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erinelliotc · 2 months

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I was thinking about "A Fistful of Ed" because I always see people talking about how gay they're being in this scene. I personally never thought much about it because Eddy's using Double D's reputation as a bully to earn respect from the other kids and boss everyone around and that naturally makes him very excited and makes him cling to Double D (more than usual), which in the end doesn't change how gay the scene is because there was no need for him to be so nice to Double D and worry so much about making him comfortable in order to use him (like when he makes Double D his wife/romantic partner in his scams/plans. There's no need for this, it doesn't change anything in the plan, he just adds this part because he wants to). Double D is already his long time friend, he didn't need to act differently in any way to use him to his advantage, he just had to be around him as usual.

And before even thinking about ruling the place, Eddy's first reaction was to be impressed and extremely excited and admired by Double D, finding him very cool, and I'd say he even seems attracted to that side of Double D. With this vision in mind, the way he starts to act towards Double D from then on seems like someone "marking territory", wanting to show that that cool and strong guy already has an owner. Eddy's feeling like the luckiest guy in the world to be close to such a cool guy like him. The scene now has a "Look at my cool boyfriend who's going to kick your ass! You wish you had him, but he's mine!" energy. He also wants to be nice to Double D to please and seduce him.

From this, I conclude that part of his excitement is because he's actually genuinely proud and happy for Double D that he has finally become more confident and learned to be able to defend himself, something we know he really wanted to happen and tried to help Double D with in "Tag Yer Ed" (one of my favorite episodes because it shows how much Eddy cares about Double D, as he spends the entire episode, spontaneously, just dedicating himself to helping Double D be stronger and more confident because he can't stand seeing him being mistreated by others), and besides, I think he might find it hot to see Double D show an aggressive, strong, confident and determined side for a change, and that also makes him admire him more and think he's cool because it reminds him of his brother, the person he admires most in the world.

In fact, I came to this interpretation because I was reflecting more and this scene from "A Fistful of Ed" reminded me of a post someone made about a scene from "Tinker Ed" (a post that Danny Antonucci shared on Facebook by the way!!!) and made me draw a parallel between the two scenes.

The post talks about how Double D's smitten with Eddy in this scene. He doesn't seem like someone who's just happy for his friend, his expressions indicate that he seems to be melting with love for Eddy's unexpected kindness. He's completely touched by just seeing Eddy being kind, as if this were his weakness, something that makes him more attracted to Eddy.

But the impression I have is that Eddy's acting like this on purpose, trying to seduce Double D (maybe not from the beginning, but the moment he realizes that Double D is completely melting in love with him, he immediately takes advantage of the moment) because he was so inexplicably sweet in this scene, he never acts like that, but he knows how much Double D appreciates kindness. There's no heterosexual explanation (so much so that this episode's storyboard was made by Raven Molisee, so it was certainly intentionally gay). It seems to me that he just wanted to share a sweet romantic moment with Double D and wanted to melt his heart by showing him how kind he can be sometimes. Like, Double D says he's very proud of Eddy in the most passionate tone of voice possible, and Eddy immediately reacts by reciprocating and wrapping him in his arm, and the detail of his hand on Double D's waist always gets me. And Eddy even keeps showing off to Double D, bragging about his kindness, saying he's "all heart". And on top of that, Eddy saying "Right, Ed?", asking him to confirm what he's saying, why does he suddenly involve Ed in the situation? It seems a lot like that kind of situation where a guy asks his friend to help him win over his crush by confirming the things he tells his crush with the intention of seducing him. Like, why is he trying so hard to convince Double D that he's a sweetheart? I don't know any other way to interpret this other than him blatantly flirting with Double D. They exchange lots of touches and looks and end the scene walking away hugging each other exactly like a couple, and they do it so naturally.

Anyway, the parallel I wanted to draw when comparing both scenes was that in both they surprise each other with unexpected behaviors that please them. Eddy was attracted to Double D's supposed aggressiveness and determination, and Double D was attracted to Eddy's supposed kindness and sweetness. They're also both proud of each other in both scenes.

#ed edd n eddy #ededdneddy #eene #ed edd and eddy #eddeddy #eddxeddy #edd x eddy #eddyedd #eddyxedd #eddy x edd #eene analysis #my analysis #danny antonucci #raven molisee #eene crew

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macabrecravings · 3 months

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Ohhhhhh... Very optional. And, naturally, something that could have multitudinous answers, so multiple could absolutely be given. But ALSO...

Given that they're talking again/have made up, enough that they could get away with it, what do you think the first non-"book criminal" thing Sydney would write on Kylar would be? Would Sydney change how they write book criminal on them, even, like they do for PC? Or would they not write on Kylar at all, maybe!

(BONUS: ADORE YOUR WRITING!! The thought you put into Sydneyposts and both your understanding of him and how he'd articulate things absolutely fucks to read :} your ocs seem really cool too... well wishes)

I HAVE!!! SO MANY THOUGHTS about Sydney (& Kylar) bodywriting <3 This got LONG but I'm genuinely rotating this so hard, thank you for prompting me.

— When they're closer, I imagine the normal "Book Criminal >:(" would become “Book Criminal :(“ with a sad face. Reason being...? Well, he's disappointed that Kylar's still destructing school property, even after all of his lecturing

— It's really fun to picture Sydney writing "Interesting" on Kylar, like he does to the PC when he's intrigued by them/getting closer to them. Interesting is... definitely one way to describe him, for sure. Kylar scrunches his face at it, trying to decipher what he means by it. Gets all grumpy and huffy, tries to glare at him but he just kinda looks like a wet cat LMFAO.

— Playing off of another canon Sydlar scene, I'm going to go ahead and take his "Kylar >:(" and make it "Kylar :)" [The original scene happens while Sydney & Kylar are fighting over PC and taking turns writing on them, but in this scenario I imagine it like most of his other PC bodywriting scenes.] - "Hey, can I write something on you?" - "Ah? Uh... y-yeah, I guess...?" - **Kylar :)** Kylar stares at it, confused. Why'd he... label him?

— Putting aside the fact that Sydney is super organized & clean, I loooveee the idea of him being a doodler. Hence why he draws little hearts and faces on people. Unlike Kylar, he refrains from drawing on school assignments & library books, but he still finds it enjoyable!! So, hear me out. Little stars, hearts, swirls, dotting the back of Kylar's hand and up his arm after he sits at the same table as him :)

Bonus points if Kylar rolls the sleeves of his school uniform/jacket down over them and forgets about them until that evening when he heads home. When he sees them again, the little red doodles are all smudged and he's kinda like, "Ah. Right." Maybe daydreams about it a little bit before he washes it off.

— Bit of a mushier, more self-indulgent one here but ummm...! Sydney writing nice little quips / little motivational phrases on Kylar's arms. Supportive little phrases to boost his confidence and keep him going throughout the day when things are rough. He rolls his eyes at the gesture, thinks it's dumb. But... at the same time, they’re validating. Having genuinely supportive reminders on his skin that contrast his scars? Ough...

(P.S. That means THE WORLD to me...!!!! My absolute favorite part of writing is characterization & I genuinely put so much thought into taking canonical bases and fleshing them out / expanding them while trying to keep it in the general realm of possibility!!! A lot of the time w/ the roleplay account, it's like taking a shot in the dark and running off of pure vibes so I looveeee that y'all enjoy what I do w/ it :))

Also. I'm so obsessed with my OCs, I can't wrap my head around the fact that people enjoy them as much as I do but I wouldn't change it for the world ;w; Characterizing and fleshing them out is a blast too, I'm not limited by anything really,,,, I find myself going "ugh I wish ____ would do *this* and I've got to be like. "I mean... who's stopping you...?" </3 Be free!!! Do whatever you want forever!! <3)

#sydney the faithful #kylar the loner #degrees of lewdity #my writing📕💌#technically #sydney dol #kylar dol

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thispatternismine · 3 months

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ATLA live action impressions part 2

Following on from last night's post, here are my impressions of eps 5-8

Still really loved it. Gonna be tarred & feathered for this but I actually like it better than the animated show

Highlights:

Ozai giving Zuko credit for finding the Avatar. There's this weird idea in the fandom that Ozai never intended to take Zuko back. Even though we saw him do exactly that at the beginning of Book 3. Yes he set an impossible task, but when Zuko (apparently) achieved it, he was like 'ok yeah cool - you have met my standards'. Sure, there's no way Zuko would have continued to meet those standards if he'd stuck around, but Ozai did actually keep his word. The fact that he does it to make sure Azula knows she's overstepped & remind her she's replaceable, is an especially nice touch

Getting to see how Azula is treated by her father. I've seen way too many people try to claim Azula was never abused because she wasn't literally set on fire like he was. Never mind that she avoided that fate only because she was able to meet his standards. And having to constantly strive to meet the standards set by someone who thinks 'find a guy who's been missing for a century' is a suitable task to set his kid is abuse.

