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magicaldragons · 7 months

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the writers know how they're portraying ryu shi-oh

i love grey characters, if not only for the psycho-analyzing potential. love them. so having a character like ryu shi-oh, especially with his tragic past, makes him very intriguing already.

at the same time, i did defend nam-soon & hee-sik to my friends for the entirety of the first three episodes, and i still try to give them a chance when they're on screen. it's a very comfortable ship, for sure.

but the writers MUST know what they are doing everytime they show us how badly ryu shi-oh wants to be free from his situation. especially seeing as to how he's started actively trying to break away from the mafia – notably, after he's begun to think he has a chance at friendship/love

darker, twisted relationships are present throughout several places in media and widely accepted and loved by those interested in the genre, and what shi-oh feels for nam-soon is a prime example that ticks off many additional tropes.

if they wanted the audience to root for nam-soon & hee-sik, there were SO many opportunities the writers had to really enhance their relationship, especially when hee-sik was at the funeral & nam-soon's brother was in the hospital – all we got was a phone call, which is realistically understandable, but artistically, it was a solid chance to have them support each other through hard times.

▪︎ in fact, the only times we've got them together in one room it's either been:

contribution to the main drug plotline

one of them is asleep

jokes about how they'll have to have a child quickly (personally, i don't really like how there's so much emphasis on this, especially when they depict it like it's a romantic thing)

hee-sik jealous of si-oh's closeness with nam-soon

that one scene where hee-sik loved nam-soon's cooking, unlike the rest of his team, which was also edited and directed like a cute joke, rather than something sentimental – they weren't in the same room for this one, lmao, but still:

i would've really been pulled in if there had been more lead up to a confession — from a technical standpoint, they have no key moments that made me root for them, other than "he's a good person", which isn't very compelling to me, personally

the writers are definitely aware of how they are portraying things and dividing up the screen time, and i do think they're going to have to villainize ryu shi-oh irretrievably for the current majority to switch over and consider nam-soon x hee-sik to be the best possible ship, but right now that's not true.

they might redeem ryu shi-oh, which will satisfy most of us, but it will still leave nam-soon x hee-sik a bit unconvincing unless they set up a very significant plot line with hee-sik which can convince us of their chemistry, and that will be pretty tough if they give shi-oh positive growth & character development.

#a very technical post #the writers know what they're doing to us #if they hurt si-oh you'll find me screaming into the void #strong girl nam soon #ryu shi oh #byeon woo seok #gang namsoon #lee yoo mi #kdrama

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grrafe · 6 months

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JRWI 114 SPOILERS BENEATH THE CUT!!!! JUST HUGE, MASSIVE SPOILERS. DONT CLICK IF YOU HAVENT WATCHED OR ISTG

This episode is so insane and has some crazy implications for the entire story depending on how some things work.

The main thing that's stuck in my mind is what's basically the evil cloning mechanic that's been implemented as a base function of these bio-weapons. Which, on its own, is INCREDIBLY BAD. But you know who's there right now? In that facility with no good way out? Our good (sinister), wonderful (dreadful), friend (enemy), KUBA KENTA. AND THEY CAN CLONE PEOPLE APPARENTLY. AND HE WON'T FULLY DIE UNTIL HE KILLS HIS TARGET.

(Thank god the fucker's in a cage but. Every switch was pulled so. Who knows.)

Now, it seems like the Navy visits this outpost, especially with the warning Grizzly gave with Jay beating the desk open. He said something along the lines of, "They'll know you've been here," and the mention of candles being lit in that top room. Also every other warning given before and afterwards thse things. You could argue there's a still chance they don't, but I heavily disagree.

Think back to when Gillion was hung up in that room of dead bodies. Who was there with him? Another Triton. Tritons, who are known for almost never surfacing the ocean. Tritons, who couldn't swim there because there's no way to get into the Black Sea because the one way into it is completely cut off by a massive wall. And if they did swim through, the corruption would get them QUICK being in the water.

So where the fuck did they (singular since we dont know their gender) come from?? Unless someone had brought them there. I imagine the only people visiting that outpost are Navy personnel, very high ranking Navy personnel. Which makes sense, since that seems to be where Kuba Kenta popped up after being literally split in half.

It also brings into question this; is there an ongoing conflict with the Undersea at the moment? Because I think whoever was brought to that place might've been a soilder, who got left behind. This is a very vague thing, it's just based off of their wording it seems like they were left behind. Or, maybe, they were a civilian. Or just anyone.

On top of this all, this has been happening for years based on the vast number of corpses in that room. I know there was a mix of human and Triton skin in there.

So I guess the question is, was that other Triton also cloned?? How many Tritons were there compared to the human/humanoid corpses? Are they building an army out of anyone they can get their hands on?? And how do they clone people in the first place??

I feel like there's so much more to unpack but my mind is completely stuck on... everything listed above. It's genuinely so much.

#jrwi #jrwi 114 #jrwi spoilers #just roll with it

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richierambles · 2 months

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Cartman's system: headmate list 2.0

Been thinking thoughts idk

This list would be their alters when their body's 15yo (sorry it's long I might make a shorter one later-)

Thanks to @mischieviousmusic and @everythingwasnormalhere for standing my infodumping about this au XD

Littles:

Anne:

6 yo

She/her

Loves playing tea party (main fronter during it)

When it's the other littles playing, she mainly roleplays as the Polly Prissipants doll

Sometimes cofronts when they're at class, but isn't allowed to talk to their classmates

Almost always at cofront when Love's fronting

After they come out, she's closest to Stan and Butters

They're not out to Karen, but Anne's spent time with her too

Whenever she talks to Kenny she asks him how she's doing<3

Ginger in headspace (it felt important to mention this don't ask why)

Finn:

8yo

He/him

Main fronter almost all the time they're playing

Roleplays as most of the other toys when they're playing tea party though

Loves playing cowboys

Frienemies with Artemis, they'll either hate each other or be best friends all the time

After they come out, he's closest to Kenny (but will much rather hang out with his sysmates)

Looks and acts like a Typical White Boy™

Artemis:

5yo

He/they

Introjected from Artemis Clyde Frog (the stuffed animal), but lost almost all his connection to it since the day it died (and exclusively goes by Artemis, hates his other names)

Roleplays himself when playing with the other syskids, never a main fronter while playing

Spent a long while (2-3 years) dormant, only came back after they came out, one day when the system was hanging out with their friends

The gang were all like "wtf who's this idk this alter-" but finally figured it out (mainly Kyle did)

SUPER close to Kyle

Actually whenever Artemis fronts they'll text Kyle first thing no matter what

Also close-ish to Butters

Has dark skin in the innerworld, his iw appearance is human but he always wears a frog hat

Hosts:

Sam:

15yo

he/him

The meaner, stronger Cartman

Is also a protector besides a host

Split from Collins on the Kenny Dies episode

He's the one who used fetuses to built the pizza place because otherwise the guys would've thought he was weak (his thought process is fucking crazy)

One of the few alters who remembers Kenny's deaths

He also knows there's something weird going on in their brain, but has no idea what

Used to cleaning up after everyone else's messes (like acting as if Jenni was Mitch Conners and as if all the Henniffer Lopez thing was just a joke (which backfired so bad...))

