#they at least acknowledge the culture shock

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Am I allowed to say pushing lines like "he's jewish!" "You're basically Jewish!" towards an indigenous/black coded character with a anti-colonialism backstory rubbed me the wrong way? Like I'm not saying Jewish people didn't have their culture and religious objects stolen from them over the centuries! It just comes off as a sanding down of the actual commentary knuckles' backstory is supposed to be about.

i wish i could articulate my frustration with the knuckles series/scu's handling of knuckles' heritage. i just hope that people recognized that stupid 'joke' where wade couldn't pronounce pachacamac's name as the anti-Indigenous racism it was

[235uranium]

I get genuinely annoyed when ppl forget ann is a canon gamer + implied to like comic books. like... her idea of rebellion is catwoman and she mentions liking evil women in fiction cmon now stop pretending she's not a nerd bc she's the Conventionally Attractive Model Girl

[olderthannetfic]

On the topic of the ao3 ship stats thing, I would also like to call into question the inclusion of the "Race" category and how races are being categorized and if they should be included at all.

The first thing is that I see Latino is considered a race, but I believe Latino is moreso a cultural/ethnic category and not a race. It makes it more interesting that Afrolatino is separate from Latino, since it means that everyone categorized as Latino could be white Latino characters and therefore not as racially diverse as the category seems to imply? Or something?

Same goes for the Asian category- wouldn't it make sense to separate it into East/South East/South Asian at least since Asia is massive. Especially since it would be interesting to see the % of Asian representation that is taken up by East vs. South East Asians, given that K-pop, anime, Chinese BL, and Thai BL are all very popular.

I don't think that it's a bad thing to include a race category when taking into account this data, but the fact that these racial categories seem to be arbitrarily decided makes it less reliable in my opinion. Also what about characters who are mixed race, or mixed ethnic heritage?

In some ways, I think it would be more interesting to categorize the origin of the media/source material for these ships. How much of the chart is taken up by Korean origin ships (i.e. K-pop groups) vs. Japanese origin ships (i.e. anime) vs. American origin ships (i.e. American movies and TV)? It would also a valuable insight since I would expect something like Thai BL to have all or majority Asian characters. So in some ways, the race category is more insightful into the diversity of American/UK/Canadian/etc. media. It would also be interesting to see how much of the Asian characters are coming from Asian media/music groups.

This is not to say that analyzing the racial/ethnic/cultural backgrounds of characters in the most popular ships wouldn't give insights. I think it would be interesting to see how this changes over time. But I think that if we want the data about racial discrepancies and diversity to be meaningful, the categorization must be consistent and done with more care.

--

Lulu seems like a nice person, but she is a dumbass about Asian media. She told me once that she was shocked the year BTS suddenly popped up all over the top ships.

Like... really? You were shocked? And you literally had never heard of BTS? As a fandom researcher? If that had been 2013, sure, fine, but it very much wasn't.

This isn't even about being Western-centric because shittons of fans in the UK and US are into Asian fandoms. (UK because that's where she's from. US because that's the place we all wank about being centered all the time.) This is just a basic failure of a lot of meta writers and even academics who study fandom.

Part of why people insist on staying this dumb is that acknowledging Asian media, particularly live action stuff, makes it obvious that the real issue is how the media handles characters. Fans who were all about the white guys all the time still fell hard for Wangxian.

Clearly, fandom has no problem attaching to nonwhite characters when they are the unmarked ethnic majority leads in something. So the supposed failings of fic might be about skin color or antiblackness specifically, or they might really be about the failings of media when it either fails to include certain characters or sidelines and others the ones it does have.

Those conclusions aren't as tidy and don't make as good a tire iron to club other fans with.

[hyperlexichypatia]

I'm not, generally speaking, a fan of punishment as a solution to social problems. Punishment is often overly harsh, ineffective as a deterrent, and doesn't solve the actual problem. The punitive mentality is more focused on making sure the "bad guys" "don't get away with it" than on actually solving the problem.

But I get a lot more worried when people talk about "alternatives to punishment", or when they support their proposed solutions because "it's not punishment."

Because what that means, in practice, is "I'm conceptualizing this form of coercive control as 'not punishment,' and therefore not subjecting it to the rigor, due process, or evidentiary standards of punishment."

The U.S. loves punishment. It's one of our favorite national pastimes. But we do have, both legally and culturally, some limitations on punishment, at least in theory. Punishment isn't supposed to be "cruel and unusual." It's not supposed to be inflicted without "due process of law." You're supposed to be convicted by a jury of your peers.

But if you call it "not punishment," none of that matters!

You can force people to register under a law that didn't exist when they committed their crimes, because it's "administrative," not punitive.

You can subject disabled people to shocks similar to a cattle prod -- which would surely be cruel and unusual punishment -- but it's okay, because it's not "punishment," it's a "treatment" called an "aversive" (that's therapist for "punishment").

You can have people locked up and forcibly drugged solely because they can't afford housing, but it's okay, because it's "help," not "punishment."

Police can kill people in cold blood -- judge, jury, and executioner -- and it's fine, because it's "self-defense," not "punishment," even if they argue after the fact that the victim "deserved it."

It's also a matter of cultural attitudes. If you said "The punishment for trespassing should be life in prison," or "The punishment for loitering should be permanent loss of the right to control one's body, money, or living space," or "The punishment for turnstile-jumping should be lifelong forced ingestion of drugs that numb basic cognitive functions," most people would think this was horrific, much too harsh a punishment for a relatively minor crime.

But if you change it to "Instead of jailing and punishing unhoused people with mental health issues, we should respond to their minor crimes by Getting Them Help, like institutionalization, conservatorship, or outpatient commitment," people now think this is completely reasonable.

Even being the victim of a crime can get someone not-punished far more severely than the perpetrators are "punished." People might serve jail time for financial fraud, but not usually a life sentence. Being the victim of financial fraud, however, can lead to a life sentence of institutionalization -- which fraud investigators have cited as a barrier to getting victims to report fraud. I personally know of multiple disabled young adults who were afraid to report being the victim of sexual assault or other kinds of assault because they knew that if they reported it, the perpetrator might or might not face some kind of punishment, but they would definitely face some type of "not-punishment" coercive control, like forced therapy, forced drugging, supervision, or having to leave school.

You want a society with less punishment? Me too. But only if you acknowledge that "punishment" includes all forms of coercive control. If you do something to someone against their will, if you restrict someone from their right to live as they choose, that's a punishment, regardless of whether you call it that.

[fangsforiris]

IRIS LOVE IVE GOT AN IDEA

So I was laying in bed debating life. When I thought How would the sakaboys react to having an s/o whose family treats them like family? Like, very warm and friendly and just very nice and accepting!! Even told them to call them mom/dad if they want to accepting!!

My parents wouldn't roll like this at all- but hey, girl can dream

LOVE YOUUUU

S Boys React to S/O’s Accepting Family

— — — — — — — — —

Shū:

“I appreciate the offer, it’s nice of you. …Just bear with me since this isn’t something I’m exposed to. But… I appreciate it. This may be more troublesome if we were to split up, however…”

• He wouldn’t react much to this, but it would come off as weird since, sure he was doted on as a child, but it wasn’t in the sense of true parental care, mainly for his usage and ability.

• Shū would find it nice to have something akin to true family or at least a found family situation, as his actual family is dysfunctional at best.

Reiji:

“Hm, I am grateful for the acknowledgment. I will do my best not to mistake your generosity and kindness.”

• Considering Reiji’s childhood and his absence of motherly and fatherly love, he wouldn’t want to admit he yearned for it.

• This would make him feel uncomfortable as he’s been deprived of it for years— if not centuries.

Ayato:

“Heh, you’ll have to work up to a title like that! But it’s nice! We don’t really see any of this at home, back at my place, so it’s new… I can get used to this!”

• I think he’d be the most optimistic about it, in terms of new beginnings and experiencing what he may have lacked all these years.

• Ayato may have a lingering doubt that this isn’t real, and in turn, is just a whole ploy at him. He gets the uneasiness by the direct comparison of his actual home life and his S/O’s, it’s as if it’s too good to be true.

Kanato:

“Does that mean you’ll make me sweets then…? I won’t call you mother or father, but I’ll tolerate it for my Dolly.”

• He wouldn’t call his S/O’s parents ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ period.

• He may hate his parents, or at least hold some disdain, but he still subconsciously has a direct hold of acknowledging them as his creator and parental unit, despite failing at it.

Laito:

“Why, thank you. I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, I suppose. It’s quite the culture shock around here, fufu.”

• Honestly, same as Kanato, he wouldn’t feel comfortable with engaging in any parental figure and addressing them as the sort. He’s been let down by his father and mother countless times, to the point where he barely finds any meaning in the titles.

