#why did rr make him so bland??? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

mostsanegirlever · 1 month

Text

Hi :)

I’m writing this as a direct response to whatever the hell went on yesterday. Before I directly offer my counterpoints I just wanna make some things clear:

1. English is not my first language and I don’t use any proper translation app for revision. I use a lot of adverbs because that’s how I express myself in my mother language. The punctuation also goes with how I use it in Portuguese.

2. I’m not offended on Chan's behalf, I’m just extremely passionate about debating (both online and irl), especially when I think others are objectively wrong.

3. I’m not only pro boycotting this single, but I also pray every night that it never sees the light of day.

I’ve been against this collab and voiced my distaste as soon as I was made aware of its existence. At first it wasn’t because of Charlie Puth’s “opinions” on the Genocide being conducted against Palestinians in their occupied mother land (I actually had no idea where he stood since I have him blocked everywhere for being annoying, ugly and untalented), but getting to know that he’s an actual Zionist was the final straw for me, and I won’t be listening to it at all. That’s where I personally stand and I’m not known for changing my mind.

As soon as the news dropped, I took this feature for what it is: a chart gambling move by Republic Records (Stray Kids’ American distributor and promoter). Releasing a soulless English single featuring a C-list American “artist” is basically a trend in K-pop nowadays, since it places the group in the charts fast enough before the actual comeback, has viral TikTok potential and extends by 2 the promotional period.

I never actually expected JYPE to follow suit with SKZ, as much as they have given other groups the tired and bland English pre-release. As I said, it was a no for me from the start because I don’t like nor do I listen to something that’s so shamelessly a marketing strategy made for an easy cash grab.

I expressed my opinion that it was a sell-out move that would taint SKZ’ original and cohesive discography.

As soon as the credits were posted, my first thought was that it was never SKZ’ song to begin with. In my opinion, it was very clear by the credits positioning that the song was made by Charlie and the other dude (who isn’t even like just a random Zionist but a full Israeli that has undoubtedly served the IOF) and the featuring was orchestrated in a reunion with people who see music as business and artists are decided by they capacity of making profit by charting.

Once again, I personally refuse to consume this type of slop, especially when it comes from people who openly align themselves with a genocidal ethno-state.

I’m aware that my decision to not listen to this song won’t have any impact on the decisions both companies will make for SKZ in the future, since the music industry isn’t known to take morals into consideration when it comes to easy profit.

I also keep my opinion that media consuming (or non-consuming) isn’t activism, and there’s a fine line between reasoning on why you chose to boycott and empty virtue signaling. The latter always comes with a huge deal of self-righteousness, which we’ve seen plenty of since yesterday.

My expectation was that everyone who agreed to boycott directed their indignation towards RR and JYPE, since it was obviously an administrative decision and this has no artistic value. MUCH TO MY SURPRISE! (not really, this always happens) Chan has been in the front-line for getting all the lashes.

No mention of the other members of 3RACHA, who were also “in the room with racists” and have the exact same amount of credits and creative liberty, no mention of RR who obviously was the one orchestrating the promotional single (as they did with that TXT song with Jonas Brothers, Usher feat. Jungkook and the list goes on).

Lots of people questioned this when they saw that tweet, with no concrete response by OP or the ones who backed her up on why he was solely being condemned and blamed for the collaboration.

After a while, many came to justify that directing the anger towards Chan is valid since he is “the leader”, “the oldest” and “the spokesperson” of the group. For me personally, it’s hard to understand why a group made out of fully adult cisgender able-bodied males would need a spokesperson when they’re perfectly capable of speaking up for themselves on instances like this, but it’s interesting to see him suddenly become the only one who can speak for the group considering many people were shading him for being the one who always gives the speeches earlier this week.

Although the main claim is that he has more power because of his position as leader, I don’t think anyone actually believes that. The blame falls strictly onto Chan every single time because he made the biggest mistake an artist can make: treat his fans as equal.

He established an open line of communication as he presented his own authentic self, showing his flaws and often putting himself down and accepting the blame as means of maybe alleviating the inhumane amount of hatred he’s been submitted to since he dared to share his passion with the most demonic industry with the biggest amount of brain-dead fan-girls.

This made Chris the main character of arguably the most intense parasocial relationship I’ve seen in years of fandom hopping.

The post that started the blame shift towards Chan referred to him by his full name (weird, but punctual since many seem to believe they know him personally) and goes on to say “I know that you’re reading these quotes” or something like that.

See what I mean? That struggling to fulfill obligations as an idol and cutting himself open to give the fandom unrestricted access to him for years only made them believe that that’s all he does? That he’s #oomf and they can just say anything and it’s part of his job to acknowledge it? That any problem is for him to solve individuality and every praise is meant to be shared?

This entire idea that Bang Chan is somehow different, more important and more impactful than his coworkers isn’t because of the leader title, it’s because of the close relatability due to his openness.

Chan deals with the producer role much as he did with his relationship with the fans: he’s always made it clear that 3RACHA has the same amount of power when it comes to the creative direction of the band. Changbin and Jisung always acted alike, never letting it seem that Chan is the one who calls the shots or takes on “the leader” role inside the producing unit.

This message has never seemed to reach the fandom for some reason and when it comes to highlight something negative it falls strictly on Chan to acknowledge it. His coworkers who are on the exact same level and have the exact same power are never expected to stand up for anything.

Many argue that it’s because Chan is a native speaker but it’s actually, again, because people have a parasocial relationship with him specifically, to a level the other producers never allowed.

That’s exactly the reason you can see here:

if you're like, okay yeah screw all those other people, but why are you blaming chan? niru @/the_kpopalypse on twitter wrote it very well:

"I think Chan is one part of a large team that made this happen. That being said, as a leader, as someone who has generally made it a point to communicate his views on anything that goes on in fandom or the world, and the one who has emphasized the social justice angle of skz's brand since day one...[he] is a grown man who can and should hear the truth."

The expectation doesn’t come from actually believing he’s the leader or the spokesperson, it comes from taking his openness and treating fans as equals, as exposing himself in a genuine way and continuing to attend to expectations in order to keep the crowd pleased and now it all falls on his shoulders, even though not for a minute has he claimed to have more creative freedom or power than any other member in the producer line.

The whole “because he is the leader” means nothing but “because I have higher expectations when it comes to him, because the close relatability made me think I have an open channel of communication and I can demand he attend to my expectations, because I know him on a personal level and he frustrated me”.

I don’t blame anyone for growing such a deep rooted parasocial relationship with him, Chan is indeed a charismatic leader, it’s the hypocrisy that I can’t stand. It’s clearly not his move to go on with this collaboration, and if you decide to critic him in hopes that he’ll see it somehow (as if he has nothing to do but sit around reading your demands and taking notes but once again this belief comes from this parasocial relationship where you guys are convinced he’s the one who’s always there and he’ll be a hero and make everything alright again), then Han Jisung and Seo Changbin, the other men who are credited the same amount, are just as capable of standing up for this.

The parasocial relationship this entire fandom has with Chan (that can be both for love and admiration or hatred and jealousy btw) comes with this huge amount of expectations for him but also for the infantilization of the other members.

