#we aren't the ones shipping her with every grown man in the series and using a predator's words to fawn over her beauty

[fromtheseventhhell]

Another round of asoiaf "prettycourse", another round of people ignoring Arya's self-esteem issues and how it relates to her arc because their enjoyment of the series hinges on an 11-year-old being considered ugly.

[theangrypokemaniac]

I'll state from the beginning that the images below display the sort of sweet synchronicity to which only love can give life:

MaAndPaShipping is the best ship, and here are five reasons why:

1. It Made James

Like the boy do yer? Ever felt the slightest tingle of warmth at the mention of his name?

Well get down on yer knees and give thanks to his mother and father for gifting him to the world!

Where would we be without their remarkable commitment? Could James have grown into the dandified dream boat of your desires if deprived of the safety provided by his parents?

Had they not brought him up, he'd be dead, The Dog of Flanders fantasy made reality. If miraculously he survived, foraging in the wild is not conducive to a foppish personality.

Is that to yer fancy? No? Then let's have a little respect. The luxury Ma and Pa gave enabled his macaroni tendencies to reach such heights.

Their love created him! How can it not be celebrated?

You lot would ship Jessie's parents but you can't, because she has no dad, and I don't suppose you'll ever assent to his obvious identity of Windy Miller, although 'Jessie Miller' has a wonderful ring to it, so what can be done?

Should a Pa Jess be conjured for the purpose, he still buggered off, didn't he? Where's the allure in a faithless git?

I can't comprehend the obsession with Ma Jess. As soon as here she's stiff, and what is there to remember but coercing her daughter into eating snow?

Hey, I named her. What more do you want from me?

I'd rather have the living, visible ancestors, if you don't mind.

Yeah, says the history fanatic.

Why not make the most of the chances offered, and follow a devoted couple whose love made a difference to your existence?

2. Canon!

There are many ships which I find repulsive for involving depravity, or absurd as the subjects haven't met, or don't inhabit the same fictional universe.

Video et taceo: I see and I say nothing.

Neither does anyone. Forcing decent folk in to incest, bestiality etc. is quite alright.

Perverted ideas are left alone, but woe betide a Rocketshipper, because that's offensive.

It may be the only original ship left standing, with proper evidence and sanctioned by Nintendo, but no, it's fair game for undermining. People pick at your arguments, quibble constantly and NEED to register their objections NOW. You MUST be made aware of opposition. You're not to be permitted your views the way those with twisted tastes are indulged.

Why, out of tens of thousands of combinations, does making Jessie and James an item provoke hostility?

The strength of negativity actually serves as validation, for why be so concerned if it's an impossible relationship?

However sick they are, I'm not anti any ship. I can't muster sufficient interest to do it, and if I scroll on, I forget. I certainly don't attack those responsible.

Anti-Shipping is inherently nihilistic for promoting loneliness. They aren't against Rocketshipping through wanting Jessie and James to be with someone else, as an alternative is not readily available, so the outcome of it is neither finding a companion.

MaAndPaShipping attracts no sourpuss silliness, for 'tis canon beyond question. There's nothing about being 'just friends' when married with a son.

How's the state of your O.T.P.? Not looking too clever I expect, and what's your contribution: wishing, and hoping, and thinking, and praying?

Cast it off! None of that longing is necessary in these quarters, as MaAndPaShipping is a fait accompli.

Hallelujah! Wallow in that Love!

Don't you yearn for at least one ship that all of us accept by default, to the extent these aristocrats are spoken of as a single unit?

Across the internet, Ma and Pa are bracketed as 'James's parents', never 'he' and 'she', always 'they', barely counting as distinct characters. That's how undeniable the love is between them. Sheer indifference has awarded it a blessing from everyone.

MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!

Of course, now I've drawn attention to it the moaning will start, but we all know a spoilsport when we see one.

If they had any legitimate complaints they ought to have mentioned 'em before this piece highlighted the marriage!

Except it won't have occurred to 'em previously, proving the eternal, indissoluble quality of MaAndPaShipping.

You get good value with this one.