• He will find it slightly endearing, and apart of him would wonder if he was truly deserving of this treatment, especially after all the horrible things he’s done in the past. How did it all total up to him getting a ‘good’ ending?

Subaru:

“I… Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind, I guess. Not really used to that treatment, kinda feels a bit off.”

• He’d be the most awkward about this.

• If anything, he’d try his best to be very respectful after their commodity, since he wouldn’t want to intrude so much.

[blasphemousclaw]

thank you for being so normal about the hornsent 🙏 Thank you cause jesus christ. anyways for the ask ermm The hornsent npc melina or messmer

you’re welcome I just got so attached to the hornsent while playing the dlc! after watching Belurat burn in the story trailer, going into the ruined city in the game and seeing all the graves and mourning spirits really affected me, and I’m honestly shocked that such a huge portion of the fanbase didn’t feel the same way. also they are literally so cool like look at their art and architecture. their armor sets. their divine beast dancing lion. if people can’t enjoy that because they’re “evil” well I have great news. they are not real

anyway here’s capital H Hornsent my best friend Hornsent

• favorite thing about them

how his quest ends with him attacking us no matter what we do. I know I know! it’s so frustrating that we can’t convince him we’re on his side! but the fact that he tries so hard to push us away just makes me love him more! he refuses our second offering of scorpion stew because he isn’t here to make friends, he’s here to win he’s given his life for his revenge... his line “I wish not to friendship kindle” drives me crazy because we have this moment of human connection with him, which he acknowledges, but he can’t let himself lose sight of his purpose! admit it Hornsent. you like me

also his character design and voice acting are fantastic

• least favorite thing about them

I already like how his character is handled but I think it would be even stronger if he or someone else dropped a few more details about life in Belurat before the crusade. he enacts his revenge not just in the name of his murdered family but his entire culture, and it would be nice to learn a few more hornsent cultural details through him!

• favorite line

“What’s this? Do you think me in need of alms? Ah… but this dish. Tis fare o’ the tower. I remember fondly this kin-clad scent. …Brings back memories I’d all but forgot. This, by my troth, is but a dismal copy. Indeed, I think it rather plain to see… things once broken can never be the same.”

I love the scorpion stew interaction so much! “things once broken can never be the same” hits so hard after exploring Belurat and seeing the city’s destruction, and pairing this dialogue with the scorpion stew description is even more tragic: “Traditional meal of the hornsent. Once made with love by a certain elderly woman for the family table.”

• brOTP ОТР whatever this is

Hornsent and Tarnished. what if I could fix him

• nОТР

I don’t think about this at all

• random headcanon

the marks on his face are burn scars from the fires… I think he had hair but it mostly burned off. maybe I’ll draw what I think his face looked like without the limitations of the npc character model sometime

• unpopular opinion

I don’t think he was a greater potentate! I think it’s strongly implied that he lived in Belurat before the crusade, not Bonny Village. I think he sought out the potentates’ caterpillar mask because it’s used to enhance focus and banish feelings of doubt in one’s purpose, which makes perfect sense for his revenge quest

• song i associate with them

once again please leave any suggestions in the replies/tags!!

• favorite picture of them

not to boost my own content but this was hysterical

[perictione00]

Sex Education

Part 1/2

Pairing: Professor Toji x reader

Warnings: MDNI, smut, reader is 20 and a virgin, Toji's in his early 30s, corruption kink, unprotected sex, oral sex.

Jujutsu Kaisen Masterlist

Being part of a conservative family, you had lived an exceptionally sheltered life. Even at school, you were part of a pretty nerdy group, so you never had the chance to flirt with the territories of what your father called the "act of procreation." Not only that, but your school treated the very subject of puberty as taboo; consequently, you had an awkward age of adolescence, where you were bewildered by the sudden body changes. Your first period was a disaster, and your mother was no help as she made you think of it as a dirty thing. However, it wasn't anything new as you were used to this reaction, rejection, and being neglected by your whole family. Hence, by the age of 18, you were a prudish virgin, a nun basically, who felt uncomfortable in her own body.

It was a total culture shock, though, when you moved out of your house for college. You saw girls and boys all over each other publicly, "Such degenerates," you used to think as you passed by them. Kissing and sex scenes were unnatural to you; it was confusing, and you felt revolted but at the same time weird all over your body. Nonetheless, you kept your modesty and dignity intact, never accepting any proposals or going to wild parties or dressing like an immoral woman. Your parents would never accept you that way, not like they did in the first place, but at least they acknowledged your existence; that was enough. The only thing you didn't understand was why you didn't feel happy or fulfilled. You were keeping yourself the way your parents liked, yet you felt isolated and empty.

So on your 20th birthday, you had decided to grow and change along with your surroundings, a resolution of sorts, and that very day, you talked to your roomie for more than 30 seconds, an improvement from your previous chats. She was very sweet and straightforward enough to let you know that you dressed like a nun. As days passed, you experienced a lot of new things; you were enjoying your time at the parties, trying on clothes you never imagined yourself ever wearing, and engaging in conversations with guys. you were finally feeling like a normal person your age. Everything was pretty much stagnant until you came across your Professor for Animal Reproduction, a man with a scar on his lips.

Professor Toji Zenin was the most sought-after bachelor on the campus, and you couldn't complain, as you too were fascinated by his good looks, and it was a plus that he was great at teaching too. Everyone was mesmerized by the mere existence of Professor Toji; from the way he looked to the way he dressed, his voice, and his body, he was a walking wet dream. It was frustrating as the whole class tried their best to concentrate on his teachings rather than his thighs, to no avail, which resulted in poor performance by everyone. However, due to your upbringing, you were always good at academics, so it came as no surprise when you scored the highest in the first test, but what surprised you was the public appreciation from the professor.

Now Toji might look like he had taken advantage of his popularity quite a lot, but the guy was a saint. Well, he had fucked some of his high school teachers, but after entering the same domain, he was certain that it might ruin him for good. He knew about the consequences of having such forbidden thoughts; regardless, he couldn't exactly help but notice the girl who was always on time, sitting in the very first row, never missing his lectures. He valued all of his students equally; he just cherished you a bit more. He observed the way you stared at him, how you blushed whenever he caught you staring, and how you submitted your assignments punctually with a sweet message. Your cute little outfits were no help either, never failing to make him uncomfortable in his pants. Nonetheless, being the professional person that he is, he kept these carnal desires latent from everyone up till you scored low on your test for Sex Education.

Toji was playing with your clit as tears brimmed your eyes; you couldn't stop moaning; it was all too much. You were sitting on his lap, half-naked with your tits out, and your skirt was barely covering your sex. "This right here is the most pleasurable and sensitive part of a woman's body," Toji explained as one of his hands moved to your tits. You were unable to form any coherent sentences as you kept moaning. Toji suddenly entered a finger inside of you; you were so wet that he easily entered another two. Goosebumps covered your body; you were drooling in lust, and your walls tightened around his thick digits. Toji realized that you were nearing your orgasm, so he stopped altogether.

"What—why... please... please don't stop," you were cut off as Toji turned your body, making you lay down completely on the bed. Before you could comprehend, he held your legs apart as his tongue lapped at your alluring pussy, fucking your hole. It was too much stimulation; you tried moving away, but Toji held your thighs in a tight grasp, yanking your sex towards his face. "Please... ahh... it's dirty," you said, feeling shameful. Well, that was enough to trigger Toji to drag his tongue to your clit and suck on the bud. You were losing your mind as Toji continued savoring your cunt. Your body was on fire as you bucked your hips instinctively and slid your fingers, grabbing onto Toji's hair tightly, suffocating him as Toji gladly rubbed his nose on your clit. Your vision turned white as you climaxed; you were left breathless as Toji helped you through your orgasm.

You were just catching your breath as Toji's lips found yours, kissing you deeply, biting you. You were distracted by something hard nudging your thigh as his tongue was exploring your mouth."Mmff... Toji," you said as you pushed him slightly, looking down, only to see him hard. You slipped your hand under his trousers, wrapping it around his dick."Fuck… what are you doing?" Toji said, sighing heavily. "I want to make you feel good," you replied innocently. You looked so fucking adorable that Toji could no longer restrain himself, so he led you on your knees before taking out his dick. He could see that you were intimidated by the size, so he asked you to suck him slowly.

You sucked his cock, bobbing your head as Toji controlled your movements. You tasted something bitter on your tongue, stopping only to see some liquid coming out of the slit. Without thinking, you involuntarily teased him as you licked and sucked harder to get more of it. Losing all control, Toji started fucking your throat as you choked. "Fuck, just like that, yeah, you're doing so good, ahh," he said in between his grunts. You sucked harder, wanting more of him; you were loving it—the taste, his groans, his hands holding your hair. you wanted to be used by him and be at his disposal. He came as his eyes met yours, he came a lot and swallowed all of it, reveling the taste of his seed. "Good girl", he praised you as you got up from your knees. This feeling, the praise, the acceptance, you didn't want this to end, you wanted more, so you asked him boldly if he wanted to go all the way with you and who was Toji to deny such pleasure?

