#unironically i think this whole issue is similar

[cultofthepigeon]

actually i talk about math but i wanna say something on reading also

yeah a lot of people call the classics Snobby and everyone with a lit degree has taken that as a personal offense and decried it as anti-intellectualism and blah blah blah instead of actually like addressing why people might say that

but to anyone who cares im pretty sure people say that shit as a defense mechanism

The Classics as a whole can be intimidating, especially if you already struggle with reading/writing or didnt have a good education on the subject

theres decades if not centuries of people talking about these works and interpreting and argueing about them and on top of that theyre Great Works that Everyone Should Read and Everyone knows about. theres also, whether you like it or not, a nice sheen of Only Smart/Highly Educated People Can Truely Appreciate This on top

so when someone approaches one of these works for the first time it already feels like coming in late to the party

but on top of that the writing styles can be dense, the books/poems/plays lengthy. theres usually a lot of historical context thats needed to fully appreciate the story being told. and thats before you get into whatever literary/mythological illusions thatll almost certainly be inside the story itself

then they take a crack at it and its slow and confusing and boring and really time consuming but everyone else is talking about how amazing it is and what a Classic it is but because of all the reasons listed above this new reader Just Doesnt Get It and well

that makes em feel fucking stupid. they feel like an idiot

so they brush it off as pretencious and snobby because otherwise theyre just too stupid to get it

or alternatively, they push through the whole thing, dont get what the fuss is about, and assume everyone praising it is so far up their own ass theyre now a circle

the same can also be said for things like movies, art, and music

im not saying that the brushing off of The Classics or more involved books/art/movies etc is GOOD

but i think brushing it off as anti-intellectualism is just attempting to ignore the actual problem

[crippleprophet]

do you have any thoughts on functional neurological disorder?

it’s one of the cruelest inventions of modern medicine.

for a bit of context on my positionality i don’t currently have an fnd diagnosis but i am at huge risk of one (my rheumatologist already thinks i have a conversion disorder) & it’s one of the many reasons i’m terrified to pursue a second neurologist after my first one dumped me. fnd is, like, maybe not the pinnacle but definitely a major player in the field of doctors gaslighting us as hard as possible & being furious every time it doesn’t work.

i’m not gonna find these articles bc it gets to a point of self harm for me to (re)read some of this shit but literally doctors are like “the more convinced patients are there’s something wrong the more they’re lying,” “the more symptoms patients have the more likely it is to be fnd and not something really wrong,” etc. again just unfathomably cruel. also the fact that mainstream medicine can unironically write that people with hypermobility are “more likely to have fnd” rather than going huh maybe there’s a neurological component here is just. what the fuck are y’all doing.

a really fun (fucked up) “i told you so” moment with the social construction of the ‘real vs fake’ tics false binary was when doctors literally can’t tell the difference based on their own bullshit criteria.

i highly recommend checking out @fndportal for incredibly insightful thoughts on a lot of these issues. sociological research on post-hysteria diagnoses & the genealogy of hysteria has also been super helpful for me although it’s obviously a very difficult history.

on a peer support level i think disability community is especially vital in the face of these kinds of psychological warfare from doctors. & to anybody who’s been diagnosed with fnd or similar conditions: i believe you. something is really wrong, it is not your fault (& it would be okay, & you’d still deserve effective compassionate care, if it was), you’re not making it up.

obviously i personally want to destroy the whole thing from the ground up, but if i could change one thing about the medical field, it’d be that it needs, desperately & urgently, to create space for not knowing. to say “something is happening here but science hasn’t caught up with it yet.” …unfortunately, to do so would be to destroy medicine from the ground up, because the whole project is predicated on the manufactured authority of knowing our bodies wholly & irrevocably, of rendering our own knowledge irrelevant at best & lies at worst.

also imo cbt, especially for a physical symptom, is evil & in situations where people can ghost their doctors rather than go i wholeheartedly support that.

[faggotfungus]

(i’m the same anon who sent u that vensahutce or whatever it’s called blog’s @)

i wanna say THANK YOU for posting about how weird people are about him and this whole thing. anyone who mentions this on tumblr gets attacked. these weirdos are so delusional they say they’re “keeping him relevant”. ………yes they unironically do genuinely believe in their empty heads that writing kinky nsfw fanfic and getting off to prn that looks similar to him “keeps him fresh in peoples minds”. makes me so mad

the tumblr people are worse but if u want check out r/luigifever on reddit too. they thirst over him saying NSFW things and unironically sexually thirst over his high school photos thinking it’s fine bc it “keeps him relevant”

they’re actually sick and stupid tbh. if u point this out ur attacked. fyi this isn’t even teen girls doing this like you’d expect, it’s actually grown women who are 5+ years older than luigi. idk if u saw the vids on tiktok of some 50 year old lady making AI vids of her kissing him. or the 40 year old writing him 40 page letters. there was another 40 year old who he replied to via letters.

if luigi was a girl and this was men thirsting this hard, it would not be tolerated it’s just a fact it makes me sad cause regardless people shouldn’t be doing that to a REAL human being. imagine his family or friends coming across sex fanfics about him i can’t

I don't care much about getting yelled at by a bunch of losers who have nothing better to do than dehumanize a stranger who by the way will never fuck them, so I think I'll be fine. Keeping him "relevant" is a ridiculous excuse used to push away any responsibility these people have for their shitty, disgusting behavior.

I've seen the people posting sexual stuff along with his photos from when he was a minor, and I think the biggest issue here that a lot of people aren't seeing is that Luigi Mangione has not consented to any of this. He did not consent to these people writing about him sexually in detail, posting his personal photos, sharing his mother's social media, none of it.

It's all very telling of how our society in the United States views privacy and how if you have any semblance of popularity, for lack of a better word, that suddenly means you no longer have a right to it. In fact, that means we get to do and say whatever we want because this person is no longer human to me, they're a character.

[ride-thedragon]

Why Rhaena does not have Nettles' Narrative.

First things first, the tweet to launch 1000 posts.

Everyone was freaking out because

A. It's so close to the premiere

B. It's been around for a while.

This whole Nettles being replaced by Rhaena theory started during the airing of the first show. People really got into supporting Daemon and Rhaenyra as a couple, and rather than viewing Nettles as a full character realised, she was viewed as a hindering plot point towards our favourite incest ship. So the first person I remember saying it said something along the lines of "What if Rhaena replaced Nettles?".

That spiralled within that space and became almost a counterpart to Nettles being Daemon's bastard daughter. Both of these arguments are often used to deter the romantic narrative Daemon and Nettles have, not to benefit Nettles in any way.

Now I can't vouch for the original poster's validity, but I can point out flaws with what they say.

"Rhaena will claim a sheep eating dragon (Sheepstealer) in the Vale after tracking it for some time."

Counterpoints:

1. Rhaena has her dragon eggs.

In the books, Rhaneyra gives Rhaena dragon eggs to take to the Vale, hoping that it will hatch to her. We see them in the trailer. Similar to Dany's eggs, which, if you're interested, I have a post on Nettles, Rhaena, and Daenerys.

2. Claiming Dragons.

This one almost works as well, but it has a few issues. The time frame, what seems to be occurring in the Vale, and the dragonseed plot.

A. 8 episodes for one season is not a lot of time, but we do have a timeline for what occurs, and the start of the sowing is in episode 7. There isn't enough time for Rhaena to both track Sheepstealer and follow him, seeing as her and Baela seem to be in the Vale before Rook's Rest.

