#this is such a ridiculous nitpick but idk. he says it all the time and there's literally nothing wrong with being a furry.

[misterradio]

saberspark needs 2 stop saying "im not a furry but-" omg dude nobody cares if you're a furry or not. i dont care. shut up

[yaksha-lover]

Hey! How are you doing? I don’t know how dark you’re willing to go, but the angst brainrot is back and I guess I just need somewhere to ramble.

Sometimes I like to think about how the prefect’s super chill reactions to… well everything, could just be a carefully crafted facade. I mean, the students at NRC are kinda awful people, and I don’t doubt any weakness would be swarmed like vultures to a fresh corpse. And a magicless, naive person like Yuu would be an extremely easy target. So, instead they just bury all the pain and pretend everything is okay. They’re not crying for their family and home late into the night.

The way that kind of repression would just build up over the year and slowly cause resentment towards everyone, deserved or not, is just delicious. Pretending to be everyone’s friend, to be the kind and welcoming prefect while coming to hate the other students’ guts. The eventual snap after one misplaced comment or one more mess to deal with, when the house of cards all falls down.

Maybe Rollo was right.

Idk, just got a lot of thoughts. Mainly based off of how Rook calls the prefect “Trickster” and the prologue almost framed Yuu in a strategist role. Thoughts?

Honestly, it would make a lot of sense. As much as we love the boys, most of them would be pretty terrible to be around and are very selfish and/or mean (with some exceptions, but that’s still a good majority of the school).

I like the idea that Yuu does start out genuinely wanting to help everyone and find people to be friends with, to try and make this experience of being trapped in another world even somewhat bearable.

At first it’s okay that Ace is a jerk sometimes, because he comes around once you get to know him. It’s fine that Riddle nitpicks and punishes the three of you because in the end, he’s trying his best to get better, to heal from his past. It’s alright that Leona is unrepentant and mean, because he has things he’s been dealing with, and you need to be understanding of his pain. Even when Azul tricks your friends and later you, when you almost lose your Ramshackle, the one place you’ve had to call home, you try to have patience, because he’s got his own issues as well, he has his reasons for things.

But somewhere along the way, you’ve stopped caring for their excuses. Their trauma is real, but so is yours. Even after everything you’ve done to try and help them, you don’t doubt for a moment that none of them would run to your rescue. That they wouldn’t take any opportunity to step on and over you if it meant getting closer to their goals. Because at the end of the day, none of them cared, no matter how much you wanted to believe it wasn’t true.

Breaking down isn’t an option - not when everyone is out for themselves, when your feelings would surely only be ridiculed at best and taken advantage of at worst. Even more than that, you’re a guest at this school. You never earned your way here like the other students and you’re magicless; the only reason you’re even here are extenuating circumstances. The headmage isn’t any more loyal than the housewardens - if any of them had a problem with you, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine he’d throw you out onto the street the second you became an inconvenience that was too much work to handle. So you keep quiet, even when all you want is to tell off everyone around you.

The only housewarden to ever seem to really give a damn about you is Vil, but by the time you get close with him, it’s already too late. Maybe if you met him first, if you’d been less scorned, you could’ve forgiven his little digs at your lacklustre presence and imperfection. He’d done much to try and make up for it after all, helping you out with Ramshackle and voicing his appreciation for you. It was more than you could say for anyone else, but it still isn’t enough. Vil’s sweetness can’t counteract the bitter taste that’s been brewing for months, so you can’t bring yourself to forgive him despite everything.

It’s not his fault, but it’s never anyone’s fault. It’s all of them, chipping away at your sanity little by little.

It’s okay that you can never fall asleep anymore, kept awake by memories of never ending fights and catastrophes to deal with. It’s okay that the same people you’ve helped barely regard you as more than something worth pitying. It’s okay that you’re reminded every day that no effort is being put towards getting you away from this hellhole and back home.

It’s all okay, until it’s not. Until Yuu finally reaches their breaking point, and starts to question if anyone is truly worth saving at this school.

[sokkastyles]

Wondering what you think of this take. Idk, kinda obvious that OP fell asleep during most of Zuko's arc lmao.

Here is the linked post.

What do you think?

I think this person is drinking the Azula stan abuse apologism 101 kool-aid because it always starts with "these specific cherry-picked scenes mean Zuko never grew out of his aggression, despite it being literally the focus of an entire episode and him stating on the show that he didn't want to rely on anger anymore. Meanwhile, Azula reacts to everyone around her with rage and hatred and violence and that's also Zuko's problem, somehow.

"He lashes out at Aang with firebending without talking"

He wasn't "lashing out," he is Aang's firebending teacher and he was trying to make sure Aang was prepared to fight Ozai, because they didn't tell him that they were planning on waiting until after the comet. That's also why Zuko didn't tell them about Ozai's plan before. Both of them were acting on incomplete information and that is literally resolved through conversation. To frame it as Zuko "lashing out" to try and prove that Zuko is just this out of control aggressive person is ridiculous. Again, especially when OP's baby Azula literally tried to kill them an episode previously.

"He urges Katara to kill Yon Rha"

I'm gonna need quotes, screenshots, literally anything that shows that Zuko urged Katara to kill Yon Rha. Because what I saw was Katara walking away after making the decision not to kill him herself and Zuko letting her. He didn't try to stop her if she should decide to kill him, but that is hardly urging her to kill and not at all a reflection of Zuko being aggressive, since Zuko just stands there and does nothing and remains calm the whole time. If Zuko were really as out of control as OP says, wouldn't he get mad at Katara for making a choice he disagrees with? Hmm?

Also like, he says to Aang that if he doesn't take the fire lord's life, there won't be a world to save. Same thing for defeating Azula. Stopping a violent person who is very much a danger to not just a few others, but the entire world, is hardly "aggression." I'm sorry that conservative brainrot designed to tell victims they're just as bad if they defend themselves from oppression has got OP wearing their MAGA hat, but that is reprehensible bullshit. Zuko did not "urge" Aang to kill Ozai, he asked Aang what he was going to do since to his knowledge there was no other way, and Aang kept coming up with obviously implausible solutions. Even Aang didn't know there was another way until he got a visit from the lion turtle. Zuko, as someone who was personally victimized by his father specifically because he refused to be goaded into violence, has a right to feel anxious about making sure his father never hurts someone else the way he was hurt, and making sure Aang, who is about the same age Zuko was, doesn't meet the same end, not only for Aang's and Zuko's protection but the sake of the world, and framing that as Zuko being "aggressive" is gross.

"Self-centerism" is not a word.

The joke about Toph bringing up her childhood trauma and trying to force a field trip with Zuko is that Zuko just spent four episodes delving deep into helping Aang, Sokka, and Katara overcome their trauma. To use this to prove that Zuko is self-centered is entirely missing the point and nitpicking something that is actually a meta joke about Zuko being the opposite of self-centered and acting as everyone's unofficial therapist. Otherwise there would be no joke and "field trips with Zuko" would not even be a thing, and Toph would not be trying to get one with Zuko in the first place. Also, Zuko is not self-centered for not immediately stopping what he is doing to listen to Toph trauma dump when everyone thinks Aang is missing right before the comet and the situation appears dire.

And again on not revealing Ozai's plan, he specifically says he thought he wouldn't have to, because the gaang didn't tell him they were planning on waiting. It's a miscommunication on both sides. And Zuko waiting to reveal Ozai's plan - and the details about his abuse - until he feels like he has to is the opposite of him making it about himself or trauma dumping. I think part of the reason he didn't want to tell them about Ozai's plan until he had to was because that also meant he would have to disclose details about his abuse that he feels shame over. He doesn't make it about himself and his pain or ask for their sympathy. He says he's ashamed that he didn't speak up. If anything, he's harder on himself than he should be about it and blames himself.

The rest of this is just like, really reductive interpretations with no specifications about what "consequences" they think Zuko should face for things he atones for in the show. And I thought Katara's "dark side" was when Zuko "urged her to kill"? So Zuko is wrong because Katara was angry at him but also wrong because she wasn't angry at him anymore? Lol what?

"Katara apologized for raising her voice at Zuko, but Zuko didn't apologize for grabbing her grandmother."

Katara apologized to Zuko for raising her voice specifically after he apologized for saying she didn't know what she was talking about and extended sympathy when she talked about how her mother was killed. See how you can just claim anything when you divorce something from it's context, kids?

The "inferiority complex" thing and the idea that Zuko has an unhealthy competition with Azula that he needs to grow out of is just utterly stupid. Azula is the one with the inferiority complex, the one who is constantly trying to prove she's better than Zuko, especially in the last Agni Kai when she realizes she doesn't have an advantage over him anymore and that sends her into a downward spiral. Zuko's goals throughout most of the show are to not be killed or captured by her, and in the final agni kai, to save the world from her. She's the one who challenges him to a fire duel, the one who thinks them fighting is "the showdown that was always meant to be." The one who collapses when she realizes she can't win. The one who built her entire personality on being better than him while Zuko learned to care about other people and the world. That is the whole point of the final agni kai and why it's a tragedy.

"He was banished in the very same day he started to learn how to be a ruler"

He was banished BECAUSE at thirteen he already knew more about ruling than his tyrant of a father, and during his banishment he learned how to embrace that side of himself that spoke out against the way the Fire Nation was running things. Being banished for having a sense of what a prince owes his people and sticking up for what was right is far from a mark against Zuko as a leader, it's an asset, and proof of the type of leader he would learn to become. That's why Iroh says what he says he's an idealist with a pure heart who must lead his people. It's not just words, it's threaded into Zuko's arc from the beginning.

[ohstylesno]

Harry’s House review

music for a sushi restaurant

I instantly really loved this. Great choice for an opener. Groovy, fun, and the horns take it to another level! I was skeptical about the scatting, but I like it in this song, I love the playfulness it has. Sick bass line too.

late night talking

This is so cool. Love the chorus. Fun, funky. Summer tuuune 🍍

grapejuice

Love the way he whispers 1,2,3 - 🥵. I wanna ride a bike during summer while listening to this song. The voice effect during the verses I kinda wish they’d drop. But that’s nitpicking.. The guitar and bass + synth bass is really sick in this and I esp love the choruses. 

as it was

Not gonna say too much about this, other than that I like it but it’s not a fave off the album. But the message from Ruby in the beginning is sooo cute 🥺

daylight

Love the effect that’s on the keys in this! So nice. «If I was a blue bird I would fly to you» idk why it’s so cute when he sings that. It’s so airy and groovy. Love the part from 1:52 and onwards. I dig this. A shot of serotonin. 

little freak

Here I was expecting Medicine or Kiwi part 2 and then I got this curve ball and got emotional instead. But I reeeally love this. The stacked vocals, the falsetto.. the soft guitar. Some of the lyrics are a bit trite like «Track suit and a pony tail, you hide the body all that yoga gave you» but he gets away with it lol ‘cause this song is just SO sweet. 