After they come out, he hangs out with everyone the same way they always do

Insys, he's trying to get close to 8

^ completely idolatrizes Hitler

Huge on the antisemitism (and general bigotry tbh)

Collins:

14yo

he/him

Split from Sam on the Kenny dies episode

He did want to use the fetuses to save Kenny, and he does consider Kenny his best friend

But he switched out when they got the news Kenny was dead (he was unable to cope with that) and so that's why Sam did what he did

Acts much more like a normal kid than Sam

Actually he's pretty normal for South Park standards

After they come out, he's best friends with Kenny but still friends with the rest of the gang as usual

Not as bad as Sam but definitely not good either

Kyle doesn't hate him as much as he hates Sam (but he'd never say this)

Cartman-sonas (idk how else to call this category):

Irick:

120yo

he/him

Grand Wizard King

Gatekeeper

Fronts mainly while playing SoT (but not every time they do)

Definitely their most responsible alter

^ the others often ask him for advice and stuff

Mildly connected to source

The first time he fronted it was during a SoT game, he found all of it normal (his memories are of the SoT universe) but when they stopped playing he was so weirded out by everything since he's used to a fantasy world

"Cartman stop rping we finished 2 hours ago" "who trapped those guys inside that box 😰" (they were watching TV 💀)

Now (after they came out) they don't play SoT as much, so he only takes full control on special occasions or when Kenny is on a Princess shift (otherkin Kenny 💯)

Only actually close to Kenny because of that, doesn't talk much to anyone else

Grim:

18yo

it/raccoon neos/he

The Coon

Physical protector

Formed because of Cartman's hero persona, but that was long before they started going out as The Coon (they made the first concept for that sona when they were around 4-5yo)

But one day it fronted and decided why not go out fight crime

The others didn't know about this at first

They just knew they had a weird fixation on that "Coon" hero (which, they didn't know where they saw him either but wtv)

But one day Sam decided to go out as Coon (in a rp manner) and found he looked exactly like him

Grim fronted in the middle of it and yk Coon'd for a bit

And Sam did remember that time

So what made more sense is that he'd been The Coon since the beginning

(which wasn't exactly a lie-)

After their syscovery, they assumed Grim formed after they started going out as The Coon

Grim has never confirmed nor denied this

Every single time Kenny's in his Mysterion shift fur gets yeeted to front just so they can argue for a while 💀

Talks to pretty much all the gang but mainly Mysterion'd Kenny

Gets called a furry 24/7 by both his headmates and Kenny (and the rest of the gang sometimes, not as much tho). He fucking hates it.

Adrian:

16yo

he/him

Sexual protector

Metrosexual Cartman

But he's a full-on homosexual

Cartman's metrosexual phase lasted longer than anyone else's because "it's not a phase mom it's who I am 🙄💅"

It was a phase for everyone but Adrian

He's still in that phase

Has hooked up with half the system and even a couple guys out of it

Nothing serious though

Before they came out he respected Cartman's image and didn't flirt with their friends, but after they did there's not a conversation in which he's not telling them the gayest most explicit shit ever

The gang are between confidence boost and absolute utter cringe fucking kill me pls

Theodore:

17yo

he/him

Persecutor (misguided protector) + academic

Formed during Tsst, he's the nice submissive version of Cartman

Would let basically anyone boss him around

Good intentions all the time

Won't do anything bad on purpose

All his submissiveness has gotten them in trouble though

To the point the others try to avoid him fronting as much as they can

He switched in when they were going to kill Liane though, that's good

Goes exclusively by Theodore, some people have tried to call him Theo but he hates that

After they come out, the gang are kinda uncomfortable with him, but Butters warms up to him eventually

(the reason why they're uncomfortable is because Theodore has such a Not Cartman way to act, and also because he's kinda really fucking lame)

(also a bit because Sam has told them all about the times Theodore has messed up)

Sunny/Love

Ageless

love-related neos

Cupid Me

Sexual protector

Hypersexual

When heart's at front, heart'll flirt with Kyle so much it's insane

Is it because fluff's in love with him? Is it because fluff ships kyman? Is it because of a secret third reason? Who knows

Btw everyone else (/sys) was so confused about it at first, like, "...wdym I was acting weird yesterday? I was flirting with you?? And calling you Ky-boo??? Good one dude but quit the bullshit I never did that"

Then when they had the syscovery nobody associated that with some alter doing it

Until a few months after they came out Kyle connected the dots and almost instantly told Sam (who was so pissed off at Sunny 😭)

Love's mostly close to the girls (Nichole, Bebe, even Wendy), but a lot closer to Collins and Anne

Also 💘's never stopped flirting with Kyle, and will never stop (slay)

Introjects:

Eight/8/H:

56yo

he/him

Hitler factive, really connected to source

Protector + Prosecutor

Formed soon after they learnt about Hitler's existence

Fronts at times in which they have to act commanding, such as The Passion Of The Jew or Ginger Kids

Also fronted during some of Tsst, and was who planned (and tried) to kill Liane

After they came out, he didn't front much in front of their friends (he found them lame)

But one day something Bad happened when they woke up and he got triggered to front, so he had to go to school

When the gang noticed he was acting different, they asked who he was

Well, Kyle did, but Eight refused to answer

Stan asked again and H told them his name was Adolf Hitler

Kyle refused to even look at him the rest of that day (and rightfully so)

When someone else switched in, Kyle told them that if 8 didn't at least change his name he'd never talk to any of them ever again, so that's why he goes by Eight/8/H (that was the most he'd accept to change it)

When he's at front (not often) Kyle has to resist the urge to beat him up (he doesn't wanna hurt some of the others), but to find them both in the same room is practically imposible

Jenni:

25yo

she/her

Jenniffer Lopez factive

Talks in spanish sometimes, it's horribly incorrect but she doesn't care

She's the one who does most of the drag

Also the other one (besides Adrian) who hooks up with random guys

She's mostly at cofront rather than full front (talking with the hand because it "looks less weird"), but she's been at full front sometimes too :3

Fucking hates Mitch

After they come out, she hangs out with Bebe sometimes (but not really too often, she'll much rather go with celebrities)

Mitch Conner:

31yo

they/he

Sam first made him up so he could "get rid of" Jenni without looking too insane

But then they actually split

Jenni and Mitch fucking hate each other, Jenni because he steals her identity and Mitch because he thinks she's annoying

Whenever they front they'll find out everything they can about the other alters (and everyone in general) just so they can get stuff from them later

Kyle is so annoyed by his existence for some reason

Other (idk where else to put her soo):

Mae:

21yo

she/her

Persecutor

Originally split when they were a little kid (3-5), to take care of them when Liane didn't (she was kinda neglectful back then)

Also to have them grow up in a hopefully healthier environment

But she started obsessing over growing up and maturing to the point she actually made them unsafe

Such as in 1%, when she mutilated their stuffed animals and almost killed them (by burning down their house) in the process

Now she almost never fronts, and only Irick knows where she is and is allowed to talk to her

