#which is shown as an important part of ppls humanity and goodness

[technicallyaminecraftsimp]

The only thing worse than having to write about a book you don’t understand is not being able to rightfully describe what you understand about the book

[vincent-cyborg]

Ok so about my Dinoverse AU

I call it an AU cuz it has my OCs in it,in order to avoid issues with people thinking I claim the Dino's games as my own, therefore it's fanon by calling it an AU,in order to separate my work from Dino's games

Now back to my main point: My Dinoverse AU has my OC/Muse as the main character cuz since it's just fanwork, I will try my best not to involve too much of Dino's games for reasons, mostly so ppl won't say I'm trying to change the Dinoverse games to my liking despite not being the Creator

The Muse I mentioned,her name is MC,it doesn't stand for "Main Character",but for "Marinetta Carolina",her actual first name and middle name,last name is Carolois, I call her MC for short,but you can say it's a fun play on the word Main Character

I had a theory about Vanora that I mentioned which I put in this AU of mine:

Vanora is a corporate product of Myers Corporation,we don't know what her past was like so I'm just really speculating with this -> When Vanora was created,Monsieur M wanted her to be more human-like. So he enrolled her into a high school (I mean she was probably a cyborg,not a baby) where MC was studying hence it was how they became best friends. I'm not sure if Vanora has her name at birth,since it implied she came up with that name in the flashback with Claude and the murder case of Emanon, still this is unsure to me

I'm still naming her Vanora in her highschool years when she was friends with MC,in order to avoid confusion

Plus I also think that since with the memory core and the various clones we've seen,as shown in Phantom of the G4, it's highly likely that Vanora "died" many times before,she switched bodies,she had modifications on her own body

In a Discord group I used to be active in,someone once mentioned about the Vanora in VTSOM and POTG4 are possibly different,that we might be looking at her clone/new body instead of the same Vanora from the game prior to VTSOM

I know that Phantom of the G4 is un-canon already but I still think it's important to note

I think that with each body change or resurrection,Vanora's memories are in tatter,hence how she's ridden with amnesia when VTSOM first started,well she was probably in a new body so it took time before all the memories came back. Her name,Vanora was probably her original one but she also forgot about it

It's also rather fucked up how in my AU,the Vanora MC befriended in highschool was possibly the first Vanora,the prototype,the original one

There was a 10 years gap before MC and Vanora met again in the G4 Investigation Bureau,they parted ways after graduating highschool,MC with her personal life/reasons that she must leave Vanora's side and Vanora probably had to go back to Myers for her "upgrades" if you know what I mean

Yeah Dinoverse actually got me into the fucked up SciFi world. I can tell you more but this is the least I can tell you for now

(( OOC: oh wow! this is alot of content, pretty good stuff right here I think its pretty cool and I hope your expanding on this or something idk but it sounds amazing Great work :)!!

[boiled-dennis]

i really liked the tags you added to my trash twins analysis! esp because you are right that not a lot of ppl in this community actually have or know much about npd, it is always super interesting to see your input on how dennis and his behavior point towards him havin npd/aspd. its refreshing seeing someone give insight on that that isnt just 'haha hes secretly a serial killer with no feelings so hes a psychopath!!!1!!' lmaooo

ahh thanks i thought your post itself was great, i really enjoy reading what people have to say about the way dee and dennis were raised , there's a lot of interesting stuff to pick up on and interpret. also so much more that could be said about dennis and personality disorders (as well as the rest of the gang), but with my current level of energy it's easiest to build off other people's observations tbh. for some reason i just started typing a shit ton of words here and i don't know why it happened, but-

it's kinda neat to me how that one common reaction that viewers have to dennis is in response to the persona we see he wants people to perceive him as (in his own desperate protective way), but we Also get to see the vulnerable, scared side of him and the way he puts on this act—and often, fans either ignore this side, or they have their sanist view of it and think it's even more evidence of him being a "psychopath". i know a lot of people do watch it only in a surface-level way, which i'm not going to criticise, but there's way more nuance to these characters than i guess a lot of people care to see. so if they are going to discuss it, i wish they'd be more thoughtful..

dennis is clearly a destructive, harmful person, but his actions don't mean he's "evil" or that he can't be a whole person with his own problems and feelings. that's one part of the show and his character that i really appreciate; i know there's been discussions in the past about this, but it's interesting how the show isnt a continuation of the all-too repeated idea that abusive people are one-dimensionally bad, purely evil, and not even people but more like. wickedness incarnate? like an entity that exists only to hurt & hate people. and there's the opinion that abusive characters shouldn't be portrayed as normal humans because that itself would somehow teach people to excuse their actions or think "but they still have some good in them", but that's more like. people's own responsibility to understand not to do. of course the gang can be cruel in cartoonish, heightened ways, but i feel with the understood rules of their world, it's not the exact same as real life actions (also the fact that they are indeed fictional characters). it's just important to have an understanding that being abusive is an active choice, and not something predestined because of personality disorders or whatever other qualities one might have!

to revisit the thing about dennis in reality vs how fans often view him- we see hints or direct portrayals of his true emotional state all throughout the show, but people insist on saying he's "emotionless"/has no feelings, even aside from his constant emotional outbursts. it's consistent with how real-life people with several cluster B personality disorders are invalidated (often seen as having contradictory symptoms/observable behaviour, and therefore faking emotions in order to be manipulative), and it's oddly kinda comforting because for me it just confirms my specific view of dennis. i just can't get over how many people who really like dennis and the show are fundamentally misunderstanding his character and insist on viewing him in a way that not only he himself is deeply hurt by (i know he isn't real btw), but also directly contradicts what we've always been shown about his real feelings, just because it fits the mould of the crazy psychopath that they want him to be. idk, sometimes it feels like people deliberately ignore some characters' complexities because they don't want their worldview to change so that they start viewing real people as equally complex and more than a stereotype.

[toothlesshat]

Oh don't worry it's not sexist. If anything it's a complaint about ppl being secret. Basically... it's about character design.

So like... i keep running into the debate about whether or not female characters should have things like breasts and large hips and stuff and it's kinda driving me nuts!! Like... for one thing, it's not the character who is the problem, I get where ppl who claim characters who's designs were changed to censor a more curvaceous design (like Ms. Vellum form Powerpuff Girls) are coming from if the reason behind their design are an integral part of their characters but I also see those same ppl turn around and complain that a character who basically is summed up to being an anthromorphic space cat adventurer living in a robodystopia as a member of a resistance cell not having breasts at all and I'm like "and why does this character need them!? Especially when there are plenty of other characters in this exact same series you are complaining about with those same overblown features your are complaining about!?"

And then there's the people who are against character thay do have mature features being shown like... it's jsut.... IGH! I'm just gonna get to my point before I go into that mess and divert the convo too much hut...

WHY is the body type of female characters so important for so many people to complain about!? There are a 1001 different male body type in media and no one gets into hot topic debates over which male body type is best, why the hell are they doing it for female characters instead of just letting people design their character how they want!! I have characters with big hips, thin hips, big breaststroke, small breasts. Heck most of my anthromorphic characters have a mix of large bips and flat chests simply because the way I draw their legs makes literally impossible not to have large hips and I generally don't give characters large breasts if they aren't human, there is nothing wrong with that, the chest area itself will still be proportional, they jsut don't got massive chonkers!!!

So yeah I just needed to vent because as an artist who draws a lot of female characters I don't get why the hell so many ppl need to get up in my business about whether I put books on a cat or snake character or not

I think the real problem is that there’s this really weird and uncomfortable normalization of policing women’s bodies that manages to bleed into fiction and we contradict ourselves a lot trying to fight it. Because, on one hand, this starts because women are drawn to be overly sexual for no reason and that sucks, so we agree that needs to be stopped because that is its own form of body policing. But then we start policing how other people draw women based on our own notions of how it should be done, which comes from our own bias and experiences (for example, I’m personally very flat chested, so I prefer more flat chested characters) and we end up contradicting the thing we were fighting against in the first place!

It’s so… complicated and irritating! I think the worst part is that we look at woman’s bodies and immediately try to decide if they’re good or bad instead of just… bodies. I guess it’s different with art though, because you can decide how the body looks in that situation but idk. It’s messy and idk how to conclude this lol

[notmanagingmymischief]

hi ! so i saw that you had some difficulty understanding that post about white culture criticism, so i tried my best to sort it out for you, given that you asked yourself for some help on this topic <3

i do recognize that for things that tend to not be the main focus of our learning, they are indeed hard to understand about, but pls know that theres nothing to be mad about ! its only a matter of learning, some more diverse research and pratice ofc ^^

firstly: op talks about the concept that white folks have created and over-used called "dont like, dont consume" but still managing to be incredily tone deaf regarding actual content to be left behind for having negative representation/imagery

"dont like, dont consume" is on itself a "pathetic" concept because it introduces the mindset of those who choose to partake in solemnly easily understandable media content and remain ignorant towards the nuance and complexity that lies within any and all fandoms. of course, liking an easily understable type of content is totally ok !!, but to deliberately choose to shut down those who are more skeptical of it and simply tell those who analyze such a thing in more different lens than simply "this is a good show/book/etc" is a very negative type of behaviour to pursue when in midst of a community with people who will inneviatably have different opinions. they didnt mean that "ppl should say that your content is trash and youd have no right to defend yourself", but that they should be allowed to express opinions that dont particularly allign with yours, and that they should do so without having to explain themselves in such complicated details or find any specific and morally acceptable reason or anything to prove why it should be ok to enjoy or dislike something.

