#this is not gonna make any sense to the wider audience

[lazuliquetzalart]

The Legend of Zelda: Everything Is On Fire

tumblr please don't kill the image quality i'm begging you

[bangtanintotheroom]

Where is Everybody?

Hello there! So, this post here is gonna be a doozy, but I need to get some things off my chest and hopefully, I can get some answers at the end of the day.

For the last few months, I’ve noticed a significant downtick in interactions on here. And it’s not just for my blog, quite a few of my moots seem to going through the same issue as well.

On top of that, the ever-present issue of liking over reblogging seems to have just gotten worse.

The main question I want to ask is why?

I know the holidays are a busy time for many people, but compared to last year when I joined, it almost feels like a ghost town. I ask if people want to see teasers or graphics I made and out of the significant amount of followers, I only get a handful interacting, many of them my moots (ily guys so much and appreciate you mwah 💋)

I was letting it slide until I saw the amount of notes Offsite Services has been getting. Mind you, it’s a drabble collection based off of Fanservice, which judging by notes, is one of my most infamous works. Here’s a comparison:

Fanservice: 1,877 notes

Offsite Services: 180 notes with Up Close and Personal having 242 notes while “Bear” with Me only has 111 notes

You see what I mean? Offsite Services only has just under 10% of Fanservice’s notes. And they’re in the same series!

It’s bothering me because so many people for months have been asking for updates for this series. Now that I started it back up, it’s practically radio silence and it’s highly discouraging. It definitely cemented my decision to work on whatever speaks to me at the moment and not try to rush things out, only for it to get little recognition.

And to get back to the likes/reblogs issue, lately, it’s seemed like it’s worsened these last couple of months. I know there’s a lot of users who shifted here from Twitter thanks to the madness that’s been going on, but you need to understand something:

Likes do not spread our work around.

Works can get buried within tags, especially if they don’t have a large amount of notes, which makes it harder to get recognition. By reblogging, it introduces our fics to a wider audience, even if you only have a handful of followers. Believe me, it helps!

And feedback is always helpful as well! You don’t even have to write a full essay, something along the lines of ‘thank you for writing this!’ or ‘wiofwoihih this was SO GOOD’ is highly appreciated.

Also, my ask box is always open, for anons and non-anons. If you want to talk about something or just say hi or discuss a fic or WIP, don’t be shy! I might not respond right away, but that’s because I’m busy or at work. I only won’t respond if it’s a request (REQUESTS ARE CLOSED INDEFINITELY)  or someone demanding I update a fic (which hasn’t happened yet, thank God).

I don’t want to drag this on much longer, so I want to just cap this off by asking again why there’s less people interacting lately. These are the answers I came up with:

1. BTS’ hiatus (which doesn’t make sense to me because now would be the best time to catch up on fan content but 🤷🏾‍♀️)

2. Taking a break from Tumblr

3. Not enough time to read

Again, these are only my theories, but I won’t know for sure unless you guys tell me. If you know the reason why and would like to tell me, feel free to come to my ask box. All I ask is that you don’t be rude or extremely defensive; whatever reason you might have is valid and I’m not trying to start any fights. I just want some clarity to help ease this question that’s been bothering me for the last couple of months.

Thank you so much if you read all of this, I appreciate it greatly. I hope everyone has a steady 2023 and I wish you all the best. 💕

- AJ 💜

[fun-k-board]

Genshin Impact general headcanons

FOR MY PLATONIC SOULMATE @enslique

Characters included : Cyno, Kaeya, and itto

Pronouns : None, no gendered language

Romantic + Platonic separate

You're a human in this and not the traveler

Cyno

Platonic

He's such a home slice home bread

Like you'll be chilling when all of a sudden he spits the worst pun you've ever heard, it'll leave you in tears and on the floor sobbing when he tries to explain it on a quantum level.

You'll probably be a forest watcher, traveler or part of the Akademiya to see him in work mode, in which he's less funny but will probably turn to you after absolutely wholloping some guys and make a dumbass pun. Cue Tighnari's pun senses tingling and he cringes in pain and sympathy to whoever has heard it.

Cyno's extremely caring though, and although he may not show it outwardly at work it's the little things when he's in work mode that show it.

He gives you tips and explanations of things you may not understand constantly, so the next time you'll be prepared, mainly in the desert.

Brings extra water and makes sure you're hydrated, even if you're from the desert and know it well, he also makes sure to give breaks if you're beginning to slow down. Especially if you're the type of person to pretend your fine when you're not.

Will 100% bring you to meet Tighnari and Collei if you haven't already, he has high respect for them and wants a wider audience for his jokes.

He greatly respects your decisions and opinions, however, Cyno tends to state this matter of factly and won't sugar coat. If he has any issues he won't be afraid to say it outright.

Romantic

Imagine as friends but more outwardly affectionate. He's not gonna snuggle up to you and do intense pda or anything, it's more lovingly staring and smiling when it's just you two or when it's with close friends.

Makes puns about and with you, no matter how you crumble in pain when he does, you will probably burst out laughing because it's him.

He's very sweet in a relationship, and although he works a lot, he does try taking more breaks so he can make sure you're okay. However, work is important to him and he won't take long time off, you shouldn't expect him to drop everything for you as much as he'd like to.

Tends to check for injuries whenever you come home if you're an adventurer or anything like that, may accidently treat you like a colleague during this, but it shows he cares a lot.

Makes little snacks and lunches when you go away if you work, or just if you tend to forget to eat when he's away. They can be tasteless and somewhat disgusting depending on what you like, but he's so used to them on missions he tends to not realise and so relies on your opinion from previous lunches he's made.

Would love you to make lunches and snacks for him, especially since he typically has the not so nice lunches and snacks mentioned before. Even if you can't cook, a piece of goddamn lettuce would have him gently smiling on missions while munching away.

Kaeya

Platonic

Regardless on whether you do or don't drink or are too young, he likes bringing you to the tavern since he spends a lot of time off work there, and you'll probably become friends with Venti and Rosaria as a result since they're his drinking buddies.

If you have a sibling, I imagine Kaeya would judge them on if he likes them or not, and especially if the relationship is strained like him and Diluc. Speaking of, I think it'd be funny if he gets you in on pranks or little jokes with him.

If you're older and comfterable with it, he'll playfully and jokingly flrit with you, stopping if he reconsises that it may be going too far.

He teases you non romantically regardless, making fun of you while you roll your eyes and sigh in annoyance. Kaeya thinks it's funny to poke your face when you're busy or to gently yank on your hair if you won't pay him attention.

Nahh he 100% does that dumb thing where he's like 'we need to talk' with a serious face and somber actions then starts ranting about how Diluc removed his favourite wine.

Romantic

Teasing? Teasing.

Honestly, I imagine him to be someone that gets all flirty but the second someone returns that energy he's pausing his sentence and blushing. Kaeya will recover easily, but don't think his blush still isn't visible.