You were an enticing young woman, Toji had to admit, and your innocence was enough to trigger his need to corrupt you and turn you into his nymphomaniac slut, which was exactly what he was doing as he played with your pussy to get you wet enough for his size. "I'm a virgin," you announced out of the blue, which didn't surprise him, yet he assured you for the sake of it. Toji started with your nipples, giving them the attention they begged for, sucking on one while teasing the other. You moaned loudly as he bit them; you were so aroused that you didn't notice him entering your cunt. You yelped in pain; the stretch was more than you anticipated, but as Toji moved gradually, the pain subsided. He was biting your shoulder to avoid going too fast, but you clenched your walls as you whispered, "No, don't; just use me.".

Toji went feral as those words escaped your lips, roughly having you in a mating press position, he started fucking you deep with each thrust hitting your sweet spot, sending a shiver down your spine. You arched your back from the overwhelming wave of pleasure as you continued chanting Toji's name in broken syllables. Toji groped your tits, swirling his tongue on them while you grinded on his length, wanting him to come inside of you. "Fill me up, Toji; I want you to cum inside," you said in between your moans. The last bit of self-control Toji had left his body, and his movements became swift and erratic. He came with a grunt, filling you up as you moaned endlessly, begging him to not stop, which he didn't, forcing his cum back into you till you reached your high. And then with a heated kiss and a devilish smirk on his face, he said, "Let's go over this topic again in 10."

Part 2

[angstics]

being #that #guy. re this mcr promo. Fascist (Nazi esp) Appropriation is such a weird important part of both punk and gay culture, historically. VERY VERY disturbingly so, and i dont fetishize it myself. but its still a part of the history. part of it is the appropriation of the pain and horror, part of it is ignorance and misuse of shock. take kenneth anger's scorpio rising and his gay nazi bikers. critiqued in araki's doom generation. eroticized in the night porter, with controversial gay icon dirk bogarde. also a big part of cabaret, ESP i feel in its modern version.

more here and probably way more places. from the article: "But, however bizarre, I think the film [Night Porter] is far superior to sugary, sentimental and illiterate pictures such as Life Is Beautiful or Jojo Rabbit. Perhaps there is something in its very crassness, horror and tastelessness that does at least jolt us towards an acknowledgment of pure evil." i do have a surface gentile understanding of it, so i understand if i dont get the magnitude of distress and this is unsensitive. and im not saying mcr is fetishizing nazis or fascists at all. but there is. an allusion.

[esanalysis]

HiMERU ESY2 Center - Ephemeral Festival Story Summary & Analysis

We've all see the live posts in regards to the new HiMERU center event. Everyone's been talking about it and I want to as well because boy do I have a LOT to talk about in regards to what we know about HiMERU, what we learnt about HiMERU, and all the misinformation that managed to spread around in some places. This one will be pretty long, however I hope this will clear misinformation up and make the story easier to consume.

Posted - September 6th, 2024

Edited - October 25th, 2024

Analysis Word Count - 3,508

Disclaimers and CW for this post are as follows;

- This is both a summary and an analysis of the story. I will somewhat briefly summarize what is happening and will add in my larger breakdowns of specifically HiMERU's actions and feelings here (as well as others if applicable/needed). - Later parts of this analysis will vaguely reference Obbligato and be talked about under the assumption there is at least a vague understanding of what happened during the event's story. If you have not read Obbligato, I highly recommend doing so. You can read the story here. - This will contain discussions and mentions of RPF and adult/minor relationships however in no regards will I be defending this. On top of this, I do not like Himekoha/Kohahime for reasons I do not think I need to get into. - Take some information with a grain of salt. At the time of writing this I am currently going off of live translations & other sources of information as no translations exist at the moment for this story. This may be edited in the future due to this. - Screenshots have been sourced from various live translations and put through Google Translate for clarity reasons and to show what I am talking about being in game. Take the direct translations with some salt because of this. - Usual disclaimers apply - see my pinned post for those. - If you would like to discuss or debate things I have come to the conclusion of, you can submit an ask!

With that in mind. Let's get started.

The opening starts out, put simply with us learning exactly what the "Pastel Bee Brothers" - shortened to "PBB" - is. PBB, in short, is a nickname for Kohaku and HiMERU due to growing popularity in the idol world separate from Rinne and Niki as well as Crazy:B as a whole. Despite this growth, the growth does not stem from anything good. It unfortunately stems from a piece of Real Person Fiction - "RPF" for short - that involves the romantic and sexual pairing of HiMERU and Kohaku that goes by the same name.

Despite this fact, we need to acknowledge two big things when it comes to the existence of RPF here. The first being, this is a real thing to happen. Ensemble Stars is not new to the concept of criticizing things that happen in both idol culture and the industry itself, albeit to varying levels of success. We can very clearly tell that this is what is happening here when we see HiMERU try to shield Kohaku from what it truly is. Kohaku does not understand what exactly the PBB fad stems from, aside from the fact it exists after HiMERU told him about it as seen by the fact that he's shocked by being prompted to prove he's over the age of 18 when looking it up for himself.

Afterwards, HiMERU does not seem to refer to what the PBB truly is despite seemingly knowing and continues to dance around this fact when Kohaku shows his confusion to the explanation HiMERU is reading off of the internet. This implies him trying to attempt to protect Kohaku from what he can in an attempt to be a more responsible adult for him.

We can see this in the few screenshots below.

*Sakuragawa is referring to Kohaku here, its a machine error

The story is not in favor of this existing, as RPF is a real thing that exists and while it is uncomfortable, especially in regards to the fact that this involves a coupling of an adult with a minor, I think it was the best play here. Kohaku and HiMERU have a very complicated relationship with one another although not a bad one. So fans seeing it, not knowing HiMERU's real age that we do as the reader, and everything else *would* realistically result in something like this.

Its something you should be uncomfortable with, and something that is good to be uncomfortable with. But despite this, we need to keep in mind that showing support for this thing is NOT what the goal is here.

From here, we can figure out that the popularity from the PBB has boosted the rest of the Bees' popularity, despite most of the work they're currently getting being related to HiMERU and Kohaku. Rinne only pushes the work the that the Bees get onto HiMERU and Kohaku, continuing to mess around with the other two's source of popularity (in this case, buying a Doujinshi to poke fun at them and also to learn exactly what the PBB is too due to having his socials frozen and being unable to see for himself). This results in the two taking a job where they work with a smaller company to create a show where the two live a simple and domestic life together to keep in line with why PBB is popular and continue to ride the monkey's paw of a trend.

HiMERU does note before production though, that Kohaku reminds him of Kaname. If you ask me, I think this is partially why HiMERU, the one that chose the job the two do, went with this. It doesn't seem very "HiMERU like" to do, but it could be how he himself feels not how the idol persona feels. We know how much HiMERU cares for Kaname, and how highly of a pedestal he places his little brother on so wanting something calm and to be able to properly care for his brother in the hospital doesn't seem like much of a surprise when you think about it and has the decision make sense.

This is only emphasized by his thought after about how he asks himself if this was what he wanted with Kaname, the ability to raise him better and be a better older brother after the Reimei incident during Obbligato.

After a while of the small show airing and gaining popularity, Kohaku doesn't understand the popularity still. Possibly even less due to how simple the show is when its something he simply doesn't like. On top of this fact, HiMERU has been acting slightly weird in Kohaku's eyes, possibly due to HiMERU's reasoning for doing the show. Niki does sympathize with Kohaku's criticisms with the show but despite this, he can't really find himself arguing with success.

Niki ends up criticizing things a bit more though despite this, making comparisons to what he knows better. He compares the show and fans to chefs and their customers, talking about how doing the same thing can be boring and stifling even if its what the people want. HiMERU seems to be ignoring this or not quite taking it to heart like he should. Possibly due to him not realizing he's projecting his own wants onto Kohaku? Though, that's just a guess and nothing else.

At the same time, Rinne turns out to have uploaded a video himself of his plans to sabotage the show that end up failing due to Rinne getting stuck in a box in a storage room under heavy furniture. The other three end up having to get him out of the box in the storage room after they find the video. However, I want to focus on Rinne's plans to sabotage the show.

Of course this could be chalked up the Rinne wanting to sabotage the popularity not focused on him, after all it's what he claims to be doing. Yet, I can't help but feel like his intentions are different. We know that Rinne cares a lot about the people in his life, even if he refuses to properly show it when not through his persona (though, this is an analysis for another day). Rinne bought the Doujinshi at the start of the story as a means to figure out what exactly the PBB was and why it was so popular. Combining the two facts, he was probably able to piece two and two together and want to sabotage what the PBB are doing and, in turn, their popularity. Likely for the safety of Kohaku much like HiMERU trying to shield him from what exactly PBB is. A lot of who Rinne is, is something you have to read between the lines for or else you also become someone fooled by Rinne's persona much like the other people of ES - however that isn't the focus right now.