B. What's going on in the Vale?

Rhaena and Baela seem to be both at the Vale before Rook's Rest, and then Baela flies into combat alongside Rhaenys. Then Baela stays on Dragonstone and Driftmark during the sowing as she's at the table. RHAENA IS NOT THERE. This is after the sowing because we see Ulf, Addam, and Hugh but not Rhaena or Nettles. All riders so far are accounted for.

C. This ties into the Dragonseed plot.

If Rhaena isn't there to fight, she doesn't have a dragon. But she is a ward of Jeyne Arryn with her Dragon eggs, like in the book.

3. Tracking it for some time.

This doesn't make sense for two reasons.

A. Why would she try to claim a hungry dragon?

If Sheepstealer is hunting in the Vale, why would Rhaena try to claim a hungry dragon? Rhaena, unlike Nettles throughout the season, would have no precident to assume Sheepstealer wouldn't bend to her as a Targaryen. No one would've been killed in order to facilitate that thought for her at that point if Silver Denys is being killed in Episode 7. She also lives on Dragonstone. Why would she not try to claim him where he lives like a person with common sense?

B. Why is she tracking a wild Dragon?

She lives on Dragonstone, unironically.

The home of all the unclaimed dragons like Vermithor, Silverwing, and Seasmoke. Why would she seek out the wild dragons. Why would she, as he stepdaughter to the Queen, not get to claim all the tamed dragons?

Then, if she decides that she wants to try a wild dragon after all the tamed ones fail to bond with her, who around her would allow her to take that risk? Her stepmother, who just lost two children? Her grandmother who grants her dragonriding sister permission to stand at the council? Or the grandfather who just lost his heir?

I don’t think this is likely. What I think is happening is that she might try and fail at best to give her a narrative, which inspires Jace to send out the Dragonseed call. Are we not tired?

[practically-an-x-man]

character breakdowns for Nikoletta (yours), Eris (yours), Abner (canon), and/or Harley (canon) (optional Bernadette or Tiff [mine] but no pressure lol)

Oooooh thank you!!!

(under the cut for space, this got long lol)

Nikoletta:

How I feel about this character - I mean... she's my own OC. I'm irrevocably obsessed!! I love her story and it's genuinely so comforting to me to write about her and Abner being soft with each other

All the people I ship romantically with this character - just Abner, and that's not an entirely romantic pairing to begin with

My non-romantic OTP for this character - I do love her friendships with Harley and Cleo, I need to write about them more!

(not answering the last two since they don't really make sense for my own OC lol)

____

Eris:

How I feel about this character - LOVE, of course! Again, my own OC. Genuinely one of the most fun characters to write, especially his dynamic with Rick, and arguably my best whumpee.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - Rick, of course, and all the past relationships I've mentioned across their fics. Though given they're drawn to the gruff soldier types, I could also see DuBois or maybe even one of the older Robins.

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Can you imagine the utter chaos that would erupt if Eris, Harley, and Boomer were placed in a room together??

(ditto on the last two)

____

Abner:

How I feel about this character - God I just think he's such a great character and I want him so badly to be happy. His death scene pissed me tf off and is the entire reason I created Nikoletta as a character, dude deserves a chance for softness and happiness in his life. I suspect most of the reason I like him is me projecting my own medical shit and shitty mom issues, but we're not gonna unpack that right now.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - In canon... honestly, I don't see him with anyone. And of course my main ship for him is with my OC lol

My non-romantic OTP for this character - HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH CLEO IS THE SWEETEST THING I LOVE IT!!!

My unpopular opinion about this character - Saying he deserved better isn't really unpopular, so... I think the whole "he sees his mom everywhere" thing could've been a really powerful allegory for intrusive thoughts if they hadn't decided to make it painfully literal. He sees his mom everywhere? Easy mommy-issues trope, borders on trite. He hears his mom everywhere in the form of intrusive thoughts critiquing his every move? Realistic and impactful, would really strike home for people who go through similar things (cough cough)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - They should've kept the deleted scenes, for one, they were so good for his character!! But also I think they should've gone more into the chronic illness implications of his superpowers. The movie dips its toe into it a little, but still mainly treats it like a joke, and I really wished they'd explored Abner's relationship with his powers in more than just a few lines of dialogue here and there.

____

Harley:

How I feel about this character - Literally, unironically my bisexual awakening. One of my favorite characters of all time, cannot be beat, I have plans to get a segment of her diamond armband tattoo attached to my existing armband tattoo, I love her to death.

All the people I ship romantically with this character - IVY!! And I could totally see her with Dinah or Helena in Birds of Prey, but really for me Harley/Ivy is endgame.

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Her and Rick!! I know it's a popular ship but I just don't see it as romantic, however I love their dynamic as friends :D

My unpopular opinion about this character - She's! Not! Dumb! She has a fucking PhD!! Just because she's wild and chaotic and goofy sometimes does NOT make her dumb, and I get so tired of seeing her turned into the "silly dumb blonde" trope when that's NOT who she is. The fact that she's intelligent in addition to being a wild card is one of the main reasons I love her as a character!

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - I'd love to see her strike up a romance with a live-action Ivy, I know it's happened in a few of the animated shows but I'd love to see it in the movieverse.

____

Bernadette:

How I feel about this character - LOVE LOVE LOVE!! Dying to read more about her, everything I've seen so far has made me totally hooked on her as a character!!

All the people I ship romantically with this character - I mean... who else but Tiff? Might be because she's your OC, but I really can't see anyone other than Tiff for her

My non-romantic OTP for this character - I don't know who all has interacted with her in your canon, but I think she'd get along really well with Cisco and Iris and the rest of the Flash gang, especially with her scientific mind :D

My unpopular opinion about this character - I neeeeed to read more about her!!! I love her so much already and she deserves her own longfic with Tiff!! (no pressure ofc, I'm just excited <3333)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - This is more of an AU than a suggestion for canon, but I'd love some sort of campy 70s-style sci-fi antics for her :D

____

Tiff:

How I feel about this character - Gonna be repeating myself here, but.... LOVE LOVE LOVE!! She and Bernadette are a package set, do not separate, and she's such a clean genderbend-OC (as in, she really fits both as her own character and as a genderbend of Tim). Also a GREAT source of whump imo

All the people I ship romantically with this character - Same as above, her and Bernadette are absolutely endgame for me and I love them <3333

My non-romantic OTP for this character - Not sure how the other Robins interact with her in your canon, but in my head there could be some absolutely to-die-for family teasing between them <3

My unpopular opinion about this character - Arguably cooler than the original Tim Drake. There, I said it :D

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon. - Whump that girl into oblivion and then send her back to Bernadette to take care of her <3333 I'm sure this has already happened but I want MORE!!! /lh

[alltheotherblogs]

So, Regular Show.

Apparently it's getting some kind of pseudo-reboot. A new series tacked onto the ending of the last with some returns from previously featured characters. This is not necessarily bad news! But, the reasons for fans being skeptical are obvious.

