#things that are about real people like RT's exploitation

[tumblezwei]

I don't usually check the comment section for Rwby for obvious reasons but man the one in cr for show is relatively positive for the most part. There's a couple of the typical "months vision" or "this show is just a empty shell of itself" naysayers here and there but the other people in the comments actually call them out and drive away their negativity instead of other before a negativity echo chamber

It's important to know that people do actually like this show. I heavily advise anyone that feels like they're alone in that feeling to just stop engaging in discourse and spend more time enjoying yourself.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with seeing negativity and just closing the tab to do something else. Fandom discourse means next to nothing in the grand scheme of things, don't let it consume you.

[the-path-to-redemption]

Bitch wtf?!!!

Listen I have my own disagreements and agreements on Hazbin Hotel but at the same time I don't think the angels from Hazbin Hotel is a great example of Israel

From what I know angels from HH are unaware of the Genocide of hellborns are disagree with it. Zionist and majority Israel population IS aware of what they are doing and support the Genocide.

Avatar the Last Airbender is better on portraying a Genocide that HH

Long Post Ahead. Trigger Warnings: Mentions of Sexual Assault, Genocide, Naz*s, Deaths, and War.

Look, I don't really give a shit about the whole morality of Hazbin Hotel because the show is fucking mediocre as shit to me, but let's just make one thing clear for everyone. Thanks for showing me this shit, homie, cause this coming rant?

This is mostly aimed at the fucker in the screenshot m/ultishipper and others like them:

If you compare an ongoing genocide that has caused thousands of casualties, real-life deaths of innocents including children, to a fucking fictional media.

YOU ARE A FUCKING GHOUL AND I HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU.

We can discuss the presence of genocide in a show for days and I wouldn't give a fuck, but to take the suffering of war victims to boost up your asinine, anti-RWDE bullshit immediately takes you to the lowest depths of hell, m/ultishipper, and nothing will ever fucking change the fact that you are SCUM.

These are REAL fucking people. Not a fucking comparative element for anyone to compare to FICTIONAL CHARACTERS who cannot fucking do anything. They. Are. Not. Real. And I am fucking done with the RWBY bootlickers who make these kinds of fucking comments as a gotcha to RWDE.

I've seen a fucking edit of Ironwood sitting next to P*tin during the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis. I've seen posts of fuckers like this making Ironwood out to be a fascist and comparing him to N*tanyahu. I've seen so many fucking people calling fans of Ironwoods fascists and Naz*s, it's not even fucking funny.

STOP. THAT. SHIT. The casualties and horrors of war are NOT for you to fucking exploit, m/ultishipper, just because you love to such dick for a company that does not give a fuck about you. Don't fucking act like you're innocent either, because *I* had to block you last year after you fucking call me an abuse apologist as well as other vile ass shit. and that's not mentioning your countless abuse towards other RWDE blogs, many run by women of color and other marginalized groups.

I don't doubt that there have been death threats; yeah, RWDE isn't a monolith, and no one deserves to be treated like that over some trash-ass Texas anime. But guess what? DO FUCKING NOT ACT LIKE YOU AND SIMILAR BITCHED HAVEN'T DONE THE SAME THING AND WORSE.

So far, you ass-eaters have:

Call me an abuse apologist, a misogynist, a queerphobe, a racist, a dictator lover, and a pedophile over a FUCKING SHOW.

Harassed MULTIPLE RWDE blogs, many run by marginalized people, and called them similar shits for disagreeing with you, completely forgetting that some of them are SA survivors, in which calling them pedophiles and similar things makes you a SEXUAL AGGRESSOR.

Sent death threats to blogs for disagreeing with your bullshit and bullied many artists out of the FNDM for "shipping the wrong ships".

Make excuses for the abusers working at RT, who have a long fucking list of violence against people, while still calling us abuse apologists.

FUCKING CALLED SHEENA OUM, MONTY'S WIDOW, A MURDEROUS BITCH AND BLAMED HER FOR HIS DEATH AFTER RT KICKED HER OUT OF HER HUSBAND'S PROJECT.

Degrading the works and involvement that Dillon Goo and Shane Newville have on RWBY, even though they were with Monty since the beginning the same way MK was while uplifting the latter who continues to exploit queerness in characters to sell their show.

Blamed and bullied Kdin, who was abused by her place of employment for years, for said abuse while making excuses for your faves who made years of her life hell.

Ignored the many, MANY, animators and employees at RT, who were abused, laid off, and in some cases, DISABLED, by the awful working conditions there just for your dumbass show to continue at their expense.

Made comparisons between RWDE posters and NAZ*S. Who fucking does that?? There's a fucking screenshot of someone on Reddit literally claiming that if H*tler was a RWBY hater, WE would hang Swatzik*s to support him. FUCK YOU.

And right back to now, comparing real casualties of war to a fucking show as a gotcha to people you do not agree with.

I hope that you assholes find a conscience soon for your own sake. Because if this is part of your legacy, may you fucking rot in hell.

Thank you to the person submitting this to me. Only for showing me the depths of depravity this scumbag can go to though; making me read that shit was torturous and I will now pour 6 oz. of salt into your soup tonight.

[mathlann]

Jae Heydari for the Send Me a Character post.

And @poetikat since I got two for her....but Jae, my beloved!

How I feel about this character

My best friend! My Dogma-skeptical darling! Genuinely have had so much fun actually playing with her in this second run because there's just so much more to notice. Like how it's a lot easier to catch the truth about her identity because she's actually not that good of a liar. She's a con artist among fellow criminals but when actually interacting with real nobility her inner "raised in serfdom" almost tries to come out in her dialogue. Like she should have been caught earlier but that her main haters, Abelard and Cassia, are prioritizing the wrong things in their "poseur" assessments. I also love how her advice in a lot of the game is a lot more practical and compassionate than you'd really think given her background (+1 poseur pt). Taking apart her dialogue is just ugh, so chewy and I need to meta about her when I finish this run. And too, her banter with Idira by itself is just lovely and their friendship is one my favorite things about the game.

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Jae x My Mutuals' RTs 💕

Jae x Idira. Which I'm surprised I haven't seen advocated for yet? They almost immediately bond over having a good time, and they're both critical of the Imperium from the perspective of its cruelty to the marginalized. Also Idira's whole Issue being how she's been constantly exploited in various ways and never been allowed to be a human, and even though Jae often treats the retinue as a networking opportunity she always treats Idira like a person. Not as a heretical tool, or a cursed wretch, or someone to pity. Hell, the only time I've seen her ask Idira to use her powers is about their card games and she's also one of the few people who straightforwardy just gets Idira's whispers and isn't freaked out by them. I dunno. I'd be happy if, maybe on that final trip Jae takes Idira on before the Warp claims her, they held hands while watching the space whales and kissed about it. Or if we roll that trip into endings where Jae goes on the run, they Thelma and Louise-d while being chased by Imperial Authorities. That would be rad too. Nobody found the bodies, they're at Space!Corvo Bianco to me.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Jae and Idira ofc

Post-Game Mercenary Corsair!Marazhai and Shadow Baroness or Right Hand!Jae buddy comedy when?

My unpopular opinion about this character

I've said it before and I'll say it again but people who hate her/call her a gold digger over the recording incident aren't actually looking at the action in context, and while yeah it sucks, the people who go out of their way to kill her about it are kind of proving the point her romance is trying to make.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

I wish we got to see more Kasballica shenanigans! The game often sets her as Pasqal's opposite (in tech) to parallel Idira as Heinrix's (for psykers) but I would have loved to see more of Jae as our practical xenos expert. Like her and Heinrix are both reporting to HR at the end of the day, but the way Heinrix's official duties can involve working with/understanding xenos, which he can't do because he's...yeah... so most of his expertise is more about killing them, while Jae is someone who definitely should not be working with xenos but often has better solutions to dealing with them because she can't afford to go hog, is something I wish the game explored more.

[lunatriense]

Weiss for that bingo?

Second-best girl, after Pyrrha (which makes Schneekos the OTP power couple par excellence, naturally). Love her to death, sympathise with her in a lot of ways, but damn did RT drop the ball hard on the follow-through with her character development!

Let's get into it.

Wasted potential

The Atlas arc in particular had so much squandered potential for Weiss, so many things that needed to be done with the way her story had been set up that were totally ignored. Her family issues were either twisted upside down, rushed through, or barely touched on. Her supposedly redeeming the Schnee name was completely dropped. She needed to realise the damage her family had done to the exploited workers at home and the land and people abroad, and we've really had none of that (and it doesn't seem likely we will going forward either). She hasn't learnt about the evils of systemic racism or classism or mega-capitalism.

All of this, all of it could've been such a wonderful development for a character like Weiss but RT just… didn't care about it.

Nothing I like about them is technically canon

Not exactly nothing, but much of what I like about her is more fanon, especially so for Schneekos fanon. They're deeper than they seem and if they were real I'd marry them tie into this, too (not necessarily with Schneekos, though that adds even more).

They work better as part of a dynamic

Okay, so I don't mean that she doesn't work alone, but she works amazingly well alongside Pyrrha (where they can relate to the isolation of fame and expectation and support each other in ways no one else could), Yang (fire and ice, need I say more?), and Blake (Schnee heiress and White Fang officer? yes pls).

[kaseven7]

If Dishonored 3 is set in Morley...

Dishonored is „resting for now” and if it comes back, it would focus on new characters and maybe visit new places like Morley, Tyvia or Pandyssia. Maybe there will be a time skip – we know from Billie that things in the world are really bad 3 years after DOTO. Now let’s sum up what we know about Morley and possible events in D3 from games and books.

Morley is heavily based on Ireland and Scoltand. Green hills and rich soil, but also dreary damp, dark moors and mires. Wynnedown is the capitol city.

Morleyans are fiercely independant and almost a half century ago they rebelled due to public outcry against the exploitation of Morley and its people by the extremely wealthy families from other nations (Morley Insurrection). After loosing the war Morley’s ability to self-govern was dismantled by Gristol Parliament and Morleyan navy was constrained, becoming ineffective in defense from a plague of pirates raiding shores.