After getting Rinne out of the box in storage, we timeskip a few weeks to one of Rinne's plans to sabotage the show. Its a roughly put together show created after annoying Ibara enough. The short of this being a search for something called the "Nagigon" which is a large creature of some sort that just so happens to be played by Nagisa himself.

It's important to note that Kohaku does have more fun with this compared to the more formal show he's working on with HiMERU. Filming for the show doesn't go very far however, due to the location of the shooting being leaked and getting swarmed with fans protesting that this place isn't safe for them to record at. This whole thing only manages to back up Rinne's worries for Kohaku and HiMERU, with them giving into the demands of the fans above everything else including their safety. This only backs up my thoughts on why Rinne is trying to sabotage the show, but I digress.

After this, HiMERU and Kohaku go back to filming the domestic show they were before. Kohaku's complaints only get worse from here, not only about the show's production but also being and idol as a whole. Despite this fact, HiMERU also does not like where the PBB has led them and the rest of Crazy:B telling Kohaku to accept it like he has.

Kohaku, once again, points out that this behavior is weird. HiMERU does try to listen to the fans more compared to the rest of the Bees, especially Rinne. Likely due to the fact that he doesn't 100% know what Kaname himself would do and also due to how HiMERU created the idol persona in the past. But at the same time, this is also likely due to nothing but popularity. HiMERU's goal as we know it is to keep the name "HiMERU" in the spotlight for when Kaname is healthy again and able to take the name back for himself. The sheer popularity that the PBB has is only helping his end goal, which is likely why HiMERU is acting weird. Normally, the popularity of himself follows the rest of Crazy:B but now its surged outside of the fact in a way he himself can control. It falls back on the concept of how this popularity is nothing but a monkey's paw. It's something neither of them truly like, more than likely due to the cause of it all on top of where it ended up getting them.

HiMERU is handling the pressure and stress of the popularity better than Kohaku though, as it ends up with him passing out and going to the hospital. Consequently the same one that Kaname is staying at.

At the hospital, Rinne and Niki end up staying with Kohaku as he wakes up while HiMERU is off with Kaname.

From this point on, things are going to get more wordy as the later half of the story contains more of what I want to talk about.

HiMERU notes that there's more merch around Kaname since the last time he was here, as well as the reveal that Kaname is more awake than before. He hasn't perfectly healed, and will likely be bedridden for a long time to come but he has been having a lot of improvement. The biggest of which being, that he is awake at times and seems to be requesting merch of his brother.

The full card cg shows pieces of merch in his room, the ones we can clearly make out being the Feature Scout 1 outfit poster, a poster of the Trip Album cover, and a plush of HiMERU in his Crazy:B uniform.

Kaname is far from healed, with this merch not of "HiMERU" but of his brother, being comfort for him and his bouts of incoherency. Kaname and HiMERU have both relied on each other in a way. Their relationship being nothing but complicated due to how they met, discovering each other's existence and everything that happened during the events of Obbligato.

Due to all of this, Kaname seemingly being fine with HiMERU doing what he's doing while also being unable to vocalize it properly due to his current state makes sense. We don't know the specifics of Kaname's condition, leaving us to unfortunately have to fill in the gaps so most of this is a mix between speculation and an understanding of both Tojou's character.

The name HiMERU was something that felt stifling to Kaname, it was a fact he mentioned to Tatsumi. This was something HiMERU didn't know himself until the events of ESY1. HiMERU was operating under the assumptions he himself had made and still cannot back down from. If anything, this fact proves that the brothers truly don't know each other that well. They never grew up together, for one reason or another (I'll get into that later), and as such have put each other up higher than they should be. They have never seen each other's faults properly.

This is being reflected in the merch that now surrounds Kaname. Despite the name never being his, and probably understanding that it will never be his. He's okay with this. A lot of people have been under the assumption that he wouldn't like what HiMERU is doing, but that's just wrong. If anything it could be freeing for Kaname, especially after the incident. We don't know much about him now after everything, because people can change and be affected by trauma like this in different ways. But it's probably safe to assume not much has changed by his actions.

He wants the comfort of his brother, and seeing him surrounded by not only HiMERU merchandise, but also PBB items likely brings him some of that comfort when he's awake and his brother isn't there.

And at the same time, when HiMERU is visiting Kaname, he seeks out the comfort of his younger brother. We truly see how conflicted he feels during this part, asking Kaname if this is what he truly would've wanted for the idol name he now has. He asks both Kaname, and mostly himself, if this is what Kaname wants and if he is truly crafting a place for him to be when he recovers. Only backing up the idea that the two don't truly know each other but only want the best for each other.

Although, this scene can't stay for too long. HiMERU unfortunately cannot entirely vanish to stay with Kaname as much as he'd like to do so. Rinne ends up catching him in the lounge leading the two to have an interesting talk. Rinne quizzes HiMERU on where he was and why his face looks sad, eventually revealing he knows about HiMERU's secret. It's something that could've been inferred from various other stories if you ask me, but seeing it properly spelt out is interesting. On top of this, Rinne also points out HiMERU is currently a year older than his persona, comparing his age to Niki which would currently make him 19. HiMERU doesn't shoot this down or acknowledge it being correct, giving nothing but a vague response about how faking your age by a year or so is more common than one would expect. While true - it is important to note that Rinne may be right due to HiMERU's avoidance of the topic.

*translation is a little broken - however it still shows Rinne saying "one year older" in reference to HiMERU

I'd argue this makes perfect sense. During the events of Obbligato, he would be about 17 or so, meaning he's still essentially a kid during this. In a way, it can make his actions make more sense when looking at it from this angle. However, I plan to dedicate an analysis to HiMERU's age sometime soon as I would like to talk about it separately and go more in depth about Obbligato and how this doesn't retcon what we know already but that isn't the focus currently.

Regardless, HiMERU ends up getting defensive and speaking in first person. Another something I deem important of note. After Rinne coming forward with the fact he knows his secret, even calling Kaname "Kannamecchi" as a nickname, HiMERU has nothing to hide. He speaks in third person to preserve his secret and be what HiMERU is supposed to be, not who HiMERU truly is. Without that secret, he's allowed to be himself. He's speaking for himself here, how he claims to not trust Rinne himself and threatens to harm him should he hurt Kaname or drag him into any sort of mess. Rinne however, takes this moment to try to drill into HiMERU that the PBB isn't good and how him being "HiMERU" isn't good either and making him act strange.

Another moment that shows how much Rinne cares so much about those around him despite his persona. Another thing I plan on talking about at some point.

HiMERU ends up calming down and asking about how Kohaku is doing, Rinne ends up turning this around on him and continues to push the idea that "HiMERU" is causing problems here and brings up how Kohaku was wrapped up in "HiMERU's" mess. This manages to be enough to get HiMERU to reflect a bit more, realizing that this all started from Kaname. The popularity was not only good for the idol name, but also seemed to be making Kaname happy with the growing merch in his hospital room. HiMERU was always skeptical about the trend, knowing about it in full and how odd it was in multiply ways. During this reflection, Kohaku walks up to the two of them. Both Kohaku and Niki were called to the lounge by Rinne, allowing them to hear at least part of the conversation the two were having including parts of HiMERU's self reflection and bits about Kaname.

This prompts the two of them to properly talk out everything going on. Neither of them are happy and only one was willing to admit it previously - HiMERU even taking a moment to remind himself and truly realize that Kohaku wasn't happy. Its a moment of selfishness we rarely see from HiMERU and one he doesn't seem to realize exists because he kept pushing the show "for the fans" when really he was also being a tad selfish with his own wants by imagining Kohaku as Kaname. Kohaku continues to talk about how he wants to show himself off more, be his own idol, instead of just listening to what the fans want like HiMERU seemingly wants to do. Niki only backs up Kohaku, expressing himself freely in the process to emphasize that people need to mix up what they're doing while also taking others into consideration. This also manages to click something in place for HiMERU, with him realizing that Kaname probably cared less about seeing the PBB and more about seeing his brother in any capacity.

This realization allows him to act more like himself again, or at least how people see him. Kohaku even feeling better after talking for a few. The two end up agreeing to put an end to the show going on and resume activity as Crazy:B as they always have, turning down Rinne's plans to go out with a bang as he normally would.

Despite this though, when Kohaku and HiMERU plan to do a live together at a festival and announce the end of doing things as a duo and go back to doing things with the rest of their unit, Rinne still manages to crash the party. Rinne, dragging Niki into his mess as usual, ends up turning it into a Crazy:B live since he didn't want just HiMERU and Kohaku enjoying the festival. Many fans end up speculating from this that Rinne forced Kohaku and HiMERU to halt PBB activity but they try to ignore that. Kohaku admits he enjoys Crazy:B for what it is, despite how hectic it can be with Rinne as a leader. HiMERU himself even recognizing that deep down this is what he was expecting, and in turn enjoying it.

