#to the exclusion of almost everyone and everything else about the show (and the characters themselves)

[burr-ell]

I didn't know there are people who like the idea of Percy/Keyleth cheating. I don't mind the ship. People can ship whatever they like. But what is the obsession with cheating?

i don't think it's a sincere concern on the part of the audience at large. honestly, people weren't prepared in general for the fact that the hells were meeting The Lord of Whitestone and not percy of vox machina, and that includes the fact that he and The Voice of the Tempest weren't going to act like old college buddies, and i think sam was kind of reacting to that in his...own way. to me it's weird that people might have needed a deeper explanation.

the answer they gave was the most realistic version of that scenario, though i can't see any party involved genuinely going for it 😂 they even said it would require vex's involvement and i can't ever see vex wanting to bring keyleth in the mix.

(this is only tangentially related to this ask, but i have no small amount of frustration with the "beaujester WOULD have happened if They didn't go for Their preferred ships instead 🙄" -> "we DESERVE imo/dna as an APOLOGY that we are OWED for beau/jester!" -> "vex definitely 100% has a crush on keyleth, she's mean to her because she likes her, being sad she missed seeing her friend is a Category Three Vex/leth Moment, source: dude trust me" pipeline. like i understand people hardcore shipping imo/dna and beau/jes, but vex and keyleth?? really??? i mean shipping is all about imagination and extrapolation, i get it, ship whatever you want, but i feel like i'm missing something when i see people insisting that vex and keyleth have all this chemistry and potential. like...keyleth putting vex on a pedestal and vex thinking keyleth's worldview is weird and a little annoying isn't chemistry sdfkjghdfsdfg)

[sepublic]

People -and this did include myself at one point- really don't want to engage with the fact that Belos is modeled after white supremacy by trying to bury this under the lens of "Oh he's actually a lonely weirdo like Luz!!!" when Belos' superiority complex is the most important part of him and it's where all analyses inevitably must stem from. I think the problem is that people are too attached to their speculative fanon version of Belos and instead of letting go of that to rebuild their understanding of him from the ground up (since he's a mysterious character who is only gradually revealed bit by bit), they keep clinging to this sympathetic tragic villain as the core behind their interpretation of him. 

Everything about Belos makes so much more sense when you explore him as someone akin to a lot of right-wing 4channers; A lonely young boy who was radicalized because white supremacy promised to rescue him from his isolation, and after buying into it wholesale, he very much chose to cling onto the need to be superior to the "NPCs" even when someone close to him actually unlearns and deconstructs for him why this is harmful. He sees firsthand how someone just like him is happier for leaving this mindset, and then kills them to eliminate that contradiction threatening his world belief; At which point it’s inaccurate to infantilize him as just a lonely and misguided kid, because he’s no longer a kid and he made a very cognizant and informed choice to double down and commit actual violence.

And everyone knows that by this point, such people are not actually being sincere; They’re not secretly misguided, you can’t simply attribute their harm to not knowing better because this is what their religion says or whatever. These people know they’re committing harm, but rather than help on “lesser” people’s terms, they ‘help’ the way THEY see fit, in the way that strokes their ego. That’s what separates Philip from someone like Gwen, who humbled herself to focus on what Eda was saying she really needed. So the Titan’s summarization of Belos as someone who only cares about being the hero in his own delusion, and fears what he can’t control is… hardly an oversimplification, it really gets to the core of Belos as a character, and the narrative he embodies. It captures the difference between wanting to help and having a savior complex, and is what ends up delineating the two at the crucial crossroads. 

And I find it a little concerning to joke about how this type of character is “just a silly guy” when people exactly like him are on the rise and committing very real violence right now. It’s also why I don’t buy the justification behind a lot of salt about how villains need to be humanized in order to show kids how THEY can become villains, because the show is fairly outright about how Belos rationalizes atrocities under the guise of the ‘greater good’ and refuses to self-reflect, and it’s not as if we don’t have Luz learning to understand characters like Amity or Lilith, the Collector and even Kikimora (whom she DID relate to personally, yet Kiki still doubled down with or without Belos), while still having the show emphasize that they need to get their act together and can’t just depend on people to save them. 

There’s also the very obvious theme of Luz realizing she doesn’t owe her oppressor anything, especially not when he won’t ever meet her or anyone else on their terms, but idk some people just seem to hate Luz for having boundaries I guess, even though she already put in the effort to be kind and understanding to Belos and she got hurt for it. Hell the Collector made that effort after being inspired by Luz, and Luz was murdered protecting them from that mistake!!! There are some very obvious stories and lessons being told here with the actual protagonists being the heart of those narratives, but the problem I’ve noticed is that a lot of the people complaining on Belos’ behalf are those who hyperfixated almost exclusively on the Wittebane aspect of the lore, going over it with a fine tooth comb and microscope to extrapolate an entire fanon from the littlest of details… only to just ignore the actual show and narrative and themes happening on-screen. 

And that leads to many not understanding various narrative decisions because they weren’t really paying attention to the actual point they’re in service to, and then they blame the writers for their own chosen ignorance, and how the story wasn’t about their part specifically so everything else doesn’t count and the whole show is wasted potential, really. The way so many of said fans immediately turned on Luz after the finale and tried to drag her down to Belos’ level by acting like she wasn’t any better for also wanting things and 'demonizing enemies', claiming Luz had unaddressed ‘flaws’ while Belos deserved more sympathy, and framing Belos as a ‘better’ character who ‘worked harder’ while claiming Luz was retconned into an arrogant chosen one who never grew, is actually baffling.

A lot of them are just upset that Belos didn’t play the role in Luz’s arc that they wanted him to play, so they’ve opted to dismiss Luz’s overall storyline as badly written and even a reflection of Dana's 'Catholic complex' (which is a tasteless jab to make) because they neglected the nuance behind every other aspect of Luz that wasn’t directly tied to Belos, that didn’t set her up as the one person who understands him or whatever because that’s more important to them than addressing the sheer trauma and pain that Belos willingly inflicted upon Luz. Because god forbid this brown girl be angry against her white abuser, huh? God forbid the white guy be used to set up the brown main character, rather than the other way around right????? It’s really just a jealous complaint about the show’s choice of priorities and celebration, hidden under the false guise of ever caring about Luz’s arc for Luz’s sake.

And that’s how you get insincere arguments about how Belos should’ve been able to survive, that’s how you get AUs that undermine the lessons of canon to egregiously relegate Luz to being Belos’ sidekick, or even present her as an obstacle to him getting his much-needed redemption, as if that last part hinges on all of Belos’ victims getting over their pain to help him, because obviously he needs it more than they do! Because we gotta spare Belos’ feelings by giving him friends instead of consequences!!! Unbelievable. He is not Amity, not Lilith, and definitely not Hunter, and the people who forgave them had actual reason to do so. And even Lilith had to move in with her mother so she could be given reparations by someone who actually owed it to her, rather than her younger sister and two kids.

And there’s definitely a major difference between Lilith and Gwen’s dynamic and Philip and Caleb’s, especially since Caleb was also a child when he moved into Gravesfield. Even if you think Belos' bigotry was radicalized due to 'grief' over losing his brother to witches, that's just entitlement and control because it's not as if Caleb can't have more than one positive relationship in his life; Philip is no better than people who blame minorities for some incident in their life and use that as justification to become white supremacists, and there's nothing sympathetic or 'tragic' about that.

But the point is that Caleb ultimately wasn’t THAT important to Belos because he’d always be secondary to witch-hunting, Belos clearly chose his white supremacy over his brother, and any ‘takebacks’ that come in the form of the Grimwalkers are insincere given Belos does nothing to actually repent or regret his violence committed on the people of the isles; It’d have been one thing if he DID try to undo his mistake by choosing differently, by cloning Caleb and giving up witch hunting, but he still doesn’t (Note that Belos does not hallucinate the ghosts of the witches he killed; He still feels no remorse over them, because his fear of being wrong comes from a selfish place). And unlike Luz, Belos can’t have it both ways because one option explicitly calls for the extermination of the other; It’s the Paradox of Tolerance that Luz struggled with, except contrary to what Belos claims, humanity’s existence does not require the eradication of others.

Because yes there IS a meaningful moral distinction between Luz and Belos -don’t forget they’re not just parallels but explicit opposites- that occurs even before you get into the genocide, not that you should neglect that other part either because it’s incredibly important, being the starting point for this entire rant. Society already has a bias towards devil’s advocating bigotry as some big misunderstanding, and prioritizing the angst of white dudes who commit it over the victims of color; Can we avoid applying that to fiction?!??!? I literally saw someone complain that the show didn’t portray Belos’ grief from murdering Luz, and that Luz’s “glory moment” took away from a Wittebane backstory!!! At this point, people are just being racist.

[kilarthmac]

Let's talk about Caelum.

I'm gonna preface this with saying that everyone is entitled to their opinions, and if once you're done reading this you decide you don't want to follow me or you want to block me, that's completely up to you. I'm not trying to change your opinion or attack anyone who has a different one than mine, I just wanted to put my two cents out there.

I also wanted to say that whatever your opinion on the matter is, it's yours and yours alone, and you should respect the opinions of other people even if they don't match up. I personally do not sexualize Caelum, but I do think he is an adult with childlike characteristics, and those two statements are not mutually exclusive. He can be an adult, but he also doesnt have to be put in adult situations.