Chan is the dad, the one who’s capable and dependable and calls the shots and the other 7 fully adult cis able-bodied millionaire males are just...there. They have no opinions, they have no responsibilities, they have no say.

They’re all 23+ in age and Chan being the oldest is hardly an excuse as to why he’s being pointed as the sole member who needs to take a stance since Minho is no more than a year younger than him.

These are grown men who have been legal voters for years already, and have been raised and socialized in a culturally conservative country. Chan being brave enough to talk about his own political and social views (not the group’s, since the text I’m replying to seemed put him in “skz” when it came to praising) should be a breath of fresh air but instead it only gave him more responsibility when it comes to “educating” the other members, somehow.

I am of the opinion that these expectations only fall on him because you think you know him on a personal level, whereas the others kept the fans at a safe distance from the beginning.

Singling someone out for being “the oldest'' doesn't fly. He speaks for himself only, not for everyone. If it’s about taking a stance, I need all of them to come forward individually and use their social status for what they believe. They aren’t alienated from the world and they have the same amount of free time Chan has, signed the same contracts and are just as grown and capable.

What happened yesterday with name dropping Chan exclusively was no more than people who cultivated a deep rooted parasocial relationship with him (easily noticeable since skz_8283 and the people backing her up are all +18 RPF writers) and seem to think that media consuming and tweeting is activism.

The doubling down on still pointing him out as the sole precursor instead of actually demonstrating their distaste towards the people who decided that this chart gamble would be real, or even at the very least expecting the same amount of responsibility from the other members was even more upsetting.

The anger towards this project is completely justified, but as long as you keep Chan in the middle of your rage it will also be completely misplaced. Chan doesn’t have a choice in this, redirect your demands towards the people who actually call the shots: Republic Records and JYPE/DIV1.

#mespeaking

5 notes · View notes

introspectivememories · 3 years

Text

i think we deserved slightly-unhinged-and-feral jason grace.

#we deserve it #he was raised by wolves!#that had no impact on his personality???#why did rr make him so bland???#why did he try to make jason percy 2.0???#jason grace #book.rambles #heroes of olympus #percy jackon and the olympians

53 notes · View notes

ichirukilover · 3 years

Note

The main reason IH is bullshit to me is that it's basically just for the stereotype cliche plot. There's the damsel in distress and oh would you look at that, she's in love w the protagonist, and turns out she's actually kinda special (like she has powers) and helps the protag! Except she doesn't, rather than that, i feel like ichigo is just constantly saving her from trouble and she doesn't do anything—though she totally can, her powers can heal, defend, and even attack but even with all the time and training i feel like she's just still the same. She only helps when ichigo is like half-dead, and that makes me wonder if she has something like a necrophilia kink or something and just wants to see ichigo dying.

And i feel like it's the same w RR, it's the childhood friends troupe. I'm kinda tired of it. RR were basically best friends and then they broke off, and then they both couldn't bother to communicate w each other. They're childhood friends, they grew up together, they should've at least noticed if things were going wrong for the other. Yet renji ignored that rukia literally was uncomfortable w being adopted and rukia hid things from renji, like her insecurities and inferiority complex (sorta). It would've been better if they'd just mended thing between them and then went back to their previous relationship, childhood friends, best friends, or even a brother and sister relationship or even just like a casual bro relationship. But kubo made them marry as if it was a rule that childhood friends equals being married to each other. (Maybe that's why i had no friends when i was little)

But w IR, they were complete strangers, then they had to live together, became close slowly and came to know each other. They were close, they trusted each other, they protected each other, helped each other. Just like how a normal relationship should be, they grew closer with time and they developed their chemistry. Yet, with IH, they didn't show any progress in their relationship. It was the same. Their interactions were limited and weren't that memorable (because i honestly didnt care) and it was a repetitive action. Orihime needs helping, ichigo goes to save her, gets sidetracked, almost dies, orihime cries and ressurects him blahblahblah. And dont let me start on how she's scared of him and his full hollow, that's not love if you feel fear. And then with RR after they made up, it was the same as before, they were looking just fine with the relationship they had. Then they got married. What's the story? When did they have feelings for each other? When they were small, it's understandable that they may had a crush on each other. But after growing up and what happened between them? It would honestly be awkward. Both RR and IH weren't given any time to explain why they married each other. Wasn't given anytime to develop their relationship even further and it wasn't shown to us. That's why i believe it's bullshit and they are simply being held at gunpoint by kubo to act along.

IR deserves to be together, Renji can go wreck his captain, and I personally think Orihime deserves to be with Tatsuki.

ALSO IM SORRY THIS WAS SO LONG I JUST WANTED TO RANT ABT BLEACH YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE I COULD THINK OF TO SEND AN ASK AND I DONT HAVE BLEACH FRIENDS ;-;

Anon went off lol

Don't worry for the long ask! I rant all the time lol so I 100% get it.

I agree with many of the things you mentione tbh, aside from some things here and there like Inoue resurrecting him, which she didn't, the hollow would've taken control either way. Or the part where maybe Renjo and Rukia had a crush when they were younger, which I don't believe one bit on Rukia's part because in that case she wouldn't have had feelings for Kaien as soon as she turned around from Renjo now would she?

Renjo said it himself he, Rukia and the other guys were a family. That's also how I think Rukia has always viewed him for the whole time, maybe untill she got adopted and the didn't talk for 40 years. After they mended their relationship thanks to Ichigo, I guess Renjo was more like a friend by that point.

As for IH..eeeh there is lit nothing there lol, no interesting past, no good developed friendship, it's all just so bland. They share lit nothing, somehow tho she keeps being shown alongside Chad, so I guess we should "see" her as another friend. Or the Ichigo cheerleader? Or the people Ichigo has to save? The two people that follow him around? IDK tbh in Chad case there is a mutual understanding, Inoue just insert herself anywhere she could by herself. wanting to do this and that but ending up just being the one to be saved.

Anyway however you look at IH or RR it doesn't change the fact that IchiRuki is and will always be superior in every way. Like you already wrote, we actually got to see them, from the start to the end develop and grow close, without any disastrous s*it like I don't know Rukia being scared of Ichigo, or Ichigo taking Rukia to her execution. You'd think if Kubo didn't get the time to develop IH and RR at least he would've avoided such disastrous content but nope, he gave them that kind of things, while he took the time to give all the good content and development to ichiruki. Makes sense, makes sense, we just have to get where exactly is the sense lol

33 notes · View notes

heathneycanon · 4 years

Text

okay so i ranked 113 total drama/ridonculous race ships based on how much i like them with explanations below the cut.. fair warning that i’m a lil mean to some of the ships lower on the list.

also i forgot to include dwayne senior and that one girl’s mom from rr because i literally forgot they existed until now, and i don’t want to manually add them in so i’ll just say that i think they’re cute but not super interesting.

EDIT: this has been updated post-roti-rewatch. i switched around the order of a couple ships, and added a new one. if i ever rewatch rr or pahkitew i’ll probably edit it again, but the likelihood of me rewatching either of those seasons any time soon is... ok i was about to say it was slim but it’s probably not

also i’m not ever adding in dwayne and the mom because i like it being a part f the description lmao. an afterthought. as it should be.

enjoy!