“I'm not worried about where you are or who you will go home to. I'm just thinking about you”🥺 

matilda

This song is so special because it’s so relatable for many, which is the beautiful side of music 🥰 The acoustic guitar is so tender in this, and I love how he’s singing, it feels so intimate. Like he’s singing to you on a chair in your living room. LOVEEEE the way he sings «for leaving and growing up» and «for doing it on your own» lyrics. 

cinema

Obsessed. «I guess we’re in time if you’re getting yourself wet for me» tysm harry. I love the groove this has from the get-go. Him singing «do you think I’m cool too, or am I too into you?» is so cute. He’s head over heels with his gf, to the point where he’s afraid he’s being ridiculous. Harry Styles, Mr. Cool himself, is afraid of how he’s coming off! You know he’s down bad because of this song.

«I bring the pop to the cinema» I see what you did there, H 😌

Oh, I also dig John Mayer’s tasteful guitar playing on it. A special, special song.

daydreaming

Another fave. Love THE «baya bababa» background vocals (ykwim) and Harry’s high «OOooohhHHs» throughout the song.

The bass is so good, which makes sense 'cause he got Pino Palladino to play on it. (One of the best bass players in the world who’s a staple on tour with John Mayer.) The rhythm breakdown starting at 1:52 is John’s playing for sure and I wish we could hear more of his soloing in there, but maybe we’ll get that live one day? A fave. Love this song. SUMMER VIBES ☀️

keep driving

This is really smooth, again I just love the groove.

«choke her with a sea view» - love learning something new about Harry 💀 

Could do without the drug references, but I really like this song. 

satellite

Loveee. Such a banger! THE WAY he sings «spinning out waiting for you, to pull me innnnn» and the falsetto in «don’t you know that I am right here» The vocals on this album?? ✨ CHORUS CHORUS CHORUS. ✨ So good. Love the bridge and onwards. It’s giving Kings of Leon 🔥 A fave.

boyfriends

I really love the idea and sentiment behind this song. A lot of people will relate to this. And it’s a beautiful song, I love Ben Harper’s playing on this, love Harry’s vocals and the multitrack harmonies, it’s so lush 😭 It feels old soul but it’s also current, you know? 

love of my life

Again, obsessed with the vocals. This is a really beautiful song to close off the album with. 

Overall thoughts: 

The production level is so high on this, it’s clear he’s got some of the best people in the business with him. He’s taken command of his voice in an impressive way on this record, and his confidence as a songwriter is also more clear now. As I’ve mentioned before I could do without the corny/unnecessary drug references, but alas..This is a very, very solid, cohesive album and I just love how he’s just doing his own thing and not caring about following trends. I can’t even imagine how good he’s gonna get and I’m so proud of how far he’s come and he keeps improving and improving. 🥰 Right now my faves are: satellite, daydreaming, cinema, matilda, little freak, daylight and music for a sushi restaurant! 

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Amber Bennett Don’t Owe Y’all.

If ONE MORE hooligan comes to ask me, "BuT iF AmBeR kneW wHy diDn'T sHe SAY SomEtHing?!?"

Like. Bitch. She can discuss shit whenever she sees fit and she saw fit after a life threatening situation in which this n**** STILL didn't come clean. He DID just leave, because he didn't know that she knew and just leaving was PRECISELY what he did. Didn't say, "I'll go get help," didn't say, "I didn't want you to find out this way, but..." HE LEFT and came back with some bullshit.

Negromouthandafro the ONLY one I respect, because I know for a fact hers came out of a place of concern with how Amber was being written, (and probably Moonb, but idk them like that, so idk) but a lot of these folks need to ask themselves why Amber has to understand or be sensible in times when they fucking absolutely would not, no matter WHAT they say they'd do.

Amber don't have a secret. The burden of discussion is not on her.

And that was a perfect time to be tired of somebody's shit.

If she had said, "Thank goodness you left and called the police!" He'd be lying and letting her down as we speak.

I KNOW that they were probably setting her up as that midgame of color that shows love to do with a Black girl. That is an entirely different conversation.

Both what I said AND that is true. What isn't true: Amber's reaction made no sense.

Yes, they ARE just getting the Black girl love Interest out of the way for the endgame with Eve. But, she still was valid in her reaction. Discuss the writers writing out a potential love interest of color without dehumanizing or demonizing the character herself when she didn't do anything wrong and her feelings and reactions are valid. 😤

You can be mad at the writers for putting her in that position without running up in MY place talmbout, “But Amber responded so ridiculously.” No she didn’t. Go home. If you wanna be mad at the writers, be mad that they wrote Mark not caring enough about Amber’s feelings to decline a relationship or come clean before all was lost. Instead of putting Amber under the microscope and nitpicking all of the ways SHE should have reacted differently to the situation.

What I said when I said what I said

Convo with Sis

The Conversation that y’all are TRYING to have with me whenever I am merely stating that Amber is not obligated to react in the ways that y’all want her to react, and is NOT wrong for how she DID react!

Hope this all helps! Now, leave me be before I hurt y’all lil’ feelings.

[mariaiscrafting]

idk how to tell you that now of all times, especially when a legitimate s/a victims assault and domestic abuse survivor has had her information leaked online for thousands to view and talk about without her consent regardless if the accused are guilty or not, is not the time to be cracking the "dreamblr is a dumpster fire lmao and this is amusing to me" agenda. There are better ways to critique the reaction that aren't entirely insensitive to the situation and victim.

hmmmm 🤔

this is a legit point, so I'm gonna answer it as genuinely as possible and take the criticism to heart.

ever since certain people decided to give me piles of shit for legitimately getting angry and arguing over the dream reddit thing, I don't know if yall have noticed, but I've largely shifted the way I treat discourse. generally, I treat it all with humor, even if deep down I'm simply uncomfortable or genuinely angry, I think basically to protect myself. like I'd "laugh" and talk about "eating popcorn" during the andi thing because getting legit angry at people hurt too much. so instead, I'd just push that down and pretend I was laughing at the absurdity of the fans in the situation, because that was so much easier to deal with.

all that to say, yeah, I reacted to this manatreed shit, the very little that I knew about it, laughing because it seems kinda absurd and also to protect myself. the entire situation is straight outta my worst dystopian nightmare for internet drama, and it just generally seems insane to me how people are treating this shit, I can't even explain it or go into it all..so instead of getting angry or expressing all my disbelief, I was like, how can I twist this to be wildly entertaining? how can I glean some entertainment out of this insanity? ah yes, by focusing on how ridiculous dream stans are, including rn. and they are being so ridiculous, for so so many reasons, right? the way they actually started to disown dream when the allegations were first thought to be true, when hes done so much worse shit and also all he did was supposedly tangentially know someone who allegedly committed sa; the way they all fucking wanted to believe this rando's receipts when it was popular, and then the second the tweets saying "stop believing this rando what's wrong with you guys" got like 12k likes, they fucking turned tail and started moralizing at everyone else; the way the exact same people who are like "I feel so bad for this sa victim, stop spreading doxxing info, etc" will retweet and make those threads nitpicking every single aspect of their lives; the very fact that they are nitpicking this victim's life just for the stupidly selfish sake of making themselves feel better by absolving their fave new cc of blame so they can still stan this guy they think is hot and mysterious without the uncomfy knowledge that he might be a predator (as if that's the part that fucking matters in all of this); the fact that you all got so utterly butthurt over dream calling yall gullible, to the point that people were replying w doxxed info on his priv twt, because yall cant stand to be even slightly criticized by your uwu perfect minecraft boy and need to be coddled and babied by him at all fucking times; the extreme and hilarious contrast between the shitstorm transpiring rn and the posts not two days ago trying to look into why the dt were befriending this rando, faceless cc, like yall were on fucking csi or some shit, as if the dt arent just a bunch of trolls who like messing w you idiots bc it's funny to them.

all of this is ridiculous in the way that its painful and unbelievable and horrible and apalling. but I like to turn my incredulity into something I can laugh about instead, because I'm so done with getting angry and sad and frustrated with you idiots. Like, am I fucking angry that people are basically taking this sa victim's dirty laundry and airing it out for the sake of the next cycle of their cc drama wheel? fucking yeah. but I'm not gonna go onto tumblr and start moralizing it bc it's out of my control anyways, what the fuck am I gonna do, make a smiletwt account and start telling people off until one of my virtue signaling rants gets enough likes to be noticed? what a miserable endeavor that would be, christ 🙄 no, dreamblr is within my reach and also blowing up my dash rn, so yeah, yall are what I set my sights on.

[sssn-neptune-vasilias]

RWBY vs Comic

Alright, I said I was gonna do this back when the comic first started getting published but I got so frustrated reading it that I couldn’t actually keep up with it enough go through with it. I think I stopped around issue 4 because that was when I just got angry and threw my comic back into the plastic. I figure now’s as good a time as any since I’m actually rereading it now. My whole issue with the RWBY DC comics is that they’re super canon divergent but somehow still canon material. It’s so frustrating that this is the case because we’re supposed to take into account things that happen in the comic as gospel- things like Adam revealing he’d always been genocidal, Bumbleby’s bottlecap, Weiss’ zoo animal arc, etc, but a lot of these different story arcs don’t make sense in our current canon. So I’m gonna talk about them because why not.

 Issue #1:

The first issue actually isn’t that bad- mostly because it’s just an intro to the series- but there are still some huge inconsistencies between the comic and official canon.

These two panels are a fucking mess.

1) Ruby was passed out when she was delivered to Patch by Qrow. She’d just used her Silver Eyed Warrior powers for the first time, hurt Cinder, frozen the dragon, and passed out. We were literally forced to listen as Qrow carried Ruby out of the rubble and back home, because she was unconscious. But the comic has her just arriving back home all on her own. “I came back to my dad’s house.” No you didn’t, you literally woke up in your bed after what must’ve been days of being unconscious.

2) We know Blake didn’t get to Menagerie on a little wooden boat. We all watched the episode. It was a decent sized ship with multiple crew members, dozens of passengers, and literal armaments designed to destroy Grimm. Sun can’t hide in a robe for 3+ days on this boat. This boat wouldn’t have survived a Grimm attack in the first place. Idk why they decided to draw this boat instead of just drawing the Pride the way it was designed in the first place, but whatever I guess.