Find a post referring to Ma and Pa as individuals and I'll have written it, for that's what you call ironic.

3. It's a Fine Rocketshipping Proxy

I was at primary school when Pokémon hit the West like the bright, bearded meteor it is, atomizing all competition for a child's attention.

I have shipped Jessie and James before I knew anyone else did it, unaware shipping was even a thing.

There are other pairs where I think: 'That seems to fit', but it's incomparable to what I feel for them.

It is part of me. I bleed it.

I have shipped it longer than most Tumblerries have dwelt upon the earth.

I used to believe, what with the hints and manga finale, that this resolution was  inevitable, and all I had to do was wait.

Well I've been patient for two decades now, thus when I look at the modern incarnation, and realise it's no nearer to that goal, and instead is further away, waiting starts to wear a bit thin.

I resent the lack of appreciation shown to the fans by the cretins in charge, how any meagre shippy inclusion is done not with an interest in deepening bonds, but with the blatant cynicism of moulding us into performing monkeys dancing to their manipulative tune.

I dislike being treated like a sea lion, expected to clap me flippers at the wave of a fish, or as a panting dog begging at top table, where, because they're desperate to maintain the status quo, every scrap flung down from above now comes with an Anti-Ship kick in the teeth, just to be sure nothing progresses. Not whilst the franchise can still be milked for all it's worth.

I have lost faith Rocketshipping will happen. What passes for Pokémon today carries not the remotest indication of any intention on the so-called writers' part to finish it that way.

Even if it did, it's not my Team Rocket, it's those skeletal, gargoyle bastardisations. My Jessie and James never got the reward they deserved.

I'm somewhat in the market for a replacement. Beneath this loathsome carapace of acid and ice beats the tender heart of a true romantic, and it must have an outlet!

Shipping Ma and Pa provides a certain spurious relief, because it's as close as you can get to Jessie and James without it being them, both biologically as his parents, but they're so similar to the duo it counts as proof in itself.

Holy Matrimony! is prime Rocketshipping territory, not merely the balloon lift, but many slight additions are as important, like the haircuts matching.

Ma and Pa are therefore Jessie and James in the past, present and future:

The past for representing Jess 'n' Jamie gone Victorian, and we've all wondered how that'd turn out.

The present as it's there right now, absent of suffering the shameless whims of morons to get what you want. 'Tis yours to savour.

The future as a glimpse of Jessie and James once married with children, and they agree:

That's how they play it given the opportunity!

What, James in blue, for his and Pa's hair, and Jessie wearing purple, like Ma's, with a red shawl for her own, and Ma Jess's orange earrings to copy the beads?

• Money!

• Bun!

• 'Tache!

• Classy pad!

• Fancy gear!

• Pampered pet!

• Identical cups of Earl Grey!

4. Original Blend

Ma and Pa have only got two fans! We care more than the entire fandom has in twenty years!

Rocketshipping art is ten a penny, so why not display a pioneering spirit, sharpen up those pencils and be inspired?

Let your mind expand and marvel at the possibilities of these unchartered territories, and I'll reblog it if it's nice.

Pay attention to the condition of it being nice. I'm not putting up with any old toss.

Real Ma and Pa is what I want too, not those Sinnoh coffin-dodgers.

It's never been done! Every drawing breaks new ground!

I don't like fan fiction, but I wouldn't say 'no' to that either. Recall the 'nice' stipulation again.

Come on, be the first amongst your friends and get ship shape!

5. It Gives Us All Hope

Suppose your favourite amour one day became canon: you imagine that's the end of the matter?

Well it ain't.

Between Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie, James, Gary and Tracey, there are three-and-a-half out of fourteen parents (Flint doesn't count as a complete man) and one out of twenty-eight grandparents, and that's not enough!

If the series drew to a close with your beloved couple apparently walking into the happily-ever-after, there's no guarantee it'll endure. In fact, the odds are they'll split up within a few years and leave another generation to fend for themselves or starve.

That's right, so don't presume the final episode is all you need to worry about. Can you rest easy knowing it'll go pear-shaped once the camera stops rolling?