Another annoying tendency of the fandom is to flanderise Ozai into some diabolical caricature who spends all his time thinking up new ways to torment poor Zuzu, so having that scene of him banishing Zuko was a nice touch. He genuinely believes he is being a good dad & raising his kid to be strong (note: This isn't me saying Ozai is right - I'm saying he thinks he's right.)

The 41st Division 😭

Iroh & Ozai interacting with each other

Gyatso!

I spy some female soldiers! A problem with the animated show was that it's all well & good deciding that the Fire Nation has female soldiers, but bias is a thing & 99.9% of the time if you ask someone to draw a soldier it'll be a man. Yeah sure they all stayed to guard the Fire Nation that's why we didn't see any till Book 3 suuure

"Anything you need." "It has to do with Koh." "Anything but that." DYING

Aang's whole speech to Zuko about how helpful his notebook was (let's be real Iroh probably sighed & told him it was a waste of time so this was the first time he heard 'Hey good job on the Avatar research!') & the way they bonded before he unwittingly set Zuko off

"Quit it before they think there's something wrong with you. More than there already is."

"The Firelord deems your performance... below average." OOF. Pretty sure that's the worst thing you can possibly say to Azula. She'd much rather be told she sucked outright than just 'meh'

Waterbender Yue

Non-arsehole Hahn

Using Kuruk lore from the Kyoshi books!

I like the changes to the NWT siege. Having the spirits' mortality be an occasional, temporary thing to gain an appreciation of life that occurs during a full moon when the powers of those who will protect them in that state are at their peak, makes more sense than permanent vulnerability that relies on nobody finding out. Also never made sense that a naval officer was stationed in a fucking desert & was able to just take time off to go through a spirit library, so having Zhao find his info from the Fire Sages works better IMO. I do hope we'll still get the spirit library though

Ozai's lil eyetwitch when Azula backtalked him like if you agree

Haven't mentioned yet but I love the costumes in this

Also never mentioned Momo, the Real Hero of ATLA

Sokka continues to be awesome

Lowlights:

June calling Iroh cute & fawning over him. Normally I'd think it's unfair for the live action version of a character to be held accountable for what the animated version did, but this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Like og!Iroh's groping of June being treated like a joke has been called out many times so they fucking had to know what they were doing

Why isn't Azula's fire blue? We got like 1 second of it & that's it. Maybe consistent blue flames are a power up she'll obtain later idk

#atla #zuko #azula #ozai #aang

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nicomrade · 8 months

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so i reread the scott pilgrim comics this week for the first time since 2019? lots of stuff happened in my life in-between + i learned to actually like, pay attention when reading so this specific reread felt really important to me- the issue of reading it in french for the first time aside. heres some misc thoughts i had while reading! some of this stuff is drawing from conversations about the comics ive had with people over the years, i dont mean to break any new ground here, and i dont have a specific lense to look at the comics through so its not structured like analysis either. full thoughts under the cut! i hope you all like going on this little trip with me ^-^

so first of, the X motif! this i KNOW i saw someone else talk about. it comes up first on scott's jacket with the X-men patch (and it comes up again in that context- "then wolverine is crucified on a big X") and also on knives' scott-shrine, her dad slashes an X over scott's picture. these are the two biggest exemples but there really are Xs constantly in the imagerie of the comics, which is great and i love. the comic is about fighting ramona's exs, and this is foreshadowing that scott himself will be one, but its also generally about the baggage that comes with existing. at its core its really comics about dealing with whats over, so we get into scotts relationships w envy & kim & knives (& ramona), but we also get into his relationship with lisa (what couldve been) we also see him move flats (the end of an era!), in volume 1 scott tells knives about the house he grew up in that now belongs to another family, scott breaking his bass & no longer being in a band, etc. theres sooooo many flashback sequences in these comics and references to the past… its all about the X.!

loosely related in the foreshadowing department there are genuinely so many background details of stories about people who dont matter to the comics that foreshadow later developments. the details of why Crash & the Boys changed drummers is straight up the dynamics of Clash at Demonhead, theres the Lucas Lee movie on the BG thats visually identical to scotts memory of when he got with kim- and the reveal that the lady in that movie wasnt dead is arguably foreshadowing for scott reviving in volume 6? if you know whats happening in the story, rereading the volumes really is so rewarding. it also helps on a first read cause unconsciously its not the first time you're hearing about these ideas so theyre easier to digest & accept. this is also what the character explicitely referencing what will happen later is for- "i wonder how the Boys & Crash can do music without instruments- maybe it will be relevant later in the evening" "i'd need a deus ex machina to beat todd", these help you accept when these things do seemingly "come out of nowhere" later in the scene (and poke cheerful fun at it lol these are fun comics)

a personal fave of mine is the phrase "read the comic sometime" thats repeated in the early volumes at characters who werent there for something. its 4th-wall breaking, its fun, it nicely tells lost readers where to head to without re-dumping exposition, AND it helps keep track of who was where for what scenes … stuff like "when did stacey & ramona become friends??" or "i cant believe this is stacey & neils first meeting!" or "wallace was already introduced to ramona earlier" … its all fun and helps you stay on the ride. i think this is why i would read the comics back to back to back to back and retained very little. its easy to passively read these comics and its not a bad thing! though it is better to actively read them, and take these notes as fun jokes & reminders, and not life boats.

the 4th wall breaks are also great for the side characters having their own lives in the background. there are a lot more time indications in scott pilgrim than i remembered, if youre paying attention i think its really really easy to have a nice timeline in your head. but when stuff is broken to scott its not "i started dating mobile during X month" or "i came out X months ago" its "i started dating mobile during volume 3" and "i came out during volume 5" that way the reader can more easily relate it to the story that was happening at the time- and to keep in mind during a volume reread. its not a writing technique for EVERY comic, but its something that scott pilgrim gets to have BECAUSE its a comic- and unapologetically so! this is not a work that wants to be more novel than graphic to be taken seriously. its a comic, and its silly, and its also a work of art, and you have to respect it on its own terms.

theres also, uhm, ill be quick on this point cause its kind of weird how lesbians/sapphics are handled in the comics. its not BAD but theres clearly a bias towards male homosexuality being fleshed out and lesbianism not so much. but so the start of volume 4 is when kim & knives make out and it really starts this obsession in scott about this thing he cannot tell anyone about but is still thinking about, that prepares for roxies introduction- ramonas ex girlfriend. that i believe is also when wallace first asks if scotts broken out the "L-word" yet and it gives more context to scott assuming its lesbians? and him then going all "why does everyone keep asking me about lesbians!" but it is also kind of weird re: lesbian fetishism (which IS pointed out with scotts weird poster that no one likes but thats it). and all that with ZERO canon lesbians! roxie is pretty bi-coded i would say with her insistance on being "HALF-ninja", but ramona is described as an american ninja in the early volumes so its kind of loose. idk its weird and i like to think julie came out as a lesbian cause stephen & her being a comphet4comphet couple is really good to me

a thing id never noticed before is that julie was suspecting stephen of having views on knives during volume 4? and its why she was so shitty to knives for a while there, and then its "worked out" at the end of the volume. this feeds into the constant fear of cheating during the story, theres of course todd & scott who do cheat, but also more grey areas of relationships. im thinking of ramonas anxieties around lisa, and when scott finds out roxie stayed over at ramona's. about stephen too, his response to julie apologizing for being jealous of knives is very… uncomfortable

"i have nothing to fear!" "right yeah..." surely because hes starting to realize hes gay, and possibly because he's already vaguely started seeing joseph. we dont get more details on his relationships i am not going to accuse him of cheating LOL. i truly dont care. but its an anxiety that comes up again and again whenever relationships are starting to turn sour- "are they cheating?" and having been in my 20s for a little bit yeah i get it. scott not telling ramona about his job- not telling her much of ANYTHING during vol 4- and ramona not sharing much either are also part of this. theres a reason all of this happens in volume 4, and next volume ramona finds out scott cheated on knives with her. loss of intimacy and the breakdown of dialogue is all part of cheating anxieties, whether there is actual cheating or not. "what do i not know? what else are they keeping from me? they dont talk to me but they talk to them? are they cheating on me?"

theres a really neat thing the comics do to show the breakdown of scott and ramona's relationship in volume 5 and its the scene where ramona goes shopping and scott tags along. she spends it not saying anything (until she tells scott she doesnt even like his band) and scott obsessively talking about his comics (X-men!) while she doesnt look particularly interested.

this is the scene where scott breaks up with knives again!!! the roles are reversed, scott is now the one talking about whatever while his girlfriend's unresponsive, and obviously ramona doesn't break up with him here and there, and they dont kiss in a goodwill, but the ressemblance is there. and like with the knives breakup scene, we have a good date variant of this! its their very first date from the first volume where scott does mostly talk about himself but ramona is having fun joking with him. here we are shown their relationship slowly crumbling and it lays the ground for ramona leaving at the end of the volume.