"mostly white and even more so white women, have made it some kind of social crime to talk abt disliking things. the whole 'if u don't like, don't read/watch/etc'"

is really just an argument over the whole concept created by mostly white people in which all nuanced thoughts and negative views over a certain type of media are blatantly ignored and treated as if something to be not had within a fandom they partake into/are part of, and tend to devote most of their personality and feelings into. by turning a blind eye to such thoughts, they erase any and all possibilities of properly complex discussion - the very own foundation of what it means to be part of a fandom/community - and so when such things are actually brought up to light, without the proper knowledge acquired through actual communication, the first emotion that surges through is defense and questioning - which we know very well that leads to fear and anger, very basic human instincts.

so, from blatant ignorance, the lack of nuanced understanding grows, and leads to more chances of heated discussions and shitty arguments made by those who actually have no knowledge whatsoever on how to healthily interact with outside opinions, and to what then opens space for over-protectiveness of this media (or just general unhealthy aspects/feelings).

and that is what also leads to ops next argument

"but even when there are ample reasons to hate a piece of media (racism, transmisogyny, or something of that sort at its core) those freaks act like it can still be "enjoyed critically" despite the fact that any critical thinking and basic morals would make it impossible to enjoy"

by the loss of common knowledge and critical thinking (given the lack of experience over proper discussion with different ppl about this mutually known media), when more gravely important things as stated above are shown, the development of over-protectiveness, dependence and lack of knowledge makes it so they keep on maintaining contact with this toxic media and shame those who are actively trying to discuss such concepts in a thouroughly comprehensive and non-toxic way (therefore being now not just ignorance but blatant discrimination agaisnt those - most of the time oppressed - groups who are desperately working for the acknowledgement of toxicity within this media)

to "enjoy critically" when the content is close to unconsumable is what white ppl do in order to stay dependent of something that brings meaning to them. and to refuse to actually be open towards new perspectives and opinions, in cases like this - but really. in any way - is very very fucked.

at the last reblog op really was just explaning that this was not about any specifics, but rather the criticism of something that has been building itself up for years and years, and that has been an influence in all of the internet. not just for fandoms, communities, or creative works like yours and of your friends, but really the entirety of a "culture" that has been around for so much longer. this was about white ppl being intentionally oblivious towards their favorite medias, but also discriminatory, ignorant and blatantly shitty towards any and all forms of nuance, common respect and knowledge on what is to be part of a place that houses not only them, but all of those who are willing to share their thoughts.

and so with that, to summarize it:

no, you liking some kind of content and someone else disliking it is absolutely not an excuse for hate and pointlessly cruel arguments - sometimes also very one-sided - (on neither of sides), and learning that to be able to communicate and comprehend that nuance lies within such things is the very first thing you need to have in your mind when partaking into social groups - specially so many negative things presented dont come to happen to you or the others around you.

pls know that i dont intend to sound mean or harsh (you know i would never do that to you, no matter what we may be talking about /gen), but a more formal and direct approach is always easier to understand imo and so i hope it might come to be the same for you. if you ever need to talk about smth, feel free to dm me or send an ask, and ill try my best to come to terms with it alongside you <3

See? THIS is what I need. This is very long but it explains things in a way that I can understand. Thank you, Jupiter, since op clearly didn’t see fit to be proper and explain, and instead decided to tell me to shut the fuck up and stop complaining. Although they are clearly five years old if their reply was anything to go by.

Thank you though 💚

[papers4me]

Fruits Basket, SE03, Ep3

This ep is exactly like se02, ep 24, meaning it was divided clearly into two parts. While the graduation theme unties the two parts, you can point things out exactly like ep,24:

1st part : Machi’s story= the important part.

2nd part: scattered parts here & there that concern yuki, ep, 24 his interactions with akito, here his interactions with Motoko).

plus, an ep cliff hanger: (e, 24 the dvd given to kureno, here, Isuzu’s mysterious fate).

it is exactly the same even a small kyo/tohru moment!. School graduation instead of the zodiac’s new year gathering. 

Really awkward pacing, but that’s furuba, we celebrate when they DO connect dots for once! lets talk abt the REAL ep: MACHI.

-Machi’s awkward presence:  

Although I love Machi, I’ve voiced my concerns abt her character in Furuba:

It seemed that Machi was solely created to be a step in yuki’s success journey more than a character on her own right. After getting motherly love (tohru) leaving the nest, Yuki needed friendship (kakeru), then as an independent man, he needs romantic love: (Machi). This is all fine initially but I was yearning for more individuality for Machi as a character. All furuba characters were given space to be unique including minor characters like Motoko who narrated her own story each time she’s on screen & we lived it with her within two seasons & a number of eps.

 However, Machi’s background was introduced thro her brother’s exposition in se02 & that moment was a yuki/ kakeru bonding moment.

Thro kakeru’s exposition  we learned how similar yuki & machi are (the parental neglect, high expectations, cold sibling relationship, Big brother saves himself by himself, big brother pushing for redemption & the younger sibling’s still trapped silently ). While that makes for romantic appeal between the two which makes the writer’s job easier, it steals from Machi individuality.

Then her part in ep, 24 was shown & I was given hope for Machi’s individuality as her own inner voice spoke volumes abt her as a person away from yuki (romantic interest) or Kakeru (big brother). Having a lot of screen time, while can make a character more believable to the audience, is never a factor in character’s depth nor individual worth. Heck! kyo (part of the main trio & the main character’s love interest) has only ONE ep in se02 to explore his issues & by far it is my fave ep in se02 as it established kyo’s trauma, psyche, mental issues & emotional baggage better than I could ever imagine! You can DO WONDERS with little time if you knew what to do. That’s what happened with Machi this ep (half ep).

-Machi’s shines! (trauma & romance):

I was so relieved to learn that altho both Machi & yuki despised perfection as it suffocated them, the writer (thankfully) went abt a different approach with Machi. Unlike Yuki who went silent cuz he felt his voice didn’t matter as he was used as a tool, Machi went silent cuz she was was NOT needed, & not only discarded but painted as WRONG. If you admit that raising me this way is wrong, then what does this make me? What should I do with myself? I’m wrong! boring, a failure, & a presumed killer!! all while I was absolutely doing my best! all while I was having good intentions! It is devastating but It makes Machi real. A character on her own right with her own trauma, struggle, pain & outlook on life. Although, the writer made the whole yuki/Machi meeting orchestrated by Kakeru to quickly make the two siblings one step closer, it worked cuz kakeru chose to not interfere after setting the scene. He played a subtle mach maker & tried to find happiness for his sister silently. Kakeruy is yuki’s best buddy & Machi becoming the girlfriend, the trio will have to hang out more which will slowly but surely warm Machi towards Kakeru. While the flat visit is the part where Machi open the lid to Yuki with a spark of romance at the end, the chalk scene is the romantic part! Not only did Yuki noticed her panic & saved her by breaking a piece of chalk, she secretly remembered his promise! “ lets make footprints on the snow”. The snow that was another source of anxiety attack, is now sth she looks forward to & prays for! Truly romantic!!! Well-done writer.

Side Notes:

I know furuba is shoujo & it’s abt love, but C’mon! where did Nao/ Motoko come from??!! XDD Who is left without love interest? Kyo’s rejected fangirl loved by one of kyo’s buddies? The maids in love with Akito? Momiji? Who does Kimi love besides money? XD

Yuki once observed that kyo makes tohru happy with small things, Today he did the same! A broken piece of chalk.

Yuki/ Machi romantic scenes contrast Yuki/ tohru forced romantic scene at the earlier seasons. There is no lame cringy lines like “ I’ll kidnap you & go to a vacation” or kissing a ribbon. There is NO acting or pretentious lines. Here a piece of chalk did the trick, an understanding of her tears & a head pat, a promise to walk on snow together! Congratulations Yuki, You made it into romantic boyfriends category! XD. also, good writing!

The Bra scene is the real comedy in the ep.

Arisa’s “ kyon, we won’t forgive you if you hurt tohru” is gold cuz kyo WILL. When it’s time to confess he knew kyoko & she HATES him & doesn’t forgive him, tohru would be hurt! Even if she wasn’t in love with kyo!!! Knowing your beloved’s last words were hateful is painful!! Add to this that tohru loves kyo & would be struggling between forgiving him or not!! Add to this that kyo might NOT want to be forgiven!!

“ I won’t forgive you”. kyo’s haunting reminder that he’s unforgivable is now shared by kyoko, yuki, Hana & Arisa!! 

look, you might argue that furuba’s romantic writing might be a bit awkward with all sorts of romantic couples, age gaps, the need for everybody to be in love one way or the other & so on, but the traumatic behavioral writing is the best!!!!! I was never disappointed with how Takaya write abused traumatized children’s behavior. One of my fave scenes is yuki/ kyo in the stairs in se02 where kyo lashed out on yuki & yuki was over it. While that scene was rightfully celebrated for yuki’s triumphant attitude as he got over his trauma, I love it for the realistic trauma filled attitude of kyo, all charged with kyoko’s flashback! He’s in deep & he’s all by himself! Kyo will hurt tohru cuz he loves her just like how kazuma hurt him by forcefully taking his bracelet cuz he loves him. Kyo will be thinking it is for the best, who would want to be with someone that kyoko of all ppl hates!

 I’ll tolerate all the weird love couples in furuba, but the moment trauma is written weakly I’ll drop the show. There is NO way, kyo will confess kyoko’s lines then go “sorry abt that tohru, we’re good?” 