RNJR didn’t tell Taiyang they were leaving. Ruby and her team just left. There was a whole scene dedicated to showing the shock and horror on Tai’s face as he saw Ruby’s letter and ran out of the house hoping to catch up to his daughter before she left. Also not as important but still relevant, RNJR left during winter. There was snow on the ground. I don’t see no snow in this panel- that tree looks real green. That last issue is mostly a nitpick- who cares what season they left in tbh. But the fact that they just wrote this panel into the comic despite the fact canon shows Taiyang had no idea of Ruby’s departure- and the fact that Ruby’s departure is actually really important to a bunch of later scenes in this show is really fucking weird.

Issue #2:

I know we know next to nothing about Raven Branwen, but holy fucking shit do I wanna believe this is ridiculously out of character for her. You’re telling me that Raven actually did come visit Yang and Tai and Ruby, but the one time she ever made her presence known to any of them was to berate and terrify Ruby the one time she’d learned anything about Summer?! Like BRO. This is so fucked up! This is too fucked up! This is straight early 90′s level villainy right here. What was even the point behind this?! This scene tells us that she felt so negatively about Summer Rose that she was willing to break her silent cover just to disillusion Ruby for no other reason than to tell her she was weak. Which makes no fucking sense because when we finally meet her during season 5 Raven has nothing bad to say about Summer at all! What did Qrow say to her after they spoke? “Hey sis why the fuck are you flying around your ex’s home scaring his daughter who just lost her mother? You realize you’re talking shit about the woman who raised your child too right?” Like, this is so wildly terrible, that if we’re meant to take this into account, I don’t see how anyone who reads these comics could say anything positive about Raven ever again. This is strike one, two and three for her entire characterization.

Issue #4:

I’ve said it already but fuck this boat.

Not so much an issue with the comic as it is with RoosterTeeth’s sometimes sloppy storytelling, but we really need an exact age on Adam. Is this man a pedophile? We know Blake is about twelve here, meanwhile- besides looking maybe a little scrawnier- Adam looks the same as he did during the show. How old is this kid right here? Fifteen? Seventeen? Was he 20 during the events of volume 1? Was he 25? I really dislike this specific problem RT has created because at no point during canon were we led to believe that Adam was significantly older than Blake or our other characters, but here in the comic we’re getting huge pedo vibes. Idk if this was RoosterTeeth retroactively trying to throw Adam’s character even further into question but... Idk man, RT y’all need to hurry up and carbon date this kid because I’m really not liking this.

I’m not gonna harp on the whole “Adam as a revolutionary vs Adam as a genocidal maniac” issue again. Most of y’all already know where I stand on this and have either made up your minds that either, yes, Adam’s sudden change towards being genocidal after being forcibly conscripted by Cinder doesn’t make much sense, or, no, Adam’s behavior is entirely in line with what little we’d seen of him up to that point in the story. I’m not trying to change anyone’s opinions on this issue, I’ve got about a dozen other posts for that. My issue with these panels specifically is that this is the moment Blake discovers Adam is genocidal. This is the moment Blake realizes that Adam never wanted peace, never wanted coexistence, never wanted what the White Fang actually wanted in the first place. He wanted Faunus supremacy- a goal entirely removed from the White Fang’s goal of equality between Faunus and humans. This is the moment Blake realizes that his ideology is so far from what it is she herself wants. If this is correct, why does Blake never mention this AT ALL when she’s talking about Adam. When the conversation comes up during season 3, she specifically states that Adam’s change was gradual. Not that he’d been hiding who he really was from her but that he’d become a completely different person from the man she’d originally known. I recognize that a lot of people say that this could be explained away as evidence of Blake’s abuse- oftentimes abusers don’t even realize just how monstrous their abusers are, even after they’ve escaped from said abuse. But this is just such a monumentally larger issue than manipulation and abuse. Adam is outright saying that he wants genocide! He’s not trying to hide it, he’s not trying to lie, he’s not trying to manipulate her! He’s telling her explicitly that he wishes he could kill as many humans as possible. But during the Black Trailer she’s still asking Adam about the crew members as if they hadn’t had this conversation hours ago! During season 2 she’s drawing him in her notebook as if she misses him! During season 3 she’s explaining that he’s simply misguided! This is apologia of the umpteenth level that is absolutely inexcusable. If I’m honestly supposed to be made to believe that Blake knew Adam was genocidal from before the events of the Black trailer and season 1 but still had feelings for him... I’m sorry but I’ve lost any and all respect for her entire character. You can’t have feelings for someone who’s genocidal- who you know is genocidal- and expect sympathy. No amount of abuse would forgive someone for having feelings for Hitler.

I recognize the comics aren’t supposed to be a shot for shot recreation of the show, but what the fuck is this panel? The frame of Adam dismembering Yang was such a good, amazing, impactful frame. The black and red framing, the yellow of Yang’s hair and weapons, the red of Adam’s sword. Why would you not even try to recreate that?

Leaving nitpicks for the end, really wish they hadn’t used “sunflower” here. That’s Yang/Ren. But again, the comic is made by people who aren’t in the fndm and don’t interact with the RWBY community at large in the first place, so of course they wouldn’t know.

Issue #5:

Why does Blake seem so ooc here. Like, the fact that she’s trying to make Weiss feel guilty for “cheating” in a “win by any means necessary” free for all match is really??? Weird??? When we know Blake isn’t above using underhanded tricks herself considering what she did to Reese during the tournament and her Semblance in general??? But whatever, that’s mostly a nitpick as well.

Issue #7:

My issue with this story is that it ends with Yang like, wistfully thinking of spending more time with Blake. But this is before she even put the prosthetic on. This is before she even got to talk with Weiss after meeting up with Raven. This is so early on in her healing process that I find it extremely difficult to believe that Yang is fondly remembering any time she spent with Blake. When Ruby talks to her during 3.12, she was angry that Blake had left her! Abandoned her! And then in the conversation she has with Weiss that happens after this event in the comic she’s still frustrated with Blake for leaving. So like... did she suddenly forgive Blake just a few weeks into her recovery and then relapse back into feeling like she’d abandoned her? Wtf is this?

Issue #9:

I know she’s obviously supposed to be drunk here, and we barely got to know her during the short scenes she had, but like... she never struck me as this kind of person. To literally forget how old her daughter is? Like...???? The same woman who was so perceptive she was able to recognize that Whitley was acting out because he’d felt lonely and abandoned by his sisters? Doesn’t know how old one of her children is? This is silly.

This isn’t the same woman we met during season 7. This isn’t the same quick witted woman who immediately directed Weiss to the cameras she’d hidden around the house when it was time to spring the trap on Jacques. This isn’t the same woman who was so honest when she admitted to her own faults just a few short months after this scene supposedly took place. You could argue that the events of this comic are what led Willow to become the person we meet later on, but like... That’s an absolutely ridiculous amount of offscreen growth you’re expecting me to just assume has happened. These aren’t the same people. This is ridiculous.

Issue #12:

This seems so ooc for Sun. Why is he literally begging her to run away and not face a problem when his entire relationship with Blake up to and past this point is him teaching Blake to love herself enough to face her problems head-on in the first place? This is so weird��and gross imo because it just feels like they’re warping Sun’s character to make it look like Yang is the only good influence in her life when that’s simply not the case. Every conversation Sun has with Blake from season 1 to season 6 is him telling her that she deserves happiness, love, and to forgive herself. There are multiple songs about this aspect of their relationship! Sun has helped Blake grow just as much as Yang has. Why is Sun taking this approach to manipulate Blake into staying silent about something that’s bothering her? On top of that, Sun’s never been the brightest banana of the bunch anyway, why the FUCK is he smart enough here to recognize that if Blake tells the truth and makes those people feel bad, that they’d draw more Grimm? He’s never been this intuitive before. It really feels like they made him smarter than he normally is just to make him scummier than he’s ever been so that we could feel that Blake’s relationship with Sun is less than her relationship with Yang. Awful writing and characterization from the RWBY DC team here

Issue #13:

This is so wrong and despicable and manipulative and terrible. Again, this isn’t the same woman we met in the show. 

Willow never made excuses for herself or her actions like this. Not once during the entire time she was on screen did she do anything like this. She knew she wasn’t a great mother and she took full responsibility for her actions- and inaction- I don’t know WHY she’s trying to excuse herself here. This is more Cruella De Ville than it is Willow Schnee.

I’m not gonna explain how lumping this “prized menagerie” story with “Faunus slave labor” story together is godawful but just recognize that it’s Black History Month and this plot point they decided to write in is not MLK approved.

Anyway, that’s the whole RWBY DC run. All in all it wasn’t the worst adaptation of an established series, but goddamn. I’d rank this up there with Eragon or Percy Jackson or the end of the Soul Eater anime or something. This is such a slap in the face by people who obviously only ever skimmed through the show for the explicit purpose of writing this series that I’ve read fancomics and fanfiction that handle canon better than this. It’s really frustrating too because this comic run is like, beloved by certain people in the fndm who are only in this for the ships, and people who refuse to see anything wrong with this series ever. The healthy servings of Bumbleby and crumbs of Monochrome and White Rose are apparently enough to make people go “fuck all the inconsistencies, this comic is great.” Cannot express how much these people make me wanna slam my head into a wall. 

I did this just to highlight all the issues I have with the run, but I’m sure other people have other issues with this comic than I do. Have fun in the comments I guess.

[lady-plantagenet]

What hasn’t already been said: The Spanish Princess 2

Episode 2: SOdden (or Sod ‘Em depending on your persuasion)

(Dont know how long I’ll be able to keep these puns up)

Catherine, like this woman, does not really fit into this era. But while this woman seems dropdead cool and at least looks the part, Catherine just...

To all those of you keen enough to have come back for another segment of ‘what hasn’t already been said: TSP’, as opposed to have just been scrolling when you see this - welcome back! (Scrollers you too <3)

To anyone who’s seeing this for the first time: what this is a list of observations, jokes, reactions and criticism which occur to me upon a rewatch. I wait every week until Saturday to do this so that I have had my fill of scrolling through the tag and aggregating what has already been said. I tried doing a whole spoof (here where I gave up 10% in) but tbh a) I don’t know the history well enough b) it’s more time consuming than I thought and c) this series is just not as funny or as crazy as TWQ, so it’s untenable. Having said that: This is not a hatepost. I’m not hatewatching this series and nitpicking on purpose but expressing my honest views and trying to find the good in it as well as the bad.

Without further ado...

First Scenes:

The baby cloth lifting into the ceiling of the chapel had nice ‘myth of the demon countess of Anjou (ancestress of the Plantagenets)’ vibes. I am 100% that was unintentional. I get this impression by the cringiness of the baby’s screams (what’s up with those sound effects? It sounded like a zipper).

Henry gives me such softboi vibes? It’s pleasing to me because it’s making me attracted to him as a viewer, but no good in convincing me this is Henry VIII.