After everything, Kohaku and HiMERU end up going back to finish shooting the little show with Nagisa and Rinne, enjoying that more than they did recording things as the PBB. Nagisa was even enjoying it himself. HiMERU truly came out from behind the persona he built up for Kaname more by the end of this story, as he continues to do so bit by bit with each story we see him in. The others even recognize this, Kohaku especially with calling out how HiMERU did see him as a little brother.

To summarize my thoughts and add a few notes that I couldn't add in elsewhere, I think the story is very good and a solid enough commentary on how popularity as an idol can come from varying places both good and bad (comparative to other ES stories at least) and how popularity itself is a powerful thing for better or for worse. Its not perfect by any means, much like any other Ensemble Stars story, but its a lot better than I think people give it credit for. We learnt more about HiMERU than we knew previously and a handful of assumptions I've seen some people have were confirmed - myself included. It's also interesting to see HiMERU be more selfish with his wants, even if he doesn't entirely realize it.

I hope we one day see HiMERU shine through more past his few moments of speaking in first person. I would like to see his real personality outshine the idol he portrays himself as. The bits we do see in the story feel powerful to me since his emotions get too strong in regards to Kaname that he lets his guard down, especially when people know his secret. Things likely won't be changing anytime soon, but improvement is still improvement and I want to see more of that.

Regardless, thank you for making to the end of this lengthy analysis. I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope this story can now be understood better.

a/n

- I plan on making edits to this in the future when I have written the analysis on both HiMERU's age and how Rinne shows how much he cares about people, attaching the analysis to the points needed so people can further see me prove the points I would like to as the focus is on this story specifically and I would like some place separate to talk about these specific things rather than the story as a whole. - If anything needs clarification, I messed up information or you would like me to talk about something in more detail, do not hesitate to send an ask so I can talk about it or make fixes to the post as needed. I would like for this to be accurate as possible.

Edit Log

October 25th, 2024 - Edited a mistake where "Pastel Bee Brothers" was put as "Pastel Bee Boys"

[jinxedshapeshifter]

The really interesting thing about TGAA to me and how people treat it as a result is that it's quite historically accurate. Like obviously there are aspects of it that are played with in terms of historical accuracy (Sholmes and Iris's tech for example), but for the most part it feels pretty accurate to the turn of the 20th century in terms of how society was.

The reason this even occurred to me is because I'm playing The Adventure of the Clouded Kokoro, and when Ryunosuke mentions the domestic dispute between Joan and John, Patricia says "I can't even imagine being so horrid to the one you love." And that, there, had me like "domestic abuse like what Joan inflicted on John was probably normalized at this point in history" and I think the lack of much response regarding that specifically from anyone except Pat and I believe Ryunosuke shows that pretty well (and even then I think Pat comes off as a bit of a hypocrite for even saying "I can't imagine being so horrid to the one you love" but I digress).

Like The Great Ace Attorney very much uses multiple historically accurate attitudes — not just racism — to tell its story. It utilizes classism (to the point the overarching plot hinges on it), it utilizes the fact that in Victorian England domestic abuse was viewed as socially acceptable (in fact, based on a little research, I'd say how it's portrayed is incredibly accurate to Victorian attitudes irl), even Sholmes's attitude towards Ms. Garrideb (which, to be completely clear, is based on her behavior and not her weight, at least not consciously, but let's pretend he was consciously referring to her weight for a minute) is emblematic of the time period in which The Great Ace Attorney takes place.

The Great Ace Attorney is a story told about a Japanese man studying in Victorian England, and it's historically accurate about it. That's not to say you can't be uncomfortable in regards to certain parts of TGAA, but I also think understanding the historical context behind the game and how that drives the story is incredibly important. The racism, classism, domestic abuse, what can easily be taken as fatphobia/fat shaming (but I genuinely don't think is meant to be read that way); they're all perfectly in line with The Great Ace Attorney taking place in Victorian England. Those were normal in Victorian society and not looked down on like they are now. Looking at The Great Ace Attorney through that lens explains a lot about how the game is written, actually.

It turns a lot of the dialogue into a "This happened during this time period in England, but that doesn't mean the game's writers endorse it" and the game even critiques it, via dialogue from Susato and Ryunosuke (and occasionally other characters). I think we are very much meant to like characters like Sholmes and van Zieks, but we're also forced to acknowledge that they live in Victorian England and what isn't acceptable now is acceptable to them, because they live in Victorian England and for the story Capcom wanted to tell, it would've been dishonest to ignore what English society was like back then.

Really interesting to experience culture shock related to time period vicariously through a video game, I think.

[deke-rivers-1957]

ECU Film Ranking Part 2

This is the 2nd part of a 3 part series where after 10 or so movies, I’ll rank them in reverse order with 10 being the worst and 1 being the best. My ranks are based on how much I liked the movie, how much I liked Elvis’ character, and how well it was executed. Each entry will have an explanation so I hope my opinions make sense. If you have any disagreements feel free to share them. Enjoy!

This is going to shock everyone since I just posted a scathing review on Harum Scarum. However, after looking back at the last 10 movies, Change of Habit having a wishy washy political standing leaves a bad taste in my mouth. How am I supposed to enjoy this movie when you have rage reduction therapy being used on an 8 year girl, very harmful portrayals of minorities and the gratuitous usage of slurs? The gritty nature of this movie doesn't work when you have the rage reduction scene be immediately followed by the characters having a jolly good time at the park. It doesn't allow you to emotionally recover from the horrifying sight that was at the time a "groundbreaking treatment". It also doesn't help that Dr. John Carpenter was such a boring character to the point where Sister Michelle overshadowed him. Where would he be if he never met the Sisters? Absolutely fine. Sure he would still be in want of help, but it isn't as if his clinic was in danger of closing. Elvis might have top billing but this is not an Elvis movie which makes it even more sad that this was his final acting role. Instead of being the proverbial last hurrah, this was the final nail in the coffin for his Hollywood career.

This is unmistakably an Elvis movie. The problem is that it's just bad. You immediately question the movie's logic from minute one of actual movie time and it doesn't get better from there. It at the very least has the benefit of taking place in a fictional country. Despite being heavily inspired by the Middle East and actual Islamic beliefs, Lunarkand is not a real place. So when I criticize the cultural representation, it's because I pick up on the similarities with what's true in the real world. That still doesn't save the world building from being super confusing. Especially when you consider the in universe possibility that Johnny will one day be King of Lunarkand. The fact that something that significant isn't even acknowledged in the movie is baffling. It's also bizarre how Johnny was portrayed as this overpowered action hero yet by the end of the movie Johnny doesn't even beat Sinan or Prince Dragna. While it was his idea to protect the King while they stormed the palace, Sinan was taken out in the most nonsense way possible, and Prince Dragna was defeated offscreen by the King in a fight scene we only saw the beginning of. This makes Johnny's ending unsatisfying as he got such a huge "prize" when he didn't really do that much. The world that was created for this story feels broken and I have no idea how you could fix it. Especially when you consider that all of what happens in this movie takes place over Johnny's week long vacation. Anything longer would create even more plot holes on how he could be gone without anyone including the United States government immediately try contacting the King.

Story wise this movie has a clear direction. Do I agree with all decisions that were made? No but I can at least understand why they had to keep things simple. It was an Elvis movie in the early 1960s, so emphasizing Mike's PTSD more than they did wouldn't match the otherwise light hearted tone. That being said, the romance is very boring to watch. How does Margarita being an ousted Duchess impact anything? It doesn't. Her and the former Duke are working at a luxurious resort in Acapulco. Sure it isn't glamorous nobility life, but it's better than what a lot of people in the Mexican working class had. Therefore, I just have no reason to care about the Duke wanting his daughter to get an American VISA. If Mike had never come to Acapulco, they would've continued to live a comfortable life without any foreseeable threat of poverty. It only comes off as forced so Mike and Margarita end up together when they don't have that much chemistry. Mike has more chemistry with Raoul who is a 10 year old boy that acts as his manager. There are so many good ideas in this movie that should work on paper that were simply never fleshed out. I would've loved to see Mike meet up with his parents in Acapulco. That would've been a nice call back to the telegram he received and would give Moreno finding out the truth more weight. Unfortunately that simply didn't happen.