Back to Machi, I really hope that her trauma isn’t merely wrapped up cuz yuki loved her. Furuba was never abt love heals, it is abt love helps. We might not see more of her trauma for reasons of space, or not related to the current plot lines, but I really hope we hear her talk abt herself with yuki even few lines. Although, I feel that the focus now will be on setting her for yuki’s next stage in character development: honesty in the love confession. He’ll tell her abt the curse as the trailer hinted at. That’s their first love life struggle. But if I were to take a guess, it will be dealt with quickly like her trauma. She loves yuki dearly & as long as he walks with her in snow (human or rat, lol), it’s all good. <3

Hior’s mom is love.

Kagura’s new style is love! she isn’t dressed overly cutely anymore, but had a more comfortably style & I love her hair! also her friendship with Isuzu! <3. I wish Isuzu would really know there are ppl worried abt her in her life. Haru isn’t the only one.

Akito put Isuzu in the cat room, didn’t she? The place she left is similar to the place young Kazum wandered to in se01, ep25. & those scissors....

I never thought that the mere sight of shigure’s face will disgust me. XD. I still find him so intriguing, but yeah need time to get over the fact that he slept with Ren & counted it even with Akito, then slept with Akito afterwards! EWWW! so disgusting & I’m here to see this drama escalate!

Yuki / Machi moment was interrupted! XD It’s not fun when it happened to you, yuki? XD.

[appledotcodotuk]

why the hive fckin suck at its job: a rant

spoilers for tgwdlm ahead!

first of all, it's important to consider what exactly the hive's job is. my answer is... who the fuck knows. literally. what is the hive's aim. what do you want Paul? more like, what do you want hive? let's find out!

it kinda evolves, as the play progresses. the intial aim of the hive, and one that does actually remain consistent is the constant burning need to grow and devour and gain more and more (insert capitalism metaphor here).

however, this is distorted by the people it possess who influence that aim, as we'll see later.

also the fact it crashes into a theatre displaying Mamma Mia gives the hive the motive it need to fit the world around it to the structure of the musical. having no originality of its own, the hive instead just picks up what is given to it. kinda like an evil baby.

it wants uniformity, that is indeed its ultimate goal and desire, no duh. it thinks it can achieve that through musical theatre, shame that the hive is dead wrong. cause the hive fucking sucks at its own job / aim / ultimate purpose / one concrete goal that motivates all its actions.

can't maintain control over its subjects

okay, so, the hive wants uniformity. it wants everyone to be dancing to the beat of its own tune. right? yeah. shame it literally can't keep its own possessed subjects in line at all. at the risk of sounding like the 10th doctor waxing lyrical abt humanity for the 50th time, humans are really difficult to control cause we're not really motivated by an altruistic allegiance to one primary good. we've got icky emotions that often move us to do stupid unpredictable stuff way more. it makes me wonder if the reason the hive wanted to use musical theatre to try and persuade ppl was cause it seems to think that is how theyll get emotive humans; through emotive songs. anyways. let's look at some examples shall weeeee?

Mr Davidson:

so, Mr Davidson. funnily enough, he's the guy whose in part acting as the hive trying to figure out what it wants through his interactions w/ Paul. every person it possess gives it just a bit more humanity and curiosity abt the world it is currently taking over. at least I think so. hence why as the musical develops u get character's like possessed!Alice wondering 'why does it hurt to love?' - the change in music and mood to something much more introspective really suggests to me that the hive is beginning to question the thoughts and emotions of its human hosts.

Mr Davidson is a family man through and through, he loves his wife Carol. she's his muse, his source of light. his feelings for her are not concrete or easy to explain and solve - hence why his sudden ahem demand of her is so hilarious and also jarring. it completely clashes with the 'I want song' which is simple, and often pushes forward a wider cause. not so with Mr Davidson, he just really loves his wife man. enough to break a frickin alien possession.

tbh I think its hilarious that (at least to me) the hive has to force him to forget and continue with the song, like, he straight up is just talking to his wife in that phone call, talking, not singing. so, no possession until he reverts back into song. ergo, the hive cannot maintain the uniformity it wants. even from the get go when theoretically its control should be stronger cause it has less ppl to co-ordinate. bad. at. its. job.

Paul:

this one hurts folks. yes, I know it's generally agreed, though somewhat debated that the state of Paul by the end of the tgwdlm is not purely possessed. I agree. once again, the hive is unable to truly enforce uniformity.

at this point, the motives of Paul and the hive are kinda just mixed, neither fully human nor fully alien. hence the constant shifts between pleeing for her to get away, to hide, to stay safe: 'what if the only choice is you have to sing to survive' and just full on old style hive nastiness 'let me puke in your mouth and just open your food bin girl' (so romantic 🥰 /j).

the hive has gone away from its original aim, and become something... different. no longer stuck to just one type of genre or style of song, it's really clever to show the developing complexity of the hive by showing how it is now juggling lots of different motifs with references to all the old songs from before recontextualised in a new way - its learning. evil baby... no longer uniform.

general miscommunication:

there are several instances of the hive not fully having uniform control over its subjects. for instance, right after not your seed with the three teens having to like... calibrate. they aren't just completely connected then?? also, this is a very small thing, but uhhhh at the end of inevitable when Paul is about to say the apotheosis is upon... the chorus interrupts him with USSSSSSS. interruptions??? not very in sync of u hive.

I think this inability to exert uniformity is also shown in the contrast between genre of musical theatre. my alien abomination cannot decide whether it wants to be the more modern edgy rock musical (join us (and die), not your seed ) or super happy go lucky old style musical theatre (lah dee dah dah day, and inevitable). it tries to do both, even while trying to encourage union, and sticking to one thing. hypocrite!!!!!

2. aims are guided by the people it possess

so, I mentioned this a bit already, but the hive isn't only mutating the humans, the humans are mutating the hive right back. this is more an interesting observation than any actual analysis but let's goooo.

greenpeace girl:

I think it's very likely that greenpeace girl is one of the first to be possessed. This is probably easily debunkable but whatever this analysis is flying by the seat or its pants anywayyyyy. why? cause where else would it pick up that whole 'this planet needs fixing' thing? it's interesting too, cause it morphs from expressing the desire to join hands and sing together, unity and peace with no actual action behind it. this then goes right to the other end, with the hive going 'fine I'll do it myself' and trying to save things by enforcing a dictatorship on the world. it develops and changes, and strays from its original means of accomplishing its aims! speaking oooooof...

3. inconsistent in means of accomplishing aims

okay, ur an evil hive mind. u think musicals are the way to win over these silly humans cause they're all weak and emotive and seem to respond to them. but, wait! schwoopsie! you haven't realised that for emotional depth and growth to mean anything, you need there to be established development and well... growth. otherwise the sentiments are as vague as the ones expressed in What Do You Want, Paul?

this show has genuine emotional moments, just not really during the musical numbers WITH EXCEPTIONS. any strife is smoothed over quickly, and so the development and change that would have to go into such growth is just gone. (see, You Tied Up My Heart) all so it can achieve its own desire to grow and grow and grow, maybe a metaphor for art being killed under late stage capitalism??

what actually matters is the impact the songs have afterwards, in causing a death - because we have a bond and care abt these characters. those short scenes between Paul and Emma are actually way more resonant than any song. except... inevitable, and also not your seed a bit. at this point the hive has learnt a thing or two, and can actually twist human emotion a little. but for it to do that, it has to reject the uniformity it prizes, and be adaptable. point towards being more human than it first thought? methinks so. and yet it's just not enough...

it's also why let it out, to me, feels really ingenuine. Paul has expressed himself in much better ways already. what they're doing is clearly paining him, and hurting the guy. he's terrified bless.

you can't force someone into being emotional vulnerable, man.

it's why all the deaths for the characters who are forced to express themselves are really violent, involving them being ripped open - literally forcing them to expose themselves from the 'inside out' as Alice reflects in Not Your Seed. you can't force genuine emotional connection, it has to be fostered, shown in the much more affecting relationship of Paul and Emma. the only reason the hive actually has power over our characters is because of these genuine emotional connections, which it tries and often fails to take advantage of, resulting in just resorting to brute violence. messy hive, very messy.

at the core, the musical's a kinda attack on that toxic positivity mindst: trying to force people to reach the sort of easy solutions by sharing feelings in a way that feels pretty invasive and deciding you are instantly fixed. the problems these characters face are jarringly not really what you'd expect a character in a musical to face, cheating, a lot of it, mid-life crisis. problems that are bland, or wayyyy too real. this is purposefully done, to reveal just how silly the hive's aim to use musical theatre to solve everyone's problem is. life is more complex than that smh.

4. a human can write a much more expressive, and genuine song than they ever could lol

u know which song I'm talking abt. what more is there to say. so much for making persuasive songs to tempt people over.

5. make me sad cause they took some perfectly nice ppl and funked them up 😭

this was a stupid point lol. basically I'm just bitter that this hive took a bunch of perfectly okay ppl and gave them hive brain. screw u hive. I swear I'm gonna watch Black Friday soon, cause I'm sure it's gonna completely destroy every thought I've had so far, but whateve,,, just take this as a look at tgwdlm like it's a stand-alone piece.

these guys are supposed to all be 'individuals' on one level, but also 'appendages of a much larger organism'. there's a little too much individualism and fracturing to be cohesive enough to do that I feel. the hive to me is not an infallible, unstoppable force, in fact, every human it takes over only brings it closer to understanding us. so that's maybe a slight positive note??? idk ?! I just have lots of thoughts and feelings abt this musical even if this doesn't make sense I'm proud i wrote it down hehe.