He likes playing with your hair if you have any, it's something sweet and small, a gentle activity at the end of the day for you both to destress. Will lay in bed while telling you of work and how he annoyed Diluc with paying some of Venti's tab. And he does it to get attention sometimes, whenever you're working or talking to somebody else he'll annoy you because he loves you.

I imagine he'd like you to not work, he's perfectly fine with you working though, Kaeya just really likes someone to come home to and to spend his free time with. That or you being a part of the knights. He will be a bit sad if you're too busy with work and they overlap with his free time, but he respects you and he doesn't want to push you to quit.

Disagree all you want, Kaeya likes biting, not always in the thats what she said way, just a lil nibble on the cheek or shoulder and he's happy for a minute before he wants to do it again. Never too hard and if you don't like it, he's chill. Overjoyed if you really like it and will do it back, he 100% will do it in the that's what she said way if you like that however.

Itto

Platonic

This fool, this blundering baffoon. If you become part of his gang, you'll either be in prison with him awkwardly waiting for Shinobu, or bailing him from prison with Shinobu like five times a every week.

Will pat you on the back with the force of a thousand sun's, you literally nearly die one time because he's unaware of his strength.

Since Itto doesn't seem like he'd warn you beforehand, imagine if you bring beans somewhere and he just starts being over dramatic. Playing up how you totally tried to kill him, after all the jokes over though he will probably beg you to get rid of them.

Forgets his strength and sometimes picks you up like a cat, may accidently trample over you if you're smaller.

BEETLE BATTLES it'd be so fucking cool, if you beat him, dude acts like his pride is SHATTERED. Although I think he might not actually care too much, especially if you're younger because he wants to hype you up.

He's a gentlemen even if he has the brain of a spoon, will help you with whatever chores you need to do or any heavy lifting tasks you can't complete.

Romantic

Now I don't mean this in the ykyk way, but he's so fucking large, like he could probably pick you up over his shoulder regardless of you weight, height or how muscley you are. Since he's a fuckin oni.

I think oni live longer than humans, in which case, SAD FUCKING TIMES. He realises this after joking you'll stay with him for hundreds of years, and you sort of blink awkwardly. Not wanting to say it before he figures it out.

He then goes on a quest to find a way for you to live longer, he even begs the shogun at some point, one of his lowest of lows in his opinion.

This guy hates leaving your side, and if he has to I imagine he'd be your personal bodyguard, regardless on how strong you are or what battles you've faced. To him you're a fragile human and he doesn't want to lose you.

This man cannot cook for his life, you have to do the food and probably work if you want stable money given he usually pranks people all day with his gang. however, he will clean and get his members to help out if it becomes too taxing.

[taintedcigs]

okay so this is probably gonna sound annoying but idc. honestly ive realized that i don't care abt "numbers". like do some of my fics get a lot of likes/rbs? yes! do some of them don't? also yes! some reach a wider audience and some don't, that's totally fine by me! the only thing that really makes me feel so de-motivated is readers who don't interact w my fics in any meaningful way.

bc i swear the only thing that upsets me is ppl not INTERACTING w it. like commenting/sending me asks, reblogging but also saying something in the tags or just like leaving something... i swear that motivates me SO SO much. im grateful that u guys also LIKE my fics and i get some of u don't want to reblog/comment/send an ask but it's just de-motivating to not have anyone interact if that makes sense?? bc thats like the best part of writing!!! to have some readers that connect w your writing and also connect w u? in some way!?! anyway im probably a bit dramatic but i love talking to ppl on here and its upsetting to see just bunch of likes and nothing else >:(

[orionsangel86]

Word to the wise that as much as I love speculation, I'm not taking any articles about Sandman season 2 remotely seriously unless they are using direct quotes from NG or the cast, or are official announcements from Netflix.

The article going around about Hob Gadling is a clickbait because those sites know how to entice fandoms and clearly Hob is a popular character.

That said, I still stand by my view that it makes SENSE for characters from season 1 who already have established actors to be reused and have their roles expanded or merged with other smaller characters because having an revolving door of new characters like in the comics just isnt a fitting way to tell a cohesive screen adaptation or keep an audience engaged.

Hob is a contentious character in Sandman fandom. But having a stupid screenrant article use clickbaity language to speculate on an expanded role for him is not a reason to celebrate or throw a fit depending on which Hob camp you fall into.

I also refuse to get preemptively upset and worked up about possible changes to A Game of You. We know practically NOTHING other than a few BTS pics from filming.

Since I'm in the middle of a rewatch whilst simultaneously rereading the comics, I'm reminded of how much I fucking LOVE this show and how much I love the comics as well (even if some of the stuff is pretty damn dated now and I loathe every and all reference to the DC wider universe - I do not need fucking Batman in my Sandman thank you very much). It saddens me when I see really negative posts about it based on stupid clickbait.

I guess all im saying is dont get worked up. And if I see a bunch of negativity on my dash im gonna be unfollowing. Sigh.

[frankenjoly]

Love's a game

fyolai + 77 | blank space (jonathan young's cover)

I could show you incredible things

Magic, madness, heaven, sin

When Nikolai got off the trapeze, Fyodor was staring at him. Though, to be more precise, he had been for quite a while. Because he had noticed, of course he had noticed; the satisfied expression on his face wasn’t just due to the way he had nailed the routine.

“Next time, you could bring some popcorn, Fedya.” His smile stayed where it was as he approached Fyodor, and the same could apply to the smug demeanor accompanying it. “Peanuts, if you wanna get all classic.”

“Any recommendations between those two?” Was Fyodor’s response, mirroring Nikolai’s expression perfectly.

“Hm. For these kinda shows, you say? Beats me, y’know. I’m more about being the performer than the audience and whatnot.” He even shrugged.

“Ah, I see, Kolya.” There was a moment of silence, in which Fyodor’s own smile only grew wider. “If I have to be honest, I haven’t had the opportunity of seeing many shows like this. So I was hoping you could enlighten me more. Not just that next time you mention, because I believe it won’t be enough.”

“Uh-huh, did I mesmerize you so damn much you wanna make this a recurrent thing?” Nikolai smiled again, from ear to ear. “Though there’s no need to make it so formal, Fedya. I’m gonna be up there pretty regularly, come whenever. That’s exactly what I meant. Bet you just wanted me to say it out loud.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

“Nah, I mind. But in the sense it’d be a delight to leave you all awestruck.” And with that, Nikolai winked.

(Also on ao3.)

[kaile-hultner]

THE SPECTACULAR LEVIATHAN

an essay about criticism and culture

ed sheeran doesn't need music critics

Rolling Stone published an article of cut content from a recent Ed Sheeran feature, in which the pop musician said, "Why do you need to read a review? Listen to it. It’s freely available! Make up your own mind. I would never read an album review and go, ‘I’m not gonna listen to that now.'"

