little girl he was friends with that gets killed.

It just kills me that they changed everything about Maria. She's not sick??? I guess if she's not sick it makes no sense for Gerald to have been researching a way to cure her or anything. I hate it so much. Shadow being just an alien takes away so much depth from all of their characters. Maria is the reason Shadow exists in the first place. She was so important. Their relationship was so important. It feel so much more meaningful for Shadow to have been created by her grandfather to cure her, than him just being some alien she was friends with. Her being sick but also so kind and hopeful was so important. She gets killed by the government when they raided a place that was trying to find a cure for her and she still tells Shadow to protect the people of earth. Maria was so important but now she's just some kid he was friends with I guess. I hate that they took away her sickness and her disability. I loved that the journal that came with Sonic x Shadow Generations portrayed that more. I loved that they showed it actually affecting her. I loved them showing her in the wheelchair hooked up to the iv bag but she was still smiling. She was still strong and hopeful despite everything and she still wanted Shadow to protect the earth despite what happened. And this movie took all that away from her character. I hate it.

Them just living on earth on some base makes me so upset. I was excited to see them on the Space Colony Ark. I wanted to see them looking out the window of the ark at the earth but instead I get them laying in the grass looking at the stars. Maria was so tragic because she loved the earth so much but she couldn't be there because she was sick. They took all of those parts of her character away.

I don't know how Professor Gerald was portrayed all I've seen of him was what was in the trailers and the brief glimpse I got before I left and I've hated everything I've seen. Gerald has never been as silly a character as Eggman. But it seems like Jim Carrey was playing him exactly the same. I assume he changes and acts different towards the end but my impression of him was already ruined. What's the point of him if he didn't create Shadow as a way to cure his granddaughter. It takes away so much from his character. He was also a tragic character. Him trying to do good with his research but then using his creation, Shadow as a weapon against humanity after his granddaughter is killed even after his death is ruined. He's still alive and he didn't create Shadow. I hate it so much. It's not as tragic with him still being alive. Did they have him still be alive so Jim Carrey could play double the annoying wacky roles. Gerald Robotnik is supposed to be a sad tragic old man but all I got was Jim Carrey in goofy looking prosthetic makeup.

Look I know it's a kids movie but couldn't they at least of made it a little less silly. The games were also kids games. Shadow Generation was also a kids game but it did a way better job with handling these characters. Maria and Gerald were Shadow's family. Gerald was his dad, sort of, I hate that they changed that. I guess Maria was still like family with him in this (idk what his relationship with Gerald was I didn't watch that far) but it's not the same.

I loved the Space Colony Ark, I loved it being some research lab up in space. What about artificial chaos, the biolizard, emerl??? None of that is a thing in these movies. It just sucks sooo much. Everything I love about the games is not in this movie. I couldn't finish watching it because I was so upset about the changes. It was bothering me so much it made Jim Carrey so much more insufferable. I am wondering if Shadow still has some connection to the Black Arms because he did fall to earth in a suspicious looking comet. I don't know if I even care because they already took away all the most important parts of his backstory.

Shadow's backstory being changed also kind of ruined the whole Sonic and his powers being sort of a natural force of nature thing and Shadow and his power being a man made thing. Like Shadow is always claiming to be the ultimate life form but he almost can't live up to Sonic's natural talent. It makes their rivalry so much more interesting. I also hate them having such similar backstories here. Sonic is supposed to be unburdened, free as the wind, living in the present, we don't even know what his backstory is. While Shadow is nothing but backstory, haunted by the past and burdened with tragedy.

Movie Sonic is nothing like game Sonic. There is very little that I love about game Sonic present in movie Sonic. I hate that since movie Sonic has a backstory they decided to take most of Shadow's backstory away so he would parallel Sonic. They really just made him Sonic but not nice.

I've just wanted to see a fully animated Sonic movie for years. I've especially wanted to see Sonic Adventure 2 adapted as an animated movie. These movies ruined my chance of seeing that. I thought this movie would be as close as I'd ever get to seeing SA2 in movie form. But there was nothing about it that was similar. Shadow may have the right personality but he has none of his backstory. Sonic isn't anything like Sonic. Tails is Tails I guess. I don't really care much about Knuckles but he doesn't even feel similar to his game counterpart.

I really hate everything they are doing with this movies. It's fine if people like them. I'm not trying to change anyone's opinion. I just really wanted to write how I feel about them because this one really upset me. I've cried a lot because of it. Which is silly I know. Shadow's character was important to me and so was Maria and it hurts so see so much changed about it. I had a dream a couple nights ago that I was watching this movie in theaters. In the dream there was some kind of change I didn't like and the movie was really short and I was really disappointed about it. I remember being upset about it because it sucked so bad. And the same thing happened when I actually saw the movie. They changed a lot and it was short because I left early. I just usually don't get excited for things because they usually disappoint me. I was kinda looking forward to this one and the good reviews didn't help. I was probably more excited than I realized because I did dream about it multiple times. I was disappointed in every dream. Usually when I am looking forward to something I have dreams about the thing where it sucks. I never been this thoroughly disappointed though. I think this is going to ruin my enjoyment of the Sonic franchise, everytime I see anything Sonic I think this movie and the disappointment that came with it is going to pop into my head.