[thewebcomicsreview]

Homestuck 2 has updated! Christmas is ruined!

Previously, on Homestuck 2: Literally nothing happened, and a non-trivial portion of the patreon supporters gave up and quit. Can this update pull a Christmas miracle and right the sinking ship of Homestuck 2? Probably not, but let’s find out! 

We’re back in Candyland, having completely skipped over Karkat and John talking about Dave’s apparent death, because this comic is only interested in long conversations when they’re boring and not about anything at all. That’s alright, I got the gist of it.

When Karkat is finally gone, John still doesn’t move. It isn’t as though he has nowhere else to go, since there are quite a few places he might attempt to make himself useful, for better or for worse.

So, it appears to be morning now, meaning that John’s son has been missing in a war zone for almost 24 hours and I guess John literally forgot Harry existed?

Prediction: This conversation is going to end in some variant of “Where is our son?” “Oh shit!”

ROXY: hey john can u do me a quick solid

ROXY: actly idk how quick itll be but its definitely solid

ROXY: harry anderson says i just missed u being here but could u skip back on over?

What.

So, I went back and checked, and apparently nowhere is it explicitly said that Harry Anderson was also looking for the Vriskas, so I guess he....stayed home? Which makes sense, I suppose, but maybe a “Stay here I’ll go look for them” would’ve helped. I wasn’t the only one who thought Harry was out looking for Vriska too. 

ROXY: sup

ROXY: follow me

ROXY: well were just going to my room so i guess technically u know the way

JOHN: haha ok.

John follows, trying to shake the ominous feeling he got from what she’d just said. He’d been in and out of this house a lot in the past few days. Why should this be any different?

Is Roxy....horny? Is the solid she’s looking for John’s dick? I mean, that’d make her saying Harry wasn’t available kind of weird, but I think this framing is a fake-out.

...

What the fuck is that lamp, Jesus Christ it’s awful. Just a cat’s asshole, facing the door.

ROXY: r u kiddin me rn egbert

JOHN: i’m not? unless you were, in which case yeah lets say i was also kidding.

JOHN: oh my god, i’m sorry, i don’t know why this making me freak out.

ROXY: i remember our past boot knockin with fondness but that is a situation im not interested in revisiting

Oh hey, it was a fakeout. Good job, Homestuck 2. You successfully implied something just through the art. Art which, by the way, looks a lot better than the last chapter. There are backgrounds and everything. I wonder if Chapter 15 was rushed out due to Hiveswap and that’s why it was so weak?

He’s almost embarrassed by how relieved he feels. So what if his ex wife wanted to hook up? Shouldn’t that be a situation he could navigate? Don’t people like to find solace in human physical connection during dire times? Why did the idea of it make his mind white out in panic more than, say, any number of the traumas he just experienced?

I’m not the biggest fan of the way the narration is going JOHN IS AFRAID OF SEX WITH ROXY LIKE HE’S A TEENAGE VIRGIN AGAIN (LIKE IN HS1!) AND IT DOESN’T REALLY MAKE SENSE PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IT’LL BE IMPORTANT LATER, but okay, noted.

ROXY: u said ur house is gone??

JOHN: yep.

JOHN: completely.

ROXY: jeez

Heh. I like Roxy, still. 

JOHN: so i just sat there, watching, trying to figure out why watching my house burn down felt like i was being released from prison.

If this comic actually uses the phrase “home” and “stuck” in the same sentence I’m turning this blog around and we’ll go right back to Winnipeg.

ROXY: aight then no wind bending just use your mangrit

Roxy flexes, the corner of her mouth pulled up into a familiar grin. John feels his guts, so recently calmed, twist up into knots again. Her eyebrows shoot up and the smile loosens. He must have shown something on his face.

ROXY: ok or just like push when i push

ROXY: we both got sick muscles

ROXY: no other adjectives necessary

I feel unqualified to talk about how hard Roxy is pushing the June Egbert thing.

....Is that the fucking portal from Hiveswap under a tarp? Also hi Candy Callie, appearing in HS2 for the first time. One of the Calliope’s is nonbinary, I think, but I honestly can’t remember and I think it’s Meat Calliope? 

JOHN: do i get to know what that big thing under the sheet is?

ROXY: hmmmmmm no

JOHN: oh ok.

JOHN: are you sure? i mean, it seems like a pretty prominent feature of the room.

JOHN: space.

JOHN: wherever we are.

ROXY: and a totally mysterious n COMPLETELY inconspicuous feature it will have to remain for now

ROXY: we r kinda in a hurry here fyi

ROXY: and by that i mean

ROXY: we are in precisely the amount of hurry that means im excused from having to a that specific q rn

JOHN: right, sorry.

JOHN: i will pay no attention to the object behind the curtain.

ROXY: u catch on fast egbert

Oh thing HS2 has not been great at is that it has a lot of plot mysteries that are supposed to keep us enticed but they don’t really get implanted into the audience’s head (Remember Vrissy mysteriously collapsing that one time? Probably not, she did it off screen and the boys kind of laughed it off). This one’s hard to miss.

JOHN: so... this is all downstairs?

JOHN: it seems like you had a lot of work done.

ROXY: well no not x actly

ROXY: were in the old meteor

It’s kind of weird how this meteor keeps popping up like this. 

CALLIOPE: besides, hUman divorces are even more fascinating than i had ever imagined, and being able to witness yoUrs in motion was an honoUr.

This is an unexpected but not unwelcome direction for Callie to have gone.

CALLIOPE: ah right, right. yoU're probably a little cUrioUs as to where the dickens we are.

CALLIOPE: how much do yoU know aboUt black holes?

Oh, wow, we’re going right there, then. This does seem like a bit of a reaction to complaints HS2 wasn’t shmoovin’ enough, but maybe I’m reading too much into it.

CALLIOPE: no, i mean, what if oUr whole WORLD was inside a black hole.

JOHN: ok.

A’ight, that got a laugh out of me

JOHN: ugh, i fucking KNEW it!

JOHN: i'm so sorry.

JOHN: i'm so sorry that i put the earth inside a black hole everyone. ):

I like this conversation a lot. 

ROXY: iirc at least part of y u got so weepy was the fact that u couldnt believe a version of earth existed where ppl got 2 watch more mcconaughey films than you

JOHN: listen.

JOHN: i simply don't think you all appreciated the gift you were given.

Quite a bit, in fact.

ROXY: ur not gonna enter a weird time vortex and change the trajectory of a little girls life with the power of love

JOHN: aw.

Roxy and John have a good dynamic. 

CALLIOPE: bUt Upon her departUre, the rift closed for good. as far as i can see, there's simply no way for Us to commUnicate with the world oUtside the black hole.

CALLIOPE: i woUld certainly be very sUrprised to find oUt that anyone had managed sUch a thing!

JOHN: ...right.

John’s phone has very good coverage, since he was able to talk to Terezi in the epilogues, as we’re being subtly reminded of here with that ... before the “right”. I wonder if it still works after alt-Calliope left.

CALLIOPE: oUr exclUsion from the overarching coUrse of events which governs all reality means that oUr existence here is liable to dramatic and violent Upheaval.

CALLIOPE: to pUt it another way, becaUse nothing in here "matters", we are likely to be sUbjected to things which are a bit bats in the belfry, for no reason other than it's totally insignificant to the wider canon of reality.

CALLIOPE: and mUch thoUgh i am personally titillated by some of the conseqUences of this predicament, it is a degrading way for Us to live. u_u

Okay, so we are now being explicitly told that living in the black hole is fucking with the characters and is part of the reason they make such baffling decisions, like Rose not telling Kanaya about Yiffy, or naming her daughter “Yiffy” in the first place.

CALLIOPE: we need yoU to free vriska from the clUtches of oUr misgUided friend jane, and bring her here, to the singUlarity.

ROXY: weve been calling it the plot point

CALLIOPE: yes, the plot point is a key part of oUr plan

CALLIOPE: as far as we have been able to sUrmise, the only remaining method for escaping oUr grim confinement depends on leveraging the UniqUe properties of this location to create an event of sUch catalcysmic proportions that it simply cannot be contained within the black hole any more.

CALLIOPE: something SO dramatic, so hyper-relevant, that it becomes ontologically impossible for anyone to ignore it.

CALLIOPE: for that, we need an individUal of sUfficient narrative cloUt, so to speak.

CALLIOPE: and to liberate her, who better than the embodiment of the aspect of freedom itself?

So, the plan is literally for Vriska to be such a Huge 8itch that the black hole itself gets sick of her and yeets Earth C out of its own event horizon to freedom.

This is actually a great plan. 

And that’s Hamsteak. This definitely feels like a bit of a reaction to complaints about HS2, but hey, I dig it, I guess? Definite improvement over the last chapter.

