#to be fair that was when i was the target demographic but still

[vampirehizzies]

2014 disney channel summer was an era

[ineffable-opinions]

BL: Romancing in a Bubble?

As always, please let me know if you have suggestions, critiques, comments or corrections.

I will only be discussing BL broadly (here I use BL as an umbrella term) and not just live action. I don’t want to club together BL and GL since in spite of their shared roots they are very different in their genre conventions, target demographics, and history. Also, I am not very familiar with it.

I consider BL a genre in itself – practically well as the way Masala is a cinema genre.

Please check the content/trigger warnings before diving into the works I have mentioned below. Feel free to message or ask.

BL / romance

I don’t think BL is romance or even a sub-genre of romance. A lot of BL is romance. Many more of them have at least a romantic side to them. There is enough overlap between those genres to give the impression that BL is romance. (I remember the discussion Killing Stalking had prompted.)

But there are plenty of BL devoid of romance. Like One Room Angel, Social Reform Season, and The Orc Bride. Similarly, BL is not exactly a porn sub-genre even though there are plenty of ero-BL.

Also, there are plenty of BL where romance takes backseat such as The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Blue Morning, Brother, Lawless Gangster and Thousand Autumns.

BL / queer

Queer – Can I call it a genre the way I call BL a genre? Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex.

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi (queer) author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

[W]hat exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

I think the problem persist even when I think of queer as a label.

Then there is the issue with conception of “queerness” itself. Like, in a way it is a limiting term. Is it fair to call normative or customary male-male erotic practices such as masti and Launda Naach, “queer” just because that’s how it is perceived elsewhere now?

To quote what Kaustav Bakshi wrote in Writing the LGBTIHQ+ movement in Bangla:

In the last decade, the question of decolonizing queer epistemologies was being raised periodically, whereby queer politics, despite having a shared agenda of toppling heteronormativity, and queer culture, albeit having a shared aesthetics, became more and more regionalist – not in a negative sense – but, with implications of difference, which can be interpreted and understood only when one subjectively experiences the ‘region’ with respect to gender, class, caste, ethnicity, physical and intellectual ability, access to education, metropolitan cultures, and most importantly, the internet.

[T]he attraction towards the launda is not understood as ‘queer’ – non-normative or out of the ordinary – but, as an integral part of sexual life, which is not always compulsively alert to the heterosexual-homosexual binary.

Imo, decolonizing queer epistemologies comes in handy when discussing BL since there are plenty of BL dealing with:

Historical BL set in eras and locations that had customary male-male sexualities and practices.

BL with special settings, like omegaverse, with different (if any) idea of queerness.

BL / other queer content

Just as Japan has gei-comi, and other manga like Shoujo Manga Artist Minamoto-San Comes Out, and Kieta Hatsukoi (shoujo), What Did You Eat Yesterday and My Brother's Husband (seinen) beside BL manga, different countries offer diversity in queer content with noticeable overlap. But clubbing them together would not be easy. Moreover, this diversity is as much cross-sectional as it is temporal (tanbi, JUNE, shonen ai, yaoi, BL in Japan).

BL the main difference between BL and other queer genres is BL’s focus on moe (affect). Anyway, BL predates LGBTQ+ acronym. It predates de-pathologization of homosexuality in many BL creating regions. Fu-people (BL fans) were creating BL before mainstream media started representing queer people in media. Fu-people battled state and its censors everywhere along with queer people. Live action BL is commercialized and we get mostly feel-good content. But that is capitalism (and the State) reaping the dividends of decades of fu-people’s labor of love.

I wonder if it is apt to consider BL the way western queer shows (such Verbotene Liebe, Queer as Folks, Os Nossos Dias and SKAM) as benchmark when discussing BL? Won’t it be better to evaluate consider BL in relation to local non-BL queer content in BL producing countries? But then, there are BL inspired by western queer culture such as Partners by Tamaki Yura.

Here are three gei-comi that I recommend for BL audience, through which they can get an insight into non-BL queer manga from Japan (created with androphilic men as target audience) :

Fire Code by Ichikawa Kazuhide

Fisherman's Lodge by Gengoroh Tagame

Coming Home by Go Fujimoto

Here is my BL versus gei-comi list which I think highlights their differences and similarities (I have included only Gengoroh Tagame’s works since they are probably the easiest to access/buy/borrow):

Do You Remember South Island P.O.W. Camp? by Gengoroh Tagame || Hitori de Yoru wa Koerarenai by Matsumoto Yoh

Arena by Gengoroh Tagame || Jinx by Mingwa

Cretian Cow by Gengoroh Tagame || The Orc Bride by Madobuchiya (Nishin)

Uo to Mizu by Gengoroh Tagame || Terpenoid by Okadaya Tetuzoh

My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame || The Story of My Brother by Ike Reibun

There is lot of overlap between BL and gei-comi. Gengoroh Tagame first published in JUNE (a magazine that contributed to BL we know now). There are magazines and anthologies (Nikutaiha BL) that offer crossover between different streams of queer content.

Similarly, there are danmei (Chinese BL) novel written by queer men such as the autobiographical works: Six Records of a Floating Life and Waiting Until 35 Years Old by NanKang BaiQi and Bei Cheng Tian Jie (北城天街) by FeiTian YeXiang.

BL / Queerness - exploration and conflict

Here are some live action BL (I’m not including some of the more famous ones like TharnType and Wedding Plan) where plot is rooted in character’s queerness and its exploration or implications:

Lan Yu – first danmei to get live action adaptation. The central conflict is rooted in the queerness of its characters, particularly Chen HanDong.

A Round Trip to Love and Irresistible Love – based on danmei by Lan Lin. These are part of a shared universe. The former has both ‘coming out’ (Cheng Yichen) and ‘leaving home’ (Lu Feng). In the latter, all the conflict is rooted in compulsory heterosexuality and we get the perspective of not only an amphiphilic (bisexual) man (Xie Yan) but also an amphiphilic woman (Xia Jun) of the same social class.

Boys Love: The Movie

No Touching At All (2014)

Udagawachou de Matteteyo (2015)

The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese

Sing in Love (2022) – Queerness is part of the main conflict.

Mood Indigo

Life: Senjou no Bokura

Light on Me

I don’t keep track of these things usually, so this is based off memory.

In Japan, most BL has dealt with the struggles of being queer in a largely heterosexist society since the days of tanbi and shonen-ai (such as Zankoku Na Kami Ga Shihai Suru by Hagio Moto). JUNE gained notoriety for focusing on it and yaoi boom was movement away from that. Then yaoi gained notoriety for existing in a bubble. When BL started to treat heterosexism in society as a part of the narrative, it garnered praise for being ‘transformative’.

BL has managed to carry within it different modes of identity and queerness.

Take Okane ga Nai (No Money) by Hitoyo Shinozaki and Toru Kousaka for example.

It is often held up as the epitome of all that is wrong with BL (or yaoi as anglophone fandom calls it). What’s less talked about is the main character, Ayase Yukiya’s queer angst and his exploration of identity that spans several volumes of the manga series. Kano on the other hand doesn’t struggle with his identity at all since his attraction to Ayase is driven by a very strong, initially unreciprocated emotional connection dependency (formed when his father died and he was at his lowest). For him, sexuality is merely a form of expression of his attraction for Ayase. Therefore, it does not inform his identity in anyway.

Within cannon, Someya and Honda’s pairing offer contrast to Ayase and Kano’s pairing. In a way, Kano and Someya have post-queer and pre-queer identities, respectively. Someya is a self-actualized person who mentors other queer characters (club staff, Ayase, Honda, Kano). There is a lot of give and take that happens between Ayase and all the queer people he meets at Someya’s club. Ayase's and Honda’s struggles with identity and sexuality are juxtaposed with Kano's and Someya's self-assured disposition.

That is also why I don’t think I Told Sunset About You stands out much. It can easily fit into the BL fold because there are plenty of BL that approached the same theme as I Told Sunset About You in a similar fashion (including these live action BL: His - Koisuru Tsumori Nante Nakatta, Life: Senjou no Bokura and The Cornered Mouse Dreams of Cheese).  

I recommend the danmei novel Sissy by Shui QianCheng, the author of the works Beloved Enemy, My Stand-In and Meet You at the Blossom are based on, for a more detailed exploration of heterosexism, including femmephobia and homophobia.

Sissy, Beloved Enemy and Professional Body Double (the novel My Stand-in is based on) are all part of 188 group (a shared universe of novels).

There are plenty of other BL from other region that are focus on themes such as heterosexism and compulsory heterosexuality. Here is such a one-shot: Romantic by Motoni Modoru (part of the anthology Tanbishugi).

BL / terms

I like BL and associated terms like danmei because of the culture and the history associated with those terms. Tanbi and danmei are different readings of same characters 耽美 but they represent very different things. Shonen-ai literally translate to boy(s) love but that term (or BRM (boys’ romantic manga) as Emiko Nozawa puts it) carries within it so much history and specific artistic styles and sensibilities. Waai is derived from yaoi/yuri but there are fu-cultural processes, very different from that of yaoi creation, behind the production of Y-novels. I learned a lot from exploring these words alone.

[david-talks-sw]

At what point do you ask yourself if the Prequels did this to itself.

Sure having Gen X creatives probably doesn’t help. But I still see a lot of younger folks and prequel kids have a “the Jedi we’re wrong” narrative. We can argue whether or not it’s because of those Gen X creators sure.

But a film or film needs to speak for itself and convey the ideas of the creative and not have people research what he or she says. It can be fun sure but at some point the film needs to do the work.

Course if you think the film does the work that also is a debate worth having. But the fact that we still have this debate at all must say something and I don’t it’s simple as “older fans don’t get it” maybe that’s part of it but I still think there is something about the prequel’s execution to be desired.

Guessing you're the same anon from this post.

It's not as simple as "older fans don't get it", but that is the starting point of the issue, because the older fans are the ones who generated the content that the Prequel kids would go on consuming.

And you can see a trend in all Star Wars merchandise. Around 1999 to 2005? The marketing, the books, the comics, all tend to frame the Jedi in a positive light, but more importantly focus on the intended narrative, that Anakin brought this down on himself.

And the haters, well, they're arguing that the Jedi are a bunch of idiots and incompetents, that Anakin is whiny and changes his mind and joins the Dark Side to kill the Jedi on a whim.

These are very uncharitable reads but at least they track with the intended narrative.

The Jedi are always playing catch-up, calling them "incompetent" is tough but fair.

Anakin is whiny, arrogant and petulant but he's a teenager. That's how they are. That's the point: he's a teenager and he's trying to get married and settle down and have a family, etc, "because i love her and she loves me" when even the woman he's in love with tells him "that's not how things work, buddy, there's other factors, this will spell out destruction for everyone". Eventually she gives in, but that doesn't make it any less destructive.

Anakin does turn to the Dark Side immediately. That's how scared he is. That's how traumatized he is. He hasn't slept in days and he's not thinking straight, he's scared shitless and he's panicking and here's this space sorcerer who says he can stop people from fucking dying?? Of course he'll join.

But the other thing is... those are criticisms coming from an adult perspective. AKA not the intended viewer. Cuz I sure wasn't thinking any of that when I was a kid. I was deep in the story and going along with it. I have a friend whose kid watched the films first, same deal, he's not asking that.

These are movies meant for kids. Is the plot slightly more complex than your average fairy tale? It is. But it remains a fairy tale in, especially considering its target demographic.

And this fairy tale was made by an experimental indie filmmaker from the Baby Boomer generation with a background in anthropology (hence why there's so many mythological callbacks in the films), cinema vérité documentary filmmaking (explaining the cinematography of the Prequels) and editing.

It reflects who he is and what his values are. He's ahead of the curb in his way of thinking, but some of his values reflect the generation he was a part of.

Finally, the films reflect a particular style he's emulating, the 30s matinee serial. Everyone speaks a certain way, sometimes it's bland, sometimes it's straight up corny, but it's all on purpose.

These films kept being scrutinized by people who saw them as "blockbuster scifi films" and reviewed/analyzed them as such.

