#two anime mentions in one post??? on a star wars fan blog???

[mrskywalkers-chanelboots]

horrific idea for an au that i hope no one on their right mind ever writes (ESPECIALLY ME) but i must free this from my mind:

ouran high school host club au where luke is haruhi and the hosts are every. single. character. that has been shipped with luke

INCLUDING THE WEIRD ASS ONES

i have ideas already for who would fit into what host archetype but i am unsure if i should elaborate,,,

with this and the shrek dinluke au i feel like im the star wars equivalent of haikyuu fanartist @ upupbuttercup

[lovestuckstarz]

🎯Something Blue: Where it began + HCs🫐

I made this originally on twitter but due to post limitations I wanted to rant here! :D In this, I will be describing where I found Something New, why I ship Killer with Blue but not 100% as big a fan as other ships, and so on and so forth. At the very end I will list my headcanons with them :)

In 2018 on July 25th (my birthday) is the first evidence I have of ever liking this ship. The reason I know of this date is due the the image below made by @/jamesjp-things-blog and how I had a cropped version on roblox (I roleplayed shush) and it was a RP of them LOL

I believe sometime after, I found the swap vs killer animation and believed that was all and shipped them and RPed them with my ex n roblox because yeah cringe! Here is the old Killerberry ship kid I made for archive purposes (shes so ugly) + the where it started wall

Moving on! I don't exactly remember where my ideas for the ship went as in 2018 is when I left the fandom space of undertale and bullied myself out of it since Underswap was my favorite and I love all versions of swap and that was around the time the fandom hated those people

In april of 2024 (hey this year!) I decided that hating something I love with every fiber in my being was dumb so gradually came back. I started off embracing my old love for Nightberry (fan since 2016) and Horrorberry (I do not remember), two other ships i loved in the old days

Thats when I became good friends with Mae (hi) and they started talking about their AU and story and my little worm self talked about Horrorberry, Dustberry, and Nightberry but just ignored Killerberry as I forgot my love for it. IDRM what exactly was said but yeah

THE RAHAF JUICY BITS

Then Mae showed me something. The start of the Killer VS Swap comic. I only knew the animation and NONE of this was in it. (Credit to rahaf) Seeing this changed my whole view on them, but it continues.

The part the hit me the most was when Blue was upset he couldn't save Killer despite the fact he nearly killed the guy which opened me to the world of toxic yaoi /silly. Jokes aside, it showed me how well and under looked these characters are together.

But why them? Well answer is: Every instance of them together while negative is only negative on Killer's behalf. Color had negative moments with Killer even if it got positive could end up being a nightingale syndrome scenario and how I see Blue and Killer strays far from this, NM is NM and Dream while he did feel positivity from Killer, Dreams motives just makes the ship feel icky to me but no hate! Outer is just a crack ship and I can't see it at all LOL (Dust and Horror I only ship for toxic yaoi I'll just out that here)

Blue on the other hand's motive is to help him, to change him to for the better even if he nearly died trying. He isn't degrading Killer, he isn't doing it for a questionably moral motive, he KNOWS if Killer tries he can be good. I believe if he learned what will be talked about below, he'd stop trying to """fix""" him but more so help him understand himself and his stages to be able to have a healthy relationship with himself.

Do I think Killer can be good? Not really, he doesn't concider himself a sans anymore so if he were to become fully himself again, I don't think that would do him good mentally. His soul is at a ever constant war with chara as shown here.

I think Killer is appreciates Blue trying to help and more upset by means and the fact it didn't work. In the comics, Blue tried the hardest but also the most back to back to help Killer which just annoyed him most likely but despite him causing the pain to himself, he hates it. I feel like this is further proven on how Blue is one of the people he mentions when talking to Nightmare and how you can still see Blue smile.

Also, it could be argued that Killer only really escalated things because Blue took him to see the stars, one thing Killer doesn't like nor feel comfortable around them. The one they're looking at doesn't help either.

Heres some more little things Rahaf has done with the two that fuel my love for them and their relationship!

For the name: Just something new + blue's name LOL also a wedding term so its even gayer

Now for the headcanons!

☆ Killer found a new appreciation for the stars because of Blue loving space

𖣠 Killer was forced to apologize for escalating fights (NM had made Killer stop similar in Killer VS the Star Sans' and didn't have him kill Dream)

☆ Killer got blue a new scarf

𖣠 Killer thinks Blue is the strongest Star Sans due to surviving him, having to get rid of Blue's magic to even win

☆ Paps and Chara don't like Killer so they keep it hidden, also to protect Blue from NM

𖣠 Killer keeps Blue's old one because hes weird and its like a trophy

☆ Killer thought being mean would get blue to leave and stop so kept being a jerk

𖣠 Killer didn't trust Blue around his cats bc trauma but when he caught wind Killer had cats absolutely spoiled them with treats and toys

☆ They have a lot of "Why do you care" talks

𖣠 Killer has said "You're my favorite star out of all the ones you've shown me"

☆ Blue 100% got giddy from that

𖣠 Killer is very touchy physically to make sure Blue is real + just a flirt

☆ Blue isn't use to it but makes him smile

𖣠 Blue confessed first on accident

☆ Said something like "I wish you could fully feel so you could love me too" and then was like "Oh stars I'm sorry!"

𖣠 Killer probably just laughed and said something like "I wouldn't mind that being my first feeling if we can get this solved."

☆ Killer made the first move

𖣠 Killer has bought him awful aprons saying stuff like "Spooning leads to forking"

☆ Killer likes testing Blue's alcohol tolerance

𖣠 Due to Killer trying to maintain his soul around Blue, hes actually more dangerous due to repression so if NM finds out about them, makes them not allowed to be alone for Blue's safety

☆ "If I ever get to stage three or four around you, please kill me." "You know I can't do that."

𖣠 Blue gets super happy everytime he sees killer's soul in stage 1 especially when more frequent because that means improvement

☆ Blue plans dates every weekend

𖣠 Oh yah why NM doesn't kill Blue is bc I HC them as friends since they both deal with idiots plus errormare LOL

☆ He also plans relaxation time after hard mission Killer has to do

𖣠 Had a "I'm... not a real person. I thought... haven't we... is this not how it works?" talk (I love SU referencing them)

☆ Since my blue is a mixture of all swap versions, when Blue has a bit of a ""yanberry"" moment Killers just like "Oh thats hot"

𖣠 If Blues universe were to reset Killer might have a Dust moment with Chara

☆ Blue rambles a lot to Killer

𖣠 He doesn't mind since it keeps him knowing Blue is real and distracts him from Chara ghosty

☆ If Killer were to "die", everyone would reassure Blue he'd just reset and come back SU style

𖣠 If he doesn't, Blue would talk to Reaper asking when Killer would be back and alive who'd say "It doesnt work that way, kid" if Killer chose to actually rest (I forgot what comic I saw that gave this idea)

☆ Blue still has PTSD from their fight so hates knives if held by Killer

𖣠 Blue goes to Killer when its storming

☆ Blue teaches Killer how to dance

𖣠 Killer's hallucination of Blue consists of a bloody eye powerless eye, tear eyed, and bloody in general

☆ Killer was Blue's first partner and kiss

𖣠 Same cannot be said for Killer but def is most healthy

☆ No one on really supports their relationship but thats because of Killer

𖣠 Blue will standup for Killer but no one really is scared of him, more so of killer whos behind him

☆ Blue has patched up Killer's jacket / sweater many times

𖣠 Just doomed yaoi by definition sorry

☆ Blue goes to Killer if dealing with Dream and Ink has gotten too much and vise versa with the three idiots (cross being the third) and NM

𖣠 Sit in comfortable silence together, occasionally checking in on one another

☆ Killer took Blue to see the stars despite his distaste since he felt bad for beating his ass after that

𖣠 "If you ever miss me, just look at the stars. Only a universe away" - Killer

☆ If they were to have a kid, Killer would be an amazing dad but think he's terrible

𖣠 I like to think that even after Blue and Killer's fight that even if Blue's magic is okay in his eye, his rib is still missing and unhealed and he's partially blind in that eye causing the magic to be a lighter blue

☆ This started from my Dustberry headcanons that sort of just trickled but I feel like he shows care about things Dust and Killer see, AKA Paps and Chara and often ask if they would like anything specific for dinner and try to converse with them even if he cant see or hear them

𖣠 Killer would probably think its super weird but probably get jealous if he lets Dust get that treatment (I needed to add my badsans poly + swap (and saejun + epic but thats a rant for another day) some where)

☆ I don't think they'd be the perfect relationship don't get me wrong, I feel like Killer would constantly try to break it off in some way for some normalcy but I feel like Blue is grounded enough to know this and understand this and knows if he just ups and walks he'd only be hurting Killer more

𖣠 Now this doesn't mean he is a doormat, he'll scold Killer but thats for after

☆ For angst purposes, I like the thought that Killer got hurt because of Blue trying to get Nightmare to ease the work load and what not and since he's NM's right hand man that didn't really fly by

𖣠 Despite Blue's positivity and how he views himself, because I HC him with HPD or histrionic personality disorder, he has a low view on himself away from others and I feel like Killer would try to help him during all those times as a way to pay Blue back for all the effort he has given to help Killer

☆ Since I HC Blue doesn't remember resets and the younger brother, I like to think that Killer introduced him fully to this talk, Stretch probably tried before but just thought it was nightmares

𖣠 I feel like Blue would try and make Killer sweets only to find out he doesn't really like em due to everything LOL

☆ I also HC Killer to cough DT a lot so Blue keeps a spare little handkerchief on him to wipe Killer's mouth

𖣠 I like to think Blue really looks up to Dream and Ink but they semi push him away as he's a mortal so Killer has those "Who needs em" talks and probably realizes he's semi codependent on them as he is to Nightmare but not in the same life depends on it way

☆ Also when theyre hiding their relationship I like to think that they'd run off during battles like the freaks they are

𖣠 Soley based on a RP with Mae but Blue calling Killer, Kiki and Killer calling Blue, Iris is my ride or die oh my stars

☆ Because Killer doesn't talk too much in the canon events of Something New, I feel as if the more Killer talks to Blue is another indicator to Blue about change and that makes me smile (Ignore how Killer talked a bit in their fight it just proves Killer fought him out of love /silly)

𖣠 I feel as if my Blue had a Blueberror moment, Killer and him would bond a lot due to similar feelings of not being good enough + both kinda chill in an antivoid space and yeah I probably have a ton more I can pull out of my ass but I am tired sooooooooo

Heres their playlist I update religiously:

[casp1an-sea]

I LIKE SHARKS

100 Follower Event

Hi, MY name is Caspian Re (Re pronounced Rey) You can call me either of my first names or alternate! I also go by Cas for short. I also like weird, silly, or comfort character related nicknames and I sometimes go by Armie online

I primarily post about Twisted Wonderland, Star Wars, Marvel, and 2000s kids shows like Octonauts

Age: 19

Birthday: 10/13 

Gender: it fluctuates between trans masc and trans Male, so I typically just shorten it to trans (pls only masc terms) 

Pronouns: He/Him, Ey/Em/Eir/Eirs/Emself

Sexuality: ✨I’m Gay✨

Zodiac: Libra Star, Pieces Moon, Aquarius Rising 

Personality type: ENFJ

If you send me an ask or msg pls feel free to mention your pronouns 

WE SUPPORT PALESTINE HERE 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Hotlines to call Incase of emergency

Master List:

I have a dating sim rp blog that is kinda popular :P

Pls check out my OCs, as well as my AUs, and my fics located in my writing post :)

—————————————————————————

commissions: Closed

requests: open!

EVENTS: KYLUX WRITING AND ART EVENT (Ongoing), May 4th Event, Twst OC Colab Event , 100 follower event

(I’ll do short writings, picrews, and possibly art if I’m in the mood. I’ll totally do my doodle style of you or a character.)

Fandoms, Writing, Moots and Tags, OCs, Comfort Characters, Just a list of Monsters I associate with myself, Moot Trail Mix Recipe, ART, Gender Envy >:(

Side blogs: @hux-and-gay (mostly Kylux, 18+), @ramblingsofamadblob (OC and world building posts to complex for my main)

rp accounts: @robinbanks-accidentally (TWST), @spring-chicken (OC), @brooklynscamp (Newsies), @hollowsdill-manor (Vampire/Werewolf dating sim), @angry-space-ginger (Hux), @rouge-space-dad (Han), @thisiswerethefunbegins (Star Wars OCs)

@thenewhestia (my mc to rp with @kal0psiapanesthesia)

—————————————————————————

Likes: Star Wars, Kylux, Marvel, Twisted Wonderland, the Life Series SMP, RPs, Random Generators (its an addiction), 2000s Kids shows, Doll customization, folklore, cats, singing, art, musicals, being in musicals, and weird sea creatures especially sharks :)

Dislikes: Sweets, Rey/Reylo (if you are a Star Wars fan and you like her respectfully pls do not talk to me about her you will get your feeling hurt), Religious Topics (pls do not talk to me about Christianity or Catholicism it makes me uncomfortable), gruesome animal facts they are triggering please keep them to yourself, TOXIC ACOLYTE HATERS, Mean people that disrespect me or my friends, Racists, Homophobes, Transphobes, Ablests, Sexists, etc. 

Fun Facts: 

I am Left Handed 

I am Hungarian and I love talking about my culture or my grandfather’s story if you want to ask

I am single sadly

I’m a Hufflepuff my Petronas is a field mouse and my wand is Willow wood with a Phoenix core

My favorite color is green 

My favorite food is Pineapple Teriyaki Burgers or Chinese food  

I am going to be a film major in the fall

I have two cats named Lilo and Stitch (both girls), and I also have multiple fish. My snail passed away :(

I REALLY WANT CRESTED GECKOS!

I was in my schools broadcasting class

I’ve performed in Willy Wonka, Newsies,  Little Mermaid, Bye Bye Birdie, Christmas Carol, and Shrek, and played the roles of James (James and the giant peach cameo), Arista (Ariel’s sister), Young Fiona, and the bird that sings in that one song in Shrek . I’ve also had solos in Try Everything, American Tears, Fields of Gold, an Mo Town Medley 

I Did competitive gymnastics for 13 years starting when I was 3, before I retired I was in XL level gold. 

I played Violin in elementary school and during Covid in freshman year I played chimes cause that was the choir alternative 

I watch lots of weird 1990s to early 2000s sci-fi shows typically from Australia, there’s suprisingly a lot of them 

I play Minecraft but I am bad at it lol

I play DND 

Where else to find me?

YouTube: @antosaurusrex3752

AO3: ArmieVampire

Pinterest:

Star Wars Force Alignment Quiz:

TWST OC CHALLENGE

My Change.Org petitions:

[doostyaudi]

❤️‍🔥Hello Everyone!!❤️‍🔥

❤️‍🔥My name is Dusty/Yara/Audi, though most call me Dusty. Idc which one u use

❤️‍🔥Adult

❤️‍🔥Bisexual, genderfluid/genderqueer

❤️‍🔥Any pronouns (masc terms)

❤️‍🔥ADHD, NPD

❤️‍🔥I draw and animate! I especially love to make animation memes!

❤️‍🔥Im a shadow demon cat irl :3 🐈🔥

❤️‍🔥Goth

❤️‍🔥 Furry (post of my fursonas :3)

❤️‍🔥I love silly kitties!