[skittypenguin]

sorry ive been so inactive lately!! schools been a LOT atm but i felt it would be a good idea to talk about the tommy stream today - had to catch the vod because i was out all day.

i know most people on tumblr hate twitter, and id say i pretty much agree with them on most parts- but i only was able to look through twitter as the stream went on and there were so many people acting extremely on different sides of the coin

- either (a) tommy is a very stressed out 17 y/o at the top of internet fame and of course he is going to be very stressed about not messing up , and (b) tommy is extremely privleged to label certain situations as “politics” and leave twitter.

situation (a) .

i kiiiind of agree with. i can really sympathize w tommy because i can relate to him and how he rambled a ton about it on stream - its pretty obvious its been on his mind for a while, and he seemed to just keep running in circles trying tonplay both sides of the “twitter bad/twitter good” argument which kinda got him no where. if i saw my name trending in a way that is completely negative, i would also freak the hell out. i’m also glad hes gotten/getting therapy ! feel like not a lot of ppl talked about that. i see the argument “wow. i cant believe you guys pushed him to therapy” and i dont really understand what that means to accomplish. therapy is a wonderful solution, and we should be celebrating hes seeking out those sources.

situation (b)

Now. i do agree that maybe labeling certain situations as “politics” when theyre just human rights issues is privledged! however. i do feel like a LOT of people on twitter have this issue of cherry-picking certain phrases to fit a very constricting narrative. theres a lot of assumptions and drawing to conclusions you need to make to conclude - oh yeah. tommy hates poc issues because he labeled them as politics. i dont think thats how it works, and watching the stream back i never got that intent at all. taking a break off of twitter does not and will never mean you dont care about current issues ever. mental health is not a cop out or bad excuse to leave it, and it’s quite literally why so many other people do, too.

all in all - its not really black and white!

stuff he said can absolutely be shown as a bit ignorant, but he clearly has understanding for when he messes up - i think a break off of twitter and talking about these topics off stream with close friends is what will be important for him :D i hope he comes back with a more healthier mindset and all <3

[letbenfuck2021]

tua s1 brought something that was very unique to the superhero scene. it marketed itself as a show about people who had super powers but were very far from being heroes. they were all deeply flawed and heavily marred by their upbringing which seemed cruel, cold, and devoid of affection from their patriarch and this resulted in damaged, bitter, imperfect but also very human characters. what was even better was how different each sibling was in general but also specifically in how they responded to their horrible upbringing and the consequences they faced because of this. their differences allowed for a wider appeal. we're all a little fucked up because of our childhoods but we all respond to that in different ways and having seven different characters who all had their unique responses meant that even if you don't really connect with one sibling's response, it is likely that you might connect with another's. and imo, this is what made the show work. the plot is....frankly it's weak. there are plot holes big enough to fit Five's inflated ego through. but the weaknesses in plot were more forgivable because even when it was at its weakest, the investment in the characters meant you still cared what happened because it was happening to characters you cared about.

s2 completely threw this to the wind. they spent a lot of time kind of....smoothing out the siblings. one thing I noticed was that the sibs all talked far more like each other. and I have siblings so I know that this is something that actually happens in families but in this case, I don't think it added to the story and actually took away from characterization. a lot of the character arcs from s1 aren't continued or built upon but rather they are either retcon-ed, ignored, or rehashed. instead, all of the siblings are smoothed out. their jagged edges are sanded away unt they are more "likable" (which is pretty wild when you consider how much smoothing out they did when transferring the characters from the comics).

why did they do this? well....it's what the fan base, or at the very least the most vocal part of the fan base, asked for. I will say that in a way, the characters are far more palatable now. take diego for instance. in s1, he was possibly the most volatile of the siblings, even Five, the time traveling assassin, takes issue with his level of violence at one point. and we understand that diego's violence comes from a place of hurt and his hurt largely comes from a place of rejection. he is rejected by his father, by his siblings, by the world around him and this manifests as a hyper-violent nature despite the fact that diego is actually quite soft hearted as we see through flashbacks and key moments in the present. he is angry because he cares. most of this is shown to us instead of told. no one ever says in s1, "diego uses violence to cope with his pain."

so in comparison, why is diego the way he is in s2? and how are we told this? most of the time, we are told what diego is feeling and what his motivations through various mouthpieces even if these explanations don't quite make sense. why is he attached to the jfk assassination? a therapist tells us why as well as lila often operating as a mouth piece for diego's internality. five sometimes explains to us who diego is as well. and while there's nothing necessarily wrong with any of these things in isolation, all together and in context to one another, illustrates an issue with how the writers decided to construct their characters this season.

another example, vanya. this whole "characters being dictated to the audience via mouthpiece" device that the writers decided to use constantly this season is a lot more obvious with her because its pretty much built into her amnesia arc. vanya can't tell us who she is because she doesn't know so other characters will tell us instead. take the dialogue between sissy, vanya, and carl at the beginning of the season when vanya says something along the lines of how she isn't the kind of girl that people would miss and sissy disagrees but....why? how does the story tells us this or not tell us this? do any of the siblings, all of whom, save for five, have been in the 1960s longer than she's been there have not spent one bit of time it seems looking for her. even in her relationship with the family she's staying with, we have no context for sissy's statement. who vanya is told to us. never really shown. who is vanya to sissy and harlan and carl? who is she to her siblings? why is she important to any of these people? is that shown to us effectively or is it just told to us?

and I'm not talking about this to shame or bash on ppl who enjoyed the season. I'm not here to say that you are bad for liking the way the siblings are written this season better than last season. I get it. they are far more palatable now that their mean, bitter, jagged parts have been shaved down. but... palatable is not "better" or "good". I think the same goes for writing that is "gritty" or whatever. it all depends on whether or not it works within the context of everything else going on in the narrative. I think the messier versions of the siblings worked better for the story. It provided a grounding and human element to the story, some much needed levity. I don't think the new characterizations work as well and renders much of the "stakes" of the show a lot less meaningful and worthy of investment and while it was clear that the show had a higher budget and was hell-bent on using it to make the show more action packed and flashy but without strong character writing, the resulting product came off as very empty.

[akaluan]

Soulmate au ask: I was wondering, is there difference in the way shinigami and quincy approach soulmate? Like, cultural difference or belief?

I’m also wondering if there is an actual difference between having a soul for a soulmate or a human?

Also, what would happens to the bond if Erich died? Would it stays even as he become a soul? Since Erich is spiritually aware, would he keeps both his memory and his bond?

So many question but, since a soulbond is well... soul deep, does it affect the inner world if shinigami at all?

Very long response, so cutting it <3 All very good questions tho and this was super fun to write, thank you!

There are many cultural differences between Shinigami / Quincy / and human takes on soulmates! Quincy take is more similar to baseline human take, tbh-- Soulmates are generally good and to be celebrated, just like humans. Where it diverges from there is that, for Quincy, more soulmates tends to be considered "better", in a way? They believe it reflects upon the strength of your soul, that you can / do have more than 1 soulmate, even if you never meet all of them.

However, like I wrote in the very beginning of the AU, Erich having a soulmate mark from the moment he was born is a tiiiiiiny bit of an awkward "let's never talk about this again" sort of thing, because it indicates that one of his soulmates is older than him. No one knows HOW much older, just that Erich isn't the eldest. That's important because Erich is supposed to be the Quincy heir, and having an older soulmate is considered to be an indication that Erich will "need" an older, more learned soulmate, which can indicate either that he's gunna suck balls at being a leader or that the Quincy are going to get into Trouble during his time leading them.

(Of course, if it was discovered that Erich's soulmate is like.. less than a year older than him, those worries go away. Like, if Alexis and Erich had switched birth order, that would be fine and wouldn't mean anything. But they have no evidence of who Erich's first soulmate is, so.... They Worry. Especially bc he's so far proven to be a pretty reliably leader.)

Shinigami, on the other hand, sort of view soulmates as... very private things. Humans / Quincy view the MARKS as something a bit sacred and not to be flaunted, but the fact that ppl are soulmates is definitely a discussion topic and the source of many songs etc. (Songs about the marks / shape of marks / etc are generally labeled risque in the period this fic is set in, so like.. 1940s-50s ish, I think?)

Shinigami don't talk about who they're soulmates with. Sometimes they don't even go out of their way to FIND their soulmates, especially since, well... as shown by Kisuke, it IS possible to have a soulmate in the Living World, and that's a bit of a no-no. The fact that soulmates can sense/communicate with each other's blades is DEFINITELY never discussed in more than hushed whispers. It's Just Not Done.

I'm not quite sure what your second question means, but I'm going to guess and if I'm wrong lmk xD

2) "if there is an actual difference between having a soul for a soulmate or a human?"

So a person with no soulmate has basically "Bleach standard" sort of souls, chain of fate and everything. People WITH soulmates tend to have other ties leading away from them, and those ties can keep them from hollowfying if they're strong enough! At least for a time. Effect also increased by number of soulmates they connected with during their life. In this world, it's not exactly uncommon for soulmates to report seeing the ghosts of their dead soulmates -- everyone's essentially "spiritually sensitive" when it comes to their soulmates! But only people with spiritual powers can see ALL ghosts, still.

3) "what happens to the bond if Erich dies"

It doesn't go away! Soulmates are soulmates even through multiple cycles of death and rebirth, and it takes very specific things to break it! One of those things is repudiation, like what Tanya suggests early on -- that basically says "you are definitely no one I can ever come to like or care for, so we are NOT soulmates no matter what this universe says!" and it has repercussions for both partners in that specific lifetime, because you're essentially cutting a pseudo chain of fate, so it takes a cycle or two to entirely heal from it. Another is the Quincy style of unmaking, which.. yeah. It's a bit Awkward when you think about it, since the Quincy are essentially going "this soul and all souls it has consumed are being returned to the ether, to become brand new souls in time" which.. basically erases any soulmate link they ever had.

Also, a soul can "collect" new soulmates slowly as it ages and comes into contact with more and more other souls, but these new links don't form until the person has died and been reborn in the living world. They're just little proto-links until that point.

