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showtoonzfan · 1 year

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(SPOILERS FOR AGGRETSUKO SEASON 5, and rant!)

Y’all Aggretsuko season 5 was NOT my cup of tea, I dare even say it’s not good. It’s not as bad as season 4 was in my opinion, but it’s still mediocre at best. For starters it mainly has to do with how Retsuko and Haida are canonically a couple, and if you’ve read my post here, you’ll know how I feel about them. Since their relationship is…sort of the focal point of this season, it bothered me immensely because the relationship is just…..empty, it FEELS empty and unfinished because not only did the show drag it out and force Retsuko to suddenly WANT a relationship with Haida in season 4, but because the writers couldn’t even show them declaring their relationship ON screen. Season 4 had Retsuko yearning over Haida despite it legit not being in character or making any sense from what we’ve previously seen, and then after his villain arc and the season ended, season 5 opens with them as a couple already, and none of it felt natural to me. My point still stands, they shouldn’t have gotten together.

But that’s kinda just the tip of the iceberg with this season. The only way I can describe S5 is in two words, and that’s that it’s random and underwhelming. It did NOT feel like the proper sendoff to this show, and even the ending felt rushed despite the last episode being around 30 minutes. This season didn’t feel like a “last season”, it felt like an idea for…..legit ANY other season other than the very last one. Like…the first half is about Haida addicted to gaming and trying to find a job and Internet cafe’s, which wasn’t that bad I guess but the whole miscommunication plot between Haida and Retsuko drove me crazy, and the first arc for Haida feels so disjointed from what he’s going through in the second half that it bothers me. Oh yeah, and the second half of the season caught me off guard because it’s about fucking politics. Maybe it’s just me but I did NOT enjoy watching all the political shit, like I said this doesn’t feel like a sendoff, this feels more like an idea for any season that wasn’t the last one.

The whole plot with BOTH Retsuko and Haida’s families were so underwhelming to me. For starters we finally get to meet Retsuko’s father and he barley contributes or does ANYTHING. He doesn’t even have that many lines, you might as well call him a background character. They introduce the idea that her father doesn’t approve of Haida since he cut out him in the family photo, but that scene legit goes NOWHERE. We never see that be brought up again, I was expecting an upcoming conversation between either Retsuko and her father, or Haida and her father, but her father only gets like…one line later in the season and then we never see him again, like..you’d think after finally meeting her father and showing that he wasn’t fond of his daughter’s boyfriend, it would play a big part but it didn’t. Then you have Haida’s family, his mother is nice but the focus is on his father and brother, which the show could have done more with honesty, especially his brother, who is nothing but the stern typical anime glasses man who works under their father that is an aging representative of the house. He’s determined to win the election but just turns good after he’s showed off by Retsuko and it felt out of nowhere and forced, same for his father who was just someone who cared more about the election and at the last minute just….laughs along with Haida after he gets showed off and then….we never see him again. Both these parent plots were just not fleshed out enough and it would have been better if politics wasn’t the main damn focus.

The new characters were….fine I guess? Like I said Haida’s brother and father were underdeveloped and I just didn’t feel much watching them, there’s Shikabane, the woman who Haida crashes with at the Internet cafe. I will admit, despite what I said, the first half of the season is more tolerable. I actually like how they’re tackling the concept of unemployment and people who either waste away themselves with gaming or social media, or people who HAVE jobs but aren’t happy or at the top of their game. However, Shikabane didn’t really do much for me either, she’s this socially drained character who sort of cuts ties with the world around her, and in the end it’s sort of left to the viewer wether she’s going to get back on her feet in the future or not, which was sweet I’ll admit, but other than that she didn’t really leave that big of an impact to me since this season is so damn jumbled. Then there’s that crazy angry politician man that legit forces Retsuko to do this politic job in the first place, and like…I legit don’t care I hate this political second half of the season so much. There were also small elements I didn’t like, like how the show INSISTS that Ton pick Retsuko off her feet every single time as if she can’t do it ONCE on her own, or how Fenneko is just a character that’s there and never gets focus or does anything really. The ending of Washimi and Gori I actually liked, seeing them finally reveal what drew them to Retsuko in the first place was nice, but man I did not like them in the first half, they felt out of character suggesting that Haida was cheating on her, like I said that whole misunderstanding plot drove me nuts.

And as I said, the ending felt so rushed, I remember going “That’s it?” When the credits rolled. We never even get to see all of the characters together for one final shot, or see how each character is doing with their lives moving forward. This entire show was praised for its outlook on adulthood and struggles that come with it as well as the lessons, and for the show to end in this half assed way, a show that I really liked, does kinda suck. I hate to say it but I feel like season 3 is where this show started to fall off honestly, and despite how much I love this show, I DID have issues with it as a whole. There’s the whole “we focus too much on Haida and want to drag him out as well as his relationship with Retsuko to the point where it’s fucking insufferable”- problem, then there’s how Retsuko continues to be a doormat for the most part despite previous seasons establishing that she’s done doing that and has leaned her lesson. Like…she’ll say that but then get forced into doing something she clearly does NOT want to do and I feel like her character keeps going back and fourth with that. The plot wants to push her into whatever lesson or deep symbolism they feel like spewing, but THIS time it just doesn’t feel natural like it did before. Characters will TELL Retsuko what she wants and at some point you get sick of it. You also got Ton, a character who kept flip flopping. Despite what I said about him here, the show legit felt like it couldn’t decide wether they wanted him to be a sexist asshole, or just a flawed old man who’s stuck in the times but has a good heart. I could honestly say a little more about the issues I have with the show as a whole, but the point still stands that the last season didn’t hit as hard as I had hoped.

Aggretsuko still and always will have a special place in my heart. I really enjoy the series as a whole and I think it’s a really good example of some of the best adult animation I’ve seen. The life lessons of adulthood, finding a job, falling in love, getting married, being afraid of going out into the world, ect were mostly handled well in the show, the characters (again for the most part) are likable and endearing, and even though this show didn’t go out with a bang and slipped down its slope heavily, I don’t hate it, and still will love and admire it, it’s the same with Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil, where it started out SO good but then ended poorly, but overall it’s a show I’ll always like. With that said these are all my opinions, I wanted to make a post on this since this was one of my favorite shows, so since it was ending I thought I’d talk about it. Thank you for reading!

#aggretsuko #aggressive retsuko #unrelated #Netflix #animation #adult animation #aggretsuko season 5 #rant #my opinion #my thoughts #Aggretsuko criticism #Aggretsuko critical #Aggretsuko critique

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theroyalsims · 9 months

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SIMBLEDON APPEARANCE WITH ANYA HAS "LEGITIMISED" ALISTAIR AND MARGEAUX'S RELATIONSHIP

There's officially a new royal "It Couple" in town!

With today's Simbledon appearance, royal fans and royal watchers everywhere got a first "official" glimpse of Alistair and his new girl, Margeaux. And apparently, the simple tennis date is much bigger than it seems. One royal expert suggests:

"This was more than just going out to watch tennis. This was Al saying 'look, I'm taken, this is my girl and we're happy together.' The move is a slap on the face to all his detractors and for everyone criticising Margeaux.

