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submissive-and-readable · 3 months

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Skater Boy by Anthony Nerada

Source: Audiobook ARC from NetGalley

Release date: 6 February

Genre: young adult contemporary romance

If you like: queer coming of age, explorations of toxic masculinity, pop-punk, flawed protagonists trying to be better, Sk8ter Boy by Avril Lavigne but gay

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Synopsis

Stonebridge High’s resident bad boy, Wesley “Big Mac” Mackenzie, is failing senior year—thanks to his unchecked anger, rowdy friends, and a tendency to ditch his homework for skateboarding and a secret photography obsession. So when his mom drags him to a production of The Nutcracker, Wes isn’t interested at all . . . until he sees Tristan Monroe. Mr. Nutcracker himself.

Wes knows he shouldn’t like Tristan; after all, he’s a ballet dancer, and Wes is as closeted as they come. But when they start spending time together, Wes can’t seem to get Tristan out of his head. Driven by a new sense of purpose, Wes begins to think that—despite every authority figure telling him otherwise—maybe he can change for the better and graduate on time.

As a falling out with his friends becomes inevitable, Wes realizes that being himself means taking a stand—and blowing up the bad-boy reputation he never wanted in the first place.

Content warnings

Explicit language

Bullying

Alcoholism

Underage drinking

Racism (as experienced by a Black love interest)

Past domestic abuse

Childhood trauma

Smoking (cigarettes + weed)

Homophobia

Physical violence

Review

Why'd Wes have to go and make things so complicated 😔🤘

I hadn't expected to, but I found myself relating to Wes quite a bit. His experience of being labelled as a bad kid, and then only being seen as such without being given the chance to break that expectation, as well as his feelings of anger and fear and powerlessness, that no one wants to listen to him, that he can't open up to people, that he's inferior and will never amount to anything, took me right back to primary and secondary school lmao. (I'm so glad I'm not a teenager anymore.)

I also empathise with how awkward Wes feels around Tristan, or when he's trying to talk to people who aren't his friends; not knowing the right thing to say, or when he says something that comes off as angrier or meaner than he intends—that's literally me, baby!

A part I don't relate to is the bullying. Wes is like, a legit bully, like pushing kids into the lockers like in american high school movies kind of bully. While he's not the main aggressor among his friends, it still kind of hurt to read about how he hurt people in the past. I liked how his character arc developed, with him facing up to his actions and apologising to his victims, although I do think he was forgiven pretty easily; I personally would have held a grudge until I died, but good for them!

At the start of the book I was worried that this would be a whole "find a bf and magically all your problems are fixed!" kind of story, but while Tristan is definitely a motivating factor for Wes to improve himself, I really appreciate that Wes was the one who decided to take initiative and begin the first steps to becoming better.

There's layers of complexity to Wes and Tristan's relationship, because (a) Tristan is Black, and so deals with racism that Wes could never understand, (b) Tristan is out and Wes is not, (c) Tristan is a perfectionist and has a goal and life plans, while Wes is flunking high school with no plans to apply for college, (d) Wes had an abusive childhood, and Tristan has loving supportive parents, and (e) Wes is poor and Tristan is wealthy.

These are a lot of issues to handle in one book, and while I feel like the author does a good job discussing and resolving most of these elements, there's one point that I feel didn't get fully resolved, and that's the wealth disparity between them. Wes is super aware of this, he constantly notices the differences between the way they live, which makes him feel self-conscious around Tristan.

Spoiler warning, but at one point Tristan dresses Wes up in like a pricey cardigan and a polo shirt to meet his parents, and later Wes is furious and leaves early because he feels out of place and insecure, and that Tristan is trying to change who he is. Later, they talk and Wes comes to the conclusion that he was over-reacting, which, yeah, he was. But Tristan never apologises and is like "you know I would never have made you change your clothes if I knew it would make you feel bad!" He also makes fun of one of Wes's friends, and Wes wonders if part of the reason why he doesn't want to introduce Tristan to his friends was because he felt embarrassed.

I feel like this is a pretty big deal, and an obvious source of tension, that doesn't seem to get fully resolved. Most of Wes and Tristan's discussions about their relationship revolve around Wes apologising, but Tristan, even though he never does so intentionally, never apologises for making Wes feel inferior in this aspect.

I also feel that Tristan was kind of one-dimensional. From Wes's perspective, Tristan is perfect and flawless, and he puts him on a pedestal, while Wes is the one messing up. Tristan's only flaw, as far is I can tell, is that he struggles with anxiety, but he never seems to show it to Wes, for all that he encourages Wes to be emotionally vulnerable with him. I would have liked it if Tristan messed-up, or needed Wes to support him or comfort him in some way (Wes does support him, at near the ending, but that doesn't really count), to balance out their relationship a bit, instead of always having Tristan encouraging him, and having Wes mess up and make up for it.

The climax of this book gets really chaotic, huge shit goes down, like life-ruining shit. He manages to work it all out in the end, but I feel that it came way too easily, especially the problems he had with his friends. I feel like it got dismissed as some sort of misunderstanding, like Wes was the one making a big deal out of nothing. Afterwards, he and his friends talk it out very maturely, but where was all that maturity when shit was going down!!

I realise that a lot of my review sounds like I'm complaining, but this is really worth a read! The way this book discusses toxic masculinity, emotional vulnerability, dealing with trauma (because Wes is very clearly traumatised) is so well-done, and you can tell from the author's note that he put a lot of love and thought into this book. I would discuss this more but this review would get very spoilery.

To finish off this review, here are some nitpicks! These are minor details and do not affect the overall story! Some of these are purely personal issues I have that may not apply to other people!

Wes is stated to be a punk, and a lot of this book (the title, the chapter titles, the marketing) is about pop-punk, or scene music in general. But Wes doesn't seem to listen to pop-punk? The only band he mentions listening to is Metallica, which, last I checked, is a metal band. He wears a Linkin Park t-shirt once (huge slay) and mentions the My Chemical Romance reunion (double slay), but that's about it. He seems to be more of a metalhead tbh, which there's nothing wrong with, but I was hoping for more pop-punk references. (This sounds greedy, since almost every chapter title is a pop-punk reference, and I did appreciate that, but I wanted more!!)

I didn't vibe with the audiobook narrator. I'm kind of (very) picky about audiobooks, so the fact that I didn't dnf shows that he did a decent job at least, but I feel like he missed the mark on narrating the dialogue. Sometimes I couldn't tell the difference between Wes's internal narration and when he was actually speaking which was confusing, and the narrator also read everything in this sad, hesitant sort of voice, which works for the overall vibe of the story, but makes the happy, lighthearted moments in the book feel sad as well.

Minor spoiler, Wes's mom got him and his friends tickets to see Metallica, but later they start growing apart and the concert is never mentioned again (unless I somehow missed it?), so its unclear if they did go to the Metallica concert. I need to know if they went, because if they skipped out on it due to their beef, I will be very sad on their behalf.

#skater boy #anthony nerada #booklr #book review #lgbt #queer #queer books #mlm #coming of age #young adult #gay #lgbtq #lgbtqia #achillian #gay romance #gay books #mlm representation #mlm romance

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chipsncookies · 10 months

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Twin Stars Far Apart Commentary

Due to image limit this is mostly text

To summarise, this event is good, but felt too short and didn't focus enough on the twins, which is sad since they're supposedly the main stars of this event, it felt like Archie's story instead (i like it but i gotta be fair) the problem also got resolved too quickly, making the story fall a bit flat.

I'd prefer if they let us stew in the conflict a bit. Maybe make them explore other options before turning to jirachi to make the situation more dire. After all, twins being separated into different worlds should hold as much gravitas as Lusamine losing her husband or submas being separated (the freaking. Similarity to submas is so obvious, but liza and tate had it much easier 🥲). Maybe also explore Tate and Liza's personalities, let them do/speak and think more or have them learn things throughout the story, or make them more distressed as time goes on, they would be more compelling. After all, they are the characters dena is selling 😅

Also kinda sad that Nanu did not comment on the girls coming back? He should've been welcoming anabel and liza, iirc he lost a coworker once, i feel he should have a stronger reaction towards anabel being spirited away and making it back home.

But as i said, I am biased and this event is very catered to me so here are some highlights of things i like (warning: mostly archie)

Let's start from beginning:

Archie has shown time and again he's gentle with kids so fatherly 🥰 , he asked the twins to keep jirachi a secret.. he explained to them so they understand its importance, he respects their intelligence.

I feel his message got through easily because they're kids, they don't have lofty ambitions like some adults (imagine if gio/others found out about jirachi). As a villain himself he knew what some people would do to achieve their selfish goals. Yet he still has hope and appreciates truly kind-hearted people.

After that Nanu and Anabel appeared and explained they have to guard the twins. Apparently the area becomes more dangerous because ultra wormholes keep appearing recently? I wonder if this is just something that happened for this event or there's something that caused this 🤔 my brain really suspects there's a connection with how Adaman and Irida got sent to Pasio through space time rift... But that and ultra wormhole are different things. Side note I'm glad they explained why Looker isn't available, it's not necessary (imo) but it gives more context about the status of the interpol.

After that, of course the worst thing happened. Liza and Anabel are sucked into the wormhole, leaving their pkmns behind. I would've liked if they showed more signs of distress rather than just standing there 😅 Archie found out, and again i like how he used his knowledge as a villain to think of why the girls could've gone missing. It's also so sweet to see him reassure Tate, and promising to help him 🥹🫶 I think Archie could've been offering help earlier before Nanu suggested the ask for Lusamine's help, it could help integrate him more into the story imo.

After that Nanu correctly guessed they might have been sucked into a wormhole, and they asked Lusamine for help. Sure enough, she confirmed it. Her description about them going missing so suddenly, and without their pokemon too, really reminds me of Ingo 😭 I feel this also pains Lusamine to tell them, because she lost her husband to the wormhole too before...

Luckily for Liza and Tate, they were transported into Pasio, still the same place although a different one unlike some poor sod who got yeeted hundreds of years back miles away from his home Apparently in this world there are no people in Pasio, only ultra beasts. This matter is not elaborated because they were attacked by some UB, but saved by a kind Celesteela. I can't help but wonder more about this universe, where are the people? Did they fail to contain UB outbreak? What happened to the Lear of this world?

Anabel makes a great observation that the UBs are the same as them, they're taken away from their homes. I love this moment of sympathy.

And then we turn back to Archie and Tate. Archie helpfully explained how to awaken Jirachi (Tate needs to sing and make a wish). Despite wanting to protect Jirachi he let Tate take his chance because he genuinely cares!

Just. Look at this scene, Archie is so supportive of Tate I can't y'all 😭😭💖💖🫶🫶 the way archie looks at tate so gently 🥺🥺 and how he's so excited when jirachi wakes up, and nudges Tate to make a wish!! he's so sweet, he's like a dad to Tate, I love him so much 😭💖

Ok and so Tate sang and Jirachi woke up! And he made his wish. And then they get reunited. Now this part is a bit funny because Jirachi apparently didn't do anything?? 🤣 Because earlier Anabel remarked that the UBs must have come from somewhere, ie a wormhole, and Liza heard Tate singing, so the wormhole must've existed before Jirachi even woke up. So convenient that it's located nearby 😂 afterwards it decided to make Tate its partner, solely because of his pure heart i guess? He managed to awaken it after all

Anyway, the twins are reunited!! And they got new friends ^^

I was so surprised when i saw this scene I didn't think they'd bring Matt too, I'm so glad they did 🥹💖💖 festival n and steven also appeared! It's a lively scene!

This is such a good shot Archie is so happy for the kids 🥹

THE REAL SHOCKER THOUGH IS THIS SCNEE

I was not expecting Shelly to appear, much less having interaction with Archie, at this point I'm pretty sure the writers read my mind because i love Archie and Shelly so much!! 😭😭💖💖 I've always loved their relationship, they're childhood friends united by the same goal, they understand each other so well 😭😭

The way they know what each other is thinking 😭😭 that's the proof of their bond!! After all this time they're still best friends, they know what each other is thinking 😭😭💖💖 It's so sweet and awe inspiring to me!!!