And to some degree, Sheeran is right. Streaming services make music readily available and conjure the illusion that it's also freely given to us. We don't "need" cultural gatekeepers - such as, ironically, Rolling Stone - to tell us whether or not the newest song by Ed Sheeran is bad (that's just a deeply felt sense we hold in our bones, which Spotify or Apple Music can help us confirm at our leisure).

But like most criticism-of-criticism in this vein, Sheeran's point misses the forest for the trees. We absolutely don't need critics to tell us whether "thing good" or "thing bad," but that's not necessarily why critics even exist in the first place. In addition to that sort of mere qualitative statement, critics exist to help us understand context, like how financially deleterious the very existence of streaming services is to the artists themselves, for example, or how subscribing to a streaming service means that your music collection is never actually yours and can be revoked by the record companies at any time. Critics can help to place Sheeran in his historical context as a contemporary singer and songwriter, or offer more palatable, lesser-known alternatives to his vapid art. Critics could, if they wanted, try to situate Sheeran's songs in a political context, though I could not tell you how that would shake out to save my life.

Sheeran is not the only person to make that mistake, by any means. The idea that critics are unnecessary today except as objects of derision or agreement is popular, and the idea that criticism is only there to tell you whether "thing good" or "thing bad" is even upheld by people responsible for making sure criticism gets published to a broad audience, like IGN's executive editor of reviews.

Critics ourselves are often pushed into this narrow view of our field whether we like it or not, not necessarily out of malice but out of the harsh realities of business in the media industry. We watch as our friends and colleagues get fired from their "sure thing" jobs regularly, as outlets shutter and downsize to focus only on that which can get the greatest algorithmic return-on-investment.

Even with service journalism, the underpaid and undervalued field where writers put out dozens of how-to guides on everything from "How do I beat this level in Final Fantasy VII Remake" to "Where can I find the latest blockbuster on streaming," writers' jobs are being threatened by the looming mistake of Large Language Model (LLM)-generated content. Why pay someone to write an accurate, carefully considered guide that actually feels like a person wrote them - you know, the appeal of old chestnuts like GameFAQs guides - when you can just get a chatbot (and by extension, forced labor in Kenya) to do the work instead? At a certain level of bullshit jobs-style upper management, what's considered "efficient" is directly antithetical to human life.

But this isn't Ed Sheeran's fault, per se, nor is it really his problem. He's a point on a graph of a much broader trend.

anti-criticism in the age of disney adults

Poet laureate Karl Shapiro identified the concept of "anti-criticism" in a series of lectures delivered from October to December, 1949.1 He saw "[arguments] against criticism [as] related to a wider and more dangerous anti-intellectualism that in poetics leads to the primacy of the second-rate, and in literary politics may lead to official and controlled art." In his ensuing Poetry article, "What is Anti-Criticism?" Shapiro briefly examines the history of 18th and 19th century poetry and how it was analyzed, carefully demonstrating the values such structural and interpretive analysis upheld and how they were incompatible with contemporary 20th century poetry - and indeed, its critical apparatus.

The anti-critic takes for his quarry not only the modern symbolist poets but also the old symbolist poets like Blake; not only the modern metaphysical poets but also the old metaphysical poets; and in addition to these the polylingual poets; those who practice typographical or grammatical experiments, past or present; those who use one rhetorical figure at the expense of the other- those who are too abstract and those who are too concrete. The contemporary poet may not be tolerant of all these kinds of poetry himself, but the anti-critic would like to get rid of the lot. His measure, as I said before, is the prose semantic, and any violation of this central canon he regards as a threat to intelligibility and sanity. To the anti-critic any departure from the immediate area of the paraphrasable meaning is, moreover, a sign of wilful obscurantism. [...] A highly paraphrasable poetry is equivalent to a highly representational art, and both, in a period like ours, are liable to degenerate into escapist art.

Shapiro describes phenomena that would likely be familiar to anyone who has lived through the last decade of critical discourse around any kind of art you can imagine, from the indiscriminate uplifting of mediocre yet broadly popular "cultural products" to the bashing of art that resists easy interpretation and a sneering attitude toward the critics who attempt to analyze said art anyway. Through Shapiro we see anti-critics in those who endlessly repeat "Let People Enjoy Things" at anyone who doesn't like a superhero movie, in the throngs of gamers (and the reviewers who enabled them) who refused to let a little systemic transphobia get in the way of their Hogwarts Legacy run, and in Ed Sheeran's throwaway jab at the critics forced to listen to his pablum for less money than they should be getting for their troubles.

The anti-critic has surely evolved in other important ways away from what Shapiro observed in the first few years after World War II, just as the corporate media/art space has evolved. We see the "enthusiast" subsume more formal critics and critical outlets all the time, coincidentally as a monoculture forms around a few massive entertainment and technology corporations. In one particularly blunt example, critic B.D. McClay notes that a writer for IGN was replaced as the reviewer for the Disney+/Marvel series Loki after a single less-than-glowing review of the show. In a more recent example, replies to longtime film critic Robert Daniels's tweet panning The Super Mario Bros. Movie ranged from indifferent to derisive, with one reply telling him, "I’ll trust the reviews from people who actual [sic] play the game," together with a screenshot of IGN's 8/10 review synopsis.

We might revisit that IGN article that contends the purpose of criticism is to determine whether "thing good" or "thing bad," as it actually contends something worse: that the wide majority of things even worth talking about in IGN's eyes are broadly "good" along a sliding scale of quality from "mediocre" to "superlative." In this case, the criticism isn't even merely qualitative; it's meant to be singularly supportive or at worst ambivalent about a given cultural product. It is itself anti-criticism.

McClay (more charitably than I suspect Shapiro would have been) identifies the tendency for largely positive anti-critical writing about mass media as "a world of appreciation," not necessarily unadulterated fandom, but "essentially, a fan culture." In this dynamic, there is only people who like the thing, and the thing itself. If negativity in this world of appreciation exists, McClay explains, it does so as part of a binary: "the rave and the takedown."

an endless content™ jubilee

I remember when I first got into games criticism I heard everyone joke about the "discourse wheel" and how if you spent enough time in the industry you'd eventually find yourself back at the beginning, older, not necessarily wiser, yet experiencing many of the same arguments about a particular game or design concept yet again. The obvious punchline was someone yelling "LUDONARRATIVE DISSONANCE" and watching everyone in the discord server duck under their desks like an air raid alarm had gone off.

Since then, The Last of Us has gotten a sequel, a PC remaster, a full remake of the first game, and a whole-ass television show with a second season on the way. The discourse around that media franchise has happened in front of me not once, not twice, but like four times at this point. As Autumn Wright wrote, "there’s a new AAA catastrophe that’s weird about trans people and also The Last of Us is relevant again."

This is perhaps not the worst or wildest example of monoculture forming around us in a suffocating cloud, though. That dubious distinction goes to Disney and Microsoft, probably, as the companies attempting to gather up as much culture as they can to homogenize it, with the former going as far as digitizing actors' voices for use long after they retire in new portrayals of characters those actors first performed more than 40 years ago. Hell, it's not even the worst example in the games industry. What iteration number is Call of Duty on? Or Assassin's Creed? Or fucking Mario? Hell, we're already two deep into the reboot of God of War.