Soulmates are not guaranteed to always be "in the cycle" at the same time -- I'm assuming that there isn't entirely a smooth transition between Living / Dead / Living in this reality, so that sometimes a soul can pause to "rest", especially if something traumatic happened to it in the previous life -- and they're never guaranteed to MEET in every life, but unless one of the above actions happen, the same souls will tend to gravitate towards each other time and time again.

Erich won't lose his memories or his bond when he dies, and neither will Alexis-- I'm almost always operating under the idea that souls retain their memories even into death, until time / effort / trauma washes them away in SS. (We're shown in the anime that parrakeet boy remembers Chad, so I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that memories in SS work the same as memories in the Living World. You just.. slowly forget things over time, and in SS you have a LOT of time to forget and make a new life.)

Memory loss happens upon rebirth into the Living World, so as long as none of the three "die" as souls, they're going to be together for quite a while.

4) does the bond affect Shinigami's inner world

Yep! Though Shinigami have to have an active, strong soulmate bond in order to really see the effects. As Kisuke strengthens his connection with Erich and Alexis, he'll start noticing changes to his inner world to reflect that as well. Also, Shinigami with other Shinigami soulmates can draw each other into their inner worlds, so you can shared jinzen together and hang out with your soulmates, their zanpakutou, and your own zanpakutou at the same time!

It's possible for Kisuke to learn to draw Erich and Alexis into his inner world, but it's going to take significant practice on all three of their parts, since it requires a lot of trust and a lot of practice at a skill that Erich and Alexis don't innately have.

[flying-elliska]

Just watched The Old Guard yesterday....I have Emotions. Compelling characters, excellent rep, great action scenes. I see why tumblr is obsessed with it.

SPOILERS + lil essay incoming

It's not perfect obviously. It drags in places and I think it needed more flashbacks for the immortals that would have given that extra oomph (maybe they definitely couldn't afford that - the few historical flashbacks we got looked kinda cheap tbh). You feel like there is so much interesting stuff under the surface that isn't explored fully - how they got where they are because it does, at times, seem even more compelling than the present (which is already quite interesting, don’t get me wrong). The bad guy doesn't feel as scary as he should be, either - he lacks presence, he could have been more pathetic or more unhinged. The dialogue was a bit overly sparse in places. But overall, I loved it. Charlize Theron as queerish action queen badass with a gruff exterior but a core of goodness is like...my jam. And it NEEDS a sequel.

Some more thoughts :

- The tone of deep melancholy and sadness that pervades the film is so interesting. Yes, most of the main characters are the gruff action hero type who say little ; but there is so much underlying emotion there too, love and loyalty and loss, in the way they are played and interact with each other. So it doesn’t come over as the stereotypical macho cliché of ‘gotta repress those feelings and BE TOUGH’ - you really feel as if 1) those characters have spent so much time together that they function really well as a unit, they don’t need to talk a lot of the time, they just understand each other and 2) there is so much real grief and sorrow there that words wouldn’t properly adress it and it’s no use trying. AND at the same time, they still get an arc of ‘caring about the world is still good, actually.’ As an action movie fan who hates the ‘cardboard stoic is the only way to survive’ tropes of the genre, this movie just made me very happy. They have this intimacy within the group that feels so real and like...battle forged found families, again, my jam, but they’re also tied together by loss and loneliness and having no one else who understands. It’s so JUICY in terms of character dynamics. Nile’s more innocent but still a fighter thing fits very well with the older, more cynical ones. The ending, where they punish Booker with a century of loneliness for betraying them but ultimately still recognize why he did what he did and that he’s still part of the team...but that he might not ever see Andy again...my heart. 

- Also, it reminds me of this essay I read about how violence/battle/injury in film is often used an excuse to show male intimacy in a way that is not allowed anywhere else but in this movie, you both have platonic intimacy (and also between Andy and her team, which is cool! love a good m/f platonic soul bond!!!) AND you have a couple of dudes who both fight together and are actually lovers, which is awesome. The scene in the van is just so bloody brilliant because you have that idiot soldier who is at the level of homophobic taunts, ‘haha is he your boyfriend’ as if that was supposed to threaten their masculinity (because in their world it would). But Joe and Nicky are just way beyond those puerile games - they also met in this context of violence but because of their immortality, they were able to turn it into love. And it’s the thing that allowed them to survive the centuries with a relative level of happiness compared to the two others because they have each other. I love this because it 1) grounds gay love in history and clearly shows it as something that has always existed and can be an epic love able to withstand almost a thousand years (whereas gayness has been so often coded as something both modern and ephemeral) and 2) presents it as wiser, deeper and a lot more badass than the path of repression and violence as a baseline for men to interact even as a lot of male socialization is build up as brutal to avoid it so like YEAH !!!!! GOOD!!!!

- This is another movie that really REALLY shows the importance of having ppl who are not white and/or dudes behind the camera. (It was still written by one but I still feel a difference).The two leading ladies are never objectified, and their main emotional dynamic during the movie is with each other. The audience surrogate, who is also the emotional pivot of the movie who causes the other characters to change, is a young Black woman (especially since apparently Nile’s role and her relationship with Andy was expanded from the comics). Andy is the leader/main badass and mystery of the story in a way generally reserved for men. There is that scene, too, where Andy gets her wound patched up by a random woman in a pharmacy, which causes her to reflect on the good of humanity and the importance of good actions in a chaotic world. Chiwetel Eijofor’s villain being allowed complexity and a sort-of redemption. But it’s also more specific things in the way the movie is shot - especially in the non-Western countries. In action movie tropes, you have this cliché of ‘picturesque but dangerous’ ‘exotic’ locales, who are often used as the backdrop for action scenes, which is...not awesome tbh. This movie does take us to those countries, and there is action, but it’s also shot in a very humanizing way that reminds us that this is a real place where real people live : Nicky saying hello to the locals in South Sudan in their own language, Nile asking the Afghan women for help in the beginning, shots of kids playing with balloons, etc. The team accepts a mission in the beginning to rescue kidnapped Sudanese girls in the beginning - in most action movies often the populations to save are white/Western whereas locals/POC are shown as ‘tragic but acceptable collateral damage’. Or for instance, that scene in Marrakech’s Jemaa El-Fna square - a lot of the time foreign markets only appear as a ‘chaotic, dangerous’ backdrop for action to be ransacked through without a care ; here it’s just a cool lively place for the team to meet their contact, normalized instead of exotified. It’s shot the same way as the scenes in France, it’s interesting to look at and the shots take advantage of the beauty of the location but there are no weird color filters or shots that suggest that the place is bizarre, threatening, Otherized, etc. (Also interesting that most of the scenes in France take place in abandoned buildings like a church that’s half in ruins, a mine, etc...interesting reversal lmao.) The movie is not anti-imperialist by any means but it’s still...a tangibly different gaze, especially for an American movie, and it makes it a lot more humane and interesting.

- Overall, it left me wanting more, mostly in a good way. This could have made such an excellent series too. They seem to be setting Quynh as a villain for the next movie and that could be really interesting but I really hope they’re going for a ‘tragic villain gets redeemed in the end’ (with a side of lovers to ennemies to lovers with Andy...their story seems to have so much potential in such an epic tragic way) instead of ‘psycho lady too far gone to save’ thing. And that we get more flashbacks from the immortal’s pasts. Since it seems very successful, I hope we do get that sequel once the film industry starts again.

[gellavonhamster]

zack snyder’s justice league

very random unsystematic thoughts

loved it just like I knew I will - I mean, it was bound to be better than the previous one because 1) it’s the work of one director not two very different works of two different directors duct-taped together; 2) the bar was really low, and at the same time I didn’t have any specific expectations re: characters and plot (I would’ve loved if Lois did more, but this is already a movie trying to focus on six characters equally, so I can understand why her storyline wasn’t expanded more)  

I can see which moments could be shortened or cut out completely if this was going to be shown at the cinema, but seriously, for watching from home, this is fine

so glad this version doesn’t have people living right next to an abandoned nuclear plant, this was so stupid. Someone please tell the Hollywood ppl that it’s “отель” not “готель”, though

the deal with the Mother Boxes became clearer, and so did the motivation of Steppenwolf (as far as the motivations of Ugly Ass Dramatic Space Demons usually go)

the soundtrack was great; loved the Amazons’ theme music, the song about a king for Arthur, and! the fisherwomen’s song!!! love it when superhero stuff is less about science/near-science and more about magic and myth - what can I say, I’ve always preferred fantasy over sci-fi

the murals under the temple of Artemis are lovely, and the entire scene looked like something out of some adventure movie like The Mummy, very beautiful

Victor is so good. So good. I believe there’s enough written and to be written about him by people more eloquent than me, but gosh, Wh*don’s version did him even dirtier than I expected

Batman’s character development as compared with the way he was at the beginning of BvS! The man who’s lost faith in humanity to the man placing all his faith in other people! This must be an unpopular opinion (?), but I really like Affleck’s Batman. He’s reasonably cool, but he’s also an awkward sad loser trying his best and struggling to figure out how tf people make friends as adults. Quite possibly me in 10-15 years, only I won’t have as much money 

“How are you gonna do this?” - “By the power of love?” - “...Barry.”