This is the highlight of the event for me, Archie really has come a long way from his villainy, he acknowledged the importance of people and pokemon, and wants to see the future generation live happily... it reminds me of this line from Alpa Sapphire's Delta episode:

I can't help but notice that this event is like a really condensed parallels to AS Archie's experience (i treat game archie and pokemas archie as different people), both initially motivated by meeting Jirachi, and then him having doubts on humanity, but things happened that led to a kid changing his mind. The difference is Pokemas Archie has the luck to see Jirachi again (although different than his friend) meet truly kind-hearted people (Tate), resulting in his change of heart, while in ORAS he never met Jirachi again, it was just a memory, and his change of heart happened because he made mistakes (which are. Much bigger than what Pokemas Archie has done).

From a meta perspective, I love that Archie's obscure/forgotten Jirachi lore from 2014 is picked up in Pokemas, crafting a story that led to Pokemas archie turning over a new leaf, similar to his game counterpart. Considering neither AS nor Pokemas Archie could ever meet their jirachi again (because it likely went to sleep for another 900ish years), Pokemas is logically the only place where this little story can be touched again, and I'm SO happy for it. Jirachi is the motivation for Archie in the beginning, and it continues being that in this event, but with new, deeper understanding and optimism, with hopes for the future of humans alongside pokemon 💖✨

Im sorry for writing this long Like oh my God you guys i love Archie so much!!!! 😭😭😭💖💖💖💖 I love this event so much !!! I'm so happy!!

#pokemon #pokemas #aqua leader archie #twin stars far apart #tate and liza #chipsays #like i always wanted archie to have jirachi but im willing to let it slide this time because i like the story

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catlou · 17 days

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Something I've wondered about is how many books we're going to get in the Hive Mind series. The Earth Girl series seem to come in books of three, or four in 2781's case: Earth Girl 1-3, Earth and Fire/Air/Water, and I expect the Scavenger trilogy will probably end up as a trilogy too, although I'm really just guessing there. Of course she has a whole bunch of companion books already written and others that we know she's planning to write (Earth Girl Aftermath 2 comes to mind).

I'm not sure if the Fortuna series is going to be a trilogy - I could see it being one that follows a somewhat similar path to the original trilogy. Excavation work mostly in book 1, book 2 they start dealing with the threat of the chimera in earnest, and everything wraps up by book 3. I don't really know, though; I could have the wrong idea about where she plans to take that series.

Whereas for Hive Mind, there doesn't seem to currently be an end goal to the series. If she had wanted to end the series with the Keith arc, then I don't think she would have added all that stuff about Amber's unit helping Joint Hive Treaty Enforcement. Of course, Amber helping them is part of the reason why the Keith thing is (maybe?) resolved, but she could have taken that in a different direction.

The main problem facing the Hive right now is that they don't have enough telepaths to keep order. The main problem facing Amber right now is Keith and his looming threat to tell her parents that she's a nosy. And then the stuff with JHTE is a whole 'nother thing - it's possible that that will introduce an even bigger overarching plotline that makes Hive England's problems and Amber's personal problems look small in comparison.

I've wondered whether a possible outcome of the series is the end of Hive society. This is totally conjecture and probably makes no sense, but in book 3, when they go to the sea farm, there seems to be an emphasis put on the fact that the sea farms are meant to be the last resort if Hive civilization falls. Amber and her team have acclimated to going Outside, and should something like this happen, they'll be capable of making the journey. Also, Amber does express her discomfort with how the Hive controls its people several times, which almost seems like potential foreshadowing? Especially when combined with the mysterious problem faced by JHTE? (As well as the fact that when I asked Janet if she could provide any information about these possible civilization-ending disasters, she told me that that particular information might be a spoiler for future books.)

I do think that the end of Hive civilization during the series is probably fairly unlikely. But it is an interesting thought. What's probably more likely is that whatever problem JHTE has becomes the big bad wolf and then Amber and team have to figure out how to vanquish the threat. Somewhere in there, Keith stops being a problem, Amber's parents find out she's a nosy and she has to deal with that, and once JHTE's problems, Amber's family problems, and Hive England's telepath problem are resolved, she reaches self-actualization or whatever and that's the conclusion to the series.

That being said, Janet always manages to throw me for a loop, so I'm sure I'm totally off base! 😁 That is, however, part of the fun, and thinking about these things gives me ideas for fanfic, so it's not all bad!

#janet edwards #hive mind #hive future #spoilers for hive mind series #baseless speculation #theories #I'm probably insane it's fine

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0poole · 1 year

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I’ve never hated a movie this much in a long time

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 made me so mad that I'm breaking this random rambling blog out of retirement

I'm seriously the "enjoy everything" guy. I'm not really interested in Marvel much at all anymore, but I do honestly expect to go to a Marvel movie and have a good, simple time. But like… for some reason this one feels like a special kind of bad. I guess that's because the solution to all my genuine problems was so close.

The ONE thing I genuinely, honestly believe is an issue is that this movie isn't about Rocket enough. Everything else is stylistic junk I should've expected to have an issue with, cuz of course modern Marvel art style is just, like, awful (because it's not fully animated). But I swear

Here's the pitch: Keep all of Rocket's flashbacks as is, and keep the overall current time throughline of the crew trying to save him, but SERIOUSLY cut them down. Like, a lot a lot.Pretty much any time any form of Rocket (near-dead or young) was genuinely good content. Obviously super grim and intense for a Marvel movie, but I feel like something like that was basically guaranteed to be his backstory anyway, so I was actually hoping to see it through. Also, Floor (spider bunny) was so utterly perfect that I honestly might buy a plush of her (him? them?) and thus end up fuelling the very thing I'm criticizing in this post but I can't help it, they were a seriously amazing design. And I even have a disagreement with some of the criticism, I'm hearing from multiple (2) places that people (two people) didn't like how the main villain was so utterly despicable that they didn't like it, while I actually like him. Maybe it's my character designer brain both liking purple and also his tacked-on skinface. His weird eccentricness was really fitting for someone who believed he was god. I think the only reason he felt so despicable was because he was abusing animals, while I think if he was just your average planet-conqueror he would either be a little fun or boring. I also really liked the line someone (I think Quill) said where his crew were basically responsible for certain whole civilizations across the universe, and that they would actually call them gods.

The problem was everything in between these scenes. They tried to make this a Guardians movie when it really should've been a Rocket Raccoon movie. And yeah, I get that they wanted to call it a Guardians movie, but they still made it so much of Rocket's movie that every random interpersonal conflict not involving Rocket just felt like filler junk. I guess the fact that I knew these conflicts would be resolved by the end of the movie made them feel like petty squabbling in the moment. It's even worse with Quill and Gamora, because I honestly thought Gamora was straight-up dead from the Infinity War junk, but I guess she's just back now, minus her memories? I used to think I understood what was going on with the whole Marvel Cinematic Multiverse but I guess now I have to admit I'm out of the loop. Was there some series that established what happened to her that I heard nothing about? I don't remember one but there also have been like dozens coming out and being announced a month so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Same goes with the Soviet space dog, although that was clearly meant to be a much less deep character so I could excuse it then. I do like the prospect of the Guardians as characters being more like a rotating cast instead of a set group.

(Also the whole concept of the Yondu-tech with the whistling and the arrow and such is still one of the coolest character design traits ever. I still will keep that much true to my heart)

But yeah anyway, not only did I really not care about most of the "important" stuff happening with the current-time shenanigans, the fact that they had the usual Marvel jokiness about it half of the time really caused some serious tonal whiplash at some points. Like, in the flashback where Purple Guy (I don't remember his name if he had one) shoots all Rocket's buddies to death and as Lila utters her last dying wish to see the sky it still cuts back to the random group banter of the other characters just being goofballs amidst the chaos. Seriously? We just witnessed the most traumatizing event in a cartoon animal's life, where his friends were murdered right before his eyes by his captor, and we still go back to that? Can't we just have some kind of emotional parachute? Maybe like a cutaway to some little trinket Rocket kept around that reminded him of them? Or at least Groot watching over the holograms they had in that meatball they stole so we can share the emotions with one of the characters?

And really, the thing that really capped it all off with the worst possible ending was the fact that Rocket didn't fucking murder the Purple Guy. What kind of catharsis is that? He literally could've just held the gun to his head and shot him dead, but I guess for some reason the Guardians have this bullshit pathos to bad guys, even though they just DON'T. They murdered dozens of random soldiers to get to where they were, BUT FOR SOME REASON THE SOLE CAUSE OF IT ALL DESERVES TO LIVE (or die ambiguously in a ship explosion, still is bullshit). Purple Guy deserved all the pain and suffering he inflicted on not only Rocket but literally all of his creations, even his lackeys, and yet for some reason they couldn't just shoot him. And not even that, but they (Nebula) clearly didn't have an issue stabbing that Sovereign guy in the heart. Was somehow terrorizing their town more bad than destroying an entire planet of your own creation? And the worst part is that Rocket was kind of defeatist about it too, like he sounded like he wanted to shoot him, but thought his buddies would be mad at him, even though his buddies were the ones killing everyone to save him. Quill literally said verbatim to Groot "Okay you can kill them all now" and then jumped off a ship to drive one of the scientist guys into the ground to scoop out his fucking brains. And even Groot, the guy who seems like he should be the most pacifistic of them all, fucking launched his arm into one of the experiments' throats to gore him from the inside with his spiky branches. Are you fucking kidding me? Even I was like "This is the shit they would rather show kids instead of a naked boob?"

Seriously. A boob on screen would send this up to like an R rating nowadays, but apparently that, or multiple situations where one of the experiments' heads gets torn off, or their body gets sliced in half, or idk maybe a guy shooting fucking innocent little animals keeps it at a safe family film rating. Shit's like a normalized Liveleak video.

And one last thing before I get to the less important stuff, Quill had the audacity to be the fake out death at the end when Rocket was clearly the only emotional core of the movie. It would've been so much more impactful if Rocket was the one who nearly died there. We saw his trauma all over screen, he saved his (other) animal buddies, and if doing so nearly cost him his life that would've been so much more impactful. Plus, the fact that he's not the mainest of the main characters also means there's a small chance he might actually fully die there. AND let's not forget the fact that in like the first or second movies, the exact same thing happened to Quill before and literally all they had to do to save him was to put a helmet on him. How could no one on their whole spacefaring colony have some sort of helmet to just throw out to him? Like this is turbonerd-critic-who-cares-way-too-much-about-plot-holes territory but I'm genuinely annoyed at that scene. I think it pisses me off because it wasn't just some throwaway detail in the past movies, it was the biggest deal because I think it was like Gamora or Yondu or someone who passed over their only helmet to save him, so the fact that that's how you help someone dying in the vacuum of space being so present in this series and they just completely ignored it just shows serious lack of care on whoever chose that to be the case's part.

I feel like I should leave it at that for the serious stuff, but I obviously have a lot of random stylistic annoyances that are obviously just par for the course and I really shouldn't be angry about but I still am so

The simplest one is the music, and I feel like this annoys me more because my dad specifically actually really likes music choices like this. I realized this about him when we watched Lightyear and he was explicitly disappointed that Starman wasn't directly in the movie even though it was in all the trailers. He said something like "Movies need to have good music in them" which in principle I agree with, but the fact that he basically meant it as "Movies need to insert more classic songs into their movies" kind of annoys me honestly. I can actually like it in the first Guardians movie since back then it was a unique vibe for superhero stuff to have, but now it's so beaten down that I am really just over it. Really here specifically I have no right to be annoyed since it is truly a part of the Guardians brand, but yeah it is annoying. I do want movies to have good music, but good ORIGINAL music. Like either songs made for the movie (Sunflower and What's Up Danger, again Spiderverse does it right) or actually, somehow, make a score that actually has any degree of staying power at all. Between the "Oh I remember that song haha!" moments was still the most generic "I'm a movie" drivel. It almost made the emotional climaxes for anything besides Rocket's backstory feel really overblown because of how hard they tried to make the music carry the very shallow emotional weight of all of it. And the funny thing is that I do actually know an example, and it's Unicorn Warriors Eternal. Only 3 episodes so far and it's already one of the best cartoons I've seen, and it manages to have a completely original score that doesn't sound like it's trying to be a standalone track you buy the single for, and still matches the tone of the scene its all used for too. There have been multiple points where I've been taken aback at the score being both catchy in its own right but being really good and fun for the goofy scenes its used in. Modern cartoons are still the pinnacle of stories honestly I swear

And I guess I'm basically just going to be saying that all again because this has officially been the worst of both CGI and Practical Effects at the same time. Neither are good. Both suck. Both were terrible in this movie. Every fantastical property ever should be fully animated (or at least have impressive artistry on display like Dark Crystal or something, even though I still don't really like Dark Crystal).