I think Catherine’s exposition about how she feels is pretty ok actually, it’s fitting that she would feel anger.

CHARLES’ FATHER IS NOT MAXIMILIAN, IT’S PHILIP (or rather it was). ~~ A quick wiki search guyz, a quick wiki search. Ughh

Again with the whole everyone acting like Catherine is Queen. Can they cut it out? Also while we’re at it, what was Catherine’s attendance in councils even like?

The music was nice

Post Child announcement phase:

Oof I hate to say it but I lowkey wanted de la Pole back in this mother. Mainly because it would mean more Margaret Pole and by this point I am scared her storyline will fade in prominence now that there’s no longer a Yorkist subplot (showhorned as it was, it was the crowning glory of last season tied with Arthur x Catherine).

More x Maggie Pole and all of it over Seneca and learning :’). I already know this will be the best part of the episode.

‘We certainly know stoicism in our family’ ~ I guess she’s referring to Reggie? Because our boi Clarence was no poster boy for stoicism. Though could she be making an ironic reference to her father~?

Edmund de la Pole Debacle:

Well this convo at least passed the bechdel test.

Maggie and Edmund’s interactions here are touching. I know this plotline was rushed but I think it was just right to bring us back here for 5 min as a mournful throwback to the bygone era to which Maggie Pope belongs to and now continues to do so alone. It is emotionless and you can just feel how the York cause was hanging on by a tired old threat by that point.

Maggie Pole is becoming matronly now and I like this transition.

What bothers me about a lot of fans of Margaret Pole is that what they don’t realise is that she wasn’t all like ‘I want nothing to do with my family I’ll stay low and obscure’. While far more cautious than the likes of her ancestors, she did engage in land disputes with Henry VIII and was an outspoken supporter of Catherine and Catholic. Having her be a woman woth dubious loyalties towards the Tudors is accurate.

Scotland with Meg and Jammes:

LMFAO it’s like they read my mind when I spoke of how much I laughed when Meg was like ‘Alexander Steward you pig!1!!’ last episode.

Nice reference to Aulde Alliance

I like James.

Henry and Catherine on the balcony:

Was she commander of the forces? Was Howard appointed that? Regent she was, ok.

Charlotte Hope’s new hairstyles really suit her!

‘Will you please stop cursing’ agahsjdk ahah

No offence to women (of which I am one) but this comparison between childbirth and war is just... wrong. I know Starz think they are being smart but childbirth is far less impressive than winning or surviving a battle - comparing the two diminishes the bravery of soldiers. YET ,having said that, childbirth is necessary for our society whereas war is almost always futile and by comparing them, it wrongly represents violence as something inherently as natural to us as birth and continuing of civilisation. overall not a smart, respectful or accurate parrallel to make.

Meg and prep for invasion + Catherine in her weird armour:

So Margaret dreams that her husband is dead and bloody in her bed. Ughh show you neeed to get more creative. But I did like the whole ‘dreams are how our ancestors talk to us’ line from Angus Douglas.

Re: Meg in her beret... Why is Meg dressed like me going to the London shops in October? Digging the aesthetic but not sure about the accuracy.

Rich of Catherine to bring up Edmund.

Why is Ursula Pole crying??? What is all this to her really?

Did Howard just call the guard... sonny?? Is this some WW2 crossover?

Catherine - James and the tent parlay:

Did Catherine just insult Meg’s intelligence??

Also lmao I’m going to miss James.

Re: Howard saying ‘I’m not going to get insulted by a man wearing a dress’ .. UMMM Starz, you do know that just thirty years ago men were prancing about in dresses and leggings (essentially). From around the middle of the 14th century to the beggining of 16th century (if not earlier), Englishmen were also essentially prancing about in ‘skirts’.

Am I getting a weird cooperation-partnership vibe between Meg and James?

The Battle:

Charlotte Hope looks so good with the helmet, she’d really suit an english hood! Such a shame they won’t give her one!

Ewwww he’s eating mud, why?

Just standard battle scene. They are all the same to me no matter which movie.

Aftermath:

Jesus, I find the whole Meg crying over James IV so heartfelt ‘you arrogant bastard’ for some reason just came out so full of emotion. Can someone please explain why the hell I ship them more than Henry x Catherine?? Like how ??

Awwww Linna is sooooo adorable ughhh. Also this whole Catherine going into armour among all the women crooning over the children gives this adorable sense of Catherine boyish and bloodying herself out to protect their peace, idk. All I have to say is that these series is less eager to pitt women against each other than the previous. I think that’s a step forwards.

Also, good to see Catherine being modest about her victory so Henry can save face. Finally starting to seem like the real Catherine.

‘Go on you dog’ arghh ahah he sounds like some public school rugby lad egging his mate on.

Re: Wolsey cock-blocker; the real Catherine would know it was uncatholic to have sex when you were pregnant. Also Catherine is not technically speaking in confinement if she’s wandering about.

It’s nice to see Catherine sticking up for Howard, she at least learned to respect him during the battle.

I foresee Oviedo having enough of this Christian stuff and wanting to return to the berber domains (I suppose Spain is out of the question)

Knighting Ceremony:

Apparently Margaret Pole herself was made Countess of Salisbury during this same ceremony... right? @houseofclarence

Also Maggie Pole being like: “being a rebel is in my blood, or so they tell me”... gahhh what’s with these shows and the Clarence erasure? Can’t they make one bloody reference to her dad or grandad Warwick? Ugh. Especially with lines like this. Actually? You know what? Ignore my previous comment about the stoic remark and it being an ironic reference to Clarence. I put such subtlety above this show’s writers.

Catherine has a habit of going to the coldest places possible to lose her children...

Haha @ Henry asking Bessie Blount (of all people) where Catherine is.

Conclusion:

6/10

What I’m happiest about is that Flodden got dealt with in one episode because warrior xena Catherine is not what interests me most about this show. Having said that, it was a true shame that James IV died because his were some of the best scenes. This whole show is starting to feel so historical fantasy-ish because the aesthetics are so confused. Granted it’s still pretty (not eyesore like Reign) but it doesn’t penetrate.

I am as always invested in the Poles (and More) but am also starting to get attached to Princess Mary whose actress exudes plenty of charm. This show remains confused with its feminist message because while it shows women being proactive there is so much emphasis on babies that what remains with the mind after watching is this womanish birthdrama, as opposed to a show about struggles which affect both genders.

You might tut at me and say I’m being ridiculous and that it is historically accurate to put so much emphasis on women’s babies and I say that’s swell. I would happily watch a show where that element is strong (most pre 1995 historical dramas are like that with traditionally feminine characters and I gulp them up like sustenance), but if a show promises feminism and women-men being partners I want it to deliver that properly. As I said in my previous post, why do we keep trying to make women engage in acts like war as if such an abhorrent act is the only way to take them seriously? I await the day where cunning, rationality and cool-headedness will be the traits portrayed as feminist ones.

There is nothing else to really comment on... the only potentially deeper message in this is the gender discourse. I am unsure about the accuracy so I can’t speak of the historical value of the interpretation. But what I will say is that though I remain excited for each new episode... I’m just not as invested as I was in TWQ (rewatch every year dont @ me) or TWP despite their many flaws. Some characters pull me in eg Maggie Pole (Carmichael is a bae), Thomas More etc but not the whole cast like TWQ. Anyway... would be interesting to see if anything happens with Lina and Oviedo tommorow as their storyline is conspicuously slow.

[chessiesystem]

StEx Appreciation Month, Day 31: Nitpicks

SO, I have a LOT of nitpicks about literally every aspect of the show, like I could go on and on, but then this post would be the embodiment of this gif:

So for today I’m just going to focus on costume nitpicks! Like with everything in the show I have an ideal version of everyone’s costume/wig/makeup, so today I’ll just go over my main nitpicks with the various costumes and post my favorite versions!

Obligatory JapanAus picture because those tours overall had the BEST costume aesthetics.

Let’s get started:

(Also just to go ahead and get this out of the way, this post is almost completely ignoring the 2018 redesigns, like. Those don’t live in my head. I’ll just be focusing on the Broadway/Bochum/tour designs.)

Rusty:

Okay so with Rusty my main nitpick is!!! That stupid empty black space that’s above his chest plate in SO many of the costumes!! Like WHY is that there?! Here’s a good picture of it:

It drives me absolutely insane aljsldf. Luckily Bochum eventually corrected this but that it was ever there drives me up a wall.

Another nitpick is his headband… I can tolerate it when it’s paired with the hat, but I can’t stand it on its own, it just looks ugly to me. And speaking of his hat, I love most versions of it, EXCEPT for the New Starlight Express one where it was styled after a baseball cap. That bothers me on a level I don’t even fully understand alsjflds.

Anyway, I think overall my favorite version of Rusty’s costume is the 2018 version… I think the silhouette looks strange, especially from the side, like kind of too baggy? But overall it’s really cute, I love the colors and the new chest plate design, and the HAT. Also really like the new makeup!! It was looking rough for a minute lmao.

This is Peak Performance (not the Pearl…definitely not the Pearl):

Pearl:

Being as I’m in love with most of Pearl’s costumes I actually don’t have a ton of nitpicks. I think my main one is that I’m not a fan of the salmon/gold tones that were sometimes used for the bodice. For example:

I think moreso than the costumes I’m critical of Pearl’s wigs. I HATE when she has straight wigs… the only exception to this rule is Stephanie Lawrence’s and Nikki Belsher’s because those wigs were also big and fluffy. But that lanky thing Bochum had in the early 2000s? Terrible. Pearl should have big, dramatic curls. Also, this should go without saying but her hair should be PINK. Blonde Pearl actually gives me acid reflux.

Also I don’t think much attention is given to her headpiece, but I really love when they’re big and princess-y. Like, this headpiece with these earrings? I love:

As far as a favorite Pearl costume, that’s really hard because I love so many of them, but I’ll say this one. I think it’s a nice balance of pink and white:

Greaseball:

I don’t have a ton of nitpicks about Greaseball’s costume… like, it fucks pretty hard? I moreso have beef with his makeup. NONE of these men know how to blend and it looks terrible. I get that it might be a stage makeup thing that looks better under stage lights but I still don’t even really buy that because every other character blends?? Also, I don’t like how the makeup is just contouring… I get that it’s to make the actors look more masculine, which does suit Greaseball’s character, but PLEASE give that diesel some character makeup!!