It's hardly worth saying at this point that nostalgia fuels so much of the media that we're given to consume. It's increasingly difficult to find new art or ideas in a media landscape that puts so much value on callbacks to old forms. If something isn't another superhero origin story, it's referencing a meme from 12 years ago. And it's nearly impossible to resist the ever-present pull of this strictly iterative culture: I can't lie and say I didn't thoroughly enjoy both of the above examples.

But we still need to try and cut through the overwhelm for a moment. Disney isn't a poison to the culture simply because it owns Marvel Studios or Lucasfilm. The reason for its negative impact is because of the absolute crushing presence it has in the film and television industries at large, having bought out major competitors like 20th Century Fox and nearly completely snowed out smaller film studios at the theaters. It doesn't help that the industry is consolidating in other ways with its move to streaming platforms. As Adam Conover said in a recent video about two different mergers (Live Nation and Ticket Master in the 90s and Warner Media with Discovery late last year), "one man's whims and preferences dictate which stories artists get to tell and what hundreds of millions of people get to watch."

The idea that a few rich dudes are in full control of every piece of media we consume and that the number of rich dudes who do so is actively getting smaller all the timesucks, not just for criticism's purposes but simply as someone who Consumes Content™. To my knowledge, no one has ever been explicitly asked if we want the same shit, year in and year out, only More. Nobody from Game Freak or Ubisoft ever sends out a survey like "hey are y'all tired of Pokémon or Rainbow Six: Siege seasons?" Instead, they just push them out, and let the resulting economic data do the talking: "People want more of this thing because a lot of them bought the thing when it came out." There's such a thing as too much of a good thing, especially when we're less likely (or able) to say no in the first place.

In this light, doesn't it make just too much sense that Ed Sheeran has a whole mini documentary series coming out on Disney Plus?

towards a guerrilla criticism

So what's to be done here? Aside from maybe the 🏴 most 🔥🍾 obvious 💣 (and unlikely) answers with regards to the most egregious monopolies, how can critics - who are, as a reminder, less institutionally supported than ever - or criticism even contend with Content™ backed by the most well-funded mega corps on earth and supported by hegemonically anti-critical fanbases?

Here is where I disagree most heavily with thinkers like Shapiro, who believed in retaining an elevated critical class and poetic movement with remove from the masses, and critics like McClay, who said "Opinions will become both more binary and more homogenous, and about fewer and fewer things. [...] things will get worse, whether or not they ever get better." I don't think our options necessarily have to be "remove ourselves to an academic ivory tower" or "accept that things are the way they are." We don't need to dutifully fall into line along the "rave" or "takedown" axis as McClay described.

The kind of criticism I am imagining is a criticism that is inherently and radically skeptical of (especially corporate-backed) nostalgia; a criticism that is not necessarily hostile to fans but antagonistic toward fandom as a system which undergirds larger structures of power; a criticism that is as transgressive and playful in the forms it takes as it is with the words that fill those forms. I believe we are capable of performing criticism that disappoints everyone in delightful ways.

Criticism as a weapon is not a new idea, of course. Marx is famously quoted as saying "The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism of the weapon, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses." More modern philosophers and theorists, like the Situationists and Bruno Latour, have written about the decline and possible weaponization of criticism as well. To a degree, that worries me. Talk doesn't just become action because the talker wishes for it real hard. There's a real possibility, no, a near-certainty, that anything that comes out of this will result in next to nothing changing. If everything is part of the cycle of discourse, including conversations on how to break the discourse, what hope do we have?

The alternative to facing the leviathan and losing at the moment seems to be more or less doing nothing, which to me is more unbearable than all the pranks of all the cringe-ass culture jammers of the 90s and 2000s combined. At what point does quiet dissent simply morph into complicity?

***

Shapiro, Karl. “What Is Anti-Criticism?” Poetry, vol. 75, no. 6, 1950, pp. 339–51. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20591169. Accessed 9 Apr. 2023.

[behindthewox]

日本語 [japanese]

A month ago I made a post about the planned Chinese server of WoP and my criticism was pretty harsh. I still stand by that, by the way. Since then the CN server has been put on hold.

What's appeared instead is a Japanese WoP server, as if that didn't have the exact same issues as the Chinese one did. The only thing that's different is the fact that they seem to have been less public about this launch, maybe to avoid to the criticism this time. Nice try, there... nice try.

Large companies with vast resources struggle greatly with moving their business abroad and making it work in different languages and cultures. Many of them flop, often because they don't have enough insight and understanding of the culture and language to adapt to the new and very different customer base. You can't just translate everything and assume that it'll work the same, because that's not how it works.

It seems pretty naïve to me to think that a one-person Danish company can open up websites in any language they want regardless of whether they have native speakers involved in the process or not. Especially websites that rely on writing and written communication. It takes a pretty big ego to think you can make that work.

They way WoX works is that they start with a team that set up the site and create the initial content. Then it's launched and through ads it attracts users. The users look at what's there and try things out: if the content is good, they might stay around and be inspired to contribute more, but if the content isn't good enough most users will leave. It's important that the content is well written in the language of the site, or else none of the native users will take it seriously. To most of them it'll look shoddy and careless and no one's gonna invest in that. There also has to be enough content and pre-existing activity on the site for new users to stay.

The leader of the site must also be fluent in the language, how else would you be able to lead the teams and ensure they do a good job? Site moderators are important to have and they must be fluent in the language too. Online translation services can be used, yes, but it's only a matter of time before native speakers see right through it: even the best computer translators tend to fail and make mistakes that makes it obvious that it's translated by a computer. Once a user realises that it's all auto-translated and the person on the other side doesn't speak the language at all, they are likely to feel cheated. It's pretty disrespectful to use a language without investing any time and effort into learning it, and it looks especially bad when it's for commercial purposes that generate income.

I can only assume that a professional translator has been involved. That's a fair bit of money spent on a site that has a pretty slim chance of success unless it's managed and marketed properly. To manage and market it properly you'll have to invest even more in native agents who know the market. If you're lucky you might get hold of native Japanese volunteers to do the work for free (which is how Dan has built his sites so far), but for that you need to reach the right sort of people and impress them so that they will be willing to invest their time in the site. You're not gonna impress them with auto-translated content and a big ego.

If the goal is to reach a wider audience and increase sales, I don't think this is the smartest way to do it. I think it'd make more sense to invest in marketing, maintenance and development for the sites that already exist.