similarly to how scott battles all of ramonas evil exs (himself included), ramona does face all of scott's own exs. its not as spectacular but we see her fight knives in volume 2, then she fights envy in volume 3. we also have her comment on kim that she does like her (same with lisa, who is not strictly an ex but emotionally is treated as such. especially with how scott sleeping over at lisa's is paralleled with roxie sleeping over at ramona's) these are not comments she makes about stephen or julie, for exemple, its specifically women who had a close relationship with him. and uhm ramona also comments on liking wallace who- again- is not STRICLY an ex, but hes also part of that volume 4 cheating anxieties conversation, wallaces incessant flirting, mobile himself jokes (?) about finding wallace in the arms of another man, etc. but most convincingly to ME because we are talking about EXs here is the flashback of wallace inviting himself at scotts house being identical to lisas scene of inviting herself at scotts, scott saying the story of how he ended up living with wallace is "somewhat gay", and the general college flashbacks.

i think this points to scott & wallace having briefly dated in the past, or (because hes paralleled with lisa) having a "what couldve been" relationship where they didnt make anything of it and now the time window's passed and emotionally? kind of feels like an ex. and if anything they ARE ex-roommates lol. this is not a scollace truthing thing, im a firm mobillace guy ok -_- im just saying its there. back to the point of ramona facing scott's exs as well, YES i am including herself in it. her going to the wilderness during vol6 parallels scott going to the countryside, the very place he faces negascott properly. and the way ramona talks when she comes back its easy to see that she did face herself on that trip. & the figurines agree with me that the idea of a negaramona does exist :)

thats more or less all i had in mind, i also feel like i was finally able to properly enjoy the themes of the comics of facing your own shittiness and doing better, of the harms of being stuck in your own head, of never ending up like gideon (who is so attached to his exs that he literally cryogenizes them!) the warning of rewriting your own memories (or at least biased recollections of it) uhm how breakups suck! and how cheating is not always black & white but also fucking sucks !! being out of school (wanting to go back to school?) and looking for jobs- and yes if scotts life had a face i would punch it too its literally unfair how easily everything goes for him on that front, even freeloading with wallace (<- jealous). envys obsession with a guy who is so obviously shitty but who shes been best friends with since they were 11 is also kind of… ooh i get it now…. its yeah. i think they really are comics for being in your 20s, a lot about dating? but its so generally about human relationships and dealing with your baggage, i think it is still relatable without the specific romantic relationship experience.? i love these comics. everyone read scott pilgrim if you havent in a while (or ever!!!!) and try to think a little about it as you read it really is so worthwhile. and if anything theyre insanely funny, and wallace is there!

#scott pilgrim #scott pilgrim vs the world #scott pilgrim meta #spvtw #that is all ill tag ^-^ this is mostly for myself

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undertheknightwing · 4 months

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jon kent!!!!!!!!!

HECK YEAH JON KENT!!!! MY FAVORITE SUNFLOWER ALIEN!!

First impression

The only issue I had with him at first was he didn't look like the Jon I was used to seeing in the comics, that's all. I watched the pilot episode the night it aired, he became my baby boy almost instantly, and I got pissed he didn't get powers.

Besides that, I thought the show was gonna make him mean and full of himself just because he was a jock and to make Jordan seem better. Thankfully I was wrong.

Impression now

I am normal about him. So normal about him. I totally don't think about him and his horrible life all the time. The fact that he's the glass child of the family doesn't make me wanna curl into a ball and cry 🙂 I'm lying he destroys me emotionally

Favorite moment

JUST ONE??? Ummm that's hard because every time he gets his limited screentime it's always something to remember whether it's because he made me cry or laugh

But I guess if I had to choose I'd pick the kitchen scene from Holding The Wrench. Seeing him go off on people and break the "son who's supposed to sit and smile no matter what" role he's been put into is always a highlight. The scene when he yells at Jordan for spying on him is amazing too.

It was always so impressive to me how Jon could go from adorable golden retriever to giving off a genuine threatening/intimidating feel in a snap.

Idea for a story

All my story ideas for him that aren't chapters in Escapism are episode/scene rewrites. Examples would be:

- having him be poisoned by kryptonite when Jordan was because he's Kryptonian, he absolutely should be harmed by kryptonite, powers or no powers.

- some hurt/comfort focused on him and Clark in the hospital after Jordan broke his wrist.

- Possessed Tal-Rho taking him instead of Jordan just because that's what I thought was gonna happen and still am disappointed it didn't.

Unpopular opinion

I dunno if this is really unpopular because I've seen a lot of people say similar things but s3 Jon and s1 - 2 Jon aren't the same character. It feels like the show rebooted his character and only kept the "he's the nice brother" from previous Jon.

They erased so many of his character traits and what made me like him so much in season 3. It's sad.

Favorite relationship

Jon and Clark.

They're relationship is so interesting to me because it went from good to terrible in one season. There's a lot to work with when it comes to angst, like the idea of Jon hating Superman and anything related to him at some point in his life because he's the son that got left behind for not being "super" enough, and seeing his father and brother is a reminder of that.

Favorite headcanon

He has adhd but isn’t diagnosed because his parents are too busy focusing on Jordan to notice what he's experiencing.

Other than that hc, I like to think he can draw pretty well. Since he doesn't get to be open with his emotions, he decided to draw them as a way to express what he's feeling. They're all in a journal under his bed and he would freak out if someone found and looked through it.

#i have a lot of thoughts about him if you haven't noticed #cods.talkin #asks and answers #jonathan kent #superman and lois

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pinkomcranger · 3 months

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I saw your post about Saga and I 100% agree. I love her character so much and was so happy they avoided stereotypes AND gave her agency. She wasn't there just to save Alan (the horrid magical black person troupe was avoided) she was there for people who meant something to her and they just so happen to work together by the end. Remedy truly wrote a fascinating character and got a great actress to portray her. I'm glad the hate died out from the reactionaries but the apathy from the fandom is just as bad sometimes. I love her personality and I honestly love AnderCase as a ship and incorporating Saga into ships (AndercasexWake is a thing for me lol). I also like them as friends, their dynamic is so damn good I want to see them in future games. However, I gave up writing Andercase because people just ignore it most of the time. The fandom in general kind of feels isolating if you don't like the standard ships/characters. It's discouraging and sad and makes it hard to want to post. I tried again and of course the fic did poorly so I don't bother, reminds me how little people want anything to do with Saga. Even general fics would be awesome if people are squicked by het or don't like Saga and Casey as a ship. The fan space for her and ships/dynamics with her is so small...Drawing her is scary too given someone was attacked over it, so that worries me too and I kind of backed away. There's barely anything of Saga in any fanworks and when women are involved they gravitate to Rose and in some cases Estevez (the Yakuza mod just broke my heart they did not think to add Saga before Rose who has less time and at a point people shipped Casey with Estevex BEFORE Saga like WHAT). I know that struggle you're feeling. Saga and anything with her is a footnote and I know it's not malicious but it sucks. Fandom favoritism does not help, even in the smallness of Saga fandom content only a handful are seen and the rest ignored. I've been there and seen it, it pushes newcomers away. I hope this gets better in the future but not holding my breath. Love Remedyverse/Remedy but the fandom space depresses me which sucks because everyone seems nice to me, just...sorry for the rambling. Just saw a post that resonated with my frustrations.

Do you know the thing that gets me the most about Saga? She was created by a white man. And he, along with the other writers, made SURE to avoid the stereotypes we usually get in black women protags, especially in video games. She has a power, yes, but she's not using it solely to save one person. She doesn't even know she HAS a power until halfway through the game!

She wants to save her daughter first and foremost and then Casey, she tells Alan this point-blank, save my daughter and Casey, non-negotiable, she's NOT helping him otherwise. And you can see that as selfish, but it's not, if it had JUST been herself thrown into the story? She would've been FINE with it, you see her getting more and more excited about the case. She's intrigued EVERY step of the way. It only becomes personal when Alan has the audacity to use Logan and Casey, that's her line in the sand.

Melanie puts so much into making Saga come alive, because as amazing as the writing is, she could've still fallen into the sassy black woman trope, and Melanie doesn't let that happen. I think the ONLY criticism you can give her is that her accent slips, but I really never noticed it. I agree that I'm glad the hate from the dumbass gamer bros, but like you said, the apathy can be just as bad, it's a choice to not say the quiet part outloud.

I genuinely wish they'd just say, she's a black woman, therefore, I'm not interested in her. I only care about the white men. At least be HONEST about it, instead of raving about how fun it was to play as Saga and she's so badass but not backing it up with actions.

I love Andercase with every fiber of my being. I loved them from their first scene, despite knowing she was married to somebody else. Casey is Saga's support, you see her loving to crack her puns to Casey, she even thinks of one and saves it to memory solely to tell it to Casey. Not Logan, not David, but Casey.

They mirror each other, again from their first scene, drinking coffee at the same time. A trait they keep, even as the horror story creeps closer. Casey wouldn't be even a little bit interesting to me if he wasn't paired with Saga. He's the moon and she's the sun.