I really stan the Broadway makeup for this reason. Look at this Jareth-looking bitch, he looks amazing! And it’s just SO cool:

Idk even this London makeup is pretty okay imo… anything to make him more visually interesting 😭:

Dinah:

My main gripe with Dinah’s costume will forever and always be the apron lmao. I’m very, very picky about it because it’s SO easy to make look tacky as hell. The 2018 apron is the ugliest its ever been, I’m sorry:

LIKE WHY IS IT SO BIG AND LONG. Also the silver strap around her chest is WAY too high now. I swear they tried to make the 2018 coaches more modest in the ugliest ways possible. But anyway.

I prefer for the apron to only be beneath the belt, but if it also has to be above the belt I can tolerate it if its small, like the Broadway design or the earlier Bochum designs. I also prefer when her leggings are on the more silver/metallic side than just straight up blue. Broadway and Japan-Australia had the right idea with how metallic they made everyone look.

As far as Bochum goes, I feel like the costume’s peak was from like 1997 to 2007:

PERSONALLY, though, my ideal Dinah costume would be Debbie Wake’s from the Japan tours. The color, the leggings, the wig, it’s all so… Peak! I also really love how the top of her skirt is divided into sections?? It’s really cute. The only thing I’d change is I’d remove the part of the apron that reaches above the belt and adjust the color of her wig. But otherwise I love this one so much 🥺🥺🥺:

Electra:

I have a lot of very disjointed thoughts on Electra’s costume, but bottom line is I’m rarely content with it… but my MAIN nitpick is definitely the color scheme. I know that it’s intended to be blue/red/silver but instead it often looks blue/red/white to me and I just CANNOT dissociate that from the American flag/overzealous patriotism alsjdlf, it kind of gives me heartburn. I’ve seen some fan redesigns of the costume that incorporate a blue/red/gold color scheme instead and I think that could REALLY fuck, though I don’t know how it’d translate to the stage/irl. Or just?? Design his palette after the bi flag colors??

Another nitpick is how boxy and bulky his chest box often is. I feel like I can’t criticize this TOO harshly because, in my opinion, this musical should be FIRMLY 80s, and that’s probably what counted as “futuristic” in the 80s, but it’s just a personal preference of mine that I wish his chest piece was more slender and streamlined. I think it’d make the silhouette better and just?? Look better??

I also don’t like most of the mohawk wigs… they just look… VERY cheap and fake to me most of the time. I prefer the looser/wilder wigs because they look softer and more natural.

ANYWAY I’ve found that the costume that actually sates most of these complaints for me is the Japan-Australia costume. The palette actually looks blue, red, and SILVER to me, and the body suit is just?? Sooo shiny and metallic and sparkly?? It’s so pretty. The wig is a perfect balance of the looser/wilder London wigs and the early mohawk wigs, and the MAKEUP is so good, it’s the only time I’ve seen a silvery/metallic base on Electra work and NOT whitewash the fuck out of the actor. Not to mention the base in JapanAus matched the body suit REALLY well and aaaah idk I could wax poetic about this costume all night aljsfld it’s really good and I appreciate it for being the, like, one (1) Electra costume I vibe with 😭.

Again, I’d streamline the chest box if I could but overall? This is peak performance:

CB:

Off the bat I’ll say I hate how big his shoulder boxes have gotten over the years. Like they are just ridiculously massive, it looks kind of awkward when the actors can’t even rest their arms by their sides due to it. They look like little kids wearing arm floats. Also not a fan of how much lower the neckline has gotten, and how much smaller the bandana has gotten?? His chest and neck are SO exposed now when they use to be completely covered and it irks the hell out of me.

Funnily, this one picture pretty clearly displays all three of these nitpicks:

Compare this to back when the neckline was higher/the bandana larger, he’s completely covered. He also isn’t fucking DROWNING in his shoulder boxes:

Also not a fan of the hair piece Bochum has used in recent years. Like it was just so much cuter when the actors used their real hair :^//. And I just Do Not Vibe with how straight and neat the hair piece is, CB has wild, curly hair and I’ll die on that hill.

ALSO, and this is more specific to just one actor, but I kind of hate Dan Ellison’s makeup aljsldf. Like it’s well done but it just has far too much going on. All what CB needs done is his cheeks, his eyes, and his lips— all that extra that Dan does on his jawline and with the laugh lines around his mouth and eyes is just… too much. And it frustrates me so much because he would be SO much cuter if he went with a simpler makeup!! Ugh. But anyway.

This was 100% the makeup at its best, like. Absolutely peak, thank you Thierry Gondet:

And my favorite costume comes from the 1990 Japan tour. I ADORE how this chest box is fitted and designed, and it just looks so shiny and red? Like it was freshly washed and painted 😭. Not to mention the red contour on his temples is kind of a Look:

The only thing I’d adjust is I’d give him the suspenders present in most of his costumes, because they’re honestly adorable. And, of course, he needs his Chessie System sticker. But otherwise? This is Peak Performance.

Okay I was gonna do more but this thing is fuckoff long as it is, so I’ll just stick to the Big Six. If you made it this far you’re a trooper, thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings aljsldfs.

[zeledonia]

How has your social environment and family reacted to you coming out as non-binary? Also, what is it like to be non-binary in general? Transgenders usually experience a strong sense of gender dysphoria and have to transition with the aid of hormones to finally feel comfortable. But since you do not assign yourself to any gender at all, how is it for you? Do you experience gender dysphoria too? And how are non-binary people treated to feel better in their body? Also via hormone therapy?

Two things before I start: the belief that you have to experience dysphoria to be trans is not one I share. I will have to point this out here, because it’s quite the discourse in the community, and I’d rather make my stance clear.Second, you might wanna avoid the term ‘transgenders’. We’re transgender people. Or trans people, for short. Might sound like a nitpick to you, but I promise it’ll make talking to and about trans people easier for you. ^^My home situation is a bit ??? in that regard tbh. I’m not actually closeted at all, but at the same time I’m not really out to my parents either because they’re just painfully oblivious?I’ll have to admit I never actually took them aside and told them that I’m not cis, mainly because I already know for a fact that my father is the type of person who thinks we’re all just special snowflakes. He has expressed as much, and I don’t really have the patience to come out to someone who’s just gonna insist I’m having a phase lolBut honestly? I’ve been making comments and jokes about not being my assigned gender since before i even knew the term ‘non-binary’ and I’ve found the most comfort in an androgynous presentation since I was a little kid. I have a trans flag hanging on my bedroom wall. I don’t have anything to hide, so if they ever do wanna breach the topic with me, I won’t be lying to them.I just don’t think the effort of making the first step would be worth it. I... don’t really feel close enough to my parents to care, yknow? It’s not a topic I want to get further into, but I don’t tend to show them much of who I am. As for friends, classmates etc., that actually worked out super well. Like I said, I always had a habit of saying I’m not my assigned gender since I was little, so when i found out there’s a term for what i feel, none of my friends were surprised. Most of the reactions pretty much just ranged from “never heard of that before, but sounds like you” to “that explains things”. One of my classmates was pretty excited because she has a friend who is NB as well. There’s a trans man in my class, too, and not being the only one to have to ask to be called by a different name etc made both of us feel a little more comfortable on our first day.Now, as for how it feels, I am not really the best at explaining. If I asked you how it feels to be your gender, what would you say?All I can say is that from a very young age on, it always felt off to me to be called my assigned gender. I’ve never managed to see people of my assigned gender as an “that’s us” group, the concept of being that gender always felt like I was just... dressing up, in a way. I always felt out of place, uncomfortably so. I knew it was possible for people to be trans, but thinking about the other binary gender, it also never felt like that worked for me. I was just sort of. Lost in between.When i found out there’s a term for this it felt so good. Just to know that I wasn’t being ridiculous in my head, that there are people who feel the same, that I don’t have to pick between two options that didn’t feel like me.Growing into my body was also uncomfortable as fuck. I have to bind sometimes or else it messes me up.I did think about hormones, but then I just got stuck with the question of what happens if I end up looking too much like the other binary gender. I’d have gone through all that, just to feel as uncomfortable as before.I think for me the best option would eventually be top surgery, but I’m terrified of being operated on lol, so that’ll take some courage. I can pull off an androgynous look if I put effort into it, so I’m not sure I would really benefit from hormones all that much.The more difficult it is for people to tell what my assigned gender is, the more comfortable the situation feels to me.You also gotta know, German is also a bit of a tricky language. We don’t have gender neutral pronouns, there’s no equivalent to singular they in our language. I don’t really like xe/xem and the like for myself. So I gotta shrug that bit off anyway. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to how a non-binary person could feel more comfortable. Different people will have different things that make them comfortable or uncomfortable, and what I personally experience may not be true for someone else. Rather like how not all men and women are the same.Some of us will want hormones. Some want surgeries. Some are fine with their bodies. Some are okay with traditionally gendered pronouns, others are unhappy with them.Idk if ths answered anything for you but I’m kinda late for work because I ended up answering this at like 8am sorry

[emeraldspiral]

So I saw Venom last night opening weekend but totally forgot about this draft until now.

As I expected, Venom is not good, but it’s not so much that there’s anything exceptionally bad about it. It’s just missing a certain je ne sais quoi that good movies have that make them really satisfying.

It’s more complicated than being, cliche”, “disjointed”, “tonally inconsistent”, or “confused”.

So I’m just gonna say things that I thought about off the top of my head.

There’s an extent to where I feel like it’s nitpicking to call a story cliche, because sometimes a story just demands a certain type of structure. Like, you have to establish what normal is before you can show how the plot device changes things for the main character, then you have to show them struggling to adapt to whatever changes occur because of the plot device, then start to get the hang of things, then have a big setback, then have a triumphant comeback. That I can deal with.

But then there’s stuff like how they handled the villain that just felt incredibly phoned-in.

Like, I think the first scene of him he’s giving this really idealistic speech to a bunch of kids and a girl wants to ask him a question and the other kids shush her for no apparent reason (maybe they just wanted the lecture to be over with because they were bored?) and the bad guy makes this very on the nose speech about how some people like to silence others and stop them from asking questions and I should note that the bad guy is played by Riz Ahmed and the little girl was black. So you think you just got your first hint of what his villainous motive is and you think there’s going to be some kind of political statement. Like he or his parents were speaking out against oppression or something and then they got “silenced” and now he has some radical crackpot theories about solving all the problems of humanity through like, eugenics or something really taboo and now feels like he’s being “silenced” again because everyone’s telling him he’s insane and no one’s ever gonna get on board with his plan. But no, it ends up having nothing to do with his motivation at all. It was just there so he could show his true nature as a hypocrite in the next scene when he “silences” Eddie, specifically for asking questions he didn’t like.

