#this collectible just isn't for you

[jacquelineadelia]

Y'all, this is being made by a third party company that specializes in making licensed steelbooks for collectors

Literally none of their steelbooks contain discs and they are all priced like this. And yeah, it's expensive, but a nice steelbook is expensive to produce, and is very clearly intended for collectors only

discless steelbook? discless steelbook?? literally an empty case with a logo on it??

[bixels]

As cameras becomes more normalized (Sarah Bernhardt encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use cameras because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by manufacturing companies. I paint not because I want a painting but because I love the process of painting. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

if i have to explain to you that using a camera to take a picture is not the same as using generative ai to generate an image then you are a fucking moron.

[stick-by-me]

What a time to be alive!

[myuminji]

the bride walked down the aisle to where the groom stood, and there they exchanged their vows in front of the altar...

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

*tries to organize my thoughts*

*remembers i'm not in school and therefore beholden to neither heaven nor hell nor any man's grading system*

*joyously shredding & tossing all my carefully arranged 3x5 mental notecards into the air like so much beige confetti. raising my arms in victory, cheering raucously until i accidentally inhale bits of homemade confetti*

(*coughing up itty bits of paper like a cat evicting a hairball with a firm understanding of tenants' rights*) wait wat happens next

[hotwaterandmilk]

I was recently fortunate enough to win an auction for a piece of Wedding Peach merchandise I've been unsuccessfully trying to win online for years (at this point, literally decades) and it got me thinking about how lucky I am to not be starting my collection today.

Prices for all older, more obscure magical girl items have ballooned over the past ten years but Wedding Peach merchandise is definitely one of the worst offenders. It's not uncommon to see single manga volumes going for 10k yen, 20k yen or more for the picture books, and let's not even touch on the amount the toys go for (literally several thousand dollars a pop).

In an ideal world we'd have better access to the series itself at least (the Japanese release of the DVDs and manga, for example, are in high demand due to the manga being out of print for something like 28 years and the DVDs being a relatively limited run from 25 years ago). I understand it's unlikely that we'll be getting more fun toys or merchandise for the series, but it is truly bleak when people can't even access the series itself.

This isn't some lost media type thing, this is just capitalism and it solidifies why I feel a sense of duty to ruin my own collection in order to archive what I have. If my house burns down or washes away in a flood, I truly don't think I can restart my collection and have a fraction of what I have now ever again. It's too expensive and too time-consuming, I simply don't have another 25 years up my sleeve to dig through every possible website to try and find scraps of 90s Ciao magazine issues.

In that sense I feel like I should share what I have with others while I have the opportunity. Even if a teenager today falls for Wedding Peach like I did as a kid, they would need to be extremely wealthy to get these pieces together and I just don't think your ability to own the core of a series should come down to wealth alone.

Goodness knows I'm not wealthy and I had very little growing up, hence my collection took decades to get where it is now. I don't want people to have to endure all that just to see a picture book from 30 years ago or to see an obscure illustration from a Ciao paper bag given away for free in 1994.

The efforts of fans keep series like this alive long after most companies have dismissed their long term profitability (although I do see you Germany with your beautiful hardback manga editions and I thank you).

Not everyone wants to break down their collection for the benefit of others and I respect that (there are some things in my collection I don't want to pull apart either), but I appreciate the efforts of those who do and aspire to do better with my own archiving as I work to get Weddingpeach.net updated to celebrate 30 years of the manga series.

[hargr00vy]

babes your glow is showing

[sukibenders]

Not people talking bad about my girl Helaena just to support Aemond. Like, she had a right to ask him if what he did was worth it because, even if Aegon is atrocious, Aemond is the reason that her son was killed in front of her, the reason that she had to choose which of her children dies, and is the reason why she has to live with that now. While other characters played a part in that, without Aemond killing Luke, Jaehaerys would probably still be there or wouldn't have died in such a cruel way. B&C are sent there to kill Aemond, and when they can't find him they follow through with their next order of "a son for a son". And while Aemond may be smarter and more strategic (and not a disgusting man like Aegon) as prince regent, he is still, as Alicent called out, volatile and brewing with unchecked anger. I wouldn't feel safe having him on the throne just as much as Aegon, but because he served face and is the lesser evil I'm supposed to be okay with it? No, Helaena can question this man as much as she likes, for the rest of her life given what she has to go through. (Also, she literally just asked him a valuable question that deeply needs to be considered, so why are people mad at her?)