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pyrrhicraven · 2 months

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I love your TMNT fics too! Can you galk about all of your TMNT ships please? 🥺

Fic name followed by the pairings as currently, my three fics have three very different versions of these characters lol

Last Knight Saki/Raphael: Saki has always been one of my favorite villains, and it's almost difficult not to see the goofy guy from the 87 series. But In some versions of TMNT Saki is a cold-hearted monster and in Last Knight, he isn't a good guy, Saki is a mobster, he is a killer, and more importantly he is a human being. He has feelings, and for the most part, he knows some of the things he does are really fucked up. Raphael is very much a ninja capable of killing, but he's also the heart of his family. If anything Saki's bringing the true ninja out of Raphael even while they're falling deeper into a romantic relationship. This is also probably the closest I'll get to writing a soulmate fic for TMNT 😂 I enjoy writing these two interactions because there is so much I can do with them, they both are very versatile characters. Mikey/Tiger Claw: I wanted to try out this pairing as I hadn't written for Tiger Claw before and toeing the line between enemies and not enemies has always been something I'm fond of writing. These two might not stay in a relationship but they'll have fun while they are in it lol Bebop/Rocksteady: Funny to say but this is one of my OTP's, you just don't get Bebop without Rocksteady, and the same in reverse. I hadn't written for them before and I really wanted to at least hint at it as they aren't the main pairing or even the secondary lol Hamato Yoshi/Tang Shen: A Canon Pairing but one I'll keep because it is tragic and Splinter is really messed up from her death, it's fun to write different ways she died, and also how much everyone involved regretted her dying so needlessly.

Pac-Man Mikey/Delisha: Delisha is an OC of mine that I made for Mikey to fall in love with. De is my first attempt at a trans character and a romantic partner for Mikey! She's funny and adores Mikey, she also works for Shredder as a receptionist and sometimes as a medic. That actually doesn't bother Mikey that she works for the enemy because he adores her. Of course, if she worked against him and his brothers that would certainly start an argument and a possible breakup for these two. Donatello/Saki: The Main pairing for Pac-Man. They are going to hurt each other, Both of them are really messed up Donnie having gone through a situation that really made him switch up his game and Saki just being the normal paranoid bastard that he can be lol Of course their differences are going to start arguments and Saki isn't just going to allow Donnie to control whatever their wacky relationship is and Donnie isn't going to give up power that easily. Casey/Raphael: Not my usual cup of tea, but I don't mind occasionally writing pairs that I wouldn't normally, and I also got the idea because someone asked me if Donnie's with Saki who's Raph with lol They are best friends so it's easy to transition that into a more romantic relationship. They still do all their normal stuff, but now they also cuddle on the couch to watch movies-kiss, etc. Leo/Rocksteady/Bebop: I was learning about terminology and QPR caught my attention. I'd already planned for Rocksteady/Bebop for this fic but adding Leo in a Queer platonic relationship with them had all the guys dating lol April/Venus: I was researching and was reminded once again that Venus was a thing and I should add her coming back into the guy's lives after having been away for a while. Pairing her off with April gave me Casey/Raph vibes and I liked that so I added it in, Not sure If I'll write this paring again after this fic but I'll have fun exploring their dynamic in the fic.

Nova Saki/Raphael: The Saki in this is a much better person than he is in Last Knight and Pac-Man. He's also really messed up from a long possession and learning how to live in a new era. Raphael in this is learning what it's like to be stabbed in the back by 'friends'. They begin to trust each other and eventually grow romantic feelings for each other. Now when the family finds out well that's going to be fun to write lol

#thanks for the ask!#fanfiction #tmnt #tmnt 2012 #rise of the tmnt #creative writing #my writing #answering asks

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lightyearssurrogatedaddy · 10 months

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Okay, Error and Ink will never get a happy ending, in any scenario. Even if it's the most heathiest interpretation of them I can even imagine, I still don't think it could last forever. One of the downsides to being immortal. It Never Ends. An immortal being changes and shifts its personality to where it's not even recognizable to who they were centuries prior. It goes around in a loop, they forget things they knew before, they learn things then unlearn them.

And since AUs repeat timelines I like c+pasting the same logic onto Outcodes. As in after a while, they just end up reverting back to what mindset they had way way before, after they do all the things and have nothing left to be curious about. They don't really HAVE an ending to their story, yk?

Imagine there's you and this other guy. You both don't have defined death dates and you're both nearly unkillable (you can 'kill' Ink in a sense by killing his personality, taking away his vials.) You're both tied to the hip because of what you do and why you do it, there's no way to avoid one another unless you changed your opinion and went off to go live in the woods somewhere, and that's Not happening.

So, out of boredom or growth or any excuse, you switch through titles because that's the only person who you can do that with. Everyone else can forget about you and you can forget about them whenever you wanted!

Along with the similar aspects in character. Error and Ink have-- a lot-- a shit ton of similarities. Unending loneliness, mainly. A sense of creativity (Error, in some ways, very creative.) The way they act and solve problems. etcetc. + Their main topic, the AUs! They don't talk about it in the same way, I like to view them as people who love a piece of media regardless, and the ones who live to observe it, and state an opinion. They both love talking about it.

"Okay, go back to the 'can't avoid one another' thing?"

Sure sure. I feel like I should have elaborated or something. They are exact opposites in theory. Error is a force to tear down and Ink's supposed to bring it up and support it. I don't really see Ink as a lifesource for the AUs, the AUs would continue to exist even if Error tried *tirelessly* to destroy them. Because an AU of him finishing his job is an AU nonetheless :) there's literally nothing he can do.

You can't avoid the other side of the argument, it ceases to be one if you do. And they don't really represent actual PEOPLE in those arguments, just the embodiment of the viewpoints. People can see both sides but it's been proven that Ink and Error cannot (I'm talking in theory, I do treat them as breathing people in my fics for the sake of exploring them, this paragraph is about the point blank flat colors of their character.)

Kind of like you can't remove positivity from negativity, you can't really have a finished comic without the scraps from ones that were shut down and discontinued.

So you and this one guy. You have an eternity to get to know one another. They'll constantly keep morphing between friends/lovers/enemies! No goal or end! Cool huh? That's how I view them. They can legit have any relationship and I'd still think they were such a Thing to glare at.

#undertale #undertale au #utmv #error sans #ink sans #errink #long rant

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minijenn · 6 months

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Jen Tortures Herself With Every Dreamworks Animated Movie Ever: Antz

So as I mentioned earlier, I'm watching every Dreamworks animated movie (and special) ever because... I don't know, I fucking hate myself, I guess. But for reals, this studio is so weird because sometimes they'll make the greatest movies literally ever crafted (Prince of Egypt, How to Train Your Dragon, Puss in Boots the Last Wish) and other times they'll make absolute shit like what I had to fucking watch to kick this marathon off. Goddamn fucking Antz.

I plan on doing drive by reviews of each of these movies on here because well, what's the point of watching all these films if I'm not gonna share what I think. So yeah, let's start with 1998's Antz, the first Dreamworks animated film and by god its one of their worst.