Riz’s actual motivation is just... I don’t even know man. Like, the reason he’s established as a villain from the beginning is that he preys on vulnerable communities to get test subjects who he just slaughters en mass in order to create pharmaceuticals to treat like cancer and stuff. So it’s like, he’s an idealist who wants to save the world, but at the same time he has like no regard for human life. Like, it’s never indicated that he’s in it for profit or power or prestige, so all we’re left with is “He’s simultaneously a bleeding heart and a heartless misanthropic murderer. But the thing that really makes his character seem phoned-in is how they don’t have an explanation for why he’s so reckless and cuts corners and tries to go way too far way too fast with the symbiotes. He’s not under any pressure to produce results, he’s not about to lose funding. He just wants immediate results because...? My best guess is that since Eddie starts the interview listing things he achieved at a ridiculously young age that maybe it’s some kind of commentary about millennials being impatient and wanting instant gratification when it comes to the changes they want to see in the world. Either that or maybe it’s something like the Jurassic Park scientists being so over-eager to do something with their scientific breakthroughs they don’t bother to stop and consider the consequences.

The rules for symbiotes are a little confusing. We’re told they need an “exact match” and we’re shown several times the symbiotes rejecting hosts. But then we also see Venom and Riot just jumping into whatever bodies they want and being fine.

Also, they establish that the symbiotes basically eat the hosts from the inside out even when they are a match, but also need their hosts to survive. Venom tells Eddie that he wouldn’t eat him because he's a strong host and he likes him, but then later we learn that he has been eating his organs after all. Venom denies it, so you think maybe they’re mistaken somehow when they tell him his heart as atrophied. But no, he really was eating Eddie and at the end that’s just resolved with Venom telling Eddie he needs to eat more food if he doesn’t want Venom snacking on his liver. Like, is his heart still atrophied? Can Venom help him rebuild it? Does he need Venom to live now?

One of the biggest issues I take with the movie is how casually it treats cannibalism. Like, it’s a PG-13 movie with cannibalism in it. That alone is kind of unbelievable. But on top of that like, it happens multiple times, and the people involved just barely react to it. No projectile vomiting and curling up into a fetal position or anything. They’re just like “Oh, Venom, in my body, bit that guy’s head off. That’s mildly distressing.”

The other biggest issue I have is that the symbiotes look like shit. Spider-Man 3′s symbiote looked way better. The new symbiotes look incredibly fake, not just because they’re CGI, but like just the concept of them. They don’t look or move like they have real physical properties like mass or texture. They look like they’re trying to go for a liquid or gelatinous look, but it comes out looking like something that would’ve been considered cutting edge 10 years ago in a pre-rendered video-game cutscene.

I liked that the girlfriend at the beginning wasn’t just there to be a part of Eddie’s happy perfect life that he loses and then we never see her again so there was no point getting us invested in her instead of whoever the actual female lead is. She actually comes back and is useful. I also liked that at the end of the movie she didn’t just dump her boyfriend who did nothing wrong to get back with Eddie. But then, they ruined it by having Venom say they were going to win her back.

Which reminds me; why even have the fake-out where we think Venom is dead? There was no explanation for how he survived. No, “Oh, I thought he was gone! But it turns out there was a piece of him left somewhere and he reconstituted himself” or anything. We just cut immediately from “Goodbye Eddie” to “Psych! You totally thought he was really dead didn’t you! JK! He’s still around”. Also, what in-universe reason does Eddie have to lie to his ex the same way the movie lied by making her think Venom is gone? Especially if he’s going to be biting people’s heads off in public as if that’s not going to get back to her?

I also felt like Venom’s relationship with Eddie was underdeveloped. Like, Venom just attaches himself to Eddie, forces him to eat until he pukes, then beats up a bunch of people and suddenly he’s like “I like you Eddie” and “Oh, look at this skyline, maybe I don’t want to destroy the earth after all”. Like, we just met Venom, we didn’t even spend any time establishing what he thought of earth or humanity or Eddie before. We didn’t even know he planned on destroying humanity until he said that he didn’t want to anymore because the skyline was pretty. The only explanation we get for why Venom likes Eddie is him saying that Eddie’s a loser and on his planet, Venom’s a loser too but on earth he’s a badass, and that’s why he wants to keep the other symbiotes from taking over the planet. My pet theory though is that the real reason Venom takes a shine to Eddie is because prior to attaching himself to Eddie, Venom was using a homeless woman who knew Eddie as a host, and because Eddie was nice to her, her positive feelings toward him were transferred to Venom.

The end credits were really cool looking and even though it’s not really my jam I thought it was kinda cool that they wrote an actual song about Venom, (sounded like Eminem, would not be surprised if it was). You know, we really don’t see a whole lot of movies with songs written just for them. Like, Will Smith used to do it back in the 90s but the only other movie I can think of in recent memory that has it’s own song written specifically for and about it, is that David Hasselhoff disco number from the end credits of GotG 2. Even musicals tend to write their songs to be generic enough that they can be divorced from the context of the movie so they can be played on the radio and you can just imagine that they’re talking about you and your non-specific relatable experience.

Also, in the end credits there was a piece that sounded so much like Invader Zim music I was almost convinced Kevin Manthei worked on the film, and it looks like he has done some work with the Spider-Man franchise, but I didn’t see Venom anywhere on his IMDB. So IDK, if it’s just a coincidence, or if the composer was ripping off/inspired by Manthei, or if the music actually was originally composed by Manthei, but was used on a TV series or game first and became iconic enough that they wanted to keep using it, kinda like how they keep using the 60s “Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can” song in every Spider-Man film, even though they also have their own original themes.

If you stick around all the way to the end of the end credits you will actually surprisingly not get trolled with a ten second scene of nothing happening like in a lot of Marvel movies. They actually played a lengthy, like five-ten minute clip from Into the Spider-Verse, which actually got me interested in Into the Spider-Verse. Although I feel like the demographic for that movie is not the same as the demographic for Venom. Venom was clearly an R that got neutered so it could be shown to a wider audience.

The film itself was pretty much entirely self-contained. There are exactly 0 references to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic universe. Nobody gets purged at the end like in Ant-Man and the Wasp, and there’s no reference to it having already happened. Nobody name-drops Tony Stark or any other Avenger, or SHIELD, or anything else in the MCU. The closest they ever get is having Eddie and his girlfriend have thick New York accents and reference having once lived there before Eddie was run out of town. I actually think they did that specifically to avoid having to acknowledge Spider-Man, the Avengers, Dr. Strange, or any other New York based hero or event in the MCU. Likewise, even though it’s set in San Francisco, there’s no references to Ant-Man either.

[disgrays-on]

perfect

Word Count: 2.1k

Pairing: Tim Drake // Reader

A/N: I listened to Ed Sheeran’s Perfect and this happened?? idk don't ask for specifics, enjoy it for its surface value thanks

You first met Tim Drake at a meeting that your father had set up between his company - your company, your father would often say and you could only give him a tight-lipped smile - and Wayne Enterprises. He had been sitting in for his father and you were sitting in for yours. Your father had clapped you on the shoulder before the meeting, eyes cold as he told you to be careful around that Wayne boy. The fact that your father felt threatened around a young man half his age should have told you plenty.

Tim was incredibly endearing, in his own rightful way. Within thirty minutes of meeting him, sat amongst a handful of stiff, pompous old men with their stuffy suits who didn’t seem know when to keep their mouth shut, you understood completely why your father had said what he had. A friendship blossomed between the two of you, one rooted in a shared disdain for disgustingly long and boring meetings and sneaking away during whatever supposed charity event the upper crust of Gotham felt like holding for that month and love for a moment of peace and quiet from the usually hectic days. Dating each other felt like a good next step.

Your father, deeply entrenched in his seemingly one-sided contempt for the Waynes, had disapproved of any sort of relationship with Tim from the beginning. You will not befriend that boy, your father spat, commanded like his words were final, like being friends with someone was the most barbarous deed you could have ever done. You refused to dignify his words with a response. Later on, your father smiles as he greets Bruce Wayne. You didn’t understand his need to be so dishonest, but this was nothing new. Nothing else seemed more aristocratic than being completely inauthentic in everything that you do. So you had opted out of telling your father that you’ve actually been seeing that Wayne boy for quite some time because it was easier to pretend that you weren’t friends than to explain to your father that you actually really liked him.

It wasn’t the most difficult thing to do. Acting like you were above someone was easy when it was what you’ve been taught for almost all your life. The media ate it up, believed undoubtedly that the heirs of these two multimillionaire companies despised each other for no other reason than the fact that the both of you saw each other as rivals. You weren’t inclined to think so. You liked to think that you were excellent, commanding attention in a crowded room was no big issue for you but you were also certain that Tim could outwit you any day. He was brilliant, even more so than you, and you wouldn’t delude yourself into thinking otherwise. Acting coolly towards each other when you were in public wasn’t a problem for the both of you (but if a meeting between your company and Wayne Enterprises ran just a bit longer than necessary, no one needed to know).

"Wayne." You nodded in his direction as a way of greeting, as stiff as you could have been, trying hard not to think about the fact that it was only two hours ago that he had been tangled in your bed sheets, his hair a mess and clothes sloppy as he snored softly in his sleep. It was impressive, just how good he could clean himself up in a short period of time. He looked amazing, not a single hair out of place and sleek in a dark blue suit. Tonight’s event was another charity ball that your father had decided to throw.

“Care to dance?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. A small, barely-there smirk and a gleam in his eyes greeted you when you turned from the group of people that you had been forced to mingle with to face him. The sight of him never failed to make you slightly weak and breathless but you managed to disguise it with a polite smile. It was a bold move to ask you to dance while you were with a group of people but it was a good cover-up to be close to each other. After all, societal expectations dictated that you had to say yes (but there was no way you could have said no to him,  regardless). You were sure that this would somehow make the headlines tomorrow. You could already feel your father’s disapproval.

“Far be it from me to say no to you.” You answered curtly, returning his smile. He led you to the central area where quite a few people were already slowly swaying together. The room was pleasantly dimmed but there was still just enough soft light to be quite intimate. The song started, soft and smooth - a beautiful arrangement of violins and pianos - generic but understandable tune for these occasions. One of your hands rested on his shoulder, fingers enjoying the smoothness of his suit while the other was gently clasped in his own. His other hand rested on the small of your back, his lukewarm fingers pressing into you. His hands squeeze yours briefly, before he made the first move.

His movements were elegant, perfectly in sync with the slow music, but there was something in him - the lines in his stature, the solid feel of him under her fingers, the careful vigilance as he led you around the dance floor - that radiated a firm resolve, a silent strength that told you that he wasn’t to be underestimated like people usually do.

“I was right,” He mumbled, quiet enough so that only you could hear him.

“Hm?”