It's okay to have strong feelings one way or the other about this topic, but it is not okay to harass people or go on a witch hunt for those with the opposite opinion to give them shit about what they think. If you disagree with someone and do not want to see their stuff on your timeline, just block them or scroll away. You alone are responsible for your own dash, you cannot make other people responsible for what you see on your timeline.

All that being said, I do not like how the fandom treats Caelum and Empathy Daemons in general.

My stance on the matter is that Empathy Daemons as a whole are adults, but because of how E'Laetum created them, they tend to have childlike characteristics. Those who say that Empathy Daemons are ALL children blatantly ignore the fact that Regulus is an Empathy Daemon as well, and that he has been shown to have adult tendancies (his BA, getting possessive over his charge, etc) while also maintaining his childlike characteristics (telling his charge a bedtime story to sleep, having a very one dimensional view of himself and his charge, etc). This is where I have a problem whenever I see people try to say that all Empathy Daemons are children. Regulus is clearly an adult. There is no "reading between the lines" about this.

Caelum is also an Empathy Daemon, but he is a very different character than Regulus. He is a lot more childlike compared to Regulus. He gets his words mixed up, he likes sweets, he likes hugs, etc. But in his most recent video (Your Bakadere Empathy Daemon Friend Visits You), even he says that he almost went down a path similar to Regulus' until Delphinus stepped in and assigned him to Freelancer, and that stopped him from falling (timestamps from 2:40 - 3:18, and 8:45 in that video). It may be uncomfortable for some people to think of Caelum as going down the same path that Regulus did, but this video clearly shows that he had the potential to. Caelum and Regulus are not as different as one may think.

Erik has also said himself that D(a)emons step out of the Elision Well as adults and they do not age. Of course they don't know everything so they still have to learn, but that's not the same as being a child. On top of the most recent Redacted 101 video, take this screenshot from Wonderworld (previously Redacted Records, when Erik was still in the server) from 2020, where Erik talks about how D(a)emons coalesce.

He even mentions how in earlier Caelum videos he didn't know what he wanted the d(a)emon life cycle to be yet, and that's why he had Caelum state that he was a "kid daemon" at one point.

Not to mention the fact that in the official timeline, it shows that Caelum coalesced in 1999, and is even older than Damien.

At the end of the day, Caelum is a fictional character. Whatever someone ends up deciding to make of him is their choice, this is a fandom after all. If it really bothers you to see what certain people make, block them and move on. DO NOT berate them for their headcanons or fanart or whatever else. People are allowed to have their own headcanons, make their own fics, and draw their own fanart. This is a fandom space, and people are allowed their creative liberties.

Anyways, that has been my two cents. Feel free to voice your opinions in the comments if u want to, but please please be respectful and don't attack anyone.

TLDR; I don't sexualize Caelum but I do think he and all Empathy Daemons are adults (ex: Regulus), everyone should respect everyone else's opinions and just block what they don't want to see on their timelines, and the fandom needs to chill out lol

[cipheramnesia]

There's a brand of criticism that looks at Night of the Living Dead (1968), and suggests people consider the interpretation that Harry Cooper, the racist and misogynistic antagonist of the movie, was right the whole time. After all, if everyone listened to Harry, they would have stayed safely locker in the cellar and survived. He was a bad person, but if you think rationally about, his plan would have worked.

This has nagged at me awhile, because it felt off, and now I can tell you unambiguously that interpretation is not just thematically inconsistent, but factually wrong. Here's why.

First, consider what each character symbolizes. Ben, the protagonist, is revolutionary thinking. He represents taking action, problem solving, creativity and opposition of authority. Barbara is the iconic public in the face of sudden, overwhelming horror. Think the shock and horror in response to the Vietnam War, fresh at the time, the first real widespread use of television exposing USAmericans to the graphic atrocities committed by their own soldiers. Harry, the antagonist represents isolationism, conservativism, and the idea that everything is fine as it is. There is no need for change for Harry, let the government fix it.

Secondarily! Harry's wife Helen and daughter Karen. Helen is also a symbol of traditional values, but in what you might call a centrist way. She too thinks, at first, that Harry is right and it's all going to work out, but as the movie progresses she comes to realize too late that she is not being kept safe but rather held as property and Harry intends to let everyone die if it means what he has stays his. Karen, meanwhile, represents the idea that the external problem (zombies) cannot be ignored and just locked away. The problem is already inside the house, it will affect everyone regardless.

Lastly! Judy and Tom, what else could they be but the innocent hope of youth (Tom) and love (Judy). They die first because their naivete and blind optimism put them in each other's way. They are the proud soldiers of the US military going of to an idealistic war only to die, burning and alone, for nothing.

So, factually speaking, first and foremost, the "Harry was right" position always glosses over that Karen is infected. They believe that as a large group it would be easy to avoid further infection by Karen. This is incorrect, as the movie shows several times. First, Helen stays at Karen's side so extensively that she is ultimately killed when Karen turns. We can from this also recognize the same thing would happen if everyone stayed in the basement. Helen will be infected. Second! Harry repeatedly shows his belief that his wife and daughter are property, and he will act irrationally in his own self interest. It is safe to say that Harry will insist on protecting his wife and daughter even after they become zombies. This means the group will be isolated in a small space with two fresh zombies. What happens from this point is immaterial the group is now at best 3vs4 on the side of zombies, and they have NOT successfully made it through the night unscathed.

But wait! This is already giving the idea that Harry is right too much credit because Harry does not want to leave the basement at all. This means that if Harry was listened to, there would only be Tom and Judy in the basement versus Harry and his zombie family. They would all die if they did not take action. Furthermore! Only by leaving the basement does anyone other than Ben and Barbara find out how to stop zombies, and Ben is the only one who has genuinely figured out one solid antizombie tactic on his own.

Not only this, but Harry has no way to predict that people like Barbara and Ben will show up. His basement plan hinges on a stable situation, which they are not in. He has not planned against a horde of zombies until Ben arrives, and after Ben arrives, he works almost exclusively against the group goals. Harry is not just isolationist but selfish. His plan does not work because at no point does he show any ability to cope with the direct problem, and every version of "sitting it out in the basement" just gets more people killed. Harry is wrong and his plan is bad and critics who suggest his plan was good ought to feel bad.

[yvtro]

once again grieving how dc killed everything unique and interesting about kon's story. it was such an interesting concept to introduce a character who is basically a child celeb. such a novel piece of reconstruction of the genre within its universe.

kon was exploited by everyone in his vicinity. and i'm not even talking just about him being used as a weapon. i'm talking about his fame. i'm talking about capitalism.

for people who have never picked up 90's superboy series: there’s rex and roxy, rex as his ‘manager’ who sells superboy merch, organises meetings with media, plans a SUPERBOY WORLD TOUR. roxy is rex’s daughter and she sticks mostly for that reason too. there’s tana, his girlfriend, a whole fucking adult, who’s a journalist, probably the only one who reports on most of his adventures. then there’s dubbilex, who is sent to hawaii by cadmus as a ‘chaperone’. there’s makoa, a local officer, who of course at first despises him, but eventually starts working with him too (because he admits that they need him, not because he suddenly has any respect to the boy). 

not a single person who makes friends with him or becomes his caretaker because of who he is as a person.

in one of the early issues, his manager strikes a deal for a superboy cartoon. at the time, kon is infected with the clone plague. everyone is so into the show and discussing if it's a good production or not, that no one notices that there’s something wrong with him till he collapses in front of them all.

couple of issues later, a superboy impersonator is killed. kon blames himself for it. rex talks about how they can capitalise on it by producing a comics titled ‘a death of superboy’. 

not even mentioning a whole plotline about rex selling out kon to some guy because he was in debt and how the kid almost got killed in the process.

when kon gets sent to school (as a freshman in high school btw) he still doesn’t even have a name, going exclusively by ‘superboy’ and he has a really hard time making friends because his first instinct is to impress his classmates with his power.

oh, since we’re talking about high school, I should mention that tana was reporting on-live his first day at school. speaking of tana, she also calls him almost exclusively “kid” (criminal) and in issue #0 she overhears her co-workers talking about how it’s not ethical to be in a relationship with a boy who’s not even 16 yet, but she quickly brushes it off as them being “jealous”. 

anyway, my point is: there are a lot of stories about how young superheroes become overly confident and snobby because of the media attention. there’s not a lot of stories about them being literally groomed and exploited in every way possible very much like children celebrities are. 

I don’t know how much of it kesel actually intended to be read this way, because ultimately, most of it is played off as a joke, and tana is not the only adult woman who’s interested in kon (look: knockout calling him a ‘jailbait’ and their whole relationship), but there’s so much potential in this story. kon doesn’t seem to realise how wrong everything going on around him is, as he knows nothing else. hell, he doesn’t even have a name till around issue #60 and he doesn’t mind it. he still wears a cadmus earring with his experiment number without a second thought. 

there’s still a lot of stories to be written about it, but dc is too busy with producing copaganda i guess. and the fanon is sleeping on it too.

[black-queen-rising]

The people taking this dialogue as a legitimate “character flaw” or literally just at face value at all and not as a continuation of the blatant disrespect the writers have not just towards Rhaenyra as the heir of twenty years, but towards anything that could even vaguely be construed as “women’s work”, is the most perfect encapsulation of just how entrenched misogyny is into the very heart of our pop culture and how the popularization of fantasy has managed to worsen our societal view of soft power by painting it as not only weak, but frivolously feminine, unimportant, and a waste of time.