The most hilariously bad part was unfortunately a part of Rocket's backstory, in the weird evolution chambers the purple guy made, where he puts in a completely normal, real animal, presses a button, and the animal turns into a crazy CGI fest transformation sequence, then literally a guy in an animal mascot costume. I can't believe it. Did no one in the editing bay look at that and think "That's what we're going with? Really?" And here's the solution: Just do it with CGI. This is where practical effects completely suck ass. Shit looked like one of the classic TMNT movies. Even if the CGI wouldn't nearly be animated correctly to truly mimic real life, it would've at least not looked pathetic. Stupid is better than pathetic. And Rocket and all the cyborg experiments are CGI anyway, as is everything else in the movie, so like… was it to save money? Do they not have money anymore? What's the point of me buying a Floor plush if they're just gonna pull trash like this?

The iffy part was with the humanoid animals in the suburb on Counter-Earth, because I truly got the joke (weird animal people in a super generic American landscape), but it still was almost too ridiculous to even get the joke good enough. I was so close to enjoying it, but I still think it would've been better if they all were extra weird in the way only CGI could provide. Think about it, a weird blob monster with like 5 malformed legs, 3 arms, a melted face, but in a polo t-shirt and khakis mowing a well-pruned lawn would've been so much better. Not just someone who's clearly just a human with a lot of makeup and plastic on their face. Or, in this case I feel like they were adapting an exact moment from the comics, and I can only imagine that moment was so much better then because of the stylistic way you can represent these people. This is a big case where my catchphrase of "animate everything" Actually makes so much more sense

And the last case is of course with everyone else. I'm still making it a mission statement of my own sci-fi universe-sprawling world to have plenty of body types that aren't just "human but with weird face parts." And I'm extra mad here because there was ONE background character that was exactly what I wanted, in between all the random humans with face paint. It was when the Ravagers first boarded the ship and Gamora came out, one of them was this weird mouthless serpent guy with Dr Strange powers who speaks in visualizing emoticons with magic. First of all, the fact that he uses normal ass emojis was actually funny and I liked it, but aside from that when he first came on screen I was seriously like "WHO IS HE????" because I'm so not used to any character being that cool looking. Again, this is what CGI can do right. It can show you weird monsters that actually look interesting and show diversity in this world which is supposed to take into account every single species that exists across every planet ever. Man, if only there were a show that took place exclusively in space that was expertly animated and character-designed to actually represent all the weirdness that can happen across the univer--Oh wait it exists it's Wander Over Yonder my favorite show of all time funny how that works anyway

The last bit was all the suits and stuff all the guard people were wearing, especially on that fleshy starbase thing. My mom put it perfectly, where it feels like the era of sci fi in things like Sharkboy and Lavagirl or Spy Kids 3D where they just look so stupid and goofy. Back then, it's charming because it was a product of the time. Now, it just looks dumb. The whole location was made to show like how flesh can be bent to their whim or whatever, right? Why not make it so their armor is much more obviously fleshy, and also directly attached to their skin instead of being an obvious suit they just put on? That would be much more fitting.

And I'll make this the last thing, I actually loved that fleshy place. I am a BIG proponent of meatbending, or whatever term you want to use, both in general but especially in a more normal, nonhorrific light. When they were sawing into the walls of that place and lifted up the removed core I was disgusted, but in an intrigued kind of way. And I was blown out of the water when they walked around inside, and not only were the nonorganic parts still cool looking and unique, but the sheer design potential of decorative flesh was extremely cool to see. I was especially interested in the fact that they shaped plants out of flesh, which was hilarious, but even things like one of the spy cameras being a giant eye, and a floating flesh blob thing leaking plasma-like goop. I LOVE that. I want more of it. Make that one yelling Spongebob meme in your head but with flesh tech or whatever, it's seriously cool and rarely done.

Anyway that's it whatever time to get back to the stuff I actually like, like damn that new Pokemon series is kinda aiming to be pretty good ngl

#guardians of the galaxy #3 #volume 3 #marvel #rant #rambling #rocket raccoon #poole #etc #who cares

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whumpster-fire · 1 year

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Having even more thoughts about the Great Tender Engine Strike of 193x, and Edward's nonparticipation.

The thing is, like... the strike was justified, it was just extremely poorly executed. I know I've said a lot in Edward's defense re Henry/Gordon/James's failure to actually communicate and having no problem with Edward doing the job they saw as beneath them for 15 years pre-strike, but something else that just occurred to me is:

(a) Edward likes shunting and is competent at it, and (b) didn't this take place in the early-mid 30s, i.e. when Edward's siblings were being withdrawn and scrapped on the F.R? Like, all the big engines were kinda risking their frames with the strike, but the stated demand of "Tender engines should not have to shunt" would have really put Edward in a bad position if he joined them on it and they got exactly what they wanted.

At best it makes his job less fun, at worst he's an old engine who's significantly less strong than the others and has been sidelined from his original role and being good at shunting is one of his main valuable skills at that point. I would not blame Edward in the slightest for being a bit insecure about his place on the NWR and not wanting to go "Hey, this isn't my job, I refuse to do it anymore" about something that on most railways might have been the one thing keeping him out of the scrapyard. Especially since the Big Engines hadn't given him that much reason to think they'd stick up for him.

And also, like, if they'd actually tried to get Thomas in on it as opposed to going "We are better than you, having to do things that should be your job is demeaning," I think they probably could have. Like Thomas is a cheeky self-important little shit who could totally be appealed to on the grounds of "You held this yard together when you were a station pilot, and we cannot do our work without someone to replace you, and it's unfair for you to be distracted from your branch line that you earned by having to cover for shunting duties at Tidmouth too, we need more tank engines." His ego would eat that up. And he's also kind enough that if they'd gone: "Having to shunt our own trains all the time is as unfair to us as if you had to pull trains that were too heavy for you and weren't allowed enough coal and water stops" I think Thomas would have helped.

tl;dr the Big Engines had a legitimate grievance but they also legitimately fucked themselves over by making it about a Worker vs. Worker conflict instead of Workers vs. Management.

But I kinda get the impression that TFC also made the situation worse than it needed to be because he wanted to make sure he "won" the argument and remained the symbol of unflinching, absolute authority, and that if he'd communicated something like: "Okay I will get another fucking shunter, but it will take time to find an engine we can afford because we have no money. We will have even less money if you sulk in the shed and get trains canceled. It will not kill you to shunt your own coaches once in a while when it's needed, and the fastest way to have to do it as often in the future is to deal with it until I can buy another tank engine" it might have resolved things faster.

Although TFC might've handled it like a "Because I said so, just do what you're told and stop fighting damnit!" parent because he was trying very hard to avoid scaring his engines with the real situation of: "Oh my god you fucking idiots, if you drive this railway into bankruptcy the LMS is going to take over and they've made it clear they don't want any of you except maybe Thomas. They already declared James nonstandard, Gordon is an LNER engine and the LNER don't want him either, Henry is a lemon, and they are actively scrapping Edward's siblings."

#Railway Series Fandom #Edward (RWS)#Edward has nice blue wheels

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alexsalteranim3fmp · 1 year

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Fixing Act 3 and pacing / workload

KEY PROBLEMS (22/02/23)

A lot of the work is progressing nicely, Reaching the high quality bar I initially planned for. However - there are a couple of caveats to a higher level of quality control, and multilayered set pieces, and it’s the time constraint. Currently as of writing this I have 12 weeks left to complete the whole project and record the song. The song element at the moment is out of my hands, there were annoyingly complications that couldn't be resolved at the time - and the people required to record and finish the song are now away on holiday for a couple weeks. Not overly stressed about it at the moment, but if the song needs to reach a quality bar, it needs to be worked on relatively soon. The other key problem, as in finish the damn project is also running into complications in that the time frame might be too close. Of course with animation its particularly hard to plan and predict how long will take, in my planning document I intended to be relatively vague and generous with the time to complete each scene, however didn't take too much into account for the unwritten elements, i.e mainly act 3 and the main introductory panning down sequence in act 1.

I’ve decided to take a step back. Recoup what I have currently created and what needs to be done to succinctly tell the story - having to rewrite and adjust anything; in song, narrative and of course the current animations completed. This was in part something I had planned to do prior. When making the animatic - the scenes I had (although in static image form) didn't flow as well with the music during the chorus, it felt disconnected and sort of montag-ey. This desperately needed rectifying. I should also preface that I did have plans and scenes in mind for act 3 - I wasn't going to completely wing it, however these ideas like much of the whole project could prove to be overly ambitious and too strenuous to the time left in the project. Like anything, plans need to change to accommodate life happening, and things getting in the way. Although I do think my previous plan was do-able, albeit wouldn't be healthy, mentally and physically - maybe during lockdown I could have, but right now? Certainly not.

SOLUTIONS

My initial plan for act 3 was to create an atmosphere and implication of the festival collapsing, I like the idea of calling back to the ‘heart basement’ scene, and having the heart malfunction, and the pipework faulting from the goblins incompetence or overworked-ness resulting in the whole festival and kids life falling apart, giving implication of addiction and how this isn't a sustainable fix, it fragility of a support system, and the emptiness that falters when its crux dissipates. I want to double down on this element to an extent, without increasing the workload too far.

My main idea currently, that I'm particularly excited about is having this ‘horror climax’, twisting the songs pacing and increasing in tempo. This idea partially stemmed from talking with Simon my sound teacher, in which he pointed out how different and altered the song was from its original composition. By speeding the ending up, it separates itself from the original ‘take me’ song, and allows the audience to recognise the song, but built for the narration of my story, not something I've randomly selected from the soar lines library. By doing this, It can allow for a series of quick cuts - but working as callbacks to previous shots. The pacing of the chorus during act 2 is fairly tepid, culminating of short looping sequences. This is fine - however I feel doesn't supply much narrative support and can feel too repetitive. By juxtaposing this with quick cuts of the same shots (perhaps slightly altered), can allows for implication of passage of time, but equally twisting its meaning and allowing for more interesting horror theming - providing a creepier undertone to the once potentially innocence, and further reinforcing my initial subtext and reference to mental health. Horror is a genre I feel confident and well researched and accustomed to, and so this fix is something simply very exciting to me - and helps provide a conclusion to the narrative, while equally being fun and engaging to the audience. Finally, this solution helps alleviate some of the time constraints, as I can reuse some older shots, and shorten the song/ video without compromising quality or cutting the song weirdly.

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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Have you finished eod yet?

I have not finished EoD, unfortunately. I've maybe gotten halfway? Real life and higher priorities keep getting in the way. And I guess I'm not as... thrilled by this expac as the others?

Perhaps it's because the game lore has diverged so sharply from my own understanding of it from core through HoT. I am fully aware that the game is about challenging preconceived notions of what magic and the world and dragons themselves are and how they work and interconnect, but I sort of liked my interpretation better. (That dragons are forces of nature, unable to be reasoned with, and unstoppable except by unity. I would have been fine with the fallout being huger than imagined, with having to replace the dragons with something better, and the replacement might have to be a personal being, an ally, and that's why the replacement is better, but having the dragons themselves be personal creatures to begin with, creatures we can interact with on a relational level? I'm slightly disappointed.)

Or maybe (because I don't think my disappointment is big enough to warrant disinterest) it's because the game has stopped focusing much on peripheral elements; as the world ages past 1325, and changes of major historical import occur (quite apart from dragons dying, I mean things like Balthazar's death, the charr civil war, and, as several of my reblogs recently have been about, the norn and their reaction to IBS), I want to see a lot more effort put into ambient worldbuilding, updating old maps and dialogue or at least creating new ones that address wider issues and not just the map conflict/meta. Instead, the new expac has moved us to, not just a new continent, country and culture, but a place that has been completely isolated from our home continent for so long that it has completely different history.