For weeks now, since they were first spotted together, the two have been hounded by negative publicity and some even gave Margeaux the cruel monicker 'Princess Rebound.' But with this outing, the message is loud and clear: this is not just a fling. They're legit. Plus, you take into consideration that it came with Anya's mark of approval, you can say Margeaux's very much fitting in quite nicely with the royal bunch."

(Above: Prince Al and Margeaux, with the Prince's security detail, were photographed leaving Simbledon Arena.)

The difference between the Prince's latest relationship is said to be night and day compared to his previous romance with Ximena Kalarmy. A source close to the Prince shares:

"Al and Ximena were together for years, but we actually never got to see them 'out' except maybe for her restaurant opening. Everything else, they were all paparazzi shots of their private dates. But now, we see Al and he's really happy to be out with Margeaux.

With Ximena, there was a point when all the nasty stuff spewed by the press got to her and she was really insecure. That's despite the fact that Al never let her feel inferior. He made sure she knew he loved her. But that was never enough. Ximena got into her own head and eventually, that caused Alistair to call it quits with her. I think in the end, he got tired of having to tell her again and again that she's enough. A man can only take so much."

(Above: Chatting like old pals - Anya has welcomed Margeaux into the royal fold.)

Ximena's fear of not fitting in with the royals was reportedly an issue with the couple as well. The source further reveals:

"Whenever Al invites her to family outings and dinners, she'd shrink back and put up her walls again. It was a never-ending case of 'what-ifs': what if Anya doesn't like me? What if I use the wrong fork? What if I forget to curtsy? Do I have to curtsy? In the beginning it was normal, we don't all get to meet royals and there are certain formalities and protocols, but they were together for over three years, and she never got past that. It was clear to Al that it was always going to be an issue. But still, he loved her, and he was ready to marry her. When he got shot down because of those same issues, he just had it.

The sad part? The royals seemed to genuinely like her for Alistair. Even Prince Jacques thought that she was 'sweet.' All those stories about Anya and Ingrid snubbing her was not at all true. For starters, Anya is incredibly busy and isn't at all that invested with her sibling's love lives. It was Ximena and her walls that kept her distant from Al's family. Ingrid is arguably the nicest of the bunch and even she had to ask Alistair if she'd offended Ximena in any way because Ximena wasn't talking to her."

These revelations seem to clarify the whole Alistair+Ximena break-up, but we feel that it's a tad bit unfair to keep talking about the young lady, especially now that she's no longer with Prince Al. How about we appreciate Al's newest relationship and finally leave poor Ximena alone. Not all break-ups need a villain. Sometimes things just don't work between two people despite both of them loving each other.

#ts4 #theroyalsims #ts4 story #simblr #ts4 simblr #ts4 royals #ts4 royal family #ts4 royal story #ts4 royalty #alistair #margeaux #ximena #mystory

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miutonium · 9 months

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Im so sorry @jils-things but you made me want to go on a tangent about art supplies in a bit cuz I'm a nerd andhekqkwkdjwoqo i lov u pls dont go away- 😭

Anyway yes I usually make a very light sketch with my pencil so that I could erase it easily for me to retrace it but I am here to make a very important public announcement and I feel that it is my duty to inform the public on something that could be beneficial to the society.

Behold: Kneading Eraser

This fucker have multiple names; Putty eraser, gummy eraser, kneaded eraser,clay. It's going through a phase, please don't judge it, let it change name every 10 seconds.

What I need is that I want everyone to put everything down and listen to what I say: You run to the art store, Michael's, Art Friend, soup store, whatever store you get your art supply at. You ask the store clerk you want a putty eraser and if they dont give you a putty eraser, tell them they're a loser in malay (it's mak kau hijau. The more your learn folks) and then go to the next store and find a putty eraser until you get them. Its not expensive, it cost me less than 2 bucks for 1 pack of putty eraser.

Why you may ask? Well, I can assure you as someone who draws, putty eraser is much much MUCH better than a normal generic eraser.

First of all, there's no dust. When you erase a line with this boy, there wont be any rubber shit nugget clumping on the table and making a mess on your bed (i know you hate your spine too and likes to draw on bed i live in ur walls u guys better sleep with 1 eye open). I'm so serious like I have 0 eraser shavings in my house since I use a putty eraser. Please stop sleeping covered in eraser shavings.

It's also malleable. You can literally shape it to whatever shape that you want so you could erase a a tiny spot that you couldn't reach without disturbing other lines. And it works sooooo well as a stress ball or a toy. People actually knead it into animal shape. Can you shape a normal rectangle eraser into a giraffe? CAN YOU? DO YOU SEE MY POINT?

Do you suffer from loneliness? Do you need a conversation opener? Are you tired of kneading an eraser to shape it into a friend? Believe it or not, putty eraser is a great conversation starter when you dont want to start a conversation! As a personal anecdote: whenever I sketch in school, if anyone I know sees me sketching, they will always ask me what the fuck is the clay thing I use to erase my lines and then I have to explain to them what is a kneadable eraser and then whenever I demo'd the eraser, an amusing OOOOOOO will come out and they will play with my eraser for like 5 mins. Am I mad that my eraser is taken away? No because the eraser can also be s e p e r a t e d . Black magic fuckery. Please go buy a putty eraser.

Anyway for the pencil, I swear to god if you ever get this pencil, you will never use a normal mechanical pencil ever again.

The pencil I'm using is called a drafting pencil, specifically Pentel Graphgear 500. There's tons of drafting pencil in the market but just look at this one because other's are expensive and you will cry. This pencil had a plastic body but the base is made of metal so its pretty heavy. It feels v e r y c o m f o r t a b l e on the hand, like the moment you hold it, you will believe that this is how mechanical pencil suppose to be. It just fits so perfectly with the contour of you finger. The weight feels so nice on your hands and the grip is very comfortable. The pencil sleeve also doesnt budge so you don't and won't have any issue of lead breakage (unless you press your pencil really hard)

It's also very long-lasting. I have 2 of them in my pencil case. The one on the left were bought in 2021 from Muji. The one on the right were bought in 2015. It still works fine despite being 8 years old. I don't think I ever have any mechanical pencil that is long lasting like this one. This is legit one of the product that I would say would last a lifetime if you take care of it well.

This ends my sleepy deprivation fueled post for today.

TL;DR: Please go buy kneaded eraser and a drafting pencil I am on my knees rn-

#asuka speaks #anyway aHHH I LOVE U JIL THANK YOU FOR BEING MY NO 1 HYPEMAN FOR CHLOE AND UTONIUM BLESS YOU 😭😭💕💕💕#i have said what i need to say so I will go to sleep now //bonk head

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the1975attheirverybest · 10 months

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ATPOAIM Ep 4- Still...at their very best

As promised, here comes my break-down/ interpretation of yesterday's episode. I'm not really sure if I'm on to anything here. Just thoughts. a discussion starter perhaps. also, I do talk about the criticisms or problems that I have with this episode towards the end.

yeah, let me know what y'all think!

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The opening scene does a lot to set the tone of this episode and let us know, from the start, that it is in stark contrast to episodes 1, 2, and 3.