They're not. They're indie movies with a big budget. They're fairy tales in space.

They're this weird little niche thing that this funny weirdo from Modesto with a fascination for pyschological motifs in mythology came up with. Remember: the first Star Wars movie was released with an expectation from everyone, including Lucas himself, that it'd be panned and despised.

As they years go on, a lot of the adults who hated the Prequels try to do the decent thing and find a way to like them... but the story seems so stupid to them, as it is.

But then they either think or come across an interpretation, a prism through which to see the Prequels... that - holy shit - actually makes them better, and have more depth. The theory is... 

What if Jar Jar is secretly a Sith Lord?

What if the Prequel Jedi are meant to come across as dispassionate? I mean, isn’t that what being a Jedi is, apparently? You purge yourself of attachments aka emotions, and act only logically. 

Wow, that… that actually makes the Prequels sound better. Like, think of the implications: 

The Jedi are too systemic, they’re more prone to violence than they’re supposed to be, they’re meddling with politics, and if you read the EU, they’re essentially kidnapping babies, brainwashing them, indoctrinating them, and if they don’t pass the tests then they become farmers or get kicked out. They’re high and mighty assholes who preach peace but also frequently get into fights. Also, to become a Jedi, you need to have a high enough midi-chlorian count which shows how overly-organized they’ve become, rather than allowing themselves to ‘feel’. 

Qui-Gon is not just a maverick: he’s ahead of the curb. I mean, he’s the first guy to become a Force Ghost, he’s gotta be doing something right that the others aren’t, right? Also, he’s got a love interest, he gets angry when she gets killed. Y’know, a human reaction? Like the one Anakin has and tells himself he needs to repress, like a Jedi apparently would? 

And you know what? Maybe that’s the problem that makes Anakin go to the Dark Side: these guys took a 9-year-old slave and forced him to repress his emotions until he finally cracked. He just wouldn’t fit in the mold, they kept pushing, until he finally broke. Sure, Palpatine leverages Padmé’s life, but Anakin would never have been in that situation if the Jedi had been compassionate enough to notice he was in pain and distress. Yoda literally tells him to “rejoice” at the thought of someone dying. What kind of idiotic advice is that? It’s clear, the Jedi are no better than the Sith, they’re just two sides of a different coin. One feels too much, the other doesn’t feel at all. 

Holy shit… this is all making so much sense…! The Prequels might actually be secretly good! Or if not good, at least more coherent, now! 

And oh! Oh! That’s what makes Luke special! Cuz yes, Luke is special again, thanks to this interpretation! 

He finds a middle ground between the unfeeling Jedi and the Sith, who have become slaves to their emotions. He uses the Dark Side to beat Vader, but uses it like a tool, keeps himself in control (like some sort of Jedi in the middle... like… a gray… Jedi). Like, sure, Anakin can be the Chosen One, whatever, but Luke? Luke has found the balance, he succeeded where Obi-Wan, Yoda (who wanted Vader dead instead of believing he could be redeemed) and the other Prequel Jedi failed. And the EU books that follow Return of the Jedi seem to confirm this, as you can get married within the New Jedi Order, and Luke can use Force Lightning and he can take on an army of Yuhzan Vong by himself!

Wow. You know what? For all their faults, the Prequels make sense. Maybe Lucas is a genius after all.

Some of the people are in a position where they can create new Star Wars content. So they set out to fix something that, in their view, was broken... but that from Lucas' POV, wasn't. Some of them think they're setting out to clarify a narrative (but are actually focusing on an aspect that wasn't meant to be scrutinized and challenged that deeply in the intended narrative).

And they crank out this content, because Lucas didn't particularly give a fuck about the EU. When they have the chance, they push the new narrative, and nobody stops it because, hey, at least they're engaging with the material, and the original narrative was stupid anyway.

What happens? The Prequel kids grow up with this content being pushed on them more and more.

And they're immersed, right? So when a new book makes Obi-Wan come across as an asshole, they don't think "Obi-Wan would never say that" they go "oh shit, turns out Obi-Wan's an asshole!"

So now THAT generation, that's just going by the canon that was put out post-movies, is slowly but surely growing up with the same interpretation (me included).

There's also a more psychology-aware culture, and more and more Anakin comes across as someone who's being mentally abused by the Jedi. He's got some sort of mental disorder, he's socially anxious. He's not whiny, he's crying out for help. Those values of the Jedi (that Lucas shares)? They're actually weird and archaic!

So that whole aspect gets thrown into the mix.

Fast-forward to today, and the newest generation of fans grows up with "the Prequels show the Fall of the Jedi" as common knowledge, and the High Republic, New Jedi Order and Dawn of the Jedi is where it's at. Those Prequel Jedi are real dogmatic, tight-assed fuck-ups, wow, amirite?

TLDR:

No, I don't think the Prequel Trilogy did it to itself. I think it accomplished exactly what it wanted to for the people it was meant to do it for (kids).

It's just that a bunch of people came right after it and retconned the fuck out of it, then proceeded to say "yeah, it was always this way, even the original author said so" when he didn't.

My stance, as usual, is best summarized by this metaphor:

[darklydeliciousdesires]

Light on the Darkside - Chapter Thirty + Epilogue.

Well, we've reached the end, besties. Thanks to the few of you who stuck with it, it means the world to me. I hated having to say goodbye to James and Ella, as well as the rest of the characters, too, but all good things must come to an end and I hope you'll agree that I gave them a fitting send off.

Previous chapters - One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Twenty One Twenty Two Twenty Three Twenty Four Twenty Five Twenty Six Twenty Seven Twenty Eight Twenty Nine

Tag list - In the comments. Please DM to be added/removed.

Words - 5,460

Warnings - 18+ throughout. Topics cover depression, suicide and eating disorders. Minors DNI!

Two years later 

“Nah bro, can’t do it.” 

“But why, though?” 

Kitt gesticulated wildly across the garage, to where four out of five members of Nocturnal Descent all sat in a row, each trying their hardest not to laugh. “Because that’s one hell of a fucking audience! Playing to our other mates is one thing, but them? Nah.” 

Snedders was the first to speak. “Aw, Kitt man. How long you known us all for now, eh? What do you think we’re gonna do, sit here and piss laughing? Nah. Just run through and we’ll give you honest feedback.” 

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” the lad continued, Lyra rolling her eyes. 

“Mate, come on,” she spoke, reaching to ruffle his hair lovingly, ending up with a palm full of styling wax she wiped onto her jeans. “It’s my dad and my uncles, not a load of twats who are gonna boo us.”  

“I expected better of you, son!” Gaz chimed in, scratching his beard. “Just play one song, it’s cool. You play in front of me and Jim all the bloody time when we jam together. Don’t be fucking scared of Sneds and Steve.” 

“Come on, mate,” the latter spoke, leaning forward in his seat. “Ain’t no one here gonna be a dick.” 

And that was the root of Kitt’s issue, the fact that the band he and Lyra had started two years before had just played their first gig, and it hadn’t gone well. So poorly, in fact, that they’d completed their set to a chorus of booing within the school hall at the end of year talent show they’d partook in.  

He fiddled with his bass a little, making a panicked noise in the back of his throat, their rhythm guitarist Molly snorting into her mic. 

“Oh, fucking hell, Kitt!” she spluttered, “making me feel all nervous and stuff now too, y’know!” A glare followed. “Wanker!” 

“Go fuck yourself!” he muttered, grinning thereafter and running when she raced behind Lyra to kick his thigh. The guys before them snorted laughing, loving their energy. Kitt’s nerves still lingered. 

He reasoned with himself that indeed, the guys were right, though. If anyone was going to give them a fair shot, it was the four professional musicians before them, all of them he’d known for the last four years. They were also more along the lines of the target demographic for Dominion of Decay, rather than a hall full of kids more into whatever was currently climbing the charts. He nodded, taking a breath, Lyra turning to Enzo, their drummer to count them in.  

James couldn’t keep the smile from his face as Lyra began playing the opening bars of Sacrifice, the song he’d helped her write. God, she was so fucking talented, and yes it didn’t hurt any having a father so musically accomplished, but the way she played came from practising for hours and hours. He still maintained she was better than he’d been at her age, a thought he’d had since she was twelve and really begun showing her talent.  

Looking to his side, he saw Steve elevating his head, mouthing ‘chin up!’ to her while pointing at his own, knowing of course the placement of her head would further open her throat, letting out the bellowing scream he’d had a hand in teaching her how to perfect.  

“They’re fucking good, ain’t they?” he spoke, leaning close to James, his smile broadening.  

“Shitting brilliant, is what they are,” he agreed, tapping his foot along to the blistering beat. “And that ain't biased at all. I tell 'em when they suck, but fucking hell, they’ve come on so bloody well in the last two years, innit.” 

They truly had, too. It was the exact focus Lyra had needed, something to really sink her teeth into while dealing with her PMDD. Whenever she didn’t feel right, she picked up her guitar and played her heart out, wrote the kind of lyrics that blew her dad away, and fastidiously studied music in order to improve.  

That, being put on medication, and her ongoing therapy sessions with Sadie (although now on a bi-weekly basis) all helped her deal with her mental illness in a way that had become entirely manageable, and left a much happier and mentally settled teenage girl in the wake of the one who’d struggled to make sense of it all. 

It went without saying that her parents were beyond proud of her, her dad especially. 

“Right, I’ll start with critiques first, but trust me I ain’t got many,” James spoke after the song had finished. “Molly, you ain’t keeping time, darlin’. It’s slight, but it’s there. If you practice slowly and build better muscle memory, then increase speed, you’ll get it. Try recording a few rehearsals so you can play it back and train your ear to pick it up, too.  

“Other than that, you were great. Just don’t get so wrapped up in the technicalities of playing, because you’re proper top grade at it, but you’re focusing too hard on it and slowing yourself down, ain’t keeping up with Lyra or Enzo. And Lyra, the way you play is why you cost me a shitting fortune in strings! You ain’t gotta brutalise your guitar, baba. Let the amp do the work for you.” 

“And keep your chin up!” Steve then added. “If you keep on looking down, you’ll close your throat and damage your vocal cords more trying to get them screams out. Remember when I told ya, the power behind it comes from the pit of your guts, like. Then you’re just letting your larynx go soft to let the sound pass, and tightening it again when the pitch is higher, but you can’t do that unless...” 

“Unless my throat is open," she finished for him a little sheepishly, rolling her eyes at herself. “Got it. Thanks, Steve.” 

He winked, smiling fondly. “Anytime, kid.” 

Gaz and Snedders then weighed in, giving Kitt and Enzo some invaluable advice, the latter even advising the young drummer to keep up with his fitness in order to handle the rigors of the job better. Drumming was certainly a workout in itself, especially if you played as hard and fast as Snedders did. 

“You’re such a fucking hypocrite, Sneds!” Gaz guffawed, pointing at him. “You had a gut the size of the West fucking Midlands for the first ten years in the band, with your kebab and beer diet!” 

“Oi, less of that!” he barked, pointing a finger at him. “It’s because I’m a formerly fat bastard that I can give that advice. Can’t say that about me any longer though, can ya? Dickhead.” It was true, in the years that had passed from the hedonism and extremely poor diet of his youth, Snedders had become a gym convert, who through the tenacity of Nell, his long-suffering wife, now actually ate a diet consisting of vegetables, too.  

They all sat together for a little while longer, James and Steve fetching a tray of tea and snacks at they sat with the teens, jamming, talking and laughing a lot. It would have been great if Dan was with them too, but he no longer lived local to the Warwickshire area, moving to north Wales, where his new wife was from. It meant he could only come down for practices well in advance, rather than such impromptu sessions like this, the guys offering to do Lyra a favour in letting her band run through for some feedback.  

Gaz and Steve had to get moving after an hour, both having commitments with their families, Snedders sticking around since Nell was, to quote him, enjoying a day of having the house to herself.  

“Uncle Sneds!" Freya screamed with delight upon seeing him enter the kitchen with her dad, hurtling through from the lounge to be lifted into his arms.  

“Aw, alright, little destroyer of worlds!" he beamed, kissing her cheek. "How you doing?" 