Victor and Barry are so young and they literally do the impossible during the final battle and ahhh I love them

Bruce: this is Alfred, I work for him

the first meeting of Barry and Iris = CUTE

Arthur trying to look like he doesn’t care and still caring about his new teammates and the world

really enjoyed all interactions between Arthur and Diana because of how they work together and respect each other despite their people having bad blood, but also because this was literally my taste in men and my taste in women on screen at the same time, hashtag blessed

Barry’s dad told him not to live in the past, and then in the end Barry literally changes the past, a small part of it, but the crucially important one

“Flight is its nature.” - “Yours, too.”

Bruce’s nightmares (in BvS and here) make me nervous because, well, they’re probably supposed to be something more than just the representation of his fears, and I don’t want them to, I don’t want to see all these characters fighting each other again (realistically I won’t, of course - there’s no way they’re making all these movies, especially what with all the cast changes). But I liked how even in that nightmare Harley’s last dying wish is for Bruce to make sure the Joker dies a very painful death :3 I bet that during/after the events of BoP Batman learned about their breakup and was like “good for her”

I know nothing about the Martian Manhunter but I like him so far

loved that Bruce’s reaction to being visited by an unknown alien is basically “eh whatever, still not as weird as the dream I just had”. Who wouldn’t react the same way this early in the morning

love the dynamic between Diana and Alfred!

Victor leaving his old clothes on his own grave and flying into the sky, leaving behind his old life and all “what if”s of the kind the Mother Boxes tried to tempt him with

was that Granny Goodness? Why do I know who Granny Goodness is despite having read so little comics

okay, I am running out of very random unsystematic thoughts. Feels good to be excited about the DCEU again

[lefossile]

Why the Fullbringer Arc is an important plot milestone

and why ppl don't like it:  spontaneous thoughts and logical points are applied without chronological order

Those who don’t know, didn’t read or didn’t understand, we are talking about the arc that occupied Bleach volumes 49 to 54, came out in the anime including 24 episodes of the final 16 season, which pretty much abruptly ended Bleach.

It’s gonna be long and blabberish and I would probably cut it in several posts. It is also a translation from a twitter thread, so that’s weird ya, anyways

part 1/? 

Let's try to start with those theses why this arc,  in the way it came out generally and in comparison with other arcs, is not universally favored.

So the time of the arc:

The action takes place between two major arcs: the ending of the battle with Aizen and the not yet happened arc of the war with Quincies: an important point is hidden right there, due to which the arc lives on the charisma of Ginjo Kugo and his 90ies yankee vibes alone.

So the first of the reasons why fans most often shit on the arc: after a large-scale overcoming and pushing over the edge, being pressed on time and stakes being high, where the difficulty of Ichigo’s enemies is leveled up to the absolute and Aizen has become a beautiful butterfly, the arc is about how this very Ichigo fights with already quite mundane evil without any special ultra card. He trains to lvl up before the final batlle [he doesn’t know it at this point] and regain his strength, initially takes a different pacing and goal, which is completely knocked out of the general canvas that Kubo Tite set for all previous 48 volumes.

if you think about it in TV equivalent, the presentation of the arc is comparable to a filler [hello, bounts], although this is canon material. Kubo deviates a little from the canons that he himself had built before, placing emphasis not only on dry action, through which the thoughts and feelings of the characters were conveyed, but complex psychology.

Kubo suddenly reminds us that in addition to freelancing in Soul Society, this is still an ordinary boy no longer 15 but 17 years old, which, despite logic, was a rather abrupt transition that not everyone liked, since you know, Ichigo was anything but ordinary all those volumes before.  

I would suggest that some people were not particularly happy to see Ichigo’s clique, of which some only tolerate Chad. The rest, as a rule, are treated ambiguously, since they are, again, ordinary people not getting too much screentime or used as comedy relief.

Pacing set by the first chapter of action driven shoenen manga is, no doubt a drastic change of storytelling and would feel kinda dull. Especially since the first appearance of the central character, who starts this whole dance of the seven veils, is made plain like that.

And speaking about the characters, we move on to the second reason why people often spit in the direction of Fullbringer arc is its heroes, or rather the presentation of these heroes. And even more precisely, its absence (although there is meaning behind it, beare with me)

It would seem that we only have 6 new heroes and for good reason, there is not so much to show, because the previous large-scale arcs presented us with characters whose number is counted in dozens and we binge ate it

Remembering just six characters is a childs play of a task and not as difficult as remember all the shikai 

But unfortunately the fullbringers did not get such an opportunity. Although their personalities were outlined with short flashbacks, most people simply did not have enough time (before said characters were yanked from the general storyline) to properly feel and relate to new heroes.

Well, fullbringers are (not) a new type of characters in the Bleach universe, since they are primarily people with abilities. Previously, only Chad and Orihime could pull this, and we as readers had time to go a long way with them in order to understand and accept their uniqueness. Still human heroes, as it turns out (unexpectedly really), even with a package of thrump cards and interesting abilities that are used from birth, are still primarily people, so readers, who were waiting for battles of 500 pages like in the Arrancar arc essentially got this/

And although this is an important point, approximately as important and presenting as the fight between Dante and Mary in DMC3, where power difference is shown through fights, the fact that even the final fight was much less spectacular than the previous ones still takes place and the aftertaste is 50/50. That’s perfectly understandable.

Since further discussions is going on, let's outline the advantages of the arc. And here we first go back to what I indicated as a minus, namely the difference in the filing of the dynamics of the arc with the previous ones, you tell me, well

The purpose of the Fullbringer arc is not to come from point a to point b, defeating the main villain / saving dear person and the whole collective society in addition. BUT to show Ichigo growing up, to prepare him for the events of the final arc and, through the antihero, give him an interesting psychological conflict.

Fan fact, this arc is only one of its kind, where Ichigo purposefully and in a sober mind / kills a person /. Doesn't cleanse a Hollow. Doesn't beat the shit out of Uquiorra in a rage fit where he is not adequate. Doesn't defeat the enemy, but only for the said enemy to crawl away. Not because he was told so. Not because it's some hellish butterfly or literal god because of whom the world will collapse.

Chamber fights and narration allow us to plunge into the arc and look at what is happening around Ichigo when he, suddenly, is not the main hero saving the day. The hero comes to live his everyday situation and gets some time with himself, catches his breath.

 And his place is temporarily taken by Ishida, Chad and Orihime.

And literally in the first chapters we are faced with the fact that 17 years old Ichigo has a major PTSD and anxiety [adding to the pre-existing ones] and is holding his head together with all his might, trying to assert himself in a life from which he was pulled out. He’s facing the choices he had made previously. [we will be back at it later]

The arc reveals to us problems of cause and effect and the conflict of choices made by different heroes.

The choice as a whole and the correct choice is one of the leitmotifs of the arc, this is the personal leitmotif of the confrontation between Ginjo and Ichigo, the conflict of worldviews, and the next question that the arc raises directly - what are you [the hero] fighting for?

And this is where the dance of the seven veils takes place: we do not yet know what the Quincy will attack, so Ichigo, who passed his post as a veteran,with the initial motivation to protect others goes through incredible metamorphoses during the arc, eventually reaching a new level 

And here I can talk endlessly, but I'll try to move on to the next plus, that follows from the first and it’s the fact that the focus shows us growth of not only Ichigo but also his friends. And first of all ofc it’s Orihime.

(this sweet bun, blushing from thoughts of a loved one, morally destroyed in the last arc by Ichigo's deaths and by the approaching apocalypse without a second thought and without batting an eye now does not allow herself to be bullied and fought back 90 kg of muscle with a zweihander, she Queen)

Secondly, this is Sado Yasutora aka Chad. Of course, he got much less screen time, but nevertheless, to see how his character not only follows Ichigo, but makes his own decisions, finds his motivation - great;

The fact that he, while Ichigo trains, conducts a whole detective investigation together with Orihime, shows not only that the boy has a lot of potential, but also his ability to teamwork,  desire to follow the promise to use force for protection and a desire to help his best friend with all his might

And this choice is not accidental, if we look at how successfully Ishida was brought out of the picture almost completely. Since, according to the canon of the novels, it is explained that both Orihime and Chad are fullbringers, although they received their powers differently. It is logical that it is them, as those close to both Ichigo and the new group, that are shown in the arc.

And in the next post we’ll go abt  the third plus, which was previously set as a minus, namely the key figures and key antagonists of the arc, aka those  Fullbringers I blabber abt, but I’ll save it for later.

[norahastuff]

god I can't believe they gave sam's kid long hair because otherwise it couldn't have been Sam's kid lol. And ppl comparing Dean's death to Jesus... what a finale

Well, this is the same finale that brought you profound imagery like Sam making one slice of toast after Dean died in order to depict how alone he was, so the bar was pretty damn low. Also, Sam’s long hair was going to be concealed beneath a truly magnificent wig so I guess they felt someone needed to carry the long hair torch, and since Sam’s son was already just a stand-in for one Winchester brother, why not make him represent both as much as they could?

As for the Jesus thing...Ummm what? I haven’t seen that so I have no idea how you could even get there. Isn’t Jesus' whole thing dying for humanity and then being resurrected? What part of that applies to Dean’s death exactly? He died for nothing and most certainly was not resurrected. 

I mean there’s only one person who died for Humanity (capital H intended) and was resurrected (supposedly) and it definitely wasn’t Sam or Dean. It wouldn’t be the first time Cas was shown as the Jesus figure on the show...although is this a good time to get into my “Cas went from a Jesus like figure to more of a Mary Magdalene role over the course of his time on the show” manifesto? I mean you didn’t ask but I’ll mention it briefly anyway. I will preface this by saying, I’m not a biblical scholar by any means and this isn’t much more than a superficial parallel I’m drawing based mostly on what most people know about the Mary and Jesus relationship. There’s probably more I’m missing.