I'm so sorry you were discouraged to write and post about Andercase, even just as besties. Because their dynamic IS gold, and it echoes even when they're separated. The second Kiran shows up and kicks Saga off the case, she gets over it, fine, she'll deal, but help her find her partner, damnit! I've enjoyed fics where they are just besties, the ones that ACTUALLY focus on them and, you know, doesn't make Saga the driving force for CaseyWake and nothing else.

I think that's one of the reasons it's hard for me to ship Saga and FBI Casey with anyone else, because they're each other's closest interactions for so much of the game. It's hard for me to ship Alan with them because I see him and Saga as the true platonic soulmates of the AW2 cast and Casey HATES Alan. All the way up the ending of the final draft. You can see it in his expression and body language, if he hadn't just been through the wringer and so happy to see Saga, he definitely would've punched Alan for all he shit he's put them through.

Writing a pairing you love, feeling so proud and happy about the work you've done, just to see it brushed aside is one of the most painful feelings as a creator. Fandom is supposed to be for EVERYONE, it's not supposed to be high school cliques that can't interact with each other. I don't ship Alan with Saga's Casey (it's just the only way I see him, heh), but I've seen some AMAZING fan art for them that's made me smile. But you rarely see Saga involved, which makes no sense in regards to her Casey. If it was fictional Casey, that would make sense, he doesn't exist outside of Alan's head, while Saga's Casey is a living, breathing person who spends most of his time with Saga or talking about her.

Yet she's relegated to the bro when her Casey and Alan only have her in common. I can't buy Casey being soft and domestic with Alan to save my life. I see it with Saga, I can see Saga being soft with Alan because she does show that side to him. That's who she is, if you've earned her trust and respect. You can tell Saga is always the "good cop" while Casey is the "bad cop." The only time you see him sympathetic towards Alan is when he first washes up to shore. He's mocking him but holding his tongue because Saga's not going to take that nonsense from him.

You only see Casey show the full force of his anger towards Alan when Saga isn't there to stop him. To say "Yes, THAT'S the actual love story here" is a...choice, one that actively ignores the on-screen narrative. Again, fictional Casey and Alan are a completely different topic and not something I care enough to write about.

NOBODY should be attacked for liking a pairing because what does that do? What does it accomplish except make yourself feel better and superior? Again, it's been a choice to ignore the two main women in the series, which are Alice and Saga. But I've seen quite a few fics where Alice gets to be paired with CaseyWake, while you'll be hard-pressed to find a fic where Saga gets to interact with them. That tells me something that makes me uncomfortable. And that's covert racism.

You can't even make the excuse that there's nothing left to learn about Saga, because that's simply untrue. We know the bare minimum about her family on the Anderson side, and absolutely nothing concerning her father (who is Warlin Door and I will die on that hill). We don't know much about her created family, certainly nothing about David, outside of the fact he likes Bright Springs, and boardgames and doesn't take his daughter to get checked out after she hits her head in the shower. The fact her entire identity ISN'T just Logan's mother and David's wife means so much to me.

You can't tell me it's because she's married either, because how can you say that in one breath and then ship Alan with anyone but Alice in the same breath? It genuinely leads me to think it's simply that she's a BLACK woman. And as you said, seeing people create ships for Rose and to pair Estevez with CASEY, when she's an out-and-out lesbian that Casey only meets near the end of the game speaks volumes.

I genuinely think if you swapped her race, she would be less ignored, and that's extremely fucked up. Saga was created with so much love, care, and respect. A black woman protag that we could get behind and feel represented by. A smart, strong, caring badass, who still retains her femininity, but who has an identity outside of "mother" even though saving her daughter is her driving force, it's not her only one. She cares about her newly found grandfather and great-uncle. She cares about Rose, despite the woman irritating her in the beginning. She worries for the residents of the nursing home. She has mixed feelings towards the CULT. And of course, her secondary concern is Casey. And once she sees how hard Alan is trying, she comes to care for him as well. Why else tell him he's a hero when she has every right to hate him more than anyone else in the game?

She cares about these people she's met, and she knows they deserve to be saved. And Alan is the first to admit he can't do ANY of it without Saga. If the main character of the series acknowledged Saga, why can't the fandom?

I truly hope that you can find the courage to try again with Andercase, or just Saga in general. Because I'm seeing that there are people that love her, and maybe they're not content creators but consumers, and that's now one of my motivations. To feed their hunger because they're part of the fandom too, and they shouldn't be ignored. I promise you, you'll have a fan in me. And sometimes, just one person knowing they love what you create and how they look forward to it is enough. I'm not interested in a popularity contest. You'll never see me in ship wars. I'm here for FBI Special Agent Saga Anderson. This is her story too, to make her the footnote in fanworks is terribly egregious and goes against the very thing Remedy wanted.

If you ever want to ramble, my inbox is always open. If you ever have ideas you want to see in regards to fanfic for Andercase or Saga, I'm right here. Thank you so much for giving me a chance to read about your feelings for Saga and her partner. It means the world to me.

#alan wake 2 #saga anderson #alex casey #alan wake #saga anderson x alex casey #andercase #sagacasey #alan wake 2 spoilers #my thoughts #meta #strong black woman #covert racism #ignoring an amazing black woman protag is a crime #sam lake and the remedy team worked too hard on Saga for her to be erased #the men in this series wouldn't be able to do a damn thing without the women #and Saga proves that time and again #anti CaseyWake #not actually anti but using the tag just in case

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batrachised · 1 year

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I have another theory to add to why people don't remember/like/care about Teddy and Emily/Teddy much. The ending to Emily's Quest is so bad (imo) from both a literary and an emotional standpoint that no one has any time or motivation to form any sort of attachment to them as a couple or Teddy, who has been largely absent in the book, as an individual.

(I say knowledgeably having read this series exactly once as an adult.)

I FINISHED MY REREAD so I feel I can answer this question.

I think you've hit the nail on the head. I went into the remaining books of the series expecting Teddy to finally talk - in emily climbs we have the graveyard scene where they nearly kiss at the beginning- and it just...never happened. I didn't count the number of times he spoke, or even the number of times Emily and him interacted, but they seemed fairly few. In fact, if I were to rank Emily's love interests by the amount of attention they receive, it would be:

Emily's writing

Dean

Teddy

(Perry should be above Teddy but he doesn't really count)

The books consistently present Emily's ambitions/passion as a competitor to love. Dean will be about to kiss her, or she'll nearly cross some similar threshold--and then she'll think of a story (and I love that for her, she reminds me so much of Pat and I'm curious to know if this happened to LMM lmao). Dean also figures prominently in these books and actually has conversations (does anyone else straight up not believe he'd be content with a corner in Emily's house? Lmm was very vague about the number of years at the end of Emily's quest, but I can't imagine it to be decades) with Emily.

Regarding the ending, I feel like it felt...almost random. Emily's pride combined with Mrs Kent being insane (how many animals has this woman poisoned??) results in a mostly passive conflict. Emily and Teddy don't fight--they don't speak. This follows a relationship which mostly consists of thinking about each other. The sharpest conflict we get is when Teddy says he hated the star that represented Emily, and it's one of the most potent scenes in the book!

teddy seems a lot of tell and not show. We get told he's gentle, but that mostly consistent of him not doing something (IE, putting up with his mother). We get told he's a brilliant artist, but unfortunately this doesn't translate easily through text, unlike Perry's tenacity and Ilse's aggressive vibrancy. I do think the detail of him putting Emily into every girl he draws is a nice touch! But it's just a touch. We get told by Ilse, a potentially unreliable source, that Teddy is selfish, but we never really see that at length. To be fair, I am brushing over a lot of plot details here where Emily watches teddy do something or teddy makes a choice (ie staying in Europe so forth), but as always with our Teddy Kent--most of those occur from a distance.

Genuinely, I feel like we got more details about who MARK GREAVES is as a person than Teddy Kent (for all Emily looked down on him, well, he reminded me of her hahahaha). From what we do see, Teddy seems interesting. He can read Emily very well. He understands Emily's ambitions. He has a similar keen artistic sense. But again, a lot of these details are told to us, not shown.

That's what leads up to the ending of Teddy being left at the altar--which, again, we don't get to see his reaction on screen--then Emily basically being very depressed for years, and then him randomly returning. I don't know if you ever read the Pat series, but the ending here is actually very similar. A near absent hero returns after making his artistic name in far distant lands and BAM the couple is together, despite very little interaction in the book. Especially with Emily, I feel like there's a missing scene in between them not speaking for years and them basically immediately being like we do love each other. At the least, a sentence where Emily hesitates because of her pride would have added some texture. I'll end by saying all of this is obviously personal preference - I tend to not enjoy the dreamy artist love interests in the first place, so obviously I'm biased. But I do wish we had seen more of Teddy on screen, and Teddy engaging with Emily. I think the conflict of the third book was silence, and in being silence, it felt empty.