In addition, the ending of IBS was unsatisfactory, both because 1. the defeat of two Elder Dragons should be more of a climactic win, and 2. because our main story antagonist, Bangar, goes without justice entirely. In that light, moving on to EoD basically means skipping the resolution of some huge major story points and trying to introduce new things without resolving all the emotional tension that's still tied up in the IBS arc.

Combining that with the problem of not updating old worldbuilding and introducing a completely new continent with different lore, and further building upon lore changes that I've been resistant to already, and EoD just feels like something different altogether, maybe even as different as a Guild Wars 3 would be.

And, of course, there's the idea that maybe this is just going to far for me to take, as someone who still likes writing PS-era fic, obsessing over the ending of HoT, and angsting over S3. PoF and further are still interesting stories with characters I know and love, but the further things go the more I've had to rush and cobble things together to understand how my Commander fits into it all, and eventually it's going to stretch too far, and maybe that's what's happening.

Also, I'm not invested in Cantha. I'm not a GW1 player, so it doesn't have any appeal to me as a player, and as for my Commander, Cantha has been off the radar for her. Everyone fights for a reason, and Commander's reason has been "some must fight so that all may be free" for some time now. Well, Cantha is free. They have a nice Elder Dragon and haven't had to deal with a hostile one in centuries. It honestly feels like my Commander is interfering in otherwise-peaceful Canthan operations without much knowledge of what's going on, simply because she can, and she feels like her experience (and fame?) give her a say. This level of pride doesn't feel in-character for me, although I could probably retroactively make it so, but I can't change the fact that her motivations are all centered on making the world a better place, and Cantha is the last place that needs it. She washed up on their shores basically an illegal alien, and I don't know (or don't recall) why they let her hang around - they could have deported her and Kasmeer and there's nothing anyone could have done about it.

It could be one of these problems or all of them. However, I rather think even all of these problems couldn't keep me away from my babies Taimi and Gorrik, and my eternal love for magic and dragon lore even if it isn't quite to my taste. More likely, I'm just busy, and all of these reasons have raised the barrier of entry to EoD just enough that I don't feel a burning passion to get through it, and therefore am capable of focusing on real life for now.

This theory is supported by the fact that I also have not played the new S1 re-releases, and I'll usually obsess over any fragment of S1 lore I can get, much less a full playable version.

However, when I do get around to finishing EoD... well, I've had a sneaking suspicion since IBS that my Commander was killed by Bangar's arrow, and one of my other OCs took over. All my problems with IBS - and several of the issues with EoD - would be much less significant if there was a less experienced Commander involved. (Although, Bangar getting off easy probably wouldn't have happened if he'd successfully killed the Commander.)

Anet's been focusing on new players quite a lot in Cantha, so having a brand-new Commander and telling a new and different story with her feels most accurate. (My Commander, like me, has been resistant to the new dragon lore, but I can see a fresh face having a more "progressive" take on it.)

Well, this turned into quite a detour and broad examination of myself and GW2 without getting bogged down by too many details, but I'm happy with it. Thanks for the ask!

To answer more specifically, I have (spoilers ahead) completed up to where Ankka kills Mai Trin and "releases" (?) Soo-Won, and the subsequent interrogation of my Commander by various different factions. (I do feel that this should have spiked my interest considerably, because stakes are going up - but again, only for my Commander personally and there is no real reason for her to hang around! Except Aurene, I guess, but still.)

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darkcircles4lyfe · 3 years

Text

Death to All Might, Rebirth to Yagi Toshinori

So about All Might. I’ve been extremely wary of talking about what could happen to him because straight up saying “I don’t think he’s gonna die” is asking the universe to spite me. Plus it also feels like a room full of people turning to stare at me as if I said the Sun isn’t a star. Man has death flags everywhere, I know.

But, okay, *Bill Nye voice* consider the following:

Mr. Yagi here, if he overheard everything, just received the final nail in the coffin on his career. His time as the symbol of peace is not only over, it was in fact partially responsible for the current state of things, since he once did so much on his own that his absence now makes heroes and civilians alike ill-prepared to cope. I think it was very apt for that one guy to be wearing an All Might shirt--he was acting as a mouthpiece for the latent societal problems embedded in All Might’s legacy.

We know already that he’s been feeling useless. I love this scene and although I’m not gonna talk about it right this second, remember what Aizawa says about just “being here” being enough:

And we know from conversations with Inko that Toshinori is also reframed his purpose around looking after Izuku. But in the end, Izuku rejected his help, and it was his classmates instead who were able to save him. Now the very progress of humanity is rejecting him too. You may me wondering how on Earth I don’t see the logical conclusion of all this being his death. Hold on. It actually has a lot to do with the fact that we’re all expecting it. Nighteye himself saw it, and despite any contrary convictions anyone might have, the plot doesn’t seem to be veering away from that end. All Might Is Gonna Die, says absolutely everything.

It’s occurring to me that I have previous experience with this kind of plotline that probably little to no one else in this fandom shares, being that I’ve read a certain book series in which the main character is told in no uncertain terms that he will die (no, I’m not talking about hp). The series in question is T*e Und*rland Chronicl*s (censoring so it doesn’t get put in their side of tumblr) and I’m sorry but I’m about to go on a shameless tangent about it and spoil the ending for you.

So in this series there is a prophecy in every book, each one having something to do with war and conflict, and so far all of them have been right. In the last book [mc] finds out that it’s prophesied that he will be killed. Lots of the things in the prophecies are convoluted and metaphorical, but no, this one literally says “when the [mc’s title] has been killed.” He spends the whole book coming to terms with this, and he gives into it, only to find himself waking up in the hospital instead. “Wow, plot twist. /s” you may be thinking, and yeah sure, the mc in a kids book survived, big shocker. But it doesn't end there. After the war, there are peace talks, but they escalate until the two sides are on the verge of declaring war again. And [mc], bless him, has just been caught in the middle of all of this the entire time. He’s sick as shit of fighting, of watching the suffering and death of people he cares about. He draws his sword against both of them angrily, gives a speech saying he won’t take a side, and then promptly breaks his sword across his knee: “There. [mc’s title in the prophecies] is dead. I killed him.” He’s giving a huge middle finger to everyone there, to the man who wrote the prophecies, to the entire fucked up culture of it all. And so something that was taken literally turns out to be metaphorical. That is, if you still believe in the prophecies at all.

Hopefully you’re catching my drift here. What I’m saying is, even though this other series has nothing to do with bnha, it goes to show sometimes it’s the most absolute certainties that are red herrings, and a “death” can consequently be a symbolic one. In All Might’s case, it could be the death of hero society and a rejection of his own past. In other words, character development for Toshinori himself that reflects on the way the world is changing, too. Also there’s the fact that the mc from that other series I’m trying not to name has an honorary title, and I’m imagining that role he occupied “dying” could correspond to something that amounts to, “All Might is dead. I (Yagi Toshinori) killed him.”

And here’s another thing: we also have to ask ourselves what good a dead Toshinori is to Izuku, narratively speaking. Yes, Izuku has spent his whole life idolizing even the more toxic parts of All Might, and his idealized vision of his hero does need to “die.” But how about Toshinori as a father figure? Izuku regretting that his last interaction with Toshinori was to reject his help may drive home the fact that he shouldn’t go off on his own, but at this point it’s kinda redundant. If anything it would negate some of the progress that was just made because it’d make him extra paranoid about losing other people too. To be honest, the whole “Uncle Ben” trope, the mentor/father figure who dies and gives the mc a reason to do better, is so tired. Experiencing the death of a loved one really doesn’t deserve to be romanticized like that. I might as well admit that I’m speaking from experience, and let me tell you, losing someone you love suddenly, when you weren’t around, and with unfinished business--it makes you paranoid as hell that it will happen again. It literally gives me nightmares. Y’all, I cannot stress enough that trauma does not equal character development. Granted, just because I know this doesn’t mean Horikoshi does, but in general he does seem to lead his characters toward healing.

Okay, back to the present. Toshinori is turning away from UA. He likely feels useless and rejected. We can infer that what happens next will involve Stain, and we have a couple of extra clues to go with it: Stain considers All Might a true hero, and has stated that he would let All Might kill him. And since Horikoshi loves his parallels, we also have this fight between Endeavor and this random villain who admires him so much that he wants to die by Endeavor’s hand:

This suggests a confrontation in which Stain challenges All Might to live up to himself as he once was, so that as a hero he can vanquish Stain and symbolically overcome society's perversion of that role. But based on what All Might has learned about the system he upheld, Stain is wrong. All Might is not a “true hero” in the sense that the societal issues Stain witnessed exist not in spite of All Might, but (in part) because of him, because he took too much of the responsibility for himself.

Stain probably had no idea about the personal cost of All Might’s lonely burden until after the fact. Maybe he’s seeing it now. So then perhaps the confrontation would be more about Stain claiming he’s just as fake as the rest. Either way, Toshinori has the opportunity to denounce himself and be rid of “All Might,” to stop living in his own shadow. Nighteye’s vision has been defied before, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the combination of society shifting + Toshinori’s own conviction is enough to do it again and work fate in his favor.

He is not All Might. He is Yagi Toshinori: quirkless, worn down, and directionless except for his dedication to Izuku. If he survives his interaction with Stain, he can resolve his imperfect mentorship by confessing about his shortcomings and simply supporting Izuku as a part of his family, not as his teacher (as Aizawa said, just “being there”). And that’s how you really get character development, for both of them. I mean, shit, imagine Toshinori straight up telling Izuku to stop calling him All Might.

#disclaimer: I have a lot of emotional investment in dadmight #so I am hella biased #but hopefully I also have some unique insight to share #all might #yagi toshinori #bnha #mha #bnha meta #bnha 325 #bnha 326 #lin speaks

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blockgamepirate · 3 years

Text

I keep saying that Dream SMP Techno's core weakness is his obliviousness and it's kind of a narrative necessity to nerf him, because if Techno wasn't kind of clueless about some really important things he'd probably just steamroll everything. Or in some cases just solve problems too easily.

He had to be unaware of Pogtopia's plans, because otherwise he would have either tried to convert them into anarchism (which would have been much less interesting) or he'd have just ditched them, making his character entirely pointless.

He had to be unaware of Dream's role as the de facto ruler of the SMP because otherwise he probably wouldn't have allied with Dream either. He might have even joined forces with L'Manberg temporarily to get rid of Dream, who knows. Basically, for Dream to stay a menacing figure Techno couldn't side against him, since Techno is the one person who could be able to take Dream down without having to recruit the entire server.

(I do want to see Techno eventually find out the truth about Dream. But I have no idea when that's gonna happen. Maybe the resurrection book gives Dream enough of a boost in power? Idk.)

And there are a whole bunch of other examples too. The latest one being Techno completely missing the fact that Ranboo is obviously hiding something related to Snowchester. (Although to be fair, if I didn't know, I wouldn't have noticed either from Techno's POV lmao, I'm pretty clueless myself sometimes.) Otherwise the tension would have been resolved immediately, whatever the actual resolution would be.

Techno also sometimes accidentally finds something out and then just pretends he didn't because he isn't supposed to know, like how he accidentally heard Tubbo planning to re-establish L'Manberg on Nov 16 and just went "I don't think I'm supposed to be hearin' this conversation" and left.

So yeah, that's the main way Techno's character is nerfed on the server, I think. And why he's so particular about what each character does and doesn't know.

#dream smp #technoblade

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canmom · 2 years

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Are you still watching Centaur World? Looking forward to anything you have to say re: Season 2 and the ending.

Ahaha, writing something about this was something I had planned, once I'd finished talking about Houseki no Kuni. But since you've asked~

So, on rewatch, Season 1 of Centaurworld held up very well. It maintained a good balance of humour and pacing, the characters were appealing, and the driving character arc was compelling. I definitely want to say more on that in a minute, but let me comment on Season 2!