For one thing, it's in color as opposed to black and white. The style of filming is difference. we see the wide open space surrounding Matty on his mattress, instead of the camera moving along with him, or, focusing on him.

He doesn't acknowledge the camera in the way that he does in previous episodes. In fact, he spends the first 59 seconds of a, roughly, 8 minute video just getting out of bed and getting dressed. Might not seem like a lot of time, but in a short video like this, every second counts. So, the decision to focus so much on this opening moment is deliberate.

The MUSIC, lest we skip over that, is also a big deal. It does have an eerie-ness to it that suggests we should feel unsettled by what we're seeing, maybe?

Of course, the first things that happen in the mid of the audience are: wtf? why is he sleeping on the floor? why does he sleep like that? where/what is this?

Curiously, the first thing that he reaches for is the oxygen mask? I wonder if it's sort of the opposite of reaching for cigarettes (or maybe im projecting as someone who has recently quit smoking, lmao). In any case, it's not normal. That is, it's not the sort of thing one usually does when waking up in the morning. Is it to highlight the artificiality of the set up? Is it the David Lynch thing? I know he had an oxygen tank for ATVB, but I can't remember how consistently he used it. Wasn't at every show, was it? idk. Or maybe it is simply to remind us of the strangeness of the seemingly mundane things that we are about to watch him do?

His clothes are laid out for him on the cart, which, again, makes the perfectly normal act of getting dressed in the morning very strange. Perhaps also eliminates the choice. He doesn't need to make a decision about what to choose, cuz there are no options. Kind of like a uniform.

First thing he does when he's dressed and has made his "bed" is go up to the wall. I'm interested in these.

Because, he is fixated on it, and because that's what we see later on.

The music and the tone of the moment changes when he moves on to making coffee (fuck, now im really craving a good cup of coffee).

The coffee-making scene is utilizing lab apparatus. Though, I will say, drip coffee does usually use a grinder, a scale, filter paper, etc. So, I suppose that process is, in itself, adjacent to working in a lab. It also requires exactitude, slow motion, a lot of waiting around for the coffee to finish brewing and dripping, etc. (side note: the coffee he makes is nowhere near as strong as he should be. What kinda color is that, Matty?!) So, is he dramatizing the process? exaggerating skills required for the task? or i he SO committed to his grass thing that he's taken to sleeping in his lab and this is legit just an obsessed scientist making coffee in his lab thats also his home.

Some of you have pointed out that the door he exits from and the door he enters through are two different doors to the same building. If that's the case, is he suggesting some sort of cyclical nature to this everyday routine (in contrast to the day in the life thing that we saw in episode 1? Two sides, one coin?

Now, he's in an entire different lab space! Here's everything we can see when he first enters.

The greenery certainly stands out in the otherwise monochromatic setting, and we shortly see him make very exact moves to snip a "sample" of the plant, and then mist it. But not before he puts on his "Matty" coat and tosses away the "Truman Black" coat in the biohazard bin (more on that in a bit).

He moves on from his potted plant to his ??? patch of grass perhaps? which, remember, we saw a picture of in the first minute of the video. on his wall of sketches and images. One of the images was showing the layers underneath the grass. Meaning that what we see at the top in only the surface?

Briefly, we see a crack in his "character." In contrast to making deliberate and precise moves, he's suddenly stirring chaos. Trying to ride the cart, fucking with the drill, and watching stuff on his phone. You can toss the Truman Black lab coat into the biohazard bin but you can't take the Truman Black out of the Matty?? after all, the Matty dude is just a coat that he put on. He can take it back off at any moment. Is he saying that every version of himself is, ultimately, a performance of selfhood? even if he were to be "Matty"? is he saying you can't totally separate the two?

He writes "la poesie eat dans la rue" in his notebook. "The Poetry Is In The Street" BUT WHY? Nothing he's doing has anything to do with streets or poetry. Hint for the future, but what?

Next, he gets pretty tactile. "touching grass" as we joked yesterday, but maybe also testing it a bit? We get a visual trick that makes him go from hovering over the small patch of grass to laying in a much bigger one. Followed very quickly by him posing for the SATVB Tour poster.

which is the very first time that we feel there's someone maybe with him? who's taking the picture for the poster? is it pre-set? but we didn't see any signs of it in the room prior to the shot. Has more stuff happened in between, that is conveniently left out? has more time passed by? is that why the grass is larger?

He ends the video by shutting things down and pulling the lever, just like he used to do at the end of ATVB shows.

I'm not entirely sure what the "studying plant in lab" is alluding to or suggesting other than bringing the natural into an unnatural space? experimentation? exercise of control over natural being? construct building? I think that's the key to putting together the subject matter of the following tour.

NOW FOR HANG UPS I HAVE these might not be legit criticisms. It may be that once we get more info/ see more episodes, these things will become clear, but for now,

I'm not sure that this needed to be an episode of atpoaim. Like, couldn't the tour announcement have been its own thing? the series seems to have had a very specific goal that it was trying to achieve in a very specific way, and this was different. Didn't Matty say atpoaim was meant to get to color gradually as the series also got more theatrical and dramatic? kind of as a parallel to the 1975? this wasn't gradual. this went into color right away!

We also know that Matty filmed this in NJ a few weeks ago. MUCH after filming other stuff for future atpoaim episodes. Does this mean he's scrapped all previous footage and changed the whole plan? is this a brief interruption and we get back to normal next month with episode 5? is episode 5 gonna be totally new and different from an original episode 5 that maybe he'd planned before? This is why I say, if the tour announcement isn't intrinsic to where atpoaim is going, then it should've just been its own thing.

ANYWAYS THOUGHTS???? I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ANYMORE.

#matty healy #the 1975 #atpoaim #still...at their very best #satvb #george daniel #ross macdonald #adam hann

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scaryspears · 9 months

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Johnny: Opinions and Thoughs

These are my thoughts and opinions on Mortal Kombat that a bunch of people probably won't care about, but I thought I should post them here. Now I will be using past games as reference, even though every character's interpretation/counterpart is different, they still play part to the canon storyline.

[Warning: This post is very long. Slight mention of sexual oral practise.]

I think every single character in Mortal Kombat is prideful and egotistical, the best example would be Jade in my opinion. With that being said I think the way they treat Johnny is a bit unfair. A lot of these will fall in line with my Neurodivergent Johnny headcanons and theory post, I suggest checking that out for context. I know the intros aren't canon and are more what if scenarios, but they mean something.

I have a lot of things to say regarding his character, for starters he gets invited to a tournament and sees it as a chance to show people he isn't just some actor but is legit in his martial arts. Good for him, (I've seen posts that demonise this and say it's pretty selfish as if we shouldn't be allowed to be selfish when situations call for it. Bro didn't like that people were calling him a fake and wanted to prove that he wasn't, there's nothing wrong with that.). When he shows up at the tournament half of the contestants are wearing costumes, can't blame the guy for not thinking it was real at first. There's a lady dressed as a hot soldier (I understand that it gets retconned), a bunch of ninjas standing around, and his opponents are wearing alien makeup.