It's futile soothing one's worries with:

Oh, but they know what it's like to be alone. They'd never inflict such stress on their children.

Oh really?

Look at that poor showing of grandparents. Either Pokémon has a system reminiscent of the sci-fi film Logan's Run, where everyone over thirty is vapourized, or these disappearing maters and paters were themselves victims of abandonment.

I bet when they settled down, they thought it'd be different for their kids, they'd make sure of it, but no, off they went down that same route of feckless self-indulgence, and that's being kind assuming they intended not to repeat history.

Depressing eh? What's the good in any of us surrendering to romance, real or otherwise, if love is but a mayfly of emotion, and all dreams are doomed to die?

Then Ma and Pa arrive, and suddenly the storm clouds part for a ray of heavenly light.

It's not only that they made the effort in what was probably an arranged marriage and have stayed together from youth, it's that they've stayed together when no one else has, which augments its value.

When separation is commonplace, sticking it out becomes rarer and rarer as any belief in the sanctity of wedlock erodes with every failure.

If they didn't bother, why should I? What's the use when it won't work?

Once that idea enters your head, it's over, and your gloom-laden attitude fulfils itself.

Society is collapsing about Ma and Pa's ears, but they persevere nevertheless, refusing to buckle under the turgid malaise engulfing the arrogant and weak.

It's bloody beautiful, man!

You may suggest an environment of supreme wealth erases normality, and to their class and time period divorce is still taboo, so they don't really have much of choice but to remain wedded.

Ah, but it's not as if they simply tolerate one another for appearances, or carried on for the sake of their son (which is more than anyone else did besides), not when he walked out on them.

They've been married longer than James has lived, so at least eighteen years (don't all squeal at once), and they're still blissfully contented!

They hold hands!

They use terms of endearment like 'dear' and 'my precious'!

They were made for one another!

They work as a team!

They want the same thing for James!

It could bring a stone angel to tears it's so beautiful!

See what success can be achieved when you try? When you endeavour to love the one you're with and make yourself worth loving in return?

Better that than chucking 'em at the first sign of trouble.

Ma and Pa is such an irrevocable union even the despair of losing their only child failed to tear 'em asunder, and that'd defeat many, but not this husband and wife.

Be grateful, for it means all is not in vain.

It doesn't have to be misery and pain: love can last despite the pressure of a wretched, hollow culture bent on self-destruction. Your ship might just succeed too.

God bless 'em for keeping the magic alive!

...

Why do I have the presentiment that I'm going to regret encouraging support?

[cat-sophia]

If You Aren't Watching The Expanse, the Best Scifi Show on TV, Here's What You Need to Know to Start Tonight

It’s been a year since The Expanse’s tense season two finale, and we are deliriously excited for the season three premiere tonight on Syfy. You should be, too. The scifi series is strong on every front: a thrilling story equally packed with political intrigue and tons of space action; fascinating and well-written characters; and gorgeous special effects. But if you’re finally ready to start watching the series, there’s a good deal that you should know. We have you covered, of course.

This also works equally well as a refresher for those whose memory of where the series left off might be a bit dusty—after all, a lot of shit hit the fan at the end of last season. Either way, here’s all you need to know to get up to speed on the best scifi show on TV.

source - x

Here’s the deal

The Expanse is based on the scifi novel series by James S.A. Corey, the pen name of author duo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. It’s set some 200 years in the future, when technology—especially the Epstein Drive, a fusion drive that enables efficient, long-range space travel—has allowed humans to colonize Mars as well as the asteroid belt. When The Expanse begins, long-simmering political tensions between Earth (still outwardly lush and gleaming, but sagging under serious infrastructure problems) and Mars (which has prioritized its military over its terraforming efforts) have pushed both sides to the brink of war. Meanwhile, the various factions of rough-hewn Belters, as they’re known, agitate for their rights under the aegis of the Outer Planets Alliance, which is viewed by many on Earth and Mars as a terrorist group.