❤️‍🔥I make lots of oc x canon content lol

❤️‍🔥 ACAB

❤️‍🔥FREE PALESTINE (list of resources to aid Palestine)

❤️‍🔥Anti-capitalist

💖Media im obsessed with💖

Madness combat, Warframe, Dead Space, Pikmin, Pokémon, Ultrakill

💖Honorable mentions💖

Lupin the 3rd,dungeon meshi, Monster High, local 58, star wars, what we do in the shadows, mst3k, marine biology, paleontology, repo:the genetic opera, Hamilton, cryptids, the amazing digital circus, bugbo, Steven Universe, the owl house, gravity falls, rock band (the game), tf2, welcome home, doom

{Will update when i remember things}

💖Types of media i enjoy💖

Horror movies/games (YUMMY), violent video games, rpgs, rhythm games, comedy games/movies/tv shows, memes, stories with complex themes and lots of nuance :3 (what i write mostly LOL), hashtag music lover

💖Current kin list💖

❤️‍🔥Auditor (madness combat)❤️‍🔥

🩵Louie (pikmin)🩵

🩷Spinel (Steven universe)🩷

{can you tell which one i have clinged onto the most? LOL}

❤️‍🔥Common questions that need to be answered❤️‍🔥

Q: "how can I use your works? (art, characters, stories, ect)"

A: however you want! Everything of mine is copyright free! It's all in the public domain! Literally do whatever u want. Hell, you can even put my art on merch and sell it! Dont even have to give credit! Just as long as u don't say the art is yours, we r cool, alr? Also yes u can trace my art too, thought i should say that. U can take inspiration from my art and ocs, unless stated otherwise. Also DONT REDESIGN MY OCS PLEASE u only get to do so if i give u direct permission, though if u do, keep it to urself

Q: "Will you ever open commissions?"

A: im not sure honestly?? Like i said everything of my is public domain, and i would like for that to apply commissions, but idk how that works legally, so i haven't opened them.

Q: "why don't you ever reply to comments?"

A: I cant. Be shadowbanned prevents me from replaying to comments. Granted, this acc isn't, but two of my accs r, and that includes my main, so that has effected my commenting abilities.

Q: "can i draw your ocs?"

A: YES PWEASE i eat any and all fan art up like a starving Victorian child.

Q: "is your drawing requests open?"

A: yes! I am most likely going to draw ones that are abt my ocs or characters im currently obsessed with lol

Q: "is spam liking/reblogging allowed?"

A: allowed and encouraged!

❌DNI❌

Transphobs, homophobs, bigots, terfs, maps, zoophiles, pro shippers, nazis, fascists, zenoists, partake in cringe culture, anti furry, exclusionists, and Narcissistic abuse truthers

Anyways, have fun!

Additional links: YouTube, artfight, old acc, twiddlefinger side blog, Rave-N au masterpost, daily auditor blog

[firefl1ezz]

Intro Posting

I've had this blog for a bit now so I suppose it's time to make an intro post

WARNING: Mention of blood, gore, horror ect ect.

Hai !! I'm Fire, your local artist, writer and general gay disaster! You'll find my art on this blog (and my twitter, linked further into the post), while my writing is on AO3 under the same username. I take requests for both of these, but I can't guarantee they'll be top quality. I'm still learning !!

I'm agender and (sexuality questioning please help), so there will probably be posts about either of those things. I use mostly it/they pronouns but there's a couple more on my pronoun card. I'm also a furry (and a therian) if it wasn't obvious from the icon. Haters get out. More under the cut for ease of frantic blog scrolling since I know I do it a lot haha

DNI: General DNI list, racists, trans/homophobes and misogynists, ect ect. Also NSFW accounts. I'm a minor, I don't want your NSFW here.

IWC: You have anger issues, you trauma dump without permission/very often, you talk about drugs often

THIN ICE: Harry Potter fans (that one depends on who you are. My mother is a HP fan and she's as supportive as she understands how to be. Depends.)

I often find myself very invested in specific media. At the moment I'm in a limbo state between interests, but if you mention any of the ones listed below I'll probably interest you in a long conversation/ramble session about them :3

Media I like:

Key: Games ,, Movies ,, Anime/Tv ,, Other/General ,, Music

Undertale/Deltarune ,, Star Wars ,, MCR (+ Side Projects of the members) ,, Phasmophobia ,, Lethal Company ,, Fall Out Boy ,, Troye Sivan ,, Lights Out ,, Angels Of Death ,, Kittie ,, Fit For Rivals ,, Animal Crossing ,, Pet Sematary (2019 ver.) ,, Heart Attack Man ,, Hellraiser (2021 I think the year was) ,, Ruby Gloom ,, Videodrome ,, FNAF ,, Blitzkid ,, Ghostbusters (more specifically the latest one but I do like the franchise itself for the most part) ,, Cult of the Lamb ,, Splatoon

The list goes on, but these are the things I've taken the most interest in. They're in no order.

I'd like to keep this slightly short so here's two other things of mine:

https://p4p3rd0ll.carrd.co/ - Has other media + more stuff about me

https://toyhou.se/firefl1ezz - Currently in the works, but will have all my OC's listed at some point!

Both my carrd and my pronouns page have my discord if it's wanted/needed.

[lilmackiereads]

A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins – SPOILER REVIEW

For my first official review, here is the fourth Hunger Games novel which I finished last week. A spoiler-free version of this review has already been posted on my blog if you prefer to read that.

My score chart: 0-5 stars

0 stars = Hate it/ Regret reading

1 star = Meh, not for me

2 stars = It was ok/ neutral

3 stars = Liked it

4 stars = Loved it

5 stars = One of my favorite books of all time!

Overall rating: 3 to 3.5 stars. I liked it, but it is my least favorite book of the series of four. I do recommend reading it though if you are a big fan of the Hunger Games trilogy, but if you are a casual fan then you can skip it. I would love for Collins to write two more books, one about the actual war while it was happening (at least 10 years before this story) as well as one that takes place between the end of Songbirds and Snakes and The Hunger Games. There is a whole six decades between these stories, so she has a lot of content to work with if she wants to. 

Do you agree or disagree with my review? DM me for your take and your recommendations. 

——

Detailed Review:

Plot = 3 stars

Part 1: The Mentor

Collins choosing to narrate the story from Coriolanus’s perspective was very refreshing to me. When reading the original series, I didn’t spend too much time considering what life would be like for Capitol innocents, such as children, who were affected by the war. The story he mentioned about being a child and seeing a neighborhood woman dying in the street and being eaten by a cannibal was such a wakeup call for me about what the Capitol experienced in the aftermath. I didn’t realize how much they were also starving since all of their food is grown in the Districts. 

Having the story take place during the 10th Hunger Games was very exciting since I was very curious to see how they have developed over the years, especially since they would have been harder to enforce directly after the war. Lucy Gray’s Reaping moment was iconic; I can’t believe that she was daring enough to put a snake down the mayor’s daughter’s outfit! I can’t wait for it to play out on the movie screen. 

Later, when Coriolanus sees how the tributes are bound and put into carnival train cars to be transported reminded me at how much the Capitol sees the tributes as animals. While Katniss and Peeta were still mistreated, at least they had a bullet train with gourmet food, luxury furniture, and air conditioning. On that note, keeping the 10th Games tributes in the zoo really hit the nail on the head for the lack of humanity. I was shocked when so many of the tributes died from starvation and exposure before the Games even started. I wasn’t sure if they would call for another Reaping to replace the tributes lost and that was making me anxious.

Another shock was when Arachne was killed by her District 10 tribute. How can I say this...? I was surprised, but not surprised. I wasn’t surprised at Arachne’s cruelty toward her tribute by taunting food in her face in front of the crowd and media, but I was surprised at how quickly the tribute was able to murder her, especially when surrounded by Peacekeepers. This (in a morbid way) is where the book drew me in. Another interesting touch was when the bombs went off in the arena before the Games during the Mentor and Tribute tour. This moment showed the Captiol that the District members meant business and actually helped the tributes by giving the arena more hiding spaces.

I feel wishy-washy about Coriolanus helping Lucy Gray cheat by giving her the idea to poison the other tributes with the makeup compact full of rat poison. Cheating can get her whole District in trouble and have had way worse repercussions than what he actually got as punishment in part 3. I really thought that they might kill Lucy Gray in public, even as a victor, to show the Districts that winning doesn’t mean anything. Perhaps this wouldn’t have worked and caused another revolt and maybe that’s why they just “punished” Coriolanus by not letting him go to University.

Part 2: The Prize

The relationship between Coriolanus and Sejanus was like a rollercoaster. I understood how Coriolanus felt about being afraid to put his family and future in danger, but at the same time, I think Sejanus was right about society as a whole. To be honest, I am definitely more like Coriolanus and would have put myself first, which sounds horrific, but... sorry not sorry. I think I would have been too much of a coward to be like Sejanus and would not have tried to martyr myself for Marcus or my former district. On that same track, Marcus’s death was brutal! Beheading is just a whole other level, but I do think that when the female tribute was whispering to him that she was asking for his permission to put him out of his misery and put herself ahead in the media’s eyes. I don’t think there was any malice in it. 

I was soooo worried for Sejanus when he stormed out after Marcus’s death and even more afraid when he trespassed into the arena to bless his body. I despise the fact that Coriolanus only went in to save his own skin, not because he really cared about Sejanus, which is especially sad since Sejanus sees him as a brother. Coriolanus defending himself against Bobbin was a great nerve-wracking scene because even though I knew Coriolanus was going to survive, Sejanus might not, and Coriolanus could still be greatly wounded. If he had been permanently wounded, I don’t think that he would ever reveal it to others. I think that he would imagine that others would see these wounds as weaknesses (proving that he is not invincible) rather than strengths (that he was brave and survived a tragedy). 

The fact that Lucy Gray won the Games was very predictable to me because she is a character foil and foreshadow toward Snow’s resentment (and respect) toward Katniss. However, I like that Lucy didn’t use physical combat to take out her competition, but rather used poison and mercy. The whole rabies aspect was spooky. It’s sad to think about how the Districts are not given adequate health care such as vaccines. I really hate her relationship with Coriolanus because he does not see her as an equal, but as property to be controlled and admired. She is just a trophy. A pretty songbird that he can put in a cage. 

Oh, and side note, I truly dislike how fricken direct the symbolism of Coriolanus is a snake and Lucy Gray is a bird. I mean, even her last name is Baird, which of course sounds like “bird” and literally means “someone who sings songs or poetry.” And Coriolanus Snow is cold-hearted. Cold, like snow. Ha. Soooo funnyyyy. I had never heard the name “Coriolanus” before, but it is originally made famous by the Shakespeare play. I haven’t read it, but this link here basically tells the same story as Songbirds and Snakes. So, I guess this prequel is really a Hunger Games fanfiction about Shakespeare’s story? It was a little disappointing to find out. I thought it was an original concept. Boo. 

Part 3: The Peacekeeper

I was very confused at first about why Dr. Gaul and Dean Highbottom would send Coriolanus to District 12 after winning the Hunger Games because it means he would reunite with Lucy Gray. I found this part to be a bit slow (which of course was to make us feel how bored Coriolanus was since there were no mental challenges in the Peacekeepr training other than executions.) I rushed through the blandness so I could get to the climax faster.

Yet, a few parts of this section that I liked are reading more about The Hob and the origin of “Katniss’s songs” from Mockingjay, which were created by Lucy Gray. The Hanging Tree scenes were terrifying. I wanted Coriolanus to act out and become a rebel, but I knew his sense of loyalty to the Capitol and self-preservation would get in the way. I liked how we learned how and why people become Peacekeepers since it seems like a terrible job to me, but apparently it has perks for a lot of people. I didn’t ever think about how the Rebels organize revolts with bombs or guns in their own districts. It makes me wonder if when Katniss’s dad died in the original story if that was a revolt gone wrong, just like how one of the mines was destroyed in this book. I always wondered why Suzanne Collins uses the mockingjay as the main symbol of the series because I feel like the reason was a bit vague in the trilogy, but I feel like I did get these answers in Songbirds and Snakes. Sejanus’s death was so sad. I had to read it quickly to get it over with so I would not get too emotional. His final word, “ma,” was absolutely haunting.

Lucy Gray’s end was a bit annoying. I knew deep down that Coriolanus would never run away with her or marry her, but I wasn’t sure if he was going to end up killing her or letting her go. Even worse, we don’t actually get to know. I would have liked a more definite answer on whether or not she escaped or was killed on their way north, but I get that Collins left it ambiguous like the song Lucy Gray was named after.

Heading back to the Capitol, the fact that the Snow family is responsible for most of the concepts used in the Hunger Games is both awful and amazing. I did like reading about how Coriolanus “innovated” the 10th Games to be more high-tech and interactive with the drone gifts, the betting, and the tributes and District winning a prize, but it makes me shudder to know that this infamy is what kept him in power all those decades. I wonder how old he was when he got elected president.

______

Overall Main Characters Rating = 3.5 stars

Coriolanus: 3 stars

Coriolanus describing the lack of nutrition, the hand-me-down clothes, the inability to afford his familial home, the desire to go to university without any savings, and being an orphan made me feel a lot of sympathy toward him. It now makes more sense into why he evolved into the villainous President Snow. I would have loved for him to have taken this trauma and turn it into something good, but he chose selfishness over selflessness. I feel like his “snap” against Sejanus was a bit rushed, like Daenerys Targaryen, so I would have like a little more to happen before his change. He always valued his own life over Sejanus and others who lived in the districts, but his decision to turn against him just felt a bit hasty. 

Lucy Gray: 4 stars

Despite the fact that Lucy Gray and her successor, Katniss Everdeen, are both thin brunettes with lovely voices from District 12, I find Lucy Gray much more likable. She has so much spunk and passion for life and art that I think she would be a fun person to be around in person. She is definitely a glass half-full kind of girl and sees the beauty in the frightening. I find her Covey background interesting and want to know so much more about those who live “outside” of the Districts and Capitol since I had no idea people exist outside of there (which is exactly what the Capitol wants you to think). However, I am grateful that this story was not from her persepective because it would have been to similar to the original.

Sejanus: 4.5 stars

He was my absolute favorite! I think he was the best because he was the only person we met that could really bridge the gap between District and Capitol lives. His conflicting relationships with Marcus, Coriolanus, and his family broke my heart. Even though the book is narrated from Coriolanus’s perspective, I would have liked if this was written like Marie Lu’s Legend series where it goes back and forth between characters that have different opinions about the war. He would get 5 stars if we got chapters from his perspective. He is the exact opposite of Coriolanus since he is impulsive, outspoken, and ashamed of his family, while Coriolanus is calculated, reserved, and proud of his heritage to a fault. I like seeing the two of them together because they are so different. 

Dr. Gaul = 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed Dr. Gaul, but I can’t give her more than 3.5 stars because I yearned to see more of her lab experiments, and I feel like the readers didn’t get to see much more than the snakes. Her manipulation throughout the plot gets snaps from me, especially sending Coriolanus to District 12 for him to spy for her when he didn’t even realize he was a spy. Brilliant!

Tigris = 3 stars

I like how sweet she is, but other than taking care of Coriolanus and Grandma’am, she doesn’t do much. I need to know how and why she became the woman she is in Mockingjay. Considering I didn’t even mention her at all in my “plot” section, I think she definitely needed to be more fleshed out.

_____

Would I read it again? Yes. Especially after the film comes out since I enjoy comparing books to movies. I’m afraid of what they will cut out because they are only doing one film and there is a lot of content here. I have a feeling they won’t show Marcus’s beheading due to its gruesome nature or the District 12 hangings. They might just mention it or cut away when the actual violence happens which is understandable for a PG-13 film, but disappointing in showing the true fear of the moment. I think that’s part of why these books are so scary though. Violence can happen to people at any age, and it has throughout history. Keeping it from people doesn’t protect them from it, but showing too much numbs people to it. It’s a hard balance. I hope that the film shows the whole story justice.