A few months after DOTO there was the Tree-Day War between forces of the queen and the king of Morley. Now both monarchs are dead, so civil wars might erupt soon. Sister Rosewyn foretold in DOTO: „More political unrest in Morley. Useless squabbles to no end. At Lord Kerrington's next feast, they will display the head of a bloodox as a centerpiece, and assassinate their rival at the dinner table”.

Morley is renowned for its food culture and is important food source for the rest of the Empire. Especially Tyvia is highly dependent on imported food.

The famine caused by a blight (similiar to Irish Potatoe Famine) has ravaged a big part of Morley just after Insurrection. It ruined a whole generation and forced many Morleyans to emigrate far from home. New crops from south saved the population from starvation, but… a prophecy from Blind Sisters in D2 mentions another blight, this time starting from south: „No, no, sister, that's not what he intends to do. He will carry them to the harvest market, as he swore he would. But the harvest... the harvest will fail. I see it now, all is withered with blight. Now the rot is upon all the fields east of Potterstead, and to the south... to the south the fields are burning. We must warn them. Burn the fields. Make a black line across the map to stop the blight...” and from sister Rosewyn in DOTO: „A baker using sawdust instead of flour in Karnaca”.

Morleyans value art and education above all else. The intellectuals, inventors and artists could be found even among the poorest folk. Morley is renowned for it numerous art galleries, museums and the famous University of Wynnedown, attacting top minds across the islands, but most Morleyans can’t afford it and blaime foreign aristocrats for that.

The Leviathan Company operates in Morley and now builds the Leviathan Causeway – a new type of rail network, able to link all parts of the Empire with fast travel routes. When it’s finished, it would shift the balance of power from Dunwall to Wynnedown (Dishonored meets Deus Ex). The corporation employs some of the best natural philosophers and is greatly interested in how the nature of magic was altered after events in DOTO, with the largest collection of runes and bonecharms in their hands. They have tools to study and measuere the supernatural. They also discovered how to enter the Void hollows and use the Void stones as a powerful fuel, putting whale oil to shame. Remember the book by Barnoli Mulani and his ambitions to explore and eventually conquer the Void? Leviathan Company could aim for that and after dissolution of the Abbey of the Everyman (6 months after DOTO) there is probably no one to stop them.

Witches are important part of a folklore and encouraged creativity among Morleyans in the past. The legend mentions two powerful witches, untouchable by any weapon and able to force armies to their knees with just a gesture. Unlike Delilah, they did good for their people and put bloody civil war to an end by crowning the first queen and king of Morley. Just a wild guess, but a part of Billie’s arm looks like witches work, so maybe they somehow aided the Outsider in creation of it just like Pierro did with the Heart?

The altar used to create the Outsider (the one from D2 cutscene) was discovered in the Void Hollow in Alba city. It still has a magic of its own and a skilled person with a knowledge can tap to at least some of its power. The artifact was lost durning events in The Veiled Terror Book and there was a suggestion it was split in two before.

If there are any signs in stars urging to create the new Outsider, the famous Royal Morley Observatory in Alba migt be a good place to observe them.

Wyman is a noble from Morley and a close friend of Emily. (S)he is also secretly in charge of the Leauge of Protectors – a clandestine organization founded to „defend against the scourge both from within and without, to safeguard the legacy of the Throne in perpetuity, whatever maybe”. The League seems to be well organized and funded and has its agents in almost every city across the Isles. Strangely, the League didn’t care much about the coup in D2 and Wyman left Dunwall just before it started. Agents to the League tried to track and kill Daud, but in the same time they didn’t want to hurt Billie.

Festival of Churners is a national festival, a celebration of both the dead and the living. At the shores families cook feasts together and toss parts of it to the waves to feed their deceased relatives. People believe that splashing sounds in the middle of the night mean that the dead are near. It reminds me of the Outsider’s whispers from hollows in DOTO: „They scream against indifference and whisper questions. All their hate, their loneliness, their terror. They break against the rocks, one wave after another.” and „All the old boundaries are falling apart. Between the living and the dead, the real and the forgotten. She watches them crumbling.”. The famous orchids of Morley are a key ingredient in several medicinal elixirs, including Piero’s Spiritual Remedy and Addermire Solution (let me play a witch with a knowledge about the alchemy, please please Arkane!).

[dragynkeep]

The Ironwood disability thing reminds me of propaganda comics in WWII. Making caricatures of Hitler? Fine, he was the worst. The issue is when the caricatures and criticism of Hirohito were highly racialized. When we critique them, we’re not saying “how dare they make violent imperialist Hirohito look bad!” We’re saying “regardless of this man’s actions, his identity as (in the US) a marginalized person shouldn’t be what we’re highlighting in showing he’s evil.” (1/2)

(2/2, Hirohito ask) So even laying aside that Ironwood isn’t real and the writers actively chose to make him disabled and his motives be a result of his trauma, even if Ironwood was a real, disabled person who was absolutely evil, framing his disability as the symbol of his villainy is *wrong.* It’s not acceptable on any level. “But he’s an evil member of [minority group]” isn’t an excuse to use that minority status ITSELF as a shorthand for evil/inhumanity.

yes, this is absolutely it. i have no issue with ironwood being a villain or antagonist — so long as it was written well — but that's just the issue. it wasn't written well, it actually came quite wildly out of nowhere & it went against his established characterization without any justification in text for this wild change of personality & motives.

& above all, it pushed some very harmful ideas about the groups ironwood is part of, as a disabled man, an asian man & a man with ptsd in the military. all three parts of who ironwood is has been taken out of context, demonized & reflected just how ableist / racist this fandom can be when they deem it acceptable to be so. this isn't the first time either, we've seen ableism towards cinder & tyrian in how the heroes should exploit their disabilities in order to humiliate them because their villainy excuses that treatment.

when mkek said in the commentary that ironwood gaining a very dark, unnatural, evil looking prosthetic as a shorthand for his loss of another part of his humanity, i felt sick. & when i saw people excusing this by " ironwood chose it & chose to amputate his arm instead of waiting, this shows his downfall !! " like, no.

one, ironwood didn't choose anything, he's not real. mkek chose this as a shorthand to show how far he has fallen & in turn, in all of them being able bodied, reinforced negative & harmful tropes about disabled people, especially those with prosthetics.

& two, ironwood is not the only one we see their ableism reflective in, for those saying that their writing of ironwood is not reflective on their real life ideals. it's shown in how maria & pietro have been written off without even a thought, even from the people meant to care about them. it's shown in how yang sees her own prosthetic as not part of herself, an extra piece to be replaced at any turn & how they, in real life, released merch of yang with her prosthetic on the wrong arm & said they would only change it when the original batch of merch sold out. it's shown in them misappropriating the severe disorder of did to give it to klein, a background character, & have it be treated as a joke with his switching between alters being inaccurate & laughed at by weiss. this is only scratching the surface, we didn't even get to characters like ozpin, mercury, tyrian, cinder, etc & we didn't even touch on the ableism from the fndm either.

to rwby's fans, please stop excusing this. from two disabled people; i was at risk of losing my leg & having to get a prosthetic. we are both severely hindered in our movement & have suffered ableism in various ways. we are telling you that this is harmful & the amount of able bodied people in the fndm i've seen defend these able bodied writers is disgusting. this way to take ironwood's character using that type of shorthand in representation of his prosthetics was disgusting, & is only the tip of the iceberg in how rwby handles it's disabled characters overall.

stop defending rt / deflecting criticism & start taking accountability.

[veronicamarsconfessions]

Is Rob Thomas Jealous of Taylor Sheridan’s Success?

Remember when Taylor Sheridan was nominated for an Oscar for ‘Hell Or High Water’? Although Rob Thomas did congratulate him for his nomination, some people detected some sarcastic undertone within his tweet. Don’t know whether they are friends in real life or not, but many suspected that RT was a bit envious that TS was nominated for Best Writing.

Before he was famous as a great screenwriter who also wrote the acclaimed ‘Sicario’ franchise, he appeared as a recurring character Danny Boyd in VMars. You may remember Danny Boyd; one of the cousins of the Fitzpatrick and specifically Liam’s right-hand man. He also played the great Sheriff/Deputy Chief Hale from Sons of Anarchy. After many stints as recurring characters in many shows, he started to write a screenplay. Sicario is a film about Cartel hitmen and Narcos. Very well written and made, and it made him a household name.

This is why fans took notice when Rob started to inserted many Narcos-style storylines about a cartel hitman in Neptune (season 4 VMars). The plot was weak and seemed out of place from the whole VMars vibe. Rob wanted to put every ingredient that made Cartel drama, Noir, Comedy, and Romance into this one miniseries, he forgot about the characters and what made it good in the first place. He wanted to be taken as a “serious” writer so much, he forgot that he was using an existing show with a different vibe and insisted that the show was matured. He wanted the show to be Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Sons of Anarchy, Sicario... but he ended up using all the tropes into this blender and the result is a mess. It’s like making ice cream but then he decided to add some onions just to spice things up.

Rob is well known to ‘borrow’ many plots and storylines from his favorite movies into his shows. He claims that it’s more of a homage. But when every episode of his shows is some kind of homage of something, it bears a question of whether he could write an original story or not.

Taylor Sheridan’s Sicario was less about the hitmen plot but more about the characters. Many shows like Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and many more are about the characters and how much they are written brilliantly. Fans love the shows not just because of the plots (although they are good), but because of the characters. Fans care about them and want to see more of them. The plots are there to accompany them, not the other way around.

Rob thinks to get taken seriously is to have all those plots into one giant bowl. He forgot about the characters; therefore he forgot what made the show brilliant. He forgot (or ignore) why the show was great; it was all about the characters. And the fact that he is also jealous (based on his tweets back then) about his fellow creators, kinda cemented the idea that he is stuck in an old school writing that he is accustomed to and not liking the idea that other writers from his generation are more successful and more acclaimed than him.

What he said about Taylor Sheridan made people frown. He said, “Hey remember this guy who played this loser Danny Boyd?” (Paraphrasing, of course) and then he posted an unflattering picture of the character. “I made him!” I think many fans pointed out on Twitter that he was only joking, but could feel the jealousy seeping through the tweet.