The show follows a diverse array of people from across the solar system, all of whom struggle with tough choices as part of their survival. Turf wars are one thing, but the unstable situation becomes way more complicated after the discovery of the alien “protomolecule” on one of Saturn’s moons. At first, the protomolecule seems like just a terrible new plague—anyone who touches it is guaranteed a slow, agonizing death. But as The Expanse’s plot thickens, it soon becomes apparent that the substance’s unknown origins mean its capabilities extend way beyond the realm of human comprehension. That doesn’t stop sinister corporation Protogen (Earth-based, but working for the highest bidder) from immediately trying to weaponize it, first by unleashing it on thousands of unsuspecting Belters living and working on the asteroid Eros—and later by using it to turn a group of specially-selected children into terrifying “hybrid” supersoldiers.

By the end of season two, the existence of the protomolecule is no longer top-secret, and the stuff has become so widespread that wiping it out of existence is no longer possible. It’s so inescapable, “it’s part of the equation now,” as one of the characters points out in the season two finale. It has so far been the driving force behind every plot thread—what is it? Who has it? Where did it come from? What can it do? Oh fuck, what’s it doing now?—though the stakes vary depending on who’s involved.

Who’s who

R.I.P. First, we must mention two important characters who presumably met a fiery end when Eros, transformed from asteroid into giant missile by the protomolecule, smashed into Venus: Miller (Thomas Jane), a Belter and former police detective, and Julie Mao (Florence Faivre), the missing person he’d been hired. Though Julie was born a rich Earther, she joined the OPA in defiance of her father, slippery Protogen chief Jules-Pierre Mao (François Chau), and worked to expose his company’s plans for the protomolecule. While tracing her last known movements around the Belt, Miller—a hard-drinking, cynical loner—unexpectedly falls in love with her. Though she succumbs to the alien pathogen before they ever get to meet in person, he’s able to connect with her consciousness through the protomolecule (like we said, its capabilities extend way beyond the realm of human comprehension), and convinces her to steer Eros into Venus instead of its original target, Earth—thereby saving billions from annihilation. A sanitized version of their love story turns them into folk heroes around the Belt, though the loss of his daughter does nothing to change Jules-Pierre’s diabolical scheme.

The Rocinante crew Originally thrown together as co-workers on the doomed ice hauler Canterbury, Captain James Holden (Steven Strait), pilot Alex Kamal (Cas Anvar), engineer Naomi Nagata (Dominique Tipper), and mechanic Amos Burton (Wes Chatham) bond after surviving the one-two destruction of the Cant and then the Donnager, the Martian ship they encountered immediately after. After barely escaping both disasters—both caused, it’s later learned, by Protogen-affiliated stealth ships—in a Martian warship (later rechristened the Rocinante), and unwittingly finding themselves at the center of an interplanetary powder keg, they accept help from Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman), the head of the OPA-controlled Tycho Station. Though they’re a mixed group of Earthers, Martians, and Belters, and they butt heads a lot, they’re ultimately more loyal to each other than to any particular political faction. Each Roci crew member has their flaws, some more serious than others, but by the end of season two they’ve sort of all come around to Naomi’s declaration that “We have to do good where we can, when we can.” If that means breaking some laws here and there, well then so be it.

As luck (or not) would have it, they were among the first people outside of Jules-Pierre Mao’s organization to know about the protomolecule, having encountered it while searching the ship that helped get Julie Mao to Eros. That links them to Miller, who becomes a contentious member of their team for several episodes—and since the show’s overarching story is focused on the protomolecule, it makes them key players in The Expanse’s ongoing intrigue.

The botanist The newest arrival on the Rocinante is Prax Meng (Terry Chen), a mild-mannered botanist and single dad whose low-key life on agricultural outpost Ganymede was completely shattered when a battle between Earth and Mars devastated the station. He links up with the Roci crew after realizing he knows a doctor who’s got ties to Protogen’s black-ops division; he agrees to help them track the man down while he looks for his missing daughter. But while he’s searching for the girl, he realizes she’s been kidnapped into the human-protomolecule hybrid project. His quest to rescue her before she’s transformed into a terrifying supersoldier will no doubt be a big part of season three.