[chiropteracupola]

Martín Macuilmazatl, a young gentleman of the Ciudad de México.

[mythicalartistx]

The Repliku Problem:

There is an issue of Riku Replica's portrayal in Kingdom Hearts and I mean how others see him in the community that goes against everything he stands for.

A part of me hates that he is called Repliku or Riku Replica because it goes back to Riku. But I'm still going to be referring to him as Repliku because there's no better name.

Repliku's story is all about him being someone else from Riku. He learns he actually is his own person and not just a copy. And this can also be applied that his emotions and feelings are different from Riku's. And Riku doesn't feel the same feeling or emotions and Repliku does. They can feel similar but it's obviously different for different people.

But there's a large misconception that whatever Repliku feels so does Riku. Whatever happens to Repliku also applies to Riku. But that's not the case at all??

Repliku doesn't get his own things in the fandom, no he has to share with Riku. Any shipname between Repliku and another is always mixed in in the simple Riku ship rather than using Repliku.

The Riku version is always used more for Repliku even if it doesn't shows Riku at all. For anyone that ships Repliku and Sora specifically, it is still referred to as soriku. It could also be Repliku and Naminé for example, but the Replinami ship is significantly less seen than the Riku and Naminé one. That's also an entirely different ship but it's treated as one and the same.

While it's more in canon that Repliku cares for Naminé people treat it as they both do when this isn't the case at all.

It's not that Riku doesn't it's just that people think he must because of the same reasons Repliku cares for Naminé

Repliku's entire arc is that he is different, as the novel Sora says this to him,

"Fake or not, that doesn't matter anymore! You're here now, and you have a heart that belongs to you and no one else. Your memories belong to you and you only, so treasure them!"

These words help Repliku feel better about himself and realize he can be his own person. He feels glad to hear these words by Sora. He is glad that he met and knows Sora. He treats him as his own person which he is thankful for. And that's good enough for him.

His own arc is that he is his own person separate from Riku. I also want to point out that the other Replica that is in the real organization in kh3 is someone entirely separate as well.

Repliku after everything decides to keep one of the fake memories because it's not something Riku has. He internally struggles after knowing he's a replica. He is jealous of the other Riku who is "the real thing" and was able to manage his own darkness. He was jealous of him because he is his own person and longs to be his own person and be different too. That's why when Axel manipulates him to absorb and kill Zexion he does without a second thought and is able to use something separate from Riku.

It's why he ends up inedibly fading away. Repliku desperately wants to have something Riku doesn't have. He wants to be a person separate from Riku with his individual own thoughts and feelings. Sora reassured his own were unique. Riku isn't controlling him or making him have those feelings, those are his individual ones.

He wants to be his own person so badly and even though Sora and Riku had reassured his was his own, Repliku still doesn't believe he can. He compares himself too much to Riku. He doesn't see how he can live because he believes he was created to be a copy created from Riku to lure Sora further down that path to be controlled. He doesn't know who he is and everything he ever knew turned out to be a lie.

He clings on to the one memory that was fabricated, but it was also a memory Riku doesn't have. He decides to keep the promise to protect Naminé. It's what makes him himself. It's what becomes important to him.

Still Repliku has trouble believing in himself or that he can make it as someone. He still was created by Vexen. Repliku tells Riku, "I'm me, he says. It must be nice being real. A fake like me could never get away saying that." He believes he can't be someone, but his arc was to show that he is actually separate from Riku. However, for him to believe it himself is hard. Sora's words made him feel better because he believes he is his own person.

Repliku fights Riku so he can feel like a real person and be someone that isn't connected to Riku. However, Riku wins not because Repliku isn't his own person but because Riku has gone through his own growth too.

Repliku ends up fading away and we don't see him until KH3.

In the dark world Riku was swallowed by the heartless and he hears the voice of Repliku. That's when he realizes Repliku has been with him the entire time and he even leaves his keyblade for the other him, most likely referring to Repliku in that scene.

Back when everyone has regrouped before the final battle, Repliku has a conversation with Riku. He and Riku both have someone they cherish. He reveals he cherish Naminé and wants to bring her back before he goes completely.

He continues to keep the masqueraded promise because even though it's not real, he chooses to keep it as something unique and special to him.

During the final battle, Repliku has the opportunity to do the one thing he has been wanting to have and be a person. He could finally be a person separate from Riku. Riku tells him to take the body.