When Jessica Chastain was nominated for an Oscar, he also tweeted, “I am assuming Jessica Chastain will thank me profusely in her acceptance speech tonight. Veronica Mars made her career!” Fans of Chastain (who didn’t know who he was and thought that he was the singer of Matchbox 20) immediately roasted him on Twitter, calling him out, and got angry because this man claiming that her success was because of him. He immediately said that he was only joking and that he was proud of her, that an Oscar nominee used to be on his show.

But this has become a pattern, that when someone he knew suddenly become successful, he would joke that they should thank him. Fans were surprised that he never said anything about Tessa Thompson’s success and soaring career when he was on Twitter, but glad that he didn’t. The only actors that always praising Tessa Thompson are Percy Daggs III, Erica Gimpel, Francis Capra, Jason Dohring, and Kyle Gallner. Fans never heard Rob Thomas said anything about her, but maybe that was a good thing. Tessa Thompson mentioned that she had a bad experience on the set of VMars because of the way they treated her character and the fact that they straightened her curly hair so it wouldn't look “ghetto”, and the fact that Rob wrote her character as a punching bag.

Back to Taylor Sheridan, the man is now known as a successful writer-director who directed “Wind River”, a movie about the rape and murder of a Native American girl on tribal lands, and is meant to provoke conversation about the exploitation experienced by indigenous women. When the movie was bought by The Weinstein Company, Taylor Sheridan threatened to destroy the movie after Harvey Weinstein's scandals. “I said, if my movie’s going to die, I’ll be the one to kill it,” Sheridan said in an interview. “I will take my name off it, and publicly denounce it. I would have said, don’t go see this movie, don’t rent it, don’t watch it. If he was going to remain publicly attached if he was going to benefit from a film highlighting the atrocity he perpetrated? No.” He also demanded that the proceeds from the movie would be given to charity and women’s organizations.

He was ready to nuke his own movie before letting it live on with Weinstein branding. Some of us always pondered... Whether Rob would even do the same thing (denounce his movie, giving the film money to charity, etc)? Judging by his own scandalous iZombie tv show when Robert Knepper guest-starred in the show it seems he wouldn't nor care. He never publicly comment about Robert Knepper and his rape allegations. The only people who commented were the actors like Rahul Kohli, Malcolm Goodwin, Robert Buckley, and Rose McIver. Maybe the people (Rob and Diane) who write rape in every show as plot devices but not as raising awareness are not really feminists as they claimed to be.

Taylor Sheridan might not be the next great screenwriter; occasionally his works are problematic. He is this manly Marlboro man writer who writes about men even when he writes about feminist stuff. His female characters sometimes are white and pretty with the tendency of damsel in distress or white saviors. But at least he is trying to hone his skill to be a better writer. We will see more about his future in interest. In conclusion, Taylor Sheridan, the glorified extra from Veronica Mars probably deserves those recognitions. Rob Thomas can steam.

[dragonturtle2]

Charting Penny's course, on the eve of the V8 finale.

I just realized that one of the lengthiest essays I ever posted online was never copied or cross posted over here to Tumblr.  A huge mistake on my part.  For one, as a big fan of transhumanism, I got a kind of enjoyment mapping out the distinctions Penny Poledina’s series-wide arc, even with the flaws.  Two, I’m actually kind of proud of the predictions I made at the end.  Not because I was correct about one of them; I remarked how I’d LIKE Rooster Teeth to do something, not that they’d actually take the shot.  But some of the stuff I thought of was fun, and I do feel a bit of validation for having my thoughts line up with the actual writers; especially in lieu of how heated other people’s reactions were to something sorrowful and unexpected.  

Tonight I had been responding to a critique I'd found earlier on Tumblr. They had remarked that Penny's conflict in Volumes 2, 7 and 8 were just recycling the question of whether Penny was a real girl. That doing so was just boring as heck, when the question has been answered firmly with Penny becoming the Winter Maiden. I thought the question of “what makes a person a person, and not just a simulated pattern of behaviors with the instinct to survive?” was broad enough to get a few arcs’ worth of visitation.  But I thought just responding with that one lengthy sentence could come off as belittling sarcasm. So tried to offer up an my actual interpretation and clear opinion. I got this monstrosity.

Volume 1 has Penny reaching out to make friends, V2 is finally admitting her robot nature to someone and vocalizing her fears about being a real girl.  Volume 3 dangles the upcoming conflict of her wanting to exercise independent action, step away from the national military organization that bankrolled and housed her, and go to Beacon with her friends.  But that got cut short.

Volume 7 picks up the thread of Penny’s independent actions.  Not just with the ability to disagree with or full-on disobey orders, but her own value system and initiative.  Not only is she asking Winter about how to make decisions in life, she is also silently (and not-so-silently) judging whether Winter is morally right, or even truly happy with her own choices.  When she takes Freya’s hand, she asks something that no one has probably said to Freya in awhile: “Are you OK?”

Volume 8 is focused on the things being taken from her.  Her previous family-unit-facsimile of James, Winter and the Ace Ops have labeled her a traitor and are now hunting her.  Being targeted as the Maiden makes her distance herself from her friends, so they aren’t further harmed .  In doing that, she also leaves behind her previous dedication, protecting Mantle, to launch Amity Tower and assist in the bigger picture of warning the entire planet.  Then in the pursuit of that goal she damages herself, pushes her body to it’s limit, and says goodbye to her father.  

Volume 8 might seem to backpedal, and spend much of the season emphasizing how inhuman Penny is. That’s the point.  After Freya essentially canonizes Penny as human, with her ‘blessing,’ Penny’s new identity (to herself and the audience) is arrested in the most traumatic ways possible.  Her body is peeled back and cut open.  Her schematics are passed around and assessed by characters and factions more than ever.  The hacking is the Atlas military complex literally claiming ownership over her, exploiting the body and code they created alongside Pietro.  (In contrast with the earlier consensual control and teamwork with Pietro, which even then she hardly enjoyed).  How much pain can you inflict on a person until they devolve, or abandon rational thought?  Little wonder Penny ends up begging the team to end her own life.  She’s now taken Winter’s role from Volume 7, her self-esteem having sunken even lower.  “My life doesn’t matter!“

When that ghastly moment was (temporarily) resolved with a quick revelation and Jaune’s Semblance, it was a moment of mixed feelings for me in an episode I otherwise loved.  But I really came around to it afterword.  They have to head to Vault for a permanent fix pretty much immediately, so it doesn’t feel like the writers used Jaune to kick the can down the road until they felt like tackling it.  A very direct benefit is that by pausing Penny’s affliction, Penny gains the ability to actually have a conversation with people, to have scenes beyond just desperately wrestling her.   It also spared us the repeated dialogue of “I must go to the Vault.  I don’t want to!  I must - I don’t! - I MUST- I DON’T!”  Seriously, that routine was wearing thin.  

Whether any fans predicted Jaune’s Semblance being able to help or not, I’m pleased when characters are able to quickly conceive applications of in-universe fictional powers.  This is such a refreshing improvement over how CRWBY previously couldn’t bring Ruby to even ASK about the Silver Eyes that put her in a coma.  

There were missteps along the way.  Ruby really should have reacted more to her friend coming back to life; RT leaning on the Fourth Wall doesn’t fully remove the sting. ("It seems we will have to wait!”)  We also never see any of our protagonists outside of Ruby even react to the revelation of a robotic life form.  When they meet Penny again at V7′s start, apparently ALL of them, even Oscar, were so acquainted with Penny’s story that none of them had any questions for her the entire Volume.  There was no sense of betrayed trust, or trauma from watching one friend be ripped apart by another.  These are disappointments, but not deal breakers.  Now, I want to talk about how post-Ambrosius Penny may fit in with the rest of the story.  Maybe it’s stupid of me to try to get this out by 4 in the morning the day the finale drops, but I’m on a role, and I want to get my ideas out in the open before they’re tainted by hindsight.  Otherwise I won’t feel like even finishing this.  

I’m not going to launch into a tangent with the metaphysical mechanics on whether Penny’s new body would have ‘logically’ been conjured or not.  (For the record I think it works).  I just want to talk about the message the show is conveying, and what they could do with it.  My base assumption is that Cinder is going to get the Winter Maiden power.  It would be great way to coincide with her (GASP) actual character development this volume.  But more importantly, if she doesn’t succeed in her goal, and get an upgrade to compete with our leveled-up protagonists, I can’t see how she can be an interesting or threatening villain going forward.  A few ways this can end for Penny:

Pietro could give up the last bit of his life to bring her back.  He’d probably need to get assistance from Abrosius, since he’s lacking in equipment; he’s a brilliant scientist, so explaining it certainly wouldn’t be an obstacle.  Maybe Penny would be back to being a synthetic, maybe she remains organic.  Either way, it’s a compromise with having a functional villain, while keeping around a fandom darling.  Personally, I think RT needs to evoke the spirit of Volume 3, and make people cry.

Actually killing Penny would be bold and stand-out.  By taking away Penny’s function of a core that can be salvaged (as explained at the start of Volume 7), and having her body get incinerated just like Pyrrha, RT can fully signal “This character is dead, and can’t be resurrected.”  The heart break would be brilliant, with Penny getting to know the joys of an organic body just to be immediately ripped away from life.  This would beautifully parallel with General Ironwood.  James clamped down on human emotion because he thought it would give him the strength to stand against the darkness.  Penny’s friends made her MORE human in a loving act of rescue, but now have to watch as she dies like any other human.  Both characters would be cautionary tales regarding the Atlas Arc’s question of Trust.  To leave yourself open.

Alrighty, now that I’ve gotten to feel like an intellectual by making some proclamations of doom, I want to throw out a tinfoil hat theory that actually combines the two previous versions.  What’s fascinated me for years, and the show hasn’t re-visited, is the nature of Cinder’s parasite.  Can Cinder talk to it?  Will it begin gaining sentience?  What’s relevant to Penny is what exactly this thing DOES.  When it comes to it’s soul-power-absorbing function, we’ve never actually seen it’s full extent.  The process with Amber was interrupted, with half the power just zipping over to Cinder after Amber expired.  With Raven and Penny’s power, Cinder’s arm only got a little taste of them both, since both of their captures were unsuccessful.  What if Cinder’s parasite can absorb more than raw power?  Pinnochio is eventually swallowed by a monstrous beast.  We were all sure it would be The Whale.  But what if it’s Cinder?