One of the most important examples of a good idea gone sour is... Adventure Time. It doesn't take a genius writer to see that they blatantly disrespected the themes they started with. I had a chance to analyze, and criticize the series from a new and fresh perspective. And so as I jumped into it for the last time, I quickly used an analytical eye to spot the things I had missed as a child. One of these things was Princess Bubblegum. Coming from an abusive background, I can spot abusive behaviors the moment I see them. And P.B. is textbook. The various ways she manipulates the Candy people, the main cast, and Finn himself... It's scary familiar to a lot of the controlling tactics used by abusive parents. I don't have any specific examples and if I'm gonna be honest I don't desire to find any. But one thing that always comes to mind is how she attempts to manipulate the Flame people using these same tactics, and it fails... This is where an inconsistency pops up in the writing, Flame Princess and Marceline have similar father figures with similar motivations for how they operate and their family dynamic. The main difference I want to call attention to here is that Flame Princess didn't just overcome it but decided to rise to the occasion and take over the Kingdom. Marceline distanced herself from her origins as much as possible... I think you can see where I am going here. Where Marceline comes to accept her father, it only happens after he changes. I don't really think Flame Princess ever accepted her father. And so when Flame Princess sees P.B. blatantly stealing, and attempting to trick her and her subjects, she gets pretty reasonably angry. A manipulative woman pulls up into your abode under false pretenses and tricks you and everyone else so that she can get her sticky grubby fingers onto some SERIOUS ancient tech. Acting like someone as tyrannical as P.B. is anymore trust worthy with it than anyone else is delusional.

From here it's not very hard to draw a comparison to real world behavior. For once you have a character that is reacting reasonably to something instead of being absurd. And then you have the last episode where Marceline just magically, for no reason and with very little buildup, just falls into P.B's arms like some sick individual with a different KIND of authority issue. Marceline has an issue with authority not an issue without it. Even in the very first episode, this is how P.B. is setup. An authoritarian with a very skewed moral compass. The fact that she is completely different by the end of the series yet lacks any real character development and still commits the same sins she did at the beginning, it isn't some clever subversion or smart multilayered writing... It's just bad writing. That is why I get so mad whenever people say "oh you are just bigoted that's why you don't like it." If you are one of those people who unironically thought THAT was the reason the ending didn't go over well, you are more stupid than your teachers and parents thought. It wasn't hard to notice that they just inserted a relationship between two incompatible characters right at the moment the rest of the shows writing began to suffer.

Haven't finished J.G. Quintel's other show, "Close Enough" but I'm working on it. And it has good parts, which makes me confident this new show will have a good energy and a positive impact on the series as a whole. Since it'll serve as a sequel rather than a reboot, we have a lot to look forward too in terms of new characters and unique dynamics.

Regardless, the history of this kind of thing cannot be ignored. In recent cinema everything is getting a crappy reboot. It's gonna take a few times before they learn, what made the old thing work was not that it was the old thing, but how it was the old thing. You get what I mean?

People don't like same shit different wrapping. They like same wrapping different shit. They want to see skillful talented writing. They don't want cringey politically motivated garbage and marvel-quality one-liners. They want actual comedy, they want in-world belief systems to help the characters play off each other. They want creativity and a well built world. Not Helluva Boss, not Hazbin Hotel, neither of those cringey politically driven shows with TERRIBLE writing. People want the first five seasons of Adventure Time! They want Golden Era KOTH! they want good comedy delivered without pretentious snark... While it isn't HARD to do this, with studios breathing down peoples necks, and the people who give orders being corrupt scumbags with what I like to call "Wrong Beliefs" it is super difficult to actually make something good. But, Smiling Friends did it, Adult Swim continues to produce quality, Newgrounds continues to let loose incredible people, and talent always rises to the top regardless of what corruption is going on in the western media. It takes some time for these mega corporations to fall, but sure enough, hollywood is failing as everyone predicted. The games industry is failing, as everyone predicted. What happens when Hollywood and the Games industry fail? Indie creators come up to bat. Not all of them are going to hit it out of the park, but strike while the irons hot, and you just might see sparks.

What I'm trying to say is, just don't fuck it up J.G.

[weemietime]

I don't agree that antizionist Jews are so assimilated they've become goyim, because at the end of the day, these Jews are experiencing antisemitism as well, they've just convinced themselves it is fine. But remember that post by a pro Palestinian antizionist whose friends "had an intervention" and the sole reason was because she was Jewish lol she was literally a propal.

The more nuanced answer here is that extremism and propaganda are intersecting with these Jews' progressive beliefs alongside a desire not to lose their community, but the second they assert themselves as Jews in any way those same people will turn on them, too.

Zionism means even those Jews who don't currently get this, still have a place at the table when the time comes that they inevitably have a personal confrontation with why Zionism is necessary. At lot of them are very young, too, and may not have a whole lot of lived experience with the genuine dangers of being Jewish because they have spent all their time in a bubble.

So when they see horrific war videos and photos coming out of Gaza there's an understandable instinct to want to distance yourself from the people doing those things.

As uncomfortable as it is, I would rather hold space for those people in absentia, for when the time comes that none of their political opinions and treatises will save them from the reality of a pogrom or assault or discrimination. Is it antisemitism? Almost certainty, yes, it is internalized antisemitism. But does it make them not Jewish? I don't think so.

There are some folks that I would exclude from this, like JVP, who basically completely reject Judaism and Jewishness and encourage "fellow Jews" (doubt) to not even pray or talk in their own native language. They are unironically literal kapos who are actively participating in the oppression of Jews worldwide, and spread literal Nazi propaganda.

That being said I don't think it is possible to be antizionist without being antisemitic, because Zionism is extremely broad. It is Jewish safety and Jewish self determination and you cannot oppose those things and claim to be an ally of Jews. A vast majority of antizionists cannot even concede that most Israelis are Mizrahi and sephardic, they are literally only talking about 31% (Ashkenazi) of the Israeli Jewish population, not even the total population (who they tell to go back to Europe, to countries that actively exterminated the rest of their Jewish populations).

Whilst refusing to answer what they think should be done with communities like Ethiopian and Yemeni Jews (not to mention a significant portion of that 31% who face similar issues, like Russian Jews). Yemen entirely expelled every single Yemeni Jew, if you don't have an answer for where these people go during your glorious resistance movement to expel all Jews from Israel and give the land to Palestinians instead, you are antisemitic.

If you don't have an answer for this and you continue to spout off Nazi gibberish about a fraction of the total Israeli population who have nothing to do with Europe or Zionist movements, you are antisemitic.

Yes, even if you're a Jew.

A thing about the discourse of where antisemitism and antizionism interact is that

1) a fair amount of antizionists are neonazis, Islamists, Arab supremacists, and communists who believe ethnic self-identity is a barrier to World Revolution, who are just *barely* concealing it (if that)

2) a fair amount of antizionists base their antizionism on a denial of an element (or elements) of Jewish self-identity (denial of Jewish ethnicity, denial of ethnogenesis in the Levant), and a whole lot of Jews find non-Jews essentially arguing that they should get to define what Jews are and aren’t offensive (and antisemitic)

3) there are a fair amount of antizionists whose antizionism comes from a deep hatred of an element or elements of what they determine is evil about “western” society, and for some reason they have decided to obsessively focus on Israel and ignore other “western” countries. This may be genuinely not antisemitic, but it’s still fucked up and weird.