#emily of new moon #lm montgomery #Teddy kent

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mdhwrites · 4 months

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Penacony: Star Rail's Haunted House

And like one trying too hard, you're left only reflecting on how cheap and fake everything is and not in the ways the story wants you to. Oh, and for my normal fans who like it when I rip something apart, this blog is for you.

I'm starting with my non-spoilery thoughts and to start that off, I do want to say that this is better than the Loufu. The game, from character designs, world design and just general work put in has never looked so good. The flavor on everything is top notch and it is a welcome escape from the bland, near industrialist feel of the Loufu. The game design is included in this too with some of the best dungeons we've gotten, not a bad elite in the bunch (as a Fire Trailblazer main, the monkey makes me laugh) and a lot of charm even in the superfluous mechanics you can mostly ignore. The writing also takes a step up as a lot of characters have personality... Kind of.

And this is the crux of the issue. By the end I was left with the feeling that a lot had happened, a lot of words had been said and I'd met a wide cast, but that little of it informed me of anything. Penacony is meant to be a mystery but we are not an investigator. We are just being shouted at constantly "ISN'T THIS MYSTERIOUS AND DRAMATIC!?" to the point where I look up at them and go "Maybe, if you actually let anything be human for more than five seconds." Which I will actually admit: It was human for about half of it. The middle of 2.0, from once you get into the dreams to when the first true twist happens, reminds me of the best of Belobog. Hell, there is a scene in it that is literally the best in Star Rail with how genuine it feels and how real the heartbreak of it is.

But then the lights come on and you see how that scene is nothing but smoke and mirrors too. It is a trick that made me FAR more upset than anything on the Loufu frankly but after the Loufu, it also has eroded a lot of my trust in the writers for their main content. That their narrative lens is extremely narrow and entirely against anything I enjoy in media.

And so I'm left wondering if I'll end up regretting having bought the Battle Pass at the start of the cycle, despite just a week ago having been pretty certain I was with Star Rail wherever it went.

That is enough beating around the bush though. I'll put a good bit of space to let people who don't want spoilers to leave and then I'll get into specifics. 'Kay? 'Kay.

Firefly and Robin are two sides of a coin but both are mistakes. I know it might seem weird to start here rather than talk about the build up, setup, etc. but... Why would I? EVERYTHING is built up to the tragedy of Firefly and the mystery of Robin. If we really must though, here are my impressions of each of the other characters:

Black Swan: Fuck if I know. Genuinely, I don't know. I want to know, especially after having put 150 pulls into her banner but the game is so hell bent on shifting gears with her so constantly and letting her not react to anything that I didn't get a read on her, despite being the character we probably spend the second most amount of time with in this patch. She is at least nice and kind of likable but I don't know how much of that is an act.

Sparkle: Cryptic Bitch. Move on.

Acheron: Okay, I will be fair and say I do like Acheron. I've talked to another person to find out that her red dialogue changes depending on your choices with her. From the white dialogue though, she feels like a Shounen Lancer. The serious one who also has a quirk that lets you laugh from time to time. The tease of her being an Emanator is interesting but also like... How the fuck is Sam even alive for five seconds after she draws her blade then? Unless she just didn't? Emanators are literally the absolute most powerful things in this universe besides the aeons themselves though. She doesn't get to be an Emanator and not be strong game.

Sunday: Cryptic and Evil. Move on because we still know fucking nothing about him.

March 7th and Welt: About as useful as on the Loufu and at least aren't taking up screen time on the Loufu. Welt continues to be a brick, especially with his voice acting and March 7th may as well not be here.

Himeko:

...

Lets out a long, slow breath. We'll talk about Himeko later. Let me just say that she really highlights a problem with a lot of the statements the game makes about us and the express in this patch.

Sam: Not a character and a fucking awful boss fight. AT BEST he is more of a murder hobo than BLADE. The dude motivated by his desire to murder one person. Move on.

Aventurine: The worst. Just the worst. He comes across as an asshole who has zero power, zero charisma and has literally bought every friend, ally and favor that he's gotten in the past ten years. He is not a gambler as his bets are always done deals because he won't make deals he'll lose. He also has way more knowledge than ANYONE else despite having no allies, no one liking him, no powers that we've seen and yet knows the secrets of the memory zone better than the PERSON WHO HAS POWER OVER MEMORIES. Because Black Swan doesn't know Aventurine's truth. She leaves that up to you. It makes for this petulant asshole who is just a mastermind because the game says he is, and NEVER proving it, the last person you'd want to trust but the one you're forced to put your faith into and ally with no matter what. I literally got a joke ending because I told him to piss off.

But let's move on to the two who mattered. Or that we are told mattered, right up until their deaths. Robin is the much easier to point out as bad. We had literally two conversations with her and then find her dead in a bathtub so as to prove that Aventurine is smartest of smarty people because he's just so smart and clever and powerful and OMG! It also is only to further anger and add personality to Sunday. As such, Robin is fridged for TWO dudes. And we have no reason to care because why should we? Because Sunday is now having to cover up her murder? I have to assume she's been dead only recently unless she's been dead for like weeks and you've been somehow preserving her body because Firefly sure didn't get to fucking survive for ANY time.

Speaking of: Firefly is a character made to die. The only options we get to react to her death is compassion for those around us or blinding anger. Not remorse or sorrow or anything like that. It is supposed to mirror the player. You either can just move on or be furious and have it push you to the end of the content. That's it.

And I REALLY mean it when I say she's made to die. She's this nice, sweet girl who snuck onto Penacony specifically to escape an illness she has that is genuinely tragic and is killing her. She is kind, a little mysterious but appears to genuinely have a good heart. We even take a selfie with her which is our keepsake for after she dies.

We also got to already fight the thing that kills her. It appears out of nowhere the first time, descending from the ether above us while it is only us and Firefly, leaving us defenseless. HOWEVER! In a boss fight I do genuinely like, we fend it off for one phase until it finally pushes us to the side and has Firefly in its clutches. It takes its time lifting her up and it looks like Firefly might do something when BAM! Black Swan appears, entirely subduing the beast and freeing Firefly so we can go round two against it and having it be a much easier fight now that three of us here.

But in the memory zone again, knowing that Death is coming and tracking something, with us, Black Swan and now a third super strong fighter, Acheron, we walk into an open area. AND DRUMROLL PLEASE!

It's the instant kill! Where the enemy we have dealt with before comes out of nowhere, shocking and surprising everyone, even physically just bumping into two of us before rushing past the MC while we stand there helplessly and killing Firefly in a single moment! Can we get a round of applause for one of the worst death tropes in video games, if not all of media!? I haven't seen a bullshit death like this since Kat in Halo Reach! Give it up for these writers and how absolutely hack they are!

And here is the worst part: It does hurt. It hurts a LOT.

Penacony's writing is genuinely good in places. The middle portion of Penacony with Firefly is great. Firefly is a delightful character, even if she's a cinnamon roll too precious for this world. The game spends literally half the patch just selling you on why you should care about Firefly. So yeah, seeing Firefly explode into goop hurts but it's like killing a dog. Yeah, that hurts me emotionally but I can tell they're nothing but meat to you and so I get ANGRY at you using my emotions against me.

And worse yet, and I cannot stress this point enough: She is not the important death. We move right back to investigating afterwards with only Acheron's heavy handed words, where she's acting almost like she's never seen death before, to carry the torch for her. No, instead, it's Robin's death that is stated as being able to bring Penacony down. The one that matters. So move on. Firefly is just motivation for you.

Which even if you don't play Caelus and are female with your MC, it still fucking sucks. It also makes the part of Penacony that's good null and void because all you are going to remember is the bullshit death that it was building too. It cheapens all those good moments because you see the manipulation going on.

And... I'm not surprised at this point. If you don't count Herta's Space Station, this is three deaths for three planets. Belobog didn't have a main character death besides the villain and it was PLENTY dramatic enough. The Loufu on the other hand killed Tingyun. Tingyun was our guide... LIKE FIREFLY so that's two in a row that they've axed, but she didn't get much of a character. Instead, it's just shock value for shock's sake, something the writers clearly understood because then the entire epilogue for the PLANET is spent backfilling how wonderful of a person she was and mourning her death. I'm not kidding.

So that is three for three on fridged women, all done in order to just add stakes or a twist to the story. All three of them are also really bad and don't actually add anything to the story. We just continue our investigation after Firefly like we would have done regardless and get to another boss fight that makes literally no sense because YOUR ALLY SENT US HERE ASS HAT!

Addendum: This is actually FOUR deaths in three planets. The fourth is at least a guy so it's not entirely gender biased but it is also off screen. A villain we met once, kind of, named Duke Inferno is claimed to have been killed by Acheron before she came here with his invitation. The only part of this story that's confirmed mind you is the death of Inferno which uh... To quote Aventurine talking about Acheron's story "Lines up a bit too perfectly" for the asshat in the coat. It's not good and it makes the trailer Hoyo put out for the Ever Flame Mansion, that uses imagery you can find on Penacony for it, feel like a lie since we're not likely to see those characters at least until 2.4. But yeah, thought I should mention that there is a fourth dead character.