I’ll be watching the finale in about 5 hours.  The idea that I could be correct about something that takes everyone else off guard (Penny’s death) has an electric feeling, and I totally understand why people can get hung up on the stories they compose in their head.  But I don’t want to start thinking any of MY ideas HAVE to come true for me to get joy from whatever happens to Penny or Volume 8.  Regardless, reviewing character arcs that preceded wherever we are in the present is always worthwhile.  

[ah-artcrew]

AHAC Guidelines

AHAC Rules and Guidelines: An Addendum

2020 is wild guys! 

The AHAC is currently dealing with a lot of changes so we ask that you bear with us as we work through this! 

In addition, with the exploitation of Millie Ramsey and rape threats against Fiona Nova, we believed that it was important for us to speak up and be clear about restating rules and boundaries.

So. Rules. [These aren’t Fandom-wide or Official™ and a lot of you already know/follow them, this is just a little refresher] :

Treat people with kindness first, and foremost. 

We respect that minors are a part of RT/AH’s audience, and are worth including safely in the community but it must be stressed that AH are adults. They make content that ranges in maturity ratings and sensitive topics

 AH Artists and audiences that are minors or underage, be mindful of this and avoid NSFW/18+ spaces 

The NSFW channel is behind an approval only 18+ lock

As AH have said, they’re all mostly fine with everything

The guys over at @fuckyeahrtfanfic​ have collated this great list of what they say is ok/not ok, so take a look at that.

However, not included there, is 

Fiona has stated that she’d love to be in any fanfic and to send it to her, even saying “ Alright I saw some stuff on AO3 and let me remind you that if you write me as a bottom i will find you and beat u up” 

Mica stated in Jan 2018: “ Dude I welcome it! Please! Ship and write away! And be sure to tag me so I can see it! <3 <3 The only thing I don’t approve of is gore and me dying. Me killing? Fine. Me graphically being killed or taken advantage of? No. Smut and Reader fics are fine though!”

As of ‘An Honest Discussion - Off Topic #236’ we’d like to remind y’all to not make content that directly threatens the RT/AH cast and crew in any way, even as a ‘joke’.

Don't demand that people be involved together romantically IRL

Though Mica is no longer with AH, we think she put what we mean into words plainly here.

Making content of people to take out your frustration on them by putting them in violent, abusive, threatening situations as a substitute for the real thing is not ok. 

No making hate content.

 If you make something that actively seeks to humiliate, be racist/sexist/discriminatory against, or encourage other people to hate the Real People, particularly because you don’t like them, that’s not okay and we won’t accept it.

DO NOT involve their family outside of AH in fan content unless explicitly permitted. 

Minors and children of AH members particularly deserve to be safe and are defended by law. This is a time-honored RT fandom law.

Use NSFW and other tags correctly (ragehappy tags, AU tags, and ship tags, not their actual names; you guys know the drill.):

 RT/AH has a wonderful NSFW community. Please respect their work. 

What happened to Millie is unacceptable. Pedophiles and predators are NOT OK nor are they representative of them. 

Don’t ‘go after’ people who breach these guidelines.

If you see something in the discord or on our social please feel free DM a Mod

Outside of that, maybe try DMing carefully, or ask other trusted community managers/heads for help.

Help them understand what’s wrong and establish accountability. Don’t ignore the unfavourable, or freeze people out as a first defense. Be firm yet kind and together we’ll grow as a community.

If you’re using the image/voice of an RT/AH cast member, just remember to do so respectfully

We’ll seek to uphold these guidelines across our blogs, socials and discord. We cannot force, and don’t expect you to do the same on your personal blog or in other spaces. 

Millie, a 15 year old, had to publicly explain that a porn site with 3000 members/viewers and a discord group had sexually exploited her because like it or not, someone from the RT community decided that her image or likeness was theirs to create with. You can watch her statement on her IGTV. 

The Art Crew simply wants to make it clear we do NOT want to be a place where something like this can be allowed to slide without address. These guidelines are meant as a reminder. Not a callout. No one is attacking you. All we’re asking is that you remember to think of others.

We’re doing what we can to foster a fun and safe art community. Feel free to send us an Ask with any lingering concerns or questions.

[rwdestuffs]

RvB0: What went well, what didn’t, and all the in-between.

Since RT is making this a bit easier by releasing the complete seasons in long videos, this is arguably something that probably should be done to wrap up the whole thing, and maybe see how far the series has come.

Red vs. Blue: ZERO is arguably the most divisive season of the entire series of the show.

Now obviously, people are very resistant to change, but whereas the prior seasons had change that was received to varying degrees of positivity, it was overall, positive.

So let’s go over some history to better understand what happened.

The main aspect of the original Reds and Blues, intentionally or not, were based off of gaming stereotypes.

It’s WAY too long to describe here, so here’s a link to how it works: [here]

Seasons 1-5 is basically a showcase of these gamer stereotypes. Displaying them as their base personalities and grows them as these new characters.

The whole entirety of Project Freelancer is pretty much a deconstruction of gaming tropes. The AI are Lootboxes that give an edge to a player, they have leaderboards, and they go into lobbies with lower level players to basically flex all over them.

The Chorus Trilogy has an arc deconstructing the concept of these types of team battles, pointing out how it never really amounts to anything except profits for the one side that’s basically the third party (Think Mann Co from TF2).

Season 14 is basically a celebration, so we’ll skip that, but keep in mind Meta vs. Carolina, it’ll be important later.

Season 15 is basically an attempt to revive the series. Maybe a documentary on prior pro players, and how people might try to exploit them, or how people may have lost their streaming careers to some of the players humiliating them, but that’s a stretch. There is no real tie to gaming here, or during this arc. This is where the whole thing starts declining. A lack of actually tying it to a gaming trope arguably makes it much more different than the previous seasons.

So, where does RvB0 stand in all this? Well, it is a bit of a return to form by being a previous pro player wanting to get a new squad, but having to now adapt to a new team.

But the way we’re introduced to them is jarring. This isn’t some episode of DEATH BATTLE. We should get to know who these characters are by their interactions with one another, their dialogue, and their actions. But let’s take a look at what gaming stereotypes we’re working with here. we already covered Florida, and the Director is basically these guys’ sponsor who basically caused all of what happened. Carolina is the streamer who gets mad at losing her top rank, York is the nice guy who probably helped set up other peoples’ streaming equipment and is just a friendly guy to be around in general, South and North are what happens when someone gets a rare item from a lootbox and the other doesn’t, etc.

Shatter Squad, is unfortunately, a lot of repeat gamer stereotypes.

West is basically the dad who is an ex-pro trying to make sure his team succeeds, like Florida.

One is the competitive pro who doesn’t like having her top spot challenged, like Carolina.

Axel is the resident Cool Guy™ whose exploits are told by anecdote or flashback. Similar to Tucker, except minus the sex jokes. Or maybe he’s like Wash, in the sense that he’s an ex-pro who got out of the game but keeps being dragged back into it by other circumstances (maybe financial).

East is the new player, much like Caboose. She thankfully is different enough by way of being the stream mole who helps out the other team by sabotaging the team she’s a part of.

And Raymond is the guy who thinks that all his tech and equipment will give him an edge over his opponents, much like most of the Freelancers who had an A.I.

The action is actually good, except for one scene. The scene where East (temporarily) kills Tucker.

Like… Torrian. Torrian. Meta vs. Carolina is my favorite episode of season 3 aside from Hulk vs. Doomsday, and you have him go down to a dagger? You pretty much animated an epic fight scene with all the Reds and Blues in the RvB0 advertisement that really should have been Tucker vs. Jaune as a means of joint advertising- I’m getting off topic here.

The new characters are also a point of some good and some bad. Obviously, you can only do so much with the OG characters until it becomes stale. This is why Dragon Ball is starting to get boring. It’s also why Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is still going strong. But trying to diversify the cast isn’t going to go well with a lot of the original audience. The most progressive thing the Blood Gulch Chronicles did was have Church challenge Simmons’ stereotypical comments regarding Donut. Change won’t go over so well with the audience.

In addition, the passing of Tucker’s sword to another character wasn’t going to go over so well without a big fight scene over the sword. Again, Torrian: YOU MADE Balrog vs. TJ Combo, All Might vs. Might Guy, and Blake vs. Mikasa. Out of everyone on that team, you of all people would have been more than qualified to animate a cool fight sequence that would showcase Tucker stopping East from just stabbing him. I know that the research is left to other people, but one of the big things about the characters is that they tanked a bomb worth a few dozen megatons of TNT… And Tucker goes down… To a dagger.

The fight sequences of RvB0 are great. I’ll say that much. But after every fight, I fully expected Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went down the way it did. Though, that may be due to me actually being interested in RT because of DEATH BATTLE… For better or for worse…

The dialogue wasn’t that great though. A lot of the humor falls flat, and the only joke I legitimately laughed at was when a member of Shatter Squad (One IIRC) responded to Carolina’s bold and serious declaration of “We have to save Lavernious Tucker” with “Who’s Tucker?” This is a series where the comedy comes from dialogue. So slapstick and physical humor don’t land as much, and the whole thing of them making reference to their situation doesn’t let a joke land as well as it could.

People are used to the head bobs of prior seasons, so the expressive gestures is super jarring and actually makes dialogue harder because you have to accompany it with the gestures. The limitation of what they had in season 1-5 is what led to innovation. Limits are how you make something extraordinary. So the freedom of actual gestures makes the overall product feel less like RvB and more like Torrian‘s equivalent of RWBY. He wanted to make a bunch of cool fight scenes. Which like… He had the perfect place to do that: DBX. Want a character who can generate a clone and uses a bladed weapon to fight? Uh, Noob Saibot is right there. You could have him fight… I don’t know, maybe Shadow Jago? They both utilize darkness, it would be fun.

Regardless, I honestly hope that wherever Torrian takes his talents, that he’s going in a place that he likes and that can keep him and his family comfortable.