The diplomats United Nations assistant undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is as delightfully foul-mouthed as she is fabulously dressed. A master manipulator, she’s also the queen of the withering put-down, and she’s spent her entire career advocating on behalf of her beloved Earth. But as whip-smart as Chrisjen is, she underestimated the evil cunning of her boss at the UN, Sadavir Errinwright (Shawn Doyle), who was secretly working with Jules-Pierre Mao behind her back. After coming clean to Chrisjen about his misdeeds, and seemingly agreeing to fall on the sword for the Eros near-disaster, Errinwright murders his Martian counterpart (making it look like a heart attack), wrests control of the protomolecule project from Mao, and puts Chrisjen in his crosshairs. As season three will no doubt demonstrate, the time for polite meetings is way past over for these two former colleagues.

The Martian When we first meet Bobbie Draper (Frankie Adams) at the start of season two, she’s a tough, impulsive, totally gung-ho Martian marine, eager to put her training to use and put the smackdown on Earth. But she grows disillusioned after the Ganymede attack when she—the only surviving eyewitness—is forced by her superiors to lie about what happened, including, ahem, that part about the protomolecule-human hybrid she glimpsed ripping people apart on the battlefield. With nothing left for her on Mars, she defects to Earth and becomes part of Chrisjen’s posse, saving her neck when an outer-space meeting with Jules-Pierre Mao goes sideways after Errinwright’s betrayal.

The OPA leaders Fred Johnson (Chad L. Coleman) and Anderson Dawes (Jared Harris) are both OPA bigwigs, so they both believe above all else that the Belt comes first. But they’re pretty much unalike in every other way. Johnson was born on Earth and was a colonel in the United Nations Marine Corps (Earth’s military), but became a scapegoat (and then a pariah) after Earth wiped out a mining colony of rebellious Belters on his watch. Dawes, a born and raised Belter, recruited Johnson into the OPA, where the latter eventually rose through the ranks to control Tycho Station. Their relationship has grown unsteady over the years, thanks to Dawes’ increasingly radical tactics, which bump up against Johnson’s goal that the OPA should be given a seat at the diplomatic table on equal footing with Earth and Mars. But everything between them fractures forever over (what else?) the protomolecule, after Dawes kidnaps a Protogen scientist from Tycho Station, intending to use the man’s knowledge to bring the weapon to the Belt. Little does he know that Johnson has his own protomolecule stash, thanks to Roci engineer Naomi—a Belter who figured that if Earth and Mars both had their hands on it, the Belt should have it, too. Will the protomolecule inspire the two men to work together, and maybe even unite all of the various Belt factions into a united cause? Maybe??

Who (and what) will be new

So far, two new characters are known to be joining the main cast: Rev. Dr. Anna Volovodov (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Klaes Ashford (David Strathairn). In the books—with a storyline that will inevitably be somewhat altered to fit the TV show—Anna is an Earth-born Methodist minister living in a small colony on Europa who’s drawn into the investigation of “the Ring,” the alien gateway that forms as a result of the protomolecule’s activities on Venus. The Ring will likely be a huge part of season three, and (in the books, anyway) Ashford is also a key player in the storyline; he’s the Belter captain of the Behemoth—a battleship constructed by the OPA from the Mormon colony ship Nauvoo, which was commandeered by Fred Johnson in season two as part of the plan to destroy Eros. Beyond reading the novel series, however, the best glimpse of season three comes from the full-length trailer (as well as this very fun Syfy promo video), which suggests that Bobbie and Chrisjen will have some more buddy-team adventures (yes!), the Roci crew will butt heads (of course), Chrisjen will finally meet James Holden face to face, Prax’s daughter still appears to be 100 percent human, the protomolecule is still out there doing terrible things, and Chrisjen will reclaim her authority eventually, delivering a speech that promises—perhaps after the discovery of the alien stargate?—that “we will face the unknown together.”