[magickingdompng]

Question time! What's your favorite Disney land that's no longer around? Mine's the original "Tomorrowland" (hopefully the right name) themed after space / the future and with all the corporate sponsors lol

Oh, what an interesting question!

The original Tomorrowland was such a wild place! It’s honestly one of my favorite modern lands, but I would’ve loved to ride some of those original rides like Journey into Inner Space. I’m glad they never changed that retro-future theming, though.

There have been a surprising amount of lands that have closed over the years. It’s a good time to quickly go over the difference between a park and a land, for those who don’t know (because I didn’t for a while).

A park is what it sounds like: a whole theme park. You need a ticket to get into it, and you can only go to one a day (unless you have park hopper tickets). Disneyland has only two, but Disney World has four — Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot.

A land, however, is a section of those parks which has specific theming. I won’t go over all of them, there’s a lot, but some good examples are Tomorrowland like you mentioned and Fantasyland in Magic Kingdom, as well as Star Wars Land (aka Galaxy’s Edge but everyone calls it Star Wars Land LOL) and Toy Story Land in Hollywood Studios. As long as you’re in the particular park the land is in, there’s no ticket and you can freely come and go.

As for closed lands, I absolutely have to say the original Future World in Epcot.

Honestly, I would say all of Epcot as it originally stood, but Future World especially, because it contained a fan favorite Disney attraction that has been closed for years: Journey Into Imagination, the origin of Figment the purple dragon! It also contained several other defunct attractions - in fact, I don’t think any of them still stand today.

The reason Future World and Epcot in general has been so remodeled is an interesting one, and actually relates back to the reason Tomorrowland was remodeled so heavily; it’s basically an impossible to theme a theme park to the real possible future.

Well, you can, but it’s not going to last very long. Epcot was originally sort of a permanent world’s fair, with its attractions designed to be educational and innovative. Future World especially, obviously, got the brunt of this, with all kinds of showcases of scientific discoveries.

But you may have noticed a problem with this idea. While it’s an incredibly cool idea, especially nowadays science moves quickly. In just a few years, Future World and pretty much all of Epcot looked outdated already. The technology it showcased was no longer innovative. It was all yesterday’s news.

In order to keep a land like that accurate and up to date, it would need overhauls basically every single year, and that’s just not feasible (especially for a park that never closes for an off season).

So, Future World and pretty much all of the other lands and attractions of Epcot have been gutted. A lot of it stands fully abandoned, like the Horizons plaza which is only used intermittently as a festival space. It gives the entire park a strange vibe.

However, I’ve got to say I kind of love modern Epcot, too, even though it’s since replaced all its lands and has a lot of renovations planned. It was one of my favorite parks to just be in when we went, with the retro future theming of Tomorrowland taken to a bigger extreme. I’d still absolutely adore to see it at its peak of operation, especially when Journey Into Imagination was still operating.

Thank you so much for the question!! And on a side note, also thank you for reblogging my posts and promoting my blog like you have. It’s the only reason I’ve gotten such a huge influx of followers and notes and I can’t thank you enough. C:

[alecbicheno]

Blog post 3 - Transmedia and intertextuality in Star Wars

Star Wars has a lot of content spread across multiple different forms of media featuring a vast array of stories and characters, and as an avid fan of the Star Wars franchise, I believe there are examples of both intertextuality and transmedia within the different pieces of media, particularly in recent years.

What is transmedia and intertextuality?

Transmedia is where a story is spread out over multiple properties within a fictional universe, a more complete definition would be this one from Henry Jenkins.

“Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.” (Jenkins, 2007)

This form of storytelling has been on the rise in recent years with the most notable example being the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with another example being the DC Extended Universe.

When it comes to intertextuality, a good definition is: “Intertextuality is the relationship between texts”. (Heckmann, 2023) It’s basically when texts reference other texts, with texts meaning movies, TV shows, books, etc. There are different types, each referencing other texts in different ways which I will discuss later.

Intertextuality in Star Wars

There is more than one kind of intertextuality in relation to the Star Wars franchise, one of those is explicit intertextuality. This is associated with things like remakes, reboots, and sequels and prequels, the last two being heavily associated with Star Wars.

There are:

3 separate trilogies of films, the original trilogy, a prequel trilogy, and a sequel trilogy.

Two spin-off movies, one of which being a prequel that leads directly into the first movie.

5 live action shows

5 animated shows

4 canonical games, plus many more

Various other canon and non-canon shows ranging from kids shows to anime.

Countless comics and books, again a mix of canon and non-canon material

Many of these pieces of media are prequels or sequels to others. They can slot into a timeline before or after another piece of media, often directly referencing or leading into one another.

It is important to note that in Star Wars many pieces of media were “removed” from the cannon after Disney acquired it, so much of the material is now no longer canon and known as the expanded universe or legends. It gets more complicated when new material is made using the old material as a source or influence. So, taking this into consideration, the intertextuality aspect can become complicated as some non-canon pieces reference the canon ones, but this ultimately means nothing.

There is also implicit intertextuality, which is associated with parodies and satires, such as Spaceballs (1987) and special episodes of tv shows.

How Star Wars is transmedia

In recent years the material has become more cohesive in order to tell a much larger connected story instead of several separate stories in the same universe.

The various new shows have been telling a story with characters appearing in each other’s shows, sometimes for just one episode or to serve a larger role in that story. This is all building up to a larger conclusion similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Avengers Endgame (2019).

Does transmedia help the Star Wars franchise?

In recent years online streaming services have dominated the market, massively increasing the reach of their audience. This enables the studios to consistently put out new content with interconnecting stories that will get a guaranteed viewership.

The promise of an interconnected story has viewers rushing to watch the next piece of content released to not miss out on anything leading up to the culmination of said story. It is a formula that seems to work, the above-mentioned Marvel Cinematic Universe had a multiple year long story culminating in a grand conclusion in Avengers Endgame (2019). Which, as of writing, still sits at the number two spot of highest grossing movies of all time.

Star Wars has been creating an interconnected story with some of their newer shows on the Disney+ streaming service. There are some that are set around the same time period and have been slowly building to a movie which will likely feature many of the characters from these shows in a similar way to Avengers Endgame (2019).

This method of transmedia storytelling will definitely help the franchise as it has created a new interest and generated new excitement as to what’s coming next. Pair that with the consistent viewership provided by the streaming service its on and the franchise will profit overall. However, this method isn’t without its drawbacks.

Sometimes some shows, or specific seasons of them have been not well received for various reasons. Whether it be a lower quality of CGI due to budget or time constraints, or a character being handled wrong in the viewer base’s eyes, these issues may actually do more harm than good for the franchise as fans lose trust in the handling of future shows and characters. Also, there is potential for the franchise to go a similar way to the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where the abundance of content has seen a decrease in quality as more content per year means a shorter time frame for production. Or the sheer amount of time required to watch all this new content has become too much for fans to dedicate their time to, causing burnout and a drop in viewership.

So, while I think that this method of transmedia storytelling does help the franchise overall, care must be taken going forward when making these movies and shows in order to keep this newly generated interest.

Bibliography

Avengers: Endgame. (2019) Film. Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. [DVD]. USA: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Childress, E., 2023. THE 50 HIGHEST-GROSSING MOVIES OF ALL TIME: YOUR TOP BOX OFFICE EARNERS EVER WORLDWIDE. [Online] Available at: https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/highest-grossing-movies-all-time/ [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Heckmann, C., 2023. What is Intertextuality — Definition and Examples. [Online] Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-intertextuality-definition/ [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Jenkins, H., 2007. Transmedia Storytelling 101. [Online] Available at: https://henryjenkins.org/blog/2007/03/transmedia_storytelling_101.html [Accessed 19 October 2023].

Spaceballs. (1987) Film. Directed by Mel Brooks. [DVD]. USA: MGM/UA Communications Co.

[archivyrep]

Popular culture and the duties of archivists [Part 2]

Continued from part 1

Preservation

In one of her posts, Thompson talks about the preservation and conservation of records, whether older records or newer ones. Related to that, perhaps, is the underground newspaper archive of Nathan's grandfather in Stretch Armstrong. Are the newspapers really being preserved correctly? It's hard to know. The area may be dusty, but none of the newspapers are moldy from what I remember.

Reprinted from my Wading Through the Cultural Stacks WordPress blog. Originally published on Feb. 27, 2021.

Newspaper archive as shown in "Harkness General"

You could also say that Abigail Chase, a NARA archivist, in the National Treasure franchise is focused on preservation, especially in the first film, despite the stereotypes in that film. The same could be said about the Yale University librarian in Can You Ever Forgive Me? who gives Lee Israel access to historical letters. Sadly, she does not know that Israel wants to exploit the institution for her own financial gain and ego. However, Seiya in Tsurune sees himself as “Minato’s archivist, his preserver and protector” and in the manga series, Children of the Whales, Chakuro is the “Archivist for the Mud Whale, diligently chronicling the lives and deaths of his people," to give two examples.

Appraisal

In her July 2015 post, Thompson notes that a lot of what archivists do is "behind the scenes," using unique terminology, obtaining and assessing records. For the latter, this means selection, appraisal, and acquisition. Appraisal, as she defines it, means:

Visiting potential donors of large collections to see if and how much material should be saved...Studying individual documents as we organize them...Researching the background history and context of collections [.] Writing reports documenting our reasons for accepting or declining records [.] Reviewing documents to ensure privacy legislation is observed and copyright status is clear.

In an episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, titled "The Lost One," Madame Jocasta Nu, the archivist of the Jedi Temple archives, who embodies many stereotypes about archivists and librarians, says that a record is sealed by the Supreme Chancellor. This isn't appraisal, obviously, but can be assessing the records and providing access to them. I'll talk more about Madame Nu later in this post. When it comes to George and Lance in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Samantha Cross put it well, that you have to “squint and imagine George and Lance appraising, selecting, arranging, and describing their First Ones collection.” No doubt about that. There had to be some appraisal when it came to the special collections room in Cleopatra in Space, within the PYRAMID school library, as they couldn't have been organized so well without it, I would argue. Still, I haven't seen, in any of the animations or popular culture I've read, archivists engaging in appraisal. I'd like to see it, but I'm not going to hold my breath and assume it will happen.

My good friend hasn't mentioned appraisal directly in any their fan fictions they have written which mention archives, but they have talked about accession numbers, only transferring inactive records to archives and the difference between archives and libraries.

© 2022 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[hellothere-generalangsty]

I HAD A BRAIN WAVE MOMENT

DO YOU REMEMBER WAYYYY BACK WHEN EVERYONE HATED ASOKA? DAVE DID THAT ON PURPOSE SO HE WAS IN CONTROL OF WHAT PEOPLE HATED ABOUT HER. OK NOW THIS MIGHT BE A LONGSHOT THAT HOPEFULLY DOESN’T END UP LIKE LONGSHOT THE CLONE, BUT, IM HOPING THATS WHATS DAVE IS DOING WITH TBB. BEING IN CONTROL OF WHAT THE FANDOM HATES ABOUT IT AND THEN IMPROVING IT SLOWLY BIT BY BIT.

PLEASE IM DESPERATE FOR A EXPLANATION!

(also where’s my explanation about why the clones are white washed, dave? hmm? where is it dave?)

OMG LOOK.

It wouldnt excuse the whitewashing or the weak scenario, because he got us used to some good stuff now (tcw s7, Mandalorian, that kind of things)

But it would make sense - to a certain extent - to work that season as a "cliché team in a cliché scenario" and see how people react to be able for a second season (if there's a second season) to improve it

_

Disclaimer: I'm a white, abled person so I'm not trying to speak on behalf of poc/disabled people, but I think it's important to support them and listen to the critics they make about SW and it's content

Also this is quite long I got carried away but worth it it is!

I linked some of @rebekadjarin 's post here because I read a bit through her blog today and agreed with her posts; and I invite you to check out the "#whitewhashed tbb" if you want more extanded and developed information about that matter! (As my knowledge on the matter is still quite limited/ incomplete due to my privileges, and this post is more of a summary than a real analysis)

_

So here, we know that the fans are unhappy about:

- the whitewashing of the Bad Batch (especially since they proved they could animate dark skinned people/ more generally poc with the first seasons of tcw, Kanan in Rebels and the Separatist in the latest TBB episode)

It is a real problem and it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Even if they are different, the Batchers are still clones and it's really not that hard to show their enhancement while keeping Temuera's features and skin colour (I mean, look at all the artists who did and do it everyday on this app; no excuse here)

Star Wars has wasted a lot of potential on numerous occasions because they keep doing stuff like this; and it's quite ironic (and very sad) to see that racism, ableism and stereotypes are prevalent in a universe where people fight for equality and peace...

Here and here are two posts about it (if you're the author of these posts and want me to delete them from my post please tell me so; I took the liberty of adding them because I think they highlight quite well the issue and do a clear job at showing the whitewashing in SW/ around the clones)

~

- the way Crosshair is treated; both by the Batchers and the writers, he's manipulated by the chip yet no one is talking about rescuing him and we see nothing about the effect of his absence on the Batchers (they don't mention him, don't try to save him, and Hunter is more distraught by Omega's absence than by his own brother's)

And don't get me wrong, Omega is a kid and she's nice, of course they have to take care of her and protect her

But they also don't know her purpose; why is she here? She could be a bad omen (maybe she doesn't even know it! The Kaminoans probably didn't tell anyone about her real purpose and I stand by the idea that the infos they got about her are all wrong and purposefully misleading) and I have the dark feeling that she will be the end/ death of the Batchers by the end of the serie, even if she didn't wanted it that way

But Crosshair is never mentionned, except for when he's needed in the scenario. Which is a shame, because he's a Batcher too even if he's mind-controlled and (for now) working for the Empire. He's supposed to be a main character, and he's a key element to the plot; yet out of 10 episodes we saw him in only 3, and only the moments where he was acting bad (i'm excluding the lonely moment at the end of ep2 because it had a lot of potential about him fighting the chip but that was all we had and i'm still bitter about it lol)

Here is a post about it

~

- speaking of plot; I feel like it's always the same disk playing since episode 2-3: They have a mission given by Cid, they do it, things go wrong, Omega saves the day and they get the money.

Crosshair is doing bad guy stuff so no need to tall about him (haha right?)

Now. I'm a good public. I know when to activate the Dummie™ in me and enjoy a show about a found family doing crazy jobs for a criminal and raising a newly adopted daughter at the same time. It's fun, it's sweet, sometimes it get emotional and the animation is beautiful (the lights are amazing I am always in awe)

I can enjoy it and be in awe and see Echo sniffing food and Tech smiles and Wrecker playing with Omega and feel happy about it.

But I also expected more. I hadn't any clear idea because I didn't wanted to set expectations (how ironic) but I can't help but feel sad about the wasted potential around Empire! Crosshair and the rise of said Empire.

If you want to antagonize one of the main character, do it, but do it fully and do it well. Show us Crosshair getting really invested in a plan to catch the Batchers and suddenly making a scene for a tiny detail that could blow it up; show us Crosshair and Hunter fighting each other hand to hand after they disarmed each other, and Crosshair getting the upoer hand until something holds him back; just enough for Hunter to take control again

Show us a complex character who suffers but doesn't fully realise it, and show us brothers mourning yet hoping to get the family back again you know?

~

- the way Echo is treated by the Batchers. And as much as it saddens me, they do him dirty in the show.

Echo is a war veteran, an ex- prisoner and a disabled character. He went through a lot; first he lost the Domino squad, then he lost brothers on Kamino (including 99 who was close to his squad), then the Citadel happened and he lost both his legs, an arm, his freedom, his brothers and probably any hope to be saved.

Then they found him in that freezer, and he probably realised that, if Fives wasn't here to save him, it meant he lost him too.