“I’m still the night! Fear me!” 

Oh, she was brilliant. “Don’t worry, bubs. If there’s one person I am truly terrified of in this world, it ain’t your auntie Nell. It’s you.” 

The child beamed, lifting her chin in triumph. “As I suspected!” 

She might have grown out of her wild toddler years, but still, she was a riotous five. There was definitely a spark within that her adoring parents thought would forever be present in Freya, and they wouldn’t diminish it for the world.  

Except maybe when she preceded her antics with the announcement of ‘Hi, I’m Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass!’ The last time had resulted in her taking a swan dive off the sofa, right to her dad’s midsection as he’d lain on the floor, trying to get his bad back to adjust. The arrival of Freya to his abdomen had certainly not helped. 

“Right then, Lyra,” Snedders then spoke, placing Freya down again to hurtle off in the direction of the back garden. “Where’d you want me?”  

Music was her main passion in life, but also, the eldest of the Kingston girls had taken a very keen interest in all things hair for a number of years. She regularly re-tightened Snedders dreads for him when they grew out at the roots, trimmed her dad’s hair, and as of late even did her mum’s roots for her. It was also why Freya currently sported a bright pink semi-permanent shade on her hair, with it being the school holidays, and nagging her sister to death to dye it for her after being given the okay from their parents. 

“At the island, I’ll just go grab my comb and clips,” she spoke, leaving the room as Zara entered, blowing her nose before moving to grab her dad’s hands and climb up his legs. 

“Getting a bit too big for this, innit,” he spoke, hauling her up into his arms and kissing her cheek. “How you feeling now?” 

Her reply? A very wet sneeze. Right down his ear. Snedders guffawed. James crinkled nose and eye rolled. That’d be another cold he’d be picking up courtesy of his germ-riddled offspring. And he had a tour to finish four days from then. Great. It was all part and parcel of dad duty, though.  

“Rubbish.” she confirmed, cuddling into him more. While she received some comfort, eventually going back to her place on the sofa under a blanket, Snedders sat and went through the pain of dread re-tightening. Each lock was wound around on itself where it had grown out, then backcombed and wound again until a new section of dreadlock was formed. He detested the process, but would rather sit in the Kingston abode with his mate and the kids he thought of as his legitimate nieces than a salon.  

Also, it was much cheaper. He paid Lyra fifty quid for it, a sum she was more than content with. Although she often stated she’d do it for free, he wouldn’t hear of it.  

“I still can’t believe it, you know,” he spoke, sipping his tea. “Only feels like five minutes ago when I was helping with the nighttime feeds and changing your shitty bum when you were this tiny, howling baby.” 

Yes, in her first few months of life prior to James and Ella getting their own flat, her uncles had indeed pitched in with helping her parents raise her. Snedders would hear her stir, amble into James and Ella’s bedroom, shoo them back into bed and let them know he had it covered before preparing a bottle for her. He’d then lie there on the sofa with her on his chest until she quietened, chatting away to her about all sorts while her exhausted parents caught up on sleep. 

“So, is this what you wanna do now you’ve left school, get into hair and all that?” he asked, Lyra twisting more of his hair tighter before combing it to death. 

“It’s my backup, yeah,” she began, turning the dread in her fingers. “The band is my dream, though, so that’s what I’m going after. Then I have this to fall back on. Hairdressing college is only two years, so I’ll be done and qualified by the time I’m eighteen.” 

He could barely believe she’d be sixteen in just nine weeks. Time truly had flown. “Aw, good plan, James mini.”  

She smiled, laughing a little. He’d always called her that, on account she truly was the female version of her father. The man himself re-entered the kitchen, hauling along with him handfuls of bags, Ella following him in after doing the weekly shop at their local Sainsbury’s, pausing to kiss Snedders on the cheek.  

“Not getting too many fleas in my kitchen, are you, Sneds?” she joked, receiving a smack to her leg. 

“Oi, less of that, Ells! I have enough shit talking about my bloody hair to contend with from your old man over there!”  

James immediately turned, pointing a finger. “Less of the old, you twat. You’ll be pushing fifty well before me!”  

“Yeah, but I wear it better,” he grinned, James guffawing before giving him a little further banter, moving to the kettle. 

“Do you and your fleas want another tea?” 

“Best thing to come out of your mouth so far this morning.” He often said that when James was being a dickhead. At least his tea making skills remained as top notch as ever. Much time might’ve passed, but fundamentally, they were still the same lads who’d shared a flat together back in the mid to late nineties. It still only felt like five minutes ago.  

Once his hair was all tidy, Lyra snipping the fluffy strands that had come loose from the dreads as well until they all lay smooth, Snedders passed over two twenty-pound notes and a ten, giving her and her family a big hug each before leaving.  

“That’s going right into the band fund,” she spoke, reaching for the old cookie jar off the top shelf next to the cooker, where she kept her saved cash. Even though her dad had a set up dedicated to rough recording in the garage, it wasn’t as good as an actual studio, she and her friends currently putting money aside each so they could pool together to get some demo tracks laid down at a proper recording studio. “Want some help putting the shopping away, mum?” 

“Please, my little love.” Ella smiled, handing her the bag containing the many and varied items that went to restocking the snacks cupboard. Taking it, she noticed the immediate grabby hands her dad made, rooting around and taking out the spicy coated peanuts to throw across the kitchen to him.  

“Cheers, monster. Right, I’m going out to get the cars washed and vacuumed. I’ll take the destroyer of worlds with me, keep her busy for a bit, innit.” 

With the eldest and youngest Kingston out on the drive, the middle one still absconded to the sofa beneath her blanket, Lyra and Ella made short work of unpacking all the food before taking a seat at the island, drinking tea and snacking on toast.  

“So, where is it you and dad are going tonight, then?” she asked, crunching her way through a thick, well-buttered crust. 

“Out for dinner first, and then to a bar we used to go to all the time called The Gallows.” she spoke, smiling with nostalgia. Since he’d been in America on tour for their actual anniversary, they were having their night out that weekend, before he’d be off again the following Wednesday to embark on the far east leg of the world tour.  

Their wedding anniversary and the date they got together while still in Moor Acres was the same day, 15th June, 1997, marrying seven years later on that same date. Twenty years. Ella could still barely believe it. Just a few days prior, while driving back from a clinic where she’d had sessions, she found herself close by to the very place she’d met her husband, pulling over at the side of the road which bordered the grounds of Moor Acres.  

From her vantage point, she’d been able to make out the gigantic oak tree there in the grounds, the place where she and James had often sat together to escape the regimental environment of the facility, spending some quiet time getting to know one another. There, much like the mighty oak itself, they’d laid the roots of what would grow into one hell of a strong relationship.   

James himself too, had been her oak tree, even when he’d been the furthest thing from mentally strong. He’d gotten her through one of the toughest times, if not the toughest time of her life, entering that facility a broken, emaciated young woman, only to begin flourishing after finding him. She’d leaned on him and he’d supported her, helped her see that food was not her enemy, but the mental picture she had of herself very much was.  

Most of all, he’d made her feel the very thing she didn’t. Beautiful. He still did, too.  

“Be still, my raging male hormones,” he told her later as she got ready, her choice of black leather leggings, her favourite leopard print high heels and a white spaghetti strap top very pleasing to his eye, her long, blonde hair all wavy and free-flowing. “Shitting hell, little. You look top grade sexy.” 

As did he, wearing a deep grey shirt and black jeans. Her husband never needed much to look utterly mouth-watering. “Thank you. Here, do my necklace up for me. I can’t with my nails.”  

Taking the little fine chain with the simple lone diamond star upon it, he fastened it around her neck, kissing her cheek. An hour later, and they were walking through Nuneaton, taking the high street that held so many memories for them of a life gone by, pausing outside one location in particular.  

“I'd hate to think how much the rent costs there now, since they did it all up," James spoke, both of them looking up at the lounge window of his old flat. It looked much different to how it had when they’d lived there, that was for certain. “All the meals of either toast with that nasty, cheap bread or rice, just so we could make the rent.” 

“And sleeping under two duvets in winter so we could save on heating the place a bit," she chirped, remembering it well. “No matter how hard it was at times, though, I still remember it fondly. It was my first proper home as a somewhat responsible adult.  So many memories.” 

“Like when we took Andrea back there for the first time and she wouldn't come out the fucking stairwell,” he chuckled, still able to see her there loitering in his mind's eye, too afraid to go into the flat and meet Steve properly.  

“Or the first time I came back here with you after watching the band play,” she spoke, hugging his arm tightly.  

He’d never forget that night, finding her again after being separated for two months. Winding his arm around her, he rested his head to hers, remembering a lesser pleasant memory of the flat. “It could have ended here for me, if it weren’t for Steve.” He gulped a little, still feeling an icy bite of fear even twenty years on over how close to death he’d come. “I owe him everything, man. Did the biggest solid to me, acting as quickly as he did. Poor lad was terrified, but he held it together to save me. Shit, don’t even wanna think about if I’d done it when he’d been asleep.” 

Turning to him, Ella reached for his face, stroking his cheeks. “Then don’t.” Pulling him down to her level, she kissed him softly, humming happily. “I’m so proud of how far you’ve come, you know. Every day, you make me feel like the luckiest bleedin’ woman in the world for having met you. Love you, my sexy church burner.” 

He laughed then, shaking his head, kissing her forehead. “Love you too, little.” 

They took one last look up at the flat before continuing their walk, a literal walk down memory lane, Ella pointing out what had once been the flower shop she’d worked at, Bloomin’ Lovely now long gone, replaced by a milkshake and dessert bar. They passed by the curry house she’d had a freak out at back in their fledgling stages of being together, the bank next door gone, a wine bar in its place, continuing on until they got to the Italian restaurant they were eating at.  

One penne with vodka sauce and one carbonara later, and they were on the move again, the end of the high street their destination, able to hear the music blaring from The Gallows from a good few hundred yards away. 

“Did you hear Lyra earlier, while we were bringing the shopping in, telling Snedders about her plans?” she spoke, thumb swirling over his knuckles as they walked hand in hand.  

“I did,” he confirmed, smiling with pride. “That’s a good kid we’ve got ourselves there, innit? Got her head screwed on right.” 

“Well, she’s following in some pretty amazing footsteps, isn’t she?” Ella smiled, giving him a little shove. “I think I always knew she would, you know. Good freakin’ god, she’s made me so proud, seeing how she’s come through all her troubles. I mean yes, she can still be a bleedin’ nightmare, but she’s our nightmare.” 

“Can’t fucking wait to see where her life takes her, same for the other two and all.” He paused then, chuckling. “As long as we can keep the chaos of the night off of any government watch lists, we’ll be doing alright.” 

She threw her head back, her laughter radiant, agreeing fully with her husband. After seeing where their lives had taken them, remembering it as they walked the streets they’d tread in their formative years, neither truly could wait to see the future that now lay before their three daughters.  

If they knew one thing for sure, it would likely be as chaotic as it was wonderful. They were Kingston's, after all... 

Epilogue 

August 12th, 2024 

He couldn’t deny how alien it felt for him, to be the one standing stage side while somebody he had a familial connection with played upon it, but there he was. And he couldn’t be prouder. It was the first major festival appearance since their signing with a record label a year before for the four-piece death metal band from Warwickshire, Dominion of Decay taking to the stage to a rousing cheer.  

“I can’t bleedin’ believe it!” Ella cried while clapping her hands above her head, feeling her eyes fill with very proud tears. “That's our baby up there!"  

Except at just turned twenty-three, Dominion of Decay’s lead guitarist and vocalist wasn’t a baby any longer. She’d always be such to them, though. Taking to the microphone, Lyra began to play the opening bars of the song Absolute Chaos, the audience having a very fitting reaction. Especially when she opened her mouth and let out the kind of ear splitting howl she’d become famed for.  

“That’s my girl.” James spoke with pride, beaming as he watched. 

“Nah, but it was her uncle Steve here who taught her to wail like a good’un!” the man himself spoke, watching with equally huge pride at his side. “The ability to shred the shit outta a guitar while she’s doing it, though, that’s all you, sunshine.” 