Why you should watch

We’ve drooled over the characters and story above, but it’s still worth emphasizing yet again how nuanced and layered the writing on The Expanse really is. There’s also a ton of sly humor—mostly due to Chrisjen’s colorful way with language, as well as the excellent chemistry between the Roci mates—and genuinely emotional moments that the show really spends its time building toward, so that the eventual payoff is always earned. Plus, the show is great-looking and technically outstanding—its thrilling special effects (so many awesome, perilous space battles!) and perfectly-calibrated production design (from the sleek interior of the Roci, to Chrisjen’s impeccable accessories, to the eerie blue of the protomolecule) make The Expanse one of the most dazzling examples of scifi worldbuilding that television has ever seen. And, it goes without saying, it’s entertaining as hell. Get yourself some lasagne—the Roci crew meal of choice—and dig in, kopeng!

[theangrypokemaniac]

There's a sneering attitude that the dub is inherently inferior solely for being a dub, and when I say 'dub' I mean the American one. No one attacks the South American interpretation, funnily enough, or the variety that exist globally.

Why not if foreign languages are so abhorrent?  Do you think it's kewl to hate America?

That's so original you know.

If the moan centres on the dub changing certain things, well that's a pointless stance, because it's impossible to do otherwise.

What's accepted in one country is not always permitted elsewhere, so either you make those alterations or it's never shown. I'd prefer seeing a slightly toned down version rather than have it never reach the West at all.

This is without considering the technical obstacles that a direct translation brings. The words do have to fit the mouth movements, and if they don't, truncation must follow.

America and Japan are different; the population of the former are not going to comprehend the references to the latter's history and culture, which necessitates some divergence from the original to give it mass appeal.

Anime is a branch of entertainment. It has to attract the public's good will to stay in business. If impenetrable, it'll fail, with all the resulting unemployment and finacial losses that brings.

Those in charge of dubbing understandably think they're on safer ground promoting familiarity rather than the strange, but that's not to say Pokémon was stripped of its identity. On the contrary, it was like nothing I'd ever encountered before.

I may have watched Western cartoons then, but the idea of doing so now is silly. I won't give time to any modern animation unless it's Japanese. Growing up on the dub has not produced an ephemeral fan less serious or 'true'.

The 4Kids dub had wit, humour, deep emotion, suggestive comments and flights of fancy. The voices fitted the characters well.

Unlike the current one, where everyone sounds on the verge of vomiting, but then they're clearly working with substandard material on a miserly budget. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all.

Dubs can be bad, but the very state of being a dub doesn't confer worthlessness automatically. Considering the work gone into them, attempting to gain your favour, it seems rude not to appreciate the time and energy spent in production.

Knowing a little about history, sub-only fanatics remind me of the kind of folk who opposed an English Bible, because it was too good for the oiks to read the word of God.

Of course it was alright for them, rich enough to be taught Latin, but not so much the ordinary man.

It amuses me how dozens dismiss the dub, but see no hypocrisy in using its evidence to further their ship or anti-ship arguments, so it can't be that revolting.

It's also bizarre that so many hold sacred the sub of a series currently in a frenzy to shed every aspect of its anime and Japanese origins, leaving a vague, rootless ghost, supposedly making it easier to slip down the gullet of the masses.

Pokémon I've seen referred to as a 'gateway drug', as in the anime that introduced a generation to the entire concept. This means the dub. You would not have got enough kids in the late Nineties to read a screen rather than watch it, and even today most would lose interest rapidly.

Where would you be without that dub? Unless you're Japanese, your first experience of Pokémon will have been a dub, and if not the American, the one where you live, which was only made because there was the funds available.

You may have then progressed to watching the sub, but only because that dub stirred love in your soul.

Where would the franchise be without that dub? You think Pokémon would've grown to be a world-wide obsession raking in billions by itself? No, it'd still be a solely Japanese phenomena, and most likely never lasted this long.

Its decades of supremacy rests on the quality of that dub. It sold games and merchandise to kids by the ton, giving an incentive to keep the series going. If you're not a fan from the first wave, then your favourite era would have never existed had it not been financially attractive carrying on.

The team who wrote the first film actually preferred the dub, moved to tears by its emotive use of music, therefore they aren't so precious as the fans.