RvB0: It’s a mess, it hardly really connects back to the OG Reds and Blues, and while the new characters breathe a new life into the series that was sorely needed, it probably wasn’t what people expected. This changing of the guard type of story doesn’t really work when the previous guard doesn’t pass down the mantle.

Also, Carolina constantly calling Wash by his real name just feels like some random pandering. It used to be special that you didn’t know what the real names of the Freelancers was, but the constant use of it just feels like something to just be there to constantly use.

But hey, if you liked it, more power to you.

[boycottyashahime]

for personal reasons pertaining to my childhood, I will not be able to handle it if rin is the mother. it is not "just fiction". the fact that 99.999999% of sessrinners just callously shrug people like me off or "dance in your tears" because they want to selfishly get off on something they know deep down is wrong without having to feel guilty or critical about themselves, makes me so sick. then they say "just give inuyasha up then" like I can just erase more than 10 years of my childhood.

I'm so sorry you are dealing with childhood trauma, and that the possible validation of this pairing will exacerbate that. Though there are rarely many details, I have heard a lot of similar worries from many other fans of Inuyasha over the past couple of months, and I'm far from not being able to sympathize. For a number of antis, this is personal. It's not a matter of fictional characters who can't feel pain or suffer abuse; it's a matter of the abuse of real people, of themselves, being excused and celebrated. It's like it's happening all over again, being lured into a situation that suggested safety and love, but ultimately turned out to be exploitative and abusive. The characters in the pairing are not real, and they cannot be hurt, this much is true. But former and future victims have and will have REAL pain tied to seeing their abuse depicted in ways that suggest their feelings don't matter or are even wrong.

And it certainly doesn't help that our fellow Inuyasha fans give antis this treatment as well. The amount of gaslighting I've seen some shippers heap upon any critics of their pairing is astonishing. Their goal seems to reinforce the message given by all the apologist media - your pain is invalid, there's no parallel between this fictional relationship and your real abuse, if you see one, you're just being overly-sensitive and hysterical, because fiction has no effect whatsoever upon reality. And they do this all while enjoying a great amount of immersion in the story and parasocial connection to the characters themselves, the very influence from fiction they deny antis. They are ALLOWED to feel deep love for Inuyasha, but we're not ALLOWED to feel betrayed by it if its sequel features an abuse with which too many of us are all too familiar. If we do, they can dismiss us as enemies whose goal is to hate on their favorite thing for no good reason at all.

Because they've ALWAYS seen Sesshoumaru and Rin's relationship as inevitably romantic. That's just how they've always assumed things were meant to turn out. Since the shippers really can't seem to fathom how anyone could interpret the relationship any differently, likewise they can't fathom why someone might like Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru and Rin specifically in the first place. So they assume that we've never really liked Inuyasha to begin with, and our criticism is coming from a place of pure hate rather than the betrayal that it actually is. This is why they tell you to just give Inuyasha up, because there's no way you could have liked it as deeply as they do if you can criticize one of the obvious couples. It should be easy for you to just disengage from it and go find other things instead. It hasn't occurred to them that you may love it just as much and cannot just give it up, for the herculean task of untangling all your conflicting positive and negative feelings about it now that the sequel seems to be on the verge of becoming yet another story that trivializes your trauma.

Besides, critical thinking and being critical of the media with which we interact is a skill. Not many people get the education necessary to actually begin the practice of it, and perhaps fewer even WANT to practice it. Many confuse criticism for hate in fandom spaces because they grew up seeing fights over reviews on fanfictions and fanart, and have come to use the phrase "don't like, don't read" to stave off anyone who so much as corrects syntax, let alone delves deeply into the implications and themes of media. Fan culture largely refuses to acknowledge flaws in their fixations, choosing instead to view them as rosy masterpieces, things of perfection beyond reproach. There is hardly a soul anymore who wants to truly engage with a work in a fair way, instead of a flawless morsel to swallow whole.

All my meandering commiseration and explanations aside, I want to end this by saying unequivocally that I empathize, querent. It is ridiculously hard when something you love turns out to hurt you in unimaginable ways. If the worst happens, and this pairing is validated in the sequel, I will be here to help reassure and comfort as much as I can. Personally, I am not planning on rejecting Inuyasha altogether; I don't consider any of this nonsense canon, since its sole reason for existing is to capitalize off of existing fans. If not for profit motive, they wouldn't have even considered making a sequel, because there is no more story to tell in Inuyasha. Sticking with the original ending is obviously something even RT was committed to for a long time. She may have changed her mind, but I have not.

So, if you need someone to help you justify to yourself and others your continued love for Inuyasha and the simultaneous rejection of the sequel, I'm up for the job. If you feel like you can't look at Inuyasha the same way again and need to decouple from it, you have my support in that goal too. Whatever you need to do to feel okay and not be in pain, I encourage you to take steps to heal. Sometimes emotional decoupling from media requires counseling, so don't dismiss this as an option. Just because Sunrise and RT decided hurting you was worth the money they'd get in return doesn't mean you deserve this, and it doesn't mean you are wrong to feel betrayed. You are right to speak up about implications in a story that injure you, especially if it's a story you love, and your feelings aren't any less real just because the events in that story didn't happen.

You are valid, no matter what happens, querent. Take care.

[amillioninprizes]

An entirely too long post on how to fix Veronica Mars

So, anyone who has followed this blog for any length of time knows: 1) What a massive Veronica Mars fan I was and 2) how distraught I’ve been over the most recent season that debuted on Hulu in July. I’ve been pretty angry about it since it dropped, but the first month after I was pretty occupied with real life stuff. Now that I’m more settled, I’ve found myself getting sadder and angrier over time with just how terrible S4 was and what an obvious fuck you to longtime fans it was. It feels dumb to be so upset over a tv show, but this show got me through a lot over the past 8 years, and I feel like it’s been taken away from me.

 It’s anyone’s guess as to whether there will be a new season. Ideally it would end here with maybe an alternate ending filmed to avoid alienating fans further. On the one hand, the botched release, overwhelmingly negative response, and silence from the creators after initial interviews don’t look good for renewal chances. On the other hand, Hulu doesn’t have a lot of streaming hits, it probably did relatively decent numbers, and there are rumors floating around that its pickup chances look good. On a personal level, I hate the idea that this is where the legacy of Veronica Mars ends, while at the same time being extremely wary of what the creators have planned. I think a big part of the disappointment with S4 was that the movie and books set up what could have been some really interesting storylines and situations, all of which RT and co. squandered for cheap drama and to apparently turn the show into an entirely new vehicle; additionally I had hope that S4 would be a chance to rectify some problems the show has long had, but again, S4 exacerbated them. At this point I don’t expect anyone higher up in the creative process or at Hulu to give a fuck about the fans or making the show better as long as they hit streaming targets, but here are some suggestions:

Fire Rob Thomas

 While he created the show, it’s become clear that not only has he lost touch with the audience and the original spirit of the character, he doesn’t seem too keen on putting much effort into writing the show (as I will discuss below). Then you have his clear misogyny: his views that women in relationships can’t be interesting, that what makes Veronica interesting as a character is her trauma and how much she can endure, and the fact that basically every female character in the history of the show has a history of sexual victimization. He thought that making the Mexican cartel hitmen “philosophical” was subverting expectations (which says a lot of what his expectations of Latinx characters are). Then this is the way he essentially exploited his long term fan base to earn a new season of the show, only to turn around and tell us that we don’t matter. From a business perspective alone keeping him doesn’t make sense; selling a streaming platform on your loyal fanbase and then proceeding to purposefully piss ~80% of them off would be pretty questionable to me as someone in charge. The sheer cruelty with which he treated not only the fans who have supported him for 15 years (I fucking used to liveblog iZombie y’all. iZombie!), as well as how he callously dismissed long time cast members in favor of celebrity guest stars should not be rewarded. He’s admitted in interviews that he would be ok with younger writers doing a reboot many years in the future; why not just let him have a producer credit and then hand the show over to someone who’s invested in making it good?

Put a woman in charge and diversify the writing staff

A big problem with a) Veronica’s characterization in S4 b) RT’s ideas about what makes female characters interesting c) the show’s long history of problematic treatment of sexual assault is that it comes from a man’s conception of the female experience. The Veronica showcased in S4 and that RT wants to write in the future is very much a male fantasy: hates marriage and children, traumatized, DTF, and is too cool for other women. RT stated in interviews that he wanted to show Veronica at a “crossroads” this season in a way he claimed had been shown for men but not women; many female viewers found this depiction to ring false (few women are spending their time fretting about how committing to marriage after five years in an established relationship will bar us from strange sex going forward). In addition to having RT at the helm, most of the show’s writing staff for the majority of its run has been white dudes, which doesn’t bode well for telling the story of a female PI in a diverse community in today’s political climate. Putting a woman in charge would hopefully help rectify these issues to make the character feel more true to life and put a damper on the misogynistic storytelling. The show has a natural candidate in RT’s second-in-command Diane Ruggiero-Wright (despite her problematic history, never forget #KeisterEggGate), who has admitted to not being able to watch the last episode. Jennifer Graham, who wrote both of the books, would also be a worthy addition to the writing staff; while the books had a mixed reception, most fans agree that she got Veronica’s character right. And with the show’s problematic historical treatment of minority characters, adding more POC writers going forward is also necessary.

Bring back Logan (alive)

You don’t have to be a LoVe shipper to recognize just how integral Logan has been since the inception of the show, not just as Veronica’s partner but as a character is his own right. Logan’s journey in many ways parallels Veronica’s, and shows a contrast in how different characters respond to similar trauma. The most critical plot line in the show’s history, the mystery of who killed Lilly Kane, simply doesn’t work without Logan’s importance to Veronica. RT and his defenders like to claim that Logan was holding her back from true growth, which is frankly bizarre as he is the only character to consistently challenge her, like when he tells her that she obviously isn’t happy this season. Additionally, Logan’s scenes this season were the lone highlight of what was otherwise a painful slog of a season. Of the people who have said they would watch a potential S5, a good portion are only interested because they believe that the ambiguity of the last 10 minutes of the season means he’s not really dead (despite what RT has said in interviews). Then there’s what Logan’s death does to Veronica’s character, effectively cutting off what would have been an interesting character arc and stagnating her forever. No matter how much they try to shove Leo the pedo creep and other milquetoast RT self-insert love interests on us, no one else can possible measure up to Logan’s level in terms of being able to match Veronica as a character, intellectually or as a result of shared history.