But... If you are a writer who got a lot of infamy from character deaths and is used to having YEARS of backstory, build up, connections, etc.... This is actually what happens. This is the first the Honkai part of Honkai Star Rail has been a real problem for the game. Even in the lead up to Penacony, they hyped up the potential of death by bringing in the lead writer for the Honkai series, who hadn't been on a livestream since, it sounds like... He killed a BUNCH of Honkai characters a year and a half ago. But that was the SIXTH anniversary of Honkai Third Impact. (sorry if I'm getting the timeline and the like wrong on this at all btw)

Star Rail is not even a year old. With that pointed out: let's talk about Himeko and the Express in general.

I don't know these people. I don't have a connection to these people. This is literally the first real chance we are spending ANY amount of time with Himeko. What does she do with that chance? Be cryptic, untrusting and a complete ass honestly to pretty much EVERYONE despite having pushed us trailblazers as kind, helpful people who will take risks and the like. But nope, she's just as bad as the rest of the people we've just been introduced to.

So when Firefly wants us to take inspiration from our allies on how to lighten the mood or when Acheron at the very start says we've made unbreakable bonds that we might lose... What the fuck are you talking about? March 7th is the ONLY one that might be able to be claimed about. Everyone else has no relationship with us. Half of them may as well not have characters with how little they've done or shown us or felt like they're there mostly to help with exposition.

So sure, go ahead and kill them off. You don't care about them enough to actually make me invested in them, actually build a status quote to then shatter with real danger so... Why should I? These people just exist for you to slaughter because you apparently don't know how to write a dramatic story otherwise.

It... It is rough for me right now. I even played a bit of the side content and went "Yep, this is still a good part of Star Rail." It made me think of how my brother hoped that Star Rail wouldn't have the Persona 5 problem. Great character work, a lot of fun, some real, deep emotions and genuinely good storytelling (I've talked about Guinaifen with such praise for a reason)... You just will never know by playing the main story because it's not there. Not after Belobog. The most important content, the content EVERYONE will see just isn't good.

And whenever 3.0 comes out, I know I won't be hyped after this. Even if they undo the deaths, I don't care. I don't care about your main story because it makes no sense and the stakes are fake. So... Why am I still playing if only the side content is worthwhile?

If I can never trust that a Firefly will do anything but burn out?

======+++++======

I'll admit a lot of this is motivated by anger. I'll probably do a second blog talking about some of the positives about Penacony, because there is a fair bit of good mixed in with the rest, but I needed to get out this frustration first because it was the majority of what the patch left me with. I also still stick by most of what I said, maybe not quite as harshly, even with a calmer mind.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#honkai star rail #Firefly #Penacony #hsr #Acheron #hsr aventurine #honkai spoilers

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nickmaghighlights · 1 year

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Nick Mag Highlights - #124 September 2006

Happy Mother’s Day everyone, and welcome back to another edition of Nick Mag Highlights! Today, we'll be checking out Issue #124, and its behind-the-scenes look at Barnyard. If you're looking for all the information you could want on the #1 animated movie of 2006, I'm afraid you're out of luck, because Cars is not mentioned anywhere in this issue.

(For the record, I’d watch Barnyard over Cars any day. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is better than both of them, though.)

Excuse the lack of pretense, but I’m ready to just dive right into this one! I think whatever I’ve got to say about the movie Barnyard is best left for when we get to the actual section about it. Most I can say for now is I certainly have more experience with its sequel series, Back at the Barnyard, which I remember Nicktoons had a downright obsession with playing at all hours of the day. Guess it was popular!

Feeling like Wild Mike tonight? You can read the full magazine here.

So the theme of the issue is print, huh? I guess they’re right: if it weren’t for print, we’d never have Nickelodeon Magazine! Not to mention I would be out of a blog!

If the war on drugs is ever revitalized and you are ever in charge of marketing material similar to this, I recommend keeping any fill-in-the blanks on your ads to a minimum. I’m certain that this box was met with more phallic doodles and Cool S’s than it was heartfelt proclamations against drugs. But since I’m a little more mature than that, I’ll play along.

There. I don’t drink because I know if the Aaahh!!! Real Monsters characters were real they’d be disappointed in me for it. Krumm told me that in a dream once.

Man, big things were happening in the world of Nickelodeon this year! Avatar: The Last Airbender was still riding high, Barnyard and Nacho Libre were in theaters, and we saw the premiere of Mr. Meaty (plus The Jimmy-Timmy Power Hour 2 and 3, but those aren’t in this issue)! All equally powerful stuff, and no, that’s not up for debate.

Feel free to also note the fanmail, featuring all of the grave errors Nickelodeon Magazine got caught perpetuating in their previous issues, just like every other issue’s fanmail. Yep, nothing gets by these kids! I appreciate the crew was always willing to own up to their mistakes, but did they never get, y’know, drawings in the mail instead? Something like that? Younger me would’ve preferred those instead of reminding me the team behind Nickelodeon Magazine was only human, susceptible to making errors like anyone else. These guys made SpongeBob*! How could they ever be wrong!?

*Incorrect.

A nice surprise to see Yin Yang Yo!. I remember being obsessed with this show for a short time back when it was new on Toon Disney. Couldn’t tell you why since I don’t remember a lick of it now. I’m only mentioning it because of that little leaflet you might have noticed that’s very obviously obscuring the page…

Yeah! Turns out there’s a whole 6 page comic in here, just for this ad. That’s genuinely a really cool idea, and I can’t imagine it was cheap to print something like this. Still doesn’t exactly remind me why I like the show, per se (this writing is not for me), but I can respect some cool marketing when I see it.

Pretty star-studded Celeb Page this time around, I actually recognize everyone here! And the rather delicately generic questions being asked have just reminded me that this is a back-to-school issue. It was September after all, so I guess the “print” theme is a little more appropriate than I thought.

If summer vacation is still relevant to the life of anyone reading this, do take a second to appreciate that the season has only just begun. Because, truly, there is no greater feeling I know than experiencing the advent of a breathtakingly liberating summer vacatio- hey! Bruce Willis is wearing an Over The Hedge hat in that picture! Cool!

Confusing little bit of cross-promotion here, if only due to the fact this Avatar: The Last Airbender-themed ad doesn’t actually use any Avatar terminology, or mention anything from the show really. Not willing to catch flying french fries with your mouth? Then sorry, you’re definitely a fire… kind of… guy. Legally we cannot call you a bender.

Other notable points about this Burger King ad: - Isn’t the name “The Extinguisher” way more fitting for a water-user than a fire-user? I think they may have mixed up the arrows there. - For some reason this 2006 ad is using a pristine hand puppet of their King mascot from the 1970’s. - Doesn’t have any picture of the advertised toys. Wonder if they were any good.

Bet you’ve never seen a full-page ad for one flash game before, huh? And neither have I, I think! I’m pretty sure this was still while Nickelodeon was trying to sell games through their “Nick Cash” system, where you could purchase computer games and digital items (for games like Neopets, when Viacom still owned it) via their online storefront Nick Arcade (not to be confused with the ‘90s game show of the same name). So yeah, if they were planning on making sales off of this, I guess I understand the big-time marketing.

I really like that you’re supposed to clip out the three tips they give you. Do the editors really think it’s that cumbersome to open up a magazine when you want to read something?

Awesome two-page spread of art from James “Jimmy” Yamasaki, who’s done tons of great freelance art for a wide variety of different magazines. If you want to take a look, he’s posted lots of his work on his Instagram.

Even if the activity is a little shallow, it’s nice to see something here that’s giving books a shoutout. With all the aggressive marketing these issues had for all the latest movies and TV shows, it’s still good to remind kids that literature is worth your time too.

Am I reading a little too deep into this? Maybe, but I think that means the activity is working.

Hey, this is pretty cool! And fairly educational at that. I could see this genuinely being useful for any kid looking to make their own comics, and font choice is a pretty important aspect you may not think about at first, especially when you’re younger. A fair bit of kids probably skipped this section, but hopefully it was helpful for someone.

For some reason, Disney’s best idea for advertising their upcoming DVD releases was door hangers. I distinctly remember there being Lilo & Stitch 2 and Tarzan II-themed ads with the same gimmick, and I don’t get it. I guess it’s a way to increase the ad’s lifespan? Kids get to cut it out, and keep it hanging on their door knob for a couple days before their parents throw it away, so I guess everyone wins right? Well sorry Disney, my childhood bedroom didn’t even have a door knob. And guess who didn’t watch Brother Bear 2 either?

Another issue, another Comic Book. This time with an awesomely done cover by artist Souther Salazar (they’ve got tons of other colorful and creative work on their official website). Nice to see Impy make the front page in the top left there, too.

Alright before we get into it, I quickly want to talk about this. Did you know that some of the style guides (official documents that outline how a design should be represented) for different pieces of SpongeBob merchandise are available on the Internet Archive?