113. stephanie/ryan - i HATE the daters/haters. they’re like a weird, shitty mix of tda gidgette and duncney. like, they’re either annoyingly all over each other, or they’re toxic and fighting. tbh, they’re pretty toxic all the time. they stuck around for way too long imho.

112. jacques/josee - I CHANGED MY MIND IGNORE THIS

111. tom/jen - tom is canonically gay, and i hc jen as a lesbian. so i’m not a fan of this ship.

110. nemma - yeahh, knowing me, this is also a predictably low ranking. i hc noah as gay and emma as a lesbian, so again, i don’t vibe with this one.

109. coderra - i can only deal with this ship in rewrites. i’ve seen super well thought out rewrites of coderra and sierra’s character, but as it stands, i really don’t ship this at all.

108. davesky - dave is an incel lmao. anyway yea this ship initially seemed like bootleg zoke, which was kind of bootleg gwent, but then BOY did davesky get worse. i can’t stand dave and i can’t stand pairing him with sky, either.

107. leonard/sugar - why. i hate both of these characters. no thank u.

106. ella/dave - ok so u know i don’t like dave. i also hc ella as a lesbian, she hasn’t realized it and is dealing with comphet. i don’t like this ship.

105. topher/ella - i hc both of them as gay. they are friends tho.

104. macarthur/brody - in case you’re noticing a trend, i do in fact hc macarthur as a lesbian. i also don’t really care about her at all lmao. anyway, not a fan of this one. i really don’t understand why fresh thought this was a good idea.

103. noah/katie - again, i hc noah as gay, but this ship is more funny to me than anything else because these characters were shipped together so often early on, when they both a) barely had any characterization and b) had never interacted? anyway yea i don’t ship it.

102. cameron/sierra - this one’s weird? literally sierra had a crush on him or whatever because he reminded her of cody even though they’re… nothing alike? dude please get sierra some therapy oh my god

101. heather/justin - i knew someone who really, really shipped them once, which is why i’m including it. anyway i cannot see this ship at all, next.

100. amy/rodney - i guess this existed? i barely remember pahkitew, and i know rodney had a bunch of crushes, but this is the main one i remember so it’s the only one i can be bothered to include. anyway this relationship didn’t seem healthy at all.

99. max/scarlett - i don’t like max and i don’t really care about scarlett, but i also hc both of them as gay, so this is a no from me.

98. gwody - creepy and bad. i don’t trust people who ship this or davesky.

97. dashawn - shawn can do better. that one scene where they look at each other when dave has to kiss the person next to him is kinda funny tho.

96. topher/dave - marginally better than all other dave ships just because topher is there and i like topher. again tho, topher can do much better.

95. malejandro - why does this ship exist.

94. ezekiel/bridgette - not my thing at all. i don’t care about zeke too much, and i have a lot more ships with bridgette that i prefer over this one.

93. cody/beth - i only care about cody in certain contexts, and i practically never care about beth. i wouldn’t click off of a fic if this were a background pairing or whatever, but i definitely wouldn’t seek it out.

92. ezekiel/beth - again, don’t really care about beth or ezekiel that much. but in certain contexts, i can see why this would be cute.

91. courtney/jose - the only way this is cute is alongside aleheather, so that courtney and heather could marry into the same family. but also, why is this a ship that exists?

90. scourtney - i love both scott and courtney, but no thank u. they had absolutely no chemistry, and courtney was using scott both in the competition and as a rebound. not a fan.

89. gwen/cameron - is this a thing that exists? i found a screenshot of gwen kissing cameron on the cheek but is that edited? if it is real, i probably blocked it from my mind.

88. courtney/cameron - now i know this one exists in the weirdest, stupidest way the show could’ve gone about it. barely even qualifies as a ship, and it’s definitely not a good one.

87. duncan/zoey - i kind of see why others would like this one, but at the same time, it doesn’t really appeal to me.

86. alejandro/courtney - i love alejandro and i love courtney. but i can only see them as friends, tho i can see them like. kissing just because they’re bored. or to fuck with people. they did that in the show, right? kind of? i forget the specifics.

85. chris/blaineley - while i guess i can see why people ship this, chref is canon and blaineley is a lesbian.

84. katie and/or sadie/justin - why would katie or sadie date justin, when they’re in love?

83. gwuncan - maybe could’ve been good, but literally everything about how they got together and their relationship in canon has tainted my view of this ship. i definitely preferred them as friends in tda anyway. there’s a lotta cute gwuncan fanart out there so i do rb it sometimes tho. i see why people ship this, i get the potential, but for me it’s soured by world tour.

82. laurie/miles - who?

81. mary/ellody - yea ok they’re smart gfs, but also i literally don’t give a shit about either of them.

80. pete/gerry - they’re definitely dating but again i don’t care about them.

79. mike/cameron - not a horrible ship by any means, i just don’t really like cameron that much.

78. alejandro/justin - there are so many superior alejandro ships. and a handful of slightly better justin ships.

77. carrie/devin - wow they didn’t have a storyline that was original in any way! they’re pretty cute tho.

76. sanders/macarthur - would be higher but acab.

75. macarthur/josee - i really like the whole rivals to lovers thing, but again, acab. this is higher than sanders/macarthur because of the rivals to lovers, but mostly it’s because there’s only one bastard cop here rather than two.

74. owen/alejandro - i don’t really mind this one, but i see it as more of a one sided crush on owen’s side.

73. lightning/cameron - i don’t really care about cameron, but the jock/nerd dynamic is kinda good.

72. rockspud - they’re definitely a couple, but as the trend indicates, i really can’t bring myself to care too much about rr ships.

71. lindsay/beth - best beth ship, worst lindsay ship. i like one this better if lindsay is also dating tyler.

70. lindsay/lightning - a crackship i made up when i was eleven. i just think it’s really funny.

69. noco - not a bad ship, it’s just not my thing. i definitely see why other people ship it, i just ship both of them with other people.

68. ella/sugar - i see why people ship this as well, but i just really don’t like sugar. i can bring myself to see past that because this dynamic is genuinely good.

67. sierra/heather - i’ve seen this in au’s and rewrites of sierra’s character, and i see the potential. not bad.

66. bawn - they’re cute i guess? i just never really saw the appeal. they’re not bad by any means, it just seems kind of bland.

65. dakota/zoey - okay so i’m adding this one in as i’m reordering stuff because i rewatched roti. i didn’t have this here initially but their friendship was cute until zoey was all “she’s scary” and voted her off. just saying, if zoey wasn’t written as a hypocrite and was actually written as a COOL character that lived up to the potential of her concept, this would’ve slapped. also i love any combo of dawn, zoey, and dakota, because they’re cute. i’m not including poly ships on here because that’d make things wayy complicated, but i’d be here for a poly ship of these three.

64. scott/zoey - UPDATED. was originally “yea something about this rubs me the wrong way. i feel like if i rewatched roti i would remember what, but i’m not going to do that just for this list. maybe someday.” i ended up rewatching roti for unrelated reasons the next day, and honestly? this one is not that bad. could be cute, potentially.

63. dj/katie - i guess this one’s pretty cute? i don’t really remember them interacting, but i guess i can see why someone would like this.