Where would anime be without that dub? Pokémon brought it to the West. A handful slipped through previously, but made minor impression.

To those who would dismiss Pokémon entirely in favour of more 'worthy' output such as Studio Ghibli, I would say that Pokémon, first the games, then the programme they inspired, must have an integral quality to have caught on in Japan, which isn't exactly short on similar concepts.

To have gained popularity in a crowded market, and so fervently a dub became an option, can only have come about because it held a certain magic.

It was the dub that smashed a hole in the cultural barrier, setting free the tidal wave to engulf the world. In Pokémon's trail followed Digimon, Cardcaptors, Monster Rancher, Yu-Gi-Oh! et cetera.

Without Pokémon, I doubt they'd have been translated, and definitely never broadcast on mainstream television. That came about as channels desperately hunted down anything Japanese to serve as the next craze.

I really appreciated the effort made by 4Kids in converting every aspect of the series to suit American tastes, including changing text on signs, letters and books into English. I assumed this was standard practice until I watched others.

I could never be as involved in them as I was Pokémon because of that block. It was like being denied access to the deeper waters, fenced into the shallows, and implied a rushed dub, with little care shown but to chase the same crowd and money.

If personified, the dub 'n' sub wouldn't be one human being, but rather identical twins: the same to a casual observer, but easy to tell apart by the more attentive.

It's like the games: Red and Blue are versions of a single adventure, but not totally one. Take the dub and the sub the same way. They are parallel dimensions running on separate rails, and beyond reconciliation, and that's before we consider that, sub and dub alike, each generation has only a faint relation to its predecessor, working on its own whims.

Everyone has a favourite, or can like both, and there's nothing wrong in that, but so many are proud of the fact they hate the dub, as if it conveys a revered status of supremacy.

When Disney films are shown abroad, they too are translated, and I'm sure references and jokes are redesigned to make sense to the locals. It's no use selling yourself as a comedy then being surprised when the audience refuses to laugh, having no idea what you mean.

If people prefer that one, for being what introduced them to Disney as a whole, or as a fond memory of childhood, then so what?

I don't mind if their view of a character is minutely at odds with mine, having seen the original, because what they think is canon to their version, so can't be wrong.

I don't go round declaring every Disney dub to be pathetic by its nature, that viewers of them are of a lesser breed of fan for preferring their own tongue, even though more of the world's population understand English than they do Japanese.

If you enjoy one tailored to your country there's no crime in it, just as I like one at least comprehensible to mine. It's not even my culture, but I pick it up mostly.

The choice must be made on which to follow, and this blog runs on dub canon, as that has a claim on my heart. Just because I don't acknowledge what takes place in the sub doesn't mean I'm unaware of it, but it has no bearing on what I write.

The idea that the dub alters things willy-nilly without rhyme nor reason is also mistaken. Often it does it because the original does not make sense.

In the sub, I know Nanny and Pop-Pop are just a couple of old duffers taken at random and dropped in to a castle, supposedly as James's far away nannies.

Oh yeah, that's a cushy position. You doing a lot of child care from miles off?

Mind you, it used to describe 'em as 'caretakers' on Bulbapædia, as if Nan serves as housekeeper whilst Pop tends to the garden.

That's right. Ma and Pa finally got some work out of this pair of freeloaders.

They're not related, remember? No, no, absolutely not, no way. Of course their style reflects that. They just gave Pop a 'tache, thick eyebrows and a bigger nose, and Nan got a bun and lines in her hair, but there's certainly no connection. Oh no. Such a thing is ridiculous.

They're NOT family. No. Yet Hoenn James still panics they might learn he's joined Team Rocket, spending the whole episode trying to hide the truth.

Why? Who are servants to criticise the son of their employers? Why should their opinion be of any consequence to Hoenn James, especially when his parents, fiancée and butler are cognizant of reality?

Children of aristocrats are usually brought up by governesses, thus develop a stronger attachment to these figures rather than their parents, but that isn't the case here.

James lived with Ma and Pa, not the codgers minding the castle. He would have very little contact with distant employees compared to those who waited on him daily, so why seek out their approval?