Something that really bothers me is this quote from the director.

They didn't want too many characters so they could get Shadow's backstory right??? They got nothing about it right. I wish they wouldn't have added Gerald in the movie. He felt unnecessary. I would have much rather have had Rouge than another Jim Carrey. Rouge is important to Shadow's character. She was introduced in the same game. I hate that she was just sidelined like that. Them talking about how they wanted to do Shadow's backstory right just got my hopes up too much.

The lead up to the movie made me more excited than I should have been I guess. I preordered Sonic x Shadow Generations when it was announced. I played it when it came out, it had everything I loved about Shadow's character in it. I went to the Sonic Symphony this November. I felt like this movie, even if it wasn't great would at least be a fun way to end all of that. But it really just left me feeling awful.

I'm sure these movies have been great for the Sonic franchise. The money made from them probably helps them make better games. They've probably introduced a more people and kids to the Sonic franchise. I just kinda hate that this is the version they are introduced to.

I'm just so upset but I keep thinking something's wrong with me because everyone else seems to be enjoying it but I just can't. I don't think I am going to be watching any more of these movies, this one killed any interest.

[hishighnesstheprincess]

so what's your overall thoughts on the movie??

General: sa2 still clears and specifically I think the sa2 lore for the ARK trio (Shadow Maria and Gerald) is a lot better, but this was pretty good (sometimes even great) for a movieverse (loose) adaptation of sa2. I did not like Gerald though, I think his crusty ass should have been left in the 70s

Specific thoughts under the cut (spoilers obviously)

My main criticisms rn is that it basically just feels like a watered down version of sa2, from most of the main story beats to the lore to the characters etc. Obviously I was not expecting them to have the same amount of depth that the games managed to give to Shadow's story from both the extra content that comes along with the games (like the manual that confirmed Maria's illness) but I feel like cutting out stuff like Maria's illness and her wish just left the story feeling neutered in some very important ways. The other big thing I didn't like was Gerald in general. Like yeah he was kinda funny the first two acts, but then he keeps the goofy schtick up while Sonic and Shadow are trauma bonding and kicking ass in space and idk. If they wanted to show him as a more evil version of Eggman maybe have him just actually be more evil for the final act. Ideally he should have behaved more menacing after dropping the "You're no Maria" line. Also the pacing was fast as hell, and apparently the film cut relatively important stuff like explanations for how Gerald was alive at 110 years old (he was licking that Shadow quill apparently) and also led to stuff like Shadow's entire arc being kinda rushed.

Aside from those though... I kind of loved it???? Big surprise coming from me I know, and I do wonder if it's just recency bias, but I think this is easily and by far the best project the films have put out. If you've seen both trailers for this film you can predict how 95% of the plot is going to go along with the character arcs, but they're still decently effective (for everyone except Gerald). The goofiness does get to be a bit much sometimes and my god I wish they would just let movie Sonic be quiet for once in a while, but towards the later half it starts getting really good. The parallels between Sonic and Shadow are well-made and impactful. Super Sonic and Super Shadow are hype. The action is fucking fantastic (if you go to these films just for spectacle you ABSOLUTELY want to see this one). And the found family stuff is the best it's ever been. If you like Wachowski sibling content, and specifically Wachowski sibling angst, you will be feasting. Tails and Knuckles fans, GO TO THIS MOVIE. I won't say why but you'll fucking love it

Depending on my mood, it's a 6/10-8/10 from me

Random thoughts

The non-game human characters are the best balanced that they've ever been

The game human characters are not well balanced at all lmao

Even if movie 4 will inevitably be less hype than movie 3, I can honestly see it maybe being the best so far which is 100% my own bias

Amy's design is cute as hell and Metal's design is awesome as hell

I'm kinda glad Jim Carrey is (presumably) gone ngl

I hope they keep the energy Sonic had in the third act and mid-credits for the rest of the franchise, even if it will obviously be less intense than when he was literally trying to kill someone

I am going to make so many fanfics where movie Sonic suffers bc I adore him so much (/negative) (/positive)

I think it would be best if the next movie was just Sonic, Amy, and Metal. I love the sibs but this being in live action, if the cast keeps getting inflated every individual member is just going to have so much less time. Maybe Sonic and Amy get kidnapped to Little Planet or something

I want them to keep her crush on Sonic but also her spunky and somewhat violent and irrational attitude. If they kept Knuckles gullibility they should also keep her flaws