[vitaminwaterreviews]

After School - Virgin

Okay… Wow. Like, wow. I expected … I dunno, kinda shitty synthpop, something along the lines of Twicetagram? But it turns out First Love isn’t the exception to their sound: it’s actually a pretty good representation of what they can do. I really need to see the song average for my own sake, so let’s see:

Average score of 8.1 which is stupidly high compared to what I was expecting. But this album kind of shattered every expectation that I had for it. It was well-written, it was well-arranged, it kept me interested the whole way though. Raina impressed me, Nana and Lizzy did more of the Orange Caramel thing, the trainees blended in just fine. The MV was a bit weird but honestly kind of wholesome in the end.

And ultimately, this album really wanted me to look into more of their discography. Like, I keep coming back to the word “mature.” And when I say that, I don’t mean sexy: I mean mature. And this was just 2011! They existed for several years before and after this, with subunits and japanese releases and all of that. So I guess now I have so much more to look into.

-

Alright, I’ve just done some cursory Googling and already this album seems crazy. It’s got re-recorded versions of various singles, as well as some solo- and unit-songs. So really, less than half of this album is actually new, full-group content. But even more interesting, it features Kyung-Min, a “pre-school girl,” which is kind of a weird way of saying “trainee”. So I looked into it, and it seems like she won some sort of contest to become the newest member of After School, but she never actually debuted with the group! The only references to her are short, like a single sentence, so that’s kinda neat. Anyway, I heard Bang! one time like a year ago and I don’t remember a thing about it except that it was marching band themed.

Let’s Step Up

Steps

Breath?

More steps

Oh okay it’s rhythmic

Lol this is really cool

Okay here’s the synth

Yes I’m ready

“Ah ah hi ah ah ha”

Yeah this is cool, I really like this

9/10, I’m such a sucker for a good intro

Shampoo

I’ll watch the MV for this one, but not the others

Well she certainly is wearing a backpack

Photos

Oh okay we’re synthy now

Butts

Wow look at those waists

Yeah this is more or less what we’d expect

Dude what is this filter though

This song feels super AKB to me for some reason

Actually … maybe that makes sense

Yeah that groove with this instrumentation

The MV is lowkey kinda wholesome tho

Oh no she felllll

Okay wait but

Huh

Yeah that’s … a bit awkward

That said I do appreciate a nice instrumental break in a song

Wait whatttt no way she looks like 12

I know I haven’t talked much about the song but I’m vibing

I’m gonna Wikipedia this before I rate it

Wait there is no Wikipedia article!

Well my guess is that the new girl is E-Young, bc this probably would’ve been her first thing with the group

Alternatively its a pre-school girl

If it is E-Young, then she’s 18 in the video, so fair enough I guess

Okay wait these lyrics are kinda wild

Honestly I might regret this buuuuut

9/10

Virgin

Mkay we’re all buzzy now

It suddenly occurs to me that I don’t actually know Madonna’s Like A Virgin off the top of my head, and maybe that’s an issue here

Pretty straightforward synthpop so far though, kinda want more from it

“Diva diva diva”

Mkay that was a nice bridge, I’ll give it that

Also I really do enjoy the Vibe of this song

8/10

Bang !

Mkay yep we have some horns going on here

I dunno what to think of this tbh, I feel like I really ought to be seeing the MV here

Pretty vocal harmonies

I’m not convinced that this is very similar to the Bang! that I heard a while ago

But also I don’t know a thing about that Bang! so who knows

Okay I just clicked through the original and it’s pretty damn similar so I dunno

7/10

Play Ur Love

Mmmm this is nice

What a coincidence, I also wanna stay with them!

Woah her vocal tone is So neat here

Wait why the random synth?

This is unironically pretty though, like if you didn’t tell me that this was After School then I’d have guessed like, Apink maybe

9/10, I feel like I should stop giving these out so freely but I’m honestly so impressed by this

Dream

Pre-school girl #1

Nice 6/8 groove

This is fun, I dunno if I buy it though

Okay well the bridge kinda just saved this song for me, I was getting bored but that tied it together really nicely

Haha the saxophone

8/10 I guess finneeee

Because of You

Mmm piano

Whispering and vocoded vocals

Oh okay we get a nice hard rap out of nowhere

I totally buy this

I think strong rapping over an otherwise airy song is one of my favorite tropes

Also kind of getting 2NE1 Go Away vibes from the chorus and the vocoding

8/10

Depend on Time

Mkay, groovy

Nice acoustic guitar and kind of a slow jam groove

But it’s not a slow jam it’s more folky

Mmmm okay now that the bass is here, maybe it’s a slow jam

Their vocals! Are impressing me!

Mkay I guess this definitely fills the slow jam role, but it’s not nearly as … obnoxious as some others

Maybe I should revisit some of the old SM albums sometime

WHY ARE THE VOCALS SO PRETTY THOUGH

Ohhhh wait that was just Raina?? That’s actually fucking crazy holy shit

9/10, I just had to re-listen, I am so impressed by her like wow

Nothing to complain of

Piano moment

Honestly I’m amazed by how mature this album is? Like yeah they do their sexy thing and all that, but it’s clearly well-written and arranged and like it’s just well done

Compare to Twicetagram

Okay, this is the slow jam haha

I’m just never going to get over that Raina song though like wow

8/10

Funky Man

Right after I just got done calling them mature lmao

No for real though this is Great so far like wow

Nana, Lizzy, and a pre-schooler

Like, this feels way more Orange Caramel than Depend on Time

Although I think I do prefer Depend on Time more

Still, I appreciate this a lot, and it fits well in terms I album structure

Guitar moment

Yeah, this is nice

8/10

My Bell

I dunno who Jung-A is but apparently this is her solo

Well she certainly has a pretty voice

I would enjoy this song a lot more if IU did it, and I’m not sure if that’s because I prefer IU’s voice, or if it’s because IU’s name carries that much weight in my mind

It’s not a bad song at all, but I don’t really care for her voice in it, and also I don’t really care for the OST-style ballads

6/10

When I Fall

Piano~

Oh okay nice, glad we get a good beat here

And that was a synth hit

Lovely harmonies

Honestly this feels SO f(x) so far

Like if this was just casually the last song on Red Light or whatever then it wouldn’t feel at all out of place

(I love Paper Heart though don’t get me wrong)

I do hope this has like, a Grand Climax or something though

Mkay, it didn’t quite get to where I wanted it to, but still

8/10

[sloptime]

I that it’s wierd you have an issue with HtR hunters, but not like mortal hunters

then again you do seem like the person who would berate someone for joining the second Inquisition

I would berate someone for joining the IRL FBI, CIA or US military, so yeah a right wing vigilante group known for drone strikes, bombings and arsons on US soil? Against civilian targets? With such little regard for collateral damage or how many of their own people are sacrificed to bring down a handful of vampires? I'd have a problem with that, for the same reasons I have issues with right wing militias and the War on Terror (and the War on Drugs) now. You seem like the type of person to think the Imperium are the unironic good guys in 40k, and that RoboCop was an aspirational movie.

I think mortal hunters are fine, because plenty of vampires and shit are evil, and people have a right to defend themselves. There needs to be consequences for breaking the masquerade or flexing your powers without being careful or the game doesn't work. I just think the SI works best as an antagonist, being made up of evil real life organizations known for brutalizing civilians, deep corruption, and a jingoistic attitude towards military engagement. It makes sense to me that mortal hunters who join are gonna be used as disposable foot soldiers by an organization like that. Plus vampires VS the government? Pretty cool, and it makes sense. The department of defense would cream their pants if they found out that vampires are real, and they could leverage all their spending on 'terrorism' against the new threat. It's the modern war hawk's wet dream.