First of all Johnny doesn't know about the existence of other realms, second of all it's the 90s and he's a Hollywood actor meaning he's no stranger to makeup and practical effects not to mention stunts. He probably figured it was something comic con related (as I've said in another post) and while questioning it he went along with it. He had no reason to think that Reptile and Baraka were real creatures.

When Johnny is told to finish his opponent he responds with "Yeah, right.", and I gotta say, it took me years to find out there was a sexual innuendo to that. Dude straight up thought they were demanding him to perform 'you-know-what'. That was just an example of what's to come (I'll be using the word 'example' lot). (Hollywood must be a wild place even in fiction).

First I'll start with his interactions. He's not very good at bonding with people. In mk9 we see a lot of this. I get that Johnny has his problematic moments, but in comparison to the other characters he's an angel. I'm the sort of person to sweep them under the rug, but I have to address them.

Examples:

"And I'm taking you down. I'm taking you down. I'm taking you out. I'm taking you out. And I'm taking you out... for dinner." I genuinely interpreted this as Johnny being playful. To be fair, I first saw this interaction when I was a child (say 7-9) so the fact that I could see myself doing that probably had to do with my immaturity. But everytime I rewatch it I only have fondness and not annoyance because I found it adorable just how proud he was of himself. I also appreciate how open he is about how he feels towards Sonya, I stan an honest man. However, it seems a lot of viewers saw this as him being stupid or something along those lines. If this was any other character they would be told to go to horny jail, but Johnny is met with hostility from most of the fandom.

"Nice hat :)." Johnny to Raiden in mk9. "You should be more respectful of Lord Raiden!" Liu Kang says to Johnny right away. SonicXD commented on this in his mk9 sucks video, I don't need to say anything. Johnny wasn't interested in saving Earthrealm at first, he straight up told Raiden and Liu Kang that they should call the military if Shao Kahn was that much of a threat (he was speaking facts tho). Also, I think he was still questioning what he got himself into, so Raiden and Liu Kang approaching him probably made him think he was surrounded by insane people. And then he finds out that it's all real and that he's not allowed to leave.

There's also when Johnny saved Sonya from Kano. How that went down was that Johnny was trying to escort her. By the way, this is minutes after he realised that he was in a death match and not some comic con related fighting tournament, everyone was waiting for him to kill Baraka and it dawned on him just how serious they were. So Johnny got worried for Sonya's safety by that alone. But it's also understandable on Sonya's end: here comes this guy trying to chat her up (get into her pants) and not getting the hint that she's not interested, and then tries to convince her that he needs to be by her side.

Cyrax got annoyed just by hearing him talk, you can see it on his face. I saw it as friendly banter on Johnny's side but Cyrax didn't. "Not everyone gets to rumble with a celebrity. Ready for a beat down, Sunshine? Here it comes." I think Cyrax was gonna kill him by that alone if it wasn't for Raiden's disapproving dad stares. Every single Lin Kuei is super serious so I think Cyrax didn't take it as banter.

Next is Jax. Johnny Green, Jax Purple: "So what's the deal with you and Sonya anyway? She is smocking hot." "It's not like that. I'm her CO." "Honey like that under my command-" "You'll wanna stop talking now." "...So if it's not like that- Then you won't mind if I-" "That's it!" And then Jax proceeds to beat him up.

Now I understand that Johnny was talking too much, and was a tad bit slimy about his hornyness, but he didn't want to get between her and Jax if they were a thing. He just has no filter. Now following my Neurodivergent headcanons for him this may have an occasion where he wasn't reading the social cues. Jax says "You'll wanna stop talking now." but Johnny has no intentions to stop talking nor does he want to stop talking. Johnny doesn't answer immediately, perhaps confused about the reply and ultimately deciding to ignore it. I too choose the wrong times to start talking to people, and most of the time I don't realise it unless it's pointed out. Happens way often than I'd like to admit.

I know that a lot of the characters call Johnny a clown or see him as a joke (Spawn, Kotal, Shang Tsung) due to how he operates, but I don't see that as the case. There's one specific quote in mk9's story mode that he says to Raiden: "Sure, let's go and ruin someone else's life." This is why I think Johnny was very aware of what was going on. He's also very open about his ego, he doesn't hide it like everyone else, and yes they are hiding it.

Now don't get me wrong, he does randomly antagonise people, but he's in a tournament so he can do that. And it's not like he was getting personal for most of them. I think the only time he says something personal is when he feels like he's being personally attacked.

"We have something in common?" - Johnny

"I too was once young and foolish." - Nightwolf

"But I looked good doing it." - Johnny

What Nightwolf said sounded like a backhanded comment to me. Uncalled for. This is the same guy that intentionally risked the invasion of Earthrealm just to teach Scorpion a lesson or something. Johnny can tell that Nightwolf is like the others, very serious and tolerant, so he's surprised that Nightwolf can even manage to see himself in him.

Relationships: Even in the intros it's shown that he has a better chance at friendships with the villains than with the good guys. It's more like they (good guys) are tolerable of him, especially Jax. I think Sub Zero allowing Johnny to get away with calling him Grandmaster Blueberry Ice is out of respect rather than fondness. This section can extend to interactions, as I think a lot of people misinterpret him as a person, which extends to a lot of things he says such as statements and nicknames.

Johnny asks the other characters if he can make movies based on their stories, meaning he's (in a way) asking for permission. Johnny could've easily made a movie about their lives without asking them, make money, and get away with it because it's not like they would even watch his movies (they hate him), especially non-Earthrealm characters. But he's respectful. So I guess he understands boundaries to a certain degree.

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"Heard you gave Cage a shiner." - Young Jax

"He pushes every damn one of my buttons." - Old Jax

"You, me and everyone else." - Young Jax

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"Not surprised I have a kid, but you." - Jax

Why can't he have a kid, Jax? He's so condescending about it too.

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"Actions speak louder than words." - Liu Kang

"Yeah, that's why I make action movies." - Johnny

"With fake fighting." - Liu Kang

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"We come from different worlds, Johnny." - Liu Kang

"Aren't you from Earthrealm too?" - Johnny

"I mean I come from the real world." - Liu Kang

Liu Kang is such a bully.

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"The answer remains no." - Scorpion

"But you'll be co-starring with yours truly." - Johnny

"Exactly." - Scorpion

I think a true friend would consider it.

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"What kind of name is Kabal?" - Johnny

"Got a better suggestion, Cage?" - Kabal

"For now on you're Carlos." - Johnny

Never change, Johnny. Kabal clearly finds Johnny annoying, but was able to humour him enough to answer with a question of his own, perhaps encouraging Johnny's curiosity.

-----

"Looking forward to a kindler, gentler Outworld." - Johnny

"Why? Because I'm a woman?" - Kitana

"Well that, and you're banging Liu Kang." - Johnny

I have a lot of opinions about this one. On Johnny's part I interpreted this as him giving her a thumbs up on becoming the new Kahn, and since Kitana is supposed to be on the good side she is expected to rule fairly. You know, like a good person. But then Kitana made it about feminism, so Johnny delivered a line to counter it. I honestly think Kitana was reaching at something that wasn't there and Johnny picked up on it. I'm probably making excuses for him, but that's my take. Her response annoyed me so much.