62. dunhar - i see why people ship this one. i kind of like it? i feel like it would work really well in an au or a rewrite.

61. dott - UPDATED. was originally “i used to kind of like this ship, but now i really don’t. i do love the idea of dawn and scott as best friends who bully each other in the friendly kind of way, though.” but i rewatched roti and... this has potential. i kinda like it. still prefer the bullying friendship tho.

60. scott/mike - again, i see why people would ship it. i’m not sure if people actually do? but it seems like the sort of thing i might have shipped in middle school, so someone probably likes it. but meh, it’s not really my thing anymore.

59. topher/shawn - i don’t remember if these two interacted but i guess this could be cute? maybe?

58. sky/ella - yea it’s cute i guess? i don’t really have an opinion on this one beyond that.

57. dawn/dj - i mean… i get where this comes from. i fully understand. i personally see them becoming close friends, but i also see why people would ship them.

56. dawn/brick - again, i see them much more as friends, but i get why people would ship them.

55. geoff/gwen - this ship kinda interests me because it was originally going to be canon in camp tv, but because of that one gweoff friendship episode in island i see them as unlikely friends.

54. dj/bridgette - maybe you’re sensing a trend here, but i see them as friends. i could probably get on board with shipping them, though.

53. deather - i like them as friends more, but i do think a relationship between them could be fun.

52. ella/dawn - i feel like i’ve seen this ship? it’s not bad! i’m not the biggest fan of ella but this is pretty cute.

51. zoke - i really want to like them, and i wish they were written better. as is, i kind of ship them? there’s nothing wrong with zoke. but both as characters and as a ship, they could’ve been so much better.

50. noah/justin - this one’s interesting! i’ve never actively shipped it, but i can see it for sure. it’s cute!

49. owen/justin - again, not something i’ve actively shipped, but i like it!

48. carrie/kitty - i think they’re both in their late teens? like 18ish? appropriate ages for each other? if so, i like this one. they’d be cute

47. josee/jen - yea i like this. i feel like they would get along pretty well. they’re both successful in their own right. power couple for sure.

46. tom/jacques - again. power couple. i also think they’d go on double dates with jen and josee, which i like a lot. honestly both of these teams are the epitome of mlm/wlw solidarity. i like this one.

45. alecody - i like it! i don’t have much to say about them at all, but i like it.

44. brody/geoff - good ship! putting the romance in bromance. i like this one more when it’s combined with gidgette though.

43. anne maria/vito - originally i put “what is the appeal of this ship? genuinely asking.” as the description, and then an anon sent in this reply: “You wanted the appeal of anne maria and vito? Well here it is; they are both so dumb. Not a brain cell between the two of them. Imagine them trying to do anything domestic like. They could not assemble a bookshelf or make a pot of spaghetti without it turning into a horrible, but memorably fun, mess. They’re soft for eachother but would kick anyone’s ass for so much as looking at the other. Sorry im rambling lmao i just think they are so funny together”. i get the appeal now, so i’m moving this one up.

42. lindsay/courtney - lmao their dynamic is so funny. i don’t know how well a relationship between them would go, but i can see court realizing over time that lindsay is a lot smarter than she initially seems to be. idk courtney’s observant and lindsay is actually pretty smart. i can see it happening.

41. trent/justin - best justin ship, worst trent ship (that i can think of. i’m sure there are more trent ships but i can’t think of them lmao). i can see them getting along pretty well! i bet in universe a bunch of drama brothers fans ship them, because of course they do. i can see the potential here.

40. lindsay/heather - yea this one could be good. i’d like to see a post world tour version of this ship, or an island au where they get together. either way, i like the idea of this one.

39. lindsay/gwen - again, this ship is pretty good. gwen was kind of rude to lindsay at points, but i think after she stood up to heather, gwen gained some respect for her. idk i can see it happening.

38. lightning/scott - is this jock/farmer? jock/asshole? i’m not sure, but i really like it.

37. harzeke - tumblr user harzeke has opened my eyes. their posts are enlightening. the reason i kind of like ezekiel. harzeke is a good ship.

36. sadie/lindsay - remember in phobia factor when they were hyping each other up? yeah. they’d be cute together.

35. dundie - you know, i really didn’t expect them to make this one canon, but total drama dundie came outta nowhere. i wasn’t sure i was going to like them together, but fresh pulled together it’s first coherent plot in years and created a beautiful love story. very well done.

34. chref - chref is canon and u can’t tell me otherwise.

33. katie/sadie - after they got over their comphet, they realized they were in love and they end up having a really cute wedding.

32. ozzy - this ship is cute! they’re both bi and i hc they talk about cute people together because of course they do. also they would be so much fun to be around. i like them.

31. dj/geoff - djeoff? yea i like this. i think they’d both go out of their way to do sweet things for the other, but of course, they’re still geoff and dj. dj would probably bake a lot for geoff, but at least once, he’s gotten nervous and dropped it by accident. and geoff practices pick up lines and jokes before their dates but they’re like. the bad ones. dj loves them. anyway! this ship is good.

30. courtney/trent - i really, REALLY love them as friends, but i like them as a ship too! honestly i just love them getting along in any capacity. i think they’d be cute.

29. dawn/dakota - i made this up five minutes ago and i love it. i have no idea if people actually ship this but they should. just… think about it for a second. think about it and then try to tell me i’m wrong. u can’t.

28. alenoah - noah had a crush on alejandro during world tour, and u can quote me on this. i think they would be a power couple for sure. i like this one.

27. gidgette - season one gidgette is amazing. gidgette in the context of the killer bass five is amazing. season two and three gidgette is kind of meh to me, but not horrible i guess! i like geoff and bridgette and i think they’re cute together.

26. duncan/dj - i like the idea of this one. remember when duncan found dj a bunny? yea. they’d be cute.

25. jock - jock is good. rivals to allies to lovers. that’s the path i see this ship going down. i really like picturing them in any sort of au where they can kick ass together.

24. gwourtney - i used to like this one a lot more, but it’s still very good. i love the idea of them both mistakenly attributing their feelings for each other to duncan and accidentally ruining their friendship in the process. and by love i mean hate but also think is a good interpretation of the love triangle. i can see them together in an au, or after seriously reconciling in the future. or, honestly, in any universe where sundae muddy sundae doesn’t exist.

23. leshawna/gwen - did i hear u say best friends to lovers? no? well you’re getting them anyway. leshawna and gwen would be amazing i’m telling u. it’s a good ship.

22. tyler/alejandro - this is the third time i’ve said someone had a crush on alejandro during world tour, but. tyler had a crush on alejandro during world tour. i think they’d make a cute couple.

21. jashawn - this is a relationship built on respect and trust and i am here for that. they’re both a lil weird but neither of them mind, and they care about each other so much… i’m soft.

20. jasammy - i like this only marginally better than jashawn. honestly, i like all three dating the most. but anyway, jasmine was the first person who saw sammy as more than an extension of her sister… she stuck up for her. she was sammy’s first real friend. can i just reiterate… i’m soft.