Centaurworld is kind of structured like a joke: you have setup, and then payoff. In this case, the payoff is a grand finale featuring reprises of the ideas set up earlier in the story and resolving its major emotional arcs (namely: Horse learning to chill out and connect to her new friends, reuniting Horse and Rider, and Wammawink learning to let go). This setup-payoff structure produces some of the best moments, such as the unexpected reprise of Comfortable Doug with a solo in the S1 finale; it's generally a good basis to build a story around.

Unfortunately this really put themselves in a tough place at the outset of season 2, having fired most of those guns and thus lost most of the narrative momentum. They had some exposition to handle, such as establishing the character of the General and the nature of the Minotaurs as chimeras (which would be thematically important) before we could deliver the big Nowhere King backstory to the finale - an understandable decision given the actual impact of dropping it all as essentially one big 90 minute Disney musical, but with much of Horse's arc already resolved, it left little ground to cover in the first few episodes so it kind of felt like spinning wheels for a bit, even if it was setting up the same payoffs for the finale.

It's just tough for 'imposter syndrome/performance anxiety/did I make the right choice' to live up to 'I must get back to my wife rider in whom I've staked my entire emotional existence in life thus far/will I be too changed for her to recognise me'.

There's also an unfortunate tendency to take a good joke that was evidently popular in the first season and try to spin a lot more out of it; Comfortable Doug's many appearances in Season 2 had the feeling of that time My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic made a whole joke about the fan favourite drawing error 'Derpy Hooves' (disablism aside) - it just felt strained, rather than novel. OK, maybe that’s a bit harsh - Comfortable Doug was like, actually a significant character already! - but it felt like ‘ok here is more of that guy you like so much’.

All the same, after a couple of episodes to ease back in, it hit its stride around Holes Part 3, with the theme being fleshing out the rest of the Herd (who were for s1 almost entirely joke characters) and seeing Horse go through a crisis of confidence.

Honestly? Although Becky Apples was kind of funny, I think there would have been potential if they had put Horse back on the other side of the rift and developed her relationship with Rider onscreen.

There's still a lot to like, and once they actually spelled out what the Nowhere King's deal was, he actually made plenty of thematic sense as a villain. The main problem is perhaps that, by saving it all to the end, we basically have no understanding of what the main conflict is and just see him as 'generic bad guy' until the finale. It's a shame because, conceptually, it's actually a really good use of the 'world of centaurs' concept; an attempt to take a part of oneself and suppress it for the sake of respectability all being portrayed as something horribly misguided and traumatic is... juicy!

I think they made the best of it. It's an impressively ambitious project - the sheer number of songs far exceeds anything I've seen in TV animation - MLPFIM and SU could manage a song once every two or three episodes, whereas this can drop two or three every single episode, almost always with an impressively choreographed animated sequence. If I were more literate in musical theatre, I might be able to better recognise if they're riffing on existing musicals or just using certain familiar song structures. Regardless, it's compelling.

In terms of animation... there was some really strong work at many points. I noticed a very impressive bit of effects animation in the whaletaur episode in s1, and s2 had a couple of "oh, they really had fun there!" fight scenes. There's also a lot to be said for the sheer animation challenge of animating a cast of mostly quadrupeds constantly walking about and emoting. Wonder if anyone's put some up on sakugabooru? ...yeah! mmhm!

When I first watched this show, I was on a bit of an obsessive kick about solid drawing; at that point it felt like the greatest principle of animation was the kind of James Baxter/Toshiyuki Inoue/Mitsuo Iso/Hiroyuki Okiura/Shinya Ohira/etc. feeling of a convincing 3D object in space. Which is to neglect... basically all else in animation. Rewatching it I noticed a lot of the other good they're doing in terms of timing and making things feel bouncy and active; there's some very charming bits of stylisation, with Wammawink sometimes almost looking like a Jonni Phillips character. I'm ashamed I ever felt I could dismiss it as toonboom puppet animation.

I think the main thing that both bugs and interests me, is, well, the sorta faux-anime/disney look they use for the human world. Let me try and explain...

Here's the official turnaround of the main human character, Rider:

And here's a closeup of her face:

You can see that her head structure is very much of the anime template... but it's a kind of, slightly different mode of stylisation; elements like armour are reduced to sharp graphic shapes which can kind of feel like they're made of cardboard. The lines are very even, and much thicker than they would be in anime, with digital precision; there are also very few areas of higher detail to break up the large flat shapes. And, just, it really feels like nothing has any thickness to it! Basically she looks like she's drawn with vectors. And to me... that just doesn't quite work.

Faces are incredibly subtle, and what seems like a very minor tweak, like an increase in line weight, can completely change the impression of a face. The human characters here remind me of the designs of Infinity Train - there's nothing technically wrong with them, they have clear design language and are simple enough to be animated very nicely, but there's this curiously stiff quality. It's interesting as a sort of case study, because these designs are generally a lot more ambitious in terms of anatomical realism than most of what you see in Western TV animation at the moment, so it draws you to try and work out 'what's missing?'

That said, I do feel like the human designs in Season 2 tend to have a stronger identity to them.

On the other hand, I really do like Horse's pre chibification design. The full design sheet is far too big and detailed to include here but it includes some fascinating instructions to the animators:

"A real horse could never hit this pose. Don't be afraid to completely break the anatomy at times."

"Her front legs can act more like arms. When this happens, gravity no longer affects her body like it normally would. No need to make her back legs support her full weight."

"She can hold objects magically. It should always look as ridiculous as possible."

This one on quadruped construction is also fascinating.

Horse's design appears to take quite a lot of the way Dreamworks would construct a horse in a movie like Spirit. (You can see the full collection of design sheets and concept art for Spirit here).

In both designs, the model begins with two spheres, and there is a very clear indication of the plane changes around the bridge of the nose, which gives Horse's face a very strong recognisable structure as she moves around. I imagine it was quite a lot of work to keep animating it though.

Of course, the arc of season 1 sees Horse gradually transform from this kind of Disney/Dreamworks mode of stylisation to a much more simplified graphical design as in a modern TV cartoon.

Visually, this basically removes all the hard right angles in Horse's original design and replaces them with rounded shapes with few clear boundaries. Thematically, this represents a character adapting to the values of Centaur World, i.e., chilling out, learning to communicate and respect their friends rather than fighting a war. Although Horse initially reacts with horror to her transformation, ultimately this is treated by the narrative as unequivocally good; after the finale, the same starts to happen to Rider; we only see the beginning but eventually she's gonna end up like this:

This sense of design language is pretty pervasive. Notably when we see the past of Centaur World, its designs much more resemble the human characters; for example, a certain deertaur:

This design has considerably more complex shapes and sharper angles compared to the current era of Centaurworld, and symbolically this represents that this is a troubled character (who will eventually become the villain).

My feelings about this very explicit design sensibility (many characters joke about how Horse now resembles two beach balls glued together) is... hmm. Of course, Centaur World is a parable - it signals that we shouldn't take its lore too seriously when it starts going out naming characters things like 'Horse' and 'Rider'. Formally, putting these two animation styles side by side and giving them alternate meanings is a compelling device. It naturally makes sense to add a visual layer to the metaphors in the story.

And yet, I miss the element in the first season where the cuteness was experienced as an imposition; the centaurs heavily implied to be burying themselves in their childlike antics to escape from the war, as a perhaps rather unhealthy thing to do. I feel like more could have been done to either develop ro trouble the implied associations - round/soft/cute/willfully ignorant vs. angled/hard/serious/joyless/unable to connect, maybe even look to find some synthesis instead of ultimately just upholding one pole of the presented dichotomy! Haha maybe that's asking a bit much though...

The other fascinating oddity about it is just how... blatantly they paint the Horse/Rider relationship as romantic. Like basically all the drama they get out of it in S2 is about that! All the narrative beats! I wonder what AO3's done with this...

...fewer than I expected if I'm honest. Actually Nowhere King/Woman seems to be the most popular ship, followed by Splendib/Zulius (reasonable, even if they didn't exactly develop that one much outside of a 'this is happening, here's our ship name' joke). But for a show that spent an entire episode parodying fandom, it's really not got much out there at all. Maybe my expectations are rather uh, miscalibrated by MLPFIM's fandom lmao.

As a story about a war, it's of course not really about a war at all, and all military matters are treated in the vaguest terms, totally subordinate to the character arcs. 'The General' might as well be Dad for all the actual soldiering he does. That's fine though, because it's a story about interpersonal relationships and growth, and the war is just set dressing metaphor. (Rider pleading to do war crimes was funny though.)

Anyway, all in all, it's really got a lot going for it; whatever flaws I see in it I think are mere 'unrealised potential' than anything that really kills it, and I had a great time watching again. Very glad I gave it another go in a less miserable state of mind lmao.

#animation #centaur world #centaurworld #solicit bryn's anime opinions #;p

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mywonuderful · 3 years

Text

The Boyz reaction to you getting angry at them

anon request: tbz reacting to you getting angry with them, pls 🥺

genre: angst

warnings: slight swearing

a/n: please note that all these reactions are based on my own perspective and opinion! stupid tumblr only allows 10 gifs per post :(

main masterlist

Sangyeon

having him as a leader of 11 boys, I'm pretty sure he would be the most mature out of everyone even he can be a baby sometimes

“just how long did you think you could hide this from me?” you raised your voice

he would be taken back, looking at you with a speechless and shocked expression

he would try to process what to say next and also the fact that you raised your voice, which is something you almost never do.

I think he would be someone who would be careful around the words he'll say, especially during tensed conversations like this

he would approach the situation maturely, trying to fix the problem as best as possible and in ways were it can be prevented in the future

Jacob

okay first of all, we're taking about the angelic and patience boy here

“I’m fine, stop asking me.” your tone was firm as your shook off the his hand that was on your shoulder

he would be more confused, rather than shocked by your actions. He could sense that you're quite stressed out, he would softly ask you what's going on, being patient and responsive with everything you have to say

when disagreement comes, he would try to approach it in a manner where heated arguments would be avoided at all costs

because you know how sweet and composed this man is

he might leave to give you space if things do become a bit too heated but in the end, he'll try to resolve the matter and the both of you will live happily ever after~

Younghoon

he is a softie

“YOU WHAT?” your eyes almost popping out of it’s sockets

I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up tearing up, crying

because his heart is just full of softness and anything hurting it will just lead to him drowning in his tears

I have a feeling that you'll end up comforting him, even if you're mad at him

but then you can't ever stay mad at him, because you'll sense his presence, looking at you in a distance and when you turn to look at him, his there, looking at you with pouted lips and puppy eyes

but if you're actually mad at him, he'll stay serious, trying to figure out what the problem is

Hyunjae

I think he'll be taken back and quiet at the same time

“Fine! I’m tired of doing this anyways.” you left his dorm. He would be too shocked and confused to stop you from leaving

like Jacob, he'll probably think about the whole situation, trying figure out a way to approach you and the problem

the both of you haven't spoken to each other in a couple of days since what happened as he wouldn't be himself, having his head occupied with what you said and your tone

he'll try to get a hold of you, asking to see if you could meet up

he'll be nervous, since he rarely ever sees you like this and would be scared of messing things up, making it worst

he'll make sure to listen to what you have to say first, before expressing himself

Juyeon

don't be fooled by his cool on-stage image, he's a true softie

apparently he gets upset easily too ??

either way, if he saw that you were angry at him, he might be flustered on why and maybe even a little upset that you are

"I can't even look at you right now." you crossed your arms, looking away from him as he mouth parted, eyes wide from your statement before he raised an eyebrow, scoffing.

the both of you might be in a heated argument before one of you leaves or breaks it, letting space of your own. He'll gather his thoughts, trying to see what he might have done to make you mad.

I see him as someone who would apologizes first because you're someone he truly cherishes and he doesn't want any misunderstandings or miscommunications be the reason of anything that he doesn't want to happen

Kevin

his energy, vibe and aurora.... unmatchable I'm afraid

be in all, he would be quite serious and firm

"Moon Hyungseo, this isn't up for debate." he knows you're upset with him, hearing that you called him by his Korean name which was a name he didn't preferred to be called by.

but then hearing that from you and him knowing that you know that he didn't liked to be called by his Korean name might trigger something in him as he may end up snapping back at you, only instantly regretting after the words left his lips would be extremely logical and rational about everything, trying to get to every bit of detail

he isn't someone who likes to argue but when compensating he would definitely take his time and break down what has happened and what needs to be solved

New

I can definitely get the feels that he might be someone more affected by their partner's emotions, especially when it comes to negative ones like argue

“I’m not being ridiculous, you are!” New would be quite hurt yet frustrated by your words, leading up to an argument where the two of you bumped heads

he would end up leaving the room, wanting some space for himself to cool down because the two of you rather have heated bickering.