This movie's plot was a mess. How do you balance Mike and Danny trying to find a job to buy their plane, Sue-Lin wanting to see the sites at the fair and needing to be cared for, Mike wanting to date Nurse Warren, and Mr. Ling going missing? The answer is that you can't without one of those plots suffering. In this case, the romance is what suffered. I have nothing to say about Mike and Nurse Warren because I got nothing from the movie to suggest that womanizing Mike would realistically fall for her. Mike being rejected isn't this magically bizarre concept so Nurse Warren doing so doesn't make her that special. I don't think it's worse than the other three movies though since there was a very specific reason behind the movie being rushed. The 1962 World's Fair in Seattle was only open for 6 months. Production wise, it was doomed from the start and the writing unfortunately suffered because of it. But for what they were attempting to do, I appreciate the effort as Sue-Lin is an amazing showcase of young talent. She isn't an obnoxious brat, or a kid that talks in an over the top cutesy way. The scene where Mr. Ling had to leave for an important job especially showcases this. She doesn't throw a massive temper tantrum that he couldn't take her, but she still cries at how something out of anyone's control would've ruined something she was looking forward to. That takes a good amount of maturity to recognize Mr. Ling had no control over this and that if he didn't work hard, she wouldn't have been able to go at all. Just incredible character writing when dealing with a child character.

This movie had so much promise but man it fell off a cliff once Ms. Prentice and the girls arrive. I found myself feeling more uncomfortable with the Ellie situation than Sarah Lee being outright racist towards Hawaiian people. Ellie's bad mood didn't belong in this lighthearted story and I have no idea why it was added. Sarah Lee's racism/classism at least has a point because it's the main source of conflict. The movie would've been just fine if it was about Chad trying to reconcile his wants with his parents wants since that's drama inducing as it is. Maile thinking Chad was cheating on her with Ms. Prentice wasn't entertaining at all and makes the Ellie situation worse as she actually was trying to flirt with Chad. There's also the very obvious issue that we had 3 songs in the span of 10 minutes that add nothing to the movie yet they cut Chad's confrontation song towards Ellie. If her situation was addressed earlier in the movie, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. That time cut from the horrible "running gag" of her failing to seduce Chad could've been spent on a scene where Chad finally puts his foot down with his mother about Maile. I hate that the main conflict of the movie ends with a joke about Sarah Lee fainting over the news that her son is marrying a half Hawaiian girl. It's a lot more satisfying for Chad's happy ending to come from him actually stepping up and telling his mother that the things she says isn't acceptable and that he no longer feels comfortable being around her. I understand it's a real conversation people have with their parents, but I value character driven stories as opposed to something that major occurring only because the script says so.

Allied Artists didn't know how to make an Elvis vehicle and it showed with fully recycled music of varying quality. The romance was bad since Pam comes off as being so judgmental when Lonnie's relationship with their guests isn't her business. I never understood how they went from "strictly business" to getting married since Lonnie seemed very annoyed with Pam. Her playing hard to get attitude I guess was what they were going with, but it didn't work for me. I also wish that the deputy sheriff being the perpetrator wasn't revealed until later because then it would make Lonnie beating him all the more satisfying since we would be just as surprised as the characters would. That being said, this is a guilty pleasure as I very much enjoyed the humor. Lonnie being a straight man who essentially stays the same actually works because you have him bounce off of Stanley who's very neurotic and high strung. You have that reasonable amount of skepticism that makes it all the more funny when he realizes Stanley isn't seeing things. For a very low budget movie, we surprisingly get a lot of different sets which probably cost a pretty penny to set up including the historical townhouse. There's a whole town that had to be made, the ranch itself had to be made and it's incredible how they made such a big setting when most of the budget went to Elvis' salary. It doesn't blow you away by any means but there's a quaint charm to it.

This is how you make a static Elvis character not boring. We don't know the full extent of Jess' criminal nature, but having it be stated that he broke off with Vince indicates his character arc was off screen. Since his reputation is already established he has to prove that he's changed which makes for some natural drama. I have criticized the townsfolk's unbelievably irrational behavior in my review but looking back, I was a bit too harsh. Evacuating the town wouldn't have been as easy as I made it seem either since there's nothing to suggest the nearest town is within walking distance. Given the fragile nature of Sheriff Ramsey's condition and their lack of loyalty to Jess, I better understand the town's reluctancy. Does that excuse the choice to let Vince roam freely when everyone knows he's a villain too, absolutely not. The plot holes involving their lack of pushback still stand since they spent more time putting the pressure on Jess to do something as opposed to using the guns Jess gave them. However, Jess having this rare display of helplessness and guilt over Billy Roy's death stuck with me. The look in his eyes as he sees that cannon rolling down the rocky terrain knowing he can't stop it goes against every criticism that Elvis was a flat actor here. Jess is supposed to be the "boys don't cry" type so his display of emotion sticks out in a humanizing way. Him showing mercy by refusing to kill Vince proves that he's a good person as he chose to let justice be served in a court of law instead of the vigilantism Vince upheld. It has that right amount of subtlety that proves Jess was honest in his heel/face turn. A different kind of man indeed.

This movie was pretty good in that it actually gave Elvis connections with other people. He isn't just rolling up to the movie's setting from parts unknown and no known family. Here he's established to have had parents only to unfortunately lose both of them. Despite a horrific tragedy that creates as a 20 something, Ross doesn't get bitter about it and walks around with a chip on his shoulder. Instead, he does his best to find his own family. That too me is very important. While I don't really care for how Robin was handled, she clearly isn't the focus. Laurel is. She has an actual personality where she's a girl-boss without being a Mary Sue. She has flaws, gets called out on said flaws and tries to improve. Ross having beef with Mr. Johnson throughout the movie had some clever writing as he wasn't a typical rival Ross had to beat. Even when Ross thought that Laurel was in danger, his line of thinking isn't rewarded by having Mr. Johnson be an absolute pig. Sure he was flirty towards Laurel, but it never crossed a line that made him completely irredeemable. He was simply a human being that as a business owner would have goals Ross didn't align with. While I do think he could go too far in expressing his distain, Ross doesn't cross the line of being an unlikeable jerk either. His concern of Laurel's wellbeing regardless of his reasoning was still sweet. It showed how despite their disagreement, Ross didn't let that destroy their relationship. The amount of maturity between the two is very refreshing and I do think their eventual marriage makes sense. Even though I can skip some of the songs as they felt unnecessary, the story more than makes up for it.

(My number 1 and 2 are interchangeable. Both movies show great promise for making my ultimate top 10 list).

This is isn't a case of recency bias. I still had criticisms about the unnecessary drama involving the Flaming Star, Rosalyn being very unsupportive of Clint despite being his fiancee, and the downer ending that didn't even give Pacer a moral victory. But that's the thing about this movie. I wouldn't be so upset about those things if I didn't care about Mrs. Burton and Pacer. That holds a lot of weight in my reviews. Pacer isn't a flat character for coming full circle in realizing his loyalty isn't based on race. If anything, we see what he's willing to put up with so he can continue to uphold a moral fiber that he was brought up with. He easily could've continued the path with the Kiowa and used his pain as fuel for the fire that would've come down on the town. But he didn't do that. He instead turned on the Kiowa for not only killing Mr. Burton but also critically injuring Clint. He didn't really need to do that, but he chose to do so because he genuinely thought that they would've killed Clint regardless of what he said. Pacer sacrificed himself just to give Clint even the slightest chance of surviving. How poetic is that when he blamed the doctor for refusing to do the same with Mrs. Burton. It really showcases that morality isn't determined by race but what you do to others even in the face of cruelty. A great display of writing all around despite its flaws. But for all the praise I've given, what could possibly be better than this?

Man oh man this movie is amazing. The plot might be typical for a boxing movie, but there's a reason why Rocky is the success that it is: great character writing. Kid Galahad has great writing, an appropriate amount of tension and a good selection of songs that highlight the camaraderie that exists in this small town. Walter is a great example of how a character can be of a high moral standing without being annoyingly pious or a complete doormat. I don't care that he doesn't have a character arc because his status does change. Seeing him make those friends and fall in love with Rose was done so well. I don't know if it was the writing that allowed for the characters to exist in a slice of life environment or if the actors had that great of relationship with each other, but all of the character interactions worked so well. The amount of subtlety that exists in this movie is a refreshing vibe because it shows that the writers don't believe in spoon feeding the audience every single piece of information. There's that perfect balance between showing and telling here that demonstrates what Elvis working on an actual movie would look like. My only criticism was the last five minutes where Otto wasn't properly dealt with. Sure his lackeys were arrested, but Otto is still out there. Given what I've stated about Sugar Boy being in that system of exploitation, I actually felt scared for him as we have no idea as to what will happen to him since he lost. But something like that is such an easy fix that I still gave it my highest rating yet. Definitely an underrated gem that I highly recommend watching.

AN: For those on my tag list that I didn't get to, I'm sorry. Tumblr wouldn't post anymore names. I promise that in my New Year's post you will be tagged. Thank you all for reading my reviews and providing your own input/opinions on the movies I've watched. Expect my New Year's post to come out on New Year's Eve.