19. evzy - they would light your house on fire together just cuz they were in the mood. eva bench presses izzy every morning. do not try to challenge them to any sort of competition, they will win by any means possible. eva picks izzy up at every opportunity. whenever they cook anything, they burn it. is this by accident or on purpose? i’m not sure. izzy likes lighting stuff on fire and eva likes eating burnt food for some reason, so it doesn’t really matter. i love their dynamic so much.

18. jomaria - if u were talking shit about either one of them, they would both get together and beat u up. they’re both legends and i love them.

17. gweather - total trauma comic has truly opened my eyes… i really like them in a future setting where they’re both more mature and can understand how they were both in the wrong at times during total drama, and ended up hurting people and were hurt themselves, and work through that together. so basically… in the setting of the total trauma comic.

16. heather/leshawna - rivals to lovers…. au where leshawna and heather get together during tda… i’m telling u it’s a good ship.

15. nowen - imho, this is both the best noah ship and the best owen ship. they complement each other so well. world tour nowen is just. the peak of their dynamic. i think enough has been said about nowen that you can understand why i would like it, so i’m just gonna move on.

14. trody - this one came outta NOWHERE a while back, i’m telling u. but i love it?? i liked their friendship in island, and i just. i love the idea of cody having a crush on both gwen and trent during island, misunderstanding that and thinking he just has a crush on gwen, and realizing after island at some point that he also liked trent. and then trent developing a crush on cody after the breakup with gwen and just… dijfalsfjla honestly i like them in so many contexts. thank u tumblr user gothcody for bringing the trody hype. anyway they’re a good ship!

13. bridgecourt - my favorite bridgette ship! idk i loved bridgette and courtney’s friendship in island, and i can see them having a best friends to lovers type of deal. i just think they’d be cute together, and their relationship would be really healthy and balanced.

12. gwoey - u can try and tell me there wasn’t a little something between these two in all stars, but u would be wrong. their designs compliment each other really well, they’re cute together… i’m a fan.

11. lesharold - SO valid. harold drinks his respect women juice every morning, except for that one time he rigged the votes in island to vote out courtney because he was mad at duncan smh. anyway this is a relationship built on RESPECT and CARE. they’re very cute together, and i love them.

10. dawn/zoey - the superior doey. listen the only reason these two weren’t friends is because fresh decided that zoey was going to think dawn was “weird”? but what if zoey just said that because she didn’t know how to deal with the fact that she found zoey cute… zoey is the epitome of that “i had a crush on a girl and i didn’t know how to deal with it so i sent her a letter that said ‘get out of my school’” tweet. n e way they would be such a good couple.

9. samkota - dafjlsflkaakf i think about samkota and i freak out i’m telling u. like is there anything. ANYTHING. better than a guy loving and respecting his girlfriend unconditionally? and mutual love and respect? … well i mean there are several more entries on this list, so okay, maybe a couple of things, but this shit is galaxy brain right here.

8. aleduncan - ok so apparently something i like slightly more than partners who are soft and even softer for each other is total assholes who care about each other. like alejandro is a gentleman… but he’s a manipulative jerk too. and duncan’s a fucking asshole and i love him for it. anyway when they teamed up in world tour, especially in that episode where they hunted ezekiel (??? what is total drama??) i really liked their dynamic.

7. lyler - ok back to love and respect. tyler and lindsay are so good!! tyler got so excited when lindsay remembered who he was right? and lindsay never stopped asking ppl if they were tyler ok. like she knew she cared about tyler enough to want to be with him even when she didn’t know who he was?? i feel like we don’t talk about the implications of this enough. honestly… i feel like people overlook how much the period in between tyler’s elimination and slap slap evolution must have sucked for both of them? like it was played for laughs but… that shit’s sad :( ok i’m done being sad they’re cute and they love each other and i love them.

6. gwent - yea u got me i still care about them. tdi gwent was really sweet! there was a lil pining. a lil outside meddling. and a lot of cute. and GOD during the finale when trent ran alongside gwen with that boulder? he cared about her so much!! of course action ruined it with the shitty portrayal of ocd and a healthy portion of not fucking communicating with your partner, but before that it was good.

5. truncan - you got me, i like the idea of trent serenading duncan with his guitar and duncan liking it a lot more than he anticipated. i think they’d have a dynamic that’s a little more turbulent than most other trent ships, but less so than most other duncan ships. they’d be a lot more balanced i think. i’m a fan of that.

4. scuncan - okay so u remember how i said i like to ship two fucking assholes together? scuncan is peak asshole/asshole rights. all stars totally missed their chance to have these two team up by dumbing scott down, whatever they did with duncan, and of course, introducing scourtney, i’m just saying. scott was actually playing the game pretty well in roti, and duncan was a veteran of the series. the two of them could’ve dominated the game. those fuckin assholes.

3. aleheather - okay now this ship was like, the only central ship that started out good and ended good in this entire series, except maybe jashawn but they don’t count because they were literally only in 13 episodes. anyway they did rivals to lovers right here. also, they simultaneously gave heather a great character arc and wrote alejandro super well. so the characters as individuals were great at the time they got together, and the couple was great together, so what i’m trying to say is… aleheather was and still is amazing.

2. duncney - in case u couldn’t tell from how high gwent is on this list, i am a fan of the tdi ships. another thing you might be able to tell from this list- duncan and courtney are two of my favorite characters in the series. so of course duncney gets a high placement on this list. not only that, but they go from disliking each other to really liking each other, which is something else that i really like. tdi duncney is opposites attract in the best way, where they compliment each other each other instead of clash. beyond that… ugh. eughhh. i don’t even want to think about that. but duncney in tdi alone earns itself number two on the list.

1. heathney - yes i love girls. yes this ship is pretty fucking basic. and no, there are no heathney fics on ao3. i will be attempting to remedy that. anyway, i could see them pulling a rivals to friends to lovers as well, which is one of my absolute favorite tropes. i think they’d be a total power couple. and to top it off, i love them both. a lot. so much. thank u for ur time.

#total drama #i also did this for all of the characters so lmk if anyone would like to see that #confessional

74 notes · View notes

darrowsrising · 5 years

Text

Red Rising Rage Review:

Ok, so @apex-aureate asked me to share my opinion on Pip's Read's 'Red Rising Rage Review'. Particulary what she thinks about Darrow.

Before all of that, I have to say that Darrow is my favourite character. My absolute favourite character! So take this with a grain of salt.

I'm not trying to change opinions or something, this is just my opinion of the review. I respect the reviewer's opinion in general.

I'll problably get hate anyway, but you asked for this and I'll deliver without sugarcoating (you know, like some people don't do with Roque...sorry, couldn't help it)

Now to the tea spilling:

First of all I have to adress the blasphemy: the Women of Red Rising aren't bland. And they don't exist for Darrow's sexual frustration. There was a single minor incident in GS when Victra tried to seduce Darrow. And that was all. He refused her and that was the end of story. He didn't use her in any way sexually (or otherwise) Victra went on and became one of the fiercest warriors in the Rising. Also, his love for Virginia was in no way only sexually orientated. And Holiday, Orion, Evey, Harmony, Pebble, Harpy, Aja etc. are in no way, shape or form there for Darrow's sexual frustration...he never, ever, ever sees them like that. I mean...did we read the same books?