I don't think he would apologize first because he believes that if he isn't at fault, he shouldn't need to apologize just to make his partner feel better

maybe after a few days, the two of you will end up using the same space where one of you ends up bringing up the argument, apologizing and trying to come to an agreement

him having two sister will put him in a place where he probably has more experience on handling arguments

"Gosh, I can't believe you and your words." you rolled your eyes

he might be someone who has their feelings control them more than their mind in the moment but afterwards, he'll reflect on what he said

I think he might hold a few grudges here and there but tries to not let it get to him during arguments

he might avoid you for a couple of days, probably forgetting in the middle that the two of you fought, casually thinking to you

Juhaknyeon

I feel like he would be very gentle hearted (???) like even when you're mad at him (???)

he looks like someone who has a lot of patience, like Jacob (don't quote me on that though) especially when it comes to his significant other

"And you weren't planning to tell me after all this time?" he would be very calm upon your irritated voice. He wouldn't raise his voice but talk in a way that you may find annoying (???) because you're the worked up one

but nonetheless, he would hide the fact that he's surprised from you angered tone, trying to express a more mature example of himself in front of you

like Q, I think it would take him a few days for him to talk to you because he wants to give you the space you need, but he'll try slipping in short conversations here and there to see if you've calm down bit

Sunwoo

if you've seen him in variety shows, interviews or games you know how unpredictable he could be at times

like how he could go from mr.handsomewithaveryattractivefaceandjawline to whatthehellisgoinginsidehishead with his sudden screams and yells

so I wouldn't be surprised if he talked back at you when you were mad

"I have every right to be mad at you right now." he would roll his eyes, scoff before responding in a aggressive manner, only to end up in a quarrel

he wouldn't think twice about having to think about his actions as his first thought would be to just argue back

your fights may be more intense out of all the members in my opinion since he holds his pride quite high but in no means is that an insult

avoidance between the two of you may go from a couple of days to even weeks depending on the situation but he'll start to feel guilty for ignoring you rather than talking back at you

Eric

this energy boi

although he may be the youngest, I have a feeling that he might handle this situation a bit better than Sunwoo no offence ily sunwoo

but he might be just a tad more logical and rational than him

"What is with you these days? You've been getting on my nerves." he would be speechless as he looked at you with a shocked expressed, trying to register what you just said in front of him

he'll stutter to find his words, scratching his head in confusion before you start to rage

he might mumble a retort under his breath or just end up arguing face to face, before he pulls himself out of the argument, leaving to get some fresh air

you'll end up avoiding him for a couple of days, leaving him helpless as he tried in every possible way to get your attention to talk to you so don't be surprised if you see agyeo from him

he might hold a few grudges, like Q but ends up apologizing, knowing that your relationship holds so much more over an argument

#the boyz #tbz #the boyz reactions #tbz reactions #sangyeon #jacob #younghoon #hyunjae #juyeon #kevin #new #q #juhaknyeon #sunwoo #eric #the boyz scenarios #tbz scenarios #kpop reactions #kpop scenarios

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chitto · 3 years

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I ANALYZED ALL OF THE NEW SONGS ON RANBOO'S LORE PLAYLIST - HERE'S WHAT I FOUND

Back in March, I listened to every single song on Ranboo's DMCA Lore Playlist. I came up with a solid theory, published my evidence and that was that. My work was done.

But nope! Ranboo's back and he's deleted a ton of songs and added more. And so I listened. Again. And I'm back with a theory, and it does not look good.

This new batch of songs shows us that this is a new era of c!Ranboo. Redesign Your Logo is meant to tell us that things are changing, and so is c!Ranboo. This could be do to the fact that something bad is most likely going to happen to c!Ranboo in the near future, probably the taking of his first canon life. Songs like Eyewishes and Goodbye heavily point to the ending of a chapter (or life) of c!Ranboo. The song Blue Monday isn’t anything revolutionary, as we were already well aware of the toxic relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. Another thing to point out is that Everybody Wants To Rule The World sets up an interesting take on nuclear weapons, a thing that c!Tubbo has and c!Ranboo doesn’t know exists. If c!Ranboo were to find out about the nukes, it could lead to the two fighting over whether or not they were a good thing. Going into Time Moves Slow, the narrator there discusses a relationship that just ended between them and their lover, meaning there could be a c!Beeduo divorce arc in the near future.

Below are the analyses on each individual song and the added and deleted songs

Deleted: Prologue (StarKid), Introduction to the Snow (Miracle Musical), Dream Sweet in Sea Major (Miracle Musical), Turn the Lights Off (Tally Hall), The Mind Electric (Miracle Musical), The Ruler of Everything (Tally Hall), Ain't No Rest for The Wicked (Cage the Elephant), The Bidding (Tally Hall), Stranded Lullaby (Miracle Musical), Hidden in the San (Tally Hall), & (Tally Hall), I'm Gonna Win (Rob Cantor).

Added: Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon), Everybody Wants to Rule the World (Tears for Fears), Blue Monday (New Order), Eyewishes (Lemon Demon), Bystanding (Lemon Demon), Goodbye (Bo Burnham), Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring).

Redesign Your Logo (Lemon Demon) - This song is about a pdf that went around during 2009 about the Pepsi company logo. In it, the Arnell group is trying to sell Pepsi a new logo, so that they can make tons of money. I feel that this song symbolizes evolution and growth, we’re entering a new era of c!Ranboo. He’s redesigned and rebranded. This song could also be on this playlist because of a fan animation on youtube set to the same song by Shyshui.

Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears for Fears) - This song was written about the Cold War between The Soviet Union and The United States that happened during the 20th Century. The main line of the song ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World’ is about how everyone wants power, and the misery that it brings with it. This is a theme we can see clearly on the DreamSMP, with many leaders such as c!Eret, c!George, c!Bad, c!Wilbur, and c!Dream all leading lives of misery in one way or another. This is also important for c!Ranboo, as he is the most powerful man on the server. It tells us that his power will soon be his misery. Also a small little thing I’d like to point out is the line ‘Say that you’ll never, never, never, never need it’ which is meant to be about the use of nuclear devices during that time period. Many governments had them but claimed they would only use them if another country was launching a nuclear attack. This could translate to c!Tubbo owning nukes and c!Ranboo possibly finding out, which could cause discourse between the two.

Blue Monday (New Order) - Blue Monday is about the singer pondering the mistreatment of their person by someone they trusted. The person seems to be manipulative and toxic for the singer but the singer is too far under their control to leave them. Immediately we can tell that this song is most likely about the relationship between c!Ranboo and c!Dream. c!Dream uses c!Ranboo as his errand boy, making him do all sorts of tasks, although this hasn’t really happened since the Disc War Confrontation. However, we know the c!Dream still has some sort of hold over c!Ranboo because we saw c!Sapnap trigger an Enderwalk episode by giving c!Ranboo a message from c!Dream.

Eyewishes (Lemon Demon) - Eyewishes is a song about a distraught man who has no eyelashes, as he used them all on wishes, and now he can make no more wishes. The man pours out his frustrations and then resolves to committing suicide. While I don’t believe c!Ranboo would take his own life, I believe that he soon will die. The last line of this song is ‘So take care of my plants and pets and now I’ll say good-’. c!Ranboo has many pets in his care and he would want them taken care of after he dies. I could see him saying this line to a character like c!Tubbo. However, c!Ranboo is still on three canon lives and would not perma died if killed.

Bystanding (Lemon Demon) - Bystanding is the direct sequel to Eyewishes, starting off with bi, completing the phrase ‘goodbye’ started at the end of Eyewishes. Other than this, the song has no real points of interest as it’s just the singer repeating different words, working his way up from 2 to 5.

Goodbye (Bo Burnham) - I’m going to split this song up into two sections, just because I think there’s a lot to cover here. Let’s start pre-bridge. For context, Goodbye is the final track from the comedy-musical special Inside, done by Bo Burnham. Bo says the special was a long project for him as he filmed the entire thing in his house during COVID-19 Quarantine. The beginning part of this song talks a lot about how Bo doesn’t want the special to be over because now he has nothing else to do, and he’ll just have to live his life. This could translate into c!Ranboo losing a lot of things that he worked for, such as his valuables (totems and riches) and just being a normal person again. It could also signify an ending of a chapter for him, maybe his marriage ending, his partnership with the Syndicate ending. However, I believe that its most likely to be c!Ranboo’s neutrality ending. During the recent lore stream he did with c!Wilbur, we finally saw c!Ranboo pick a side. He chose Wilburger over Las Nevadas, losing his trademark neutral stance. c!Ranboo thought his neutrality made him more than others, that he was the one able to see over the conflict, but now he’s just like everyone else. He has a side and an enemy. Let’s move into the bridge and ending of the song now. The first line I’d like to call specifically is ‘Wanna guess the ending, if it ever does.’ This line could maybe signify the fact that throughout the history of the SMP there have been many times that the conflict and story feel like they’ve finally come to a close, only for everything to start up once again. The next lyric is ‘If I wake up in a house that’s full of smoke, I’ll panic, so call me up and tell me a joke.’ This is a callback to another song on Inside, Comedy, in which Bo talks about using his comedy as a way to help people, but really it was he who needed help. c!Ranboo acts as a protector for a lot of characters, most notable c!Tubbo and tried hard to please most people and aid as many as he can, but most of the time he’s the one needed the most help. Similar to Bo, c!Ranboo doesn’t realize he needs help until it’s too late.

Time Moves Slow (BADBADNOTGOOD and Samuel T. Herring) - This song is about a person who’s lover has left them, and although it’s painful they know its for the better. This could, unfortunately, suggest a c!beeduo split but there is another part of this song that I’d like to touch on. ‘Running away is easy, its the living that’s hard.’ This is the chorus for the song and it talks about how running from your problems is easier than facing them but having to live without them is hard. Throughout the story, we often see c!Ranboo ignore his problems, most recently with the vandalism of c!Tubbo’s cookie shop. c!Ranboo found it and decided to fix it and tell no one it happened, which lead to a hostile confrontation between c!Quackity and c!Tubbo.

#PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST REBLOG THIS #THESE TAKE ME AN INSANE AMOUNT OF TIME #dsmp #dreamsmp #dream smp #ranboo #ranboo dsmp #c!ranboo theory #c!ranboo analysis #dsmp analysis #dsmp theory

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ninjakitten1699 · 3 years

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More Oni headcanons that I wanted to add on

to @ambrosial-tea post but I forgot until now!

There are different tribes of Oni as stated in the last post. Aka Oni (Red), Ao Oni (Blue), Shiro Oni (Pale/White), and our Kuro Oni (Black/Dark).

We don’t know too much of the Dark Oni we got but we do know that Oni were originally intended to be guardians between Material Plane and Spirit World when the two began overlapping (possibly The Grasslands/Departed, and Cursed Realm before they began separating). Put a tribe of Oni on the Material Plane for a couple years and they’d splinter into subraces of Oni and become more corrupted by the years. Dark Oni became one of the tribes corrupted.

Aka Oni are the most common type of Oni with their dark red colors, large size, and toughness. They’re slightly bigger than the rest of their kin, more violent, unfocused, and pursue immediate satisfaction, disregarding long drawn out plots and schemes. They’re mostly known for strength too.

Ao Oni are known for their unnatural cunning and aptitude for magic, smaller than their red kin but larger than pale, and have different shades of dark blue. They’re the ones you’d catch calculating and meticulously pursuing lofty goals like power and knowledge.