Plus, the fact that we haven’t had a Weevil/Logan interaction since S3 is a goddamn travesty and should be rectified immediately.

Bring back Veronica

As sad as I am about Logan’s death, for me the most upsetting aspect of S4 was the assassination of Veronica’s character. For many viewers (including myself), the character we saw Kristen Bell portray in S4 wasn’t Veronica Mars but a different character with the same name. Between her abusive behavior towards Logan, her general indifference to her father’s medical condition, her dismissal of Wallace, and her racism towards Latinx characters (using a kid’s lawyer to threaten deportation: not a good look!), she was lacking the marshmallow-y center that always balanced out the pricklier aspects of her character and made her compelling. This change in characterization was especially jarring given that she was not this way when we last saw her in the books, where she mused about having children and sent her half-brother Hunter to summer camp (side note, but does he even exist anymore?). Many of us who had grown up with Veronica were hoping to see her grow with us as a character; instead we got an extreme regression lower than we’ve ever seen her. It would be one thing if they were trying to depict a PTSD storyline, which would make sense given her background, but since her change in behavior is never addressed by the narrative, it just makes her look like a cruel asshole and makes it impossible to root for her. This is exacerbated by the fact that RT has made it clear he has no interest in portraying her inner life, as shown by his wanting to avoid showing her grief over Logan’s death because it would be a real downer compared to the entertaining but ultimately hollow banter and quips he wants to focus on. Veronica this season was also just plain dumb: you mean to tell me that the girl who nearly got killed by Aaron Echolls in her back seat wouldn’t think to check her backseat every time she gets in a car?  (And let’s not even start with RT’s bizarre assertion in an interview that she apparently votes Republican). Not helping matters was Kristen Bell’s performance, which felt very flat for me this season compared to S1-3 and the movie; I don’t know if this was due to personal limitations or a reflection of the bad writing. Writers of future installments and KB herself would be wise to revisit S1, the movie, and the books to figure out what makes sense for Veronica’s character, leading me to my next point:

Get reacquainted with canon, develop a show bible, and hire a continuity director

This show has long had a problem with dropped plots, timelines, and continuity issues. Shelly Pomroy’s party has two happened either in the summer, or the fall. Then we have the movie paradox: Veronica graduated high school in 2006, which means her 10 year reunion should have taken place in 2016. The movie was released in 2014 and the books seem to keep to 2014 dates. Then S4 states that Keith’s movie accident took place in 2013, and mysteriously ages Veronica up to 35 when she should be 32 in 2019. Logan mentions an Aunt Naomi in S4--why didn’t she take care of him after Aaron was arrested (and what happened to Trina)? How the hell is Leo working as an FBI agent when he presided over the disappearance of the Lilly/Aaron tapes? Veronica is shown to be tentatively forgiving of Weevil taking the settlement from the sheriff’s department in Mr. Kiss and Tell, but is then shown to be extremely angry towards him for it in S4. This is just a small selection of the inconsistencies within the show. Plus there is the problem of repeated plot lines: Veronica rejects Leo in favor of Logan in S1, then rejects Leo in favor of Logan in Mr. Kiss and Tell, only for her to...reject Leo in favor of Logan in S4 (and RT says he wants to leave the high school plots behind). This sloppiness doesn’t bode well for a series that is supposed to be about mysteries, which require tight plotting. It would behove TPTB going forward to once and for all determine a timeline of Veronica’s life, keep a detailed record of past plot and character points, and have at least one person on staff who thinks to remember this stuff (RT notoriously has only a “solid, not spectacular” memory of the show, no matter what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says).

Make an effort (and do your fucking research) 

Moving on from continuity issues to more general problems with the laziness of RT’s writing. He has basically admitted that he doesn’t care much about facts or characterization when writing plots--he shoehorns details to fit the plot rather than have it evolve organically from the characters and prior canon. I know that when writing it’s often impossible to make every story detail 100% accurate, but the extent of RT’s sloppiness is alarming. This excellent Reddit thread details a lot of the problems with S4 in particular, but this has been a problem since S2. Did anyone ever understand exactly why the Fitzpatricks were invested in framing Logan for Felix’s death? In the movie, it makes no sense that if Cobb and co. wanted Carrie silenced, they would add the complication of framing Logan for her murder--given her history, it would have been a lot easier just to make it look like she had accidentally overdosed. Given his previous patterns of villain writing fans were able to guess the identity of the S4 bomber based on casting alone. The mysteries in both Mr. Kiss and Tell and S4 are both ripped from the headlines, which indicates that RT wants to turn VM into the next Law and Order. Meanwhile, he complained about how hard including Logan in the story in S4 was, while Logan arguably had the best lines and most interesting scenes this season--apparently when you put an effort into things, they work out! This laziness extends past storyline issues and into factual problems that detract from the quality of the plot. Longtime fandom pals are probably tired about hearing me go on and on about how there’s no way Aaron’s lawyers could have gotten Veronica’s medical records due to HIPAA laws. Logan’s career change from naval aviator to intelligence is highly unlikely (and unnecessary, given that they changed it only to fridge him at the end of the season). Meanwhile, I know fanfic writers who have spent hours on the phone with strangers in order to research what type of firearm would cause a specific type of bullet injury. It’s very puzzling to me that RT wants to take the show in the direction of being mystery-only when apart from that one time he is piss poor at writing mysteries and puts no effort into them. I shouldn’t have to tell television writers to, you know, do their job but this is what we’ve come to in 2019.

Know your audience

A majorly annoying thing about the promo for this season is how in every single interview Rob Thomas did he was always talking about how he wanted VM to be like other shows and movies: Fargo, True Detective, Game of Thrones, Chinatown (which is apparently the only noir movie he’s ever seen). The thing is, if I wanted to watch those shows, I would; I watched Veronica Mars specifically because I enjoyed its unique qualities, and I would say most fans agree. The general perception within the fandom is that with this season Rob Thomas seems to have been aiming to dump the old, majority female, CW fanbase in order to achieve what he perceives as a cooler prestigious male fanbase; the issue is, new people aren’t going to take up a show in its fourth season if they didn’t watch or didn’t like earlier seasons. Also, trying to write a prestigious show doesn’t make your show prestigious. Considering that based on anecdotal evidence most of the people who like S4 seem to be male, he may have succeeded in the first part of his aim. However, this majority female fanbase he was so willing to cast aside are the ones who have run fansites and rewatches during fallow times (i.e. between S3 and the movie and then between the books and S4), so drumming up interest among fans (and therefore streaming views) in the future may be a challenge. Plus, women are a better advertising demographic since they are more likely to be in charge of household purchasing decisions, so maintaining us as a fanbase makes business sense as well. He may have tricked enough people into watching S4 that S5 is given a go, but I wouldn’t be surprised if streams are weak beyond that. If the show is to succeed as a commercial endeavor, better to go with appealing to a known quantity than trying to make a generic show that very few people have expressed interest in watching.

Bring back the mystery of the week

This is a more minor thing I felt was missing from S4. I think after the criticism of S3 not having a season-long arc RT overcorrected in focusing on one mystery. However, the mystery of the week had the following benefits: 1) giving chances for the characters to interact and telling us more about them 2) helping to modulate the pace of the season-long arc. With better writing a season-long standalone mystery could maybe work, but in the case of S4 specifically the mystery was kind of dull and repetitive and could have stood to include a couple of diversions in the form of a smaller case here and there.

Re-evaluate the creators’ interpretation of the word “adult”

Much of the promo and reviews for this season noted the more “adult” content to be expected this season now that Veronica’s grown. Many fans hoped that meant seeing Veronica act like, you know, an adult with adult problems rather than a teenager less mature than the actual teenager she was. Unfortunately, the show’s interpretation of the word seems to be more in keeping with a television rating sense of the word--meaning sex, drugs, and gratuitous violence (But apparently not the word “fuck.”). Look, it was expected that as the show moved to a streaming service and given the overall dramatic scope that there would be an upgrade in some of this sort of content (and I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t looking forward to steamier LoVe moments, which were sorely overpromised), but the way it was included this season felt like RT and co. included this stuff just because they could and not to serve the storyline. For me, personally, the biggest example of this was Veronica’s drug use, which I know didn’t necessarily bother everyone. Given her history as the daughter of an alcoholic as well as someone who had been the victim of two roofie attacks, not to mention the fact that her character never seemed to be into partying, I found it very out of character (and book writer Jennifer Graham agrees). It felt like RT included this just bc they thought it would be funny to see Veronica on drugs without considering whether it made sense for her character. Also, were the beheadings strictly necessary? Plus there’s RT’s little temper tantrum over not being able to use curse words this season--they weren’t present in the original show, no one was going to miss them now, and the “cuss” thing was just annoying and reminiscent of The Good Place. 

Dealing with a parent who maybe has dementia--that’s an adult storyline. Too bad RT ended it with a dumb excuse about “mixing meds” (another factual error! Pharmacy software would have caught it!) rather than actually exploring what it would mean for Veronica to see her father in decline and take over the family business (and give Rico Colantoni the exit he appears to want). This is the kind of adult content I would hope to see in future seasons.

Adult is not a synonym for “unrelentingly bleak” either. The original show, while dark, always had an element of hope that was completely removed from S4 (no matter what KB might claim). And would it have killed the writers to show Veronica wearing disguises and going undercover like she used to? There was nothing fun about this season (and no, I don’t count the multiple partying scenes as fun, more like sad).

Kill your darlings

It’s cliche, but it’s true. Another issue the show has long had is the writers keeping around characters or inserting jokes and references for their own personal amusement rather than for the story. The most notable example of this is the continued presence of Dick, a highly problematic character considering he pushed Beaver into the room with Veronica the night of Shelly Pomroy’s party, among a whole host of other racist, sexist, and generally obnoxious actions over the years. But because Ryan Hansen is so widely beloved among the cast and crew, so he stays. Then there’s the matter of the infamous Keister egg in 3x08, which the writers and KB have all expressed love for, despite the fact that said Keister egg is an example of sexual assault--which, even if the victim is a douchey fraternity president, is never funny. 