Imbued I think are dumb because I dislike it when people have super powers that don't come with inherent drawbacks and don't have a Halloween monster theme in World of Darkness, a game about monsters. They read to me like a weird Christian fascist fantasy about being some kind of paladin who hunts degenerate urbanites, and seem more at home in some kind of flash-in-the-pan marvel Disney+ series than a horror role playing game. Does it not kind of ruin the point of being a disadvantaged mortal fighting back against the monsters if you're just another supernatural, except with no cost to your powers? If you're not a Hunter because you've faced abuse from a monster and chosen to fight back with what little you have, but because an angel told you to be? It's like you won't play the hardest WoD game line without cheat codes. Lame. I have similar issues with most sorcerers in oWoD, kinnian, and mummies. From what I've seen CofD does a much better job in making sure that no supernatural power comes without a cost. That superhero shit is lame and makes the whole setting feel so dated and juvenile. Take that shit back to Mutants and Masterminds where it belongs.

Not to mention, there's no theme that the Imbuned cover that Werewolf doesn't cover better. Zealotry, the downfalls of a good vs evil ideology? The inherent issues of a warrior culture? Trying to square being a holy warrior against evil with the shades of grey the real world is cast in? It's all in werewolf, and with much more dimension and depth. HtR hunters can't even claim the underdog title over the Garou because they have the aforementioned superpowers with no drawbacks.

WoD got big back in the day because it felt cool and contemporary. If you want it to retain that effect for a modern audience, you have to cut the stupid shit that makes it feel dated and the Satanic Panic era propaganda is the second thing that's gotta be cut to do that. (The first thing being the rampant orientalism and racial stereotyping that soaks the setting). I'm sure in 10-20 years lots of stuff in the 5th Ed line will need to go through some kind of pruning again to fit whatever the shape of the world is by then. Having "modern" in the description line of your game just comes with that consequence.

And I don't wanna hear about how the drawback is they "know about the supernatural now" every single WoD player character deals with that, mortal or otherwise. It's not a drawback, it's an inherent part of the setting.

Unless you were talking about my issue with HtR5th in which case I think you misunderstand me, I don't really have a strong opinion on 5th edition Hunter other than that I'm glad they cut out Imbuned.

[metawatts]

Thanks for answering my question. That is regrettable to hear even though GL was still my favorite part of the movie. I guess it's kind of on brand because even the things I do like in RWBY are mired in terrible writing decisions. Out of curiosity what are your opinion on how much of the fandom seems to unironically this incarnation JC even going as far as making semi joking comments about how they wish they could have her stay since he was the only good part of the crossover?

I'll be entirely honest, and this is not aimed towards you because you've been great, but my opinion of the hardcore stans side of fndm is one that I never think can get lower, and then they all pull out the shovels and prove me wrong. However, that doesn't mean I don't understand where they come from on the tamer stuff (compared to some of the other fndm drama Jessica Cruz's whole Thing is tame and I think that reflects more on how bad the fndm drama can get then on her being whitewashed and woobified).

Like, I get why people like Jessica, it's a Character Type that's very popular with fans, it's the sort that fits perfectly into text post memes and incorrect quote jokes, she's now The Cute Scaredy-Cat, The Innocent Babey, #Protecc, which is a character type rwby hasn't really had as a single character on their own. (the 'broader flattening of characters in some media to be gif bait/incorrect quote fuel' issue looms faintly in the distance)

I mean, character-wise, everyone else in the JL is broadly heroic and inoffensively bland 90% of the time (aside from Bruce and Diana, who are so wildly OOC that it made my blood pressure spike), so having Jessica as the Quirky Silly really made her stand out, even if I think that rwby's favourite style of 'quirky silly humour where the characters move like twitchy cardboard cutouts and we have silly sound effects' is both lazy, awkward, often mistimed, and poorly-handled.

It clearly goes down well with devoted fans, for some reason I'll never understand, so I get why they would have clung onto Jessica in that way, and without being aware of just how badly they neutered her broader characterisation, she does have the most moments written with, well, intent to evoke emotion, aside from Jaune. Her anxiety monologue would ring true with people who have similar experiences, and her voice actress was really trying with what she was given.

Also, Jaune is beloved in the fndm, again for reasons I will not understand because while I like Jaune I do think he's a 'works best in smaller doses' character and also the fndm just. cannot characterise him in a likable way, so having the Quirky Shy One paired up with Fandom Fav really would make her endearing to people.

So, yeah. I get where it all comes from, I really do, and, again, I'm not gonna hate someone for finding joy in something I don't unless they're like, being bad about it, but that doesn't mean I think the same, that's all. The fndm can do what it wants, I don't have to like it, but I'm gonna stay in my lane and reserve the right to judge quietly.

[system-of-a-feather]

Just wanting to say I love this post and resonate with a lot of these points

Honestly for me the whole like... long time thing is one of the most astonishing things and I think about it almost daily. Days flow TOGETHER one into another as an extension of the previous day.

Before fusion every day literally felt like a new day. It kind of felt like a rogue-like where you did one run and a few things from that run carried over to the next, but for the most part it was an entire restart from square one.

Now? It's very much just one long long long long continuous experience with sleep marking points of rest. Tomorrow is just today but later

And this continuity is INSANE and surprising in how it changed how I approach my plans, my way of living, and how I spend my time and honestly, it took a lot of pressure off me to use my time "efficiently" cause theres always the next day

Also the whole disability and not being able to push past limits like you used to is so real though. Honestly before fusion my autism was really negligible, but I'm unironically kind of being kept up right now because of stress and symptoms TM regarding it now and its honestly something I have to consider MORE than my PTSD / DID when making large plans

I chalk that up to largely being due to the fact my brain can actually tolerate processing it and being aware of it rather than repressing it until I crash and burn out due to not addressing my needs

and honestly, I actually have no real issues not being able to take dissociative breaks and haven't for a while cause tbh I don't really feel the need, largely cause life is so vibrant and theres so much for me to do and honestly, most simply, I just enjoy life too much to want to take a break from it.

But man I see your excitement and joy and MAD feel it and Im both happy and honored to be able to share the similar euphoria / joy

Things I've experienced post-Final Fusion:

All of a sudden, the days felt really... really... really long. I never really felt like there was any time in the day prior to final fusion; living my life in parts, I had never experienced such continuous flow of time before. It's long.

It feels like I now have a lot more time to do things in the day, and I have to be careful not to push myself too hard. I've found myself being online less and less and getting a lot more involved in my offline hobbies and reading. I have a lot more time to work towards things I want to do.

I can actually think about and plan for the future now, and it's incredibly exciting. I talk to my partner constantly about it. I am very excited about the future.

I can remember so much more of my childhood, things I never thought I would ever remember I now do. That being said, there are still things I don't remember, likely tied to other memory issues, and I've made my peace with that.

While my memory certainly got significantly better in many ways, I've realized I struggle with non-dissociative memory issues as well, and I will live with those issues for the rest of my life; it's just how my brain developed, and that's okay.

Speaking of memory, I can remember things freely that before were limited to the memory banks of my individual parts. I no longer have to worry about what parts hold which memories and go about tracking them down; I as a whole either remember something or I don't, and of my memories, I can remember any of them whenever I want.