Since the beginning of the show the writers have almost exclusively portrayed Rhaenyra as disinterested if not opposed to her role as heir, as a politician, and a woman in power broadly all against the original canon and all glaringly, not to make her look worse or better or likable or incompetent (they do all those things, almost every episode, with however they need her to affect the plot in that given moment because they’re incapable of having the characters drive it organically) because it’s not truly about her at all. It’s simply because they cannot fathom a story where a woman is politically adept and as a result either 1. evil or 2. boring, and that is fundamentally because once again they are so biased and against portraying anything that could even vaguely be construed as women’s work or at all “feminine-coded” in an even neutral-but-interesting way they do for (stereotypically) masculine-coded activities like sword fighting, horse back riding, dragon riding, hunting, archery, not to mention just the concept of the political conversations that drive these stories, let alone an actually positive way.

They have taken a story that at its core was always an indictment of structural misogyny and how it will literally cause societies to tear themselves apart over nothing. But because they decided at the outset they wouldn’t and couldn’t portray the structural part of said misogyny without scaring away their intended audience, and decided instead to base this all around ultimately meaningless ~team discourse~ (because literally everyone meeting their downfall as a result of the consequences of systemic misogyny is the point) their alternate path has been to over-exaggerate and ultimately turn to spectacle every single woman involved’s individual suffering at the expense of everything else about their characters. It doesn’t matter if that was the intent or not the principle result of this adaptation has been the continual disempowerment and degradation of women and their agency combined with an almost impressively voyeuristic portrayal of their suffering.

The women in this show are not allowed to have interests or hobbies unless it’s to serve to make them seem “bad” in someway, whether that be the discomfort around Helaena’s bugs, the total lack of any positive representation of Alicent’s religiosity, or how the women dragon riders are broadly painted as aggressive, violent, and unnatural. I don’t even have specific examples to list from the other “team” because in order to be portrayed as “likable” to the general audience the women of Team Black are barely allowed to have personalities, let alone distinguishing interests or characterizing hobbies. The agency and autonomy they have been stripped of, collectively, from both historical precedent and actual ASoIaF, is almost entirely in their refusal to allow women’s work to be portrayed positively. There are no balls, no sewing circles, no garden parties, no trappings of power and contests of will in the jewels and gowns Rhaenyra must now loathe to be (their deeply narrow and biased view of) “likable”, there are no female mentorships, and no female friendships, and at every chance they have had to portray these things at both a societal and personal level they have chosen to veer away and instead reinforce their suffering. They have removed women’s avenues and halls of power from this story, while making it very clear there are no others that exist in this world, and they cannot participate in the men’s; if they could this story wouldn’t exist. So we are left with a group of people who are supposedly driving this story, who this story is supposedly about, but they are internally and externally isolated, largely removed from the public eye, angry or distressed to be there on the rare occasions they’re present, disempowered, stripped of personal agency and will, and we’re still told they have power. But if we search for it the only logical conclusion is that any power which does not center on how much suffering they have been through, or how much more they may be dealt, is not only gone, it was never there in the first place.

I don’t enjoy Rhaenyra’s quasi domestic abuse any more than Alicent’s visceral sexual shame and I don’t enjoy the infantilization of Helaena’s character any more than the erasure of Rhaena’s and it is deeply concerning how many people look at these decisions, and nod their heads and say “yes, this is realistic, and not only is it realistic it’s, GOOD, because without horrific psychological and physical abuse and ultimately a complete reduction to every female character as peace loving victims of powerful men’s cruel machinations we could never even SEE how misogyny is so damaging.” And the mindset that drives people to claim that those of us who call out how this is, the definition of benevolent misogyny and say we’re crazy, that we can’t see the complexity, that actually we’re the ones somehow falling back into sexist tropes, or asking for a black and white story when instead the black and white has simply become an insultingly reductive view of evil men versus helpless women and when all else fails, accusing us of wanting a boring story because it’s either not focused on gratuitous individual female suffering, or is focused on the kind of political power every single featured female character on both sides of this conflict wielded in the original book instead of evil man conversations and eviler man dragon-battles, is at its heart why we have come to a place in pop culture where one of its most marquee properties displays and embodies these problems so glaringly in the fucking first place.

[eriexplosion]

Cut for fandom salt

The reason I get so heated about the 'Is Tech Alive/Dead' discourse is that like. It is very hard for me to explain just how pissed I would be if he was dead. Not because 'oh no a thing happened in the show that I didn't like' I'm in my fucking thirties I've dealt with shows making stupid decisions before. It's what a permadeath here in particular would mean with everything surrounding it.

It's starting a series based around getting you to want a family to reunite just to pull the rug out 2/3rds in and say 'lol dumbass they were never going to reunite.' All those themes of family and needing it to be complete? Never meant anything.

It's building up a character, intentionally making sure he's read as neurodivergent in a very clear and confirmed way, giving him multiple plotlines, and then cutting them all off without finishing any of them by taking two episodes to set up a mission that has zero plot purpose except to kill him off and then say Oh well it's stakes and consequences there had to be a price to pay for... trying to reunite the family and save their brother I guess. How dare they.

It's providing zero confirmation in story on the death, spending months upon months saying shit like 'he doesn't come back in this episode at least' and 'this was the end of mine - and that's a good thing!' and 'if you could only see who's on my screen' knowing that there's a large portion of fans genuinely upset by his death, using social media pretty much exclusively to rub our faces in the scene, and then turns out they were just stringing everyone along the whole time, he really was dead, the lack of confirmation in episode meant nothing, us playing coy and dropping hints for ten months meant nothing, fuck you for giving a shit.

It's setting up a story where the clones could be more than soldiers and then abruptly cutting it off and going on and on about how wonderful it is that he died self sacrificing as a soldier and it's what any clone would want, because this show about how all clones are individuals is actually about how they're all interchangeable and any clone would want the same thing.

It's that if Tech is dead there is not a single piece of the show, a single interaction with the fans since it happened, a single anything from anybody involved that was not set up to make ND people hope (or god forbid even feel some kind of acceptance at seeing a neurodivergent character getting treated seriously) string them along, and then punish them for it so that everyone else can coo about how mature and bold it was to kill off the autistic guy for shock value. And then they don't even fucking address it the next season because ~oh there's just no time~

And I would really prefer if a show that I have loved almost every other aspect of, that has been genuinely well written and moving, didn't randomly decide to drop every single piece of their writing ability in order to put out the most ambiguous death scene ever, fuck with their audience for ten months, and then shit on them for caring.

[analexthatexists]

IT'S-A SPOOKY MONTH SPECULATION TIME GUYS!!!

Okay, so after Episode 6, I was like "Wow, they sure want us to remember what happens in past episodes, this one was full of callbacks and other things", and uh...

I'm really hoping this is just a silly reference to some oher media, because if it isn't, then OHHHH BOY THESE KIDS ARE IN TROUBLE.

HEADS UP FOR MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR, WELL, PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRE SERIES SO FAR (EPISODES 1-6)

Also, I'm noticing that ever since like, Episode 3, this spider and that mannequin have just been chilling in the attic. Interested to see their involvement in the next episode, which I assume is what's being built up to...

Side Note: In Episode 1, you can see the mannequin move to the right a bit, I suppose hinting to the spider? I also believe in Episode 3 after Bob knocks down the mannequin, the spider's the one that puts it back up.

Might I also mention that most side-appearing characters (Or in the previous case, items or even creatures/animals) usually end up coming back in later episodes or having some importance, good examples being Father Gregor and Ignacio. So, what about the Happy Fella dude?

Come to think of it...

What about people like Frank? I mean, he's got a similar role as Kevin (and now Radford) as a side character who has a simple, singular appearance, but it's clear from Kevin and other characters that people like him can always return with more importance than they usually seem to have. This ALSO applies to:

The "Hobomen" who already seem to be getting importance due to The Mayor asking them to destroy a building,

Rick. Just...Because he's Rick.

I mean, if Radford ended up joining Kevin on his wacky adventures, then who knows what Rick could end up getting into?

This poor child who keeps getting fricked over by literally everyone and everything around him,

Even this actor guy who APPARENTLY WAS IN EPISODE 1!? WHAT!? I DIDN'T REALIZE THAT UNTIL LOOKING BACK, WHAT THE-

You see? It's stuff like this that makes me feel like these characters can always return without you even realizing! And that's just SO COOL to me!

...Side note, I uh...accidentally found something. You see that painting? YEAH, UHH....

HUH!? HOW!? I- THEY- SR PELO WHAT THE HELL MAN

I GO LOOKING FOR ONE THING AND I END UP FINDING SOMETHING ELSE ENTIRELY. WOW, THEY PLANNED ALL OF THIS OUT DIDN'T THEY!?

...Right...Moving on...

I'm just now realizing this, but the eyes in that bucket aren't Dexter's (mistook them for his because they have the same pupils), it's the Happy Fella that uh...Y'know... Went splat.

Also, it seems like, if it's not a one-off joke or gag, that ghosts and undead monsters do in fact exist, and well, we've seen a certain demon friend of ours come back from the dead... (Multiple times)

Also, the Happy Fella had to be cooked TWICE, and even after THAT, its eyes still move, soooooo....

So who knows? Maybe one of our deceased friends will come back from the dead! Perhaps Dexter and/or his grandma? Who knows?

Finally, I want to point out Pump's eyes. After encountering The Eyes, Pump's pupils seem to change cyan ALMOST everytime he and Skid encounter a demonic entity, exceptions being Bob and the Happy Fella. Most of the time, his eyes change when around Moloch, and this might actually be exclusive to Moloch. I'm not exactly sure...