But who knows, maybe I'm wrong? I'm curious to see how this plays out. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

[sinkableruby]

if you were going to see each Monogatari character paired with another character in a story which dynamics do you think would be most compelling?

trying to catch up on asks

idk if this is for just any character or other monogatari characters but i will think on both. im also assuming this is like for dynamics we havent really seen yet as opposed to just what my favorite dynamics are

im gonna say full anime spoilers for monogatari, and spoilers for other series too occasionally? nothing TOO huge but yea

koyomi: he talks to everyone so idk how i would do this. but for outside monogatari... i want him to talk to a boy he doesnt talk to boys enough. i think he should talk to jotaro from jjba part 3 purely because i think he'd be really intimidated and it'd be funny. either that or dirk strider because (homestuck spoilers) i think they could bond over creating splinter versions of themselves and almost killing said selves as well as their mutual self hatred

senjougahara: senjougahara has the tendency to dominate the dynamic of whoever she's with and doesnt take shit from anybody so i kinda wanna see her talk to gaen izuko. bc gaen is also someone who dominates the dynamic of whoever she's with (makes sense) but i feel like senjougahara would be extremely unwilling to put up with her and very distrustful. so thered be a lot of push back on gaens scheming that i think could be interesting. as for outside monogatari, i drew a blank on this so id say maybe sakurajima mai because... not only is that series just monogatari but for a wider audience, but mai is also senjougahara but a little bit to the left. i think since they both had mysterious supernatural starts to their relationships with their respective boyfriends they would start competing over whose start was like cooler or w/e for like basically no reason. i think it'd be funny. it'd probably start a little contentious and then just become them gushing about their boyfriends. how sweet

kanbaru: i think if she talked to sodachi she could be a very positive influence in sodachi's social life that she really needs. and i think she'd also do well in cutting down sodachi's pathological self deprecation if they got close. sodachi would try to like look cool in front of her junior and kanbaru would just be like woah youre taking breaks from college thats not good are you ok... and try to offer her help in staying motivated and healthy and all that. kanbaru's inner doctor can really shine lol. outside of mono first person that comes to mind is homura from madoka and they can talk about what absolute disaster gays they are (although homura is significantly more disaster). second person that comes to mind is serinuma kae from kiss him not me because i think they could have a blast going insane about bl together

hanekawa: id like to see her talk to gaen tooe (if it were possible) because tooes ideology challenges hanekawas and i think it could further hanekawas thinking if they managed to talk. its tough for hanekawa cause shes got her whole journey shes on so shes probably super focused on that and less on bonding w ppl or w/e. i think outside of the series itd be fun if she talked to oribe yasuna just bc yasuna is so bouncy energetic and childishly playful but also so annoying that hanekawa would be a little stumped and caught off balance. she'd end up having to go along with yasunas games and be kind of annoyed about it lol.

nadeko: kinda like koyomi nadeko has talked with too many people for me to feel like i can name a new person for a dynamic. outside of the series tho... shes very reserved so she'd have to talk to someone outgoing for anything interesting to happen... she should talk to baka from the wasteful days of high school girls. baka is so rude and would probably tease nadeko for her shyness but is also so genuinely dumb that nadeko wouldnt be offended by it for very long. baka would rope her along into her usual dumb shit which means nadeko would feel put upon but also get to have fun new experiences so cool.

hachikuji: im drawing a blank. maybe numachi, just because numachi is so negative and dark and hachikuji is so encouraging and positive. i dont think theres anyone hachikuji would like get along badly with but i think hachikuji and numachi might have some disagreements that would be an interesting dynamic. hachikuji should talk to phos from hnk because they could have a fun snappy dynamic with each other and their mutual silliness. and also because phos really needs someone like hachikuji in their life 😭. other than that maybe clara valac? theyre both chaotic i think they'd have fun together :)

tsukihi: should talk to kaiki because kaiki would be totally defeated by her. tsukihi brings misfortune to everyone and he knows this so he'd be really annoyed by having to talk to her. the worst part is she would probably critique his lifestyle and philosophy and not even be wrong about it and hed have no choice but to deal with it. in exchange for not bringing it up he would have to pay her off with snacks and cute clothes. shed prolly also be genuinely pissed at him for messing with karen so he'd have to lose a Lot of money and she'd make him lose a lot on purpose, not as much because she wants the stuff but more because she knows he wants the money. she should talk to suzumiya haruhi theyre both forces of nature theyd have a wonderful time unknowingly making the lives of everyone around them 1000x more annoying. they'd like feed off each other it'd be great. they've got like equally low attention spans so theyd go pursuing a new really ambitious project like every week and have a fun time with it. theyre mutually very bored i think they'd get along.

karen: karen should talk to kagenui and do a training montage with her. they'd do a training montage that's what they'd do. karen would adopt kagenui as her mentor after like 3 seconds. im not sure who to have her talk to from outside mono. maybe someone she can mentor instead of her being the mentee. actually i think itd be hilarious if she tried to mentor bocchi. like specifically in like martial arts and physical fitness. and bocchi would be like yes i can get stronger and then all the girls will love me so shes up for it but karen would be just so bad at teaching that it wouldnt amount to anything. but she wouldnt know how bad she is at it and would just keep trying to push through... bless her heart

yotsugi: should talk to senjougahara bc they are both monotone and acerbic it'd be a monotone-and-acerbic-off. who will win. (senjougahara would bring up yotsugi's old catchphrase and win bc yotsugi would die of cringe). i'd like her to talk to iruma because iruma is so sweet and yotsugi would probably be a little rude but also a little nice to him. and then she would make him do stuff for her every now and then bc he cant say no lol. she'd probably use him to pamper herself tbh

sodachi: itd be interesting if she ever talked to shinobu bc she'd be like wow you attached yourself eternally to THAT guy? lame and then she'd like openly mock her. shinobu would probably haughty about it like who cares about the words of a mere human (she does). i think itd be cute if she talked to anya for similar reasons that i think kanbaru should talk to her, only amplified bc anya can literally mind read all her self deprecation and try to cheer her up without letting her know she can read her mind in the way anya tends to. itd be very cute. sodachi would have a lot of fun spoiling her and being like a cool big sister figure. very sweet 😌

shinobu: shes not really interested in talking to people outside of koyomi so im not sure for this one. oops

ougi: i want ougi to talk to meme. the uncle dynamic would be amazing. all the better since ougi seems to dislike being compared to him. theyre both slippery vague people who tend to talk in confusing ways and i think they would have philosophical discussions that would go NOWHERE because neither of them gets to the point. i think ougi would try to critique his ideology and meme would just rebuff the criticism. and then he could bust out the uncley affection (but only in a slightly ironic/indirect way bc hes a tsundere) and itd be very cute (although i think ougi would absolutely hate it lmao). as for outside of the series i have many thoughts about these. like how i think araragi should talk to dirk i think ougi should talk to hal. they would understand each other and also them being together for any period of time upwards of 1 minute would make everyone in the vicinity have an instant migraine. and they could definitely talk philosophy together too! i also think ougi could talk to oreki houtarou from hyouka bc hes got that whole detective mystery solving thing going on and ougi would absolutely love to ask him to solve some mystery and be his watson. and of course theyd also try to lead him around into some dark path which he'd be wary of but might still fall for despite what happened with irisu. another fool for ougi to mess with. but that might be a dynamic too similar to araragis so i also also think ougi could talk to chitanda. ougi could probably pull out some kinda repression from chitanda but chitanda is just so genuine that she would handle it very well and it wouldnt turn into any kind of disaster as ougi would hope it to. really i think they could just bond over their love of mysteries. ougi needs a fellow mystery lover to talk to. (although oreki might also be a fan of mysteries too, partly in novels and stuff and partly irl, i think chitandas bright and loud enthusiasm about it could let her and ougi geek out together and itd be fun 😄)

[kedsandtubesocks]

if ur still doing ur hype up game, i dare u to do urself!!