Secondly, the reviewer is mad at Darrow because he is the only one who narrates. And she's mad that he's not a political person. Yes, he's more of a social-justice fighter, sorry he doesn't like to play political games with the lives of his people when he isn't even good at it. He himself admits Mustang is way better at politics than him, he's more of a man of action. Now, I think the charm of the trilogy is Darrow's pov. But I do understand that it's not everyone's cup of tea.

The reviewer is also mad that there are too many deus-ex-machinas in the series. And Darrow is a dick, because he holds back from the reader. Well, I think that this is a very subjective matter. In my opinion, Darrow holding back stuff from the reader is understandable because there are time gaps between the books, so of course he isn't going to make a recap of everything jist because you want to know everything. And all the mocking she did was really...inaccurate? I think that's the word. For example (if I'm not mistaken), in Golden Son, Darrow says that Cassius deserves his Morning Knight title because he is indeed amazing with his razor and Darrow feels like he would die if he fought like Cassius did - using kravat. But he uses the Willow Way, taught by Lorn himself in that time gap between RR and GS. So, I think this one is a matter of perspective. I loved it. She didn't.

Also, I think it's not fair that she reduced those instances to 'Darow makes deus ex machina plans and it's annoying'. The deus ex machinas work because it's not Darrow who just gets out of tough spots like a breeze. He's saved, he's helped all the time. Mustang, Fitchner, the Howlers, the PitVipers, they always save him from dying. Sometimes it's his own abilities to balance out stuff. But it is as realistic as possible, imo at least.

Also, I think it's not fair to say that enhancing a human being made us think that limb loss or other stuff are nothing. On the contrary, through out the trilogy there are explainatiin as to why people keep dying if we have such technology: Carving a Red to a Gold is very hard and not many survive (Darrow and Titus survived, but then not many survive the Intitute or the Academy - the risk of dying is always high and I doubt there are hundreds of Carved Reds), Carvings are really, really expensive (ask Fitchner), losing limbs isn't always going to end with Carving back the limb - mostly it is going to end to bionic prostheics - see Sevro is Golden Son and Thraxa in Iron Gold and thousands of soldiers in MS, there are Golds who believe in eugenics so they'd rather die or let their loved ones die than use advanced medicine.

Basically, the reviewer really, really doesn't like the 1st person narration at all that she channels that into Darrow. Or she doesn't like Darrow at all and she channels that into the narration. Can't really tell, so it's probably both. Anyway, after laying out how much she disliked the narration and the narrator, she said that Darrow is annoying, she wants to punch him in the face, he is boring, he is so damn self-absorbed and selfish.

My opinion on that is that...idk, did we read the same books? Yes, Darrow is a drama queen. Yes, Darrow is proud of his abilities. He also constantly reminds us that his image is exacerbated. There is a distinction between Reaper and Darrow. Reaper is an image that Darrow and his allies created to be god-like with the purpose of sending a message of hope and fear into the worlds. Darrow - the man - is just that. A man. He is a good friend (not all the time, but who is a good friend all the time), he is a good fighter, he loves to dance and eat strawberries. He genuinely loves his family, his friends, his love. He is from time to time way too focused on his goal that he forgets everyone else. He becomes self-absorbed once in a while. He forgets some important things - like when he was left alone for like 2-3 years and had to be reminded why he fights by Harmony. But that's not entirely making up his character.

Edit: there was also this thing that she disliked - Darrow seeming like he can read people's minds...I guess that is a matter of perspective, but I never even thought of that as a problem. And now that I think about it...I don't feel like it's such a big deal. Many 1st pov are like that. Plus, Darrow is sometimes so damn sure of what other people think and it ends up with him being wrong all along...so, I don't think it's a proble at all. But that's a matter of perspective too...although I think that's nitpicking to hell, but that's just me.

Another thing I noticed the reviewer didn't like was the fact that Darrow has beautiful monologues before battles and that's unrealistic, because he makes stupid decisions immediatelly afterwards ...err, have you ever read a war journal wrote by a soldier? I did. His name was Camil Petrescu, he had very beautiful monologues before he went to battle...where he fucked up and survived through a miracle. After that his carreer as a writer skyrocketed.

Anyway, my point is that...I don't understand why it's unrealistic. Believe it or not it seems to me easier to be contemplative and to philosophe like a true master when you sit in a duroSteel box which will send you into the stratosphere while enemies will shoot at you. I bet it makes you think a lot about life and death and warfare and love and why you are fighting and stuff like that. You know...exactly what Darrow talks about...idk, this again I think it is a matter of perspective.

Can I reitterate that the women of Red Rising aren't looked at from a sexual pov ? I'll hang myself with this one if I have to.

No but really, that's the only thing that propelled me into rage in that review. Darrow of Lykos? Seeing every female as a vent for his sexual frustration? Where? When? How? What the fuck? I can never agree with this. Ever! They are not there for him to get his dick hard! What the actual fuck! The guy refuses Pinks on a daily, why are we even debating this?

I get it that she didn't like the books that much. I respect that. I get it that people who say it's the best sci-fi are stretching it more than a little.

I also understand why she wants a 3rd person narration.

But her points about Darrow being selfish and self-absorbed (and generally a stupid jock tm), her opinion on the women of Red Rising (especially this one), her downplay of Victra's character (she's so much more than her hitting on Darrow that one time and I hate that I have to remind everyone of that, wtf) ar things that I can never agree with. This is so far from factual I can't even.

I'm not trying to be disrespectful or anything. And I'm sorry if it came that way.

Edit: the Women of Red Rising are amazing and the stuff said about them in this review are blasphemous. You can argue with me all you want, you can't change my mind, sorry.

Anyway, hope I don't get hanged for this one! Per aspera ad astra!

Oh, and if you want to, you can still send me asks with 'your opinion on...'. It is a tumblr game thingy I rebloged a while ago and this was @apex-aureate 's ask basically.

I tried to edit the mistakes I made, because I answered this on my phone. I also added some stuff I remembered from the review, but I didn't address in hopes to be as thorough as possible. Hope it is satisfying grammatically speaking. I'm not a native speaker, so if I made mistakes, please point them out and I'll rectify them.

#red rising trilogy #darrow of lykos #darrow au andromedus #reaper

38 notes · View notes

funkydoommachine · 7 years

Text

Sonic Forces Review: Stop Comparing it to Mania

So I recently played Sonic Forces on the PS4, and while I did enjoy it, there were some things about it I have to address, as well as some other things around it.

Spoilers contained, so press on if you either finished the story or don’t care about spoilers.

STORY

Alright, so the basic plot is this; Eggman is so fed up with Sonic beating him that he ‘gets serious’ and unleashed a brand new weapon on the world. Sonic is called to action during an attack and this new weapon, named Infinite, goes Brock Lesnar on Sonic and beats him. We’re next told (through text) that Eggman had easily taken over the world with Sonic out of the way, and for the past six months an underground resistance has formed to try and take the world back. So Sonic (who is actually alive, gasp), the Avatar (I’ll get into this later), and Classic Sonic (for whatever reason he’s here too) have to work together to defeat Eggman and bring the world back to peace.