-----

"So you were to defeat Shinnok." - Kitana

"What is with people? Is it so hard to believe?" - Johnny

"Yes." - Kitana

Kitana this is literally you:

-----

"If it's tail you want I can get that." - Kano

"Johnny Cage doesn't pay for it, Kano." - Johnny

"A scrubble? Note the date and time :D." - Kano

Kano is so pleased.

-----

"You stole my face for Ninja Priest!" - Kano

"Art imitates life, Kano." - Johnny

"Taking my cut outta of your hide." - Kano

A call back to what I stated in the relationships, Johnny didn't ask for Kano's permission for inspiration on a character.

-----

"Why a Russian fan club?" - Johnny

"Just going where the fans are." - Kano

"You have a showman's instincts there Kano. :D" - Johnny

-----

"I won't play your lackey, Cage." - Baraka

"Really? 'Cause I'm feeling a BFF vibe here." - Johnny

So this one is pretty wishy washy, but thought it would be beneficial to this post. I would lowkey enjoy a storyline where Johnny is buddy buddy with Baraka, who is reluctant to accept friendship but slowly gets used to it.

-----

"Oh, dude! I love westerns!" - Johnny

"The bullets are real, Cage" - Erron Black

"So are my fists." - Johnny

I'm pretty sure Johnny was just admiring Erron for what he is, kind of like meeting a nun in real life after years of only hearing about them... something like that. But Erron interpreted it as Johnny not being in the real world and treating everything as a joke.

-----

"Where is your fear?" - Noob Saibot

"Must've left it in my other pants." - Johnny

"We will find it." - Noob Saibot

Aww, Noob Saibot is so nice~ [Delusion] I love how Noob doesn't go out of his way to insult Johnny or belittle him, unlike some other characters.

-----

"Hey there, Tall Dark and Gruesome." - Johnny

"An apt description." - Noob Saibot

"Do you not get I am mocking you?" - Johnny

I headcanoned that Noob/Bi Han would take things literal, but he's also very analytical. I'm sure he was able to pick up on Johnny mocking him but didn't mind it, meaning he might have interpreted it as a nickname, which Johnny gives everyone. Wishful thinking, there could've been a lot of banter between these two.

-----

"You are more smug than usual." - Fujin

"I'm the new assistant thunder God." - Johnny

"Raiden should not have healed you." - Fujin

-----

"You know the evil overlord bit's played out." - Johnny

"What would you suggest?" - Shao Kahn

"Right now it's all anti-heroes." - Johnny

Is that kindness, Shao Kahn?

--------------

I think they did Johnny dirty in MK11, not gonna lie. To be fair, his storyline also didn't make sense in mkx thanks to discovering his new powers even though he's shown using them in mk9. If he was playable in mk9 story mode and his powers were usable, then the mkx part where he mysteriously saves Sonya because of the green light doesn't make sense. I think he should've been able to always use his green glow, that way Hollywood critics thinking he's fake has another tone to it. His green glow can be spotted in his movies, which is why viewers think he uses special effects, which led him to try to prove himself in the tournament.

I think the problem should've been that he couldn't control it, also as a call back to his mk9 ending. I think it's even referenced in an intro with Raiden. "Seek out the Wu Shi for instruction."

It also would be funny if everyone else was aware of it, but only Johnny wasn't. Like they all assumed he could use the green glow out of choice, but he didn't know or notice that he would go green. The fact that it happened during fights means it would only ignite in stressful situations or on instinct. He was also wearing shades for the majority of mk9 (because he likes shades), in fact he always wears shades so I think he's the only one who didn't notice the glow.

Johnny says "Yeah, those things are real." when referring to Baraka's blades, meaning he didn't feel that they were real. I'm not sure what that means, but it gives insight to his power level. Johnny defeated Shinnok. I get that Johnny 'softens him up' but he still defeated Shinnok, so I think he should've been able to at least handle Sindel. The reason Shao Kahn was defeated in mk9 is because the Elder Gods possessed Raiden which is how Raiden defeated Shao Kahn. They nerfed Johnny's character and I am not happy about that.

Now, with his upbringing and history. I think Johnny had narcissistic parents, and depending on who he got his powers from it was an inherited narcissism (don't know which parent had the powers, someone will probably say his father but let's not assume).

I think there was taught narcissism on Johnny's behalf. The thing about growing up with narcissistic parents is that you grow up thinking that their behaviour is normal, so he must've not seen anything wrong with the behaviour he learned. We also need to take a good look at his personality. He's a bit childish in terms of maturity, and this is common in individuals who grew up with a narcissistic parent. Johnny talks as if he's a teenager rather than the average 25+ year old man. To his credit he doesn't throw tantrums or lash out when his odd behaviours are called out (unless I missed something), but dude is childish. Only lashes out when his face is even slightly ruined and even blindly attacked some Black Dragons for getting a scratch on his face. However he is also very independent, from what I know. And he's a bubbly man, even when he changed, that's a character I can appreciate. I think him and Joey from Friends would be friends, even though I haven't watched Friends to confirm this.

Morality wise Johnny doesn't have wicked intent. In his mk9 story mode he says he's not gonna kill anyone when told to kill Baraka, realising that it's not an everyday tournament. He's okay with fighting people for sport (let's establish that tournaments are basically a sport) but not killing people. The tournament is like a perverted form of kill or be killed, one Johnny was forced into participating in some form (I'm talking about the killing and fighting for Earthrealm part). I don't think Johnny likes killing people or anything dead related. In mkx story mode he rolls a head off the helicopter in a fit of heeby jeebies and disgust.

"Have you killed anyone?" - Terminator

"Yeah, but they were all bad." - Johnny

"Why make that distinction?" - Terminator

Like a rationale of what he's experiencing.

-----

"Discard your jesters mask." - Kotal Kahn

"What you see is what you get, Feather Head." - Johnny

"I thought you merely played the fool." - Kotal Kahn

-----

"You revel in childishness." - Kotal Kahn

"Gotta stay sane somehow." - Johnny

"How are you a warrior?" - Kotal Kahn

----

"He was insufferable. Just like you." says Fujin about Johnny's great-great grandfather. Dude might've been a mega narcissist. Narcissism is taught and learned. Another example would be old Johnny and young Johnny:

Young Johnny - "Dad always said "Hungry people eat lunch, humble people serve it."

Older Johnny "Dad was an a**hole, Hollywood made us an even bigger one."

So based on those facts alone, Johnny comes from a long generation of egotistical people. Then we have Hollywood. I think Johnny got into Hollywood not just because of creative thinking, but I think there's also a sense of longing there. Narcissistic parents, ignore, abandon and degrade their children. Along with making movies being a hyper fixation, their abandonment played a part in his need for spotlight. Johnny divorcing Sonya for her neglect might be more personal because it was a reminder of his parents.

I heard that there's a lot of narcissists in Hollywood, so with Johnny surrounding himself with people like that...(yikes!) The thing with narcissists is that they are always out for themselves. An autistic person struggles with social interactions, while a narcissist will manipulate the social interaction. Johnny (and Kung Lao) doesn't do that. He very much cares about the people around him and doesn't see them as tools.