Then he left Rex to go with a team of 4 because he probably didn't feel like he belonged with "regs" anymore; he chose strangers over brothers because he thought he couldn't find his place there. Which in itself is sad and problematic.

And now he's with the Batchers, and they don't seem to grasp the importance of his trauma. I mean; they always had the 4 of them and never lost a brother (apart from Cross; which is another wasted potential here because they could have exploited that trauma and made a parallel with Echo being so used to losing brothers and them experiencing it for the first time on such a personal level you know) and they do some crappy stuff to him.

Selling him as a droid? Not cool.

Brushing off his trauma for a mission and some credits? Not. Cool.

And Echo can't say anything because he chose them, and now he has nowhere to go anyway because Order 66 happened; and he probably doesn't want to be a burden to Rex, and he probably doesn't want to abandon his brothers especially now that Cross is gone and they have a child to take care of

But yeah there are a lot of things happening - or NOT happening - around Echo and his trauma and his disability that are wrong and people are right to talk about it

Here is a post I read and I agree with it

~

- Overall, the way the show and the characters are handled; they often feel very stereotyped/ cliché and the basic plot doesn't really help for character development or improvement

I read a post about it and it was really interesting; they linked the whitewashing of the characters with their abilities/enhencement

Tech and Crosshair are the smartest and the whitest in the group (which is bad)

Wrecker is portrayed as the Bid Dummie™ and he's the one with the "darker" skin and the features closest to Temuera/ Maōri features (also very bad)

Hunter is straight up a Rambo with a face tattoo, and Echo - and you guys know I love him - is whiter than a sheet of paper (all so bad)

Not only this, but there is no improvement in their personality or thinking

They don't seem to evolve, and just like their mission, they end up playing the same song over and over again

Hunter is the broody soldier and though people enjoy talking to him as a Dad (count me in) but he's not a good dad for Omega (he calls her soldier and is always acting awkward and uncomfortable around her)

Wrecker could be a better dad for her; but again they display him as a big dummie and give the impression he couldn't take well care of her

Tech is here to be the smart one, we only see him when they need someone to do the smart speaking and the complicated computer things

Echo is the grumpy reg, the "more droid than man" and sometimes the Mom™ but they never show him talking about the Empire or the trauma or how the I am not Freaking Out™ I did came back for this Shit™ he's just here to... Be here and be grumpy and bring the oldest clone wars fans to watch TBB

And Crosshair is almost non-existent.

Here is another post about it

~

What could it be then?

So either Dave is pulling a Ahsoka on us; but he'll still have a lot of things to correct and explanations to give because I can excuse a bad plot but I draw the line at blatant racism ans ableism (especially when they KNOW the fans and they KNOW what people want and they KNOW it would probably bring more people to enjoy and get invested in the show)

- If he's doing this, he will probably work with the animator to correct the whitewashing (because it really is the only really wrong thing in the animation, the rest of it is quite good to be honest like the light, framing and all)

- Understand that Tbb and Mandalorian are two different shows and cannot be treated the sale way; so he'll get back to the main plot and hopefully work on Crosshair's arc and hos his absence/ him being controlled by the chip affects him/ the Batchers/ their relation

- He'll probably work more on displaying the effect of their trauma; collective and personal, and see how it reflects on their relations (and give Echo the healing he deserves)

- By extension, give the characters more depth and complexity, dig their stereotypical surface and reveal their true nature (show me a ruthless yet easily overwhelmed Hunter; a smart but constantly anxious Tech, a very emotional Wrecker playing the big explosive dummie to protect himself, etc.)

Well, that's what I would do

Or he's just... Doing this and not planning any changes; in which case I'll probably do what I did with SPN s15: stop watching, scroll through tumblr to get some infos and gifs and tell everyone about how dirty they did the characters, and they did us.

~

But I really hope he's hearing us and taking our remarks into account; the show in itself had a lot of potential and I'm still hanging on the thin hope that the ending could "save it"; but I also have no expectations and am in fact waiting for a disappointing ending

On a brighter note, I'm glad the fandom exists because I see artists and writers and gif-makers and theorists and all kind of people creating and sharing their own content, headcanons, art, writing and they all feel right and better than the canon

Like yes, give me a in-character dark skinned clone who deals with his trauma and the sudden changes around him in a realistic way

Tell me about the real effects of the war on soldiers, and the truth behind the corrupted government taking over the galaxy, and the efforts everyone has to make to survive, exist and live together

If Dave and his team cannot do it, I know you guys can and that's why I'm glad to be here too; you give me hope when they fail to do so 💙

~

I hope I like... Answered this correctly? 😂 I got carried away but yeah, though I'm usually not vocal about it and try to enjoy it with my Dummie Energy™ I still see and read about what you all think, and usually I agree with you; the show deserved better and we deserved better

Now back to ignoring the canon and writing a fic about my very much alive and beloved Fives 🥰

[starsgivemehp]

The Argument Against and Defense of Hetalia

Let me preface this by saying that I have not watched the show or read the manga in a few years now, and thus I am working mostly off of memory and what fan content I see these days, which is not a lot. Also, I am a gentile, and I don’t claim to know a lot about the Jewish community or traditions. I am, however, a writer and I have plenty of practice analyzing and criticizing works of fiction from multiple angles. With that in mind, this essay is an attempt to explain everything that is wrong and not wrong with the show, the comic strips, and the fandom.

I’m putting this under a read more for sheer length, this was 11 pages on Google docs.

Let us start with the list of grievances assembled largely from one post, the majority of which I had to go digging for as the original person in this post who mentioned Hetalia said, and I quote, “i dont feel the need to link a source for [hetalia] because…” and then listed two things, one of which is incorrect entirely. But I digress, I will address each one at a time. The list of grievances is as follows:

It is called ‘Axis Powers’ Hetalia

One of the main characters is a personification of Nazi Germany

The entire point of the series is:

Advocating for eugenics

Racial fetishization

Advocating for fascism

Nazi sympathizing/propaganda

The entire franchise is terrible due to rape jokes, racism, and Holocaust jokes

Hetalia fans are all terrible due to rape jokes and other issues

Death of the author cannot apply to this fandom

There may be more that are in other reblogs of the post in question, and I may add addendums further in this essay, but for the time being, I will address each of these grievances and explain the validity or non-validity of each, from a position understanding of both fans and of non-fans. Thus, in order:

‘Axis Powers’ Hetalia

When people talk about Hetalia, they usually are referring to the anime due to its widespread popularity. However, Hetalia began as a series of strip comics posted on a forum by Hidekaz Himaruya (and I spent a while trying to actually find the original comics, but I can’t, there are links to his blogs there in what I’ve provided). It later was formatted into a manga, and then later became an anime. While it was originally titled Axis Powers: Hetalia and the first two seasons of the show are named as such, it usually is only referred to as Hetalia. The anime seasons after said first two seasons have all been ‘world’ focused: Seasons three and four were titled World Series, season five was titled Beautiful World, season six was titled World Twinkle, and the upcoming season seven is titled World Stars.

For the purposes of tagging everything, I tend to see the tags ‘hetalia’ and ‘hws,’ which is short for Hetalia: World Series. This name of the third and fourth anime seasons is the most widely accepted and used name for the series as a whole. While it is true that, years ago, people referred to it as ‘aph’ for Axis Powers Hetalia, the fans and the series have put that behind them, for good reason. It is understandable, even righteous, to not accept the title ‘Axis Powers.’ It does draw focus to the WW2 era, and place the fascists and nazis as the ‘main characters,’ or even, ‘the good guys,’ which is not the case. Obviously, the Nazis were terrible and the entirety of the Axis Powers did horrible, unspeakable things during the war.

It must be noted, to anybody who has not seen the show or read the manga, that the first one to two seasons do have a ‘focus’ on the WW2 era, per se, but it largely talks about interactions between countries, as they are the personified party, and makes extremely few allusions to the war itself, and none to the Holocaust. I will address that in a later section. For now, the point to make is that after these original two seasons, Hetalia branches out into a much wider worldview, adds several more characters, and focuses more on said characters in individual arcs and offerings of historical facts - as generalized as they may be. Nobody claimed that Hetalia was correct in everything it said, but it aims to play out some historical information in a simplified and humorous way. This is due to the fact that the characters are all singular people meant to personify entire countries, which leads us to point two.

The Personification of Nazi Germany

This is the second complaint of the strand of the post in question that I was presented with, quoted as “one of the main characters is a personification of nazi germany.” This is an entirely incorrect statement. ‘Nazi Germany,’ as people call it, is the state of Germany during the era leading up to and of World War 2. The country is still Germany, the people were still German, the Nazi part comes from the political regime in power, a real world nightmare. In the Hetalia series, the characters are called by their country names, because that is who they personify. This may change at times. For example, the character now known as Turkey was previously called Ottoman Empire. They come to be when civilization starts or a colony is introduced to a place. This can be seen in the strip or episode where China ‘finds’ Japan as a small boy and begins to teach him reading and writing - and Japan thereafter invents hiragana. It can also be seen in the comic where a young child, Iceland, questions who he is and why he knows his people are “different beings” than him. The country that speaks to him (I only have the comic here in my likes in that list, the name isn’t mentioned and it’s been a while, but it might be another of the Scandinavian countries) explains that he is Mr. Iceland, they don’t know why he is Mr. Iceland, but they know he is.

What I am attempting to explain with all of these other examples is that there is no ‘Nazi Germany’ character. There is a character called Germany (or Mr. Germany), and all of his adult life, he has been called Germany. He is never addressed by anything else. He does, however, look remarkably similar to a childhood friend of Italy’s, Holy Roman Empire (or just Holy Rome), but as far as it has been explained in canon, Holy Rome went off somewhere and, later on Germany and Italy met as strangers. The general consensus is, due to the area where the Holy Roman Empire used to be is around-ish Germany, the characters are the same. But never, in any of the comics, anime, or movie, is Germany referred to as Nazi Germany. I don’t believe the word ‘Nazi’ appears at any point in time, even, though I cannot claim I have seen every shred of content, so I may be wrong. But I doubt that very much, as it is not in the nature of the series to do such a thing. Moving on.

Advocating for Eugenics

I will start and end this section by saying that Hetalia was, in the original post, roped in with Attack on Titan, of which (as far as I know) the author advocates for eugenics - or the idea that certain people should not be allowed to produce offspring due to their race or other factors. There is no example of Hetalia content wherein this disgusting opinion is ever mentioned or supported in any way. This is at worst a flat-out lie, and at best lumping Hetalia in with a much worse show that does do this (but I won’t get into that, I have never seen more than a few episodes of Attack on Titan and I don’t care to see any more of it. Throw your opinions or defenses elsewhere, I care 0% about it entirely). I have no more need to prepare a more detailed response to this accusation. It simply is not true.

Racial Fetishization

This particular accusation is a difficult one. Fetishization may be a strong word, as the series is largely a comedy. Everyone gets their turn in the spotlight, so to speak, so I find it hard to plainly state that any one character is fetishized or displayed as the most powerful. There is, of course, Rome, who only appears in small segments as Italy’s grandfather and is, in the series, touted as an amazing empire who had it all. I do not believe this is what the accusation is referring to. This accusation seems to be some sort of insistence that the show and creator believe that white people (or possibly just Germans/Nazis/the Aryan race?) are touted as the most powerful and nobody else can compare. I can confidently say that while that is never said anywhere, there are a few issues. Hetalia, particularly the animated series, had (and may still have) a longstanding issue of whitewashing countries that should not be white. This includes Egypt and Seychelles (who both later got a darker skin tone, probably still not dark enough though) as the worst offenders, and even Spain, Turkey, Greece, and Romano (southern Italy), and so on. Yes, this is a big problem. There is no defense against that. It should not be the case. These characters obviously should have darker skin. I will note, however, that many fans are already completely aware of this, have been complaining about it since the beginning, and tend to draw these characters with more correct skin tones in their fanart. This is a case where yes, the original content is not good, but the fans make their own fixes. If you are angry at Hetalia for whitewashing, good. You should be. But I do not believe this should reflect on the entirety of the content and the fandom (And note that I am not linking any particular fanart here, because I want nobody to go attack any fans).

It is also important to note that yes, a large majority of the series builds upon stereotypes. No, stereotypes are not good. No, you should not assume that the personifications of the countries encompass all citizens of said countries. The entire premise of the show is one person = the embodiment of a country, and that person changes and adapts with the times in terms of uniform and personality. It is extremely hard to do this without stereotyping. Most serious fans are aware of this, and do not in any way believe that these characters represent everyone from these countries. It may be true that much younger fans used to, and it may be true that people do not want to watch the show because stereotypes are, arguably, bad. But do remember that this is a comedy, and every character is picked on. Every one. And it is understandable if this branch of humor is not for you. I, personally, don’t like Family Guy or South Park or any shows like that for their humor. I also don’t attack the people who do. I ignore it.

Advocating for Fascism

This is another area wherein I believe the accuser is simply lumping Hetalia in with the original poster’s subject, Attack on Titan. Again, I will not defend or attack that show, as I do not care about it at all. However, regarding Hetalia, I can confidently say that it does not advocate for fascism. While the first two seasons are (sort of) set in WW2 era, as previously mentioned, the fighting is not really a big part, and nobody is touted as correct - only struggling in the conflict. For example, there is a scene where Germany, post WW1, is shown making cuckoo clocks by hand and lamenting the fact that he has to make so many thousands in order to pay back France. This is by no means painting fascism as a good thing, or explaining anything about how poverty and other struggles lead to the formation and rise of the Nazi party. It is simply a scene where we see a man frustratedly making cuckoo clocks and complaining while France’s big head jeers at him in his imagination. The surrounding scenes and the end of this one are making note of how Italy keeps coming over to his house to try and be friends and Germany keeps kicking him out because Italy is annoying and whiny. The episode further goes on to mention that Germany is attacking France again, and Italy has suddenly become his ally, and he is not happy about it for the aforementioned reasons. Again, this does not in any way paint Germany as being ‘right.’ The purpose of the segment(s) is/are to show him disliking the annoying Italy (whom the show is named for) and trying to get him out of his house before eventually giving up and accepting that they can be friends. Is it all 100% historically accurate? No, not by a long shot. Does it paint him as sympathetic? Sort of, you feel bad for the guy making a thousand cuckoo clocks, but only in the sense that he is one person doing a lot of work, a completely fictional situation. But Italy - and the audience - obviously know that attacking France again is not a good thing, so does it advocate the Nazis or fascism? Also no.

Nazi Sympathizing/Propaganda

I pretty well covered this in the previous section, but I will expand. I have alluded to the first two seasons as “focusing” on WW2, in a way, and also mentioned that this is a generalization of sorts, so here I will attempt to clarify. The first few episodes do, indeed, touch on ‘the way they all met’ in a sense; Germany is starting a war and he reluctantly becomes allies with Italy, and less reluctantly becomes allies with Japan, who examines both of them and decides he is content with this situation. However, none of it is very serious, and these ‘formalities’ give way easily to more humorous personable interactions, such as Italy hugging Japan without warning and the touch-anxious Japan pushing him off and getting flustered, Italy petting a cat and then freaking out when he is licked because a cat’s tongue is rough, the two of them ‘training’ by doing your regular old exercising and jogging and Italy being late, etc etc. Stupid, personable jokes.