“You look nice.” He laughed softly. You had to resist the urge to laugh along with him, you didn’t need any more scrutiny than what the both of you have already garnered. Earlier on in the night, you had been quite hesitant to attend the event, nitpicking on the littlest details that could get you out of going.

“I can’t wear this.” You sighed, cringing inwardly at your reflection. “I look ridiculous.”

“I mean,” He had said from where he sat on your bed, eyes trained on you as you examined yourself in the mirror. The outfit, chosen by your mother, looked severely unflattering on you. But far be it from you to disobey your mother’s words. He continued, “I’m not complaining if you take it off, but it might make the party a bit awkward.”

You snorted at that, not stopping the smile that spread on your face. That would be more than just a bit awkward. You couldn’t even imagine your father’s anger or your mother’s disappointment. The thought was incredibly amusing though.

“For what it’s worth, I think you look nice.” He shrugged.

“And I love you dearly for that,” You turned back to look at him, shaking your head, “But you have terrible taste.”

You smiled at the memory, “Then I stand by my words too.”

You’d like to think that you and Tim were quite capable actors. After all, everyone seemed to believe that the cold, uncongenial act that both of you put on was the ultimate truth. No one seemed to have caught on yet, or even questioned it at this point. At least you'd like to think that no one knew. You had a feeling that Bruce knew because he looks at you contemplatively sometimes, always silently, always pensive but never saying anything. His siblings though, you were certain, did not know of your relationship. You’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple of them a few times, and while they seemed like a handful bunch, they were good company. The both of you didn’t tell them but they never asked either. You always managed to act coolly whenever they’re around, even though all you want to do is laugh because they were all good actors too.

Time together alone was always hard to come by with the both of you having such irregular schedules but you two manage. He sneaks into your place sometimes, and how he manages to do it every single time without attracting attention from anyone still baffles you. You sleep over at his place sometimes - a cosy penthouse a distance away from Wayne Manor that he had given you an extra set of keys for - and spend the mornings with him, groaning about all the work that you needed to do that you hadn’t done yet. You try not to leave anything behind, or at least nothing too incriminating, because he had mentioned to you, amongst other things during late night heart-to-hearts, that his family members liked dropping by at any given time without prior notice. It was why you much preferred him to join you in your humble domain. At least you didn’t have an incredibly long line of people wanting to barge into your home.

You supposed it was only time that his siblings caught on though.

You distinctly remembered leaving a couple of your things at Tim’s place after a long day of non-stop meetings and you had been too exhausted to go back to your own home because his was closer. Amongst your things were a bunch of files that you needed to look through before a meeting for the next day, which was why that night found you unlocking the door to his penthouse. Rummaging through your bag to look for your phone, the sweet smell of buttery popcorn and the low murmur of chatter had gone unnoticed by you.

“Tim?” You called out, pushing the stuff in your bag around because you swore you had slipped it in earlier.

“Babe, have you seen my-” You stopped in your tracks when you noticed that the normally empty living room wasn’t so empty anymore. His family members now occupied the room, obviously in the beginning stages of a movie night. The mildly surprised looks that they shared would be amusing if you weren’t so taken aback. You raised your eyebrows at your boyfriend, who at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish, “Uh…”

“Busted.” He muttered under his breath.

BONUS:

“Why has your family been sending me congratulatory texts?” You asked a few days later when it was just the two of you. Your parents were still unaware but most of his family had found out instantly. You weren’t surprised that they connected the dots so quickly after you had walked in - they were an amazingly intelligent bunch - although you supposed there was definitely no other way to interpret it.

You were on one side of the couch and he was on the other but your legs were tangled with his under the blanket that the two of you shared. Your phone had been vibrating all week from all the text messages that you were receiving (it was incredible, how they managed to make their congratulatory messages sound mildly threatening). You didn’t even need to ask how his family had acquired your phone number because you didn’t think there was anything they couldn’t get if they put their minds into it.

“Well.” He shrugged, eyes still trained on the television screen playing a movie that he had chosen as he offered the bowl of popcorn to you. You furrowed your eyebrows at his noncommittal answer. You didn’t think there was literally nothing that could surprise you at this point. Judging by his lack of actual response towards it, his family sticking their noses where it didn’t actually belong probably tended to happen a lot. You accepted the bowl, plopping it down on your lap before grabbing a handful.

“You find this far too entertaining.” You sighed, turning back to the TV. There was no point in wasting time in trying to find out why or how. Better just enjoy the movie, you supposed.

“Should I be worried that you’re being so indignant?” He turned to you and raised his eyebrows, munching slowly on his popcorn, but you couldn’t miss the gleam in his eyes even if you wanted to. He was enjoying this way too much.

You rolled your eyes, “That’s not what I meant.”

He grinned back at you, boyish and adorable. Lies. It was all lies. You knew the truth behind that smile. Your cheeks warmed at it, yes, but you still had the urge to punch him a bit. You settled for a jab to his calf with your toe. He was just feeling smug because no one noticed that the two of you had already been dating for a long time.

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S4 Watchthrough Episodes 18-21

Identity Crisis: Alright episode, you have redeemed Geordi for me after Galaxy’s Child! This was an interesting one. Two officers that Geordi once worked with are missing, so the Enterprise is sent to the planet that they were an Away Team on along with an officer named Suzanna who was also on the team. So what happened? Long story short, the Away Team members were infected with something that is causing them to lose their humanity. it starts to happen to Suzanna… and it will soon happen to Geordi as well. I like Geordi and Suzanna’s relationship. It isn’t romantic, it comes off very much like a sibling relationship with Geordi trying to comfort her and it’s her who reaches out to Geordi at the end. It’s really sweet. I honestly wonder which one is scarier, not knowing exactly what is happening to you? Or knowing and only being able to wait and hopefully figure out a solution before it’s too late? The aliens also looked pretty cool. But yeah, this one was good. It allowed Geordi to show off his investigation skills and again,t he sibling-like dynamic with Suzanna was really sweet. Also major props to Dr. Crushr for again being a badass doctor who essentially saved the day by figuring out the cause. And Data being anxious about Geordi, oh honey. So yeah, solid episode~! 4/5.

The Nth Degree: Oh hey, Barclay’s back. Didn’t expect that. So what happens to our anxious-ridden officer this time. An Away Mission grants him super intelligence! Yep, really! The newfound intelligence not only increases Barclay’s competency level, but also his confidence and productivity. Compared to last time, the crew is far nicer with Troi especially being glad that he’s been more willing to put himself forward and even tells in in the cold opening to take some credit f himself. Which is always so difficult to remember when one has anxiety. It always tells you over and over that you’ll never be good enough, that no one cares about you, and it will destroy any sense of accomplishment that you have by making you feel like you’ll never be good enough. It is a horrible feeling and Barclay displays those feelings perfectly. So the intellectual/confidence boost does a lot for him and when Geordi pointed out that something’s wrong because he’s not acting like himself, he gets upset because… well, why wouldn’t he? It’s understandable why Geordi’s concerned, but Barclay doens’t want to go back to the nervous wreck that he was before this. But when he decides to essentially fuse his brain with the main computer… yyyyeah. This feels like it was based on Spock’s Brain to an extent considering the sudden intellect plot point and one’s brain gets uploaded into a computer, except far less stupid and doens’t involve literally stealing a brain. But yeah, it’s solid. IDK if I like it better than Barclay’s last episode, but it was still enjoyable and Barclay is even more relatable as Hell now. 3.5/5.

Qpid: We got a twofer for returning characters folks! Not only is Q back as the title indicates, but so is Picard’s love interest Vash from Captain’s Holiday! Q, of course, takes interest in Picard’s love life and decides on the only sensible option to see how far it goes… make Picard and the crew Robin Hood and his Merry Men, have Vash play Maid Marian, and force our heroes to rescue the fair maiden so that Picard may win her heart! OF COURSE! Boy Q should really consider a career in matchmaking, he’s essentially God so why not pick up a new hobby? XD The second I realized what having both Q and one of Picard’s love interests in the same episode would mean, I was prepared for complete and utter chaotic fun… and I am not disappointed! Admittedly going from ‘archeology conference’ to ‘Robin Hood’ was a bit of a sudden shift, but it was just fun! Word was a laugh riot, haha! Gosh, I love Vash, and heck she’d have probably rescued herself in Picard hadn’t tried to rescue her. Then you have Q being Q and gosh it was just great! The theme of Picard not wanting to appear vulnerable and essentially acting in a way that made it seem like Vash was an embarrassment… yeah I’d be annoyed if I were here too. Honestly, this whole thing felt like Q got jealous of Vash… then realized how interesting she was, and decided to become buddies cause of their endless fascination/pining over Picard. Ah, solidarity! I liked Q Who and Deja Q better and I have some nitpicks like the crew feeling mostly irrelevant and… why did the boys all get cool sword-fights but Crusher and Troi just get to smash pots? Oh right, girls. Silly me! Nevermind that Crusher’s very handy with a phaser and that they’re trained officers, girls getting in ont he action in a 90’s show when standards were improving? That’s ridiculous! Regardless, it was still the utter chaos that I expect from a Q episode and I loved it~! 4/5.

The Drumhead: Well… this one certainly stood the test of time/relevancy. So in this one we are dealing with a potential Klingon/Romulan conspiracy that stretches even within Starfleet. An admiral named Satie is brought on board to help with the investigation/interrogations… and it ends up turning into a full-blown witch hunt. It seems that they based this on the Red Scareor the Salem Witch Trials, movements that began due to fear and hatred that ruined/ended multiple lives out of pure paranoia and prejudice. Which as recent times have shown… yeah, clearly movements are doomed to repeat. When it turns out that a medical officer named Tarses has Romulan ancestry, he is put onto blast and practically prosecuted as a spy by Satie. Despite there being no evidence and his only crime lying that he had Vulcan ancestry because of the anti-Romulan sentiments. It’s somewhat understandable, the Romulans have been… well, not nice. But not only does that not mean that every Romulan is evil or without morals as episodes like The Enemy and The Defector demonstrated to some degree, but it’s no good reason to suspect or persecute Tarses all due to his background, nothing on the man or his current actions itself. He told a lie, that’s not a crime and pretty understandable under the circumstances. Picard of course is against this… but Worf isn’t. Makes sense, the Romulans are part of why he’s under the circumstances that he and his family are under now so him being Hellbent on exposing a Romulan conspiracy and any potential prejudice/paranoia that comes with it makes sense. it’s not good but makes sense. At least he snaps out of it by the end while Satie exposes herself as the horrid person that he is. She may have seemed perfectly professional and rational, but alas. Like her saying that Picard couldn’t be trusted because of the Borg assimilation? What the ever-loving Hell lady?! So yeah… yeah this is very much one of those episodes that people should really rewatch from time to time. Not only is it a well-done episode and has one of Picard’s best speeches, but the message and theme remain as relevant as ever: the spread of paranoia vs upholding personal freedom. The only way to stop things from repeating is to remember and learn from them, and if any show can remind us of those things, it’s Star Trek. 5/5.