I’ll give an example: see that yellow shirt on the top right, with the punk-looking SpongeBob and electric guitars? That shirt was just one part of a series of punk-themed SpongeBob SquarePants merch, and the people designing that series had to refer back to this style guide to make sure everything in the series looked consistent. It’s really cool because those guides often include all of the official illustrations that were used in the merchandise in high quality, alongside stuff like official logos and fonts.

Here’s a list of all the SpongeBob-themed style guides I could find on the archive:

Punk Art Guide

Icon Art Guide (Has anyone seen this art used for any merch? I haven’t and I’m really curious.)

SketchBob Art Guide

St. Patrick’s Day Art Supplement

Fall 2004 Apparel Guide

Bedtime Style Guide

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Style Guide

10th Anniversary Style Guide (The longest one, containing tons of official art, designs, and backgrounds)

The SpongeBob SquarePants Toolkit 2002

Bonus:

The SpongeBob SquarePants Sculpting Guide (contains 2D and 3D turnarounds of most of the main characters)

The Ren & Stimpy Show Style Guide

The Fairly OddParents Illustrator Guidelines

I could totally be alone in finding these so interesting, but hey, if you’re a fan of these characters, they might be nice to hold onto.

I may not have been much of an Avatar: The Last Airbender fan growing up, but I’ll be the first one to admit it’s one of Nickelodeon’s best-looking and well-animated shows. Seriously, some of those action scenes in particular were near movie-quality.

This comic definitely keeps up the trend of great visuals, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the team behind it. Pencils and inks were done by Joaquim Dos Santos, who did storyboards and directing duties for seasons two and three of the show, and is currently co-directing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and its sequel(!). Similarly, the colors were done by a long-time crewmember of the show, Hye-Jung Kim. Great stuff all around.

Well, this is unexpected! I know the Moomin series is popular with a lot of people, so it’s really cool to see it featured in the magazine here. I’m not really familiar myself, but I might have to check out more! This is as pleasant as it is funny.

Now, I don’t usually bring up the “Gag Station” pages in these retrospectives. It’s not on purpose, I just haven’t usually got much to say, but this time I actually wanted to point out the… oh… uh, what is that down there, is that another…?

Oh, it’s another one of these pull-out mini comics, like the YinYangYo! thing from earlier. Except this time with, y’know, Walmart mascots. Yeah, it’s a little less impressive when it’s done a second time, and with Walmart mascots I’ve never heard of before, and when it’s mostly just made up of pictures of clothes.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yeah.

The guy who made this, Johnny Ryan, went on to co-create Pig Goat Banana Cricket for Nickelodeon in 2015. Do with that what you will.

Here’s an odd piece of early 2000’s trivia: the ESRB had ads for itself! And not just in print either, but full on TV commercials. Those black-and-white letters were no longer content to sit idly by on the bottom left corners of the game cases; they were ready to make themselves known. In regards to print ads, there’s way more than just this one, and they all had their own characters and stories informing you why content ratings are just the bee’s knees. What I find most interesting about them is that they were made in collaboration with the artists behind Penny Arcade, a video game-themed webcomic that’s been running since 1998. Apparently in 2018, the ESRB and the Penny Arcade team worked together again to update the ads, but I’ve never seen one of these new ones in the wild. Hopefully we can get these revitalized before the next Mortal Kombat game. Don't want to risk another fiasco.

I think this section on unique books is pretty cool, I only wish the magazine team felt the same! Seriously, are we filling the story’s extra space with ads, or the other way around?

But yeah, pretty cool seeing both the smallest and largest books on Earth, even if those titles have probably been usurped by now. I was also quite curious about Shelley Jackson’s “Skin” project mentioned in the bottom right, and if you're just as curious, it was indeed finished in 2011 with a video featuring the full story and all its participants here.

Oh, and if you get a chance, that Voynich Manuscript thing they mention is available on Yale’s website. Those historians dudes are still looking for someone to make heads or tails of that thing. I think they might just be lazy, if you ask me.

Yep, I still love these calendars. I have to ask though, what’s so “pear” about September? I thought August was the start of pear season.

Also, wow, there’s a whole Wizard of Oz-themed festival in Chesterton, Indiana? I wonder what that’s like…

…

Only took us the whole issue, but we’re finally here at Barnyard! Or, what I’m just now realizing it should have been called, Funny Farm. Interestingly, the film had already been out for a month by the time they did this promotion, but maybe Kevin James was sick last month, I dunno. They’re really stretching for the questions here too, I mean c’mon, who cares if Kevin James likes the sounds of cowbells? I want to hear more about his… udder?

Good lord, they showed this to children…

Anyway, I personally didn’t see the movie when it came out, but like I said, they played Back at the Barnyard damn near constantly. I thought that show must’ve had a million episodes with how often Nickelodeon showed it off.

I did eventually get around to watching the film, and I’m at least glad to know I wasn’t missing out on much. It’s not a particularly good film, and while it may have come from many of the same people that brought us Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (including having the same creator, Steve Oedekerk), Barnyard lacks much of the imagination and charm that made that film so compelling. I wanted all of Jimmy’s inventions as a kid, but I can’t say I ever wanted to be a cow.

Honestly, the most value Barnyard holds for me now is that it comes from that era of 3D animation I hold a fair bit of nostalgia for, where it was competent, but still ugly. Right next to films like Jimmy Neutron and Ice Age.

Lego Star Wars II! Clear off your calendars everyone, because I guarantee there’s nothing more important going on the day this game releases in the US. Nope, nothing. C’mon, you can make a sexy slave Yoda!

Well that sure was a Mother’s Day Edition of Nick Mag Highlights, was it not? Maybe I’ll think of a way to connect the holiday and Barnyard while I’m writing this outro*.

Thank you all for joining me, and I hope you have a wonderful day. Until next time, keep on reading.

*…Nope! Better luck next year.

#nmh post #2000s #2006 #nickelodeon #magazine #barnyard

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transhawks · 1 year

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Hello! First things first, I'd like to thank you for the amazing meta you posted. It's a wonderful insight on both the dynamic between Twice and Hawks and Japanese culture with confessiona, so different from Western culture.

Second - I had to read the meta twice (pun intended) before coming with a few questions I hope you won't mind answering. I think you explained everything perfectly, so they are mostly me... speculating? Drawing conclusions? I don't know.

1. So, the "confession scene" is between Jin and Keigo. The latter, however, is seen as Hawks in that scene from Jin's perspective - as the hero, not the human underneath. You elaborated on this clearly. This arc plays out recalling past actions from previous arcs, and all the characters need closure in one way or another. I am also referring to Keigo, in chapter 299, mentioning how someone's true nature is revealed when pushed into a corned - but Keigo wasn't acting on his nature when killing Twice, he was pushing down his sentiments to carrying on his "duty"; that, at least in how I see it, was the mask, Hawks', nature (nurture?).

You also expandend on Hawks and his issues with trusting others, be it from hero work to emotions, and how trust was a core part of Twice and Hawks' dynamic - or, better, the lack of trust. This made me think of Tokoyami reminding Hawks, during the fight vs. All for One, he can trust him and Hawks' shocked expression.

Another conflict between Twice and Hawks appears inevitable at this point, even if Hawks tries to avoid it - so I was thinking, would it be possible we get a recall of the "confession", and actually see both the characters' natures this time? Is it possible we'll get finally a show of genuine trust? It's late for Hawks to save Twice at this point, he failed for all the reasons you stated, he can't go back and it's not his role; I, however, see BNHA as a very hopeful story, and maybe I'm being too wishful on this one, but I think a good cloruse for both characters is reaching an understanding that wasn't there - not as hero or villain, but as people, humans, bare in front of each other.

2. Just a curiosity: if I remember correctly, you mentioned a few times how important it is to use the characters' names and aliases and how you can play with them and their meaning. You did this in the meta talking about Hawks and Keigo, so I'd like to ask - was the switch from using Keigo to using Hawks in the last part (starting with "Hawks is not a high-schooler") and switching from Jin to Twice, intentional? Maybe I'm reading a bit too much into it, but it came across as premeditative. Though, I tend to focus too much into details sometimes, to the point I might miss the bigger picture, which... my bad.

Thought I had more to ask, but again, you elabrorated on the topic so well there's not much to ask about - at least not from me. Most of the questions I had were already answered in deep details.

Again, if you wish to not answer, especially the first question since it's more a bit of speculation and you might not like to give possible conclusions before the story ends, it's completely fine.

Have a nice day/evening!

Hi, thank you for the thoughtful ask! Let's get into it - because I know that 6,500 word meta is a lot and something to chew over, so I really don't mind discussing it.

I am also referring to Keigo, in chapter 299, mentioning how someone's true nature is revealed when pushed into a corned - but Keigo wasn't acting on his nature when killing Twice, he was pushing down his sentiments to carrying on his "duty"; that, at least in how I see it, was the mask, Hawks', nature (nurture?).