The plot isn’t really groundbreaking, but this is Sonic the Hedgehog, I’m not expecting George RR Martin levels of writing. The plot is simple enough, the dialogue is nice and cheesy (and lacking in any PS2-era Shadow the Hedgehog angst). It’s a dumb little ride and I enjoyed it, even if it was a little short and I would have liked to see more cutscenes instead of text windows.

CHARACTERS

If you ask me, the characters are at their best written and performed in Forces. The voices match the characters perfectly (Vector is up for debate) and their lines are delightfully corny. Eggman has gone back to his roots of ‘legitimate threat who is quite menacing with only a little humour’ instead of the complete joke he’s been presented as for the last few games before. Sonic still has his 90s cool kid wit, and to be honest I’m fine with it. It’s how I know Sonic, and I’d rather have this instead of some bland edgelord. And speaking of bland edgelords, even Shadow is better performed this time, with Kirk Thornton giving him much more emotion and even a few sassy lines here and there in his DLC.

The game’s main villain is Infinite, a jackal who was head of a mercenary squad before turning full on edgelord with (surprisingly cool) virtual reality powers provided by the Phantom Ruby. He’s edgy to the point of parody, and you can tell that’s what the team was going for when creating him, and you can’t help but enjoy the copious amounts of teenage angst that ooze out of him like he was sweating a Simple Plan album.

But the star of the show, and the main selling point of the game, is the Avatar. Your OC. The newest member of the resistance. The Avatar only speaks in vocal grunts, but is actually a very important part of the plot, and the holds the key to defeating Infinite in the form of a Phantom Ruby shard which messes up his powers. I’ll get more into the OC below.

Some levels, when you beat them, will occasionally have an SOS signal coming from them. These are extra missions that require you to either take control of another player’s Avatar or to rescue a fellow resistance member. These aren’t mandatory of course, only for a bit of extra challenge and experience. Bonus levels also pop up depending on how well you do, and you can also beat them for extra accessories. Neato.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay is the standard fair it’s been for the past few instalments, with a lot of Boost2Win, but it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be. Modern Sonic’s levels are quite varied, with different paths depending on how skilled and eagle-eyed you are. Boosting (which is provided by Wisps and defeating enemies in Forces) is a double-edged sword, where you’re penalised for using it in the wrong areas and not paying attention. You can tell when you’re allowed to boost since Wisp pods will be provided, but even then it’s still a blast to just rush through and plow down enemies like toilet roll.

As I mentioned earlier, Classic Sonic is back. I have no idea why they brought him back, but here he is. And to be honest, it’s as shoehorned as it sounds. The gameplay for Classic is pretty janky, with floaty jumps making some parts of platforming difficult to navigate. The speed boost doesn’t last nearly as long from what I’ve noticed, the drowning countdown has shortened to the point where an asthmatic could hold their breath longer than him, and to be honest he slows down from high speed very quickly. I mean I guess he still has the Mania jump dash (oh yeah, forgot to mention this Classic Sonic is the Sonic from Mania, because for some reason they had to tie the two games together).

After beating the first level, you have the opportunity of creating your own character, choosing between a dog, wolf, rabbit, bird, cat, bear, or hedgehog (guess which one is popular amongst kids and memers), with each species actually having its own unique perk, such as birds having a double jump and wolves able to attract nearby rings like a Sonic 3 thunder shield. As you beat levels you collect more clothing and accessories for your donut steel, and achieving S-ranks and completing side missions nets you even more stuff. There’s even an experience system for each species, which gets you even more accessories. The OC controls quite well, with responsive controls and opting for a grappling hook attack instead of a homing attack, and the lack of a jump attack is replaced by Wispons; weaponized Wisps that you can swap out on the fly before each level. There’s a wide variety of Wispons, including Burst that fires a flamethrower attack and allows a frequent jump when powered up, and a lightning one that uses an electric whip attack and lets you use the ring dash. Completing side quests unlocks Wispons with side-effects, including a shield and starting with rings. Changing Wispons is required for different paths and collectables. In some levels, Sonic and the Avatar will team up and you can control between the two simultaneously, combining their powers to create Captain Planet get through different challenges. Some parts include a Double Boost section, which after a quick button mash, lets you plow through enemies while cheesy butt rock cheers you on.

MUSIC

One thing many can agree on is that the only consistently good part about Sonic games is the soundtrack, and Forces is no exception. The theme song, Fist Bump, is a delightfully upbeat and corny butt rock tune that you can’t help but smile when you listen to. Especially if you’re a Hoobastank fan. Infinite’s theme song (named, well, Infinite), performed by Dangerkids, is Ow the Edge in all the best ways. The nu-metal inspired track includes lyrics talking about how cool and awesome Infinite is, and it’s so hilariously catchy that you’ll likely fall in love with it unironically.

Modern Sonic’s music ranges from techno and dubstep-inspired beats to full-on punk rock chords that many fans know the 3D games for. Tempo and tone change depending on which part of the stage you’re on, which I love.

Classic Sonic, which once again goes for a chiptune-feel, is also enjoyable... for the most part. Green Hill’s bleeping goes so high at some points that it’s almost uncomfortable to listen to, but the tunes are all catchy and memorable.

The Avatar’s music, my personal favourite, opts for more techno and D&B inspired tracks, which include lyrics that reflect your poor Coldsteel’s thoughts while rushing through that particular stage. I love these ones, they’re a welcome change and it’s not all the time you get lyrics during an action stage, making me remember the good times of City Escape.

PROS AND CONS

I know I’ve mostly been singing this game’s praises so far, but of course it definitely has its flaws. But the game does try to make up for them.

The story, and the levels, feel far too short compared to previous titles. There are thirty stages, not including bonus levels, and a lot of them feel like they were beaten in a flash. When you know what you’re doing, you can beat most of them in circa 2 minutes each. Granted, the levels were designed by newcomers to the format, and for their (I assume) first go, they did quite well. Plenty of branching paths and secrets to look for, and the secret/bonus levels provide plenty of challenge.

The Avatar creation leaves a bit to be desired, being unable to combine some accessories or change the colour of others, opting for just having a different set colour for the same thing. But again, this is the first time we’ve had this on an official Sonic game, and for the first try, I’m satisfied. Adding side-effects for species and Wispons provides plenty of replay value to make up for the short story.

The villains of the game are made up of Eggman, Infinite, Chaos from Adventure, Zavok from Lost World, Metal Sonic and Shadow. The last four are actually virtual reality projections created by Infinite’s powers, which I thought was a nice twist in the story instead of just having them brainwashed or whatever, but my gripe is you don’t get to fight Chaos or Shadow. It’s a shame, considering how fun they were to fight in previous titles, but the bosses we do have provide fun challenge. The final boss (Eggman in a giant robot, because thank god Eggman is actually the last boss again instead of Infinite hijacking the finale as all-powerful allies of Eggers tend to do) is a three-stage fight compiled of tactics mirroring previous bosses. Though I see this as the previous bosses warming you up for the finale, and the final boss did provide plenty of challenge. And in good Sonic fashion, you’re rewarded for using your abilities carefully and in the right moments in the form of doing more damage and a faster completion time.