If you asked me to tell you what Antz is about, I'm honestly not sure I'd be able to give you a coherent answer because I'm not sure Antz itself knows what Antz is about. Like I think its about individuality? About breaking free from opressive systems?? About thinking for yourself? I guess? But like its annoyingly heavy handed with that message to the point that it doesn't let its audience think for itself. It does a lot of telling instead of showing and as such creates a viewing experience as dull as the dirt these ants call home.

Also lets talk about these Antz. They are Ugly as Sin like seriously who looked at these character designs and thought this was ok???

Most stompable ants of all fucking time if you ask me and the non ants aren't much better. Behold, my new sleep paralysis demons:

As for how the characters act... yeah they're not much better than how they look. The main character, Z, is an annoying asshole who just spends most of the film bitching (and yes they actually use that word, this movie is weirdly littered with swears and cussing and sexual innuendos? More on that later) about his shitty lot in life and even once he breaks free he's still agressively uninteresting. His love interest Bala is just as uninteresting, an arrogant bitch who flip flops about how she feels about him with almost no development whatsoever. The side characters are all forgettable, and the villain, General Mandible is just your generic "wants to rule everyone and get rid of anyone who opposes him" bad guy. The world they inhabit isn't really that creative tbh, they hype up this place called Insectopia but its just a trash heap where a bunch of stoner bugs live and its really not that important to the plot at all really so why do we care???

Blatant product placement what what

Also yeah that plot. It starts out as Z being incontent with his lot in life as a simple worker ant and so he switches places with his friend Weaver so he can be a soldier ant, only to be the lone survivor of a battle against a group of opposing termites. This somehow leads to him and Bala winding up outside of the colony and they go on a lame ass adventure that seems incredibly rushed while Mandible is planning to wipe out all of the "lesser" ants and take Bala as his queen i guess? idk i kinda zoned out toward the end bc i was so soul-crushingly board with this movie.

The animation can be impressive for the time I suppose, that's really the only good thing I have to say about it but even then, the colors are dirty and unappealing, the characters are, like I said, all incredibly hard to look at, the music is bland and forgettable, the set pieces are garish and boring, and the writing oh god the writing.

Ok so I have no idea who this movie is meant to be for??? Like its rated PG right but they're constantly throwing out swears like bitch and ass and anus and making sex jokes and I'm just like??? What??? Is this a kids movie? Because what kid would enjoy this thoroughly unpleasant kinda dark movie? Is it for adults? Why would adults want to watch a movie about wisecracking ants??? Who is this for? Why did they make this? Ok well I know why because Pixar was making a very similar film at the very same time as this and Jeffery Katzenburg is a Petty Bitch

Really, at the end of the day, all I can say about this movie is just... don't bother with it? It really sucks, its agressively unappealing and unpleasant to sit through, and when its not assulting you with you how gross it is, its assualting you with how painfully boring it is. I don't think I even cracked a smile once while watching it. What a fucking way to start a Dreamworks marathon off on. Jesus.

Overall rating: 1/10

Verdict: Step on these damn Antz already

Next Review (Prince of Egypt)

#jen watches #dreamworks watch #jen tortures herself with every dreamworks movie #antz #dreamworks animation #movie review #bad movie is bad whoops #i didnt like it idk man

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system-ableism · 4 days

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rant incoming!!! god where to start lol.

tw for ableism, murder, abuse, alcoholism, brief mention of CSA towards the end, forced inpatient, vomit

picture me first discovering my system: i'm 15, scrawny and practically sickly due to my mental health (like holy shit looking back at photos is so sad i looked half dead), and was completely nonviolent!!!

i slowly let my mom know bit by bit the problems i was experiencing, planning to ease her into it before one of my alters just. blurted it all out instead! because she trusted my mom! my mom: -thought i was schizophrenic and was going to murder her because of that, then compared me to split and kept asking me if the "other personalities" were going to hurt her. -told the other alters to bring her baby back and went as far as to THREATEN A LITTLE by telling her that she'd beat the shit out of her if she wasn't in my body. -also fakeclaimed me a lot lol

but hey! maybe a doctor would help me! ^_^ -implied i was a danger to other people. again. -tried to FORCE ME TO GO INPATIENT BECAUSE ONE OF MY ALTERS COULD HAVE "KILLED SOMEONE." bless the nurse that rejected me once we got there she was a real one.

oh! but surely the school counselors will help! maybe they'll provide me some much needed resources!! haha NO. -fakeclaimed me AGAIN -told me i had 15 minutes to switch back into the "main alter" (host) or i had to go home -again, treated me like i was a threat! -told my mom it was the internet and had her take away my internet. for the record i had no siblings still living at home, no neighbor kids in walking distance, literally nothing to do because i lived VERY RURALLY. my parents were constantly drunk and my mom would pick me up from school drunk, so i couldn't ask them to take me anywhere. by doing that they effectively isolated me from my peers and my support system. i was being abused by my drunk parents and i couldn't even reach out to a friend to vent. ntm when i got to school i was isolated AGAIN away from my friends because they thought i'd kill someone! -FORCED MY MOM'S HAND INTO PUTTING ME INTO ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL BY CONTINUOUSLY FORCING ME TO GO HOME

things would be better at the alternative school though?? right??? right?????????????? -locked me in a room with a grown man who interrogated me. beat around the bush and told me a little story of a child getting praise for grades and basing their self worth off of that, then asked if i was faking for attention because i wanted attention for something other than grades. -same adult touched my shoulder WITHOUT ASKING and when i broke down because my shoulder being touched is a trigger he said i was too sensitive and needed to grow a thicker skin. additionally, when he asked me why i broke down i told him i wasn't sure but i guessed that it may have been that he was angry with me and it scared me. again, he told me to grow a thicker skin (in more "polite" terms). -i had a social worker/therapist tell me TO MY FACE that my trauma wasn't enough for the disorder. for the record i was experiencing major bouts of amnesia at the time and i didn't remember the majority of my trauma (nor why i was triggered by certain things), so i was telling her that i think i was traumatized by my parents getting wasted and arguing/fighting and my dad throwing things. her response was that it was only found in cult survivors. sighs with my full chest. -treated me like a prisoner. i was so sick i was throwing up and let them know to contact my mom at eight in the morning. they told me they would and then NEVER DID. and when i asked multiple times when they contacted her they said they were working on it. they forced me to stay the entire day (i was in so much pain i was crying) and refused to let me contact her myself. the next day they tried to take away my phone so i had no way to contact her at all. i was not a problem with my phone, never was. -lied to me. like. they told me my teacher wasn't going to be told about my problems but i later found out she WAS. -they fought their fucking HARDEST to keep me at that school. it took my mom telling them i lied about having DID for them to take me back.

anyways. i thought i was over all this for the most part. i'm not. found out recently that i've been diagnosed with DID this WHOLE FUCKING TIME. WHILE THE ADULTS IN MY LIFE WERE REPEATEDLY FAILING ME AND IMPLYING I WAS FAKING I WAS FUCKING DIAGNOSED AND NOBODY TOLD ME. OR MY MOM! I ONLY FOUND OUT BECAUSE I SAW IT ON MY DOCTOR'S SCREEN WHILE GETTING MY RABIES SHOT. i'm so angry and full of teeth. this is so fucking unfair why do they get to live on with no consequences to their actions while i'm sitting here still fucking terrified of therapists. still dealing with denial. urgh. the cherry on top is that i remembered more of my trauma after the fact. the fucking shoulder touching is a CSA related trigger. thanks grown man /sarc

anyways i'm 18 now. still have DID, so i guess it wasn't a phase mom. go figure

I don't have time to reply to all of this but my GOD, this is crazy. like huh?? people truly have no respect for anyone it seems

#system things #system #system stuff #ask #tw ableist #tw ableism #tw ableist language #syscourse #tw abuse #tw murder #tw alcohol #tw alcoholism #tw csa #tw sa #tw vomit #tw forced inpatient

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lorablackmane · 9 months

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Homebound AU

Hi there, welcome to my silly lil Welcome Home AU! It's a pretty simple little au, but it's one I've had a lot of fun with.