Both Father Gregor and Bob have these eyes as well! Bob gets them after seemingly returning from the dead when shot in the chest, and Gregor gets them after his encounter with The Eyes, similar to Pump. I suppose this is supposed to show their connections to The Eyes and other demonic entities? So...Why didn't Pump's eyes glow AT ALL when around Bob? Even when HIS eyes turned blue? Why does Moloch trigger Pump's eyes to change but other entities don't?

I don't know! I'm just pointing it out, really. I ran out of speculation juice a WHILE ago, and I just wanted to point out these little details. Sorry!

[redwiccanrobin]

I keep seeing people say the live action show is going to be bad only because Bryke is no longer involved. Now, I’m not particularly interested in the show because live action remakes just don’t do anything for me, personally. But I think y’all are giving Bryke way more credit than they deserve. Let’s discuss.

First, I think we should acknowledge the more problematic aspect of them creating the show in the first place. While I love Avatar, Bryke are two white men who took the aesthetics of many different Asian cultures to create their world. And most of the voice cast were also white. If there were Asian voice actors, they were either a background character or a villain (besides Iroh and Zuko, of course). Now, I know that some of you may have read that and thought about how the actor playing Sokka is not only white but lied about his ethnicity. Don’t worry, I’m mad at that as well and I’m beyond frustrated that Sokka has been whitewashed not once, but twice in the name of a live action interpretation.

And speaking of live action interpretations, let us not forget Bryke’s role in the 2010 movie. They announced their decision to leave this new show due to it not matching their vision. But they had no problem with the film that casted almost exclusively white actors to play characters of color. Again, if there were POC in the movie they were either background actors or villains (again, besides Iroh and Zuko). When people bring up the movie, they blame Shamalan for every aspect of it. Yes, he did not direct a good movie. But, at the end of the day, Bryke wanted this movie to happen. Everyone else, including Shamalan, wanted a season four but they were dead set on the live action movie that whitewashed most of the characters. And they were fine with that. That didn’t clash with their vision despite relying very heavily on non-white cultures to make their show.

Outside of the whitewashed movie, their creative choices are… interesting, to say the least. And we didn’t get to see those because the writers pulled their weight and tweaked the original concepts. Toph? Bryke wanted her to be a boy and be in a love triangle with Aang and Katara. It was the writers who made her a girl. Azula? Again, Bryke wanted her to be a boy and, again, the writers made her a girl. Katara fighting sexism in the Northern Water Tribe? They wanted her to be fighting for Aang, not herself. It was the writers decision to add in Katara fighting against a patriarchal system. Many of the episodes that people point to as their favorites (Zuko Alone, The Puppetmaster, The Southern Raiders) were not written by them. Yet, they get the pats on the backs from casual viewers and even some dedicated fans.

Do you know what happens when they do have creative control? At best, it’s mediocre, at worst, it’s bad. Let’s first take a look at their continuation of this universe by looking at Legend of Korra. The writers that made those iconic and beautiful episodes in ATLA? For the most part, they’re no where to be found. And it shows. LoK was a mess from the very beginning and never quite got its footing. Yes, I will acknowledge that Nickelodeon fucked them over. Yes, I do have respect for them for sticking to their guns and making Korrasami an item and giving us not one but two bisexual women of color. But besides that? It’s just a very mediocre show with mediocre writing.

But we see how truly bad things can get with the ATLA comics. Now, I do need to acknowledge that they didn’t work on that comic alone. So, like the movie, there are others to blame for the mess. But Bryke signed off on everything and wrote some of it themselves. And, boy, are they bad. A large number of the ATLA fandom do not like these comics and there’s definitely a reason why. Including out of character moments, prominent sexism with how the women are written, and just downright bizarre discussions, it’s not that much of a surprise that we don’t like to acknowledge it. In my opinion, no one got screwed over more in those comics than Katara. They make her a trophy girlfriend. A shadow to Aang rather than being her own character. That girl we watched in the show, the one who was vibrant, layered, complex, was gone. In her place, a hollow shell. And they would continue to show disrespect for their own character in LoK where she has been upgraded from trophy girlfriend to trophy wife. They didn’t even care enough about her, besides her being the wife of Aang and the mother of his children, to give her a statue! All the feminism we see in the original show? It definitely wasn’t Bryke.

I don’t know how this new live action show is going to pan out. It could be great, it could be bad. It could just be meh. But none of those outcomes have anything to do with whether or not Bryke was involved. Because they may have created ATLA, but they weren’t the ones who truly breathed life into it.

[brakken]

it’s 3 am and I need to talk about critical role

spoilers for campaign 3, episode 65 below the cut

So I haven’t been keeping up with the latest campaign as much lately (and still have to watch the second half of this ep, even) - but, y’all, I can’t sleep and I gotta talk about that kiss.

I loved how... simple it was, compared to other moments in the show of this type of affection. There’s Imogen & Laudna, doing grocery shopping - just a homely good deed for someone else - such a domestic and safe moment despite the world in the state it’s in, and that’s where Imogen is able to properly reunite with Laudna. To acknowledge that she’s hurting, yes - and also, in this crowded place where Imogen’s now free of all the outside thoughts, to express an inner feeling in a simple, wordless way. 

That kiss was so filled with reassurance, commitment, and unshakeable love - but it was also as if for Imogen it was just the natural course of action. An emotion so impossible to express by just talking. A universal confirmation for the both of them - ‘we’re together again’.

And there was no ceremony, there was no... acknowledgment in that moment that what they’ve had uptil now had changed at all - they just kept communicating, and untangling. And Laudna follows up with another kiss, almost midway through a sentence - with that same reassuring truth that they were together.

This was so perfect for my experience with them - they’d made such an easy pairing from the get-go, but in the ‘pacing’ that the story had set out, I was beginning to think that it wasn’t going to unfold romantically. I’d made my peace with that, but was still so very appreciative of the bond they had - beyond any classification of friendship or family or whatever - they were so committed to each other. And then this kiss was almost like.... part of that? As if it was never really missing - like they’ve just skipped the ‘romance’, you know? Already on that soul-mate stuff that was so present from the start.

These are the kinds of pairings that really stay with me - the ones I aspire to write about myself. The undying, unquestioning truth of ‘I’ll never leave you’, expressed so purely.

And I say they skipped the romance, but I still want to acknowledge Marisha’s little jokey aside about her intention to create an unromanceable PC this campaign. A cold, creepy witch woman. And how despite that, everyone - the audience, the cast, and the characters - have all so readily and easily fallen in love with her in some way or another. It speaks to how well she performs Laudna, and also how much Laudna deserves that love. Because while it was an out-of-character comment, the idea of Laudna feeling the same - of having created this haunting idea of herself over the years, of having experienced such pain and exclusion, and still shining through despite herself, to inspire others to give back all the love she puts forward. For all the ways that she sees herself as broken, and undeserving, there’s Imogen, to show her that isn’t so.

Then on Imogen’s side, again, that desire to communicate what she’s feeling without words - without thoughts. Imogen doesn’t fully know, can’t know, can’t hear what Laudna has been through, and to have that be both frightening but also freeing - to be separate from everyone and everything, even someone you love, and then to actively and mutually reconnect - to remake that bond.

And there wasn’t need for flowery descriptions, or have it as the ending note of the episode - there wasn’t this intent to focus on ‘oh Laudna’s lips feel clammy at first but then warm to Imogen’s touch,’ or anything. Because it wasn’t what they were focusing on, either. It wasn’t about how it made them feel on that physical level - it was everything else. The kiss was simple, and with its simplicity it brought a million complex feelings into momentary order.

Anyway, it’s late, or early, but just had to write a bit - get some of my own thoughts out of my head.

As I’ve been typing this, I’m reminded of a song - ‘Signal Fire’ by Snow Patrol - it feels right for Imogen & Laudna, I think.

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

The Undertale characters are hired to give humans a tour of the Underground after they reached the Surface. Do they take their role seriously?

Undertale Sans - He's not too happy about it so he's only showing the big cities and some places not too secretive. Though he loves to mess and make crazy his humans by going in the wong direction to shortcut everyone somewhere else. The humans are losing their mind over it. Also, be careful, he might have set several pranks along the way. Somehow, despite not really liking the job, everyone wants to go have the tour with him. It's kinda annoying him for his brother.

Undertale Papyrus - He takes his role very seriously but he is maybe just a bit too enthusiastic about it, and might have gone too far when he showed a bunch of his most famous forbidden traps to his group of humans and set one up to show them, sending a 4 years old to solve it. After that, Undyne confiscated everything and Papyrus had to show his regular puzzles, which is boring, so he decided to show the humans cool attacks instead, knocking out the same 4 years old in front of the eyes of their parents, who then... threatened to sue him. Oops.

Undertale Toriel - She's taking care exclusively of school visits with human classroom and shows them everything, doing her best to gain their interest and entertain them with puzzles and quizz. She was not too enthusiastic about the idea of visiting the Underground at first, but she has to confess she didn't see the day pass.

Undertale Asgore - He's showing the people around the castle, avoiding at all costs the room with the human corpses to, you know, not freak out anyone. Asgore is happy he has some people to talk too and he might have lost thoughts of what he was supposed to do at some point, inviting his group of humans to take tea and talk about their lives...

Undertale Undyne - Undyne is trying her best but she is really not very good at the "show around everyone" thing. She's not patient, she's losing it because of that couple that isn't listening to anything and walk very slowly and man, at some point, she can't anymore. She takes a big rock and explodes it with her bare hands. All the children are in awe and asking for more. The couple fled in fear and got lost in Waterfalls... She didn't get to fetch them, the will met one of the other groups eventually... right?