I am of two minds on this - I strongly believe Hawks is mentally ill, and repressing it, so his "actual" nature is a bit lost to us unless we see through the crops. However, you're right in that Keigo was actively going against his own nature and sense of self to kill Jin.

That’s the story Hawks and Twice are being used to tell by Horikoshi! To kill Jin, Hawks had to cast away sentiment, feelings, compassion for Jin, and so he did, at the same time sacrificed his own humanity to do so.

The kind of heroism that asks Hawks to do these things is inhumane. It’s the kind that expects people to kill the child in themselves, kill the friend, kill the compassion, and kill the person to become what it believes is a hero.

A snippet from one of my metas on this topic - that Jin's name meaning humanity, that Jin constantly being shown as so utterly human, was a good way to introduce this idea that the "heroism" that created Hawks was inhumane. Keigo was just a boy who wanted to help people, after all.

I do think there will be some closure with Keigo and Jin. While I foresee a breakdown first for Keigo, I have a feeling Keigo and his clones will be used at the end to turn a tide for the heroes, completing the "all became heroes" aspect we're clearly headed for. I do think Keigo apologizing, admitting he was wrong, and probably reiterating what he actually felt is the best possible end to this arc. Stripped of all his protections, down to his "truth", I think Keigo can actually come across sincere this time around. When Jin and him speak not as Hero and Villain but as just two men.

You did this in the meta talking about Hawks and Keigo, so I'd like to ask - was the switch from using Keigo to using Hawks in the last part (starting with "Hawks is not a high-schooler") and switching from Jin to Twice, intentional? Maybe I'm reading a bit too much into it, but it came across as premeditative.

Congratulations! You're the first person who has ever noticed I do this in several years. I can't say I managed to not slip up in the meta, but yes, it's absolutely premediated. I make a clear distinction when I wish to speak about Hawks and Keigo in meta AND ESPECIALLY fic. In fic I'm extremely careful with what I call Keigo and when I make the switch and honestly use it as a literary device - for example when Hawks grows so disillusioned with heroism in Chapter 2 of my fic Minutes, I made the switch to Keigo. In meta, I don't do it as much, but I did it more this time around. Like I said, this meta was really special. I've wanted to write it since Spring 2020. The emphasis on Hawks and Keigo as separate identities is central to this idea of who Hawks really is, so I decided to explore it.

Thanks again for the ask. I'm really pleased with how much you noticed!

#asks #my meta #my writing

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23meteorstreet · 1 year

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1 to 5 :)

1. how did you get into the show?

i heard about it back in like 2013 bc a yt channel I liked made references to it all the time but initially i was kinda scared to watch it bc I heard there was some offensive stuff and wasn't sure if that was my thing. then a few years later i was on a spring break trip w/ my high school and some ppl started talking about mac and dennis: manhunters for some reason?? and that made me so curious about it that I started pirating it a few days later lol

that being said... i didn't actually get into the show at that point. I got to about the first ep of season 2 and then just stopped bc even tho it was super funny I couldn't really connect with the characters and some of the satire felt a little too accurate to me. but from 2017 to like... may-ish of last year I watched a few eps here and there and made it to the beginning of season 3.

in october I was going thu a bit of an existential crisis (im mostly good now) and was looking for something funny to watch that hopefully wouldn’t suck up too much of my time (LMAOOO) and found it in my continue watching section on hulu and thought “this’ll be perfect bc i’ll probably just watch a season or so and then turn it off again”. yeah, that didn’t happen. (of course it probably helped that i’d watched i want you back earlier that year and realized i had a massive crush on charlie lol)

2. who’s your favorite character and why? (has your fav changed since you started watching the show?)

like i said in the last question it took me a while to pick a favorite but i literally caught one glimpse of charlie day’s freckles in i want you back and became obsessed with him & every character he’s ever played forever. aside from being super fucking adorable tho i genuinely think he’s the funniest character in the show. he has sooo many iconic moments and i love that he’s silly but also very capable like in charlie work :) also i really enjoy that he’s generally the “nice” one but he can also be very evil & feral at times. basically i like how complex he is lol. i just wanna wrap him in a blanket and feed him some spaghetti <3

3. what are your top 3 favorite episodes?

this is so fucking hard but here’s 3 off the top of my head:

the aluminum monster vs. fatty magoo : this is the one that made me finally get into the show! i loved that the characters were terrible to the point of absurdity. dennis putting on the dress was such an unforgettable moment & i feel like this ep is when they really found him as a character. charlie’s plot in this is also great, i love how he’ll end up in the most bizarre situation and just adapt to it (and the part where he's fantasizing about the drawing was... interesting to say the least lol). also any episode written by glenn & charlie is fucking iconic

the gang goes on family fight: this is just such a comfort ep tbh. family feud is always fun/funny and i love when the gang actually gets along. dennis’s freakout at the end was also super funny & relatable

the gang goes to hell part 2: after getting to know the characters for so many seasons, watching them almost die was strangely cathartic lol. it just felt like a love letter to the gang’s friendship, & it makes me think about how i’m so attached to these terrible fictional people. i could probably write a whole essay on this ep tbh. also the imaginary dinner scene is so funny to me, i love how much they get into it.

also an honorable mention to charlie rules the world: charlie looks hot af in this episode (obviously) plus i love video game related eps in any show lol. It’s a fun ep to try to analyze charlie as a character, and i love that dennis just goes completely off the rails.

4. name a song that reminds you of your favorite character

this is so hard bc all the songs on my sunny playlist are for ships/the whole gang… gonna go with leave me alone - fidlar bc of that one fancam plus i was listening to them earlier lol (ps. if anyone has any good charlie songs pls send them to me!!)

5. do you ship anything?

in no particular order: macdennis, charden, charmac, charmacden, deetress, chartemis, artemis/waitress (pretty sure i made this one up lol), charlie/scientist… i think that’s it? my fave are probably charmac, macdennis, charmacden, and deetress tho

#asks #this is a whole ass essay lol

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crescentmoonrider · 2 years

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@pandakailovesshangchi replied to your post “The Boy Who Leapt Through Time AU”

Ok, so I just reat all of this series and I am absolutely in love with it, just phenomenal, outstanding, love the cute expressions of Yuuta cause they remind me of Gege's and everything! It's soo well done! I do feel like it's a bit odd that Gojo just let Toji go, I feel like he'd insist on fighting but I like where this is going. Also, that flashback scene??? gold angst. I don't understand everything but I feel like you didn't mean for everything to make sense at once.

Thank you very much !!

I love drawing Yuuta, and making cute chibis is always a lot of fun, so I’m glad you like them !

The thing with Gojo is that he was in a really weird mental state at the time, so I genuinely think it wouldn’t be too much of a reach to say someone falling from the sky would stun him enough that he wouldn’t react that much when Toji goes “I don’t work for free” and leaves

There’s also the fact that Amanai’s body was still inside the cult building, and Toji wasn’t blocking the way anymore. So Gojo would have to make a choice there, to insist on fighting ? Or to hurry to get Amanai back ?

That might also slow his reaction time, and by the time he’s decided what to do, Toji might have already cleared the scene

Basically ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I understand your doubts, but it is a weird situation, so weird reactions aren’t that out of the question

And yeah, the flashback/nightmare was ! So much fun to draw ! I’m really enjoying the variety of scenes this series allows me to do, the cute faces and the backgrounds (even if I curse their existence every time) and the downright body-horror-style gore of jjk’s curse techniques, and everything in-between. It’s really nice to get to like, flex almost all of my drawing muscles in one single project (❁´◡`❁)

And you’re right, I don’t mean for Yuuta’s past to be entirely clear, not now... and maybe not ever

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you’re wondering about the details of what exactly happened, but to me this story is more about the impact of these events than on their exact circumstances. I doubt Yuuta would even be able to recall all of it himself, not precisely

Because that’s how traumatic events work, you know ? If the trauma comes from a single event, like a car accident, you might remember almost everything clearly, but when it takes place over weeks, or months, or years... You end up mixing things up, forgetting details, forgetting the order of events, forgetting something even happened until you come into a very specific situation and you go “oh”

Not that Yuuta spent literal years in this specific traumatic situation, but it definitely wasn’t a single event. The fact that he is now 18 (as mentioned by Shi-woo) is a hint to that fact, since Gojo was sealed on October 31st, 2018, and Yuuta’s birthday is in March. That’s a few months, and a lot of time for things to happen, even if what exactly took place, in what order, and how, isn’t completely clear

Anyway, sorry for rambling ! Thank you so much for your kind words, and I hope you’ll like what I have in store for the future !

#yumi got asked stuff #toki wo kakeru shounen AU #pandakailovesshangchi #jjk spoilers #i dont know how to shut up about my art #so im very sorry if that ended up very rambly #but yeah yuuta's timeline is just #what if canon but worse #or like. what if the canon from a year ago #since thats when i started working on this #the current events have me like ?????#its in a good way i love politics #and multilayered conflict #but also i did Not see this coming #anyway peace ! thanks again so much !

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