He grinned, nodding. “Innit.” Truly, pride was an understatement. He was absolutely overjoyed for her that her band was doing well, following very much in his footsteps, albeit in differing subgenres of the metal scene. She wasn’t the only person on stage he was proud of either, laughing as Kitt caught his eye, grinning insanely as his fingers pulled at the strings of his bass guitar, his bald head already gleaming with sweat. 

The young, bulked up man covered in almost as many tattoos now as James had been unsure if he’d even be able to play, still partially recovering from the kind of surgery that had put him out of commission with just about everything for months. At twenty-three, it was still considered a very young age to go through gender reassignment surgery, especially going the NHS route, who had flatly refused.  

So, after saving from his job and using the large wedge of inheritance that had originally been earmarked for university from his grandmother as well as securing a bank loan, he’d spent it on something he saw much more valuable to him. Just a year after going in for top surgery, he’d gotten his bottom surgery done at a specialist clinic out in Portugal, taking Lyra with him for support and so he had somebody to help look after him post-surgery.  

Lyra herself would never forget her best friend’s words as he’d groggily come round from the anaesthetic. ‘Dude, I’ve got a peen. Fuck yes!” He was thrilled, but still didn’t quite put the same amount of energy as usual into his performance that day, save doing his new boy bits any kind of nefarious damage.  

Of course, though, he pulled an array of faces for the camera in Ella’s hands as she ran up and down the photography pit, on duty as ever, just like she would be later in the day when Nocturnal Descent took to the stage. As she clicked away, her heart could have burst, seeing her first born up there following in her dad’s footsteps. It still felt like only a few years ago when she’d stood in the bathroom of their old flat, holding a positive pregnancy test, her eyes almost out on stalks.  

Sometimes, Ella struggled to believe it was her life, how being locked up in facility for the mentally ill had led to everything she now had. She often thought about it, how she could have just simply left James over in the corner to be rude and moody by himself, that day she’d pulled up a chair and spoken to him, first coined him the nickname church burner.  

Church burner, BFG, baby, James, Jim, husband, dad, War. He bore many names, his favourite of that list happening because of her. He still couldn’t believe it, that they’d been together for almost three decades, their twenty-seven-year long relationship still just as fun, loving and devoted as it ever was. They’d blinked, and gone from their early twenties to forty-nine and fifty, with a twenty-three-year-old, a seventeen-year-old, and a thirteen-year-old. And yes. Freya was still the destroyer of worlds. Or rather her mother, who she almost landed on after crowd surfing over the barrier. 

“Oi, that’s my kid. Don’t be rough with her or I’ll set her dad on you.” Ella warned one of the security guys, who had yanked her from the top of the crowd. They weren’t known for being particularly welcoming of crowd surfers. The security guy in question dropped Freya at her feet, about to question who said dad was when he saw the looming presence of James over to the side of the stage. Another thing well known on the scene; don’t fuck with War’s kids. 

“Nah, I’m fine, mum!” A sweaty, dishevelled Freya dismissed her with, throwing up the horns to her sister. “Going back in for a dance!” What she meant by dance was being hurled around in the moshpit. Any other parents would have worried, but not James and Ella. Freya Kingston could more than handle herself, even at thirteen. Plus, she had her uncle Snedders in there with her. Ella actually managed to pick her out in the crowd a short time later, sitting upon said uncle’s shoulders, screaming her head off, having a fantastic time. 

She was, if nothing else, her father’s daughter.  

Clicking off a few more pictures, Ella returned to James’s side, having a massive arm draped around her shoulders and a kiss dropped to her cheek. “We did well, didn’t we? Got two batshit metal heads and one future scientist who hates all of this.” 

She laughed softly, moving to lean back in his embrace instead, her gaze moving over to the other side of the stage, where a supportive but begrudging Zara stood, ear defenders on, with her little group of friends. She was too cool to stand with mum and dad, but happily settled for her uncle Gaz, auntie Hester, and their two sons, Charlie and Jonah.  

Little miss too cool had just started the second year of her A levels, working hard so she could eventually go to university and there take her BA in chemistry, wanting to go into the field of pharmaceutical development when she was older. It was borne of a fascination with how drugs worked on the body and mind, the delicacies of the compounds and their chemical structures, something that she’d shown great interest in back when Lyra had begun taking medication for her PMDD. 

In the years that had followed, and just like Michael had pledged to her father, Lyra had noticed her moods beginning to even out a lot more, her fluctuations now solely controlled by the contraceptive pill, which worked wonders. She, just like her dad, had found a balance through her mental illness, never again dropping to the level that had aged him ten years in ten minutes, her brush with suicide remaining just that, a one-off brush. 

Again, for how well she’d come through it, her parents were nothing but proud, both hugging her tightly as soon as she came off stage, telling her how well she did.  

“Thank you! I love you guys!” she croaked, her voice a little hoarse after spending the preceding half an hour screaming. Lamentably, they didn’t get much time with her that day, the band’s roadies packing everything up at speed, ready to depart. They had a ferry to board, ready to continue the European leg of their tour, supporting another bigger band. Life on the road; James knew it well. 

Kissing them goodbye, she jumped back on the bus, the pair then hugged tightly by Kitt. 

“Laters, mama and papa Kingston!” He’d been calling them that for years, something they welcomed. He would always be like another kid to them both.  

Watching the bus roll out of the backstage area, Ella thumbed a tear away. God, how she missed her, but equally was so thrilled to see her doing such an amazing job in her career, having the time of her life while she was doing it. 

“Oi, no tears, Mrs. K,” James spoke, giving her a little shove with his elbow. “We’ve finally got one of ’em out of the house! It’s quieter, innit?” 

“Baby, for as long as Freya lives there, it’ll never be quiet."  

As if summoned, there was suddenly a flurry of movement, Snedders racing past them. 

“Control your crotch fruit, Jim! Bloody insane!” 

“Uncle Sneds! Stop, look! If I spray it on a lighter, it makes a flame thrower!” Freya cried, her eyes alight with what could be constituted as slightly psychotic mischief. 

James grabbed the can of deodorant from her grasp, the lighter too. “No it don’t, right honourable princess of darkness. Pack it in.”  

She pouted, but still tore after Snedders, James throwing the almost empty can of deodorant into a nearby bin and pocketing the lighter.  

“Quite apt, really, for the daughter of a man with the nickname church burner.”  

He rolled his eyes, pretending to throttle her. “Except I wouldn’t put it past her not to actually do that at some point. I swear, she’s on a government watch list somewhere already.” 

Ella erupted with laughter at that, watching as her youngest finally calmed down, being piggybacked by a very out of breath Snedders instead, turning to her husband with a radiant smile. “You said something similar a few years ago, and I’ve never forgotten it. She’s mental, but in the best possible way. Wouldn’t change her for the world.” 

He leaned down and kissed her, his beloved wife cuddling him tight, realising that truly, there could be no exchange for the world at all, because she already had it. They both did, in the amazing life they had built for themselves, the children they’d brought into it, and lastly but by no means least, in one another. It hadn’t always been easy, but by god, it had been worth it.  

If only those two broken down, sick kids at Moor Acres could have seen where their lives would take them back in nineteen ninety-seven. They wouldn’t have hesitated at all in rushing towards their happiness, not even for a second.  

The End.  

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Tbh Sole Crusher, Dearest Family and Safari didn't have their akumatized object on them as well like Risk, however the Lucky Charm always managed to help the heroes to locate the hidden objects in all of these cases, so I guess Ladybug's power does make hiding the Akuma obiects pointless for the most part.

That's a fair point that I can only counter by pointing out that two out of three of those cases only had a hero victory because they knew the akuma victims, allowing them to track down the object. So I do stand by my point that hiding you akuma is a smart move in most cases. But I also concede that canon has established that the lucky charm will just let Marinette win no matter how clever the villain is (unless the plot needs her to lose, of course. Then the lucky charm fails. Funny how it could somehow predict seniNino and Gabriel using second chance, but it couldn't predict mistaken identity when it came to Felix...)

Anyway, if I were an akuma, then I'd chuck my item in the Seine as soon as I was akumatized and wish the heroes good luck finding it while I cause some glorious, glorious chaos. But then, I'm able to actually be smart about my plans since I'm out here in the real world. In the world of the show, akumas aren't allowed to be smart enough for Ladybug to lose because that would spoil the fun.

Given the target demographic and narrative style, I don't consider this a massive flaw, but I still think that akumas should have to keep their items on them just for the sake of quality lore. After all, the heroes can't just toss away their miraculous. Why are akumatized objects so much more powerful?

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Didn't some other members have their documentaries on weverse and Disney?

Why is Jimin's content restricted to weverse only? Isn't that limiting his audience? Disney is available to plenty of people, it's easily accessible and there's plenty of "gp" there. Putting content out on neutral platforms is a way of promoting the artist, isn't it?

Do they want to keep the content within the fandom? I don't get it.

I'm being tested right now

I vaguely remember that when I "reviewed" J-Hope's documentary, I said that perhaps it is better to have it on weverse mainly due to its production qualities and the topic at hand. It wasn't made with the general public in mind, which is why I wasn't really sure if it needs to be on Disney+ for that purpose. He is also not a name known worldwide. And that's important too. Watching this Beckham documentary proves my point. I may not know any details or have an actual interest in football, but I know who the man is. The world knows. And still, it was made in such a way that even my mother and my sister became invested in the story. If the subject is not of general public interest beforehand, then you need to know how to get a good story out. If the subject is already a known figure, you still need a good story.

The Big Hit documentaries are not. Yes, BTS is a famous group, but the internet generation knows them. The target audience is a specific demographic and not the widest one. The docs were made in such a way that they are mostly fully understood by an audience already familiar with BTS, Suga and J-Hope. If the approach would have been different, then it would indeed make more sense to have them released on a platform with a bigger, more diverse audience. You need to know who you're selling to.

If Jimin's documentary is made in a similar vein, then on one side, I can understand why it's being released only on Weverse. My understanding stops here though.

If the company/label already has a deal with Disney+ and as part of that, two docs were already released with a third one on the way about the group, it means it has been agreed upon that such type of release is appropriate and good enough for the artists. From a label perspective. So, why is it not good for Jimin as well? Suga and J-Hope get theatrical/streaming platform release (regardless of their individual reach, status, influence, how known they are), but the third one in line gets stuck with a platform known only by fans? Even if this was some alternative universe in which Jimin is some member of a group with only basic contribution among a dozen more, it still wouldn't be fair. At least it wouldn't look fair.

I don't understand how the label somehow fucks up so much when it comes to him. I hear one good thing about his projects and less than 24h later, there's a fuckup.

This has ruined my excitement. Because instead of getting a 1h doc on Disney+ that I already pay for, I'm supposed to use that fuckup of a platform which I really don't want to. I really don't.

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: What do you think of the Sonic Adventure 2 Songs?

All of them are bops. Sonic's theme takes the original lyrics, bumps them up to fit a faster paced and more upbeat song. Improves upon the original in every way. The original from Sonic Adventure is already a 9 out of 10, but this pushes it up to a 10/10, and the opening whistle sound is iconic, honestly. Tails' theme is, musically, better than the original. The arrangement fits with Tails' character growth as he becomes more capable and confident, even though he botches the main mission at the end and almost gets Sonic killed because, well, he's an 8 year old kid. Or he used to be. Sega seems to be scrubbing up the lore and trying to make his age ambiguous now which I literally just found out about because I couldn't remember whether he was 6 or 8 or 10 and apparently he's been depicted as young as 4 and a half in some materials which is wild. Like, I love the child genius archetype in fiction but dear god 4 is definitely too young. If he wants to be meddling with machines that can crush his little bones in his own house I guess that's fine but running around and destroying Eggman with Sonic at age 4 is insane. Little buddy you should be sipping some juice and making sand castles. Sonic's already too young to be fighting villains like Eggman as a teen (though to be fair I aged wildly out of the target demographic so EVERYONE in that series except maybe Eggman and Shadow are too young to be doing what they're doing! XD) Tails fucking up a grown man at age 4 is just insane to think about. Like yes yes child genius but FFS, 4 is just a baby. And they did it again with Cream and Cheese later. I understand that in a lot of lore it's all the animals against Eggman because he's literally a terrorist and they have no choice but come on, when you can walk around station square and see grown adults who aren't doing jack shit to stop Eggman, it should not fall to fucking prepubescent kids to fight back. AUGH!) Rant aside, Tails' theme also increases the pep as Sonic's new arrangement does, but the flaw is that the lyrics don't flow as well. The chorus absolutely cranks it up to 20/10. That slow and yearning "I want to fly high" is absolutely killer. The first verse absolutely bops too. But when it gets to later verses, the lyrics fall apart and just don't fit the rhythm. Also, they lose out on the absolutely killer bit of "there's things that only I can do, No one's Alone!" from the first arrangement. Now it's just smushed together into some unrecognizeable word salad due to trying to fit the original lyrics in an arrangement where they don't vibe well. I think it would be possible to take the best parts of both arrangements and make a 12/10 song, but as it stands, they're both about equally good at 8/10.