On the flip side, the show covers the Allied Powers quite a bit too. A lot of this is the five big ones - America, Britain (/England/UK), France, Russia, and China - all meeting around one table and squabbling about various things. I fondly recall one scene where China arrives late and has a bunch of workers suddenly building a Chinatown in the meeting room because he was hungry and wanted his own food, and the others protesting. They are then offered food and become okay with it, because food. Other such nonsense plays out in other, similar meetings. There is also a segment where the Axis powers are all stranded on an island for… some unknown reason… and they set about attempting to survive via campfire and fishing and such. Twice (three times?) the Allied powers ‘attack’ them on this island via China whacking them each with a wok and, as the three of them are in a sad heap, something interrupts the scene to make the Allies retreat. One time, it is Rome’s sudden and also unexplained entrance across the sky singing a song, and another time, it is England’s preoccupation with a cursed chair. Also, at one point, Austria is playing a piano. Does any of this magic logical, real life sense? No. It’s stupid and funny and has nothing to do with war. These are just personable characters thrown into weird situations so they can be funny, with some extremely mild historical context along the way.

I will note again that WW2 is pretty much completely dropped after these two seasons, with the war hardly addressed at all, and future seasons focus more on other characters. The Scandinavians get to all have fun together, the Baltic trio is mentioned, there is a lot about Switzerland taking care of Liechtenstein (wow I spelled it right after all these years, go me) and being stiff and formal with Austria. There is also plenty about people mistaking Canada for America, and England and France squabbling throughout the years, and Spain finding Romano cute but also very grumpy, etc etc… This series is largely Eurasia-focused, yes, and it can be criticized for not being as diverse as it should be. But boiling it down to ‘Nazi propaganda’ is outright, obliviously false.

I don’t know if this is the best place to put this particular note, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to place it, so here it will go. I would like to mention that in the series, some characters, like Germany and Russia, express outright fear of their ‘bosses’ in certain points in history. It is important to realize that Germany, Japan, America, etc… these characters are not the actual, real-life humans in charge of these countries, but people of a fictional, separate species than humans who grow up as the nation grows and have lives that are affected by these world leaders (we even watch in the show America shooting up from child to young adult as the colonies expand, and England comments on how quickly he grew up - but not as quickly as his people, of course. We’ll get to Davie later). The president of the United States is America’s ‘boss,’ and naturally, that boss changes every time the president changes. The emperor of China is China’s ‘boss.’ It follows, thusly, that at one point, Hitler was Germany’s ‘boss.’ The terrible person himself was alluded to, as far as I know, exactly one time, not by name, and no face was shown. In a very brief scene, Germany laments that his new boss is scary and he was just ordered to go force Austria to come live with him. Said boss is shown as, I believe, an evilly laughing shadowy figure. That’s it. That’s the scene. There is no other mention of Hitler, nor is there any mention of the Holocaust anywhere. One could argue that the show is then trying to say that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but I think such an accusation is frankly absurd. It’s a comedy, it was always a comedy, and what in the fuck would be comedic about a mass genocide in any way? Nothing. None of it is funny. Of course it is not brought up in a comedy.

Rape Jokes, Racism, and Holocaust Jokes

While I did somewhat address racism already in the section about whitewashing and racial fetishization, I have another clarification to make, especially regarding the jokes. A lot of people complain that there are rape jokes throughout the series, and that there are two Holocaust jokes. I will begin by saying yes, this is all true, those things did happen during the course of the show. However, it is important to note that all of those things happened in the English dub of the animated show, and none of these terrible jokes exist in the Japanese/subbed version, or the original comic strips.

The English dub is, on all accounts, pretty terrible. Everyone has an over exaggerated accent, there are the aforementioned jokes, there are name changes (England referred to as Britain, among them, very confusing), and the voice actors themselves make mention in commentaries that their goal in this job was, to paraphrase because I haven’t listened in a while, ‘to be as offensive as possible to absolutely everyone’ (and one of the English dub voice actors is even a convicted sex offender, but that’s it’s own mess).  Not the most glamorous or noble of goals. One could say ‘at least if it’s everyone, it’s not really racism, is it? Just humor?’ There is a case for that. Many comedians will say that they poke fun at everyone to avoid singling anybody out as inherently superior. It cannot be said to be the best way to make humor, but it cannot be said to be the worst way, also. Overall, I don’t like the English dub, I don’t watch it, I prefer the subs. And yes, the subbed version has a few issues of its own, but I can say that at least, no, it does not make any Holocaust or rape jokes. Are those kinds of jokes excusable? Fuck no. They’re completely inappropriate. Should you judge the whole series and fandom based on the grossness of the English dubs? Also no, the people who did the English dubs have zero to do with the original creator, the animators, and the fans. Screw them.

The Fandom Being Terrible

I must again preface by saying I was never super active in the fandom at large. I had my own little niche of friends and I stuck to them and I didn’t often branch out. I did, however, go to cons back in those days, and saw plenty of cosplayers. The main complaint I see regarding the fandom is that most of the fans are completely rabid, make a bunch of rape jokes, and even dress up as ‘Nazi Germany’ (iron cross and red armband and all) and pretend to shoot up synagogues. Now, I have not seen cosplayers do the nazi solute or do such photoshoots, but I can believe that people have done it. I have seen plenty of rabid fans, and some of the OCs created for Hetalia, especially many interpretations of individual states (or Antarctica), were extremely cringey, racist, and overall just not good. And yes, these things are undeniably bad. They are very bad things! Those people should be ashamed. They should know better, regardless of their ages or anything, for fuck’s sake. The nazi salute is not a thing you do jokingly, pretending to shoot people is not a joke. Everyone is aware of this. The people who did, or maybe even still do, those things need a serious sit-down and to be woken the fuck up, because they are acting terrible.

However, it is extremely unfair to paint all Hetalia fans in the same light. That is a very stereotypical thing to do, no? As I mentioned earlier, I stuck to my little niche friend group of fans, and while we all had our own flaws and were younger and kinda dumber, we never did things like that. I never did things like that. Rape jokes were never funny, I never liked them, I never accepted them. I have people I still know who still like Hetalia and they never made those kinds of jokes either. I think, as the years have gone by, a lot of the more rabid fans have died out of the fandom. They’ve either grown the fuck up or they’ve went off to pollute some other fandom. Recognize that, especially in the beginning, the anime was low-budget and had a lot of that old and gross queerbaiting and stuff like that, so it was undeniably a magnet for crazy yaoi fans. But the majority of fanart, fanfics, and just overall fan stuff that I see these days are nothing like that. Overall, the fandom has seriously calmed down. A lot of the focus is much more on taking these characters and applying them to other historical events with more accuracy than the show might give. The history in these fanfics and fanarts may also be of questionable accuracy at times. I personally once wrote a fic where I made allusions to the death of Joan d’Arc and, later, the death of Elizabeth I, but did I add much historic fact? No, do I look like a history major spilling all this? The point of the fic was England - the character - maturing through starting to love one of his rulers and recognizing a terrible thing that he did before. It’s not the best piece of work out there, and maybe someone could point out a few things I did wrong with it, but for what it’s meant to be, it’s harmless. Takes on characters not actually in the series, like Ireland, Scotland, etc etc are generally pretty mature from what I see, fanart tends to just be the characters in various poses and styles. The overall love the fandom has, I think, is in the better character designs and in the very concept of the countries as people who laugh and cry and live through war and peace for thousands of years. And here is where I address the final grievance that I personally saw in the notes of the post which started this whole thought process and essay.

The Death of the Author

A lot of people might not fully understand what ‘The Death of the Author’ means. The death of the author is a belief rooted in the 20th century that the personal intentions, beliefs, and prejudices of the authors of certain works can have no bearing on their produced content, because once it is out in the public, every reader may then have their own interpretation and belief system. By publicizing the content, the author ‘dies’ and the reader is born.

There are some scenarios where this cannot apply. One example is JK Rowling, a very special case of a very problematic woman who happens to be so powerful, and so rich, that consuming any type of official (or even unofficial) Harry Potter anything can and will give her that much more power to spread her TERF bullshit. Let me be frank: Any time that consuming a product is allowing a bigoted or problematic person to gain extra money or extra power that they then use for evil, the death of the author cannot apply. You cannot use it as a moral justification. You might perhaps use it as the reason why you struggle to let go of a fandom near and dear to you, as Harry Potter is to so many people, but you absolutely must recognize that purchasing the books, the movies, or any other official content is outright supporting a TERF.

That in mind, there are dozens of other cases where the death of the author absolutely can apply. The easiest, of course, is with authors who are actually dead, such as Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a complete bigot and racist, an overall terrible person, and his works are saturated in that racism. But he is dead, and his work is very popular, and there are ways to take and use his work that do not contribute further to racism and bigotry. All you have to do is slap a non-racist cthulhu on a page. Make that cthulhu eat everyone equally. That’s a good cthulhu right there, a nice, safe cthulhu.

So where does Hetalia fall in this spectrum of can or cannot have death of the author? I believe it leans more to the side of yes, you can apply it. For one thing, you can definitely find the show for free in some places, and watch it without giving Himaruya a single cent. The comics are also available online for free, and while you might be giving your ‘support’ by being a viewer, I think overall, that’s not only negligible, but does not contribute anything bad? The author of Attack on Titan has many charges levied against him in the post which prompted this, and arguably, giving him any money is bad. But as far as I have seen, while Himaruya might have started out with a flawed premise and may have some whitewashing issues, I have seen nowhere that he funds any kind of racist, nationalistic, fascist, etc anything of any kind. This is not like Chick-Fil-A, where offering any kind of patronage is (or maybe used to be) sinking funds into terrible organizations. This is not supporting literal Nazis, as the complaints claim. This is a largely mediocre series with good parts and bad parts and zero ties to horrific organizations or ideals. Consuming good fan content does not make someone a racist or a bigot or a nazi sympathizer. Even rewatching some old favorite scenes or checking out the new season doesn’t make someone that. By all accounts, the show is flawed but not a means to fund nazis.

The Bad Anything Else

I will now take some time to talk about some other problems Hetalia has, because no, it is by no means flawless. I already discussed the whitewashing and stereotypes and the mess of the English dub, but there is more. I made mention of the fact that battles and seriously bad events such as the Holocaust are not mentioned, and this holds true throughout pretty much all of the series. There are certain points where ‘battles’ of a sort are seen, but only flash moments. One scene in particular that I really enjoyed as a tween and can now see the problems with is the whole revolutionary war scene. This was a scene split into two episodes (for some weird reason, even an unrelated episode in between, like, what? Why??) about a particular (unnamed) battle in the American Revolution where England faced down America, they each had a gun with a bayonet, and England charged America and his bayonet deeply scratched America’s gun, and America declared he was no longer England’s little brother, and the whole thing was played out as an extremely emotional scene. England is lost in the past of seeing America as a cute little kid he took care of, who has now grown up and is being reckless and stupid, and America is all righteous and independent and proving he’s a grown up, it’s all very emotional, I cried, other fans cried, there was much fanart.

This scene is problematic in a way. Boiling down an extremely nasty conflict following lots of really bad laws and protests to this one scene doesn’t do history any justice. It says nothing about the struggles of the American colonists, the struggles of the British empire, the awful things the colonists did to the natives, etc etc. It is one small scene and it focuses on these characters as humanoid, with feelings, and completely ignores the complexities of history. And yes, in a way, that is bad. But it is bad in the sense that nobody can - or at least should - take this show to be the end-all be-all of history. It is not. It is not often entirely correct, and it picks and chooses what points in the past several thousand years to play with, and trying to use it as a map for history is a bad idea. However, this focus on the countries as human-like and struggling can also be a good thing.

It is also important to note that there have been other problems. The portrayal of South Korea, for example, is extremely controversial, and while I do not know all of the specifics, I believe that it was banned in Korea due to this, and the character was entirely removed from the anime, among other things. Obviously, a bad take, a bad character. There are also just straight up not great characterizations in certain cases. I don’t, for example, like anything about how Belarus is portrayed as a crazy psycho constantly begging Russia (her big brother) to marry her? I think that that is ridiculous, and I know nothing about Belarus as a country but I am pretty darn sure that that is not how one ought to go about portraying the country. There are a few other examples, but my purpose here was not to pull up a list of every country and explain what is correct or incorrect about each characterization. It is enough to say that some characters were not portrayed perfectly. But with that in mind...

The Good Anything Else

It is the most important to remember that this, all of this, is fiction. This is a silly, silly fantasy series. The countries are not humans, they are some weird semi-immortal species that share a universal language and know they are not human and are referenced by humans as ‘those people.’ They are fictional constructs. But the good out of all of this is that they explore human emotions. The American Revolution scene should not be taken as how the revolution was, and who might have been right or wrong. But it is a very emotional story of a big brother unable to accept that his little brother has grown up and wants to make his own choices. That, right there, is a heartfelt scene that I’m sure plenty of real people can feel something about. And there are plenty of other scenes that really grab you by the heartstrings, especially given how crazy, stupid, and humor-oriented the rest of the show is. And I will take a moment and enthuse about some of the more popular scenes that I think are, in fact, pretty good.

There is one episode in season 5, Beautiful World, where an American woman visits France (the place). This woman, Lisa, is blond and bears a striking resemblance to Joan d’Arc. While visiting some historical place somewhere or another in Paris, France (the person) spots her and rushes up with an odd look. When she questions him, he apologizes and offers to give her a tour of the area, which she accepts. He then proceeds to lead her around and explain some history and show off some beautiful sights, and he mentions some stuff about Joan d’Arc. She butts in and lists off some stuff she knows, he beams and looks proud and says yes, she’s right. The end of the scene has the two of them standing alone somewhere and him commenting how young Joan was when she was killed, and that he always wished she could have had a better, nicer life. He then states that he is very happy that she got it, while giving this American tourist a gentle smile. She looks away for a moment, distracted by something perhaps, and when she looks back to ask just who the heck he really is, talking about a historical figure like he knew her, he is gone. It’s a very emotional scene in a quiet sort of way, because the watcher/reader understands that he took one look at this woman and instantly believed that she was, in fact, Joan d’Arc reincarnated into a totally different and totally average life, and he is so genuinely happy that a woman he saw as a hero gets this chance to live normally. Whether or not you may personally believe in reincarnation, and regardless of how often other times in the show France is shown as an obnoxious sexaholic, this is an extremely tender scene that lots of fans seriously love. It is very ‘human.’ And I feel like this is what the series as a whole strives to offer. These human moments. They may be peppered in a sort of lackadaisical style in the anime, but they are far more prominent in the comic strips, so it is important to realize that that kind of scene is more of what the creator likes to focus on.

Another very popular and touted scene is the Davie scene. I don’t remember if it was put in the anime or not, I read it as a comic. It was a scene set in colonial America, where the man himself was just a very small child. Little baby America was hanging out in a field with a rabbit and sees this boy, who introduces himself as Davie. Davie brings America to his house and opens up a botany book and points out a blue flower (possibly a forget-me-not) that he wants to see but that isn’t in the New World. America assures Davie that he will find him one of those flowers, and goes off to do so. He fails his search and goes back to Davie, who is older now, but Davie looks embarrassed and turns and walks away. Distressed, America runs to England and explains about the flower, and England says the flower is not there, but they do grow at home, and he will bring some the next time he leaves and comes back. America happily waits, and when England returns with a bouquet of the blue flowers, America takes them and runs off to Davie’s house. He is let in by a boy who looks just like Davie and presents the flowers, and the boy then puts them on (or maybe in) a coffin of an elderly man. America, smiling, does not seem to understand what is going on, and hopefully calls the boy Davie.

This entire scene, in the comic, has very few words. Davie’s name is repeated a few times, but most of the rest of the ‘dialogue’ is in images. The flower, England saying it is not there, etc. This makes the scene extremely poignant, and when we reach the end, we, the audience, realize suddenly that while baby America was fixated on finding a special flower for his new friend, years and years went by, and that friend grew up and got married and had children and eventually died, all while America remained looking the exact same age and understanding the exact same things. Look, folks, I don’t know about you, but that is some angsty stuff right there. I cried. We all cried. We all miss Davie. Mention the name to fans and you will get sobs. We love you, Davie.