However, Repliku shakes his head and that's when Riku realizes he is wanting it for Naminé. Repliku sacrifices his own ability to have a body so she can instead. He sacrificed the one thing that can make him have a body and become real. She is one of the few things that is special and unique to him and it the reason he does it. Riku then finally promised to be there for when she wakes up to make sure she is okay.

That's a favor he does for Repliku because afterwards he moved on and went to look for Sora. However, this causes misconception that they are the same. Sure, Riku could care for her but it's definitely not the same as how Repliku does.

Repliku is his own person. His arc is finding himself which is separate from Riku. He ends up cherishing people separate from Riku. His own thoughts and feelings are his own. Nobody is controlling him. However people somehow got into the idea that Riku = Repliku when that's not the case at all.

Repliku is his own being and person because he cannot replicate Riku he failed to do that because he is someone separate. He deserves more and he deserves better and I hope KH3 isn't the last we ever see of him...

[artbyfuji]

Hope you all had a frightful STRQOWEEN 🎃👻

[idkplzhalp]

Miss Pauling and GLaDOS have the same genre of sapphic situationship but in reverse. Like Pauling with Admin and GLaDOS with Chell. Employee chasing boss vs boss chasing employee (???) (Lower ranked person chasing person in power vs person in power chasing person who opposes them). Okay Valve... I see you..

I keep ChellDOS/AdminPauling one-sided therefore I think the two gays in despair should simply Get Over it and kiss with each other instead. When you think about it, Pauling and GLaDOS/Caroline are very close to the romantic types of the other one. Pauling mimics Chell (athletic, determined, independent, doesnt conform to those they dislike) and GLaDOS mimics Admin (older, has big plans that matter to nothing else, putting up this aggressive or condescending personality to manipulate or defend) -though these are basic similarities, not necessarily why one would like the other. Oh also the designs are vaguely similar? Almost??? like Chell and Pauling I've seen drawn similarly while Caroline and pre-australium Admin are exactly the same but Admin got more flare.

they need to SAVE EACHOTHER😭😭 Like outside of their situations I think they'd be nice to each other, especially having similar-ish interests or at least neither gaf when people die on the job (as they caused it). They'd be normal together and the good endings to their toxic yuri. Or whatever.

[bean-spring]

People complaining about Mel not liking Viktor and being "mean" to him as if this guy didn't hate her guts too and wasn't constantly rolling his eyes every time she opened her mouth.

[phantom-of-the-memes]

So called “leftists” as soon as you mention wearing a mask and taking precautions to protect their community from covid (i.e. regular testing, reducing gathering sizes, etc.)

[aqun-athlok]

i can't believe solas has like four messy as hell divorces and rook gets thrown in the middle of all of them

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Chapter 110 is 13 pages long welcome to hell!!! so in a lot of ways this is just more fuel for a theory that I've had for a few weeks now, that's only gotten stronger with each recent season 5 episode, which is that the last episode of the season is gonna end on 110, and that Asagiri/Harukawa and Bones have been collaborating to make this happen, specifically because it's a major turning point that would be the only good place to end the season on.

When we started getting especially long chapters again (like from 25-35ish pages, with the exception of 107.5, the last two being some of the longest we've ever had), at first I just assumed that Asagiri/Harukawa got freed up from some other obligations they'd been having to cause the extremely short/half chapters, like promotional stuff for the anime/Beast movie, or working on light novels. But then 109 happened, with the "supposed" death of Dazai, and heavy emphasis at the end on how literally everyone is at their lowest point right now, and I got to thinking. 11 episodes is a strangely specific number for an anime season -- why not 12, or 13, or even 10, like you'd usually see? Why have we gotten suddenly gotten two 35 page chapters out of nowhere, that's almost unheard of at this point? They're both beautiful chapters, don't get me wrong (as always), and maybe A/H simply just didn't want to cut them in halves because they felt like the full emotional impact wouldn't hit/that there were no good cutoff points in them, but you can't deny that it's surprising, after all the shorter chapters we've been getting. Why has the anime been going at such insanely breakneck pacing for the most part ever since around the Sunday Tragedy chapters, even more so than it has in the past? So much so that it feels dangerously close to overtaking the manga?

Well, maybe, just maybe, it's because..... Asagiri decided a long time ago that whatever happens in 110 is the only point that feels "season finale"-worthy enough, in an arc that still isn't anywhere close to being completely wrapped up, and so both the manga and the anime have been specifically coordinated to reach that part within 2 and a half weeks of each other?