I feel a sense of ownership over my life, over my memories and my sense of self and my body. I can look at it all and very confidently say "that's me", and I feel and know it to be 100% true. A long way away from not being able to recognize myself in the mirror.

I can't dissociatively "take a break" from life the way I used to (ie switching out and letting another part handle it), and while it took a long adjustment period to get used to this, I'm okay with that; I have other ways to take breaks while still being present, I can listen to music or watch videos. If I really just need to be unconscious, I take a nap.

I had to come to terms with the fact I couldn't push myself past my limits anymore in the way that I used to, and that this is in fact an expression of self-care for me. I used to be able to push far past what I should have been able to, especially with regards to physical pain, and to some extent I can still do this under specific circumstances, but it is no longer something that I will do in my day-to-day life living with disability and chronic pain.

Actually existing in my body now, I have come to realize just how much chronic pain I have been in. It's made me a lot more alert to my needs and how to care for myself, what makes it better and what makes it worse.

When people say "there's always a chance you'll split again", it doesn't scare me; it comforts me to know my brain would still know how to cope if such an extreme situation occured that I needed to split again. I've worked through dissociative barriers, I could do it again. I know what lies at the end of that path is love.

No part of me has ever gone away. Even fully fused, we are all still here. I can even still communicate with myself as parts if I choose to. I still have parts, they just look different now. There are no barriers between us.

My parts held a lot of different aspects of my identity to them, aspects I'm still to this day sorting out. I've had a lot of realizations about who I am as a person post-final fusion, especially with regards to gender and disability. A lot of things about myself were formerly very heavily fragmented and dissociated which no longer are, and I'm still making sense of them.

I no longer experience flashbacks and nightmares. This is a major thing for me I sometimes still am in disbelief about, my nightmares used to be so severe that I would refuse to sleep because of them, and my flashbacks were horrible and caused very intense physical sensations. I no longer have them, and that's incredible.

Life is so much more vivid and colorful than I ever realized. I never realized how dull everything felt and looked before final fusion. It feels like a complete perspective shift that is hard to grasp in words.

I can feel my body so much more now physically than I ever could before. I feel each of my limbs, I feel changes in temperature, I feel my own breath, I feel different textures and sensations, everything I hear and see and feel and taste has so much more depth to it now.

I have emotions! A whole lot of them, and I can feel all of them. I can feel emotions that might be percieved as "contradictory" at the same time, I can feel emotions over little things and big things and just about anything at all. I'm no longer limited to feeling my emotions in parts, and it's incredibly freeing.

On that note, I have so much more emotional capacity now for feeling all of the love I have for myself and others. It's wonderful. I can't shut up about it.

[barrenclan]

“Issue #8: Do You Really Think That’s Your Destiny?”

I’ve been looking forward to drawing this issue for awhile! Daffodilpaw hasn’t gotten much exploration in the story yet, but I’m really fond of her. She seems like a simple relentless optimist, but sometimes she’ll open her mouth and unironically say the most insane depressing thing you’ve ever heard. Like I’ve said, none of the apprentices in this story are remotely okay. 

Her injury is somewhat similar to Cinderpelt’s in how it manifests, as her leg from the shin down is paralyzed. However her upper thigh still works fine, and in any case three-legged cats don’t actually live any worse than four-legged ones. This is all moot against canon Warriors comparison anyways, because in PATFW healers still hunt and patrol. Daffodilpaw can’t run or fight as well as the others but she doesn’t really need to! Not much need in BarrenClan. All to say that canon-typical discrimination against disabled cats isn’t a part of Daffodilpaw’s story and I shall not be engaging with it. 

Yeah, her repressed feelings of misplaced survivor’s guilt and pressure to perform for her authority figures is a whole OTHER can of worms!

Previous < > Next

[beardedmrbean]

What are your thoughts on Tennessee Republicans pushing a bill that would legalize child marriage?

Got into that yesterday a little bit.

:::::Disclaimer, this is me positing a scenario and does not necessarily reflect my own personal views on any of this, I just like thought problems like this and considering motivations:::::

For starters it's already legal there so not legalizing anything, they're just removing the need for parental consent.

But only if you're straight.

Before you think about crucifying me, there's a reason I put it like that.

I think it's a stunt bill, not a serious one that anyone wants to try and get passed, they're making a point.

What it will do, and is already doing, is generating significant outrage from people that don't believe minors should be able to make that kind of decision on their own or (rightly) believe that they will be manipulated and taken advantage of by people who are older and make life altering decisions that they may not fully understand the weight of at their current stage of mental development.

And I think you can see where I'm going with this.

Gonna be really easy to take the people that are outraged over this and then point out that it might just be hypocritical of them to be willing to let kids transition, which is another huge life altering decision.

What you think a 14 year old girl has the mental capacity to go in and request a double mastectomy and hormones but not to agree to marriage?

There's also in with the parental consent bit probably a few points to be made about the current school curriculum issues going on around the country.

Oh so now you think parents should have a say, that's a bit different than you were saying when you were talking about what classes and books and lessons and such were going to be taught in school, back then you said the parents should stay out of it and let the 'experts' decide.

So which is it?

That kind of thing. ______________________

That or they're demons.

But the bit up above feels like the most plausible scenario to me.

Dems did it with a different bill a while back, not entirely the same thing but in the concept wheelhouse.

Had a whole warehouse of money that was supposed to go out to farmers, but the caveat was if you were white it's pointless to apply for it because you'll be considered last just for being white.

Violates the equal protection clause of the civil rights act and the people that wrote it knew that and knew it would wind up in court and the whole racial aspect would get tossed.

But the people that wrote it could say 'look we tried to do this but those ebil republikkkans took it to court and took this money that we illegally apportioned to you away'

Similar thing just happened in CA too, corporate diversity mandate from gavin got tossed because it violated the civil rights act. ____________

So this bull is just another variation on a political trick that politicians have been doing forever.

That's my best guess at least.

If it's unironic and straight forward, then they're demons.

Hope this makes sense.

[artbyblastweave]

BLASTWEAVE what does steven universe have in common with watchmen?

Both Steven Universe and Watchmen are groundbreaking entries in their respective genres that demonstrate a deep understanding of the appeal of the genre they’re working in, and engage with their ideas on a previously unheard-of level for the medium. That breaks ground and clears the way for what other works in the genre can get away with. 

Steven Universe showed that, well, first of all that you can make a cartoon that’s fundamentally ideologically queer beyond a few side characters, but also that you can have an emotionally intelligent and mature children's cartoon where the character nuance and depth and development are all taken very seriously. Watchmen showed that you could write serious and interesting narratives about superheroes if you were willing to roll with the crazy. (Neither of them was the first to do the things I’m ascribing to them, but I do think that they’re what made it stick for their respective fields.)

In doing so, though, both works create/created a catch 22 for all future works in their genre. Part of what made both of them so good is that they were willing to critically unpack and air out the ugly implications of their format that usually get chalked up to suspension of disbelief, and now that that’s out in the open it becomes very difficult not to think about how any other given work is or isn’t addressing those issues- even if they aren’t equipped to address those issues in the scope of the story they’re trying to tell. Watchmen asked questions about who sanctions superheroes, what qualifies you to do that work, where the line is between heroism and fascism or if there even is one, whether the agency to act means you have a right or a duty to act, whether anyone who seriously bought into the superhero thing could possibly be doing it for good reasons, and, if they somehow were, how long you can care with the intensity necessary to be an effective hero without suffering burnout (not long.) I literally can’t think of a single superhero thing worth reading that isn’t in some way in conversation with Watchmen - you now kind of have to answer those questions, explicitly or implicitly, even if your books thesis is “Alan Moore sucks eggs and being a superhero is very sustainable and fantastic.” If you just leave the question of whether your superheroes are justified completely unaddressed, there’s an uncomfortable discordance there, because we’ve seen the extreme end of that sliding scale in the form of the Comedian and if the narrative doesn’t engage with what makes the protagonist not Edward Blake, it can feel worrisome. If they try and then botch it it can feel alarming.