Now back to his family.

"Grandma Carlton told you my secret?" - Johnny

"(Snicker) Johnny pee pants?" - Cassie

"I had one accident! One!" - Johnny

Judging from how Johnny both asked the question and responded, I theorise it came from a place of trauma. For his mother to tell Cassie the story as if it's a funny story and give him a nickname is suspicious. I think I already mentioned this in another post but I would like to elaborate. Me personally, I don't think anyone pissing themselves is a laughing matter. People don't piss themselves for no reason, or at least most people don't. Humiliating their child is a narcissist's past time. While his mother may not have played a part in humiliating him, she still found it funny enough to tell Cassie, who also for some reason found it funny.

(I have mixed opinions on Cassie and I might get in on her in another post. I don't know how many of these I'll be making.)

Going back to the interactions between young and older Johnny, I think older Johnny hates his younger self. Movie making is something Johnny loved, cash grab or not creative thinkers like doing creative things.

I think I mentioned in another post that it's something he learned, so I'll like to continue that theory. Johnny wasn't that much of a bad person, sure he has flaws, but he's not evil or anything. So older Johnny's reaction to his younger self eagerly trying to convince him to make movies and stuff was kind of unnerving.

It should've been something he could smile fondly at, but instead he reacts as if his passion has been beaten out of him. He finds his younger self annoying, just like everyone else. Everyone else = Sonya, Jax, and pretty much everyone else. As a person who likes coming up with stories and wants those stories to be known, I feel crushed by this conclusion of analysis. Poor Johnny.

Another fact about Neurodivergent people is that no matter what they will always be the same person no matter how much their opinions and belief change overtime, they will still have the same personality. Johnny still likes making his jokes and still gives people nicknames, but he lacks creativity in creating things. I guess applying his need for action into training the Kombat kids and working with the Special Forces counts as a slight change.

I'm coming close to an end so I'll sum it up by saying that Johnny shouldn't have got back together with Sonya. I don't ship them and I'm making it clear that I hate them together. Even before mk11 I thought the ship didn't make sense and it needs to be a character that doesn't tolerate him but actually enjoys his company from the beginning. It took me everything not to write that Johnny is a national treasure that should be protected.

#mortal kombat #mortal komabt 11 #mortal kombat theories #mortal kombat 9 #mortal kombat johnny cage #johnny cage #neurodiversity #neurodivergent johnny cage #criticism #analysis mortal kombat #adhd Johnny Cage

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fxllen-rxse · 2 months

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//Apologies for a lot of ooc stuff recently. A lot of stuff has went down for me. Some good, some bad, some surprising, I guess??

It's been about a week since my grandmother in Texas passed. My dad, of course, still has no fucking clue how badly he's hurt me from the way it was all handled and how I found out. We've texted back and forth briefly since then about the funeral and stuff in my grandmother's house, but that's it.

At this point, I'm not entirely sure bringing up anything about my pain to my dad's attention will do any good. Plus I've already said we can't make it to the funeral. For starters, it's on a Thursday. And we did legit look into it, but not only would both me and my husband be pissed off afterwards, but every option has us missing work or cramming a day in and then heading back to work on little sleep. So it's a definite no.

In other news, I've been dealing with my deceased mother's stuff again, even though it's been nearly 20 years since her death. Three different banks (one being the place I had the original one at) denied me from opening a new estate account for her annuity/retirement or whatever that she suddenly had for some reason.

So anyway, the day I found out my grandmother passed, my tax guy got ahold of me and gave a solution. Turns out, my mom being a police officer when she passed somehow still has its perks. So... Long story short, I was finally able to do it with a place that she and my step dad (also a cop, but retired, and died with her) used.

And last night as I started getting things set up for it I found out how much her account was actually worth and.... Fuck... That's all I'm gonna say.

It's weird how I'm just an afterthought to my dad anymore, but despite this, my mom, who's been gone since 2007, somehow still has my back in a weird sort of way.

She most definitely was in no way perfect (yeah, my view on cops has done a complete 180 since her death, but I won't go into that right now), but she still somehow always made me her first priority. Even gone, she's done more for me than my dad ever will.

Like, I don't get it, but there's a lot of things I guess I shouldn't question. I think this is one of them.

#ooc || Zorra Lynn speaks #family death mention cw #//My head is just now getting back into a better place #//But it's all just a weird thing for me in the end

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glapplebloom · 5 months

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Let's make Moon Girl's inclusion to the show of the year list legit.

First, let's make this official. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is a must watch series. It is so fun, the characters are likable, the Glow Up of the Beyonder, the music is great, and that last episode setting up next season is a real nail-biter. I hope it gets that second season and does well to continue from there. It was not originally planned to be in One Shot because I was planning to watch and love the series as soon as I saw the preview for the opening theme. But then Superman showed up and made it seem like the #1 spot in the end of the year review will be a no brainer. So I’m putting in Moon Girl so there could be competition. And maybe I jumped the gun thanks to this...

For those who don't know, Tiny Toons Adventures is a series about a young set of toons going to Acme Looniversity to learn to become toons. Thing is, you don't really see that story. The first episode focused on the creation of the series. Episodes have them going to school being a plot of a short or the surrounding segments. But ultimately it is a bunch of shorts with Looney Tunes expies. Fifi does Pepe's bit but with boys instead of girls. Plucky does stuff Daffy would do. And for some reason Elmyra got the most screen time despite being an antagonist. She also got a pilot episode for a spinoff series, a full crossover with the Warner Siblings, and said spinoff series with Pinky and the Brain.

Tiny Toons Looniversity is a complete reboot. While they share similar traits, it is its own thing. For starters, there are five main characters to the originals' "it depends on the shorts": Buster and Babs Bunny (yes relation), Sweetie T. Bird, Hamton J. Pig and Plucky Duck. Plucky is the most similar to his original, as he's still an egotistical duck who thinks mostly of himself and at times wanting to make money. But it's a modern egotistical trait. Hamton is the second closest, just remove the cleaning obsession and crank up the anxiety. The other three, they're drastically different.

In the original, Buster and Babs Bunny were not related. So their interactions range from "hummina hummina hummina" to "they're basically siblings". Buster is a Modern Bugs Bunny, which makes him now a Bugs Bunny with 90s mentality for the cool kids. Babs were the best of the two since she got a great gimmick of being an impressionist. And Fields of Honey is my favorite episode. So how does the Reboot treat these two as siblings? Honestly, I really love their interactions. They really do sell a brother/sister vibe and that first episode really sold me on them being siblings but willing to be separate to try new things. Buster is also a great improvement because he gets to be more emotional. Babs doesn't do the impressionist bit, but between her relationship with Buster and her relationship with Sweetie, and even that one time with Plucky really shows she's great as part of any duo.