Undertale Alphys - She said she would do it, but when people knocked at the door of her lab, she freaked out, decided it was a bad idea and ran down in the true lab to hide from everyone. She curled up against Endogeny, who came for figuration, and hugged the big dog all day long.

Undertale Frisk - They're having fun, showing the people around and tell them everything about their journey and how they almost die at least 200 times! The kids are traumatised and their parents are not too happy about knowing this place is not safe at all for children. Oh well. Live dangerously or what's the point?

Undertale Chara - They thinks all the people in their groups are idiots. They keep asking stupid questions and Chara just sighs with exaggeration and answers to them like they are children. They gives up miday and follows Toriel around as she has way more patience than they are.

Undertale Mettaton - He's showing them his building , the backstage of his movies and all the famous places where he thought Frisk in duel. Mettaton might have changed the story to make himself the main character and hero. He might also have invented half of it to make it look more epic. He prepared a private show at the end of the tour where he almost cut in half a poor screaming woman with a chainsaw. These humans have no sense of humor, it's boring.

Undertale Gaster - He was just chilling in his room in Waterfall when the couple Undyne lost showed up and asked him something. Gaster freaked out and made the door disapeared. Now the three of them are stuck in the Void. Welp. That happened...

Undertale Grillby - He's not doing the tour, he's serving food for the people who spends the day here and needs to eat. He never gain so much money in his entire life and he's so happy because it means he can finally open a bar on the Surface! He's in a good mood, even randomly gifting free icecream to children nice to him.

Undertale Muffet - Both humans and monsters are avoiding here. She tried to promote her bakery but surprisingly, people are not too happy about getting imprisonned in cobweb until they accept to buy one of her spider donuts. She might or might not be very jealous of Grillby's success. Even Sans is selling more hotdogs than her and that's not even real hotdogs!

Undertale Burgerpants - He's selling Mettaton merch and is trying all he can to convince people to not buy it since his boss is too busy to notice. He's also telling everyone to please talk around them about how Mettaton is treating him so he can destroy his reputation.

Undertale Flowey - He's following Toriel's group, trying to catch the attention of the children and dragging them apart of the group to show them the best forbidden and dangerous spots to see them risk their lives stupidly. That's entertaining, especially when Toriel comes to fetch them in panick after a few minutes to lecture them to death. Damn, he could do that all day.

Undertale Gerson - He's doing the historical tour, giving people who are interested the story of how the Underground got build, the story of Asriel and Chara... And of course a top 10 of the greatest arguments he witnesses between Toriel and Asgore with baits on which of them win in the end. He's a big gossip.

[atopvisenyashill]

oh god key 5 people still exist?

they are absolutely still yapping about that yes despite grrm saying that he was annoyed the original outline got out because he's departed so much from it at this point. it is as always used to cut sansa almost exclusively out of narrative importance (but tbf, sometimes brienne and catelyn/lsh and notice this is only used as a cudgel against women. love these hypocrites lol).

anon sent an ask like two seconds later that says: wait sorry about the last ask, one must banish the discourse from the mind, it is the mindkiller, et cetera et cetera. Have you read His Dark Materials? any thoughts on what daemons various asoiaf characters might have?

lmaoooo.

i read the first book in grade school and watched the show as it was airing, so if there's any errors here, no there aren't lol. i don’t know if you MEANT for me to take this as “imagine asoiaf but with daemons” but it’s a little hard NOT TO when everyone and their mama is associated with an animal. like what animal is joffrey? i mean he is a lion aksksj. i know daemons are supposed to represent your ~true self~ but at the same time so many of them attempt to model themselves off their sigils, with some characters even identifying AS that animal or being heavily associated with animals of their house (like even the tullys, they’re fish, that’s not a fearsome animal but when edmure gives that “fish swim even black ones” line you’re like DAMN. these bitches are SLIPPERY ya know? anyways ajsjd)-

robb stark - eastern direwolf. it’s the bigger direwolf irl and it’s the one that prefers a more lush habitat (like the riverlands)

jon snow - sorry i can’t just can’t see ghost any different!! i think it also fits his story, the idea that catelyn is waiting to see his daemon to get an idea of who his mother is and it’s JUST a direwolf.

sansa stark - okay so i wanted to make her like a modern relative of direwolfs to show that even if she looks different, more domesticated, she’s still a direwolf but it turns out direwolves are not related to gray wolves (even tho they look remarkably similar) but DOGS. i feel like there’s some symbolism here but idk what. anyways. i thought a wolf dog hybrid would fit here - my instinct says the Volkosob wolfdog because of their friendliness towards humans.

arya stark - ATLANTIC WOLFFISH. they are freaky and kinda mean looking but they don’t attack humans unless provoked and they’re integral to the health of their habitats. also imagine the stress of the only stark looking cat kid and she’s got a fish as her daemon.

bran stark - 😭😭 can i give a wolf wings. i do believe there are mythological winged wolves and it would be fun if he’s had like, normal animals all his life then his finally settles on a form right as he wakes up from his coma and it’s a mythical creature.

theon greyjoy - ngl my first thought was like, a duck, for how sexually violent they are as a species aldjfskd but that's not fair because allll the iron islands are like that. i was thinking some sort of salamander, which theon would think is cool but the ting about most salamanders is that while they're born in the water, once they reach maturity, they go to land. i was thinking a tiger salamander - whether they go through metamorphosis is completely up to them.

ned stark - a husky. i know huskies aren’t wolves my mom has them and i know for a FACT those bitches are all Just Smart Enough to have anxiety but not smart enough to do anything else. ned is smart enough to be depressed about everything but does he solve a single problem he has? well.

catelyn stark - orca. are orcas fish? no they’re dolphins lol BUT they are one of my favorite animals, and they are hugely family oriented, and viciously protective of their pods, with a bit of a sadistic streak (which isn’t to say cat is sadistic but she DOES have a known temper that fits with the grudges orcas tend to hold).

joffrey baratheon - obviously i want to say joff is a lion but if cersei’s kids 3/3 settle in as lions, that could be proof of A Problem bc now i’m like “what are the political ramifications if all your children have daemons that represent their mother’s house but not their father’s house. do u just pray all your kids get random non house themed daemons.” i was trying to find infamous killer lions but it doesn’t seem like it’s really a specific species that gets vicious, you just sometimes get a handful of brothers who band together and go WILD on some territory. anyways i was picturing more north african, they tend to be bigger, the more typical lions you think of and i would want joffrey’s daemon to look like The Epitome Of Lions.

tommen baratheon - love the idea of tommen being a doe.

cersei lannister - hmmmmm. can i say white lions (not completely white, mostly white) bc they only exist in captivity?

jaime lannister - nemean. why? it’s funny.

tyrion lannister - i want him to be one of those lions with black manes, to make him stick out from his siblings the way his eyes do. not even his daemon is a golden lion!

robert baratheon - i would love robert to be a moose bc of how vicious they are but i think they’re too funny looking so he gets to be an elk. i like that elk can become invasive species if they’re not checked bc they’re Too Adaptable. the idea that robert is the sort of person who can adapt to any situation, not for his intelligence, but simply bc he is too good at violence. something fun here.

stannis baratheon - he’s a moose for sure. goofy, big, and mean as fuck.

renly baratheon - renly is a peacock and he thinks its kinda funny

brienne of tarth - i'm feeling some sort of beast of burden, like a horse. loyal, fearful, but always charging straight into danger, always carrying the heaviest load of the group.

dany targaryen - i'd love the idea of dany having a wyvern as her daemon, a sort of nod to barth's theory that wyverns were used to make dragons.

[canonicallyobserving911]

9-1-1 Season 6 - Constructive Criticisms #1

Lack of and/or inconsistencies with interviews, promos, stills, trailers, etc.

IMO Season 6 ended like a wet firecracker with no sparks or anything exciting enough to make me want to return for season 7.  While the bridge collapse included in 6x18 “Pay it Forward” had potential, it fell completely flat because it felt rushed and the injuries the team received from it were glossed over once they made it to the hospital. There wasn’t any emotional depth and it seemed like another filler episode.  Also, since it was the “supposed” culmination of an entire season/series, it made everything seem more abysmal.  The first half of the season ended abysmally too on November 28, 2022 and over the hiatus, I hoped 6B would be better.  In February 2023, the promo was released for 6x10 “In a Flash” and I became excited again about the show since it seemed like 9-1-1 was back on track but much to my dismay, that wasn’t the case.

To say I was disappointed after watching 6x18 is a gross understatement because the narrative the show followed for THE ENTIRE SEASON was discarded and I stopped watching before the episode ended. It felt like the show I’d grown to appreciate as an actual form of entertainment in the current ‘wastelands’ of network TV had turned into something that was unrecognizable because characters’ storylines were completely obliterated, CANON facts from previous seasons were erased/rewritten and it seemed like the majority of season 2 never existed.  I was so frustrated with the ending that I needed to reassess and regroup in order to figure out if I wanted to continue CANONICALLY blogging about 9-1-1.

I mentioned in a previous post (linked here) that I wanted to provide constructive criticisms from an objective perspective for the season overall and in order to do that, I needed time to reassess. Instead of posting one long 100,000-word post (yes, it’s that many words or more), which would have included everything I felt from season 6 that should have been yeeted to the sun, I decided to make separate posts about them.