Alright, just a few more of Season. left to go~! While there’s been a couple of misses, there have been far more hits. This may be my favorite seaosn of TNG thus far~! Still three more to go, but still! Will the last few episodes manage to maintain that quality? We’ll see soon enough~!

[alley-cat-sunflower]

Pretending to have been tagged by @yuutolovesturtles​, who left it open-ended, because I just love talking about myself. (Also because I don’t know how to make the font all tiny-like on my own, so I’d like to save this for reference…)

The Last

Drink: Water.

Phone call: My supervisor, nitpicking church bulletin details.

Text message: Received? My mom telling me she was on her way home. Sent? Confirming that I received the message.

Song you listened to: The main battle theme from FFXV: Episode Ignis.

Time you cried: Half of yesterday as well as half the day before.

Have You Ever

Dated someone twice: I don’t really “date” people, but I have had a crush on someone, gotten over it, then decided to give it a try years later anyway.

Kissed someone and regretted it: Not really.

Been cheated on: Not to my knowledge.

Lost someone special: Kinda sorta not really?

Been depressed: Almost all the time. Trying to get better.

Gotten drunk and thrown up: I’ve never been drunk or even tipsy because I don’t like alcohol enough to drink it fast enough to feel anything. Also, being emetophobic, the possibility of throwing up is one of the main reasons I don’t drink.

3 Favorite Colors

Indigo

Scarlet

Cerulean

In The Last Year Have You

Made new friends: Yes, a couple. Started talking to the best lead at the dance hall, and now we’re pretty close. Had a classmate last semester who showed me more about myself and the world around me, but he’s missing in action at the moment. Working on making friends among other classmates this semester, too.

Laughed until you cried: Yes. I think the last time had something to do with my wonderful and ridiculous boyfriend, but I can’t swear to it.

Found someone was talking about you: Yes…? What does this mean?

Met someone who changed you: Absolutely; the aforementioned classmate.

Found out who your friends are: I guess? Expanded my circle a bit.

Kissed someone on your Facebook list: I don’t really use Facebook that often, but considering my boyfriend has one, I’d say so.

How many Facebook friends do you know: Why would I have any FB friends I don’t know?

Do you have any pets: Three cats at my dad’s house.

Do you want to change your name: Not really.

What did you do for your last birthday: Had a minor nervous breakdown, nbd.

What were you doing at midnight last night: Writing things I really, really shouldn’t.

Name something you can’t wait for: Final Fantasy VII Remake!!

When was the last time you saw your mom: Like, a few minutes ago? She just went into the garage to rearrange some stuff.

What are you listening to right now: “Valse di Fantastica” from Final Fantasy XV.

Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: That’s one of my cousins, so yeah.

Something that is getting on your nerves: Walt Whitman.

Most visited websites: Tumblr, YouTube, various wikis (for research purposes).

Hair color: Brown.

Long or short hair: Long.

Do you have a crush on someone: I’m honestly not sure anymore.

What do you like about yourself: Hard to find anything these days… I guess I like that I’m passionate about things, even if they’re not exactly the ‘right’ things. And I like my writing ability, even if I tend to misuse it.

Blood type: I don’t know, actually.

Nickname: Alley or Alley Cat, in internet circles.

Relationship status: Not sure of the exact parameters as of now, but taken.

Zodiac: Wood Boar with Snake ascendant; double Aquarius with Aries rising.

Pronouns: She/her.

Favorite TV show: I don’t watch a lot of TV… Monty Python’s Flying Circus?

Tattoos: None. Might get the planetary symbol for Uranus someday, though.

Right or left-handed: Right.

Surgery: None to speak of, and I don’t want any either.

Sports: I can’t play any to save my life, but I like watching San Francisco Giants baseball. Except for last year. Last year royally sucked.

Pair of shoes: Like, my favorite? I wear the same damn pair of leather boots every day.

Eating: Just had dinner, courtesy of my mother. Salmon, spinach, and rice with mushrooms.

Drinking: Water. Considering tea, though.

Waiting: For the FFXV Royal Edition content to download so I can face Somnus and learn more Ardyn backstory. I know, I know, I’m trash.

Get married: That’s crossed my mind a lot lately, since I recently wrote a wedding and have a couple more marriage-related fics on the back burner, but… I don’t know. That’s a question for another, less unstable time.

Career: I wanna be an author and/or editor someday. I’d love to be able to make money just writing my stories. The main issue is finding the motivation to write out my original ideas instead of hyperfixating on fandoms…

Which Is Better

Hugs or Kisses: Depends, but I’d say hugs overall since there’s only ever been one person whose kisses I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Lips or Eyes: Eyes, typically.

Shorter or Taller: Not like I have a preference, but a lot of my best friends are tall.

Older or Younger: Doesn’t much matter to me. It seems like most of my inner circle are within a couple years of myself either way.

Nice Arms or Nice Stomach: I don’t pay attention…

Hookup or Relationship: Relationship for sure.

Troublemaker or Hesitant: Bit o’ both. Fuck Mars in Pisces.

Kissed a stranger: Noooooooope.

Drank hard liquor: I don’t like alcohol.

Lost glasses/contact lenses: I can’t fuckin see without ’em, so no.

Turned someone down: Roughly once a year or every couple years, for some reason, but I’ve been fortunate to avoid any… untoward encounters. I don’t go out of the house. I don’t put that much effort into my appearance. I don’t go out of my way to socialize. Where did I go wrong?

Sex on the first date: More like “sex within the first year of dating” amirite? And the answer’s still no. It might’ve edged a bit closer to ‘maybe’ within the first few months of knowing someone else, but idk whether that’s changed or not; haven’t seen him in several weeks.

Broken someone’s heart: I… might have? I don’t think so, though. The people who give me their hearts are pretty resilient. I’m usually able to convince them to give them to me platonically instead, and then we’re all happier.

Had your heart broken: Nope. I have been turned down before, but I’m the only one allowed to break my heart, thank you. It’s easier that way.

Been arrested: God, no. Never even been in legal trouble. *knocks on wood*

Fallen for a friend: Nnnnot really? Normally, they’re fairly new faces. My boyfriend was my friend first, has been for seventeen years, but I didn’t really “fall for” him.

Cried when someone died: Oh yes.

Do You Believe In

Yourself: Now and again.

Miracles: Depends on the definition.

Santa Claus: Not anymore.

Kissing on the first date: I mean, clearly it happens? Just not with me?

Also not tagging anyone, because I am the slayer of tag memes; they always end at my doorstep. But this one was actually really fun, so if you wanna do it, please do and tag me! I’m living proof you can get away with taking someone up on that offer!

[sparklyjojos]

I really like your analyses about the Pillar Men! And you said some time ago, that David Pro changed Kars' character a bit and made him more "evil". What excactly did they do? I haven't had the chance yet to read the manga. (Only need to answer, if it's not too much work)

ehh tbh I overstated that a lot, it’s not that many changes, and it’s not like manga Kars isn’t also a complete motherfucker. I’m just the type of person that tends to get really passionate about inconsequential details.

so here are my… pet peeves / nitpicking I guess, though it ended up more of a neutral “hey look at this cool interpretation difference” post lol

(under the cut because huge pictures)

 –  DavPro cut out some of the dialogue that had Kars and other characters mentioning how Esidisi’s death affected him – I remember these two, the first one is especially jarring to me because it was the only sentence that got removed from Joseph’s entire train of thought in that scene:

 – they also cut out the entire scene that implied it wasn’t just Kars who didn’t give a fuck about Santana, but that the rest of the Pillar Men were pretty meh about him too. This is how they react immediately after Wamuu says he heard that “Santana was defeated in Mexico by a weak light-creating device”:

Zero. Fucks. Given. (I’m so sorry, Santana)

– I feel like Kars’s expressions when Wamuu uses the Final Mode pack more punch in the manga. Maybe it’s because it makes a nice contrast with his usual stone face, whereas in the anime Kars has already been making over-the-top expressions since the Stroheim fight, so it doesn’t work as well? idk. subjective.

 – a lot of Kars’s backstory was added in the anime – pretty much all the scenes that show us the Pillar people as a harmonious, super nice and sophisticated race of people who all eat at one table and spend romantic evenings at pretty cave lakes and all. They were described as peaceful in the manga but we didn’t see anything about them really. (to be clear, I’m not mad that they’re more humanized; I’m pointing this out because I find it amazing how the manga was just vague enough that the two different adaptations/derivative works I know that mention the Pillar race -- the anime and the Jorge Joestar novel -- have VASTLY different interpretations of that backstory, with the latter describing the Pillar race as not really having social bonds and all. Aaa sorry for this tangent I’m just really interested in how different people see fiction differently)

 Also added: the parts where Kars is shown with all the corpses before the confrontation with his race, parts where he uses the Light Blade (the manga doesn’t even show/tell us if he had it at that point – probably not, judging by how some of the dead Pillar guys we’re shown seem to have been killed with their own weapons, holy shit Kars that’s so metal). The line “then fall”/”then perish” was definitely added, as the only lines manga Kars has in this retrospection are all the “don’t you wish to x”.

Here are some Evil Shots that weren’t there in the manga:

And here’s an interesting example of just how much more evil you can make a scene with the slightest changes in where relatively to the “camera” the character is looking, the framing and lighting (and nail length, lol): you can go straight from “this character is attempting to argue with / defend himself against some higher-standing (implied more powerful) persons” to “It’s a fucking vampire and he’s gonna eat you RUN”:

That’s… really it.

imo the anime made him also outwardly emote a lot more than serious manga Kars, certainly added the knife cat faces, and a lot of overly smug/arrogant expressions too damn early (pre-Lisa Lisa fight, after that manga Kars starts losing his shit too so it’s fair game). But it doesn’t really make him seem more “evil”, that’s once again more of a pet peeve about characterization than a legit complaint. The anime just rolled with a different interpretation, I guess, just how I think JPN dub and ENG dub both have cool Karses, but the VAs play them just a little differently and put accent on different things.

And to be quite honest I can’t really be mad at all the changes because not only did I watch the anime first, but I’ve rewatched parts of it so much I got used to this ridiculously smug Kars, who’s such a delightful bastard and whose face is always so irresistibly punchable.

Look at these smug ass fucks. Look. Don’t you just wanna punch them both? Of course you do. The anime one just happened to have more knife cat thrown into the mix and that makes me want to deck him extra hard.