And Sweetie T. Bird is a HUGE improvement of the original. The original is basically Tweety Bird but louder. Sweetie is a rocker who is ready to cause chaos when needed. She bounces off Babs really well and seeing how fast they became friends really sold me on this series. She's like the perfect foil for the more professional Babs Bunny. She's messy when Babs is clean. She's physical when Babs is more methodical. She enjoys Plucky's Gossip Magazine when Babs saw it as a rival to her newspaper. But they're still friends because there are plenty of things they have in common. Sweetie is also very supportive. She helped Babs try to get a room with her brother even if it means no longer being her roomy. She joins Babs' newspaper. They even enjoy Vintage Clothing after Fifi Showed them off.

As for the rest of the characters, some are basically the same (Dizzy and Max), others have some differences (Fifi no longer being boy crazy), and some very different (Furball talks more in this series than his one voice role in the original). This show also has more appearances from the Looney Tunes cast. Bugs interact more in this than I can recall in the original. Daffy teaches the hardest class, we even got appearances from the Dark Age originals like Merlin and Cool Cat. And while they used Space Jam's version of Lola, they made her Looney in her own way. And with Death Battle having Tom Vs Wile E. on the Tournament of Champions Poll, it gives Wile a new dangerous weapon against his other toons.

Regardless if you like the original or never heard of it, I recommend Tiny Toons Looniversity. I can already tell you it's at the top of the list since I saw all the episodes. And I still need to see the rest of Superman and Fionna and Cake.

#one shot

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uncxntrxllable · 4 months

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@wexarethewalkingxdead sent:

WRITING. - 7. What is your biggest insecurity in writing? CHARACTERS.- 5. Do you prefer magical or mundane characters, why? 7. Do you believe that characters can be redeemed? MULTI MUSE BLOGS. - 9. What’s the most difficult thing about being a multi muse blog? 10. What is one advice you wish you could give to multi muse blogs?

What is your biggest insecurity in writing? My writing being out in the open for literally the entire world to read and judge me by, thus, me hoping my writing is good enough where people don't look at it and think it's awful. Actually, this used to be such a massive fear of mine that I refused to write on forums and on tumblr because I didn't want so many people just having access to my writing, I wanted things 1x1 in message-platform. Today? I'll likely never ever do message-platform writing again and I'm confident enough to be on here, BUT... That don't mean I don't still worry about it lolll

Do you prefer magical or mundane characters, why? MAGIC!!! My life is mundane, if I have to write it too, just yeet me into the sun. I want as much magic whatever as I can possibly get, I want everything to be totally unrealistic and crazy and non-human and non-normal life. You will literally never see me write a normal human character.

Do you believe that characters can be redeemed? It depends on the character. There are some characters in movies or tv shows that are literally so... So, horrible, that you just want them to be killed off. Like when their face shows up on the screen you're just like, ffs, someone kill this mf. So for those types of characters, no. For characters that are "villainous" for reasons, they have well-fleshed out backstories and all that, and you can just tell there's so much more to them than this bad shit they do, ya know? Especially those that you legit like waaayyy better than the "hero" "good guy" characters. Those guys? I'm rootin' for 'em.

What’s the most difficult thing about being a multi muse blog? Having a lot of muses but only wanting to / having a ton of muse to write one or two of them. I know a lot of people obviously follow for certain muses so, I feel bad when it's a muse that I have verryyy low writing motivation for. Not that I don't write replies as quickly as I am able to or anything like that, I don't yeet them under the bus or anything, it's just, I very much pick favorites when it comes to my muses and I can't help it.

What is one advice you wish you could give to multi muse blogs? Well, one thing I've told myself recently actually... And I love it so much?? Because it just works so well for myself and other people who follow me. I've changed my rules around and, if people don't specify my muse when they; like a starter / meme call or send me memes / questions in the ask box... That's my opportunity to just, choose whoever I want to write, and it makes it easier for people who want to just quickly throw some stuff my way without worrying about having to look at the muse list first and whatever, just, yeet, and I'll do what I want. If they ain't happy about the muse I've chosen to give them, that's 100% on them and if they knew they wouldn't be happy with certain muses be chosen, then they should have specified one, two or three names. I highly recommend it, to be honest, because I love it.

#thank you so much 🥺#answered asks ; 𝐼 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑢𝑝𝑐𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠 #mun ; 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒

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eovaldi · 2 years

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see the mookie trade gave me trauma. i literally talked myself down from the mookie ledge 45 times a second just for them to wind up trading him anyways so it hurt more because im a moron. [insert the giants poem about the ship of theseus here] but the problem is if they trade my LITERAL FAVORITE PLAYER how could i keep watching the team even if i love all the other guys so much theres just going to be a giant hole there where nate used to be :( nate stepped into the role of ace while sale was gone :( nate who has been the opening day starter the past 3 years :( nate who put his health and career on the line in long relief in a world series game just to lose it :( and then went to cora the next day and said he could pitch :( nate who went toe to toe with the best pitcher in the american league in a win or go home game and won it :( nate who struck bregman out on a 102 MPH fastball after he made fun of him on insta :( nate who is always joking and laughing with everybody in the dugout :( he wants to stay here forever. i want him to! he deserves it! he was an all star here!!!!! for the FIRST TIME. he got CY YOUNG VOTES HERE. HE WENT FROM JUST TRHROWING AS HARD AS HE COULD TO A LEGIT FIVE PITCH PITHCER. AND HE STAYED ON THE FIELD AS BEST AS HE COULD EVEN THO HES FRAGILE. AND WHEN HE WAS HURT HE WAS ALWAYS IN THE DUGOUT SUPPORTING THE GUYS.

i keep going back and forth abt whether they will trade him or not. i dont know. i just dont want tomorrow to be the last time nate pitches in a red sox uniform. and because even if it was it wasnt at home so he didnt get the chance to get his farewell ovation that he deserves. he needs to sign here for the rest of his life thanks.

#sorry this is borderline a vent post yes im autistic yes im freaking out about the idea of change #without nate i dont care about pitching at all period #without nate...the red sox existed and will exist without him but #i dont know. physically ill be fine #maybe if i go buy some weed ill calm down

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ben-talks-art · 1 year

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Thoughts on Wendell & Wild

There is a part of me that gets kinda scared about criticizing stop-motion animation.

Anytime I see a movie like Coraline, Nightmare before Christmas, BoxTrolls, Paranorman, Kubo and the Two Strings, Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Pinocchio, or anything like that, I always feel guilty if I don't end up liking it because you can always feel the crazy amount of hard work that goes into making these things come to life, into making this animation work, into making these characters move. You can always sense the passion, the effort, and the creativity.

I always feel like the world's biggest and most soulless villain if I don't love every single part of the final product of these types of productions.

That said... I don't think I liked this movie very much...

Kinda like Pinocchio, I don't think this is a bad movie by any means, but it is one that just didn't work for me, and much like that movie I feel like it's my fault for imagining something completely different from what I actually got.

When I first saw the trailer and the words "We all have demons... My demons have names!" I got crazy excited about all the possibilities of what this could mean.

Like, "Oh my God! A story about a girl dealing with the personification of her inner demons that are affecting her in the real world?? That sounds awesome!! The visuals you could do with that! The messages you could send! The personal character journey and internal struggle you could present!! The possibilities!!! What if they try to play around with it and make you question if the demons are really there or if it's all in her head? What are the sources of her demons? What are her fears and struggles?? Ugh! I can't wait to see this!!!"