Also the constant Big Lebowski references are tiring. Watch a new movie.

Improve Neptune’s gender ratio

Veronica Mars, despite having a female lead, has always been a male-dominated show; other than Veronica herself, the only consistent female character over the original show was Mac (and she didn’t even come back this season). This is unacceptable in 2019, for any show. The books introduced promising female characters in the form of Marcia Langdon and Petra Landros, but Marcia’s character was was watered down for S4 and Petra was nowhere to be found. Additionally, Veronica and Mac have always been written as “cool girls” who looked down on other women for their femininity, which isn’t a great message. Almost every other female character, even the innocuous Parker, is portrayed as somehow bad or incompetent. I would love nothing more than a season centered on the women of Neptune and their interactions with each other. While we’re at it, stop giving every woman on this show a background of sexual victimization.

Treat VM as an ensemble show, not a Kristen Bell vanity project 

A major complaint from Burnt Marshmallows and S4 defenders alike was how little time was given over to the original core cast this season. While Veronica may be the protagonist, a large part of how the show became so beloved was her relationships with the other characters. Yet RT has decided that going forward VM will be a KB solo project, with her traveling town to town quipping and sleeping with strangers. This seems strange, given Kristen’s recent interviews talking about how difficult it is to shoot VM and how she never wants to be first on a call sheet ever again, not to mention how she asked for less screen time all the way back in S2, which resulted in the Weevil-Logan storyline, which was way more interesting than Veronica’s storylines during the first half of that season. (The traveling detective thing also seems weird considering that KB is pretty insistent on shooting in LA to be near her family.) Additionally, if this is truly the last season of VM with all the original characters, then no one got a proper sendoff. 

I’m not sure how willing much of the cast will be to return for future iterations, given how uncomfortable many of them seemed during promo as well RT and KB’s treatment of them (insensitive at best, deliberately mean at worst) this season (shout out to Tina Majorino for recognizing what a shit show this was going to be), but bringing back all the original characters into the fold and giving them significant storylines would go a long way to mending fences with fans, improving the show from a character arc perspective, and would also give KB the break she apparently wants. 

Recourt the fanbase

What has VM always been renowned for above all else? It’s incredibly loyal fandom which not only got it renewed twice during its original run but also put up their own money to get the movie made--I know many people who donated when they really couldn’t afford to. RT basically owes the last 6 years of his career to VM fans--the success of the Kickstarter arguably got him the iZombie show running gig, and the fourth season likely wouldn’t have even happened if not for it. Thus, the blatant cruelty and disregard with which RT and KB have treated fans during the promotion of S4 has been incredibly insulting and hurtful; I still can’t fathom what in the world possessed RT to think that throwing away this 15-year relationship was a good idea. It’s not a good sign when the 2 fansites most active during the post-movie period (VMHQ and VM Confessions) cease operations in the wake of S4, and when at least 3 out of 8 board members of the oldest running fan group, Neptune Rising (who were dormant during the post-movie period but played a critical role during earlier fan campaigns and in the S4 promo) resign. A fandom this loyal that was betrayed will not stand idly by if the S5 RT wants to make goes ahead; given the number of tweets the official Hulu VM account has had to delete in the wake of S4 due to the overwhelmingly negative response as well as the controversy over editing out Logan from S4 promos, I imagine that S5 will be a PR nightmare. Even if future seasons are amazing the trust can probably never be fully repaired, but it would be helpful for RT (or fingers crossed, a new show runner) and KB (as star and EP) to go overboard in reaching out to fans and at least admitting they made a misstep with the entirety of S4. Back in the day, the old Mars Investigation fansite was invited to set to conduct interviews; maybe do that again. Also someone should get KB some sort of VM fandom-fluent media trainer because I don’t think she has conducted a single interview during her entire stint on the show that didn’t anger fans (it might help if she actually bothered to watch the show).

Map out an endgame

Look, this can’t go on forever. As long as RT keeps leaving every installment open ended with the hopes of maybe getting renewed again five years down the line, the story is going to keep running into the issues the movie and S4 faced with having to shoehorn the characters into nonsensical plot lines to reconcile those endings and deal with actor availability issues. Either plot another 2-3 seasons to wrap the show up with a satisfying conclusion, or map out a greater timeline of Veronica’s life with spots where a mini series or movie here and there could fit in.

[tumblezwei]

It's hard for me to go along with that "truth" video about Gray, one, because it it claims to both be "the truth" about him AND allegations in the thumbnail/title; they aren't interchangeable, and two, "putting aside differences" with the other RWBYTubers for the truth. The only time people like FMF, Floof and Vexxed care about "the truth" is if it hurts people from RT in some way. So you'll need to forgive me if that makes me even more skeptical. twitter(.)com/Calxiyn/status/1174413306192379906

I’ll need to watch it to say my opinion on it, but the more I see of this issue the more I’m convinced Gray did abuse his power in some fashion. Whether he did it intentionally or ignorantly I don’t know, but to me they’re seeming more credible, especially with Gray’s non-response. 

And listen, I don’t like FMF, Floof, or Vexed either. I think they’re assholes that have no problem lying or blowing things out of proportion just to make RWBY and RT look bad even if it makes them look like brain dead morons. But this is a more serious issue than trying to nit pick animation frames or claiming a blurb about a character is bad because it doesn’t lay out their life story. This is about real people potentially being exploited, so I don’t think this issue should be brushed off just because people we don’t like are agreeing on it. 

In the very thread you just linked, Calxiyn says that a lot of the people backing her up are those she’s disagreed with or blocked and that 6 more people have come forward to her since posting the video. She’s never tried to attack CRWBY or RT and is a massive fan of RWBY, I highly doubt she’d just put this together for shits and giggles. Be skeptical of RWBYtubers trying to sensationalize this, but don’t outright call the entire ordeal a lie unless Gray actually steps up and tries to seriously dispute them. 

[helihi]

The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty: RWBY Vol 6 E 12

I wish I could’ve enjoyed this, but the fact that this episode could’ve been perfectly merged with last weeks episode for a rightful 23-25 minute episodes makes me angry.

Overall rating: 3/10

A.N.: First we got all buildup, now we got all pay off. Why do they keep doing this?

The Good:

Quick spoilers for the review ahead: most of the contents of this section are about the Bee vs. Adam fight. In fact, the 3/10 rating is earned because of this since I was just bored during the fist half and during the cliffhanger.

A quick shoutout to Ruby for figuring out an alternative way to neutralize Cordovin without yelling it or making it as obvious as Oscar’s plan was. TBH the writers did a poor job trying to execute the first plan by being just as obvious to make it not work.

This week the fight between Blake, Yang and Adam continues, but unlike last week, both girls get to fight by each others side. What’s really interesting about the scenes showcased on this episode is the way both adapt to their current circumstances and still manage to get that sweet Bumbleby combo we’ve experienced in previous volumes.

They are both quick on their feet, always in sync. Blake’s evasive technique and light hits help to destabilize Adam while Yang carries the punch (literally). She distracts him and positions him right where Yang needs him to be. Not only that, but she makes sure Adam cannot absorb any of Yang’s heavy hits, completely conscious of how that can backfire.

Of course, the ribbon combo attack the pair is known for makes a comeback. This time, Yang grabs what’s left of Gambol Shroud to protect Blake and is the one throwing her partner around.

The flying cat Faunus is not strong enough to break Adam’s stance and she’s thrown away, and her aura breaks. Like everyone guessed, Blake’s aura is purple, the same shade Yang’s bandana is ;)

Now is Yang’s turn to hold her ground against Adam while she keeps an eye on Blake, who could easily fall to there death. hOW THE FUCK CAN SHE CLIMB WITH HEELS.

“The moment of truth, Yang. Do you think you’re faster than you were at Beacon?”

Yang trembles.

“Me neither.”

Here’s the second thing I wanted to point out about this fight: Adam still tries to use manipulation to get the upper hand. He knows a part of Blake still fears him, and he knows Yang’s trauma is associated with him.

Again and again he has tried to exploit this, but once more: he fails.

Yang goes for an evasive tactic rather than an offensive one, more proof of her character development.

Adam continues taunting, because he has no other tools or tactics he can use. He desperately tries to clutch to power, even though last episode showed him that Yang and Blake are at their strongest when together.

This is why he wanted to sever that link in volume 3. Even if he didn’t know how good of a team they were, he knew the best way to break Blake was through Yang.

“What does she even see in you!” remarks how out of his element Adam is. He lost the fight before he actually lost it.

Yang’s Semblance makes a return, but TBH the animation was pretty underwhelming considering we’ve waited for its comeback for about 3 years. I think Adam’s Moonslice animation has been maintained. Everything from the color palette shift, to the way the red on his outfit lights up. His presence is there.

Yang’s Semblance doesn’t bust in victorious and glorious. It’s more like a tame flame. I appreciate the fire effects, and the way Yang’s moments are highlighted with 2D yellow effects, but where’e the frame distortion? The glowing red eyes? The final punch was nice, but overall, I’m disappointed.

Finally, the moment we all have been waiting for comes: Adam Taurus’s death. Have some popcorn peeps. There was no other way to end the whole arc, Adam was irredeemable.

If you wanted me to be honest, I thought Adam was going to fall to his death in some fight scenario where he was so consumed by anger and his obsession that he looses it; or Yang was going to be the one ending it.

Having them both kill him, with both halves of Gambol Shroud no less, is so fucking powerful and fitting. Of course, quite traumatic for Blake, who would be the one most affected by it.

I think they nailed the reaction. Aside from the obvs Bumbleby excitement, Blake breaking down, the remainder of the promise and Yang comforting her so delicately is the perfect way to end this arc.

Unfortunately, it isn’t quite as cathartic and beautiful since we’re cut short by the need to establish another cliff hanger.

The Bad:

I see people left and right on RT’s forms, Tumblr and YouTube praising the CRWBY for getting better at pacing or even “nailing” it.

Boi, oh boi, could you not be more wrong.