I've seen a lot of people now think season 5 will end with 109, and as much as my sadistic side would find that hilarious, I honestly don't think they'd do that and realistically don't want it to happen; it'd be so cruel to cliffhanger the anime for years like that, and just doesn't feel like a season cliffhanger BSD would do, a series that is ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Seasons 2 and 3 had a positive, conclusive ending; the only reasons seasons 1 and 4 didn't was because they're technically not really full seasons of their own, and are more like the first cour of another "season" that also came out that same year (seasons 1 and 2 both aired in 2016, so they're more like one big season, and seasons 4 and 5 have both aired this year, so they're also more like one big season, again taking into account how episodes 12 and 50 are not satisfying finales like episodes 24, 37, and hypothetically, 61, are). I really can't see season 5 ending with Dazai and Fukuzawa's supposed deaths, Sigma being unconscious and maybe close to death, Atsushi being vulnerable and limbless again, everyone we love still vampires, and the entire world being basically doomed; that's just too depressing and not like BSD at all. However, having said that, if it doesn't end there, there really isn't any good place to end the season before that, either, that feels in any way satisfying or like a finale at all. And so, to me, that only leaves after 109: chapter 110.

I think things are really gonna turn around next chapter. Like I said, everyone is at their lowest point right now, it cannot possibly get any worse, the framing of Dazai, Fukuzawa, and sskk at the end of 109 is telling us that; this is the time for the heroes to finally start winning again, with Aya being so close to pulling out the sword, and for all the thematic reasons other people have talked about to death that I don't need to go into here again. This upcoming chapter being so short again makes a part of me wary of 110 being "the one", so to speak, I won't lie, but at the same time, it's very possible that it needs to be that short because that's all the final episode of the season will be able to reasonably fit in, since it's already gonna be VERY close if they do make it all the way to 109. And at the end of the day, I don't doubt at all that Asagiri and Harukawa can make these the most monumental and game-changing mere 13 pages ever if they wanted to; a chapter does not at all need to be extremely long in order to be an important and impactful one, even if short ones we've gotten in the past haven't felt the most important.

An additional thought I've had, though this is much more crack territory than all this already is, is that since we know from Anime Expo that a Stormbringer movie at some point is highly likely (judging from Asagiri's reaction when someone brought it up), it's possible that chapter 110 and thus the final episode will involve the long-anticipated return of Verlaine and/or Adam, or at least some other major reference to Stormbringer, that would naturally and smoothly lead into a Stormbringer movie to explain things to people who haven't read the novel. It would make a lot of sense, especially since the s4 OP has the Old World sign behind Chuuya, which might be a hint that this has been in the works ever since seasons 4/5 were first in planning with Asagiri. We also know that Dazai and Chuuya's voice actors apparently struggled to record their lines together this season, which probably relates to 101 and possibly 109, but it could be 110 too.... I could be very wrong, as I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but I kinda doubt they would bring Chuuya's actor in for just the vampire growls, and Asagiri placing heavy emphasis on Chuuya's importance this season in that one interview gives me the impression that he's talking about much more than just 101/109. But that's the least solid evidence I have, that's just mostly based on vibes I get.

So basically, I think a lot of factors -- the unusual episode count, how close the anime is to catching up to the manga with three whole episodes left, the seemingly arbitrary recent chapter lengths, and the climactic events of 109 -- can tell us that 110 might be a very, VERY big deal. Again, there's of course no way this arc is anywhere near close to being finished, with so much left to address and resolve, but since it is currently incomplete in the manga, unlike the previously adapted arcs, if the anime was going to adapt it at all, they'd have to find a place that feels satisfying enough to end this season, knowing there won't be more anime for a long time after this, and so I think they specifically planned for that, from both Bones' and A/H's sides. 10 episodes might not have been enough to reach that point, but 12 or 13 might have been too many it wouldn't have been if Bones actually decided to slow down and let the story breathe the way it needs to, but this post isn't meant to criticize the anime, so maybe 11 was just right. And maybe Asagiri and Harukawa specifically pushed to make recent chapters longer than usual, in order to make sure that the manga reached the story content in 110 the monthly release right before season 5 was to end.

Is this just copium? Absolutely. Am I going to look like an absolute clown in two days when this post ages like milk? Probably. But the evidence is There, so let me just enjoy my delusions until Sunday, okay 🥂🫡