...

And then I actually watched the movie and... Little by little my expectations went down the drain.

The big thing that just didn't work for me were the three main characters. I just could not get invested in Wendell, Wild, or Kat.

For starters, Wendell and Wild are not "her demons." They keep throwing these lines like "I have demons, these are my demons" and so on... But in reality, these two are just some dudes that just happened to meet with Kate, the main lead.

They have very boring designs for a pair of demons (you could have made them way uglier or scarier), very boring powers, they have next to no connection or interaction with Kat, and honestly... They don't really do anything interesting. They have this gel that can raise the dead, but that's it, and the most interesting characters that are revived aren't even revived by them. The freaking gel has more character and more plot relevance than these two.

And then there is Kat. She has a freaking sick design but... that's about it, she's not really interesting.

Her only two moods are angry or indifferent. Every scene she's either acting like she doesn't want to be here or like she's about to punch someone. Usually that would be really cool but the rest of the cast of characters is honestly so nice to her that it just makes me wonder why she is always so annoyed.

Her classmates, her nun teacher, her bus driver, her friend, I kept waiting for any of them to make fun of or discriminate her for whatever reason, but everyone is legit just trying to be her friend and help her fit in, so watching her always being "I hate all of you!" just makes her look like such a brat.

And I get the point that she's dealing with some personal problems over her parent's death and the bullying she received in the opening scene, but it feels like the movie is trying to glamorize her aggressive behavior instead of presenting it as an issue she needs to work on.

"Look at how cool and awesome Kat is as she walks down the hallway while carrying this giant audio player that's... Probably interrupting everyone's classes and distracting all the students but... Who cares! She looks badass!!!"

I also felt her reason to feel guilty was... Kinda silly. She feels bad because she screamed after seeing a worm on an apple and that led to a car crash. I'm not sure what the message is meant to be here... Don't feel bad for being afraid of a worm??

Why not just make it so she steals the apple behind her parents' back and later her mother finds out and that leads to a discussion that escalates and then that causes the car crash? It could show how even small actions of selfish misbehavior could lead to dire consequences and would make her guilt and self-blame hit a lot harder and thus make me sympathize more with why she's so, as she puts it, unable to forgive herself.

The one thing I absolutely loved (aside from the rest of the cast which is legit a good cast, I like these people a lot), was a scene somewhere around the middle of the movie where she does face her actual inner demons.

It reminded me a lot of the Aggie scene from Paranorman. They play around with visualizing her struggles and emotions, and they make her realize that she needs to confront them, and they make the struggles actually have a form and made me wonder why wasn't the movie more about this instead??

Why not make it so she's being haunted by this thing instead of those two guys who she has absolutely zero chemistry with? Although to be fair, she doesn't really have chemistry with any of the characters.

So... Yeah... Once again I'm being a jerk blaming a movie for not being what I wanted it to be instead of just trying to enjoy what it actually is... But, man! I just keep thinking of what this could have been.

One of my favorite scenes of all time in any movie is the Aggie fight in Paranorman. I love how the emotions, and visuals, and messages all come together to just create one beautiful perfect scene, and I thought this entire movie was going to be that. Which... Yeah, that's on me for creating something in my head instead of really looking at what's in front of me.

As for what's really in front of me... I think this movie is fine. The story was fine, the message was fine, the main characters were fine... The side characters were really cool and the visuals were really cool, but for the most part, I just felt it made for a fine final product.

I didn't really love it but I can't really say it did anything particularly awful, it just didn't do what I wish it had done.

#wendell and wild #wendell & wild #stop motion

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otakween · 1 year

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Digimon World: Digital Card Battle (1999) - 6 hours in

Back to the PSX for another Japan-only game! I'm already in love with this one. Not only do I get to revisit the super charming Digimon World 1 world, but this time around the gameplay isn't batshit and the writing is coherent. Hurray! So far, the Japanese has been pretty easy and the card game was easy to pickup, so I'm feeling optimistic about getting through this one without much difficulty.

This is definitely going to take me longer than the v-pet style games I've been playing, but I'm actually kind of relieved to have one game I can stick with for awhile. Learning a new game's mechanics every week can get tiring.

Notes:

-That opening CG was pretty rough looking not gonna lie. Greymon looked okay, but they had not perfected furry characters yet in 1999

-Very confusing how this game fits into Digimon World 1. This time we get Babamon instead of Jijimon, but Mameo's still the protagonist. I like to think this is an alternate, wholesome timeline where everything's the same but there's no violence, just card games lol. It's kind of a cool extension of the other game because in DW1 you could buy trading cards (I had to collect them all to get a medal), but they didn't really serve a purpose other than maybe to sell them.

-Babamon's intro was weirdly meta. She asks you for your IRL name and then is like "well, no matter what you really look like, you're gonna be piloting this anime boy for awhile." And then you name Mameo. Like wut? Is my real name every going to be used?? Oh well...

-I picked the "balanced" starter deck, mostly because I didn't really understand the descriptions for the other ones lol. I think one was good at offense and the other was good at defense? Reminded me of Kingdom Hearts when they ask you to choose between magic, defense, and attack power.

-I love the visual novel-esque style of this game! Mameo's character portrait is very expressive and the digimon all have a lot of personality. It's similar to Animal Crossing where they have unique speech styles based on their species. It's super cute. I like how the child-levels are child-like (have messy handwriting, don't understand big concepts etc.).

-Very cool to revisit this setting in Japanese and in a stress-free way! I don't have to worry about my digimon pooping on the ground or being ambushed by a digimon that's too strong. Without these worries I can focus on appreciating the background art and music. I also really like that I have an overworld map now instead of having to walk everywhere (normally I like that kind of exploration, but not when I'm stressed about my digimon's needs).

-I am not an experienced TCG player at all. In fact, I think this is my first legit TCG-based video game. The Betamon tutorial was very gentle and well done which totally alleviated my worries. I like how simplistic the rules are and the card game has a good balance between luck and skill. Also, if you lose, the game doesn't penalize you much.

-I will say that battles last a very long time. I don't mind this, because they're fun, but I only really have stamina for two a day because of this. I think if I did any more than that I'd get burned out by the repetitiveness. I do like that some locations don't trigger any battles at all, so there's visual novel-like bits in-between to give you a break while still progressing.

-I can't find it on YouTube but the soundtrack that plays when the Goburimon bros show up was great, awesome comedic relief.

-Ran into some pretty obscure Japanese slang with the Goburimon telling me to "wash my ass" lol. Apparently it comes from the expression "wash your neck and wait" which insinuates "you better prepare your neck cuz I'm gonna decapitate you." So I guess "wash your ass" means like "prepare your ass cuz I'm about to beat it!" That's some creative smack talk there.

-From what I can tell, the plot is basically the same so far. The digimon are acting strange/have lost their memories due to "bug cards." The new thing is that I have to go find 7 "leaders" who have special cards that act as keys to Infinity Mountain. It sounds like those leaders are all familiar faces from DW1, so that's fun.

#digimon world digital card battle #digimon #PSX #gaming #digimon world #video games

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