Hoenn James apparently was permitted visits to Nan 'n' Pop, which is strange considering they're not relatives. Why them and not any other house-stters?

That's right, Ma and Pa sent their son to one of their properties without them, entrusting him to the care of two shrivelled pensioners of his size that he barely knew, and who could keel over at any minute. There are no other servants present. Apparently Nan and Pop clean an entire castle by themselves.

Oh, and they run a makeshift Pokémon sanctuary, but since it's not their home it has to be done with Ma and Pa's blessing, who also have to pay for it, but they're eevul aren't they?

The idea that somehow Nanny and Pop-Pop have not cottoned on to James's occupation by now is risible.

Servants gossip about their masters. I bet the entire household of his home know, and so in turn does the county. That Nan and Pop remain oblivious proves how isolated they are, for no one's thought to inform them.

When it came to dubbing it, they were made his grandparents, removing all the above nonsense. Of course he visits his nan and granddad, it's their gaff and their money funding the place, and it is likely his mother or father would keep James's job a secret, for fear the shock would finish 'em off.

It should do really. If they're not bothered by it that's a sign of where his rapscallion ways were inherited.

They aren't facially akin to Ma and Pa, but display the same additions, so if staff it's bloody lazy, as if nannies have to resemble your parents, but inventing a blood link excuses the slothful characterisation.

Every reference I've seen on Tumblr relating to the coffin-dodgers calls them Nanny and Pop-Pop. Apparently the dub decision is met with universal approval. It does have redeeming aspects then.

Now the sub writers, rather than ignore this development, took to it too. They aren't exactly bursting with ideas these days and are probably grateful for the lifelines offered.

Remembering James had parents, they forced a likeness between them and Nanny and Pop-Pop. How else do you explain the inexplicable ageing, even when Sinnoh Ma and Sinnoh Pa are younger than Ma and Pa?

I've also known for years that the sub has this woman as Jessie's foster mother, not Ma Jess, but that's stupid.

I can grasp the idea that Jessie and Ma might have endured extreme deprivation, considering that's what Team Rocket has brought to Jessie anyway, and that they may have lived at the bottom of Mew's mountain prior to Ma's death.

What I find difficult to take in is that social services (or as they're known where I live, the S.S.), however notoriously awful they are, would give a child to a mad bitch in a shack with no running water.

Come on, they have to at least pretend to be concerned for Jessie's welfare.

As Jessie is very young, bereavement can't have befallen her in the distant past, so how can she be happy this soon after becoming an orphan? How could the grieving period be a cherished memory?

If that woman's creaming off the money, why hasn't she fixed the place up by now? Where do the payments go, sniffing glue?

Then there's the depiction. If this is just some daft bint never to be mentioned again, why do they conceal her face? Who cares what she looks like when she's unimportant?

Here's another figure from Jessie's past. She isn't disguised, and why not when she too briefly appears and is then forgotten?

Who was she?

The only sort of characters they tended to hide were other members of Team Rocket:

During the early scenes featuring Giovanni, he was enveloped in shadow, adding both intrigue and a sense of menace.

Madame Boss also got this treatment, even though there was probably no intention to ever feature her in the anime. What's the use in keeping an appearance a mystery if it'll remain masked?

With that pattern, it implies this woman is in the same category, like Ma Jess.

When it came to animation, it definitely was intended to be a foster mother. Not her real one. No.

What did they do?

They gave her Jessie's skin tone and purple hair hanging down her back!

You know, like Ma Jess?

Any colour would've done. Any at all, and being anime I do mean any colour, but no. The choice was made to give her the looks of the exact person she's not meant to be!

Is it that surprising the dub simplified things?

I don't mind if you like the dub, sub, both, or any from around the world, but I'm tired of the smug condescension, as if we all agree the sub is the only one that counts, and that dub fans are grunting troglodytes, or not 'proper' aficionados.

None of us would be here were it not for the dub. Pokémon would not be here. I think it deserves some respect for how much of a difference it made, to my life and to yours.