Essentially the idea is: what if Home & Wally were actually the same character? After another neighbor moves out of Home it gets the brilliant idea to make a neighbor to be it's resident. Something as we know from Frankenstein is a pro gamer move with no consequences!

...I'm lying of course it had consequences and those were it accidentally trapped itself in the body it made from the rug. Eventually they figure out how to switch between the two but it takes a moment bc the bodies are fundamentally different. I made a lil edit below the read more of em (the pic was bigger than I realized)!

Home!Wally fun facts:

Home!Wally's pronouns are he/they/it

This Wally didn't originally have anything on it's shoes - he saw how Barnaby's paws would leave lil hearts as he walked and rlly liked that so one night he added the apples so he'd leave his favorite thing (besides the neighbors of course!) everywhere it went

This Wally loves apples not only bc they were some of the 1st things he ever got from the neighbors, but they also come in a lot of the colors it does. A lot of the books he's bought from Howdy are about orchards or different apple types

His ribbon is actually originally part of the rug it made this body out of, he added the strings of beads later with each color representing one of it's neighbors.

All the colors besides his skin tone comes color picked from Home, the skin tone was taken from the main Wally drawing on the website

Wally often talks to himself, a trait from when it'd spend months without anyone staying with it

While they stay in the Wally body often, if they aren't feeling up to interacting or just want a quiet day they'll stay in it's Home form

They love music because it makes them think of their neighbors! A lot of the records in their living room were ones left behind by the others, and they'll play them and sing along while making something for whatever neighbor left that record behind.

Home!Wally sometimes uses mobility aids like canes, especially near the start of having their Wally body since moving was hard for him.

Despite their flower accessories Wally actually has pretty bad hay fever. It was a common joke that Barnaby's fake water gun flowers could even cause his hay fever to act up

They have a pretty large catalog of potpourri recipes in their head. No it absolutely doesn't help their hay fever - especially when they add things like cinnamon. Yes they'll still make them in spite of this fact because they smell nice!

They like reading books in both forms! Sometimes they get worried about how little they know about things, but luckily the Bodega has a lot of books for sale. As home they push the pages with their drapes

They're not very good with art, but they try their best. He instead opens episodes with books connected to whoever's teaching the lesson they're learning (ex. a book about Shakespeare when he'll be going to Sally or a book about beetles or another insect when visiting Frank). Each friend has their own shelf of books!

That's all I have for now! I do have a fanfic written for it, but I need to finish editing it so it'll go up tonight. Thank ya for reading: have a boi.

Special thanks to @kindestegg for drawing this silly lil version of my boi!

Here's the edit because I didn't realize how big it was before making this post:

#lbwriting #welcome home #welcome home au #welcome home arg #wally darling #Homebound au

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jicklet · 2 years

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Finished the Persona 5 Anime, and I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would!

I definitely wouldn't recommend it to someone as their primary P5 experience, but if you've played the game and are hungry for more, it’s worth checking out!

Most of the fun is in how they connect all these various plots together into a coherent narrative, linking the confidant progressions into what’s happening with the overall plot or character development.

My favorite example of this is in the episode with Yusuke's confidant where he makes his speech at the end about his friends keeping him on track. Ren clearly learns from that, and so later when he gets into a discussion with Akechi about the Phantom Thieves being dangerous, Ren is able to echo Yusuke when he says that as long as the Thieves stay true to their justice, they'll stay on track. It’s a nice way to keep everything moving forward.

Another nice thing is that two infamously problem scenes got (imho) massively improved: the Mona-Ryuji fight, and the Ryuji scene at the end of Shido’s palace. I’ll go into more detail on how after some other stuff under the cut.

Cons 😅

They also threw in some weird extra fanservice moments in the first half, along the lines of generic anime “Ah yes Ann’s ass is talking” moments. Thankfully they seem to drop that in the second... season? half? whatever it is. Basically midway through there’s a new intro and they stop pulling that shit.

Yeah so the animation quality is notttt good, they seem to have been working off Yusuke’s food budget and everything went into making the fight scenes look almost decent. If you watch video essays, this can almost be treated like that; if you have a project to work on it’s nice to have this on to mostly listen to and occasionally look up at. BUT they do some nice stuff with stills, that's how we get things like baby Yusuke and Makoto and Haru, and some extra time of them all actually having fun at Destinyland. ♥

Ren 🙋‍♂️

So our protagonist is both helped and hindered by the medium shift. He does get things to say and I enjoyed that! Overall though he definitely feels less main-character-y with so much else to focus on. He shines in one-on-one scenes, over time you can see him become more comfortable and confident over time, especially once Futaba joins and we get some more time with Sojiro. But in group scenes I honestly tend to forget he's there.

Shippy stuff 💗

You could easily headcanon Ren as ace or gay or just shy. They keep all his relationships platonic and he never really reacts to being flirted with any way except being uncomfortable.

Oh, though if you’re an Akechi or Joker/Akechi fan... yeah just go watch this, trust me.

Most of my Yutaba moments got skipped or cut short, alas but it’s understandable. The real win here was for Ryuann! They're always rushing over to check on each other, and oh man Erica seriously brought it for Ryuji-possibly-died scene. And, speaking of...

Improvements!! 🌟

Mona-Ryuji “fight”: I was dreading getting to this part as I always do, and then... I actually ended up kind of enjoying it?

Part of it was just due to the medium switch, you don't have all that excruciating in-game time as Joker where you're forced to do nothing while something is CLEARLY bugging Morgana. The tighter timeline and focus of the anime does a better job drawing a line directly from the dream/Morgana’s growing insecurities to Morgana lashing out at Ryuji, making it more obvious how much he's projecting.

The game also splits the focus between “The problem is Mona being insecure but also Ryuji’s ego” which muddies things. In the anime, you didn't get everyone crawling up Ryuji's ass about apologizing; Ann could tell Ryuji was worried because they've been friends and she knows him. Ryuji apologizing was his own choice, which put the focus less on “it’s Ryuji’s fault this isn’t getting solved” and more towards dealing with the actual problem of Mona feeling unappreciated. The lesson was more clearly “You weren’t wrong to feel that way, what was wrong was how you handled it,” which made it all hit stronger when everyone came together to be like “hey man we’re sorry we made you feel like that, you absolutely belong here.”