ANDIE PLS I DONT WANNA FIGHT YOU BUT I WILL 🔪

Uhhughghhhughhhhh but bcs I adore you - FINE 👿

Okay so…uh I think maybe the main thing I like about my writing is that I have such wacky ideas lmao??

Like I still can’t say I have a specific writing style and it changes up so much but I can at least can find some comfort in my weird ass creative ideas lol

And even though I still feel like it’s a curse bcs I think some AU ideas I have are just…really too self indulgent or wont get much attention from a wider audience /: but I’m slowly finally just embracing my weird ass ideas and realizing that yeah they might not be for everyone or get attention but instead seeing the friends I’ve made and forged connections with to me is what I cherish and…

I have to thank my little gremlin brain and ideas for that so I am always going to be thankful for that 🩵

If that makes any sense LMAO!

Plus this one girl in my fiction class was super fcking rude as hell and during our workshop wrote on my draft “why don’t you write more normal everyday things?” and then our professor during our one on one meeting said he looked forward to reading what new things I cooked up and I almost cried

So yeah 😭

Anyway I’m gonna smack you with a pool floatie now andie im giving you a five second head start to hide prepare for battle 👊

[feekins]

awright. re-reading ch 7 and finishing up Trigun Maximum vol 4. thoughts. things. translation weirdness. let's go. 😈

(NOTE: I'm reading the Dark Horse [physical] and the Overhaul [online] translations side-by-side)

(Dark Horse on top, Overhaul on bottom)

what sticks out to me most - in the Overhaul, the gut-punch of "Maybe there's no atonement for me" and then a direct admission of guilt. not sure why Dark Horse left out "It was all my fault..."

loser VS murderer. interesting.

also, Dark Horse had me thinking Vash was about to have A Moment with Hoppered there, which I. never questioned. idk what that says about me or my understanding of manga Vash, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in any case, it makes sense that, as the Overhaul shows us, Vash's line in that last panel is a continuation of what he's saying in the previous panel about the Angel of Death.

to me, Dark Horse's translation here reads like "you wanna kill me? go ahead. you can tear me apart and I'll still keep going" and in that context, Vash replying with "same here" makes sense, knowing what we know about him and his apparent immortality. so the Overhaul's translation hits me HARD with Vash (who has SWORN!!! NOT!!! TO KILL!!!) remembering Rem...and then admitting to this desire to kill Hoppered.

Vash could easily choose to be the monster most everyone thinks he is...

...and that changes the whole tone of the first thing Vash says on the next page.

(Dark Horse on BOTTOM, Overhaul on TOP this time bc although both translations say p much the same thing here, the Overhaul's is more straightforward, also I wanna provide those first two panels too for added context)

Dark Horse's translation makes it sound like more of Vash's usual martyrdom - but the Overhaul shows us that this time, it's different. this time, it's "yeah, I do want to kill you, so you should kill me." which I think leads into a similar change in Vash's first speech bubble in that last panel - "before you do this to me" in the Overhaul VS "even if you do this to me" in Dark Horse.

and then, "send Knives to Hell" VS "see to Knives" - that strikes me as a case of Dark Horse toning it down in order to market to a wider/younger audience. but anyway, I like the Overhaul's consistency in translating Vash's goal - bc he's said it before, he's gonna "send Knives to Hell."

...which...has me thinking...things...which I'm not gonna go into in this post bc it involves spoilers, sorry 😅

and then, this is a weird translation discrepancy - more of Dark Horse pulling the reins back on Wolfwood's swearing BUT ALSO...their choice in wording always made me think he was being mean about Milly ☹️ which, thinking about it now, seems OOC for him. so I'm happy to see that, in the Overhaul, Wolfwood's actually talking about Midvalley - MUCH more in-character for him.

more of a minor translation discrepancy here - how VS why - but I do think "why" makes more sense, given the context.

and again, Dark Horse always confused me with this one - and once again, the Overhaul's translation makes much more sense in context =u=

(Dark Horse on left, Overhaul on right)

...not sure why we've got "has gotten" VS "isn't gettin'"...nor can I fathom where Dark Horse could've possibly gotten that "watchdog" bit... 😵‍💫

ah, Dark Horse being vague again. also "that's how close he was" VS "that's all it will take" - hellooooo, context-changing translation discrepancy...

💕 she 💕

aaaaaaaa and I do so love how Elendira can get away with teasing Knives like thaaaaat 🤩

as for the last line of the chapter (and this volume)? it's Elendira's - and another translation discrepancy.

Dark Horse has:

"Bringing about the despair of mankind...will be easier than dumping water out of a glass."

while in the Overhaul, it's:

"Pushing him to the brink...will now be as easy as spilling a glass of water."

[yardsards]

i gotta say, i really don't agree with the whole "likes are meaningless!" idea that gets passed around here.

i love when people like my stuff! it absolutely delights me to know that people saw what i made and enjoyed it!

of course reblogs are even better cuz then more people can see (and therefore like and reblog) what i made but. the end result of that is still just... Number Go Up. and liking a post still makes number go up even if it's only by 1.

everyone has different standards for what they'll reblog. for some, a like without a reblog means "i liked this, but i only reblog things i love", for others it's "i loved this, but i only reblog things i'm absolutely enamored with", for others it's "i liked/loved/was enamored with this, but i have a theme that i stick to on my blog and this doesn't fit". either way, someone enjoyed your post even if it didn't fit their reblog criteria

like, each blog has different levels of activity. some blogs are super active (are on this site very frequently and/or have a very high 'posts reblogged'/'posts viewed' ratio) and they're on your dash all the time. other blogs are super inactive (are on this site very infrequently and/or have very low 'posts reblogged'/'posts viewed' ratio). this is how tumblr works. this is a feature, not a bug.

if everybody followed those "likes mean nothing!!! you MUST reblog more" posts and changed their habits enough to start reblogging 2x as many posts, than everyone's dashboards would have twice as many posts on their dashboard. let's say a tumblr user's dashboard normally has 1,000 posts on it every day, and they spend enough time on here to see 500 of those posts; they see about half of the posts on their dash. now everyone starts reblogging twice as much, so there's 2000 posts on their dash every day, but they're still only seeing 500 of those posts (unless they start spending more time on this hellsite, which is generally not a good idea lmao)

now this is, of course, not accounting for the TYPE of posts that people reblog

cuz it *is* true that low-effort joke posts tend to get more notes than high-effort art/writing posts do.