Knuckles' theme improves. The softer voice for the rap fits much better with the lyrical vocals they ported over as a backdrop from the first arrangement, but the sound mixing is poor so that it's difficult to parse the lyrics if you don't already know them. But then again maybe that's just my auditory processing disorder. That said, I do think the contrast of the rougher rap and the softer vocals being kept separate in the original was thematically on-point. If they had kept the rap in the new arrangement distinct from the vocals they took from the original and kept it as a refrain between verses, it would be absolute fire. Still an improvement. The scratching lends a hip-hop quality to it that I definitely jive with. Absolute fire. Original was a decent 7/10, the new version manages an 8.5 out of 10. If the sound mixing was a little better and they kept the original vocals as a refrain, I think it could be a 9.5 out of 10. Shadow's theme is, sadly, the weakest to me. It absolutely fits his character, but the vocal performance is weak. Say what you will about the game "Shadow the Hedgehog" but that had absolutely baller themes for Shadow and the lyrics absolutely added to it. I understand that theoretically Shadow would have actually permanently died at the end of SA2, and they only brought him back because he was insanely popular. So setting him apart with the harsher techno-rock-metal soundtrack where the lyrics aren't the focus sets him up as an intimidating foil to Sonic's more cheerful and upbeat personality and the contrasting themes absolutely reflect that. But I feel like they could have done a little more to reflect Shadow's ultimate conflict of realizing that revenge doesn't change anything and that Maria wouldn't have wanted him to destroy the world for her. Honestly I feel the same about Richter's theme from DotNW but in a different direction. While Richter's theme does try to telegraph his more complicated feelings and motives by setting up that harsh, rhythmic bass line and bringing in the sweeter violin, it sounds too dissonant to me. I think they could have had more synergy. Shadow's theme is a bit of the opposite. I think there could have been more contrast. Honestly the lyrics come in so late and so low that I forget this song even has lyrics. 8/10. I prefer more of the themes from the Shadow the Hedgehog game.

Eggman's theme is absolute fire. No notes. Massive improvement from the first game. This song has everything. The mechanical noises reminding you of who he is, Ivo Robotnik, and how that ties into the grand scheme of things. The self-aggrandizing lyrics. The droning rhythmic synth track that just oozes "factory assembly line" energy. It sounds cool but intimidating, with just an edge of "how fucking goofy, who does this guy think he is?!" While I absolutely adore the toothless joke villain Eggman gets set up to be in a lot of the newer stuff, namely the Sonic Boom series and games, I love this intersection where Eggman has just enough over-the-top zazz to make you raise an eyebrow. It sits right on the precipice of "either this guy really knows what he's doing and is so confident about it, he doesn't care if he looks goofy doing it or he's an ABSOLUTE idiot who just happens to fail upward." And it's right in that sweet spot where he can be the butt of the joke while also being intimidating. Absolute peak of both camp villain and cartoonishly evil while having just enough power and wits to be a genuine threat. The main chorus literally begins with "I am the Eggman" which, in spite of all odds, makes the name that Sonic gave him as an insult out to be a genuinely threatening moniker. As if to proclaim, yes, go ahead, think of me as a joke. Underestimate me. It won't matter in the end. He is not just Eggman. He is THE Eggman. The one and only. And he's going to build his empire over the bulldozed remains of your city whether you put respect on that name or not. And his theme song encapsulates all that while being a genuine bop. 100/10. Genuinely one of the best themes ever written for the Sonic Franchise.

And that leaves us with Rouge. And for a new character BOY OH BOY, did they hit it OUT OF THE PARK with her theme. That soft jazz, the soft, sultry vocals that ramp up into confident high heady notes. Absolute banger. Tells us everything we need to know about Rouge as a character. A spy, a theif, a sneak, and a Woman with the uppercase W. She knows who she is, she knows what she wants, and she will use everything to get it. Overtly sexualized, but in a way I don't necessarily mind, even if it's right on the cusp of being inappropriate for a game meant to be played by kids. She was a lot of young mens' (and young womens') sexual awakening for a reason. While noting in the canon of the game shows her actively using her body in a sexual way to get what she wants, I don't think it's inaccurate to extrapolate from her theme and her way of speaking and walking that she absolutely would if this was a game for Adults. The parallels to Catwoman are not an accident. And her theme song does a masterful job of indicating all that without actually treading into inappropriate territory. Even Wild Canyon's theme explicitly references her as an object of desire and that Knuckles being that shy guy that doesn't know how to deal with pretty women is absolutely affected by her. I think part of the reason it's easy to forgive Rouge being sexualized is because she's an active, intelligent character who is at all times, using the people around her. She is not some sexy lamp that you can upskirt for sick thrills whom the narrative has to repeatedly assure us "don't worry, this isn't skeevy, she definitely likes it, we promise." This is a woman with steel-toed high heels that breaks into bank vaults and could kill the average man with a single kick. She's hot, she knows she's hot, and she uses that to her advantage to wriggle into positions of power and advantage. And she's fine with being that way. Her arc isn't about some condescending narrative about how she shouldn't have to behave that way. If anything her main arc is that she's absolutely stellar being exactly as she is and provides valuable skills to the team to help save the world. She's a stereotype, but not actually one that I mind. Because she's not just a sexy woman who loves money and jewels and has nothing else to her. I would classify her as a witch archetype despite not having supernatural powers other than sensing gems, which is a gimmick Knuckles also has and is never explained as anything other than a game mechanic. She has power and talent in her own right and while she is a direct foil to Knuckles and works alongside Eggman and Shadow, she isn't defined solely by how she relates to the men that surround her. She's an absolute beast and I love her. One of my favorite Sonic Characters of all time. Even with her damsel in distress moments, I never got the sense that she was incapable. Just overconfident. But not in a "LOL, how stupid of a woman to think she can tangle with the big boys." but "She is literally walking among titans, she's bound to trip up a little." The only time it felt forced was in her final confrontation with Knuckles where she falls off a beam. I understand the idea was probably "she's tired from fighting and can't right herself immediately, which is the reason she fell in the first place." so it's ambiguous whether she could have saved herself, despite having wings. But even if all the nitpickers are actually correct and she was never in danger, Knuckles reaching out to save her is more about the kind of person he is than the kind of person Rouge is. That said, yeah, her theme is a fucking banger. Second best track from the character themes, for real. 20/10 at least. No notes. Absolutely accomplishes the goal of distilling who Rouge is into a single song. Absolute queen.

[thatcartoonnetworkblog]

Cartoon Network Friday Spotlight: Camp Lazlo- "The Book of Slinkman"

Camp Lazlo was never one of my favorites, but I recognize that I wasn't in the target demographic when it was airing, while the series remains special for those who were at the time, so let's give it some roses.

This week, Samson, who's running the mail department today, makes a mistake and accidentally sends the Bean and Squirrel Scouts the wrong manuals. Jane Doe, the Squirrel Scoutmaster, promptly trashes her manual, while Slinkman (who to be fair, was received an advanced edition, aka a title-less cover) doesn't recognize the difference and has his scouts try out their new activities, like... baking while roller skating. Or speed dressmaking.

Weird, but the campers go along with it, as well as their new uniforms, which look distinctly like Acorn Flats' until they reach the end of the book, where all of Camp Kidney is put on an avoid list, leaving them all to be quarantined.

Is it problematic to see a bunch of boys try traditionally feminine activities like making and wearing dresses? I'm not sure. On the one hand, the joke is kind of on them, but at the same time, everyone goes along with it and seems to enjoy themselves, so I'd argue that this is a less distressing example of transphobia. Honestly, if boys want to look a little girly, why should we stop them? The episode ends with the Bean Scouts returning to their "manly" selves, though, so make of that what you will. Still, I think it's kind of cute on the whole.

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/736979234960048128/dispatch-knows-a-lot-more-tha-the-rest-of-us

I'll assume this anon genuinely wants to know and isn't trying to play this as some sort of 'gotcha' because I addressed this exact thing in my very first ask. It's not like I'm not playing fair. I've been very honest about how shippers in general, including t/kers can fall victim to reading too much into nothing due to misunderstanding of Korean language, culture or current political and social state of the country

I'm sure there may be some t/kers reading or finding this whose feelings I've also hurt by speaking plainly.

Anon, do you not think it weird how Dispatch hyperfocus on Taekook even though apparently j/kook are the most popular ship domestically, Jimin is the most popular Bangtan member domestically and j/kook as a ship is immensely popular in their own right worldwide?

Dispatch do seem particularly fond of Taehyung so perhaps that is where their interest lays in his most popular ship BUT it still remains fact that the ship they've decided to throw their publicity behind is Taekook so the POSSIBILITY of them sitting on more conrecte information cant be ruled out--but to make it clear once more, Dispatch would NEVER make any direct claims about a same sex idol relationship at this point because as I said, the backlash could lead to a legitimate risk to people's lives (in terms of harming ones self) the resulting pressure from such an exposure could be devastating to an idol's career and wellbeing.

All you will ever get from Dispatch in that regard is things that can be passed off as engagement tactics or fanservice---though the point was as a counter to someone else's claim that j/kook were the most popular pairing. If that's true and the point is just engagement then why aren't they going straight to the top demographic? Why aren't they even dividing that attention between all the popular Bangtan ships?

And Dispatch is still a Korean news outlet that focuses on Korean news. It being accessible internationally doesn't change that or shift the target market.

The fact is that nobody knows definitively what is happening between whom but this is again falling in with my encouragement to stop creating things that don't exist and start paying attention to the things that actually do and how they all pull together.

Hi again anon!

Good points! Gonna insert some of my own thoughts as well.

I think it’s more complicated than just ‘Dispatch knows’, because Dispatch isn’t one person.. it’s a company with many employees. Not all of those employees will actually know, some might suspect maybe, but it’s not likely that many will actually know. Those people filming at the airport for instance, not likely in the know.. they are just there on assignment. The person giving them that assignment.. they might know, but they might also just be working according to a strategy. So when we talk about Dispatch knows, it’s not like all editors and photographers and textwriters and camera teams know.

In my opinion big companies like Dispatch will mostly think of their own benefits first. So when they found out somewhere along the way that Tae and Jk might be actually a couple, they didn’t think ‘wow, this is a great story’ they thought ‘now how can we turn this into a profitable situation?’. Outing them would not be profitable on the long run, a big scandal like that would only make them money short term and it would ruin Jk’s and Tae’s lives.. and perhaps even that of all BTS members by association. Dispatch would loose the relationship they have with BH, no longer getting scoops. But, if they negotiated a deal with BH.. they would be getting way more out of it for an extended period of time. And we kinda see that.

Dispatch staying out of Taennie imo also was negotiated (no Taennies, not because it was real 🙄).

Dispatch’s interest lies with Tae and Jk. As a duo Jm and Jk should be able to pull as much interest. It’s also not just because of Tae, because Vmin also does not get this treatment. So yeah.. there’s something odd there.

[tae-shimura-is-my-wife]

They aren't shoujo but...

Originally I wouldn't post it because I didn't wanna to cause controversies and thought it was silly, but this has been annoying me for a while so here we go...