Shadow and Maria's story may be infinitely more compelling in the games but them in the movies is just more entertaining idk what to tell you

They gotta give Maddie something to do. She is literally just Tom's +1 at the moment please god give her something to do

I do not feel bad about the GUN commander guy at ALLLLLLLL lmao i think he shoulda died choking on his own blood. bitchass

you still don't need to watch the knuckles show

[couldtransitionsaveher]

KYOSUKE KAMIJO from PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA

JUSTIFICATIONS:

"Vibes tbh, idk, seems very transfem." - @lily-the-smol

"Look. L o o k. She's already seen as nothing else than a being who possesses little to no autonomy; not by her parents for making her take up the job of being a violinist in the first place, not by the doctors who flat-out said that she will never be able to heal and play the violin again in her face, and, as much as I love the both of them, not even by Sayaka and Hitomi who saw her as some object of affection who is only there to make their lives a little more "complete" and is unable to form her own opinions. My girl is super fucking DEPRESSED, and the fandom fucking vilified her for...being a distressed 14 yo who didn't reciprocate Sayaka's feelings (even though she never knew it was thanks to Sayaka's wish that she made a speedy recovery).

Okay, I get that it was sucky that she didn't tell Sayaka that she had to leave the hospital early, but I have to bring Kyosuke's possible shitty parents because not only does she still have doctors investigating this "miraculous recovery" up her ass, but she was also immediately thrown back into the professional violinist role, so it was very possible that she might have been overwhelmed by deadass everything around her.

For Madokami's sake, her depression's even amped up in both the PSP and Mobage games; stating that she has nothing to aspire to in life if she cannot play the violin anymore. Just what on earth happened for shit to be That BadTM?!

What I am trying to say is that my girl deserved better- from the narrative, from the franchise as a whole, and from the fans. She's so so so so so so SO trans-coded; Gen Urobuchi can fight me over this, idc." - @puella-1n-somn10

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[s-aint-elmo]

digging out the eah content i created in a frenzy during last year’s summer of obsession part 1: my personal sapphic multishipping guide (created to explain to my friends which of these dolls i think should hold hands)

(more in-depth discussion of the ships below the cut)

the polycule that will take over ever after

kitty/lizzie; kitty/maddie; maddie/lizzie

self-explanatory. frequently purchased together do not separate. bonus shoutout to maddie canonically giving kitty a little kissie on the cheek and getting off scot-free in the books though. a wonderlandiful world was a banquet to me

cedar protection squad

once again a wonderlandiful world and once upon a time i owe you my life. kitty ESP being so adamant abt not giving a shit then turning around and fucking up those boys who were mean to cedar...... i love friendship

kitty/cerise

also self-explanatory. she was a catgirl she was a wolfgirl can i make it anymore obvious. also doribuki’s phenomenal fake dating fanfic....... transformative foundational transcendental

cerise/raven

YOU MUST UNDERSTAND. i entered eah a rapple shipper and exited the book series ready to burn at the stake for cerise/raven. book two was SO MUCH. it had everything. raven befriending cerise despite her attempts to isolate herself. texting in class. winking at each other. raven meeting the parents and hearing embarrassing baby cerise stories. cerise putting it all on the line to save raven. i’m ambivalent about shadow high but cerise gets literally one (1) mention and it’s in raven’s internal monologue wherein she equates cerise’s hood w feelings of warmth and safety. like how was that in any way necessary. i rest my case 

raven & maddie

self-explanatory as well. dabesties. the ride or dies. it means so much to me that raven always has a friend in maddie no matter how many clowns and jokers (derogatory) treat her like the antichrist. maddie the character ever

raven/apple

WHAT IT SAYS ON THE TIN. the gelphie dynamic is a classic and i am EXTREMELY vulnerable to it. they are THE ship and i will pay my respects to the end of time. i am a big fan of how they trade their roles throughout the franchise and how rich the drama and history are between them. it’s pure fucking poetry.

raven/darling

TBH. a serve. the only thing juicier than evil queen/damsel in distress is evil queen/princess charming. big big fan of darling giving raven the five star princess treatment after a lifetime of being feared and shunned and vilified. equally big fan of raven’s momentous act of rebellion giving darling the courage to be true to herself. ALSO. the absolute archetype-subversion slay of the Pure-Hearted Hero(TM) confronting the Mistress of Evil(TM) and dropping their sword. looking through the smoke and mirrors and the will of Fate itself to see the girl who has wanted nothing but to be kind beneath. swearing their heart and soul and sword to the one true good they have found. picture it. i can almost see the 100-word drabble

raven/apple/darling

now THIS is just THE fairytale couple. the evil queen, the damsel in distress and the princess charming ALL holding hands and riding off into the sunset together. dappling on its own doesn’t do it for me but raven in the mix just makes everything gel perfectly. she’s the tomato in the ratatouille the cornstarch in the spring roll water, etc etc