which, in some ways, that makes sense. jokes have a wider audience, whereas taste in art is very personal. (and sometimes this effect can be amplified by people reblogging stuff based off of what they think their followers will enjoy. they subconsciously think "ha, my followers will get a good laugh out of this, i'll reblog it" when they see a joke they enjoy but "hm, i like this but i don't know if any of my followers will" when they enjoy a piece of art/writing/etc.. which, i advise everyone to try to stop doing this. not out of any Moral Obligation but bc you're gonna have more fun on this hellsite if you treat your blog as a little bin for shiny trinkets you enjoy, rather than as a performance)

and a lot of times, reblogging high-effort posts means much more to the op than reblogging low-effort posts does. like, i enjoy when my silly little jokes get notes but i LOVE when my art or long meta-analysis posts get notes.

so i DO wholeheartedly encourage people to reblog more art and writing and whatnot, rather than just jokes all the time. but do that cuz you WANT TO, not out of some weird sense of guilt

i've seen people say they've stopped liking posts at all if they're not gonna reblog it, cuz they're afraid the op will be offended. and that makes me really sad. please continue to like my posts, even if you don't quite want them on your blog! don't feel bad! it makes me so so happy when i know people saw and enjoyed what i made, even if they don't share it with anyone.

(i am saying this as someone with a fairly active blog, both in terms of original posts and reblogs, and who consciously makes an effort to reblog more art/writing instead of just jokes, and who makes both joke posts and art/writing posts of my own)

[obstinaterixatrix]

I was talking to a pal about the differences between text/subtext/metatext but something I know I’m guilty of is using metatext(/intertext)/metafiction/metanarrative interchangeably when they are actually distinct concepts, so I’m kind of thinking about how to describe it all in a way that makes sense, but some of it can be pretty muddled (especially since it’s not really a simple subject and I’m Not Actually A Literature Studies Guy). So I felt like writing out my thoughts to organize them for myself, and if anyone has any points or corrections feel free but under certain circumstances I Will Be A Brat About It (lol)

text and subtext are the easiest ones, obviously—text is what is explicitly written and subtext is what’s implied and extrapolated. I personally think that subtext can be unintentional, in that an author might not be consciously writing about or implying something, but in terms of like… analyzing a text I don’t really lump ‘unintentional subtext’ with ‘subtext as a literary device’ because subtext as a literary device is basically intentional, or an extension of the themes, etc. where as unintentional subtext is more on the meta-level of the audience interpreting the author or the story outside of the text. But sometimes the line between text and subtext can be somewhat blurred, I think.

So I’m just gonna make a random example and I’m going to make it emotionally fraught because that’s what I like to do:

“But I’ve done some unforgivable things.” She gripped her mug, letting its heat sear into her palm, then offered a blithe smile. “At this point, I’m just a lost cause.”

The ‘text’ is that she says that she has done unforgivable things, and that makes her a lost cause.

Where it gets a little grey between text and subtext is that by gripping the mug, highlighting an unpleasant sensation, and juxtaposing it with a light emotional delivery, the text expresses some sort of Complicated Feelings. Does this count as subtext or text? Eh, I think an argument could be made either way, it’s kind of both. And I’d say that even going by text alone, the ‘blithe’ expression is emotionally incongruent; it’s technically subtext in that the character isn’t *saying* she isn’t actually happy or totally cool with what she’s expressing, but it is expressed textually.

Plus, degree of subtext (intended audience inference) can depend on a wider context—for example, if it’s been established that the character likes the sensation of heat, this becomes an action that is meant to bring comfort, and it she hates heat this becomes an action that is meant to bring discomfort—I’d classify that as still more on the subtextual side because even though it’s a textual detail established earlier, it isn’t referenced or highlighted. The reader is still supposed to infer the implications even if it’s based on what they’ve learned. It could be more textual if it was incorporated into the scene—

“But I’ve done some unforgivable things.” She gripped her mug, letting its heat sear into her palm. She’d always found comfort in that almost unbearable sensation; it got her out of her head.

She offered a blithe smile. “At this point, I’m just a lost cause.”

—but while there’s more explicit text and less inference, the reader still has to connect that last dot; the act of comfort fortifies her for the delivery of her next dialogue, it’s a direct correlation. (In what’s probably an unhealthy way).

okay actually I’m getting really distracted about subtext I love subtext so much. anyway the next layer of subtext—full subtext, not the grey area of text and subtext—would be the process behind what the character is expressing rather than the content. If the character is saying ‘unforgivable’, what definition is she operating under? Her own definition? A different character’s definition? The definition of society defined within the narrative? What does the character mean by ‘a lost cause’? What does the character believe? What is she trying to get other characters to believe? What is she trying to get herself to believe? When does a character mean what they say? How can you tell? Oh my god I didn’t even get to metatext I just got so wrapped up in subtext. But subtext is such an important part of writing!! Sometimes people didn’t get what I meant when I made notes like ‘use more subtext’, and like ‘show vs tell’ is a part of it but it goes beyond showing or telling, it’s laying out a puzzle for your readers so there’s enough to notice what details are absent and what details are present. it’s about readers being able to psychologically profile a character without an answer key. I want enrichment!!!!!! I want to analyze sometimes!!!!!! There has to be enough but not too much!!!! Yeah I’m not getting to metatext I got too derailed bye

[hyunjining]

Hello, I dont usually speak on much but as someone whos also been here for an absurdly long time I too understand how you feel haha and just wanted to give a friendly metaphorical pat on the back because it really does fuck me up too sometimes. I guess ive been wanting to talk to Someone about any part of larry for a long time but for me I guess I dont feel much most of the time because im just waiting :/ I really do believe at some point we will get answers and see whether louis and harry do get to be publicly together (or broken up) but either way its knowing that at some point I will be proven Right that keeps me mainly unbothered by the crap we see day to day. Not to say that I dont get the initial "what the actual fuck are his team doing/ who decided this/ why is this happening for the 100th time" when a new stunt or absurdity comes along - this probably applies to the documentary aswell like I know ill groan and feel terrible for half a minute if Babygate is included but I guess I managed to at some point not let it get to me as like a personal problem? I guess and not feel emotionally attached, and I hope that you too could not have it plague you so much, I wish you the best haha and hope that at some point you would be able to continue to enjoy larry even during absurd times.