The idea that shoujo is any mang/anime containing romance is annoying and tiring when it's a diverse demographic, and is even worse because a lot of people use the "romance" aspect as a way to dumb down the demo, so I really understand shoujo fans frustrations with it but there's certain mangas that folks get PISSED OF when most think they're shoujos even insinuating it's a completely crazy statement which in my opinion isn't fair.

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Apothecary Diaries

Let's start with this one, that actually is the one which makes me more annoyed (and novel fans too)

Apothecary Diaries is a light novel that was published digitally, since LNs don't have demographics like mangas, they're categorized as joseimuke (for women/girls) or danseimuke (for men/boys), and guess what? It was written by a female author aimed at a female audience oh wow! "But the manga adaptation is a seinen!" yes, but this isn't a strong argument when code geass manga is a shoujo and we know very DAMN WELL women aren't the target audience for it 💀. Also an interesting thing to note is the (printed)novel beloging to square enix and they don't have a josei demographic, so it didn't have much chances of getting labeled as their og target audience.

Also it's kinda funny that people got kinda pissed at the notion of elements that could intend it being for women like Maomao herself or Jinshi (there's plenty of Jinshis in joseimuke medias so why they got mad) and it's especially funny because jp otaku men hated it when the anime aired, calling Maomao ugly and annoying, saying that Jinshi is too unrealistic and it's a female power fantasy why this is a bad thing help .

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Horimiya

Recently I discovered a lot of people hate that anime/manga and hate the fl, welcome back Toradora! Now to our shounen or... not exaclty? It was published in Monthly G Fantasy a manga magazine known for their bishounen characters and fanservice for fujoshis; some of their titles are Black Butler, Jibaku Shounen and they also do the manga adaptation of Twisted Wonderland a joseimuke game,

Despite being a shounen jp sites sell them in the joseimuke category and some of their titles can be found in the female aisle alongside with shoujo and josei and most of the information of the magazine is focused on it young female readers, which is ironic since other magazines don't keep ofuscating their male readers y'know, but looking at what is published there is kinda obvious the actual male demographic is almost inexistent.

Now to the actual manga, let's be for real Miyamura ALONE is a reason to why most wouldn't think this is for men yeah bishounens exist in male demographics but not in romances, it's literally a recurring joke on how shounen romance girls look stunning meanwhile the men are average as hell, but in Horimiya is the opposite, look Hori is super pretty but compared to Miya she gets overshadowed to the point HE is the main selling point of the series.

Since i talked about Miyamura being the main point, this is also a reason why much wouldn't think this is for men, generally the idea of shounen romances is getting a perfect waifu, she's the main point, a girl that a guy would dream have, but when Horimiya launched actually the girls were fantasazing about Miya and they still do! Miyamura has more merch than Hori and look it's basically IMPOSSIBLE to have anything of a male character in a male targeted romance, since the idea is to you collect and appreciate your 2d gf, just search for popular shounen and seinen merch of that genre and see what I'm talking about.

To finish Horimiya most jp sites tag it as "for girls" manga and it's not even because of being a romance as many would think, since Blue Box and Kaoru Hana are sold as shounen in the same stores, so yeah maybe people weren't that crazy about calling it shoujo 😆.

·· ──────── · ──────── ··

Skip and Loafer

And last but not least Skip to Loafer you probably would be thinking "this chick gonna say this shit is secretely a seinen shoujo?" but no! It magazine is pure seinen, so if this isn't from a proto-shoujo magazine, neither having the a adaptation being joseimuke why is it here? Simple the content, Skip to Loafer is a coming of age story about a high school girl that focus on growing up, female friendships, characters emotions and has realistic deciptions of girlhood, hmm where did these things are more common? Which demographic would have something like that? It's obvious guys c'mon! The only thing that makes it not be a shoujo is the label, to the point where a lot of shoujo fans thought it was one and it's constatly compared to kimitodo, also the author already wrote bl and josei before so it's not like people are completly crazy thinking this could be for girls, and let's be honest, do you really think this is a series which the target audience are adult men? SERIOUSLY?

And yeah there's some men that said this is better than shoujo and stuff, but if it was shoujo they would say the same shit, saying "it's not like the other shoujos" how they did with Yona, Fruits Basket, Rayearth and even Sailor Moon recently and please stop letting dumb dudebros that don't even know what shounen or seinen is affect you that much, most of the fans are women both in jp and west, and most of them already watched shoujo before.

Just to conclude that part and also adding some things seinen and shoujo line sometimes can be very blurred, a lot of shoujo authors are or were seinen writers, also Kageki Shoujo were a seinen before moving to Melody and Orange moved to a seinen mag.

︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵︵

And to finish I understand the frustration of people recommending this series instead of actual shoujo ones (except Apothecary Diaries bc it is for women), especially because the manga community tend to snob shoujo series and see them as lesser just for being targeted at girls, demographics do matter! But I don't think is fair to get pissed off at people interpreting these works as targeting girls, considering they do have a female appeal and were purposely created that way by its women mangaka. I still think the real enemies are the ones calling Nisekoi, My Dress Up Darling, Rent a Girlfriend a shoujo💀.

[bitty-bits]

The First and the Last of the Year

And possibly last ever... on Tumblr at least.

Where did I go?

Nowhere in particular... if you've seen my socials all year, that is. This blog/newsletter however, took an extended vacation, not just from a lack of interest (and personal real life stuff getting in the way) but also from a technical standpoint - I really wanted the email newsletter aspect of this to work, but I still couldn't. I was considering using TinyLetter ...until they announced that was shutting down. If I had a nickel for every time a newsletter service shut down out of nowhere I'd have two... you know the rest. And with Tumblr getting worse as the year went by, maintaining this wasn't exactly motivating enough.

That said, it was a less than ideal year for my productivity, inconsistent pace, money issues, the lowest amount of notable dreams to write down on my dream journal to date... you get the idea.

So I can only hope for things to be better. For me to be less lazy... and work not only on stuff I make, but on myself. And I do have a bit of optimism, since a lot has, so let's see a couple of stuff, although everything else you should expect to see in a "rebooted" version of this blog...

Also, Free Palestine!

What I've Been Playing / Watching

So while I haven't fully completed a LOT of things this year, this will be going back to the beginning of the year, essentially, so strap yourselves. (Some of it I'll be grabbing from my media thread that I've made on Twitter as well)

Lucky Star (Finished)

I have posted about Lucky Star in another issue, but I was still in the middle of watching it. Now that I've actually finished watching it (in February) I can say more about it: When it comes to this anime, it was either pretty ahead of its time, or we just have Regressed as a species since then. Maybe the latter.

And sorry folkz, Lucky Star is pro-ship/pro-fic culture and there’s nothing you can do about it. I watched the entire series including the OVA, and while I’m definitely still not sure I’m exactly the "target demographic" what I saw was still very enjoyable. it really just is whatever the fuck and I'm all for it.

At first my kin™ was Konata pretty quickly because of course. That was until Minami showed up and like, she’s basically the weeb version of Ongo Jelly Jamm™!!! I actually can say I got attached to and care about most of the characters, even if just a little.

Like I said in a previous issue, in 2015 I had watched part of an episode of it english dubbed and it didn’t click with me at all. Turns out the dub just sucks as I should’ve expected lol (And I really wasn’t used to segmented "several short stories in one" type anime and stuff to be fair - that and I was dumber too of course so I couldnt properly appreciate the ART........)

My rating is Timotei/10 - and Nichijou is next!

Pizza Tower

Easily the biggest loss for gaming this year was this game not winning "Best Debut Indie" at the Game Awards. Oh well.

I was already highly anticipating this game - having first heard of it when it had a demo at SAGE 2019 I’m glad the game turned out great and is getting the recognition it deserves. I pretty much finished the game in early March. P/10

The Owl House (Finished)

Well... it’s over... for better or worse. I do think they managed to deliver a satisfactory ending all things considered. This was definitely a great cartoon to kick off the new decade.

And of course, fuck Disney as always.

This show got me to break out of, I guess an habit, you could say, or a superstition, or whatever the hell it is, when it came to media with too much ""occultism"" in them. You know the drill. I guess it opened up the little my mind had left that was still a bit closed. Even if it’s mostly involuntary.

But this isn’t even new. As a child I’d actually have an "imaginary friend" that i made (that kinda just Existed, didn’t really "interact" much with them whatsoever cuz i was Dumb™) that their backstory was literally that they were a demon in hell "gone rogue" so they were "not an evil one". Again, I was a kid. I never thought too much about the implications of me thinking about stuff like that already at that age. But it is interesting to think about now.

Anyways, been gay, did witchcraft. ⛥/5

Invader ZIM (Series + Enter The Florpus)

Well I did it. I finally watched the funny hot topic show™ (Finished in late May)

What can I even say about it that hasn’t been already said by everyone else? ...well maybe I have one thing: for some reason I didn’t find That One Episode that people always bring up the MOST disturbing one. I thought the one with a literal character flatlining and Zim being ":)" about it got to me a bit more.

Anyways yeah it’s Cool I liked the characters especially Gaz, and GIR obviously Why Wouldn’t He Be Here. The show can be stupid and end episodes in Whatever The Fuck ways that leave you like "That's it? That's the episode???" but I think that’s one of the unique aspects of it that I Enjoy - also the movie is cool. ☮️>🐔+🍚/10

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

So I watched it first when we only had shitty cinema bootleg recordings (that aren’t even that shitty anymore at this point in terms of quality, the Shit comes in the form of godawful intrusive illegal casino ads™ placed.) even though a bit later the raw movie would sometimes be uploaded in full to YouTube with no consequence for days. And at this point I’ve rewatched it plenty of times in proper HD (though only once in English cuz I’ll be honest, the Brazilian dub really is phenomenal really and blows the original "star talent cast" out of the water in my opinion, where it falls short is the voice for Luigi, as I know the dude’s voice too well and he’s just doing his normal voice with an accent, not to mention he’s the brazilian Sonic voice already!!!)

I think Charlie Day is the superior Loogy here but I’d still say the dub is better, not only for the fact there are "real voice actors" cuz you know, that’s Their Job, but also like, Charles Martinet is still in there cuz in case you didn't know, he voiced that jumpman dude’s only line in pretty much every language possible which is absurd/admirable.

It’s a fun movie if not mostly for looking at Mario Things happening that you know and recognize, because otherwise the story is pretty ridiculously basic, though even for "Mario game story" standards it’s definitely refreshing to see Luigi as the one to be rescued... though that Also sucks because Luigi deserved more screentime. The main Toad too. Oh well. Also disappointed that the "wise Toad" in the movie isn’t Toadsworth… or maybe he is but hasn’t aged yet and maybe in a sequel we’ll see him get older and then main Toad becomes Captain Toad. Who knows 🍄/10

Honorable Mentions - Stuff I've Watched That I've Yet To Write My Thoughts About, I Don't Have The Time Now

Spy × Family (Season 1) - Not the type of anime I'd see myself watching, but I was forced roped into it by one of my partners and found it to be VERY enjoyable.

Sparkle On, Raven: The Life of Drillgirl - Charming, shitpost-y, but genuine and fun

The Amazing Digital Circus - A very promising series with unexpected popularity, and equally unexpected high quality Brazilian dub with recognizable talent.

Murder Drones (Season 1 - 6/8) - A series I've been cautiously optimistic about since its pilot - it has endearing, enjoyable characters and settings, but flawed writing and pacing - more on that at a future date.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - An amazing take on a series that I'm not so familiar with (haven't seen the movie or read the comics, only really knew that the franchise "exists") and judging from what I've heard from others, it probably is the best take on the main storyline. Especially when it comes to the representation of who turned out to be my fave - Roxie. Watching the live action now is... probably gonna be very weird. Not sure if I want to.

Kunshikter (Күншіктер) - A new, yet very obscure cartoon from Kazakhstan. It's cute. It's for children but at this point I don't think y'all care. It's still ongoing and there are not many episodes so far. I recommend giving it a watch. Now!