Which brings me to my penultimate point, that this series is heartfelt and, while it avoids a lot of the bad of history, can be very poignant about what human nature is like. Human lives are long, very long, but also so very short, they fly by. Some lives end in tragedy, others are mostly peaceful, and maybe we get second chances if you believe in reincarnation, maybe not. Maybe it’s good that our lives are so short, maybe the fate of living forever and watching people you connect with die is tragic. Or maybe it would actually be really fun, having friends for thousands of years that you may squabble with at times but ultimately care for. Maybe nothing is simple and life is about finding joy where you can, and everyone needs to sometimes take a step back and realize that everyone is flawed, and there might be good and evil but the vast majority of people are in a grey area, trying to live their own lives and do what good they can for whatever reason they might give. I want to end with one last topic, one I have not yet addressed this whole time. The big white alien in the room, if you will.

Paint it: White!

There is a Hetalia movie, folks, if you didn’t know it, and it’s called Paint It White. This movie has just as many silly parts as any other Hetalia thing, but it also has a plot! In this movie, strange, all-white aliens are starting to invade the Earth. They arrive and anything they touch, they turn into completely identical white humanoid blobs, even the country personifications. With this scary and seemingly-unstoppable threat, the main eight - America, England, Russia, China, France, Japan, Germany, and Italy - all try to infiltrate the alien spaceship in frankly hideous uniforms to find out more and figure out a way to defeat them. Hijinks and disaster ensues, and at the end, each of them is fighting a mob and gradually being defeated. Italy is the last one standing, and as Germany is slowly being transformed into a blob along with the others, he tells Italy to smile. Italy then finds (or has? the plot isn’t great, it’s just there) a black marker and he suddenly starts going around drawing ridiculous faces on everyone. He draws fitting faces on each of his friend blobs, like a stern face on Germany-blob, a deadpan face on Japan-blob, etc etc. The invaders suddenly stop. They look at each other, marker-faced, and start to laugh. Then their leader of sorts comes out and is basically like “wow, we thought you were all stupid and you have wars and stuff, but this? This is beautiful. Wow. We all look exactly identical on our world, and these faces are cool and new and unique. We’ll turn everyone on your planet back if we can have this magical thingie you’re holding.” And of course Italy hands the marker right over, and everyone is put back to normal, and crybaby, scaredy-cat, useless Italy saves the world.

The plot is, obviously, not super great. It’s not going to win anybody any awards. But it has a very poetic premise. The strength of humans is that they are all unique. Every human has a different face, a different body, a different life. Our differences may cause conflict, but they are also something to celebrate. At the end of the day, Hetalia is an okay show that can get you hooked on history and tries its best to teach you that we’re all only human and there might be war and conflict and bad things, but you have to reach for the good things and find yourself good friends and have stupid laughs and enjoy life, however long or short it may be. I think that that’s a pretty decent message to send out to people.

The Bottom Line

In the end, this is a fandom like many others. Hetalia has its flaws and its cringe moments, and it certainly had its fair share of awful fans. But I truly believe that painting it overall as nazi propoganda and one of the most problematic and harmful shows out there is a blatant lie and disregards… just about everything of the actual content. I think it is difficult for someone to concretely say anything is super good or super bad without seeing at least some of it, or doing some research, and this business of blithely going along with what everyone else says just because they use big danger words does not do anybody any favors. Spreading misinformation is, I’m sure, the exact opposite of what most people want to do. And make no mistake, I am definitely not saying that everyone needs to like, or even watch, the show. If you never ever want to watch this show in your life, that is absolutely fine. Go forth and never watch it. But mindlessly following the herd and yelling overgeneralized, unsupported opinions about it is not a good thing. I beg of you, do research on the things you want to form or share an opinion on, think critically, and for the love of God, do not swipe a giant paintbrush to forsake every single individual fan of a show as a terrible, awful person. By all means, hate nazis, they are pieces of shit. Boycott things that support genocide and fascism, yes, fight for equality, yes. But do not go accusing without thinking, and do not overgeneralize. I leave you with the words of my old laptop bag that I bought years ago at a convention:

Make pasta, not war.

Thank you for reading.

[thefreakishmuffin]

Hetalia is coming back, and I have some thoughts...

Alrighty everyone, here we go! As if 2020 couldn’t get more insane...

(This is a longer post, so I’ll add fun gifs to separate the walls of text so it isn’t so exhausting to read).

So, if you’ve been on the internet since the early 2010′s, you’ve most likely seen, or at least heard, of an odd show called Hetalia. This anime, with the manga originally created by Hidekaz Himaruya, was later adapted into an anime. For those who are either new to the internet or have been living under a rock for the last decade, Hetalia, first going under the name Hetalia: Axis Powers, is a show about different events in world history and world politics, all being portrayed by people who represent different countries. Each country - or character, you could say - is essentially the embodiment of all their respective country’s stereotypes. 

For example, Germany is extremely strict, loud, militaristic, and often angry or stubborn. Italy is an absolute coward who is obsessed with pasta and beautiful women. And America is an over-the-top, loud, bombastic, arrogant dork who is constantly downing fast food and calling himself a “hero.” The list goes on and on, but you get the idea. 

Hetalia was, and still is, an extremely weird show. And with season seven on the horizon, coming to us in Spring 2021, I feel like I ought to talk about it. And why am I taking the time to talk about it?

Because I am a veteran Hetalian. 

(Me laughing but slowly dying inside)

You read that right. Throughout all of middle school and the first few months of high school (almost four years), I was an absolute obsessive Hetalia fangirl. Outside of the internet, I was the biggest fan I knew, along with the guy who was my best friend at the time. We’d binge watch the show, read and write fanfiction, bring others into the cult fandom, talk about it almost constantly, draw fanart, watch the funny mmd video compilations on YouTube, delve really deep into world history, quote and reenact all of our favorite scenes - we even cosplayed England and Prussia one year for Halloween! This was the show that made me the HUGE history nerd I am today! I even got a book on the complete history of Prussia one year for Christmas.

Yep. We were those kind of fans. (Not gonna lie, as a now twenty-year-old woman, I still kinda cringe looking back at my middle school years. But I was having fun, so who cares?)

So when I heard we were getting another season after a five year hiatus, you’d think I’d be super stoked that a show I was once madly in love with was coming back from the dead, right? 

(The part of me that is thrilled about Hetalia returning)

Well... It’s a little complicated. I won’t lie that I am really excited for this new season, and I’m of course gonna watch the entire series over again in preparation for it. But I have some hopes, worries, and mixed emotions about everything happening, and everything that may or may not go down when the season eventually airs, including the time leading up to it. I even have a particular topic I want to get to, but you’ll see that later in the post.

To address my worries, we first have to go way back to the early days of the fandom. For the most part, the Hetalia fandom was just really weird, fun, nerdy, and quirky. Nothing wrong with that. I feel like the fandom already had an odd reputation, but at least it wasn’t a bad one. That is until we had some... How should I say... Toxic behaviors and incidents start to take place. 

Allow me to explain. How I see it, every fandom has some kind of toxicity level. The toxicity level is from the fans who are, well, toxic. We all know who they are, and you’ve likely met at least a few here and there. And the toxicity levels vary from fandom to fandom. In some it’s very low, and in others it’s very high. I wouldn’t say the Hetalia fandom’s toxicity level was super high, but it wasn’t incredibly low either. We had the usual problems, like some intense shipping wars and people debating on different ideas and headcanons, but the Hetalia fandom had something a bit different going on.

(My two personalities trying to coexist in peace)

You see, a lot of people didn’t like - or even hated - Hetalia, because they saw it as racist and offensive. If you admitted you liked Hetalia outside of the fandom, you ran a definite risk of getting either shunned or degraded for it. And if that wasn’t bad enough, you had a group of fans - a rather small group of fans, mind you - who did some pretty insensitive things that ended up landing the fandom in some serious hot water.

You’d have people in that small group of fans who’d openly do the Nazi salute while cosplaying Germany at conventions, and there was even the incident where you had fans cosplaying as Nazi Germany to the holocaust museum, where they decided to pose doing the Nazi salute. I even saw a cosplay of Germany and Prussia pointing guns at the Star of David, which is a well known symbol of the Jewish faith. Not to mention the fans who seemed to fetishize Nazi Germany and Prussia. Now, I may not know about everything these people did, as I was pretty good at staying on the light side of the fandom, but these were some pretty well known and disgraceful problems that everyone would find out about sooner or later.

Sadly enough, it was that small, tiny percentile of the fandom that did things that were so offensive, so wrong, that it was greatly magnified by others, thus giving the fandom its toxic, even cringey reputation. And I really hope we don’t have to relive that all over again.

(Me singing songs about punching Nazis and eating pasta)

So what I hope is that we are able to leave all of that behind us. Though I’ve already seen some Twitter users try to start drama all over again by reposting the offensive cosplays, and Tumblr users getting their panties in a wad because they apparently have nothing else better to do. But because a vast majority of the Hetalia fans are like me in that we’ve grown older and matured, I’m hoping we can help guide the younger, newer fans in the right direction.

And I won’t deny that I am very worried about the newer fans getting harassed and bullied on social media. I don’t have a lot of advice when it comes to the haters, other than the usual ‘ignore them and don’t respond’, tactic. But just know that if they don’t leave you alone, you can always block them.

And here’s another bit I want to touch upon. While I can completely understand why people see this show as racist and offensive, I honestly don’t think it is. If anything, I think it actually teaches us something. And no, I’m not talking about history right here. I’m talking about the stereotypes, and how they are portrayed. I think this show helps us to understand that all of these different stereotypes we have about different people and countries are all stupid and silly.

Do we actually know a German who is exactly like Hetalia’s Germany? No. Do any of us know an Englishman who is identical to Hetalia’s England in every way? Of course not. This series helps us to understand that the stereotypes so many of us hold onto today are nothing more than just stupid, silly old ideas that have been blown far out of proportion over the years. 

Many people try to claim that this show is overtly racist and tries to divide, but in my opinion, I think it ties us together.

(My last two braincells writing up this post at around midnight)

At the end of the day, I’m incredibly excited and eager to see the new season of Hetalia, and everything that it will have in store for us. And it’s fun too look back on all the nostalgic memories I have of this show. This is all I have to say for now, but I may or may not be coming back to this topic in the future. Might even make another blog for Hetalia while I’m coming back to the fandom. After all, this is known as the fandom you can’t escape from.

Now if you excuse me, I’m gonna go press play on Hetalia: Axis Powers episode one, and let myself spiral into insanity once again!

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 1: Anticipation

Introduction

What is your most anticipated game? Not the upcoming game that you’re excited about, the game that, more than any other, made you count down the days until its release. No game has ever made me as excited for its release like Fire Emblem Fates did.

Fire Emblem Fates was first announced in January 2015. Back when that trailer was first released, I was still obsessively playing through Fire Emblem Awakening, the game Fire Emblem Fates was meant to be a successor for. The trailer hooked me and I eagerly waited for more information on this bold new entry into the Fire Emblem series. The trailer showed a battle between two armies, a monster destroying a castle, a woman dancing, and a duel between two swordsmen. Between these clips, the trailer showed a return of Awakening’s gameplay, the addictive gameplay that’d taken away hundreds of hours of my free time. This trailer told us nothing, leaving me eager to learn more about this new story.

As the months went on, it was announced that Fates would tell the story of two kingdoms at war. More interestingly, the player would be given the opportunity to choose which kingdom to support, adding a layer of moral ambiguity and complexity to the story. I loved this concept and had no doubts it would be executed perfectly. The game released in June 2015 in Japan, but American fans had to wait until January of the next year to play it.

I bought the game as soon as it came out.

And I loved it. I played through all three routes half a dozen times each. For about six months, Fire Emblem Fates was the main game I played.

I haven’t played Fates in four and a half years. I don’t know why I went from spending multiple hours each day playing it to dropping it and never going back. I’ve played Awakening about once a year since then, but I haven’t gone back to Fates for some reason.

Since its release, Fates has gained a certain...reputation among the Fire Emblem fanbase. Put bluntly, it’s widely considered to be the worst Fire Emblem game. And, to be honest...I can kinda see why. Looking back, the game’s writing was filled to the brim with problems. But still, I can’t bring myself to hate the game like other Fire Emblem fans. I still remember asking my mom to preorder it for my Christmas present when I was fifteen. I still remember devoting hours of my life to this game.

So, I’m left with this quandary. Who should I trust? Other fans, or the memories of my youth? Is Fates really as bad as people say? Well, I kinda want to figure that out for myself. And I think the only way to figure this out is to obsessively play the game.

Over the next few months, I’m going to do a deep dive through Fire Emblem Fates and post my thoughts on this blog. I’m going to go through every chapter, every support conversation, every part of this game to answer the question: is Fire Emblem Fates a good game?

Opening Cutscene

Booting up my copy of Birthright for the first time in years, I’m greeted with an opening cutscene containing much of the footage from the trailer. It’s worth noting that the two armies from the trailer have very different aesthetics, one being heavily influenced by feudal Japan and one being heavily influenced by medieval Europe. The transition from the battle to the woman dancing is done by zooming out, revealing that this battle is actually taking place inside a painting. I actually really like this, it shows that the hostilities that this game is centered on have been going on for a long time.

Another thing to note: the song the dancing woman is singing has been translated into English. I’ll be going through the Lost in Thoughts All Alone’s lyrics and analyzing them when they appear in the actual story. The dance scene leads into circling shots of two families; judging from their different styles and fancy clothing, they are presumably related to the two kingdoms at war. The eastern family has a red and white color scheme, while the western one has a black and purple color scheme.

After that, the camera pans into a deep chasm until it arrives in a land of floating castles and islands, which looks interesting. Next, the opening cutscene shows the dancer in a lake, being choked by a large dragon-like creature. As the creature pushes her further underwater, its scales turn into light and fade away, turning into a humanoid form. Finally, the trailer shows the two swordsmen clashing as the dancer freaks out, setting her up as being an in-between that doesn’t want this conflict to grow. Her necklace flies off as she panics and lands in a pool of dark blue water, bringing us to the main menu.

The opening cutscene, like the trailer, hooked me in and made me excited to play this game. Even though I know that the game is going to bungle the story beats it sets up, I’m still excited to dive right it.

While staring at the dark title screen, which features only the quiet sound of waves for background noise, I get a strange hint of nostalgia. It’s a weird type of nostalgia, though. When I replied Awakening last fall, it felt familiar and comforting. Coming back to Fates, it doesn’t feel familiar. I recognize it, and it’s nostalgic, but it isn’t comforting. It’s like nostalgia for something I’ve forgotten, if that makes sense.

Character Creation

Jumping in, I am presented with three settings each for two types of difficulty. Normal/Hard/Lunatic control the strength of enemies, while Phoenix/Casual/Classic determine whether or not units come back to life. I’ll be checking out the other difficulties in a later entry, but for now, I create a Normal/Casual save file. Yes, it’s taking the easy path. But I barely remember this game and am playing it on a deadline, I don’t have the time to restart every level multiple times.

Next comes the character creator. We’re shown the player Avatar standing at the bottom of a lake and given the ability to customize gender, build, hairstyle, hair decoration (if a girl), hair color, face, scars, and voice. None of the options look bad, but the fact that it’s just choosing from a set list of faces is a bit disappointing. Understandable, considering the fact that these assets are drawn in, but that just raises the question of why there needed to be customization in the first place.