darling/holly

this is one of those ships where i read a really convincing fic and the more i thought of it the more it just made sense. like they'd read swashbucklers and tales of courtly love together. holly would 100% write a darling placeholder in her self-insert romance fanfic pre-relationship as a way to express her feelings. darling would 100% find out and gently pull her out of the pit of sheer mortification she drilled into the ground to escape. also the height difference is a thing of beauty

safe from the polycule

duchess/poppy

they have one singular episode to their name and it was enough. it was Everything. the dynamic you can extrapolate from that one single interaction is so incredibly appealing to me. duchess’s bitchiness belied by her palpable air of vulnerability coming up against poppy’s spine of steel tempered by her skill in gaining perspective. poppy can challenge duchess into being a better person and duchess can be poppy’s character flaw like idk she just has shit taste in women that was the price she had to pay to be moisturized and unbothered by destiny. i just think they have the potential to be the unexpected, inexplicable power couple of eah

briar/faybelle

do i even need to say anything they had a whole movie to make their case. they’re rapple if rapple got their shit together before armageddon, with the bonus of a potential curse-breaking true love’s kiss for the fanfic authors to thrash between their teeth. truly unlimited. also unlike rapple where raven is 100% against being a villain and therefore it’s apple who has to do the mental gymnastics to open herself to the possibility of a relationship w raven, faybelle is just chomping at the bit to make her momma proud and presents a compelling perspective for the whole “falling in love w your fated nemesis” thing

blondie/cupid

they are icons, they are legends, and they ARE the moment. these two are so chaotic individually, what with blondie’s criminal skillset and habit of menacing innocent woodland creatures and cupid’s matchmaking powers combined w her shitty aim, that putting them together can only mean good things. there’s this whole element of their shared passion as public figures who at their best seek the truth and guide others through matters of the heart respectively that’s always interesting as a point of irony/obstacle when they start catching feelings and have to decide what to do with them. their joint youtuber/podcaster slay can level nations

[temporary-tats]

fav recent fics you've read?

I'll have to update my fic rec list soon, as I've got a lot of great new ones I've read, but here are some of my absolute favorites from my recent reads!

(All hyperlinked cause I'm not a monster)

Completed Fics: "The Queens of Remnant" by Mikotyzini - 312k words, 48 chapters. Normally, I am not a fan of WhiteRose as a main ship in a fic (I don't mind it as much as a background ship, I'm just a aro/ace Ruby truther), but this dual Bumbleby and WhiteRose fic was fucking FANTASTIC. It's a Fantasy/Royal AU and it is most definitely deserving of your time.

"plant a love, put it on a windowsill" by sevensevan - 11k words, 2 chapters. Takes place between volumes 8 and 9 - Yang falls into the void and is spat out into her own future. The bees are breaking my fucking heart in this one and it's so good.

"still need your teeth round my organs" by sevensevan - 55k words, 9 chapters. This one's an interesting one - a Bumbleby Twilight AU. Now, hear me out, it's like the best and coolest parts of Twilight without all the cringe, and it's so fucking good. Read it. Please god. (Also, Transfem Yang!)

"Fractured Ribs and Horsehair" by Spinedog - 178k words, 28 chapters. LISTEN. LISTEN TO ME. If you even REMOTELY like Beehaw - read this. Read this and cry, then read it again. It's healing, it's love, it's so fucking amazing. Read it.

In-Progress Fics:

"you know for me, it's always you (and i know for you, it's always me)" by evesarkisian - If you like Spider-Man, particularly the movie franchises, and you like the bees, you go and read this right now. The second chapter just released recently, but these chapters are BEEFY. There's so much to get into and it is SO GOOD. Spider-Man Angst meets Blake Belladonna Angst and forms a masterpiece.

"You're a Hot Mess (And I'm Falling For You)" by Kaelidascope - These bees are fucking TOXIC and OOC, but if you like soap-opera level drama of a plethora of idiot twenty-somethings and can handle the OOC, it's absolutely delicious.

"Beauty and the Beest" by Kaelidascope - This one's a rework and rewrite, though there's also the original version up on their page to read! Very interesting concept and plot so far (plus, a tasty helping of art) -definitely recommend, though it gets into monster-fucking at some point, so perhaps not your cup of tea!

"Concrete Trail" by Spinedog - Zombie Apocalypse bees! This one's very tense and angsty, but it's been SO good so far. The baddies list also extends further than Adam in this one, so there's bound to be lots of trouble!

"INFECTED" by Kaelidascope - More Zombie Apocalypse bees, but with a little twist! Again, tense and angsty, but with the vibe of a 2010s zombie movie. It is very, very good so far and definitely worth jumping into!