I mean you can’t really avoid the Jesus imagery around Cas when his first episode on the show was called Lazarus Rising and Dean played the Lazarus to his Jesus. Dean also as the representative of humanity grew to have faith in Cas. He wouldn’t pray to God but he would pray to Cas. And I know resurrection is a pretty common occurrence on Supernatural but it was also the cause of a lot of sacrifice and suffering. You had to fight tooth and nail to get someone to come back. Not Cas though. As if by magic, Cas always returned to Dean. He’d sweep in all divine light and power and he would fight.

And then...something changed. In my estimation, it happened around season 9 after Cas became human, and it didn’t flip back after he got his grace back. The narrative changed, both for in story reasons as well as real-world reasons, but the result was that Cas was no longer the larger than life figure who would burst in seemingly out of nowhere and cause a commotion. No his role shifted, and he became a big part of the emotional heart of the show in general, but also for Dean in particular. He was his emotional support. Think of all the times in the midst of all the great chaos, pain, suffering how Dean and Cas would take time away from the bigger plot machinations and carve out these little islands of peace where they were just there for each other. I was going to make a list of all these moments but that would have gotten far too long so I’ll leave it for now. The point is, Cas became Dean’s confidante, his emotional support in a much more significant way, just like Mary supposedly was to Jesus. 

Their relationship was often misunderstood with people (mostly Angels and Demons) diminishing its importance by reducing it to merely a sexual connection and thus using that connotation to further denigrate Cas. The angels in particular did this a lot. Cas who had fallen in every possible way because of Dean and lost the respect of most of heaven because of it. I could go on about this one for a long time because there was a really fascinating thread that ran through the show about Dean/Cas vs Heaven/Hell but that’s a much longer conversation.

The main gist is Cas was so very important to Dean. He saw him and understood him in a way nobody else ever did, and yet he never quite got the credit for that. His importance in Dean’s life was often underestimated by characters in the show (I mean arguably nobody but Crowley truly understood what they were to each other because he’d been on both sides of it with both of them) but if you watch any scene where the two of them confide in each other it’s very plain to see how much they need and value each other.

I apologise I said I was going to talk about it briefly and well...it turns out I have no idea how to do that. I could have gone on for a lot longer so consider yourself lucky! I’m sorry you didn’t ask about any of this - where did this all come from? Oh right the Dean as Jesus thing from the finale. Well if I see Cas as the Mary Magdalene figure well then yes Dean does play the Jesus role in that particular parallel, but I have a feeling that’s not at all what people are talking about when they mention any Jesus imagery around Dean in the finale...which again is literally the opposite of what his role was in 15x20, so godspeed to anyone trying to make that work.

[f-nodragonart]

How do you draw folded bat wings? I tried to look up references but it looks so dark and such a mess that I can't figure out what's going on. All my dragons have their wings sticking out and I want them to relax and fold their wings, but I can't figure it out.

first, know that having a good grasp on wing anatomy is the first step, so I rec checkin out my crash-course on vertebrate wings, if u need it. I’ll try to summarize some of the more relevant points when necessary here, tho

that said, real-life folded bat wings are actually a lot messier than u might expect, as bat bones/joints are SUPER-duper flexible

tho this may also be a consequence of their legs/hips being right there, splayed out where the ends of their fingers fold up, and other body types prolly wouldn’t require that particular zig-zig crinkling of the fingertips

I also doubt that that level of flexibility would even be available in the bones/joints of dragons as large as horses, or even just dogs, though I could be wrong about that

either way, I’ll give you some examples of how I approach folded bat wings in my designs

so here we’ve got a standard folded bat wing. note that the LOWER arm is the most visible portion of the the arm anatomy-- the lower arm pulls up over the upper arm, and the fingers curl up under both arm sections 

the “tightness” of the folding can vary, depending on the look you want. real-life bats obviously have CRAZY flexible wrists, and can tuck their fingers snug up against their arms/bodies all the way down. and I’m sure you could pull the wrist up a lil closer to the shoulder if need be. however, I believe the position as I’ve drawn-- with the lower arm hanging a bit down towards the front of the body, and the fingers loosely tucking in-- could be a perfectly comfortable, relaxed position for folded bat-dragon wings. this is especially considering that bat wings would be located more towards the midline/sides of the torso rather than right up near the spine like birds, meaning gravity would pull on them a bit more easily, possibly lending to this loose pose. BUT that also depends on the exact wing muscle configuration-- wings generally have pretty good ‘locking’ mechanisms when tucked closed, so tighter tucking is a perfectly reasonable possibility

I will note that wings ought not to be tucked up on top of the back. even bird wings located closer to the spine don’t rest their wrists above the shoulders-- the wings still hang to the sides, with the wrists held near the front of the body

I can’t imagine that pulling the wings back constantly is very comfortable, much less a position that affords the wing muscles any rest

tho the elbows would prolly need to be pulled next to or above the hips a bit, so the elbows don’t interfere with hind leg movement

on that note, also notice the anatomical proportions of the wings and how they affect the look of the folded wing. the upper arm of a wing will ALWAYS be shorter than the lower arm, so when they’re folded up, the wrist will stick out in front of the shoulder. usually even in front of the front limb shoulders, depending on the size of the wings (I think I drew these wings a bit small in comparison to body size, but we’ll just pretend this guy ain’t a particularly strong flyer)

the finger proportions are actually very similar to human fingers, in that the sections closest to the wrist are longest/thickest, while the sections closer to the tips are shorter/thinner. this means that when the fingers fold up, the bases will have long sections without joints, while the tips will be able to curl quite tightly, which you may be able to visualize more precisely here

the bend back under the arm at the 3rd joint may, admittedly, be a bit too sharp even by bat standards, so the fingers may still need to follow the line of the body

but I still think the fingers should be able to curl up under the arm just fine, honestly

now, while it’s important to know the underlying structures here, also note that certain parts of the folded wing (like fingertips) simply won’t be visible due to the membrane

and this is where folded wings get tricky-- not only is it hard to keep track of what’s covered up, but also what sections are connected to one another! hopefully the above diagram helps you visualize how the membrane lays over the overall arm structure at least, but being able to follow membrane connections in different positions takes a bit of familiarizing with overall wing anatomy

(also note that for ease of seeing the base anatomy, I’m not adding in most of the membrane wrinkles I usually would. just keep in mind that bat membranes are embedded w/ a lotta lil tendons that help scrunch up the membrane and hold the wings steady)

I will at least point out one particular section of membrane that trips folks up a lot

here, it’s important to remember that the back edge of the membrane (specifically the plagiopatagium section), connecting back onto the body, is ALSO connected to the back of the arm AND the pinkie finger. thus, we must keep in mind the flow of this section of membrane in the folded wing. note that it may very well cover up part of the visible finger(s) (particularly the pinkie) just before they tuck underneath the arm, as I’ve shown above

now, something fun about bat wings is that they’ve got ROTATION in their wrists! so, unlike birds, you can give yourself some freedom in how many of the fingers are visible, when folded up

I WILL say, though, that real-life bats seem to go for the latter folding, more reminiscent of a bird folding their wrist sideways next to their lower arm rather than curling the wrist underneath the lower arm. but, again, bats have way more leeway in wrist flexion, so I think any of these wrist positions are perfectly possible for a bat-winged dragon

and this flexion will also be affected by the kinda palm you give your wings. while many dragon artists give their dragons humanoid palms, real-life bats don’t actually have palms-- the metacarpals that make up our palms are actually the base bones of bat wing fingers. thus, bats just have a tiny connection area of carpals to connect fingers to arm, allowing for a frankly crazy range of flexion. while I’m not sure about how exactly a palm might affect flight, I don’t think they’re necessarily a problem so long as they’re downsized (palms proportionally the size of human palms compared to the arm would be WAY too heavy/thick for flight..) and retrofit for flight in shape (think about oncoming air currents and what parts of the palm would need to be more/less stabilized or aerodynamically shaped)

also note that, if the wing has a thumb and it’s visible, then the front edge membrane (propatagium) is gonna attach to it

like so (depending on the exact position of the thumb, of course)

now, I know some dragon artists like to curl the tips of the fingers up over the elbows, like this

and like, sure, the tips may be visible past the back edge of the membrane, if you go for the finger-tuck where the fingers follow the line of the body. or if the fingertips aren’t typically bat-like, but are stiffer and incapable of comfortably curling up. I’m specifically thinking of designs with faux-feather cartilage, or those with pterosaur-like fans of cartilage fibers across the membrane, leading to more bird-like folding

but idk, this desire to pull the fingertips up over the membrane THAT far seems uncomfortable and unnecessary? like, I really don’t understand why a dragon wouldn’t simply tuck their fingertips up against their body, following underneath the membrane, as a bat does. if anyone wants to argue me this point, I’m willing to hear it out tho

so, I know that was a lot of hyper-specific info, but if you step back for a minute and just take in the overall look of a folded bat wing, it turns out folded bat wings are WAY easier than most ppl realize!

truly, so many people overthink like, where the fingertips end up, or how the membrane overlays the arm. but once you understand how it all fits together, you can condense the look of it into basic shapes like this

and you can add or subtract detail depending on your style, how defined you want the arm to be from the membrane, how wrinkly/detailed you want the membrane, etc.

hope this helps!

-Mod Spiral