A few oddities about the character creator: hairstyles are sorted on two axis chart of Stylish/Simple vs Wild/Slick for boys and Long/Short vs Cute/Wild for girls. I don’t have time to go into each hairstyle, some are better than the canon versions, some are absolutely ridiculous, some are just boring. The short build is the canon design for Male Corrin while the tall build is canon for Female Corrin. This is probably for the best, because Short Girl Corrin looks like she’s eight. Finally, while both choices have three voice choices, two of Male Corrin’s choices are played by Cam Clarke (Corrin’s other male voice is Yuri Lowenthal, while Female Corrin’s voices are performed by Danielle Judovits, Marcella Lentz-Pope, and Stephanie Lemelin). Later games featuring Corrin stick with Clarke and Lentz-Pope.

I flip a coin and end up deciding on Female Corrin. I go with the generic design, because I really don’t care enough to customize her. Speaking of design, Corrin’s design is a mixed bag. Regardless of player choice, Corrin always wears the same outfit: a grey, black, and white suit of armor with a blue cape. Corrin’s generic hair color is also grey, but like a pinkish grey. I do appreciate Corrin being associated with grey, gold, and blue, making them visually appear to be between worlds, but I personally think the armor looks too complicated, looking more like a striped suit than actual armor. I also don’t get why it has a neck cuff.

Also, Corrin is barefoot. Always. This does give Corrin a sort of animalistic appearance, but that design element isn’t present anywhere else in Corrin’s design. Fire Emblem Awakening was kinda infamous for the fact that none of its characters had feet on their models and I get the vague feeling this game is overcompensating.

Next, we get to the details that actually matter. Name (I went with Corrin, because it’s the canon name and I don’t relate to this character at all), Birthday, Boon, Bane, and Talent. Boon and Bane determine stat growths, but they are labeled by personality traits instead of the actual stars, which is both more immersive and slightly annoying. I made Corrin Quick and Unlucky. Talent determines what Classes are available to you. I didn’t care, so I spun it randomly. It landed on Mercenary.

Prologue: The Ties that Bind

Now that we have our character created, let’s start the game. The game starts with the dancer singing Lost in Thoughts All Alone at the shore of a lake before walking into the lake and sinking below the waves. The song continues as she goes underwater, which means she must be amazing at ventriloquism. As she goes deeper underwater, ruins start to appear, floating in the water. The dancer swims into a bright light and disappears.

Smash cut to the Western prince riding on a horse, commanding an army as they charge into battle. The Eastern prince charges through his army, wielding a sword surrounded by lightning. The anime cutscenes in this game are beautifully animated and incredibly cool to watch. The Eastern prince introduces himself as Ryoma of Hoshido and challenges the Western prince, Xander of Nohr, to a duel. Xander accepts and charges into battle, wielding a sword surrounded by shadowy purple fog. The two clash as the cutscene ends.

We then see Corrin and a Hoshidan Pegasus Rider named Hinoka fighting an enemy, This fight is rendered as an actual game cutscene. Side note, the fact that this scripted battle features Hinoka guarding an attack for Corrin is a great way to foreshadow that mechanic. Hinoka mentions that Corrin looks distracted and reassures her, pointing out that all of Corrin’s siblings are here.

The game then moves onto introducing basic mechanics. If you move your cursor away and look at the other units on the battlefield, you’ll notice that all of them have unique names and designs. Fire Emblem Fates shows both armies off to you during the prologue, which is really interesting. Still, it must be noted that the Nohrian Units are marked as enemies and the Hoshidan Units are marked as allies. This isn’t super important now, but keep it in mind.

Between turns, Ryoma asks Xander why he’s invading and mentions a cowardly attack. Xander tells him to surrender and the two fight some more, both doing decent damage. The camera pans over to Xander’s siblings. The youngest of them, Elise, mentions that, due to a bridge collapse, they can’t get over to Corrin. Her older sister, Camilla, tells her not to worry, because their royal blood allows them to manipulate dragon veins. Camilla moves over to the river and a fireball flies out of her, striking the river and evaporating it. The third of Xander’s siblings, Leo, tells Elise to stay back as they attack the Hoshidans. The Hoshidan royals remark that Camilla’s use of a dragon vein means she’s royalty and the Hoshidan prince Tamuki smirks, saying that he’s always wanted to use a Nohrian royal as target practice.

The two armies of named characters start fighting and a Nohrian general named Hans shows up with an army of reinforcements. He then refers to his own army as cannon fodder and says king Garon sent him to kill them all, because he’s very obviously an evil person. A Hoshidan general shows up and we get some more tutorials as Corrin and Takumi beat up a single redshirt. And then the level just ends.

Corrin and the Hoshidan royals run up to the bridge to help out Ryoma. Xander calls out to Corrin, happy to have found her alive and well. He beckons her to come back to her family, which angers Ryoma, who shouts that Corrin is his sister. Xander counters, saying that Corrin is HIS sister. The other royals argue over which family owns Corrin and Hinoka states that the Nohrians kidnapped her. Xander points out that the Nohrians raised Corrin since she was a child and are her real family. As the two families fight over Corrin, the screen fades to white and we hear voices yelling for Corrin to wake up.

The prologue features some good teaching of mechanics, some bad teaching of mechanics, and an introduction to the game’s plot. It introduces two countries at war and Corrin, a bridge between the two that is caught up in this war. I just have one question.

What even is this chapter? It isn’t in media res, the actual point in the game this chapter is playing off of happens differently. The fact that it cuts to Corrin waking up implies that it’s a premonition of the future, but Corrin can’t see the future in other parts of the game. At least, I don’t remember that ever happening. Sure, this chapter introduces the plot, but it does it in such a confusing way.

Awakening did something similar to this, admittedly, but Awakening is a game about time travel. That scene happened, just in a different timeline. Awakening’s use of media res both set up the plot and helped foreshadow the game’s main twist.

Also, the Hoshidans are allies and the Nohrians are enemies. In a game about a morally grey conflict between two sides made up of real, suffering people, it’s not great to start out by calling one of them evil.

These two traits, aping Awakening without knowing why it worked and failing to be a morally grey story, are going to become much more apparent as the game goes on...

[another-mexico-oc]

💖 What your favorite Mexico´s ship/OTP says about YOU ...

Spanish version —> AQUÍ

Hello everyone! The month of love is finally over, but before that, inspired by the “What your Favorite Hetalia ship says about you” and related; and since Mexico is one of the most shipped countries (at least by the Hetalia and Countryhumans latin fandom), I decided to make this in collaboration with my cousin. If you are not familiar with this, basically it is a recopilation of facts some people share when they ship Mexico with another country.

WARNINGS AND NOTES BEFORE WE START:

- This post is for both, Hetalia and Countryhumans fans. I clarify that in this blog we don´t discuss which one is better than the other, we enjoy the healthy part and avoid the toxic part. 

-  This is just for fun, and IT SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. Think of it as a horoscope, you can share some of the facts, maybe not. The main purpose is to have some fun. 

- We are aware that not all the ships will be here, or that not all of them will have the same extension. We tried to gather all we could. 

- This is an extra warning for the English translation: This post may contain a lot of mexican and latin american modern references. Also, the best known historical periods are going to be mentioned, so if you are not familiar with the history of Mexico, we invite you to watch this video, and to consult other articles and media.

Without further due, let´s begin: 

FIRST OF ALL, THIS IS ONE OF THE POSSIBLE REASONS YOU SHIP MEXICO WITH ONE, IF NOT, MORE COUNTRIES: 

- You are mexican, I don´t have a doubt. You have a Mexico OC and you make fanarts and write fanfics about him/her with your favorite character.

- You are latino, and you came from the Latin Hetalia fandom, or you are from the latin fandom of Countryhumans (obviously, Miss Sherlock Holmes).

- You are neither mexican or latino, but still you like Mexico. 

- If you are from Hetalia, you are still waiting the day Himaruya publish the official design of Mexico, so he/she can interact with your favorite character. 

OKAY, NOW LET´S GO WITH THE SHIPS:

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇸 USAMEX (USA X Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Favorite fanfic genre: Angst.

- Your guilty pleasures are the toxic love, the impossible love or the unrequited love. Or perhaps you like stories about people who fall in love with their chilhood friend. Or you like the phrase “From hate to love...”

- If you are from Hetalia, (also applies to Countryhumans) probably you also like FrUK (France x UK) or SpUK (Spain x UK). Or you simply don´t support USUK (USA x UK).

- If you are mexican, probably you are from the North, and you love the North and South Mexico OC´s. (And obviously, you ship North Mexico with USA).

- If you are mexican, you probably have visited the United States or your have relatives living there. Going further, you are chicano.

- You love the states personifications of both countries, and you are fascinated by the idea that Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California are the USA and Mexico kids. 

- If you are from Hetalia, you like cowboy America, and you also like Mexico dressed as a revolutionary or adelita.

IF YOU LIKE 🇷🇺 RUSMEX (Russia x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You hate USAMex and surely you don´t like United States if you are mexican.

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- Favorite word: Tripaloski.

- You like couples with a lot of height difference. Lil Mex is the most adorable thing in the world. 

- If you are a Countryhumans fan, probably you also ship Perú with USA.

- You like love triangles stories. (Cough… cough… USA x Mexico x Russia)

- You have seen Youtube videos of “Rusos Reaccionan a…” (Russians react to), and of mexicans in the Russia 2018 FIFA. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇦 CANMEX (Canada x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like fluffy ships.

- You think Canada is a better suitor than the toxic USA and the distant and cold Russia. (Or if you are from Hetalia, you think Russia is too mad and unstable for Mexico)

- If you are mexican, you have visited Canada, you want to work or study there, or you have relatives living in Canadá. 

- If you´re from Hetalia, it is likely that you don´t like CuCan (Cuba x Canada).

- Also, if you´re from Hetalia, you got excited when in the anime and the manga, Kumajiro mentioned Mexico, and then you got mad because he/she was never showed up!

- If you´re mexican, you were into the memes of Peña Nieto and Justin Trudeau. 

- Like Russia case, you adore the love triangles, but in this case you like stories about brothers who have a crush on the same person.

IF YOU LIKE 🇪🇸 SPAMEX (Spain x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like sugar daddies. (Daddy Spain 😏)

- Your guilty pleasure are stories about possesive couples and couples with secret lovers. (Okay, that´s not healthy...) 

- If you´re from the Hetalia fandom, you do not like SpaMano (Spain x Romano), and if you are mexican, you will never accept (or you ignored) that canonically, Romano received better treatment than the rest of Spain colonies.

- If you are mexican, you like when Mexico (or New Spain) is represented as the spoiled kid, as daddy´s little princess, and as the best colony of Spain. (Sorry, the other Spain former colonies.)

- Your favorite Mexico periods are the Conquest, the New Spain colonial era and the Independence. 

- Probably you not only ship Mexico with Spain. Actually for some reason you like Mexico cheating Spain with another country, either England, France, a latin country and, why not? with the United States.   

IF YOU LIKE 🇫🇷 FRAMEX (France x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You like to live the expensive life: Eating in gourmet restaurants, buying brand clothes, expensive trips with a five-star hotel stay. Or if you had money, you would love to live the expensive life. 

- You like fashion and architecture.

- Favorite Mexico period: The Porfiriato. If you´re mexican, you think that outside of the bad things, Porfirio Díaz made great contributions to the country, and his remains should return to Mexico.

- If you are mexican, you live in the capital, or/and you love to visit Mexico City downtown. 

- You like stories about characters who made the casanova to fall in love with them, or stories about the stalker gaining his crush´ heart. (Creepy...)

- If you like male Mexico, you like him to be a flirt and gallant. If you like female Mexico, you like her to be very femenine and dressing pretty outfits.

IF YOU LIKE 🇬🇧UKMEX (England x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are from Hetalia, obviously you like tsundere characters. 

- You are fan of Harry Styles, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Queen, the Beatles, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, or any other english celebrity. 

- You´re a big fan of gentlemen like Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice or Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre. In fact, you have readed a lot of books from that period and from that genre.

- You like black humor, wordplay and double entendre phrases. 

- You hate Spain and you think England would have been a better sugar daddy. (Why would you think that?)

- You think England would have been a better colonizer than Spain (Why would you think that?)

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like pirate England.

IF YOU LIKE 🇩🇪 GERMEX (Germany x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you´re from Hetalia you think Italy doesn´t deserve Germany. In other words: No GerIta.

- You like dogs, and you want to adopt Paco from Countryhumans.

- Favorite historical period: WWI and WWII.

- You are one of those who think the Zimmerman Telegram was a love confession letter from Germany to Mexico.

- You think England and United States are the worst for intervening on your OTP. 

- You like stories Romeo and Juliet´ type: Two people who are from opposite groups who fell in love with each other.

- Also if you´re from Hetalia, besides you like the Doitsu, you like his BDSM side. (Fifty Shades of Germany, coming soon to your nearby bookstore)

IF YOU LIKE 🇦🇹 AUSMEX (Austria x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- If you are mexican, you think Maximilian I of Mexico would have been better governor than Benito Juárez. 

- If you´re mexican, you think Mexico should have been an empire since it´s independence.

- You like stories about arranged marriages, or stories about a poor character who marries a rich one, like in telenovelas!

- If you are from Hetalia, probably you prefer PruHun (Prussia x Hungary).

IF YOU LIKE 🇮🇹 ITAMEX (Italy x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Congratulations! You are 1000% unique and different. Oh, and you are alone in your fandom too.  Barely there´s someone who shares your ship. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇯🇵NIMEX (Japan x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You´re mexican and you are 100% otaku.

- You are tired of Mexico being shipped just with europeans, latinos and north americans. Asians also deserve time y admiration.

- You love cats. (You may be also in the furry fandom)

- If some of the previously mentioned ships have this feature, with this one you confirm that you like complete opposite couples.

- You love long distance relationships.

- If you´re from Hetalia, you like Japan quiet, shy, inocente tiene la mirada… 🎵 🎵 🎵Le tomo la mano, y siente algo extraño … 🎵(Okay, i´ll stop singing)

IF YOU LIKE 🇨🇳 CHUMEX (China x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You don´t like neither USAMex or RusMex. 

- Or maybe you like the Rusia x México x China love triangle. You can add USA, and now you have some kind of love square.

- You have seen the Chumel Torres on HBO videos, specially those that are titled: “Mexicanos al Grito de Trump” and “Latinos Enemigos”.

- You like the apps Wish and Tik Tok.

- Unlike those who ship FraMex, you prefer to save money by buying good, pretty and cheap things. You have bought in Miniso and in other Chinese low-cost variety stores.

- You like couples with a lot of age difference (If you are an Hetalia fan, you know what I mean). In other words: 🎵A mí me gustan mayores, de esos que se llaman señores … 🎵

- You prefer Huawei rather than Iphone.

IF YOU LIKE 🇰🇷 South Korea x Mexico 🇲🇽

- It is more likely that you came from Hetalia than Countryhumans, and you think Korea needs more recognition alongside China and Japan, even more when this character was censored from the anime.

- If you´re mexican, your ship started when: “Hermano coreano, ya eres mexicano”. (Korean bro, you are already mexican)

- You like K-Pop.

- You have seen videos of El Coreano and Coreano Vlogs on Youtube.

IF YOU LIKE 🇧🇷 BRAMEX (Brazil x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇦🇷 ARGMEX (Argentina x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇨🇱 CHIMEX (Chile x Mexico) 🇲🇽, 🇵🇪 MEXRU (Mexico x Peru) 🇲🇽, or ANY OTHER LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRY X MEXICO.

- IN GENERAL:

    - If you are from Hetalia, obviously you are from the Latin Hetalia fandom. If you are from Countryhumans, obviously you are mexican and/or latino.

    - Your favorite characters are without doubt the latinos, and you prefer that all stays in family. In fact, you don´t like to ship Mexico with first world countries, or you use these last ones to create love triangles, love squares, or any other love geometric figure. 