Shido’s palace: They cut the end off!! 🎉🎊🎉 It only showed Ann, Haru, and Futaba crying and yelling at Ryuji, which is fine and believable as them being emotional and worried, cut to Ren, Makoto, and Yusuke watching them, then it ends! Bam, fixed, we’re good.

Conclusion 🎉

So yeah, think of it as supplemental material. If you’re already a Persona 5 fan, I recommend checking it out! If you have a friend who hasn’t played the game... either have them play the game or show them a let’s play or something, don’t use this as an intro, we all know it could be better 😅

#persona 5 #p5a #v watches p5a #actually finished a few weeks ago but forgot to finish writing this so here it be

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zydrateacademy · 9 months

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My List O' Frames

I'm going down my "Usage" stat, though Warframe's tracking for most used items is... odd, to say the least. My Bolter Prime is still third on my most used weapons despite having not touched it in years. Bolter Prime was just... my first prime, if memory serves and it served well for a while.

The frames are kind of the same, with Ember Prime still locking down my "second", again, despite not having used it for years. As I use them they shift around so they'll be dethroned eventually.

I actually own -most- frames with several exceptions. I won't list them all here, like stuff I never play. Banshee, Nyx, Zephyr, etc. I just wanted to compile a list of frames I actually use and sort of document what kind of "mood" I am in when to play them.

Saryn's my main girl and has been for a long time, even in her non-prime days. Generally my go-to for most missions with the exception of Spy/Capture/Assassinate. She has a very low sprint speed with no real mobility skills. She can handle pretty much everything else. I've recently rebuilt her into range so I can hit more of the map.

Ember, as I said I haven't played her in years and don't see a lot of them running around. I wonder if her firestorm just doesn't scale well, but it's usually pretty fun to use.

Titania is my "let me not waste my teammates time" frame. I bring her notably on Sorties and various steel path missions, specifically stuff like Spy and Capture because there's always some speedster Gauss or Volt just speedrunning the whole map because nobody wants to waste their time burning down bullet sponge enemies. Titania is third on my list not because of kills likely, but from missions completed AS her. She's basically my speedrun frame. Does almost no damage in her pixie form, despite having forma'd her special weapons a couple times and modded them as much as I really can. They're dual pistols that fire fairly slowly which can chunk some enemies but she really exists just so I can keep up with the pros and not take five minutes getting to extraction.

She can also cheese the treasure hunts and several mastery tests.

Mesa is my "fuck around with lowbies/friends/low level missions" frame. I wish her Peacemaker scaled better because on 70+ missions, they can't seem to handle Eximus shields and domes very well (as they become more and more common). She mostly has to rely on the 3 and whatever primary weapon I'm using at the time. She's as built as I can feasibly get her, so I generally switch to fairly basic automatic/ballistic weapons on her to play into the gunslinger archetype. Sometimes I just want to Call of Duty this shit.

Mirage, like Mesa, I wish scaled better. I have the explosive item augment on her which makes her great fun to play on defensive missions but it's immensely boring, and just recently bought the augment that increases her clone's damage so I may need to rebuild and forma her more towards that style of play. One or two of her skills are situational depending on if you're in light or shadow and that's a level if micromanagement I don't care for.

I remember playing a lot of Protea, I tried to build into the Artillery turret in hopes to get it to last longer but even at the highest I can get it, it only stays up for 6 seconds at 201% duration. I think I can do better with mods now but haven't bothered. I like tossing grenades around but she joins some of the others in "play in low level missions" pile.

Wisp will some day be second to Saryn. As she's both powerful, useful, and is along the same lines of Titania as my "let me not waste my team's time". Health regen and huge speed, I drop her motes down with 300% strength (raw, not counting various procs and perks). I generally play her on some of the hardest missions due to the health mote alone, and her passive to where she's invisible while flying through the air... She only really dies if I'm being stupid and trying to find a corner to cower in when I really should just be bullet jumping across the map with the speed mote. Not as fast to fly through the map as Titania but they both fulfill the same function.

In addition, her 4 remains fairly functional in high-ish level missions, up to 70 or 80. It's one of the most fun 4's to use, and at 300% strength why the fuck not drop it sometime?

I built Nova to speed up defense missions and to look pretty damn awesome while doing it. I never use her for anything else. If I have no frames to level but I need to level 2-3 weapons, she's my go-to to get that shit over with.

We'll now be getting into two off-categories. One is; "I'd play these more if they were better" territory, with a couple of exceptions (like Hildryn and Garuda). The second is "I wish I really understood what their kit really did".

For a very long time, despite reading abilities over and over again it took me a long time to truly comprehend what a frame's kit actually does.

Take this ability for example;

This is Mesa's 1. What the fuck does it mean that it "stores damage". What the fuck is a buffer limit. What do you mean "channeled" through the next gunshot. Is that for, a single shot? Is it just an ability for snipers? I have no idea, and many MANY frame abilities are worded like this. For a player who's just getting into the game you could read through entire kits and not fucking understand what's going on. That was my problem for a long time, and I'll explain more on this most as I run into them.

Octavia is a Category 1. I wish she was better. She's fairly well modded, 3 or 4 forma, baseline energy costs but everything else is in the positives. Yet it seems like my Skyrim-tune thumping rollewheel only does like 300 damage per tick. She's basically along the same lines as Mesa and Protea in the sense that she's great fun to take on under-50 missions. Otherwise most of her damage comes from whatever primary weapon I'm using. At that point, what's the use of the frame itself?

Ivara is Category 2, "I wish I knew what her kit was for". Her 4 is completely pointless because I have my own better bows I could use in place of it. Her 1 is a cycling of various arrow types. Making my own ziplines is cute but who cares? Her 2 does an Assassin's Creed style arrow control through the air but just equip some aoe primary and that fulfills the job ten times faster. Her 3, an invisibility and extra loot goblin type ability is the only real selling point, so she can be useful in spy missions. So much of what she is can be done with better tools.

She looks GREAT on a design standpoint.

I've got Mag in some of the sickest drip but she's stuck in another Category 2 of "I don't really understand her kit". Her 4 is like a big aoe crush but my Saryn's 4 essentially does the same thing.

Hildryn is the first of the exceptions to the two above categories. I want to play her a lot more and she has a purpose. She synergizes well with my brother's Nidus main (who needs energy to fuel his constant growth and damage potential). And at ~3700 shields with the adaptation mod on her (which puts her 'effective' health in the tens of thousands), she's a great go-to tank for when I just don't want to die. The problem is, Wisp also fulfills this task just as well. Wisp has a fraction of the health pool but a constant on demand regenerative ability. Hildryn can strip shields but what if the enemy doesn't have them, or what if they wander out of range of the ability. Various other drawbacks. Wisp is my "alright I won't die at all" frame, but I still understand and enjoy Hildryn's kit and I want to play her more.

Xaku is another "I wish I understood what the fuck they do despite having read all their abilities multiple times".