My first set of “constructive criticisms” regarding the way promos were handled are included below the cut. Please note criticizing a TV show is NOT a bad thing especially since TV critics have been doing it for decades. Constructive criticisms are designed to help make something better and they are VERY different from negativity.  A person can offer criticisms about a form of entertainment they spend their time watching and not be negative about it the same way two people can agree to disagree on a topic. Just because one person liked the season, they shouldn’t expect for others to feel the way they do because everyone has their own opinions.  Simply put, two people can have different opinions about 9-1-1 and those opinions can COEXIST since they are not mutually exclusive.

If reading criticisms about 9-1-1 upsets you, then don’t read below the cut.

                      Warning! ⚠️“Constructive Criticisms” Ahead!⚠️

TV promotions for season 6 were all over the place and they were very inconsistent.  They’re supposed to generate GA interest in the episode to increase the number of viewers who will watch (hopefully live) and so they’ll know what to expect but the lack of/and or the inconsistencies in promoting them made that almost impossible. Video promos, teasers, trailers, interviews, synopses, social media, stills and everything else were delayed or nonexistent which made it difficult to follow the direction the show was attempting to take. The end result for some episodes made it seem like they were still editing up until the last minute which is ridiculous especially for a veteran TV show like 9-1-1 that was in its sixth season.  There’s no excuse for promotions to have been as minimal as they were and it’s also unfathomable for them to have not been presented to the network in a timely manner.

Promos, Teasers and Trailers Season 6 video promos, teasers and trailers were lacking and it was unnecessary since that wasn’t the case for previous seasons.  Promos for the entire season were off and it all started before 6x1 “Let the Games Begin” even aired.  The season opener promo wasn’t released until a few days before the episode aired when in the past, those promos were released at least one month prior the same way it was done for 6B.  Also, the 6x1 promo was attached to another FOX show that wasn’t even in the same franchise (The Cleaning Lady) and the 9-1-1 portion of it included scenes from 6x4 (Buck on the bicycle) which wasn’t set to air for another four weeks.  The “Blackout” trailer for Season 5 was released at least one month prior to when 5x1 “Panic” was set to air and it played continuously on FOX (at least it did in my region) until the premiere.  Therefore, the lack of trailers for the entirety of the season made absolutely no sense.

It appears there may have been more last minute reshoots, episode name changes and other reasons for the delays that caused edits to be processed down to the wire.  So, the lack of trailers, teasers and episode promos shouldn’t have been a surprise after season 5 but it was because it costs between 9 million - 10 million to produce a single episode.  Since it seems like 9-1-1 wasn’t bothered enough to promote their own show, they shouldn’t have been surprised when the GA didn’t tune in.  Several social media comments about the start of season 6 included viewers stating they missed the premiere because they didn’t know the show had returned.

Promos for upcoming episodes that should have aired at the end of 6x16 and 6x17 weren’t included and the promo for 6x18 wasn’t even released until the Saturday before the episode aired.  It was only 10 seconds in duration and it included at least 4 seconds of LD (a former recurring character from season 5 who hadn’t been seen since 6x1) even though each member of the firefam got less than 0.5 milliseconds of airtime in it.  Six sneak peek scenes were released for 6x18 but it probably would have been much better if they didn’t release a promo at all, especially since it wasn’t long enough to understand what was going to happen.

Unpopular opinion - IMO, FOX took the blame for the lack of promos during the latter part of 6B when the blame should have been placed solely on 9-1-1.  Since the show is responsible for getting promos and trailers to the network, wasn’t it 9-1-1′s responsibility to provide FOX with stills, teasers, trailers, etc.?  If that’s the case, then FOX couldn’t adequately promote 9-1-1 because it seems like 9-1-1 didn’t give them anything to promote.  This wasn’t an issue for 9-1-1 LS because they started promoting their 4th season in October 2022 even though the first episode wasn’t set to air until January 2023.  Reminder, 9-1-1 OG was on FOX for 6 years and in the past, FOX had no problems promoting the season 3 Tsunami, the season 5 Blackout and others so it’s kind of unfair for them to take the blame for the lack of promos when the show dropped the whole trailer/teaser/promo ball all on its own.

Incorrect synopses There was an abundance of incorrect synopses included in season 6 and if the goal was to hide/deflect/deter the audience from potential spoilers then maybe it would have been a good idea to make sure the final edit of the episode was done before any synopses were released.  It seems like the lack of planning caused a lot of these errors especially when reshoots for certain scenes had to be completed (the scene of Marisol crying while standing over her brother in the ambulance in 6x5 was actually a reshoot.  Imagine that👀👀... they reshot the scene and it still looked like she was in love with her brother.  Therefore, that was a WASTE OF MONEY/BUDGETING DOLLARS).  The synopsis for 6x1 stated Maddie and Chimney would go to couples’ therapy but either it didn’t happen or it was cut from the episode.  The 6x5 “Home Invasion” synopsis stated Hen would talk to her professor when she did that in 6x4 “Animal Instincts”.  Guests and recurring characters listed for 6x17 and 6x18 was an inconsistent mess and it’s unclear if they did it that way to hide the fact that AK and MW were returning in 6x17.  But viewers who saw the BTS pics that were released in March, already knew AK would be in the finale and it was speculated that MW would be too after she was spotted at FOX studios.  Does anyone proofread these things because the synopses that included Buck and ND kept changing like they were trying to decide how to handle their nonexistent relationship only to shove Buck into one with her at the end of 6x18. SMH!

Stills Stills are a huge part of promos because they can be used on an array of social media platforms when compared to videos and GIFs; therefore the lack of them for the majority of season 6 was unacceptable.  A lot of the stills that were released came from the main cast (thanks to OS and AH) and the ones from the show were always released when it was close to the episode’s air date instead of at least one week in advance.

Social Media By the end of 6A, the official Tumblr 9-1-1 account hadn’t posted anything about OG since the BT breakup at the end of season 5, so I unfollowed it.  People who use Twitter and Instagram probably got more interactions from the dedicated FOX accounts than other platforms but hopefully when the show is on ABC, things will be better and the Tumblr 911 on ABC will get the attention it deserves.

Sneak Peeks 9-1-1 should STOP releasing five and six scenes from an episode the weekend before or on the day the episode airs because it’s a lazy way to promote it and they ruin the viewing experience.  The duration of each episode is between 42 to 45 minutes so if 5 scenes that are each one-minute long are released, the audience has the chance to see at least 11% to 12% of the episode before it airs. That spoils a lot of the excitement and it’s been happening since season 5.  Sneak Peeks should NOT be used to replace promo videos and teaser trailers.

Pre and post-mortem interviews Interviews have become an antiquated way of promoting TV shows because most of the GA DOESN’T READ THEM.  Also, some people don’t even know they exist but the main problem with 9-1-1′s post-mortems is information that should have been included in CANON WAS NOT but it was mentioned in interviews like the audience should have been able to anticipate what the showrunner wanted them to know (i.e., Chim and Buck making up off screen in season 5 and Chris being told about Eddie’s will)!  The showrunner(s) released all kinds of important information in them but if they didn’t read the post-mortem, viewers didn’t have any ideas about the things that supposedly happened.  For example, KR mentioned, right before the midseason hiatus, that Ravi was away at the academy but the GA had been asking about the character since the beginning of season 6.  Therefore, if the majority of the GA doesn’t read interviews, how were they supposed to know that?  Also, she always mentioned things happened off-screen during her interviews when clearly those things were important enough that they should have happened on-screen.  Since most viewers don’t read post-mortems, they had to do mental gymnastics during and after episodes to figure out what happened to the characters.

Another issue with 9-1-1′s post-mortems is lately there’s only been one main cast member doing the majority of them and that’s just not fair.  Viewers have their favorite characters and contrary to popular belief, BUCK IS NOT EVERYONE’S FAVORITE.  My favorite character is Eddie Diaz, so I would like to read some interviews with RG instead of OS.  If RG was allowed to do some interviews then maybe I’d read the articles instead of just scrolling to the comment sections.

Please note, I do not have a problem with OS because he’s a gifted actor and he knows and plays the character of Evan ‘Buck’ Buckley very well but he’s done like 90% of the post-mortem interviews for season 6 while the rest of the main cast has barely done one or NONE (RG) over the past two seasons.  It’s an ensemble cast so it would be fair if EVERYONE is given the chance to do at least one interview.  If they don’t want them to do one then maybe the showrunner(s) should do all the interviews instead of them spotlighting only one cast member. 

To make things fair, every main cast member (there are 9 of them) should be allowed to do a minimum of two post-mortem interviews per season or if that’s not an option, none of the main cast should do them.  That way audience members would have the opportunity to read interviews from some of their favorites too.  The comments on other social media platforms and post-mortem interviews for season 6 proves that viewers would much rather read interviews from someone other than OS in season 7. 

The viewers who like AB want to read interviews conducted with her while others would like to hear from AH, PK or KC.  IIRC, JLH hasn’t done an interview since season 5 after 5x12 “Boston” also both GM and CM haven’t done one since last season either.  AH did an interview after 6x6 and PK completed one before 6x7 but the information he mentioned was either incorrect or the character’s job was changed from her being a ‘famous singer’ to a ‘movie star’.  KC did one a few weeks ago after the proposal arc and it appears to have been a HUGE success since he was finally allowed to do an interview.  When is RG going to be let out of interview jail?  He did interviews in previous seasons, so what’s the problem with allowing him to do interviews?

Hopefully the transition to ABC will be better but if they have to wait for promotional materials the same way FOX did, it’s unlikely things will be any better than they were during season 6.  9-1-1 needs to work on their time management and organizational skills during the hiatus to be better for season 7 so they’ll be able to release promos, stills, etc. on time.