    - You like Mexico being the dom of the relationship.

- BRAMEX: If you are from Countryhumans, you are most likely to be a fan of @torakashu. You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Argentina with Chile.

- ARGMEX: You don´t like Argentina x Brazil, or maybe you like the Argentina x Brasil x México love triangle. You also ship Brazil with Uruguay.

- CHIMEX: You live with roomies. You love tsundere characters like those who ship UKMex, but maybe not too tsunderes. And people who don´t like your ship, you smack´em with your guitar! ( 😁)

- MEXRU: If the people who ship RusMex like lil adorable Mexico, you think that Peru (who is even more short sized) is the most mega super 1000% kawaii thing in the universe. Probably you also like the Rusia x Peru x USA x Mexico love square.

IF YOU LIKE 🇺🇦 UKRAMEX (Ukraine x Mexico) 🇲🇽 or 🇧🇾 BELMEX (Belarus x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- Your favorite historical event: the Cold War.

- You think that RusMex is very overrated, and similar to the CanMex case, you think Russia siblings are better suitors.

- You don´t care to ship countries which do not share a lot of history and interactions compared to others.

- If you are from Hetalia you are a Belarus fan,and you ignore or hate her canon personality in the manga and the anime. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇳🇱 NEDMEX (Netherlands x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are from the Hetalia fandom, without doubt. 

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- You like mysterious guys and with aura of "bad boy" but romantic on the inside.

- Eh… you like tulipans???

IF YOU LIKE 🇵🇭Phillippines x Mexico 🇲🇽

- Favorite Mexico Historical Period: The New Spain Colonial era.

- More probably you are from Hetalia than Countryhumans. 

- You like dom Mexico.

- Is probably that you ship, both Phillippines and Mexico, with other countries, since this two have their own harems.

IF YOU LIKE PRUMEX (Prussia x Mexico) 🇲🇽,  🇵🇹 Portugal x Mexico 🇲🇽,  Scotland x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are an Hetalia fan.

- PRUMEX: You don´t like GerMex.

- PORTUGAL X MEXICO: You don´t like SpaMex.

- SCOTLAND X MEXICO: You don´t like neither UKMex or USAMex.

- IN GENERAL: You don´t like popular Mexico ships, and you prefer to ship Mexico with the siblings of the popular countries. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽Mexico x Any other country which is not on this post 🌎

You like random ships, you are unique and different, or you simply are a mexican who has visited or likes certain country. 

IF YOU LIKE 🇲🇽 Mexico x Mexico 🇲🇽

- You are a 100% patriot mexican.

- You like the North, South, and even Central, Mexico OC´s. 

IF YOU LIKE 🌎THE MEXICO HAREM (Everyone x Mexico) 🇲🇽

- You are mexican without doubt.

- You like submissive Mexico, or you like the flirty Mexico OC´s. 

- You think Mexico is the best country in the world and everybody should know it. 

- You get excited everytime a foreigner speaks well about your country. You often read the news about Mexico and it´s negotiations and agreements with the other countries.

- You have thoroughly investigated the history of Mexico and its relations with other countries. You've watched the YouTube channels of MainWatchers, Yolo Camotes and The Nopal Times Tops

- You are studying or you are interested on the next careers: International relations, History and Languages. 

- If you´re a fan of Hetalia, you like all the male characters and you fantasize about them. 

————

We finish! If you like it and you had fun with it, I invite you to reblog it with this emoji: 💟. We also invite you to reblog it so you can share it with more fans :) 

I still have a lot of work and it seems it will get more hard, but I´ll do my best to keep active. Without anything more to say, see you all on the next post. 

[breakingbadfics]

Death of the author

CW: Light discussion of politics, mentions of the Alt-Right, and White Supremacists. 

Consider this a “Change of Pace” entry. I’m trying to figure out what the next essay is to be about as well as the eventual long term for this blog. 

I wrote this essay back in mid 2019, long before the idea of this blog would come to mind, it’s been lightly edited prior to posting and added to. and I think this essay shows some of my influences much more heavily than my other writings.

What does My Little Pony and The Matrix have in common?  Death of the Author. 

Death of the Author is not to be confused with “Separating the Artist from the Art,” a self explanatory concept to distance a work from a creator who’s beliefs are more than a little unpleasant, easiest example is acknowledging that, yes,  H.P. Lovecraft was a Mega-racist, however, his contributions to the horror genre have created a base that is nearly ubiquitous with the genre to this day, like wise with Orson Scott Card. this concept in itself is an especially controversial subject, but is not the focus of this piece.

Death of the Author is what allowed The Matrix, a movie with a collection of metaphors about being an lgbt person, and an activist for the rights of yourself and your allies to be grossly misinterpreted as a way to justify being a bigot, the most egregious misinterpretation being that of “The Red Pill Scene.”

In the context of the film, The Red Pill Scene is the part of the traditional heroes story where the hero “accepts the call”, Neo is quite literally making the choice to leave the safe world he’s been living in behind and embark on his adventure that will result in a death and rebirth into being The One who will save humanity. In the now very much understood to be the direct metaphor, it’s a scene in which Neo, the stand-in for a lgbt person, specifically a trans person, is being told by a much older lgbt person “You are trans, you have the choice to embrace it, but regardless of what choice you make from here on out the road ahead is going to be bumpy and rough on you, because the system around you is designed to make sure people like us aren’t able to prosper, and if you join us, you won’t be able to opt out.” 

That is the very understood metaphor that most people accept with the modern understanding after The Wachowski’s came out as Lily and Lana in the “post-matrix trilogy” reality of the real world.

However due to the Moral Neutrality of Death of the Author in other circles the Red Pill(and all the other metaphors in the film) takes on an alternative meaning. And I can be “polite” in my explaing the bad take on how this scene plays out, but just to hammer the point home we’ll get dirty so you can know where the take is coming from, The Red Pill Scene for White supremeacists, and The alt-right (but I repeat myself) is such.  Neo, a disgruntled white person is being told that the world is controlled by soulless machines. Jews, people of color, etx. Everyone around him is mind controlled and can and will attempt to stop him from saving the people smart enough to also realise they’re being held captive by non-whites and save them all. This of course, all being told to him by Morpheus, a black man. So have fun working your head around that. 

This of course the most extreme example being the most ubiquitous, poke around on chan sites and sooner or later you’ll see the phrase “red pill” having been memetically adjusted to mean “hey tell me about this thing” or even more specifically “I already had an opinion about this but either way I want you to confirm my choice.” But I digress. 

These two interpretations are so wildly on the opposite ends of the spectrum that the only commonalities between them is “You will likely need to be violent at some point” 

I’m naturally only covering the two interpretations, the matrix itself has been picked apart by an untold number of people and people interpret it in as many ways as possible in terms of philosophical meaning. That is the nature of Death of The Author. 

Death of the Author also covers in a round-a-bout fashion, selective canon, a subjective acknowledgement of canon elements throughout a long lived franchise- see; Star Wars, Star Trek, the belief that there was never any sequels to The Matrix. This variant of the philosophy allows one to be able to continue interactions with a text, specifically a text that consists of multiple volumes (or contributions, each one made by an individual author) but also deny interactions with parts that they personally dislike. 

More often than not, you can attribute the death of the author to a bad take in a case of fiction, another primary example being Fight Club, often missed for the scathing critique of unhealthy male behaviour and propped up as some sort of moral guideline for how to live your life. Which is again, not to say this is the fault of Death of The Author as a philosophy, it is morally neutral, these bad takes can more often be attribued to the simple fact that unless directly stating it most attempts at satire or parody will have a contingent of people who agree with what is said, not what is meant, and death of the author unfortunately does make that..very easy, for good, or ill. 

Where does My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fit in with all this?  Well there are certainly alt-right members of the brony fandom who are painfully missing the point, but we’ve already dwelled on the negative enough, so let’s get happy. 

In Episode 1 of Season 1, the first part of a two part pilot, in the background of a shot during a party scene; a pony with a grey coat and blonde mane and tail is seen in the background. This particular pony stood out the most amongst other background characters due to a mistake caused by the animation staff. According to the supervising director at the time, this particular error was spotted after hasbro greenlit the episode for air, and because it amused him he chose not to order a correction so it was left in as a nice little easter egg. 

The nameless background pony would eventually be caught by 4chan among other places and very rapidly developed a following of fans and given a nickname, Derpy Hooves. This particular following and new nickname would echo back to shows staff becoming the name internally referred to by the show’s staff. 

Friendship is magic creator Lauren Faust, who also enjoyed the popularity of the character when asked in an interview would state that a character named Ditzy Doo existed in an unaired episode, that would be implied to be this particular background pony, So naturally now depending on the fan this particular character would be reffered to as either Derpy Hooves, or Ditzy Doo.  

Ditzy Doo would go on to become a recurring easter egg with in the show, something similar to that of “where’s waldo” but with horses. This practice would continue until episode 14 of season 2  where the character would have a set of spoken lines and would be addressed by name. This however resulted in a degree of controversy in which some people expressed concern that the presentation of the character was an offensive attempt at portraying people with mental or physical disabilities. This event resulted in the episode being altered in future airings and the character disappearing from the show for the vast majority of Season 3. Beyond Season 3 the character would continue to appear until season 5 where they would finally have a voiced role in the 100th episode of the show, and then eventually having another speaking role in the christmas special “The best gift ever.”  It is also worth noting that Hasbro never gave her an “official name” with almost all of Ditzy’s merchandise either having no name present, or more often than not a singular image of a muffin in place of a name, even going so far as to have “Muffins” be the credited name she was given in all voiced instances of the show. 

Muffins, Ditzy Doo, or Derpy Hooves isn’t the only case of background characters growing a large following of fans with in the show; a variety of characters have been swept up by the fans, given names and personalities built entirely out of bit gags. Lyra, Bon Bon, Vinyl Scratch, Octavia Melody, and who knows how many more have all been seen in background moments which would be built on by fans and then echo back into the staff to be integrated into the show further. One would say this is fanon but at the end of the day, the writers and show staff had very little more intent with the characters beyond “does this background character look good?” and “Does this bit part character stand out enough to automatically be recognizable for the bit they need to be doing” it is still what I believe to be an example of Death of The Author, an act of choosing to ignore the intended meaning,and giving what amounts to window dressings a full life as fleshed out characters in fan content and in small instances of the show; an interpretation separate from the writers original intent. 

Now the question is does someone need to actively defy the author to participate in The Death There-of? No. I don’t believe so.  In much the same fashion no one need actually be a clan member to inadvertently say or do something that's passive aggressively racist(yes a bit of an extreme, I know) one need not actively defy the author, merely ascribe to an alternate interpretation of a work of fiction. Refer to Fight Club, the film does everything it can with out directly stating “most of the people in Fight Club and later Project Mayhem are bad people, because they were already doing the things Tyler Durden was ascribing to” and almost unilaterally all the bad takes are built around this idea that they’ve achieved the perfect ideal masculine because they’re the “living in the moment, violent psychopath” nihilist the movie is actively condemning. 

The simple fact is that death of the author ultimately, in a grand scale amounts to this; did a writers intent show through hard enough for their intent to be heard? And Subjectively, how much does a person believe in the meaning that they, or the writer themself have imparted into the story? 

[jackdawyt]

In a recent blog post on BioWare's website, Casey Hudson posted a summer update sharing some of the things the studio has been up to! 

Mentioning Anthem, and it's latest Cataclysm event, and Star Wars: The Old Republic, with a DLC set to launch this Fall.

However, the piece of cake here is the "other stuff going on" at BioWare, Casey says as followed:

"We have several other big projects in the works.  I wish I could tell you more about them, but they’re mostly super-secret right now.  I can say however that one of our projects has a large and growing team in Edmonton working through pre-production, and based on the progress I’m seeing, I can confirm that indeed the Dread Wolf rises."

Before we delve straight into the Dragon Age 4 hot takes, let's talk about those "several other big projects in the works", surely one of them has to be Mass Effect 4 right? Based on the news in April, we know the series is "warming back up" and  Casey Hudson is super excited to share more on possible Mass Effect games.

So Mass Effect must be among other games at BioWare that are currently in the works, same as Dragon Age 4, other than those two franchises, potentially BioWare could be working on something Star Wars related considering their history with creating truly amazing games with the Old Republic franchise.

Or, even further than that, perhaps they could be working on a follow up to Jade Empire, as we've heard rumours in the past that the studio would LOVE to crack into the franchise again.

Anyhow, as we understand at the moment, BioWare are currently working on several projects, and the largest of these right now is Dragon Age 4 as it's accordingly working through its pre-production stages, seemingly looking good as Casey indicates.

Although this is great news, and I've seen plenty of mainstream outlets coming out of the woodwork and actually declaring that Dragon Age 4 seems like it's going to be alright then. The hitch for the fans is, I guess we all thought the game was coming sooner, I mean, I've extensively reported on plenty of news pieces that indicated the game was in deep development stages, and pre-production seemed complete.

We had Fernando Melo leave the company just last month, his role within the studio was quintessential to the pre-production stages, he spoke on leaving at the perfect time that would best for him and the development of Dragon Age 4. Maybe, they're nearing the end of pre-production?  

I'm curious how much of the game has actually been developed. You see, pre-production is the planning phase of the project where developers focus on concept development along with the writing of initial design documents. Game design documents have to be precise and descriptive, outlining the work ahead.

Key processes during the pre-production stages include:

Concept Art

Storyboarding

Level Design

Mechanic Design

Internal Marketing

Interestingly, BioWare is hiring many new job hires that relate to pre-production stages like concept artist, animation manager, game designer and many other design-focused jobs. So it certainly seems like these core stages are currently crafting away at BioWare, with project prototyping and working on the basic mechanics.

We found out back in April that Dragon Age 4 will use Anthem's codebase, which will ease elements of the development process because the foundation has already been created. At the point, we assumed the game had been in deep development, however, what if prototyping, coding and many of the essential pre-production stages were just beginning at that point.

Project Joplin was scrapped in 2017, with a lot of the production reworked into Project Morrison, has the studio been in pre-production for two years?

As we know, the Frostbite engine has been a nightmare for BioWare in the past, so if have spent two years on just crafting the essentials of Dragon Age 4, mastering the Frostbite engine and laying the groundwork, then I have no bother waiting until this game is perfect.

As we know, both Anthem and Andromeda needed way more time in its vital early stages. So, here's hoping Dragon Age 4 will have that. The only thing we need is for EA to not press BioWare into a ridiculous deadline, so the developers can create this game at their own pace. Otherwise, Dragon Age 4 could come at as a rushed potato, so EA don't rush them!

Of course, if Dragon Age 4 is still in the pre-production stages, then that means the release window is going to be further than we thought. Judging by previous Casey Hudson statements, it was assumed Dragon Age 4 would have a 2021 - 2022 release window.

Based on the current development now, I'd say 2023 - 2024, on top of that, BioWare generally start to market their games two years before release, so we could be seeing Dragon Age 4 at the bare minimum in 2021/2022?

Even though it's a long wait, I do see this as a good thing, more time spent on Dragon Age 4, the better the game will be, period.

Wrapping up, with the potential release window in mind - do you think they revealed the game teaser too early? A 2018 teaser trailer for a game coming out in hypothetically 2024, that's a six-year wait from the first trailer, not to mention ten years since the previous Dragon Age game.

No wonder the studio plans on releasing books, comics and other tie-in's, we're going to be waiting a while guys, but hey, I'll always be here covering BioWare content as my main focus. I may try other games, just because we are waiting for ages until the next glimpse of Dragon Age 4, but I'll always be creating BioWare content. Needn't fear about that.