FINAL WORD

As short as the main story was, Sonic Forces provides plenty of replay value in the form of extra challenges and character types that challenge you to find all the collectables and get all the S-ranks, which you are rewarded for with more things to bling out your Sonichu with. I still haven’t completely beaten it yet, despite having beaten the story in a few hours. Plus the DLC will be free, and for a AAA title, its RRP is pretty reasonable. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re a fan of the 3D stuff.

Now if we could stop comparing this game to a 2D platformer starring the same character but plays and looks completely differently and was made by a completely different team, that would be lovely.

People aren’t comparing Mario Odyssey to Super Mario Maker, so stop doing it here please.

FINAL SCORE

7 Chili Dogs out of 10

#sonic forces #sonic mania #sonic forces review #jonno reviews

14 notes · View notes

dentos-wife · 7 years

Text

Alright I finished Ultra Moon! Game play was fun, the new totems were interesting I love the new outfits you can get (should have given us more darnit what are there two?!). And Ultra Space is fun probably the best thing about this game honestly.

But...anyone who knows me know I LOVED Moon, it actually has my favorite story in any Pokemon game as of late, a great cast and a wonderful plot. When USM was announced I had some concerns about how the plot would be handled. The only reason they had two games instead of one for their third game was because Nebby was two Pokemon they needed one for each. I was concerned due to Necrozma being the focus they’d kill the plot that made SM so good. Especially as when looking it prerelease material it seemed to be the same game with little touches here and there.

If you enjoyed the original and want to play more go for it there are some differences you might enjoy but if you never played an Alola version and want to jump in I would call the original better in terms of the world of Alola but Ultra better for gameplay so it depends on what matters to you. I generally prefer character and plot, so my recommendation goes to the original most would say the opposite.

My full review with spoilers for USM under the cut

Sun and Moon was not really your story, it was Lillie’s and the bond she had with Nebby. Ultra Moon is treated just like Moon until the very last half of the game, and then the new plot starts and it’s a total train wreck. See, if they were going to do a new plot you’d think they’d start it earlier and not have all the dialogue be the exact same because it doesn’t work with the new plot.

Here’s what I mean by the dialouge is the same at one point it’s hilarious because Hau beat Hala in USUM, but Gladion still states that Hau can't beat Hala when you first meet him. It’s just wrong and lazy. That a minor thing but then it cuts into story.

Lillie is still treated the exact same until everything starts and she’s roughly shoved aside. The touching moment between you and her on Executor Island? Gone. You go alone. She still does her Z form and all that but because Lusamine is so different (more on that later) it just feels pointless and all the power behind that scene is sucked away. She doesn’t even go to Ultra Space with you and obviously because her plot is chopped up she doesn’t go to Kanto either. She’s just there. And it would be okay because I get it different game but then why set her up to be the exact same as she was in the original games and then violently shove everything aside to make up for the new plot. It. doesn’t. work.

Lusamine....oh Lusamine, one of the most interesting villains we’ve ever had was reduced to wanting to go to Ultra Space to fight Necrozma because she has a hero complex and is selfish, same basic stuff we always had but it’s very hard to tell what they were trying to do with her. Because most of her dialogue is exactly the same and she still has the frozen Pokemon room and again it just doesn’t work. People are upset she’s now redeemable but she was in the first game too and at the very least it made sense in that one.

She lost her husband and due to it became an ultra beast obsessed Nilhelgo poisoned drug addict who continued to get more and more batshit insane the more she came in contact with said UB eventually becoming Mother Beast and needing a good old fashioned beat down and giving us one of the greatest confrontations and lines from her daughter.

In Ultra Moon she goes to ultra space to fight Necrozma and comes out. Lillie and her apparently talk while you’re fighting Necrozma and...that’s it.

Which again would have been fine if they didn’t set her up exactly like the original. Nilhelgo still shows up in Aether Foundation and you still battle the thing her lines are exactly the same. They don’t change until Lillie gets kidnapped.

Minimal changes usually do work, Platinum is the best example of that. But it doesn’t work with the plot SM had, USM should have gotten rid of the family drama then because that only works with Lusamine being the antagonist she was it doesn’t play as well with her sidelined role. Granted because she’s not toxined and Kanto’d you can unlock this but...that was also very underwhelming.

Hau on the other hand they tried to make this game more about him, and honestly they should have thrown Lillie’s plot out then because what they do do with him works. It was nice to see him beat his grandfather and being the “champion” you had to face instead of Kukui. That was all nice, but then they should have had him be involved in the main plot more. Then in post game it’s back to Lillie as Lusamine is kidnaped by Rainbow Rocket. And we see what we always wanted to see Lillie as a trainer! But it’s...meh not that powerful she’s only a double battle partner and then gives up and heals you along the way.

So what is the main plot? Necrozma fuzes with Nebby once it becomes Lunala (or Solgaleo if you’re playing Ultra Sun) retreats to Ultra Space and you with help of the Ultra Recon Squad’s Pokemon to get you there (otherwise they still do nothing) beat it and come back. In that Ultra Megalopolis thing right? Except man you’d think something with that name would be massive right? Even the prerelease material hyped it up. The distortion world was really cool! This though was a tower. That’s it. You can even do anything in the place it felt really bland. I half wonder if they planned to do something with it and then ran out of time.

Anyway Necromza retreats and you can catch it right before the league on the mountain. Little underwhelming really. The URS was more of a walking plot device then actual characters too which is a shame as I wanted to like them but they would appear talk plot and then leave. And Necrozma isn’t even evil like advertised (Surprise! Who’s surprised? No one.)

So yes game play and all that is fixed but the plot is damn terrible. Seriously, yes URS is new but for the first four islands: "Hello. Cryptic stuff about our world. Bye!" and then straight back to the Sun/Moon plot. Which shouldn’t be how it was, they should have done more with them everything hits too late and EVERYONE suffers because of it. Except Hau, Hau did pretty well.

As someone who likes to get invested in the characters and plot I’m very disappointed. The Looker and Anabel quest is gone which...is a damn shame. That also gave us some more world building about Alola. Instead you get this Rainbow Rocket which is alright I guess. Ghetsis and Corless having a showdown was neat and you see a little into the past villains with some text. Guzma gets something which is cool too but why replace something that expanded on Alola for this? Could you have had both somehow then? I know Pokemon doesn’t have DLC and thank goodness but eh RR plot should have without a doubt been DLC. Delta Emerald was a great post game plot, it expanded on the world gave our new people some character and we learned more about Hoenn. Compared to that Rainbow Rocket was....fanservice.

Since most people are into Pokemon for gameplay this will be fine I’m sure but as for me this game was basically my worst fears. I didn’t need to exist the same way BW2 didn’t need to exist (and as much as I rag on BW2 AT LEAST it was a sequel so there was nothing to ruin) I don’t agree with their choices and it was a total let down from BW but compared to this...which was a third game for a already pretty complete game. The one that NEEDED the fix was XY and it got nothing. I would have rather had Z over this honestly.

But the gameplay is solid at least, I’m just more of a involved with the world kind of person.

#usm critique #unpopular opinion #maybe anyway I don't truly know #tldr #if you want a feel for the region play the original #if you're 99% of the pokemon fanbase and only care about gameplay this will be fine for you

2 notes · View notes