Tagging: @bluesuedesouls, @searchingforgravity, @velvetelvis, @vampireego, @blueinhawaii,

@alienelvisobsession, @eapep, @peaceloveelvis, @i-r-i-n-a-a, @tacozebra051,

@vintagepresley, @atleastpleasetelephone, @ahundredlifetime, @thelonelyheart, @arrolyn1114,

@ssinnerplazahotel, @lilmisspeaches, @an-americcan-trilogy, @xanatenshi, @smokeymountainboy,

@iuv0ana, @lustnhim, @ladelinee, @pebbles403, @jhoneybees,

@somethingaboutelvis, @tupelomiss, @elvis-presleys-stuff, @elvispresley1956, @elvispresley1935,

@hooked-on-elvis, @everythingelvispresley, @elvispresleywife, @lett-them-eatt-cake, @sillybookmarks,

@yourapple56-blog, @iloveelvis2, @mercsandmonsters, @50sexyshadesfashionista, @blighted-star,

@arianatheangel-girl, @littlejoecartwright1842, @cutie46, @elvisvideos, @almightybigbrain,

@whositmcwhatsit, @theelvisprincess, @theelvispres-blog, @freudianslumber, and @cccayliexx.

[krchar]

Introducing: My Basiliadean Headcanons II

Ok... this is part II of my overthinking... (part I) it is so long, it is only for the strong with the brainrot

I gave some issues too much thought when writing my fics

5. Basiliade and romantic love This is quite an issue, when you dive into Basiliade for the ships lol.. so I thought about it damn lot So.. we see Orube is surprised at the huge role of romantic love in the lives of Earthlings.

We also know that Basiliade, at least in elite classes, is quite a strict society based on firm hierarchies, not very prone to attachment – as is seen in the memory of Orube's father (the guy is hot tho)

although the society might clearly favour other kinds of attachment and love – like that between master and apprentice (and Orube is also surprised the girls seem to put love before friendship sometimes). It is possible that romantic love is just not as important in the society - even on Earth it had a lesser role at times, than the extreme one it has now in the Western media. It can also be looked down upon, as drawing a person from more important spheres of life. When I wrote H/Y, I presumed their relationship would be secret - I joked on everyone actually having an inkling in the Garden, cause I thought the reality of such society is always different than the ideal - but generally I kept love as something you are not open about. Of course, H/Y are two males, so it might have appeared as an issue of homophobia - as it is common to presume homophobic tendencies for any made up world. My reasons for their secrecy and restraint were actually more complex, but I regrettably might not have made it very clear - although I have some, eh, WIPs mentioning hetero relations of warriors as problematic, too. Still, to add some self-reflection, I suppose including the secrecy might’ve felt natural to me, because I have the homophobic trope internalized like most people. But my reasons were 1) The society viewed as strict, non-individualistic and focusing on other spheres. Basiliade comes from the comics’s orientalistic tropes, so I think it is based on these classic patterns emphasized in Western portrayal of the Far East. Still, I keep thinking of a 17th century Chinese play that I have seen years ago, a story of two lovers divided by dramatic events and seeking each other - then meeting with all the drama, then a monk tells them their love means nothing - and they realize she is right and stop feeling the love. As a then ca. 15 yo European, I was shocked. Still I felt like - oh, yeah, the Far East, classic - bc I am a Westerner, like the authors of the comics. 2) Warrior lifestyle - I see masters as an icon of the strict society - they live for a task and they subordinate their personal desires to it. Note e.g. the hints of Orube's difficult and humbling training, her painful parting from her family, which refuses to acknowledge her pain, Yarr's self-diminishing after an apparent mistake etc. I mean, there's this:

but I think this refers to a bit of a different level - keeping your values, your identity, but not being self-centered. In a fic I also followed Orube's unfamiliarity with love and made Yarr a bit confused about his crush, although now I think that at his age (ca. 39 then), he might have had a better idea... but I also made it specific to his warrior life, that he is just not used to love, although he does know it from theatre - cause I think it might have a role, but it is problematic, unofficial, left for art, fringe culture, stories of old times and not the present. And definitely not for the daily life of masters. 3) For masters also the rank must play a role - and this could be extended to class in the general society. Strong hierarchies commonly build great barriers between people. Specifically H & Y in my story are divided by several years in duty, but much more by those two cursed years of them being master and apprentice, which, apparently, might connect and divide you at once, for life. Even in canon, it is interesting, how Y. keeps the custom of respect, when they meet, even though by now he may just as well have a rank much higher than H had, when he had left. Y. keeps this mostly formally, while they seem to speak quite equally at times, but it is there. H. was once his superior, and so he is forever. I hc that, generally, in such society, love over the borders of class would not be favoured, and for masters difference of rank would make the situation even more problematic, than it already is.

Still this all is based on the orientalistic trope - it is not impossible that some masters were quite unhinged and nobody cared.. or that, as I mentioned, the society had a certain facade, but inside everything was very different - I think I was using the latter idea mostly

Well but... these were my thoughts.. yours?

[sunderedazem]

I know i already have a dawntrail reaction post here with a genuine take but i am going to bitch again because i saw some condescending shit and got annoyed. So yeah. This is a vent. If it's not about you then it's not about you, you know? I'm not naming anyone b/c it's an aggregate annoying not a That Person Is Annoying.

Anyway.

Have a certain segment of the people who liked all or most of DT considered that perhaps, some people who disliked parts of dawntrail (especially the latter half) dislike it because they understood and actually just *disagree* with the themes and portrayal of the themes of that portion of the game? I don't dislike it because I didn't get it or because i didn't interpret it correctly (because this shit is subjective too!), I dislike it because it feels like it's spitting on the themes of the previous two expansions to me. Maybe the patch quests will resolve that dislike, i don't know. The Arcadion raids are helping a little, admittedly. If it keeps going like that I might start appreciating things I didn't before.

(Spoilers below here)

BUT- I will never be okay with the fact that all of Living Memory gets deleted, and the people of Alexandria do not have their memories of their lost loved ones restored. To me, that is not moving on, or moving forward, and our characters, the Scions, and the Tuliyollali (?) do not actually have the capability or right to remember these people on behalf of Alexandria when Alexandria's people *still exist*.

The past two expansions have involved uncovering and remembering, or at least acknowledging, a forgotten people, while also protecting the people of today. The Ascians are not an existing society deliberately divesting themselves from their past, they are a nearly-dead people who want the past back. And we choose to remember them, as Emet-selch asks, because we are his last chance of Amaurot not being utterly lost to time. We are literally his last resort. Our win means his people stay dead. He asks us to remember because we're the only people left who even know a little bit about Amaurot.

But Alexandria is a society that is still present! It still has its own culture, its own history, it's own right to keep and change and preserve all of that! But it's people don't appear to know when people die (or if they're killed for their souls, as is implied with Ambrose) or about psychonekrosis. They literally don't remember death. And they all deserve an actual chance to be able to preserve their own culture and history and to remember their own dead! Shutting down Living Memory with NO provisions made for them to be able to preserve the memory of their past *if they so choose to* is nothing like the previous themes of FFXIV and I don't like that. At all.

I am very tired of people acting like a dislike for Dawntrail indicates incomprehension or worse, malice somehow. Or acting like this point of view is completely incomprehensible and means "you're just mad it's not SHB and that's unfair to the devs" or etc. (or the worst- somehow assuming I'm a reddit dudebro who hates Wuk Lamat because I can't handle a leading woman if I ever mention that I thought her character was misused in the latter half of DT.)

I'm really, genuinely happy for you if you loved the latter half of DT. It was visually stunning. The music all slaps. Heritage Found is fucking eerie as shit and the intro to this part of the game with Namikka gave me good heebiejeebies. I can see why people enjoyed it. But to me, the end felt like a series of just...shock value emotional moments. It felt pointless and worse, kind of careless and callous (at least from a Watsonian viewpoint). And I would like that to NOT be called a "red flag lol" thank you. I'm perfectly sure I can hold a normal fucking discussion with people who loved the shit outta Dawntrail about things we mutually enjoyed.

Idk man. This is a vent post, obviously. And I do get that Twitter and Reddit are being Twitter and Reddit. I'm not on them for a few reasons but that nastiness is the main one. But it's also really fucking annoying to keep seeing shit that amounts to "If you dislike or criticize DT at all you're a nasty foul person/stupid idiot who is objectively wrong and you're not worth speaking to ever again." Like dude- can we NOT reactively slide to the polar opposite of the reddit dudebros. Can we just acknowledge that they have viewpoints that are shit *outside* the game that are causing them to have shitty other opinions.

Sighs. Anyway.

[sunderwight]

Thinking about Crowley calling Aziraphale angel.

Crowley's gotta know how it comes across. It's a term of romantic endearment in many languages and cultures, after all, and this is not a new development or obscure usage. If he really didn't want anybody 'getting the wrong idea' I think he'd at least stop using it in public.