Steven Universe has a similar thing going on, at least for me. It’s the only unironic, non-parodic children’s series that’s really, seriously unpacked how fucked up and traumatic it would be to grow up as the archetypical All-loving Spirited Saturday Morning Cartoon Protagonist, how warped and dysfunctional a household that enabled that lifestyle could be at its worst, and what the future looks like when your whole childhood was centered on a now-ended conflict. ( a lot of cartoons flirt with that last one but don’t commit.) I’ve seen jokes and intended-as-cracky fan theories about this for years, surrounding lots of other cartoons (Ben 10, Pokemon, Powerpuff Girls) but almost never with the assumption that the creators are on the same page as them. I’ve seen stories that are post-modern reimaginings using the same general archetypes or whatever (Venture Brothers) but that’s not this! SU told an entertaining story earnestly, and then engaged with the emotional fallout of the story it told, with an unheard-of breadth and depth. A whole season of unpacking! No other show has ever been allowed to sink that much effort into closure. That’s usually what Fanfic is for.

I think it’s great, and that shows like Infinity Train and The Owl House are able to go as hard as they do largely because of Steven Universe’s precedent- but no matter how good a cartoon is, I can’t watch them without having this voice in the back of my head going “Oh, these children are going to grow up to be broken wrecks, bar an extensive and harsh healing process that kinda hurts to watch, huh.”

The issue is that not every cartoon can be Steven Universe, where the project was to thoughtfully and sensitively unpack this stuff. It’s a fair bet that we’ll probably never see a show with that exact project again (not least because of the loss of novelty value.) You’ve got your own stories you wanna tell that’ll run their own course, mostly aimed at children, there objectively isn’t narrative or financial room for most stories to unpack these assumptions if that wasn’t the goal going in. For example, Gravity Falls had pretty tight storytelling and a narrative that absolutely had room for a post-script "where-do-we-go-from-here” plot- it sped-run the “oh no, childhood’s ending” thing- and it’s pretty telling that the aftermath, healing process, interpersonal relationships and so forth are one of the things that that fandom heavily fixates on. The narrative had such a clean ending that it made people go looking for the mess. That’s not bad! It’s how most storytelling works! But now I look at any cartoon with kid heroes that’s meant to be taken even marginally seriously and go, Oh. Win the battle, lose the war. Then I feel sad. The contrast, of course, is that most superhero works actually can be, and in fact benefit from trying to be like Watchmen, because all the questions Watchmen raises about the ethics of power are also just.... like.... the most interesting storytelling hooks if you want to write a cape thing with real themes. They’re the kind of stories we’d have gotten years prior naturally if not for the CCA boondoggle. Admittedly it kinda creates a different problem where most “good” cape media is inescapably self-referential and draws on picking apart the conventions of a 60-70-year old canon that hasn’t been in wide circulation in years. But! I also think there’s a stronger obligation there to keep superhero fans in check- if your superhero thing isn’t making the reader question the ethics of violence and individual heroism in the face of systemic injustice, you wind up with people who unironically think Frank Castle is a role model to be emulated. We all know that guy. Children’s media doesn’t really produce that guy the same way, although it can draw them in from other corners. Superhero media often needs to be self-critical in a way children’s cartoons don’t always have to be.

[skiagraphe0]

Something that makes me sad is this internet tendency to try to pit women and girls against each other, to the point where they'll do it even with fictional characters. "Lilo was also neurodivergent!" Good. It is unironically good that Disney have two neurodivergent protagonists who are different ages and ethnicities. I see no reason I should only enjoy one of their stories. They aren't mutually exclusive.

"Lilo and Nani's relationship doesn't need to be healed!" Correct, because they have a different age gap and a different family situation. I see no reason why I should either watch a movie with an older sister who's struggling with being promoted to parent or a movie with an older sister struggling from mental health issues and neurodivergency. No one ever tells me that I have to pick one when it comes to movies about male characters or brothers and sisters. It's only when the main characters are women that you need to take sides.

A reality a lot of Frozen haters need to face is that media is allowed to portray multiple kinds of women and multiple kinds of families and that's good, actually.

A lot of people relate to Nani having to be the parent and having a much younger sibling. A lot of people relate to Elsa and feeling like people are better off without you. A lot of people relate to Lilo's neurodivergence, which manifests in weird, believably little-girl ways. A lot of people also relate to Anna's neurodivergence, which manifests as high empathy, gullibility and high energy. These are four different ways you can be a person and four different ways real women and girls live their lives, and crucially, none of them are portrayed as bad. In a world that scolds people for not spending enough time with their family, Nani isn't chastised by the narrative, and in a world that frequently looks for someone to blame, Elsa is not framed as the source of the problems in Frozen, fear is.

"I hate what girls like" is not feminism, even if a lot of Frozen haters like to frame themselves as feminist. The actual feminist take is that you don't have to watch only the objectively best story with a female protagonist. No one ever says that about male protagonists, in Disney movies or otherwise, so it's really ridiculous to feel like you have to put out a disclaimer you know Lilo & Stitch is better. I don't have to put out a disclaimer when I talk about Brother Bear that I know Big Hero 6 is better. It's understood that you can like two stories about brothers. So it should be understandable that someone can like two stories about sisters.

If you find yourself instinctively tearing down a movie with women in it, ask yourself: is it about the writing, or is it about their gender?

If their names were Elias and Anders instead of Elsa and Anna, if they were male, would you be reacting to Frozen this way? If it were popular with boys instead of girls, would you be this embarrassed to admit to liking it/liking parts of it?

Do you compare male characters in your head the way you do female characters? Do you hold them up to the standards of other male characters and hate them if they fail to be similar enough? Do you complain about these two men/boys not having a healthy relationship like those two men/boys over in this other media property? Do you say "Disney doesn't need another brother story, they already have one", or is that a sentence that only comes out of your mouth when it's sisters?

I could - and probably will! - write a whole mini-essay about why Frozen deserved the hype it's gotten. But I think it's also worth asking where the source of the hatred is coming from. Is it actually about anything Frozen did or didn't do? Or is it just because Anna and Elsa have committed the high crime of being women?

things I think frozen does very well that were forgotten by the anti-hype crowd

It is a natural occurrence that the breakthrough of a piece of media will eventually end up in its own anti-hype crowd culture. We have reached a point, long ago, in which saying that Frozen is bad or that Anna and Elsa aren't as great as the hype says became a sign of...

✨ status, intelligence, not-like-other-girls revolutionary warrior ✨

It's impossible to say "Frozen" anywhere without someone popping out of thin air to preach how they don't like it and how flawed and annoying and how X is better, because reasons.