These are my criticisms regarding promos, trailers, stills, interviews, etc. and “Constructive Criticisms” #2 will be posted soon.

[crunchyharold]

thoughts on world tour!!

world tour is. so much. i could not possibly contain all of my thoughts in one post

the songs are cringe BUT. a fair few of them are cringe in a good way. her real name isn't blaineley is a banger. changing guard mix is a banger. condor is a banger. we built gwen's face is like actually objectively good. versus has some of the funniest lines in the whole of total drama

the love triangle thing is BAD. dreadful. didnt need to happen. duncan didn't need to come back and gwen did Not need to have a crush on him. no need for that!! eww!!! bye

the animal curse thing is also BAD. why did they do that to dj. why did they only ever give him plotlines that made him unhappy. why can't dj have a normal nice plotline like everyone else. fuming!!! it wasnt funny and it wasnt nice to see i just want dj to be happy wadda hell!!

the sierra thing is also BAD!!! BAD!!!! sierra has so much potential as a character and i like fanon sierra i love her weirdgirl energy they should have emphasised that she knows Everything About The Show and let her strategise instead of . cody. what the hell was that. what the HELL was that.

alejandro was interesting (especially when u get past the seducing team victory thing i did not care for that) because like. heather got so far in island for kind of no reason. and for her to see someone doing what she thought she was doing in s1 but infinitely better and more tactful, and to know nobody would believe her because nobody likes her BECAUSE of how she was in s1?? very cool. i like their rivalry they're one of the few acceptable canon ships, partly because even tho they both really like each other they'd still drop the other in a second for money and <3 dont they just deserve each other <3

seriously though the fact that they manage to make you root for heather. one of the few good things fresh has done

i dont care for blaineley. dont care. dont care about the aftermath shows either sorry

i cant think of any other specifics but generally speaking it's one of the better seasons. the changes in scenery help to keep it fresh. like i know ive almost exclusively talked shit lmao but the fact that its such an enjoyable season despite having so many glaring flaws really shows that when its good its GOOD yaknow?

[fostersffff]

The Big Gundam Watch, Part 15: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

In my War in the Pocket post, I noted that it and The 08th MS Team make up what are considered to be The Good OVAs. Which, if you haven't read that post, doesn't mean that they're the only good Gundam OVAs, but they're the ones some people like to point to when recommending an entry point to the franchise. This is due to their consistently high production values, relatively short length, and stories that are more "grounded and realistic" than most of the other TV shows, OVAs, and movies in the franchise (which I have since learned is code for "No Newtype Bullshit", rather than implying anything about the believability of the giant robots). The 08th MS Team even sounds like a good compliment to War in the Pocket on paper: one was about the One Year War from an uninvolved child's perspective, and the other is about the same event from an actual military perspective.

Now having seen it for myself: people are not doing this OVA any favors by pairing it with War in the Pocket. I've made multiple passes on trying to soften the impact of that statement, because I don't feel that negatively about The 08th MS Team, but the problem is that I also don't feel that positively about it, either. I don't really feel anything about it, which might be worse!

THE STUFF I LIKED:

The number one thing I liked about The 08th MS Team: the characters have zero reverence for giant robots. And there shouldn't be! This is a story about soldiers almost a full year into a war where mobile suits and mobile armors have become the standard for combat. The Gundams are top-of-the-line equipment, but ultimately, still just equipment, so they don't earn much more that an initial wave of awe. The sole exception is Ginius, whose obsession with the Apsaras is his entire character; Aina and Norris's involvement with that project is largely out of loyalty to him, and to basically everyone else it's considered to be a frivolous waste of resources (which is saying something for Zeon, home of the Big Zam).

The number two thing I liked about The 08th MS Team: the staff had tons of reverence for the giant robots. There are so many little mechanical details to appreciate, but the one I want to call out special is when Shiro is coaching Aina on activating the beam saber to create a hot spring, and you see this intricate sequence revealing that there's a little connector in the hand that locks into another connector in the hilt. It's genuinely my favorite scene in this entire OVA.

This ties into the detail-oriented nature of the production, but I do want to reiterate that this OVA looks fantastic the whole way through. To point to a specific example, Battle Line on the Burning Sand uses a super washed out color palette on everything to emphasize the blinding desert light, even at night.

The extent to which Shiro Amada is a White Meat Babyface Shonen Hero Boy is kind of refreshing. He's a remarkably simple, earnest guy with almost no clumsy awkwardness to his character.

He's also maybe the only character in Gundam thus far to have delivered an actually justifiable Bright Slap (other than the man himself) that didn't feel exclusively like 'MEMBER THE BRIGHT SLAP?????? Considering how much I hate when the Bright Slap is referenced for the sake of reference, I wanted to call attention to when corrections are actually used appropriately.

Norris Packard locks in Best Character, without question. Hard to argue against "Ramba Ral Mk-II with a bigger budget for when he pops off".

Wrote down WAOW BEAUTYFUL 90'S OVA WAMEN multiple times in my notes, but I do want to be slightly more specific and say that the character design for this series falls into my favorite style, which is very... "spiky". Being a 30-something, this style of character design hits the nostalgia center of my brain perfectly, despite the fact that I had never seen this particular series before. Like, if you compare Kou and Nina to Shiro and Aina, the difference in my mind would be described as "spikyness".

I'm actually gonna take an opportunity to punch 0083 and say I really appreciate that Shiro and Aina just a have a normal, adult relationship that doesn't introduce a last minute love triangle that feels as confused as it is tepid. Two good-looking young adults in extreme situations who are still drawn to one another despite being forced apart by circumstances is solid!

ELEDORE AND KAREN DON'T END UP TOGETHER ON SCREEN THANK GOD. I was really fuckin' scared for a bit there when Eledore kept going "MY WOMAN, KAREN, WHO I WILL MARRY" out of fuckin' nowhere. Hey, speaking of that...

THE STUFF I LIKED LESS:

Eledore sucks. He is a black hole of suck. Cowardly shitheels are nothing new- they're an institution, even, dating back to Kai in 0079- but in addition to being a cowardly shitheel who receives no comeuppance for being one, like Beecha in ZZ, he's also poorly written. And what sucks the most about that is the fact that he could've been totally acceptable with a grand total of like three expository lines peppered throughout the series. Even a single line about being drafted- something I don't think has ever been confirmed one way or the other in the Universal Century- would've gone a long way towards explaining why this guy was within 1000 miles of a warzone.

They shouldn't have had that last episode. It was fine, but I think the way The Shuddering Mountain (Part 2) ends is pretty much perfect. I genuinely wondered if it was tagged on years after the original, but it appears to have been planned from the start. Bizarre.

Okay, with those out of the way, I need to address what I feel is the underlying problem for this story: the writing in The 08th MS Team is hollow. I made a post taking a pot shot at the at the fact that this series is touted as being "grounded and realistic" when it does, in fact, have Newtypes, and tagged on the fact that it seems like the writer seemingly didn't understand that swans and swan imagery aren't a Newtype thing, they're a Lalah Sune thing. That wasn't something that actively bugged me in the moment, but the more I thought about the problems I had with this series on the whole, the more I thought about that. It's such a weird, superficial mistake to make... and then I latched onto the word "superficial", and it all came tumbling down from there.

Let's start with the theme. Like a lot of other Gundam stories, it can be boiled down to "War Is Bad", but what things lead to that understanding? We see countless reasons War Is Bad across all the preceding Universal Century TV shows, OVAs, and movies: the destruction of the environment, the devastation of the human population, the institutional disregard for human lives, including lives that are on your side, including the lives of children, the trauma- physical and mental- that haunts you even if you make it out alive, the arbitrary division of people who might otherwise be friends or lovers, how easily bad actors can consolidate power during or even with just the threat of war... all those are just off the top of my head, and I'm sure if pressed more can be listed. The 08th MS Team really only concerns itself with one of these- the arbitrary division of people who might otherwise be friends or lovers- because the main arc for both Shiro and Aina is that they abandon their respective duties because they are star-crossed lovers.

It's a weirder arc for Shiro than it is for Aina. Aina's association with Zeon comes across strictly as a birthright thing: the Sakhalins appear to be minor Zeon nobility, and her being a test pilot is all but stated to be at Ginius's request. So when she has two fateful life-or-death encounters with a quirked up white Japanese boy, she only really has to justify herself to her brother, which turns out to be pretty easy since he's gone off the deep end at that point anyway. The only thing that keeps her at the Zeon base past that point is her kindly nature, compelling her to help as many wounded people escape as she possibly can.

Shiro's break with the Federation, on the other hand, implies that he got so horny his higher brain functions shut down. And I get it! Aina's a Beautyful 90's OVA Wamen, but it's a little weird for him to completely renounce war so soon after we see his flashback where Zeon launched a gas attack inside a colony and he had to watch a man liquefy in front of his very eyes. You'd think that would matter more than just within the context of that one scene in that one episode!

(Also only realizing this as I write it, but like... was Zeon established to have used gas attacks before this OVA? 'Cuz gassing colonies was the Titans favorite move. Unlike the Newtype swans, it's fine for this to be introduced here, but in light of thinking about the Newtypes swans...)

Actually, Shiro's trauma being a non-factor is a great segue into weird out-of-character moments that start to crop up towards the end of the OVA. Not all the characters, and not all the time, but enough that I noticed several, including:

Aina swearing she's going to go sicko mode if Norris dies, only to not go sicko mode at all once Norris sends the signal that he's going to die.