This episode could and should’ve been part of last episode. There’s no reason why any writer would cut the momentum episode 11 carried for a cheap cliff hanger and have the resolution to the fights be concluded 7 days later.

Do you know what real shows do? They make a two parter. A half an hour special.

I could bring up AtlA, but I’m going to bring up SU.

Do you know what’s going to happen next Monday on CN?

A 45 minute special Steven Universe season finale.

You know why?

Because the best way to finalize the diamond arc is by paying off all the buildup with a huge chunk of content! The decision to have the final 4 episodes group together to deliver some satisfactory pay off will be a blast.

Yes, we don’t know how season is going to end, but I can fucking tell you this special is the best way to end this arc.

SU’s atrocious schedule has made a lot of people drop the show, and I don;’t blame them. CN doesn’t know what its doing, and it’s purposefully killing shows with this (Se also: Adventure Time).

However, if there’s something the Crewniverse know how to do is delivering a story that can fit an episode.

A beginning/set up, a middle and a resolution/ending.

RWBY doesn’t do that. Episodes are: all build up, all buildup + some middle, some middle+tiny resolution.

The only way one can truly enjoy RWBY is by binge watching it, but unfortunately, RT doesn’t release the episodes Netflix style.

Do they change and adapt their writing because of this?

No, they don’t.

The problem wasn’t that the RWBY girls were separated, it’s that the writing team doesn’t know how to properly pace a story for an audience.

Also, is anyone bothered by the fact that no matter how many times Cordovin hit the Atlesian ship, that thing could still work?

Way to kill the momentum.

The Dirty:

I see a lot of people reflagging GIFs of Ruby and Qrow showing how much the girl has grown and how conflicted he might be, and TBH I see what you do.

I know Qrow looks at Ruby and probably thinks of Summer.

Summer is dead; Ruby is not, and Qrow wants to keep it that way. But Ruby is on her way to becoming an adult, she’s the leader on her team, a figure to her friends and the protagonist of the show. She has to show she’s prepared to take a stance.

Awesome scenes guys! You forgot something tho:

Rubys conflict.

Just like the glazed over Oscars big “this is what I stand for” moment of his arc, we never see Ruby at her weakest.

People complained of this during volume 4, but have you not notice she has not broken down or showed a real crisis? This 5 minutes with the apathy is not enough, and though I love her questioning Ozpin, I feel this needed more fuel.

Sometimes it feels like the writers know what a protagonist is supposed to sound like and act like, but don’t quite get how they got there.

Oh yeah, Grimm show up btw. We all knew this so meh.

Overall rating: 3/10

A.N.: Someone should really teach Miles and Kerry the ways episodes are structured. It’s season 6 and still haven’t grasped how to write an episodic series.

[gunksucker]

honestly i think that "political veganism" and the sort of ideology that favors animal rights over animal welfare is a bad and hyper-individualist thing that we should oppose actually. treating animals as sapient individuals on par with humans is nonsensical and harmful. like of course the people who think like this don't care about the real human workers being exploited to grow their quinoa, but even if they did they'd still be wrong about everything else

for all practical purposes animal agriculture is an entirely net good thing for all parties involved. humans get food, wool, etc, animals get safety and guaranteed food for their entire lifetime. the moral outcry is about the fact that we kill them and the fact that we don't let them roam free, both of which are silly things to be mad about.

humanely and quickly slaughtering an animal that doesn't know what's coming is not even a little bit morally close to sentencing a human to death or whatever. the only way it could be would be if you believed that all life is inherently equal and special and violating it was always bad by definition of "bad", and anyone with left wing politics who's grown up past pacifism knows that that's a shallow worldview even if we were just talking about violence against humans. nobody seems to care about the quality of the middle of an animal's life as long as they can turn their impulsive icky yuckies at the concept of a "slaughterhouse" into a post-hoc political position.

the whole freedom argument bothers me too. the bee post example is good - the bees literally just leave if they want to, but they don't want to - but that honestly shouldn't even matter so much! call me human-centric but i think it's perfectly fine to not let your sheep and pigs and chickens roam fenceless out into the wild.

of course factory farming and animal abuse and tiny little shit-filled cages where animals spend their entire lives are bad but that's a capitalism problem, not one inherent to livestock-keeping itself. of course using land for cows is less efficient than using it for crops, but we're not playing an RTS here! "abolishing meat" is a culturally imperialist impulse that ignores the perfectly sensible and ecologically sustainable ways people had been farming livestock for centuries before capitalism.

because the point was never the net result for humanity and animals alike - political veganism isn't practical, it doesn't think like that. the people im talking about don't make exceptions for locally, sustainably raised meat. their fundamental sticking points are the mere fact that humans kill animals, and the mere fact that animals not roaming free into the mouths of presators and instead into ours violates some concept of "natural". which of course is the very same conception of "natural" that excludes humans from being animals themselves and a part of nature and a part of their environment, and rather sees them as exceptional, isolated, outside actors whose mere existence is always at odds with the rest of the natural world. same old "humans are the real virus" bullshit, same old lack of systemic awareness, same old handwaving of structural problems as "human nature".

the way these people talk you'd think they want the chickens to fucking vote

[sarcasticcynic]

You may have seen the meme floating around showing those stock photos falsely pretending to be Democrats who have turned their back on the party. This in-depth analysis of the #WalkAway campaign doesn’t even need to address that little detail, presenting direct evidence (with screenshots and supporting links) of the following:

The #WalkAway movement is not fake. It genuinely exists. “Even after explicitly stating that not all #WalkAway tweets were sent by bots, people taking part in the ‘WalkAway Movement’ will still claim that this article called them all bots. ... let me state clearly for the record: This article is not implying that all of the people tweeting under this hashtag are bots.”

Many #WalkAway tweets from separate accounts prominently feature virtually identical phrases. “Phrases such as, ‘I was a lifelong Democrat,’ ‘I’ve always voted for Democrats,’ ‘I voted for Obama,’ ‘Today’s Democratic party is not the party I joined X years ago,’ ‘I didn’t leave the Democratic party—the Democratic party left me,’ and ‘The Democratic party no longer represents me.’”

Many #WalkAway tweets from separate accounts consistently feature pro-Trump hashtags like #MAGA and #Trump, suggesting that they are Trump supporters posing as former Democratic voters. “Most of the accounts tweeting under the hashtag are either brand new or didn’t even bother to delete the evidence that they were already Trump supporters before ‘joining the movement’ to walk away from the Democratic party.”

Many #WalkAway tweets from separate accounts consistently promote the same narratives, in language designed to inflame strong emotions and provoke anger in the reader: “Portraying the Democratic party as ‘sick,’ ‘crazy,’ and as the symbol of corruption, hate, division, and destruction”; “Framing progressive values as anti-American”; “Accusing Democrats of treating Blacks as ‘slaves’ and ‘second-class citizens’”; “Rehashing the 2016 Democratic primary election”; “Using identity politics … to attack ‘the identity politics of the left’”; and “Exploiting existing divisions around issues like immigration, and amplifying the extremes. In some cases, this also involved misrepresenting positions and statements, such as claiming that Maxine Waters called for violence or equating #AbolishICE with calling for open borders.”

Many of the accounts tweeting #WalkAway bear the following suspicious hallmarks: (a) brand-new or recently repurposed accounts; (b) few followers; (c) flooding numerous tweets similar to other #WalkAway accounts, within a short period of time; (d) far more likes and retweets than followers, also within a short period of time. “The average engagement rate for tweets using the hashtag #WalkAway was over 500 percent, with many exceeding 1000 percent and some even reaching rates of 3000 to 4000 percent and above. ... This is not what a viral hashtag campaign looks like; this is what a manufactured and artificially amplified digital operation looks like.”

Many of the Twitter accounts liking, retweeting, and amplifying #WalkAway tweets have been previously linked to Russian influence operations. “These accounts include human users, bots, ‘trolls,’ cyborgs (accounts that are automated some of the time and human-controlled at other times), and media accounts for propaganda outlets like RT and Sputnik.”

Speaking of Kremlin-funded propaganda outlets, they also boosted the hashtag directly: “On June 28, Sputnik featured a segment about the campaign on its ‘Fault Lines’ radio show. On July 3, RT promoted a video showcasing the movement on its YouTube page, and, a short time later, published an article about the campaign on its website (archived link). The founder of the ‘WalkAway Movement,’ Brandon Straka, even did an exclusive interview with RT this week.”

So what do we learn from all this?

“Russia clearly still sees Trump supporters as potential accomplices — witting or unwitting — in its ongoing efforts to sow chaos and division in American society. Likewise, after nearly two years of warnings from the U.S. intelligence community, Trump supporters clearly aren’t taking the threat of Russian interference seriously. While most of the people involved in the ‘WalkAway Movement’ likely had no idea that Russia was also involved in pushing the campaign, the founder of the movement was obviously aware and apparently saw no problem with it, even going as far as sitting for an interview with one of the most well-known channels of Russian propaganda.”

And what does Russia hope to gain? At least three things:

“The primary functional goal of an astroturfed campaign like this one is to manipulate public opinion by gaming online algorithms to amplify certain content and push it onto people’s social media feeds and to the top of search engine results.

“The high volume of tweets associated with this campaign is also indicative of an effort to drown out real, reasoned debate between humans and replace it with content that pushes fringe or extreme viewpoints into the mainstream, ultimately hijacking and derailing public discourse.

“This particular psychological operation also aimed to use issues like race and sexual orientation to widen existing divides and promote infighting within the progressive movement.

“Finally, astroturfed social media campaigns like the ‘WalkAway Movement’ aim to create manufactured consensus, or the illusion of popularity, so that an idea or position without much public support appears more popular and mainstream than it actually is.”

Is Russia succeeding in making the #Walkaway movement seem more popular and widespread than it really is? Well, let’s take a look at the actual figures:

“Among the 31 states (plus D.C.) with party registration, there are nearly 12 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. 40% of all voters in party registration states are Democrats, 29% are Republicans, and 28% are independents. In 19 states (plus D.C.) there are more registered Democrats; in the remaining 12 there are more registered Republicans.”

Does that square with the impression the #WalkAway movement and its supporters have been trying to create?