But after Frozen II, this crowd became louder. I just can't find a single video on YT about Frozen that is not about someone dashing or overly criticizing the movie and its characters because it's cool, and different, and oh-so-clever to be one of the superior ones who weren't caught on this Disney trap.

Yet I feel like the hype made people forget *why* the world was so impacted by this story in the first place. I have my own whys, and some popular whys, here is a list of a few of them that I care to discuss.

Sympathetic Neurodivergent Character. In all fairness, Elsa might still be seen as a villain by some people -- usually because of their inability to understand nuance, analyze a text, or just self-righteous ignorance. But it is very obvious in the movie that the whole narrative and the artistic choices try to paint Elsa's struggle and personality in a positive, or at least in an understanding light. She's not the monster who people fear, who she fears, and who another story would make to be a villain. She's a traumatized child dealing with a burden too great for anyone. Let's remember that back in 2013 the talk about mental health wasn't as nearly as spread as it is today, and having a queer-coded, canonically neurodivergent Disney PrincessTM was unthinkable. Dare I say, Elsa's significance and symbology were completely green-lit by accident. Maybe the artistic force behind it was aware of that, but Disney Corporation just wanted the cute girls to sell dolls and hopefully pay itself. This is a win for the mental disable community and for the queer community that is forgotten and downplayed everywhere. After all, we are woke now!

Complex and Shattered Sibling Relationship Getting Healed. I swear to heavens if I have to hear anyone else compare these two to Lilo and Nani, and try to force them against each other like it's some kind of necessary comparison I will-... Anna and Elsa are sisters who love and care about each other. But they are in a very specific context in which their relationship is broken. This exact premise is what makes the movie excels. It was original -- as far as originally is possible or real. And such a breath of fresh air. The premise of this conflict in which the problem did not have an easy solution, was enough for a very compelling tale. It's so beautiful and wholesome to watch these young women struggle and find healing. Their undying affection and genuine love for each other make us hope so hard that they can finally find peace. I won't even touch on the matter that sibling relationships are complex and nuanced and how Frozen showing that to kids might help them to mend their own conflicts because it goes without saying. Just in the matter of narrative alone, this is a story that had to be told and should be praised again.

The Soundtrack Slapped Everyone In The Face Repeatedly. The song is good. The Broadway vibe is delicious. It's a fact.

[beckface]

make a big ramble post about becky/wordgirl and how much you love her <3

hoooo boy lets go. The people are kind to me :D

Long rant below the break!

Okay like actually she is one of my absolute favorite kids show protagonists out there. I’ve talked about this before but Becky is SUCH a good character to base an educational superhero show around, the creators KNEW what they were doing.

First off I unironically find her one of the funniest characters in the show. Don’t get me wrong the writing for the villains is incredible (ftr I think Granny May is absolutely hilarious and we don’t acknowledge her enough) but the sheer concept of the main character of an educational show being an absolute know-it-all brat like a fourth of the time feels like something that should be in one of those kids-show parody videos.

Imagine if during an episode of a different show aimed at a similar age group was like “Hey kids! Where is the beach?” and the character was about to point at the beach to teach the lesson or whatever and Dora the explorer pops up out of goddamn NOWHERE to be like “UM ACTUALLY It’s right there! I can’t believe you didn’t see that, thank god I was here to help you ^-^” and then she punches them in the face

Becky lowkey having anger and ego issues too is just. So wonderful. I have a bias towards otherwise good characters with #problems and Becky is just the perfect example of that. I really like how it’s not treated like a comedy prop only though. The show portrays that Becky is allowed to be angry and that it’s normal and natural for her to react to things with anger, and it shows that she has every right to be confident and proud of herself, but if she lets it get the better of her and starts treating others badly the show condemns her immediately, and I think that’s a great lesson for kids to see. It shows the nuance of emotions and the appropriate ways of expressing them without turning the kids cartoon into a complicated, unfun mess.

Also I think tobecky is really cute, but I think that the way it is handled in canon was exactly how it needed to be handled and is a great subversion of the normal trope. There's more than enough media where the girl finally sees the good in the boy who does the bare minimum for her and loves him, or where the responsibility falls on the girl character to “fix” the guy character and it’s treated as incredibly romantic, and Wordgirl (the show) just actively making fun of Tobey trying to get WG to be that for him is great. It’s, again, a very important lesson for kids. 

I like how Becky isn’t mean to Tobey though (we’ll get to miss power in a minute) but she’s not wholesome uwu nice to him, she acts like a kid. They have dynamic that many kids that age have, they get into bantering, sometimes they take it too far because they’re kids, at the end of the day though watching them interact, whether at school or at a battle, feels like watching two hothead have a playdate (Go Gadget Go is the exception to this, we all acknowledged that was weird and too far but we can chalk it up to Tobey being 10 and not fully understanding how bad it was)

Keep making tobecky fan content though pls I eat that shit up like candy

Okay I went on to talking about the actual show BACK TO BECKY SPECIFICALLY

It’s kinda sad how easily the villains, especially the adult villains, can just trick her into letting her guard down. Like she has this very clearly instilled respect for just adults, which is understandable of course she’s 10, but it gets her in trouble a lot. It’s never that big of a deal though I just wanted to make a note of it. And anyways ABOUT THAT-

I swear I won’t talk about it for too long just hear me out okay (if you’re following me we both know damn well this is why you followed me so you legally have to stay for this part)

Her relationship with DTB grabbed me and like at least a quarter of the fandom by the face and told us we had daddy issues, the whole Boxlietner thing is :( but I think it’s very sweet how parts of their relationship remained when he transformed. They’re just on the same mental level throughout the show. Other word-smart villains like Tobey she just doesn’t seem to click with as much, and I think while a big reason is because her and TB used to be friends, I also think that they just. Mesh well. Their personalities balance each other nicely, and maybe i’m just absolutely fucking bonkers but WG like imitates his posture and shit a lot of times whenever they’re in a scene together I just think thats cute. Every time I think i’m exaggerating how much of a gay brooklyn dad he is I see another clip of him parenting WG or his henchmen. Like this man oh my god. DTB is the most fruitcake ever

Also him and a couple other villains are the closest thing she has to parents when she’s being wordgirl, which is literally half of her life : D pain. No wonder that's who she reaches out to when she can’t talk to Sally and Tim

ALso also headcanon that she got her fear of spiders from Steven because of that one spider episode where they were both scared of spiders.

Becky being OBSESSED with pretty princess is wonderful and every time something interrupts her show the universe should compensate her with 1000 dollars.

She’s just absolutely adorable. She reminds me so much of the kids I work with at summer camp and it makes me happy. Witty little superhero pop off queen.

The way she’s comically horrible at art and anything related to art is a funny gag and her FINALLY understanding art and making a good painting in the second to last episode just because she realized that the reason Becky loves Violet’s art so much isn’t because it’s good, but because it’s Violet is the cutest thing in the world I am holding onto these two like they’re my children

And then rhyme and reason happens because this show is cruel

Also Becky should go apeshit. I'm embarrassed to say that during the entirety of Miss Power I was like “yessss be horrible yesss” just because I personally need all of my favorite characters to

a) suffer 

b) do awful things

c) both

More fanfics where she either goes evil or goes vigilante please idc if it’s in character or not. My fatal flaw is being obsessed with trying to write in character to the point where I avoid things that could be fun, don’t be me kids. Make wordgirl evil just because.

I might add on to this later but it’s already over two pages anyways I love becky wordgirl botsford