Shiro Oni are known for their aloofness and connections to the spirit realm. They’re the smallest of the main three tribes and the fewest of members. They vary from pale white to light gray. (They may as well adopt other Oni who share their colors and hopefully teach them their ideals.) Pale Oni would rather keep things in balance between the material plane and spirit world as the ancient Oni intended. They guard their locations but will adventure for artifacts of the spirit world and mend balance. If we take that into account perhaps they are another reason why Realm travel is difficult to Oni who try to cross through the any of the realms involving afterlives.

While Oni have no concept of gender since they have both reproductive organs, they also have no concept of sexualities either. Honestly they just didn’t have a name for it when one didn’t feel the need to have sex or when another felt more attracted to the same sex aspects of their partner. (If anything, their type of relationships or way of thinking would be looked up upon because they felt closer to their spirituality and their true selves.) Again they sometimes don’t mate for reproduction but just for the vibes of their partner.

They probably didn’t have a name for having multiple partners at the time either. If one Oni wanted to be a part of what the other two had and they were content with the feel of them, then it was okay. Plus more hands to help raise the cub personally. (Essentially that’s what PolyGarm would basically be. They make Garm happy, they’re happy with him, and Lloyd would basically have more than two parents. At this point Lloyd would just have more dads and Koko is just the one good mom he deserves.)

The second Oni learn what kisses are and how they work, they find it just as addictive as they do with other acts of affection.

Oni are more closer to their family than they are to strangers because in most Oni’s belief, strangers brought suffering to the family. In turn they displayed their family’s name first before their own, showing pride in them and hoping to intimidate any strangers with ill intent towards them.

Speaking of Oni names, they don’t usually have any but when they do their names would be what positive traits the parents wish the child to take on. For example, a son could have “Akihiko”. “Aki” meaning “bright” and “hiko” meaning “boy/prince”. They could want him to be someone brighter than they ever hoped for. For a daughter, “Asuna” with “asu” meaning “tomorrow” and “na” to “greens” or “apple tree”. Maybe the parents are hoping the Oni daughter would lead them to a more plentiful day. And then there’s the family names. The most famous ones are “Hideyoshi” and “Ishikawa”. We’ve heard of these names and the history behind them, I wouldn’t want to come across any of their descendants that carry their name with honor.

Ironically “Harumi” is actually a name for a female Oni in some home brewing lore. One of her meanings is “govern/rule” and “beauty”. Goes to show how far she would take her name literally.

Shiro Oni/Pale Oni don’t have names, but it’s because they don’t want to be too close to the material plane while they guard the spirit realms. They would refer to themselves and each other as “that/this one” instead like how gargoyles in the old days would. If they come up with names, it’s for the sake of working with others on the material plane, but even then it only happens when they really trust the people around them.

Oni have a large appetite that could put the Pythor and the Anacondrai to shame. They could honestly compete against the Great Devourer and other wyrms.

An Oni’s pair of horns are a sign of honor. No pair of horns are alike, not even the closest siblings’ horns look the same. They all have their differences. Their horn length is their pride. Having them sawed off is quite literally shameful to the owner of them but they did do something to deserve it.

It’s possible that some Oni were confused at Garm’s horns not being there at first but they hear about the first time they grew out of his head he quite literally broke them off and bled for a good long while to the point of passing out. (Blood vessels actually go throughout the antlers/horns in animals which is why they aren’t busted right off easily. Why wouldn’t they to Oni horns?) Come to find out it was the FSM’s hate for Oni that made Garm hate himself and how he looked so Garm had them filed down to his scalp or small enough to hide in his hair. It honestly almost hurts the Oni’s look on the FSM even more but hey who hasn’t he hurt? It takes a couple more decades and some therapy before he finally let’s go of his internalized self hatred and trauma that he grows out his horns and finally has pride in himself like most Oni already do.

So it’s not uncommon for Oni to live among other races, whether secretly or not, due to their shapeshifting abilities, however sometimes they’re immediately shunned when their true form slips out. Unless they proved otherwise to the most accepting of inhabitants, they’re allowed to stay. By then they’d have a hybrid appearance with their horns out, either out of their kindness to ease the others’ fear of them or for their own personal benefit.

Oni that do live on their own choose to live in the wilderness or in the mountains. If living in society but still wanting some sort of solitude, they’d either be closer to the outskirts or deep in the downtown where you’d either have to ask directions to specific people to find them or already know where they are. Hence Mistaké with her small tea shop and Wu being able find her.

As stated before Oni have no problems with Half-Oni at all. They’re just welcoming another cub into the pack and it’s just the fact that they are a child of an Oni who fell in love with another humanoid. Although there are some cases of Oni being chased out by the other race with their cub in their arms and they just run until they find the closest tribe. They’d be welcomed into the tribe and the cub is basically adopted by them.

Again half Oni isn’t a problem to them, but they do have a problem with any particular wizards experimenting on Oni breeding with any other humanoids. The know it’s not the parents’ fault neither is the cub’s. If neither parent want nothing to do with them, then the half Oni cub is taken off of their hands by another Oni who was grieving at a loss of a cub (or the realization they couldn’t have any) or a pairing who wouldn’t mind another. The cub won’t have a terrible environment, the parents won’t have to unwillingly interact with the child until they resolve their own issues or they wish to visit and see them grow.

Meanwhile, those wizards will never know peace again until the day they die, even other tribes, who they could be at war with, will catch wind of what happen and help in taking them out. By the time those wizards die, even the Pale Oni who have no ties with Omega or any other tribes won’t be forgiving to them. They won’t do anything too harmful to them, but they will lead them to the terrible part of the Cursed Realm and those wizards proceed to stay there until they fade out of existence entirely.

Enough angst there and let’s go back to fluff. I bet Oni would love dice. Like not even for games but for the click-clack sound. (“Lloyd. They’re metal dice. You cannot have—.” “Shiny sparkly metal bits make pretty sounds! :D” “Garmadon please tell your son not— Not you too!” “Wha~ It does sound pretty.”)

Y’all know how like adult lions play with their babies? They pretend to be hurt and that the cub is super strong to help build up their confidence. Hear me out, Oni do that too. Big goddamn Omega really be taking hits from tiny little cubs, Mistaké be playing with little Garmadon and playing dead on him, then Garm just does the same thing for little Lloyd. (“Koko, sweetie, help. It’s the battle of the century in here. Help, save me. He’s too powerful!” “*tiny war cry*”)

Someone makes a baby Oni cry one time and boy it’s absolutely over. It’s on sight for that person. I’m telling you On Sight!

Oni can purr loud enough to the point where it rumbles in them like a motor and that’s how cubs feel their parents’ purring. Then there’s baby Oni just babbling and the adult Oni just pretend to have a whole conversation with them. Don’t get me started on them playing soft flute music to help the toddler Oni sleep.

We probably only got a few words out of Omega when they first appeared because we were hearing them through human ears. Lloyd’s Oni brain would click on and translates what he knows while Garm in full Oni form can get full sentences out of Omega.

Oni are willing to learn a different language if it helps others understand them and their intentions. Now let’s just think of Lloyd connecting to his Oni side of the family (since let’s face it, the Oni are going to be around longer than most of his friends are) through teaching them sign language.

They also try to teach him their Oni tongue but he can only grasp a few words at a time easily. When he finally learns the language, next thing you know he’s going to be cursing and only Oni will understand. Some (aka Mistaké) want to scold him and others (*cough*Garmadon*cough*) find it hilarious.

Garmadon’s Oni-Dragon hybrid brain wants him to decorate his significant others and now I think of Oni just sharing the precious items they hoard with their mate. Wait till they figure out they can make jewelry and have their significant other wear it.

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atopearth · 3 years

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Brothers Conflict (Passion Pink) Part 5 - Asahina Subaru Route

Subaru bumping into Ema in the bathroom is a pretty funny scene, because he was definitely more shocked than her haha. Aww I love how appreciative Subaru was of Ema making Bento for lunch at the aquarium! He even thanked her for always waking up early to cook for them, that's really sweet of him. I think both Ema and Subaru wanting to immediately help that lost kid was really kind of them, also nice to know that apparently when Subaru was young, he got lost before and Tsubaki was desperately looking for him. I guess that's why Subaru is so kind, he seems like a really empathetic guy.

Maybe this is rude, but I honestly didn't think Subaru would be so popular with girls haha! He's such a shy guy, it didn't occur to me that he would have so many fans watching him play basketball, but I guess girls like guys who are good at sports so I shouldn't be too surprised. On the other hand, it was so cute how Ema kept calling Subaru amazing during his match and said it must be because he trains early in the morning every day whether it's raining or sunny. It was so adorable how Subaru got so embarrassed and didn't know what to say because she was so excitedly calling him amazing, and then got really happy knowing that Ema noticed all the hard work he put into his training. Lmaooo when Ema offered Subaru her lap (after he got sick from the rollercoaster) and he got all red and embarrassed, and loll he wanted to do it but couldn't do it in the end, he's so pure🤣 That scenario where Wataru tries to take care of Ema when she's sick by giving her "nutritious" food like meat and ice cream from the freezer was so funny lmao. He even spun her around🤣 Aww, it's kinda sad that because Ema's swimsuit was too stimulating for Subaru and Yusuke that they didn't let her join her with the long distance swimming match. Although I guess since she's not good at swimming and would need support, they wouldn't be able to have a match properly if she joined lol. It was obvious that Subaru was going to save Ema from drowning (considering how much Juli warned her and she was like yeah yeah, lmao teenagers these days) but the CG was so much nicer than I thought it would be!! It was so cuteee.

Omgg, Ema is such a classic anime school sports club manager type to make lemon slices soaked in honey for Subaru hahaha. Subaru was so cute when he was glad that Ema asked him if she could stay over in his room instead of the others (since her aircon is broken). Lmao when they kept arguing who should sleep where and then Subaru just makes her sleep with him in the futon (since she was about to leave thinking she was being troublesome) hahaha. Considering how shy he is, that was pretty heartwarming and daring haha! I always found it weird for Subaru to never apologise for Ema for pushing her down and kissing her when he was a bit drunk on his birthday, so I'm glad to know it's actually a part of his route and that's why I never saw it haha. It was cute how Subaru told Ema to only stay in his room and not go to the other brothers🥲 I find it so sweet how much Ema trusts Subaru to not do anything she wouldn't want even when he says he can haha. I like how it went with Subaru when she ran away after realising she was adopted. He didn't say anything fanciful, he just told her that there are people waiting for her, and that he wanted to be her strength and that he would always be by her side as long as she wants it. More than being able to say the "right" words, I think it was sweet how he was able to calm her down and show his sincerity for wanting to cheer her up and wanting her to be happy.

Awww it's so cute how Subaru actually started really liking basketball because of a manga he read🤣🤣 I didn't expect Natsume to have been the one who played many different types of sports with him and kinda guided him into enjoying them. Lmaoo at Ema saying she'll stock up on milk all the time for Subaru because he wants to grow taller hahaha. Awww it's so cute how Kaname and Tsubaki are so supportive of getting Subaru to be the one to carry the asleep Ema back to her room~ He looked like such a cute embarrassed prince🤣 LMAO when Subaru kicked Juli and didn't even realise😂😂😂 It's sad to see Subaru in a slump, but I guess Yusuke was right, that Subaru probably prefers someone that will stay by his side rather than try and talk to him and "solve" his problem, since this is something he has to overcome himself. Natsume being good at sports is surprising, kinda sad that he and Subaru are on bad terms because Subaru really respected Natsume but then he "gave up" on sports. LMAO at Kaname and Tsubaki teasing Ema and Subaru, I especially loved it when they got him to say something romantic like he'll do a three point shot for her😂 It was so funny when they were pretending to be Subaru and Ema🤣 It was so sad when Yusuke had tears in his eyes saying he really wanted to go support Subaru at his match but he knew that the one Subaru wants support from the most was Ema, and only she can help him out of his slump. HAHAHA, I love how even in the ending, Tsubaki and Kaname are teasing them, I loved it when Kaname pretended to be Subaru asking Ema to go eat with him after watching a match, and added the maybe we can go to a hotel after bit😂😂 It was hilarious when Tsubaki pretended to be Ema responding to that and saying "yada" in a flirty embarrassed way lmaoo, I died. It was nice that they kinda addressed how Subaru really only talks about basketball, but Ema likes him because he glows up in happiness talking about it and has such a sweet smile every time he talks about basketball so oh well lol, at least he knows that he needs to try and appreciate her more since she's so supportive of him all the time. The confession was pretty cute for Subaru hahaaha.