Future YouTube Updates

As some of you saw in a xeet tweet from early October I was planning to do something significant on my main YouTube channel which has been stagnant for a while now, only for that to, surprise, not happen. I do have a set goal now: In very early January, a video to explain exactly what happened and what was the video I wanted to make, and... why it's hard for me to get a video like that out in the first place. The short answer (that doesn't actually account for Everything) is autism. The long answer is... stay tuned for it, lol

Song of the Issue

Although this section was supposed to be for sharing music that isn't mine, I thought I'd share snippets of music stuff I've been making since the beginning of 2023 until now, that you can look forward to!

Conclusion

I dunno. All I can say is... happy new year! It's been a tradition to make a stupid amateurish collage at the end of the year with the highlights, but this year there's been... less of them, that I took note of at least. But that won't stop me I think. Once I have that done, I may edit this to include it.

No comment on anything related to Twitter (which I'll never call "X") and the billionaire that happened this year as you all probably already know by now, and by the way you can now follow me on the social butterfly of bluesky. See you next year!

[all-seeing-ifer]

prefacing this by saying that I know that this is truly not a hill worth dying on, it is merely one I am choosing to die on because. idk man I make bad decisions. but I do think it's a crying shame that steven universe got saddled with this negative reputation as being kind of the quintessential example of a piece of media that's very safe and unchallenging and quote unquote wholesome, because like. ok i get that this negative reputation is really more about the fandom than about the show itself (and that's fair. the fandom sucked. i would never deny that. i was there gandalf etc.) but it does still feel a bit unfair bc when you take steven universe For What It Is (namely, a cartoon network show aimed primarily at kids and families) and compare it to other contemporary shows with the same genre/target demographic, it honestly was pretty challenging and complex and ambitious. even leaving aside for a second that it was very ground breaking in terms of children's media acknowledging that gay people exist in a way that left the crew constantly catching shit from the network, I struggle to think of any other children's media that would dare to explore the kind of themes and topic that su explored. things like grief, bereavement, how this kid's relationships with the adults in his life are impacted by the fact that his mum died in childbirth giving birth to him, trauma and mental illness (I know that dealing with mental health has become more common in children's media recently but there's definitely none that have been prepared to address the uglier sides of mental illness in the way that steven universe future did), explaining consent in ways that kids can understand, letting its protagonists be genuinely unlikeable at times, introducing the idea of restorative justice and there not being one singular bad guy that can be killed to save the day. These are topics and themes that you don't see a lot of in kids' media because they're hard to portray in a way that feels honest while still being appropriate and understandable to kids, and I think the show does deserve the credit it got for actually being willing to tackle this stuff and imo doing it very successfully most of the time.

AND to be honest, at the risk of leaning a bit close to talking mad shit about some of su's contemporaries (especially when at the end of the day i do quite like these other shows), it does. kind of grind my gears that other tumblr-popular animated shows like gravity falls and the owl house have managed to completely sidestep getting saddled with the same kind of negative, unchallenging reputation that su has, despite the fact that from a purely storytelling perspective both these shows are WAY safer and more easily digestible than su ever was lmao

[thewickedbohemian]

Dream Animated Movie Musical Tournament Seed Round Group H

For information on this tournament as well as the seed poll for group A go here

Why I think these musicals should be animated movies (in my opinion)

Starlight Express: as the main gimmick of the stage show is the skating you'd have to convey the sapient trains another way and while I'm not saying Disney should make this (though the animation could still take some inspiration) any more than it should be in the Cars universe such that it might as well be called Trains instead, that franchise at its best has proven kids can care about sentient vehicle characters when they're older than the Thomas The Tank Engine target demographic (and Starlight Express even has a plot with similar racing-intrigue vibes to those movies)

The Secret Garden: like A Little Princess, another classic story adapted time and again but I think a movie of the musical would be a fresh take and there are elements of the musical I think animation would have an easier time conveying on screen and if done well this could be absolutely breathtaking

Heathers: movie's a cult classic musical's an even-cultier-classic thanks to Tumblr (and I think way better than the movie) and this could strike the balance between nostalgia and feeling fresh (perhaps enough to boost the musical to Broadway through new fans) as well as wipe the ugly taste of that 2018 TV show out of society's collective mouth

My Fair Lady: maybe it's because it was one of the first live-action movie musicals I watched when I was still young enough to be in the target market for a lot of Disney animated musicals but ever since I started getting into the idea that maybe not-for-kids-explicitly musicals could be animated movies something about My Fair Lady has always seemed like it could really lend itself well to cartoons (maybe it's just how larger-than-life/archetypal the characters feel even by musical standards), and its movie is old enough that a new movie (perhaps with the changed/supposedly-more-feminist ending that one revival did) wouldn't be out of the question

Hello, Dolly: from one meddling-centric similar-period piece to another I just always picture how the songs would look animated (perhaps it's a setting thing but usually in a style similar to The Princess And The Frog) whenever I listen to anything from that show and the live-action movie we have is so iconic a remake would have to try something daring like being animated to stand out (and Disney could even make said remake as they do technically own the rights to Hello, Dolly)

Bare: A Pop Opera: (note I'm being specific here and wanting a movie of the version called that) it deserves to have a movie because it's an underrated and unfortunately-relevant show that deserves to have a fanbase outside some small corners of social media and a cultural impact outside of the potential that the song "All Grown Up" was sampled in Billie Eilish's Oscar-winning "No Time To Die", that movie should be animated not just because of the distancing/"less real" argument I've used with a lot of the heavier shows in this tournament but because I think that'd be the best way to convey the dual worlds/dual Romeo-and-Juliet narratives of the story without looking potentially cheap or like you're metaphorically watching Glee

Jasper In Deadland: because the mainstream deserves to know about Ryan Scott Oliver's work beyond the sorta-mainstreaming of "The Ballad Of Sara Berry" and this definitely seems like it'd lend itself well to animation (and perhaps appeal to a certain Tumblr-active crowd into YA animation who probably shopped at Hot Topic before Hot Topic were revealed to be art thieves)

[mankai-style]

I “finished”(read: reached the main goal of) Fashion Dreamer last night, so here are my thoughts on the game so far:

Other’s frequent comments + my thoughts on them

“It’s too short!”

My first issue with this comment is that this game doesn’t have an end, it’s a social game, plus there are still so many things to discover and unlock once you finish reaching 10k followers. Second, this game’s target demographic is children, despite most of the player base being adults. That’s something a lot of people tend to forget while playing. Third, and I know it’s not fair to compare this with past Style Savvy games, the older Style Savvy games are short, too!! I recently played Fashion Forward and beat the story mode(while playing sporadically) in a week, and the past games are even shorter. The only exception here is 4, but that’s after years and years of refining the story and tying it in with idol culture. Since this is a new franchise with a new concept, I think it deserves just a little slack.

“The credits are long and unskippable!”

I really hope I don’t sound rude by saying this but have you played any game ever.

“It requires a lot of grinding!”

I agree, though I’ve never had an issue with that, since I’m STILL struggling to find the colors in older Style Savvy games, and the grinding/unlocking system gives me(at least) something to do in single-player mode.

My thoughts: Cons

It’s buggy

That said, again, I’m cutting it some slack since it’s only been two days since the U.S. release, and I expect at least the drift bug to be fixed in the future. Even still, I’m a little disappointed in that.

The dressing up interface

I wish you could zoom in, and the sorting options aren’t awful, per se, I like that you can sort by brand, type, and recently acquired, but I wish you could sort by color and style type, especially because of my next comment…

The clothes can feel a little same-y

Don’t get me wrong, they look amazing!!! They’re all very sleek and refined, but, since they’re mostly based on modern Japanese fashion, there is an excess of things like long coats and berets. That, and since there are so few patterns to work with, some styles are hard to differentiate, like casual and sporty. Also, I think that the style is determined by color and pattern, which can make it hard to make something like a bittersweet lolita coord, for example.

Lagging in online mode

I don’t know if this is a problem with my internet or the game, but I have a lot of trouble receiving lookits for my male muse, Sakuya. Last night, my friend and I were exchanging some, and I waited for an hour and I still didn’t get it. That, and it’s hard to dress up and create items because of said lag, to the point where I just go into single-player mode to do so.

The environments

Do NOT get me wrong, the environments are stunning, and I love them a lot, even if they’re a little small. My only complaint is that I wish they had more kinetic energy and movement, as well as changing periodically. For example, it would be cool if the angel and devil wings in Cocoon Fun flapped a little, or if the handles in the train in Act swayed to simulate movement. Or what if the bell in Love rang every few minutes? If the virtual trees in Hope swayed in the breeze and changed colors based on the seasons? What if the billboards changed too, or were animated? If a vehicle whizzed by on the road once in a while? I have too many ideas. Marvelous and SynSophia please hire me.

My thoughts: Pros

The unparalleled serotonin that is online play

I feel like there’s enough said. It’s so fun. The feeling of when my friend dms me and is like “hey I wanna make a lookit for your guy send me a request” is so everything, and the lookits people make for Lucille are adorable. I love it here.

THE PHOTOS!!!!

OH MY GOD THE PHOTOS. I already do this a lot in Style Savvy, and Fashion Dreamer blew me away with it. The stickers/puricura are probably my favorite, along with the drone camera. It makes it really easy to get nice pictures of your looks, and both the photo egg and Eve provide awesome backgrounds.

The designs and trending execution

I didn’t know how to word it dknfnjs, but it’s all done very well! Everyone’s items feel unique, and I like that you can show the item on your muse as you’re designing it, it’s helped a lot with making outfits. As for the trend execution, I think it’s smart to let you put your items up where everybody can see it, and it makes it a lot easier to get likes. I just- man. It’s so good.

The npcs!

Arguably one of my favorite parts of the game. They’re all so silly and unique, and I like the almost children’s show-sounding names. That, and I like that they still have requests of what they want as opposed to just letting you roam free. Plus, the affection/ranking system is a nice thing to have, it makes me feel a little more connected to them, and I already have favorites and least favorites.

The boyssssss

I feel like most players have at least one male/type b muse, and it just goes to show that there really was a demand for men in these kinds of games. It also makes creating my favorite male characters a lot easier, too!

I feel like I’m missing more, but these were my biggest highlights!!

Overall thoughts/closing

Though the game has its flaws, I think Fashion Dreamer is a really good experience if you like dressup games and enjoy putting people in cute outfits. I enjoy it, and will definitely be playing for the next little while, if only to read and unlock more stuff from the npcs sjdbfnfj. Thanks for reading!!!

[theizzifromosaka]

Monster High (generation 1)

It’s great to be back, I’m feeling a lot better and while I’m still not “healthy” I’m more than able enough to write this review.

Monster High is a multimedia franchise, primarily a fashion doll line aimed at young girls. It might surprise you to learn that I am not the target demographic for this series, but I’m more than willing to give this series a fair shot. I was not familiar with this series before starting this review beyond technically having watched Izzzyzzz’s overview of the franchise at some point, and I mostly had that on in the background when working on something else. I’m practically going in blind.

Frankie Stein

Let me start off this section off by adressing that the current version of Frankie Stein is NB, and uses gender neutral pronouns. I looked into it to be safe, and as I understand it, these are considered different characters that happen to share a name, kinda like all the different guys named Link from Zelda.

Frankie is a reanimated corpse, daugher of Frankenstein’s Monster, as you might imagine from her name. She’s the Audience Surrogate, unfamiliar with the ways of the world but wanting to do the right thing, and a strong want to fit in. She can discharge electricity, usually involuntarily when stressed or excited.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, alternative title The Modern Prometheus, is often cited as the earliest work of Science Fiction. It follows one Victor Frankenstein as his obsession with playing God leads to the creation of a monster that torments him. The monster itself suffers a great deal due to Victor’s hubris, overall quite a miserable time for everyone involved. Frankie seems to mostly take after the Universal adaptation of Frankenstein, specifically the green skin and bolts in her neck being iconic to that iteration. The electricity thing is probably an homage to how that version of Victor brings his creation to life.