Let me save some time here and name a few others that are in the same camp that I won't even bother screenshotting: Gara, Gyre, Equinox, Nyx, Valkyr, Citrine, and Khora.

Voruna is awesome looking but her kit just feels like Garuda's with extra steps. But honestly I kind of want to play/forma her some more. I'm just not too hot on melee based stuff.

I am actually surprised to see Garuda on the bottom of the list except I then remembered this is the prime variant. I played her standard form a bit more, whom has long since been eaten by my ship. She's generally my go-to when I actually feel like taking melee seriously, or for a melee based Nightwave. I do not yet know how well she performs on high level content and I haven't even forma'd her yet.

And that's it! I own several others that I never plan to play much. Excal Umbra, Loki, several other male-coded ones. I want Caliban some day. Maybe Revenant.

#Warframe

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sunflower-kisses · 1 year

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I found out the main reason my MIL has had her panties in a bunch since last June/ July. My mom mentioned during the planning of my baby shower that she and "caitlin" , no idea how she actually spelt it, has ordered things and gotten stuff done. She thought my mom and I had pushed her out and were planning my shower together. She told David that. When he pointed out my best friend is named kaitlynn he said it was like a light switch went off. She's still super pissed with my mom though.

My family is very abrasive. We don't mean to be, but we are. We show our love by gently bullying each other. Not saying it's right, but it is what it is and you have to have tough skin when you're dealing with them. I guess my dad made a very pointed joke and she didn't like it. So she thinks my parents are just out to get her and hate her. I don't know how to explain that they're the nicest assholes you could meet. They'll give you the shirt off their back, but they'll also tease you mercilessly. But she gets offended really easily. And instead of talking like a grown up she keeps it in until it bubbles over. She deleted me off of fb and deleted my mom's number. She's also mad that I intend to have the baby call her Nonna. Because that's what Aiden and Layla called her but she wasn't their grandmother so she's taking it as a dig at her not being David's real mom and therefore not the baby's "real grandmother" .

I could write a book about all this crap. But I'm going to stop for now before I get myself mad again.

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andromedasummer · 2 years

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idk if you've seen the news yet, but the pm just announced an end to the traffic light system, mask mandates and vaccine mandates (that were still in place only for health sector and i think the defence sector) tonight at 11:59pm. i am thoroughly pissed off. bring back the days where people weren't selfish assholes and claiming that doing all you can to protect others and yourself from a deadly illness is fascism/communism/socialism (they really don't understand any of these words tbh). bring back the labour govt that actually gave a shit and worked in the interest of public health and safety. expect an uptick in deaths, i feel so sorry for the disabled and other immunocompromised communities in aotearoa. (also sorry for a rant i just needed to vent to another nzer and my friends unfortunately don't give a shit about this)

im at work rn and just told my coworkers this is. very frustrating. obviously covid is in the population and there's nothing we can do to stop it, but the amount of people who are going to stop wearing masks now makes me nervous. my workplace will probably continue it because, luckily, the school i work at is hyper-careful. obviously im not a big fan of of having to wear a mask all the time, but i will continue to on public transport and in public places because frankly i havent caught nearly as many colds/flus as i did pre-covid. i plan on wearing a mask in these places till i die.

i feel you on the labour government. this switch to the centre left and refusal to put in left wing policy in fear of upsetting the new status quo is infuriating and has been since labour moved this way back in the 80s (thanks for nothing thatcher you wrinkled cunt). i talk about it all the time but holy shit neo-liberalism in our main 2 govt parties and the got-mine-fuck-you stance of our upper and upper middle class has been the death of welfare and support for our communities. labour are a fucking shadow of the party that represents the people and the greens are too scattered and inconsistent in their ideals between their party members to come together and really rally people behind them. esp with the co-leaders of the past few years, who haven't stood up to scrutiny. wheres the party actually trying to put in policies that will stop the housing crisis. every policy labours been putting forward has been dead in the water and national are more of a threat because yeah they'll do things, unlike the labour party, but if you arent an auckland based landowner with 2-3 properties and a small business they sure as fuck won't be doing anything to help you.

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livingfictionsystem · 19 days

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Familial Grief with D.I.D.

Our father died suddenly more than a week ago. He was never abusive or nothing. He bordered on neglect at times and definitely favored the cis het sports-loving younger son more than us, which messed us up a bit. Still, I loved the dude, so I was a wreck.

He died in his sleep at 5-fucking-9. Who does that? Well, he was on the heart transplant list and just never fucking told us. Was in the ER last month, right before I last visited, never told a soul. I could kick his ass for that.

He was a cool, smart, funny guy that just couldn't relate to his fucked up kid with multiple personalities and substance issues. But we did always send each other music recs. He used to be my 'Call a friend' whenever my bar wanted to hear weird shit.

Xanthe actually does not feel related to the body's family at all. They've made friends with Mom and Dad over the years, had talked to them, got used to their quirks. But to them, they're almost like coworkers---like bummed, but not heartbroken. This wasn't a part of their childhood. My parents didn't raise Xanthe, the brain/inworld did. Vex and Phisoxa are Xanthe's parents. So, for the past two weeks, dealing with the grief and the trip to Ohio and the funeral and all, they've been mostly switched out.

It's a family thing, and Xanthe knows it isn't their bag. We're still being called Xanthe, even though we're Xhaxhollari, Rune, and Sparrow.

They'll check in on Xhax, Rune, and I, ask how we're holding up. They're here for advice and social protection (i.e., how to stand up for myself around relatives without Making A Scene.)

I've been almost front-stuck since I found out. Mainly because I have to stay with my mom and her extremely chatty ass is a sensory nightmare for Xhax. I'm reconnecting with the Appalachian side of my family---my OG accent is coming back.

I didn't post anything about it on main because, no offense, y'all can be dicks sometimes and I didn't want you to inbox us rude shit about it while we're still fragile. But. Yeah. We lost our dad. It sucks.

-Sparrow

#life update #grief #system update #sysblr #dissociative identities #don't be dicks because i opened up pls #i also had to block my ex metamor because they wanted to yell at my partner for hanging out with me on the day of my dad's funeral #so that was nice #so if I'm messy for a few months #mind your business

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taiblogcomics · 6 months

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Painted With a Broad Brush

Hey there, quickbreads. By my calculations, I think we're gonna have enough pony comics to last us all the way into the new year. That'll be pretty crazy, right~? We'll see how it goes. And don't you worry, I have plans how to fill our next gap(s) between backlogs, too~

Here's the cover:

It's Izzy and her new friend, Character-of-the-Day! Honestly, not a bad design. It's like "Hey, we don't have a CMC equivalent in G5, and also we haven't added Misty to the comics yet, so let's just combine the concepts!" Just going by her design, I don't know what the comic will contain yet. But we're judging by the cover! That's what the cover is for! And if you're not interested with Izzy hanging out with some kid, I dunno how this comic would appeal to you~

Fortunately, the comic opens with exposition. The other pony is Violette, who was a student of Izzy's back in Bridlewood. In fact, her parents asked Izzy specifically to mentor her, which sounds like a disaster. Izzy should not be given any sort of authority position. Anyways, she hasn't seen her protegee since she moved to Maretime Bay, so she's coming over for a weekend of shenanigans and typical antics. You know the sort of story this is setting up. The rest of the main cast split to give Izzy free time with her youthful charge.