My take is that he knows what's up and really likes that other people 'mistake' him and Aziraphale as a romantic couple sometimes, even though if they bring it up explicitly he ends up having to deny it. But if people just assume and don't ask, it's the closest they can get to actually being an acknowledged unit without risking anything, instead just letting the humans 'misjudge' his meaning. Whoops, they think we're a couple, well that's not my fault, they don't know that we're actually hereditary enemies and that I'm just being literal when I address you with a classical endearment in my softest and most affectionate voice. Funny humans, they don't know we're supernatural beings who aren't allowed to don't have those kinds of relationships.

I think that when Nina calls him out on it, he's not initially shocked at all. What surprises him isn't her 'mistake', but that she just completely doesn't buy it when he does the usual "oh no it's not like that" song and dance afterwards. Instead she thinks he's lying.

They've become so obvious that when Crowley goes "we're not a couple" the response is now "you're full of shit, are you running around on him or something?" instead of "oh of course not my mistake".

(I wonder how many times in the past his "oh no we're not a couple" responses were accepted not because anyone bought them then either, but because people just assumed they had to stay in the closet due to homophobia and that that was why Crowley was denying it instead. Crowley thinking he's slick while some restaurant owner tries to subtly indicate to Mr. Fell that her establishment is a safe place if he and his partner ever want to openly celebrate their anniversary there.)

(Aziraphale actually aware of what's being conveyed by the nearby human, and so makes it a point to always bring Crowley back here once a year on the same date. Just so the owner will feel a warm sense of accomplishment for her compassion, of course. And to help keep up his human disguise. No other reason.)

[girlactionfigure]

One often overlooked aspect of the #Arab/#Israeli conflict is what #British Vice Consul in Mosul H.E.W. Young called in 1909 a “culture of #dhimmitude,” which he described as #Muslims looking at #Jews in a “master/slave sort of way” where Jews lived “at the whims of [their] Muslim overlords” and “tolerance” only existed to the extent Jews “kept their place.”

The very idea of Arab Muslims living in a “#Jewish State,” therefore, was ornithologically shocking to Arab Muslims who had been looking down on their subordinate Jewish neighbors as something more akin to #Muslim property for centuries.

In the eyes of a Muslim, Jews were simply not a people capable of or worthy of being rulers, but only capable of or worthy of being ruled by Muslims.

After all, how could those who rejected #Muhammad rule over those who accepted Muhammed and lived by his teachings?

Jews’ rejection of Muhammad automatically made “Jews” synonymous with “#infidels,” and required any Jews living in Muslim lands to openly acknowledge the superiority of Muslims in all ways and at all times.

In fact, history shows that any time Jews started gaining something even close to “#equality” with Muslims while living in Arab or #Islamic lands, the Jewish communities were repressed, sometimes violently.

Similarly, under Ottoman Muslim rule, most Jews in Eretz #Israel lived in abject misery due to their inferior #dhimmi status.

One 19th century traveler to Eretz Israel, Signor Pananti wrote, “there is no species of outrage or vexation to which they are not exposed … the indolent Moor, with a pipe in his mouth and his legs crossed, calls any #Jew who is passing, and makes him perform the offices of a servant … Even fountains were happier, at least they were allowed to murmur.

Also, as Bernard Lewis wrote in “The Jews of #Islam,” “[T]rouble [for the Jews] arose when Jews were seen to be getting too much power.” So, when Jews were persecuted and even massacred in Arab and/or Islamic lands, “the usual argument was that the Jews had violated the pact by overstepping their proper place.”

So, as the Jewish population in #British Mandate #Palestine grew larger and stronger while the Jews spoke of “statehood” and “sovereignty,” there was panic and fear among some in the local Arab Muslim population.

The Jews had been a dependent people, inferior to Muslims for centuries. How could the Jews suddenly become an independent people in charge of their own destinies?

This institutionalized humiliation of Jews in Arab/Muslim lands would not disappear quickly, and Jews who arrived from outside the Islamic world had no knowledge of or experience with the dhimmi relationship between Jews and Arab Muslims. So, the customs and mannerisms of European Jews were foreign in a way that made many Arab Muslims uncomfortable and feel disrespected because, “how dare that Jew fail to treat me with the proper respect and fail to acknowledge my superiority?”

With the State of Israel, suddenly there has been a Jewish State in a formerly “Islamic” land with its capital in #Jerusalem, which – while being the holiest place to Jews for more than 3,000 years – is the third holiest site for #Sunni Islam (not for #Shia Islam).

This simply “does not compute” for many Muslims to this very day, which is an undercurrent of the blind hatred many have for Jews and the Jewish State of Israel.

Captain Allen

[endcant]

bear with me bc i am drinking THC lemonade

whenever my “people shocked by me being interested in consumer aesthetics counter” ticks up by 1, i know that i have failed to express myself on the internet. i am obsessed with commercial ephemera. it’s not that i like it… it’s something deeper. something… worse? better? something more embarrassing, at least.

the only time i’ve ever done psychedelics my profound realization was that i really, really enjoyed going to target. i like the lights. i am always commenting on the products and whether i think they are on trend or off trend for what i understand the target demographic to be. i love nothing more than to watch someone pick up an object, briefly imagine their life with that object in it, and then either put it in their basket or put it back on the shelf. even moreso when i’m watching a friend shop. even moreso when we can only window shop and that friend starts explaining to me what they would do with the thing if they had the money to buy it.

i studied american pop music history in college and i continue to study the history of bubblegum pop in my free time. i want to eventually write up a video or a series or something about the extended international history of teenybopper bubblegum pop. i am trying to learn music industry jargon old and new in my target languages in an attempt to gain access to information about these things that i can’t access in english alone.

i read early 2010s posts about how minimalism was the only morally righteous visual style with rapt fascination. i had a vaporwave phase exactly one decade ago. my friends in high school would bring me arizona green teas because they knew i would find it aesthetic. my advanced painting teacher hated it because i kept painting pale minimalist watercolor pieces that looked like 90s waiting room wall decor. my dream at the time was moving to santa fe and becoming a fine artist.

i was a proto-cottagecore blogger before cottagecore was named. i have well over 100 blogs, considering i hit 96 at some point during my previously mentioned decade-ago vaporwave phase. i do not bother to count anymore

as a young child, i used to go to the store almost daily with my parents and look for unfamiliar packs of gum so i could assess their packaging, flavor, and concept. i *really* cared about this. i got into this because i was given free packs of 5 gum and orange mountain dew at the halo 3 midnight release.

i learned HTML from neopets and i used to code gaiaonline themes and put them up on tektek. they sucked really bad btw.

i spent around 2 decades looking for the source of a single image of an anime river angel i saw on quizilla because she meant so much to me as a child about the power of what mere images could be only to find last year that the artist now draws hentai on pixiv and their art quality is now quite rushed. i think about this regularly when i think about creators i have idolized, and i don’t know what it means to me, but it feels like valuable information.

last night i couldnt sleep because i kept wanting to get on my phone to look at ancient greek vases on jstor

the worst part is i feel that the way that seeing ONLY consuming-or-not-consuming as the primary way to interact with the world is a serious mental roadblock for people in capitalist society. i think that consumer identity is a tool often used to warp the minds of citizens. i think that if i could go back in time and strangle edward bernays i would. i think that it is meaningful that american society has generated dozens of terms for “someone who is stealing or misusing a cultural signifier, or otherwise engaging with a culture or subculture under false pretenses/without doing due diligence/without participating in proper cultural exchange” over just the past couple centuries and that seeing and acknowledging the cycle is essential for anyone working in the arts

ive spent the past couple years reading up on historical art movements since industrialization to see how other art workers have dealt with their jobs being mechanized away, and ive decided to choose to value myself as a human animal who gets to experience the process of making things with my human animal body.

i am compelled to play piano when i drink red wine and i feel that i’m a fundamentally superficial being in function, but i can be more in purpose. like a poster. like a mask. like someone screaming so hard on stage that you believe them. that you look behind you to see what they are screaming at. i think in symbols and colors front and center, with verbal background chatter like an ever-tuning radio, and i am frustrated when people don’t understand that i am speaking my mind when i show them what i’ve made.

i care about aesthetics a lot. consumer and otherwise. it just so happens that i live in a capitalist society wherein the market attributes value to certain aesthetic information, which generates conversation about what certain images mean, what gives them value, what detracts from their value, what they are responding to, what responses they require in turn. but anywhere, anytime that there is a conversation about aesthetics, i want to be there.

i have always loved to perceive and to make, since the earliest stories anyone has to tell about baby cave. if i lost everything that makes me who and what i am right now, i believe i would still care about aesthetics. if there is anything left for even a cell of my body to experience, it would want to experience it beautifully and enjoy it deliciously.

happy 420