Karen turning into Goku and getting excited about the prospect of fighting an enemy ace when Norris's Gouf Custom shows up, despite never having shown to be that kind of person before then, or afterwards.

Kellerne (the Zeon officer who cancels the Apsaras project) revealing he's actually a Noble Soldier in the episode where Ginius kills him, despite being a big brash shitheel not just in personal interactions, but also by breaking the Antarctic Treaty and using a nuke.

The 08th MS Team- the squad- never really felt like they developed any interpersonal relationships beyond being in a squad together (this is actually actually addressed in the short that was produced for the blu-ray), so the crux of the last episode being "IT'S CRITICALLY IMPORTANT TO ALL OF US THAT SOMEONE CONFIRMS THE COMMANDER IS STILL ALIVE!!!" is another contributing factor to why that episode just feels wrong.

These strike me as examples of "we need a character who will do x in this scene, but we don't have a character who would do x... well, for this scene, they will", and it colors the entire thing as utilitarian. It's not putting well-defined characters into situations, and then showing how those characters would react to that situation, it's presenting a conclusion and then working your way backwards to present the situation that leads to that conclusion.

And it's not even like this can be explained with the complaint (from people who don't engage with mecha anime) that mecha anime is more concerned with showing cool robots than it is with characters. This story is about the characters! The only particularly cool mecha stuff I have ever seen people point to in this is the Gouf Custom, which I now know is because that's really the only mecha stuff of note in this. Like, if you put a gun to my head to come up with other setpieces of note: the Apsaras blowing a hole clean through the mountain was striking imagery... the underwater fight with Kiki tumbling around the cockpit was fun... Shiro trying to take down the Zeon squad occupying the guerilla village on foot was probably the overall most compelling scene in the OVA.

Mind you, The 08th MS Team not having tons and tons of hyper memorable giant robot fight scenes is by no means a strike against it. I can probably only vaguely recall most action sequences from the Gundams I've watched to date, and that's because the cool giant robot fight scenes aren't really ever the point. But, with everything else being a bland and hollow as it is, the whole OVA just comes across as Things Happening. It's not even particularly interesting Things Happening; by nature of being a One Year War side story, you know nothing that happens here can really matter in the greater canon of the Universal Century, so in the end it really just feels like "All this stuff happened. Moving along!"

OTHER OBSERVATIONS:

At least some of my disappointment definitely comes from the fact that the OP writes a check that the OVA never really tries to cash. Based on this thing that plays before every episode and the way I've always heard people talk about it, I don't think it's unreasonable to have expected this to be a military drama!

Oh nooo Michel you got Military Cucked Michel nooo, and judging by the picture (getting married after the baby is born) she must have gotten knocked up like right after she sent that Dear John letter Michel nooo!!!

It's a little weird that the last episode takes care to show that Shiro is lame following their escape, but no attention is called to the fact that Aina's normal suit got melted off. My understanding is that space suits are meant to be ultra heat resistant, so the fact that shit melted must mean she suffered horrible burns, right? Maybe it's working on fictional lava physics, where it's only hot if you're touching it, considering that neither the rest of her body nor Shiro suffer any burns from being that close to the beam.

I understand that the implication is that Shiro and Aina taught the kids how to do it, but doing the "using a beam weapon to turn a frigid body of water into a hot spring" twice cheapened how cool it was the first time.

I was trying to hash out whether it would be worse to be subjected to a court martial or get grilled by your older brother slash superior officer for hooking up with an enemy combatant, but I never considered the dimension of the guards and brass just laughing their asses off at Shiro during the court martial, which makes that infinitely worse.

The blu-ray extra for this was a 9 minute short putting focus on Michel and Sanders, which was actually pretty nice considering how little they interact in the series proper. I'm a little bitter that this got a legit animated short while Cima Garahau got a "picture drama", but this was genuinely a much nicer way for the 08th MS Team to go out than Last Resort was.

IN CONCLUSION:

I re-read my post on the original Mobile Suit Gundam recently, and right at the start I talked about how I was originally only planning on checking out War in the Pocket, Stardust Memory, and this. It's actually kind of difficult to speculate how I would feel about Gundam as a franchise if I had watched those three OVAs in isolation. Maybe I'd like The 08th MS Team more if I didn't have have such a large base of things to compare it to unfavorably, or maybe I'd still wind up unenthusiastic about it, without having the ability to really express why. What I can say with certainty is that I've spent this entire write-up thinking about how the two minute send-off for Duker Iq and Renda- two minor recurring antagonists- in Victory Gundam was significantly more affecting and engaging than anything in The 08th MS Team.

If you'll indulge a food analogy, the experience of watching this really was like eating a sleeve of crackers. They're crackers: there's nothing wrong with them, but rarely if ever will you walk away from eating a sleeve of crackers going "damn, that was great!"

Next up: After War Gundam X! I'm super pumped for this one, because I know almost nothing about it besides the fact that it was the only Gundam TV Series to have been cancelled after 0079. Was it cancelled because of franchise fatigue? Or because it was bad? Possibly some third thing? All or none of the above? I'm excited to find out!

Also it's the source of that funny doctor with a gun meme! You know the one!

[lazuliquetzal]

i want to hear the sports anime manifesto

Okay short version:

My life was a sports anime for a bit, and watching sports anime makes me nostalgic for those days.

Medium version:

The typical shonen sports anime deals with themes of camaraderie, ambition, and the intersections of camaraderie and ambition, which ALWAYS hits me right in the chest.

I'm not an ambitious person by nature, but--you know that one poem floating around on here, the one about the moth that wants nothing more than to fly into the flame, and how it would be nice to feel that kind of all consuming passion? Yeah, that's the feeling I get from sports anime.

And often, for the Team Sports anime, you'll get characters who have nothing in common except that they Love the Same Thing--a friendship/rivalry/(romance) formed on the basis of a shared interest. That's sweet as hell!

And they're super predictable and low stress for me. Very easy to watch! Total popcorn shows. Also I like listening to people infodump about their passions. Someone loved their Sport so much they wrote a whole-ass story about it, so yeah, eat that shit up.

Long version:

The Socioeconomic Inequalities of High School Sports

In high school, I was on a crappy underfunded soccer team (with a healthy dose of sexism) and due to [sports league division reasons] the schools we played against were almost exclusively private schools.

I cannot describe how existential it is to be wearing a hand-me-down formerly white-turned-disgusting-gray uniform that's at least five years old when playing against a team that gets brand new windbreakers every season.

(If you've read AAB, YES this is where my obsession with the windbreakers comes from.)

(Hilariously, the guys team got windbreakers but we didn't.)

(I am not over the fucking windbreakers.)

But anyway, when you're constantly losing to private schools you get this fucking complex about it.

This should come as no surprise but like. People with the time and resources to practice their Thing get good at their Thing.

Playing pick up soccer at the park is practice. Playing rec league soccer is organized, repeated practice.

Playing competitive club soccer is all of that, plus a coach who knows How To Coach and What The Sport Is, plus you get morale-boosting uniforms and the chance to play with and against other skilled players. So you're exposed to a lot more, and thus, you learn a lot more.

Competitive club soccer is also Expensive. Rich kids get good.

There's a reason why the "Powerhouse School" is a thing in sports anime, because it's a thing in real life. People with leisure time and money get to invest in their sports development, and everyone else gets left behind in the dust. It's basically a microcosm of capitalism.

The underdog sports story is (quite tragically) bootstraps propaganda. All you have to do is be really good and work really hard and have A LOT OF PASSION to get good at your sport! The cream rises to the top! This is a meritocracy! Let's ignore all the other factors that go into an individual's development as an athlete!

(My brother got scouted for club soccer as a kid. He actually went to tryouts and got offered a spot and a scholarship and everything, but there's SO many hidden fees after the initial registration. Uniforms, equipment, travel and accommodation, tournaments, plus like, the time sink, so we never signed him up. And equipment-wise, soccer is one of the cheapest sports you can play--just imagine the price for something like baseball or hockey.)

In sports anime, there is no reform. There is no revolution.

But sports anime isn't really about that. It's about the narratives we create when we convince ourselves that we deserve to win.

(You know what I mean. Every billionaire is convinced they're some sort of heroic underdog. The same exact kind of 'working your way up' narrative.)

Sports anime is like, the uncomplicated power fantasy of playing the game. It's a world where you are rewarded for your hard work, because it's narratively satisfying. It's a world where it's safe to want things, because you have the exact same chances as the private school kids.

I used to be an obnoxiously competitive child. Then I got all my competition beaten out of me by 3 straight years of constant losing in my clownagerie of a high school soccer team (affectionate). I am going to admit that experience made me a better person and I would not trade it for anything, but I also had to like, relearn how to want things. And maybe real life is not as equal opportunity as the world of sports anime, but I think it's good to want things.

Of course, the winner-loser dichotomy makes sense in sports because of the inherent nature of competition, but it doesn't make sense in stuff like society and economics because that's like, competing over the right to live. That's where the capitalism metaphor ends,

Does sports anime actually go into the socioeconomic inequalities of sports? No. Of course not. Giant Killing never got a season 2.

But it is something I think about when I write sports anime fic. Even if it's not the point, it influences my characterization. The ego of a prodigy character in a shitty sports program is different from the ego of a prodigy character in a rich kid sports program. I am obligated to my amateur attempts to capture the complexities of the high school sports environment in my fanfiction because I am fucking insane I had a specific high school sports experience and they do say to write what you know.