As soon as Violette arrives, you can kind of see why she and Izzy get along, even aside from the arts-and-crafts thing. She's also just as hyperactive, and immediately cottons on to the fact that Izzy has set up a traditional unicorn sleepover. However, Violette balks for a moment when Izzy mentions her other friends will also join them, hoping that they'll be nice. Izzy assures her they're very nice. Violette is still uneasy, and further conversation reveals that she's being bullied back at home.

Izzy immediately switches to attack mode, demanding to know who it is, presumably so she can go deck them in the face. Violette protests that having her crafting teacher get involved will only make the bullying worse. And, yeah, she has a point. Izzy gives her reassurance on her appearance, and reminds her that when she's ready to talk about it, she'll be here to listen. Who knew Izzy could be a responsible adult? And until then, how about a little tour of Maretime Bay? You know, since we're here for the weekend and all.

First, she shows Violette the big ol' community garden, even mentioning that one time a giant berry nearly squashed the town flat. Violette stops to water the garden, but gets tangled in the hose and sprays a nearby fellow with water. She apologises instantly, but as soon as he wipes the water from his eyes, he takes off like a shot. Violette sighs that "this always happens", and like… did they rip off my OC's backstory~? Coulda tried harder, a sharp-toothed monster pony with weird interests is way scarier than little arts-and-crafts unicorn with vitiligo…

Izzy takes Violette to the smoothie stand to cheer her up, and we know at least Sunny isn't going to treat the poor dear poorly. Violette is naturally in awe of Sunny's alicorn aura, and her smoothies are really good too. Violette gets so caught up in drinking hers, in fact, she walks right into a fruit stand, spilling its contents all over the ground. Another pony comes by and slips on the fruit, and despite Violette's apologies, the pony notes that she saw the same thing happen at the garden, and therefore she's a bad-luck pony. Keep in mind she is angrily saying this to a child.

Izzy ducks out to take her to the salon as a pick-me-up instead. When picking out a manestyle with Pipp, Izzy throws her hands up, knocking over the cup carrying Violette's remaining smoothie. Violette uses her magic to catch it, but the smoothie drips out of the cup onto a nearby electrical outlet. This starts a fire. And the same pony is there to yell at this child some more. Pipp joins in, because Pipp is the worst character in G5. Izzy, of course, points out that she's the one who knocked it over, but Violette brought it into the shop in the first place.

Violette runs off in tears, cowering behind a building to cry. Who should come across her but… a pair of zebras, Mariama and her daughter Skye. Well, that's unexpected. Zebras were already rare in FiM, and haven't appeared at all in G5. They've come by to lend a sympathetic ear and a handkerchief, but Violette is in no mood to be consoled. She's a kid who's upset, so her attitude is a little understandable when she's all "How can you possibly understand what it's like to be different?" And they understand too, taking Violette for a walk and talk while Mariama tells a story.

So, a long time ago, just outside Maretime Bay, a lovely filly was born. She's friendly and kind, but once she grows up enough to go out and play with others, she quickly encounters earth ponies. And remember, this is back in the day when all the ponies were paranoid racists. She gets picked on, a ball thrown at her, and her self-esteem takes a nosedive. She even asks her mother to brew a potion for her to change her appearance. So, like, all zebras are potion-makers now? Like, they could be related to Zecora, but still. Feels weird to assign this trait.

Either way, the zebra filly's mom won't give her a potion, so she tries painting herself a single colour instead. Violette asks if this worked, and she's told yes--from a certain point of view. In reality, she went out to play, and then rain starts up and washes it off. But what happened in her mind is that she learned she'd never be accepted by racist jerks, so she decides to embrace her uniqueness and go home. And yes, it's a "that little girl was me" story. Violette is just disappointed her mother wouldn't make her the potion to fit in. But her mother knew that anyone you have to change to fit in with isn't really your friend.

We're only halfway through the issue, though, so Violette hasn't learned her lesson yet. She thinks this is stupid and wants friends, and even though Skye offers to be her friend, Violette protests she wants normal friends. Wow, kid, you kinda started sympathetic, but you are rapidly going downhill with that kind of attitude. Mariama, however, decides to teach Violette a lesson by giving her exactly what she wants: the potion that changes her looks. She warns her that only two sips can be allowed, but Violette snatches the bottle and chugs the whole thing.

She gets a glance of herself in a shop window, and all her splotchy white bits have vanished, leaving her a plain brown. She rushes off to show Izzy, enthused and encouraged by a passerby treating her completely normally. Unfortunately, as she goes, her coat changes again… to checkerboards. Now this, naturally, starts generating whispers. And it doesn't stop, her coat shifting to various other unnatural patterns as she goes. She soon picks up on it, catching her reflection again, and races off in deep distress.

Meanwhile, the fire at the salon has been put out, and Pipp has begun apologising for her outburst to Izzy. The tearful Violette runs up, crying how she messed up bad. Izzy, however, still thinks she looks fantastic, shocking Violette that she's not mad. They head inside, where Pipp also apologises to Violette. Then Mariama and Skye enter, and Izzy drops the whole pretense. This was all a setup. Violette's mom had contacted Izzy about the bullying ahead of time, and Izzy recruited her friend Mariama to help plan out a way for Violette to learn to love herself.

Skye offers Violette both the antidote to the potion and her friendship again, both of which Violette accepts, inviting Skye to her next traditional unicorn sleepover. Pipp gives her that promised makeover, and Sunny shows Violette a book about an ancient race of ponies called "paint ponies" that died out, but wanted to spread harmony despite being shunned by their looks. The comic ends with Izzy walking Violette home, saying she should never feel lesser because of what others say. And if her sparkle ever dims, find her friends to bring it back up again.

So, like, I'm white so I dunno if I'm the best person to make this judgement, but this issue is absolutely race-coded, isn't it? Like, I think that's kind of obvious. I don't want to make any judgements about that, and I do think it's pretty good about it (most especially coming from Mariama, who's more interested in teaching Violette to embrace her looks and love herself in her own skin). I just find it a little iffy that it has to resort to magic and the unspoken link to Zecora thereof. Maybe instead Violette could've just taken the wrong lesson and painted herself too. ...Would that be worse? It might be literally whitewashing the character. Like I said, I'm not the best person to analyse this.

Now one thing I am good at analysing is that jerk pony who declared Violette a bad-luck pony and kept showing up everywhere they went. Was she part of Izzy's plan? Coz that was never stated or explained, and the character never received any comeuppance for her asshole behaviour, free to asshole again another day. All of those things that happened were genuine accidents, so I find it suspicious that she happened to be there all three times. Like, I get that the lesson was more important, but it's unfortunate to let some jerk get away with being that blatantly horrible to a child. Maybe she'll get a bucket of paint dumped on her.

#comics #reviews #My Little Pony #My Little Pony: A New Generation #Taiblog

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