Overall, Subaru probably had the most "cliche" route in that he was a shy guy that only cared about basketball but then Ema slowly entered his heart by always being there encouraging him, supporting him and telling him how amazing he is haha. Personally, it was a bit boring because Subaru really isn't my type, but I really enjoyed how it showed that a relationship didn't need fanciful words? Like, a lot of the time, people fall in love because you hear the "right words" from someone and it kinda clicks with you hearing their opinion on something, whereas I feel like for this route even though Ema did make Subaru feel happy about how cool she thought he was at basketball and stuff, the main reason they really enjoyed being together was because they unconditionally stayed beside the other, supporting them with the presence. They didn't help each other solve their respective problems, instead they both resolved their own problems in their own way but had the other there as moral support to help them do what they wanted to do and I think that's nice and sweet.

#brothers conflict

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steve0discusses · 3 years

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Yugioh S5 Ep 20: Pharaoh’s Cool New Trick

Digging my way through quite a pile of commission work (funny how these things only come all at once or not at all), nearing the light at the end of the tunnel, was looking forward to some free time to catch up on my many little side projects when I was asked to take off for a weekend to do some cat-sitting to which I would NEVER say no to a cat, so like...Rip this blog I guess, we only update like once a week nowadays, but what do you do?

That’s right, play Puzzles and Dragons! The only phone game worth paying any attention to! Where they just released Pegasus on their Yugioh Collab and he looks pretty great!

So I’m just gonna take a second for some art appreciation, because the Puzzles and Dragons art team is just A++++ honestly, and yes, I did pull 13 times to get a Pegasus in my monster box, and yes, he is a completely insane team leader that is absolutely broken when paired with Yugi (the numbers are so satisfying) but...look at him. He looks so good!

(also I finally got Joey Wheeler, and so now my gatcha cravings are settled. And, don’t worry, I play this game so much that I was there during Christmas when they offered like a bajillion stones for free so I didn’t actually use real money on this.)

Now PAD also released a Weevil and Rex, and I don’t know why, and neither does the art team because they still look pretty good but in comparison to all the mains, they sure do looks like just some shorty guys in some casuals.

though I gotta admit, I want to learn how the hell this art team does swooshy effects, because man, that would make my art so much better to just have flames violently exploding out of all my art. Why am I not doing that more often? I have the technology.

anyway, I didn’t bother trying to pull them. Maybe I’ll accidentally pull them when they eventually release a Duke Devlin. (also, RIP to the fact that Roland will probably never be in Puzzles and Dragons but like...I can only send them so many polite letters covered in stickers pretending I’m some 10 year old child and writing in my broken Hiragana “Roland in PAD?”. Thems the breaks. (They also might not remember who Roland is.))

Shoutouts to the card that Weevil is holding that is censoring this nipple on the booby spider, PS.

So because this is not actually a Puzzles and Dragons blog, and it’s been ten eons since I regularly updated so I could remember episode to episode...where the hell were we?

That’s right, we’re on an island now. This show’s wonderful obsession with evil islands (and spoiler, this is one of the few Yugioh Islands that doesn’t explode at the end. Mostly because Kaiba isn’t here to do it or this place would be cinder)

(read more island stuff under the cut)

Anyway, after announcing “hey guys! Screw islands!” Yugi immediately collapses and without any warning.

Apparently the armor is a big ol parasite, which is something that Yugi is so used to at this point that he refuses to admit that this is a problem. Just normal Muto stuff, refusing to tell anyone that he has a serious illness going on underneath that giant mass of hair.

(the sailor moon vibes coming off this weird orb energy)

Sort of feels like a call back to S1 when Yugi was clearly possessed and everyone else was like “He acting weird to you?” except it’s S5 and everyone has learned to never trust Yugi when he says he’s fine and they are responding like he is about to die. Which is correct.

Outside of the cave falls this scroll that is...glowing, I guess. So they open it up and get a bunch of hieroglyphs that give them the “riddle of light” and like youknow...it’s riddle stuff.

They’re doing this riddle for “wings.” And it’s like...everyone’s monster here has a set of wings or an ability to fly. Every single monster except for I dunno, flaming swordsman? Hell, Yugi himself had two sets of wings when he fused with Dark Magician (which was weird, and I still don’t like to think about what technically was going on there.) But we have to go and get ourselves even more wings.

Weirdly, Joey turns to Tea and does something that in any other show would be completely normal. He was like “you want to stay here with Yugi, don’t you?” and it was the first time Joey has ever actually addressed the fact that Tea and Yugi are close. Uncharted territory. I was amazed at the amount of casual shipping that is happening here. It’s almost like a normal ass relationship.

So the boys decide to go off, and be boys and tackle this themselves. And they shouldn’t have, because Tea is smart for this group, and also has the only healing spell.

Like if you’re playing D+D you wouldn’t typically leave your only healer behind. Just saying.

Also like...Grandpa Muto went with them? I guess he’d have to since he’s the translator but also...kind of weird to leave your grandson dying in a cave, but maybe that’s just the Muto lifestyle.

Do not be fooled by my caps, no one has addressed the Bakura in the puzzle for 3 seasons. I’m starting to think this show will never address the Bakura in the puzzle. Which honestly, that would be hilarious if they made a big deal out of that plot point and then couldn’t use it in the end.

And speaking of plot points that kind of come out of nowhere and don’t make full sense with the continuity of the show--Joey has regressed back to the 4th grade.

Hey show? What?

So like if you love Joey, this is not the arc for you, because this arc he is reduced to a Himbo and nothing else. Straight up didn’t know what an echo is, but is very strong and pretty, I guess.

This inevitably happens with any TV show becuase different people make different parts, and I’ve brought up before that sometimes it feels like some teams only have loose post-it notes of what any character should be like at any given point (ESPECIALLY with Seto Kaiba’s timeline) but like...

...Personally I’m mot so fond of this interpretation of Joey, kind of ignores Joey’s best traits, and makes Tristan look way too smart in comparison (and like I always pinned Tristan to be the Himbo of the group, but maybe it’s because they give Tristan so little else to do?)

And like don’t get me wrong, Joey’s a dumbass a lot of the time and needs to get corrected by his pals...but...to the point he doesn’t know what an echo is? He’s a dumbass in a High School student sort of way, youknow?

Anyway, they get down to this big ravine, and they have to destroy this stone while the light passes over it. Kind of feels like a Breath of the Wild shrine quest, actually. In fact, I think Breath of the Wild recycled the shadow/sunlight pathing quest like 4 or 5 times. (I love Breath of the Wild to death but boy did they run out of ideas at the end there.)

They have to fight a glass monster and it’s kind of like...do you know the game Balls 3D? probably not, but it looked like a bunch of random shapes stuck together like a 90′s animation. They basically went to war with shapes.

Pure Himbo energy, has several pokemon, but punches for his pokemon instead of using them. A power move if I ever saw one.

Youknow that would make pokemon a lot more interesting if you could like throw out your pikachu, and then choose to just physically run up to your opponents Eevee and sock it in the jaw. Raise of hands--I know you all would love a version of pokemon like that. Let Ash Ketchum punch a Ratata.

Bro has informed me that Ash does do something like this in the anime. But I’m not talking about the anime, I’m talking about the video game. Give me the option to physically combat my rival. This is what I want, Pokemon.

They discover a way to break the monolith, and the show thinks we’re like actually 7 years old (because the show is Y7, although I forget because it deals with so many dark themes) so the show is going to hold on to this puzzle for a while...just to fill time. And it’s fine because we gotta switch over to Pharaoh anyway.

Yami has this dream again. He attempts to fuse with Dark magician to overcome the dream, but alas, he is still not strong enough.

Yugi wakes up in this murky cave while Tea is out washing out like...some rag? (he’s also still got a rag, so I guess multiple rags were required for how sweaty Yugi is.)

Yugi says “I feel like I’m a new man!” a lot in this episode, and every time he calls himself a man like he’s some sort of adult it’s very funny to me.

And then this plot lore dropped.

I mean I guess inevitably it had to happen...

But man, end of an era. It was freakin hilarious while it lasted: that Pharaoh refused to read ancient Egyptian because it’s like 2002 and he is a High Schooler living in Japan and he actually doesn’t WANT to resolve the mystery of the puzzle. Maybe the people who made this arc don’t know about how in S2 and S3, the fact Pharaoh couldn’t read Marik’s back tatt was like...a really big issue. He couldn’t read the God card, he couldn’t even read that massive tablet that read “HEY PHARAOH THIS IS LITERALLY YOU”. KAIBA had to tell him how to read the God card for him. Freakin Seto “Magic is a lie” Kaiba had to tell him how to use the God Card because Pharaoh couldn’t read it.

But like...Pharaoh finally gave in at some point after the world was devoured by the Leviathan, and before Kaiba finished building Kaibaland (which was already built in S1 but wtv)

The timelines on this show have always been a mishmash...but this one is just like...

...show are you trying to convince me that at any point in this show after season Zero, Pharaoh had any idea what he was doing? Did he sap that brain energy straight out of Joey Wheeler so he could do this?

Wow.

(secretly hoping he forgets how to read Egyptian after this arc is over and the show goes back to the other development team)

Pharaohs reasoning is that, if this is the riddle of the light.....

....then where is the riddle of darkness????????????

and when Tea was like “Pharaoh that is not even remotely logic. Omg it’s so bright outside, lets go back to gross cave.” and Pharaoh was like “Tea! You got it!” and she was like “What the hell are you talking about?”

Not gonna lie, I saw the Orichalcos green, and I got concerned.

Anyway, Yugi gets very frustrated and was like “ugh, lets go save em. They’re gonna die (again.)” and marches down there as if he didn’t pass out an hour ago.

And he fuses with Dark Magician again while everyone else (including his grandpa) was like “Yugi are you freakin kidding me? The suit freakin kills you omg! Tea you had one freakin job!”

And then we get the plot twist that...I mean it makes sense but it was choreographed in a confusing way.

And out of no where this guy shows up again:

So this mysterious man shows up and says “If you don’t succeed you have to live here forever” which...nice...that would probably save the world a lot of problems if Yami got locked away and took his OP puzzle with him. And then this man also says “if you do succeed you become VERY POWERFUL” and Yami was like. “...”

This whole episode had a theme to it, where Tristan and Joey were trying to prove that they could do things on their own and without Yugi’s help. And honestly...felt a little bit misplaced. Yami’s the same guy who murdered Yugi last season with the Orichalcos so like...

...I mean he is probably more reliable than Tristan who once died and turned into a robot monkey for 10ish episodes.

and then they flew into a glowing door.

Folks, this was wild to look at.

This is wild.

And at this point I closed Photoshop and thought I was done. But then I looked at my timeline on the video and was like...wait...there’s more?

and I’m really glad I kept watching because it went back to Alex, who...is apparently just still at those steps in this haunted ass Pyramid.

Now we’re watching Yugioh.

I forgot for a second when they turned Joey into a Himbo and made Pharaoh literate, but we’re back. I mean...

...look at the liner art on this adult man.

So...I posit the question...has Alex spent the last 2-3 episodes doing nothing but applying eyeliner to his face in the dark? Because he absolutely has. And honestly, the vibe of being in a spooky haunted pyramid with barely any light, just applying eyeliner down the edge of your face...that’s a Yugioh vibe, if I ever saw one.

This arc is wild. Anyway, next episode we do even more fetch quests and riddles? Just going to guess now that we probably will.

(and for those new here, this is a link so you can read them from the top. Which, since we’re in S5, means you got like...hours of Yugioh content to read through. Enjoy the rewards of my weird hobby.)

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

#Yugioh #Yu-Gi-Oh #yami yugi #S5 #Ep20 #It's actually Ep 20 now I was wrong last time #Yugi muto #Grandpa Muto #Alexander the Great #Joey Wheeler #Tristan Taylor #Tea Gardner #TeaxYugi #never thought I would ever use that tag #in this show where they are canonically dating but sometimes it happens #Puzzles and Dragons #Because yes I had to talk about it. This collab is great

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