Frankie is not my favorite character. Can’t quite put my finger on why, there’s plenty about her design I like. The heterochromia is neat, and her fall apart nature gets a lot of use in the shorts, with characters often asking her to “lend a hand”. Her hairstyle is a clear homage to the Bride of Frankenstein and the myriad of stitches is always fun. Maybe the strict adherence to Universal’s version of Frankenstein rubs me the wrong way.

Draculaura

Draculaura’s a vegetarian Vampire, the daughter of Count Dracula. She’s the most feminine of the group, and besides Frankie usually the most willing to give people a chance. She’s dating Clawdeen’s brother Clawd, and the two are very loyal to each other. Before the two met Draculaura was kind of boy crazy, especially compared with the rest of the cast.

Draculaura is the daughter of Count Dracula, which between Monster High and Castlevania I guess means it’s generally accepted Dracula is terrible at naming his kids. Actually, the wiki states that not only is Draculaura adopted, it’s not even THE Dracula, it’s some other guy. It just makes the whole thing confusing. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is in many ways responsible for how we in the modern day perceive vampires, with specifically the Universal film adaptation solidifying many things, such as the ability to transform into bats and the lack of a reflection.

Draculaura’s design, unlike Frankie’s, is not very invocative of her more famous relative, and I appreciate her design’s originality. The portruding fangs and bat motif help her to read as a vampire regardless, and her Victorian era-inspired look helps bring out her immortal nature. Overall, good design.

Clawdeen Wolf

Clawdeen comes from a very large family of werewolves. Due to her upbringing she’s the most resourceful of the group and is often the most level headed one. A bit they do in the shorts is at the beginning of the short Clawdeen will give a poor piece of advice and at the end of the short she’ll contradict herself with a good, contrary piece of advice.

Unlike the other main three, Clawdeen is not related to a famous monster, though given the precedent set by the other two, it’s probably safe to assume there’s some Universal’s The Wolf Man in there. The movies and shorts often making use of her canid features and her increased proficiencies in the presence of a full moon.

Clawdeen’s lack of reliance on an established popular monster leads her to be the most original of the main trio, and of many of the side characters. According to the wiki she’s supposed to be covered in fur, which does not come across in her design very well. Overall her Gen 1 design doesn’t read as “werewolf” very well, though her strong personality carries her in my opinion. Not as strong a design as the other two, but still a fun character.

Cleo De Nile

Cleo is I guess another reanimated corpse? It’s kinda unclear how the whole “mummy” thing works, she might just be like a more able bodied ghoul. She’s got an unreasonable amount of self confidence, and is very proud of her relationship with Deuce. Unlike Draculaura and Clawd their relationship is never really challenged from what I saw. She sees herself as something of a role model to all the other monsters at Monster High, and depending on the needs of the story she’ll occasionally be right.

Rounding out the Usual Suspects, Cleo De Nile’s obvious inspiration is Universal’s The Mummy, though her father is stated to be the ancient Pharaoh Ramses the Great. The movie’s mummy is a fictional priest by the name of Imhotep, played by Boris Karloff, same guy that played Frankenstein’s Monster and provided the voice of The Grinch. These four monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, The Wolf Man and The Mummy) are the four most popular of the Universal Classic Monsters, and are often paired together even outside of that context (Count Chocula & Co., Hotel Transylvania, your local Dollar Store’s seasonal Halloween section, etc.), with the occasional inclusion of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man and the Phantom of the Opera.

Cleo’s design is by far the least monstrous of any character from this series, and even in terms of her personality and abilities she could hardly be considered frightening or even abnormal. Her characterization isn’t all that consistent, sometimes she’ll act as the voice of the student body and other times she’s treated as the school idiot. I’ll admit I’m a bit biased as I’m just not into the whole “mummy” thing.

Ghoulia Yelps

Ghoulia is a very intelligent ghoul who speaks a fictional foreign language that all the rest of the cast understands. Despite being part of the main group since the very beginning her name is not in any of the intro songs that I saw, and that bothers me a lot. There’s also the issue of her potentially being an untasteful depiction of a neurodivergent person. Ghoulia is a Ghoul as you might imagine, a Zombie, and the brainiest girl at school.

Once again, Ghoulia is not related to any specific popular monster, though it’s pretty difficult for zombies to become popular given their tendency to act as a swarm instead of individuals. This is actually addressed in Monster High, with Ghouls supposedly being very easily influenced and made subservient, which is how Cleo and Ghoulia became friends. To keep up the trend of me talking about classic monster movies, Night of the Living Dead is NOT by Universal (shocker), it’s an independent film that due to an oversight was accidentally made public domain and served as the basis for how we expect zombies to act in modern pop media. Funnily enough, the word Zombie hadn’t begun to be used to refer to the undead, with the term “ghoul” being used by the production team, and no term at all used in the film. It’s a pretty good movie, and it’s easy to find online thanks to it being public domain. I recommend giving it a watch.

I feel like I have to address this with how my previous post popped off: Ghoulia’s animal companion is an owl name Sir Hoots A Lot, which shares an extremely similar name with a cosmetic for the Sniper in Team Fortress 2, Sir Hootsalot. This is most likely a coincidence, however the Monster High character did come first.

I actually really like Ghoulia. She’s got a fun design, and the pun of her being brainy, cuz like “Braaaainsssss”, is really cute. There is, as previously mentioned, the potential issue of her being neurodivergent coded, however she’s mostly portrayed positively, and it doesn’t seem to have been done intentionally.

Lagoona Blue

Lagoona’s a Sea Monster, an overall reliable, level headed and physically capable character. Her relationship with Gill is explored in the shorts, starting as a one sided crush to Gill confronting his parents about their dislike of sea monsters, as his family is freshwater. The writers seem to know she’s kinda overpowered as she’s often off doing her own thing, or has some convenient excuse to not get involved with issues.

Lagoona is stated somewhat vaguely to be the daughter of a Sea Monster and an Ocean Nymph on the wiki, which would potentially leave this section of the review empty if not for her boyfriend being freshwater and very likely having some Creature from the Black Lagoon inspiration. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is unapologetically an allegory for race relations, and though the original film did not depict the creature sympathetically, future interpretations and homages would give the creature far more characterization, culminating in works like The Shape of Water, which actively contradict the original film’s message. Come to think of it, Lagoona and Gill’s relationship shares some parallels too…

Though Lagoona does suffer from the “just paint em blue” fallacy, I’m still inclined to like her design. Honestly I’m not a fan of her depiction in the shorts but I think she really hits her stride once she enters into 3d. Also basically all the characters in this series suffer from “just paint em blue”, so it’s really not fair to hold it against only her.

Abbey Bominable

Abbey is an exchange student from the Himalayas, who confusingly has a Russian accent. She comes off as blunt and cold but she’s eager to make friends, and her straightforwardness is blamed on her upbringing on mountains teaching her to never waste her breath. She’s a Yeti with tremendous physical strength and ice powers.

We’ve officially reached the side characters, which means these characters can basically be taken at face value. I don’t have much to say about Yetis anyways besides it seems to be a cultural thing so very likely all western depictions of it are ignorant or insensitive.

Abbey’s cool, she is to Monster High what Rolf is to Ed, Edd n Eddy. She brings a vaguely foreign twist to the cast, and her place as an outsider often leaves her as the most likely to think outside the box. I will say, however, that her design doesn’t exactly match her personality, and it doesn’t seem intentional.

Toralei Stripe

Toralei is basically what I expected Cleo to be when she was first introduced, she’s a much more traditional Mean Girl. Her only motivation when doing anything seems to be “how can I cause the most chaos possible?” According to the wiki Toralei is a Werecat, which I was surprised to learn is an actual thing.

Toralei, and I mean no disrespect when I say this, is what I wanted Clawdeen to kinda be, in the visual department. Perhaps her passing resemblance to my own Gremlins subconsciously influenced my decision but those girls are more lemur-like. Her multicolored pattern reads a lot more like fur than Clawdeen’s does, and I do like me a love-to-hate-’em villain.

Spectra Vondergeist

Me talking about Spectra might seem a bit odd since she’s not really considered an important character, but I decided to include her because I’m incredibly biased and really like her 2d design. She writes a blog or something on the happenings at Monster High, she’s usually just floating around taking pictures of things.

She’s see-through, has purple hair, dark sclera and wild hair in her 2d depiction. If she’s not the coolest looking side character then I don’t know who is.

I initially wanted to add quick thoughts about the Monster Boys of Monster High, but this has already gone on long enough. Besides, it would’ve just culminated in me finding a way to share Jeckyll Jeckyll Hyde with y’all, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Maybe some other time.

This series ended up being basically what I expected it to be, I can definitely see myself enjoying these films as a young boy in much the same way I enjoyed the likes of Bratz and Winx, and much like them having very little in the way of shame about it. I just missed the Monster High boat however, so what are my thoughts about it? The character designs are delightfully out there for fashion dolls, especially at the time, and the characters are fun homages to classic monsters.

As for their Monster Girls? Despite the series’ massive popularity you might be disappointed to learn how small its influence on Monster Girl character design is, likely because of what people normally associate with the subject. Monster Girls aren’t for kids, after all, it’s a niche fetish thing. But why is it that way? For Monster Girl Connoisseurs like myself Monster High offers a refreshing look into a reality where such preconceptions don’t exist, and Monster Girls merely are. Definitely worth a look if you can overlook the occasional simplicity of the plots and characters.

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[heyftinally]

Worst cartoons you ever watched?

Oh damn, alright, let's go. I'm a cartoon lover, so this is gonna go hard.

For the purposes of fairness, I'm leaving out anything intended for the preK-2nd grade ages. If it airs on playhouse disney/disney jr/nick jr/PBS/etc, I'm not counting it, because it's for a much different audience than stuff like what airs on normal Nickelodeon. I'm also not counting anything aimed at middle/high schoolers or adults, because I wasn't allowed to watch any of it.

Also, disclaimer: I do not watch most current kids cartoons. They don't interest me. I don't care how much anyone wants to hype up Steven Universe, Owl House, or whatever else - they just aren't things that interest me at this point in my life, so all of this is going to be very late 90's - 2010's centric and specifically shows that I watched more than a single episode of, either because I chose to or because my younger sibling liked it (mostly that).

1) Fairly Odd Parents. Look, it was okay in the beginning. I used to watch it if there was nothing else on, because it was better than being bored, but the longer that show ran, the more it sucked. They had virtually zero continuity, and they ran out of ideas WAY early on so they just started adding characters and throwing out their own rules for the sake of a half assed gag. It should have been canceled a *looooooong* time ago. And now apparently they're rebooting it?? I have very little hope for that.

2) Fish Hooks. In a time where most Disney Channel shows were still good, this was just crap. It was crass, relied on cheap toilet humor, and they officially lost me when they started making death/zombie jokes about a fishstick. I honestly rarely like shows like that anyway (ed edd & eddy is the only one that comes to mind), but especially from Disney Channel I expected better.

3) Adventures In Odyssey. Look, I was heavily raised on PBS. If you wanted to watch TV, PBS was sometimes your only option. And when you're trapped in an evangelical home with WAY too many restrictions on what counts as "appropriate", this was often something that I was more or less forced to watch. I don't care that it was aimed at ages 8-12, I was their target demographic and I hated every minute of it. I was already sick of constantly having religion shoved down my throat, and this show didn't make it suck any less. I genuinely remember thinking parts of if where it got extra preach-y were just flat out stupid. It's probably at least 50% trauma talking, but I hated that show so much. I'd have rather watched literally anything else.

Dishonorable mention to Ren & Stimpy - I wasn't allowed to watch it, but just the commercials gave me nightmares.

This list honestly isn't very long, because most cartoons that I hated (that I wasn't banned from watching) I watched less than a single episode of, got the ick for whatever reason, and never tried it again. Most of the ones I truly hated were the ones aimed at preschoolers, because my sibling would watch them and I would be subjected to them (notable ones I hated were Word World and Wow Wow Wubzie or however it's spelled). There were also honestly a few that I hated simply because my sibling loved them, and us having differing opinions on a show was one of the only ways I could feel like my own individual person, so I hated them on principle - had it not been for my sibling/how we were raised, I *might* have liked at least some of them.