Sorry if this is like a rant you dont have to post this I guess I just felt bad seeing your post and would throw in some tiny speck of hope haha but yeah its funny cause I dont think ive ever really doubted the idea that I know they were together - obviously we dont know whether its the same now but since I havent really been proven otherwise whos to say im wrong if I were to believe they managed to have a beautiful long term relationship up until now lol but yeah thats all I got for now since I dont want to make it any longer but yeah im sorry you feel that way and I hope you manage to feel even the slightest bit better about this whole ridiculous circus we all managed to be drafted into hahaha

hey, thanks for your message 💕

i’ve definitely learned to detach myself from a lot of things over the years but idk lately it feels like something has changed and i don’t fully understand it? and i’m ok with acknowledging that there are things i’ll never know and that it’s not my life. i’ve always preached that on here. but some of the more recent stunt stuff/public image decisions really don’t make any sense to me in terms of pleasing fans or marketing to a wider audience or protecting their closets. like it all just seems completely nonsensical and unnecessary and it’s not fun to sit by and watch. i’m not gonna act like i’m being forced to be here, that’s totally on me. but idk i’m just sad that this is where we are now.

there is absolutely nothing in this world that could ever convince me that h&l aren’t gay or that they’ve never been together or that louis is a dad but i hate watching their images rapidly devolve for a reason i can’t begin to fathom. i’ve always been able to be dramatic for a minute and then laugh and move on but the feeling of dread has been more and more frequent and i feel like i’m doing myself a disservice by continuing to act like stuff isn’t affecting me. i don’t really know what to do right now, because i’m not happy but i love h&l so much and they’ve been a huge part of my life for so many years and i don’t know how to let that go. i feel like the doc is going to be a decider for me, but then again i have a louis concert in june lmao so who knows man.

anyway that was massively dramatic fkfjfk but thank you for the metaphorical pat on the back and for giving me a reason to vent some more lol

[lyxthen]

Also extremely happy for Villanous like NATIONAL PRIDE BABY WE DID IT WE ARE PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS!!!

And honestly just the fact that Pixelatl is hosted in Mexico and that people like Alex Hirsch and Dana Terrace and of course our favorite uncle Memo Totoro (he's from here ofc but it's worth mentioning because dude has a TWO FUCKING OSCARS ARE YOU KIDDING) have been here and given talks and all that.

Also shoutout to Las Leyendas, incredibly underrated show, I think it is genuinely really good? It's not like, Adventure Time, or any of the big names you have probably heard of, but it *is* story driven, and the story is good, and I am angry it didn't get a second season because Netflix es un puto pedazo de mierda y merece arder en los mil infiernos But. That's a topic for another day.

I feel like a lot of Mexican animation is just not fit for a wider audience precisely because of how Mexican it is. Like, Una Película de Huevos would NOT make sense to an American, you'd have to perform some amazing translation gymnastics to even get the *title* right. And also because of some racially insensitive shit with Chocolate Egg (I love him so much and he's awesome and I know it wasn't created with ill intent but that is certainly A Design Choice and like can you judge them this started as an indie animation series in fucking newgrounds). BUT LIKE, IF YOU GET PAST THAT I SWEAR ITS GOOD. BUT YOU REALLY HAVE TO KNOW SPANISH.

I feel like Las Leyendas is a lot more approachable to a theoretical international audience, even if La Leyenda de la Nahuala has animation that has not aged good at all, the other ones are a bit more solid. Yes, it is based on Mexican myths and history, and specifically in the colonial era. But I wouldn't see it as a barrier.

My personal favourite from my childhood was Nixtlé. I don't think it's based in any particular myth, and since the movie is supposed to be taking place in olmec times I feel they had a lot more freedom in terms of making shit up (context: we don't know a lot about the olmecs because they are an actually dead civilization, and were so long before European arrival. We just know they were the first people to arrive to mesoamerica and are thus related to modern indigenous peoples and cultures).

Anyway the movie is OK like nothing out of this world but it bears a place in my heart, specially because of the "bussiness" scene which is just, the absolute ridicule reality bureaucracy. It's so funny. And at least the main recurring joke (la ramita de tenmiacá, or the holdon branch) is easy to translate.

Other movies off the top of my head include the Topcat movie because anima studios manage to get the rights to the Hanna Barbera cartoon somehow, Marcianos VS Mexicanos which I hear is just an avarage adult comedy (but yk, made for a Mexican audience) and Pinocchio (NOT a Mexican movie, but the director is Mexican and how can you not be proud). Honorable mentions to every anime ever made, the Shreck movies, The Simpsons, and all the cartoons made Certified Mexican by the efforts of the voice actors.

Also love how Puss in Boots has half the same actors in Spanish and English AND it includes a variety of Spanish accents like Argentinian fucking goldocks I love her she is everything to me.

I totally forgot Ana y Bruno. Traumacore. Silly child-friendly shenanigans in the psych ward. The tonal whiplash of this movie is insane. It spent decades in development and you can clearly see the issues but it was also made with so much love. It made no money at all and if no one archives it it's gonna become lost media.

Hmmmm mmmmm mmm shit I should go to sleep

[billfarrah]

i'm scared that i'd dislike this season or that in their attempt to be "creative" they just lose the whole heart and character of the show. i mean i trust the creators and i've always been confident that they wouldn't go the *spoiler* route bec of how cliche and unlike them it is, but that and what edvin and omar say in interviews make me terrified that i (personally) wouldn't like what they do with the season. and i hate myself that since seeing the spoiler, i've been having a hard time seeing the sincerity in the s1 moments i've always loved. that said, i guess im just scared that nothing good will happen this season, but maybe that means we'll get all the resolutions in s3. this is just me voicing out whats been plaguing my mind the past 2 days lol and all this is obviously a me problem but i needed to get it out lmao

Of course, that makes total sense. We’re not the only ones who are nervous either; everyone involved in the show is nervous as well. It seems they took a lot of risks this time and risks don’t always pay off. I think season 2 will be polarizing and definitely not as universally loved as season 1, and in some ways that’s inevitable with a second season. We’ve all been invested in this show for over a year and we want to live season 2.

I will say don’t let it ruin season 1 for you, especially not before season 2 even comes out. They’re clearly trying to expand to a wider audience this season and the best way to do that is to focus on the drama and scandal, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be emotional moments too. I think they might just be saving those aspects for the actual viewing experience so they’ll hit even harder. Remember, they’re focusing on the drama and craziness now, but they’ve also referred to the season as “beautiful”, “sad”, “full of love”, and “a lot of feelings.” The marketing for season 1 was on a much smaller scale, but the trailer definitely did not try to sell the emotional aspect of the show; it very much made it look like your typical soapy teen drama. Scandal and melodrama sells and gets people clicking.

As far as resolutions, I genuinely think none of the storylines will be resolved this season, and that’s how they’re gonna get away with having so much happen in 6 episodes. I’m confident they want a season 3 and whatever happens they’ll resolve then. I think season 2 will be the lowest point for all the characters and season 2 will not end on a happy note; not an unhappy one, not as sad as season 1’s ending, but I think it’ll be another cliffhanger that sets up a third season.

I get your concerns, I hear you, a lot of us have them too, so I’d say just relax, calm down, try to just be excited we even get to see these characters again at all, keep your expectations very neutral, and wait till the season comes out and you’ve seen it before making any judgments ❤️