#literally the sole reason I’m watching this anime again | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

64space · 2 years

Text

been having some thoughts about the execution of revolutionary girl utena compared to the execution of wonder egg priority. lining those two shows up together is like comparing apples and oranges but they do share some similarities, but what i’m going to be rambling about under the cut are the differences between them based in my personal preferences. to preface this, i think utena is, objectively, a good and well written piece of media. i can count the amount of scenes i actually enjoyed from it on one hand, however. and wonder egg was fumbled terribly, but its concepts had astounding potential if it just had more episodes to execute them and conclude them in a satisfactory way.

the reason why i procrastinated on watching utena for years wasn’t because of the list of trigger warnings (i have very specific triggers that, surprisingly, weren’t ticked off by any in the warnings), but rather because of the art style and aesthetic choices. for a ‘90s anime, it felt a lot more like ‘80s cartoons on my mom’s VHS, and that vibe alone was an equal blend of secondhand nostalgia and downright unsettling. but what bothered me more than the art style was the aesthetic choices right down to the school uniforms and the design of the school itself. to set the backdrop for the relationship between a girl prince and a witch, there are obviously some fantasy elements to the world, but i just... did not enjoy it. everyone meshes in with the world perfectly except for utena herself, who feels like a girl from the real world who was isekai’d into a fantasy world at a very young age and now has a maladaptive optimistic hero personality to cope with her trauma. the characters feel like characters more than people, and while their traumas are plausible and real, everything is portrayed so allegorically that it imbalances my attachment to them as people because their personalities are so exaggerated and fairytale-like. no one talks like that. no one acts like that. no one dresses like that. with all the development that went into the school as a metaphor for abusive systems in itself, and the fantasy-like atmosphere in a high school setting, it felt... empty, like a treasure box decorated with a clear and concise design that i can admire the artistic merits of, but the actual contents of the box are full of fake flowers being eaten by plastic worms. for me, representative/allegorical concepts are only digestible when they’re balanced with the characters’ peoplehood and development as people instead of solely as characters and narrative devices. revolutionary girl utena did not balance that.

one similarity between revolutionary girl utena and wonder egg priority is that both stories mainly follow a 14 year old girl who is socially ostracized because of one specific trait (utena herself being gender-nonconforming, and ai’s reason being said as her different colored eyes, but everyone who watched wonder egg priority knows that her relationship with koito was coded as a trial romance between two girls.) wonder egg showcases the characters as 14 perfectly, while, again, revolutionary girl utena barely does that. bring in the thermian argument here and say “well, fourteen year olds say pretentious stuff and believe it to be true,” and apply that to utena. but then look at the conversations in wonder egg priority. even with their downright absurd circumstances (particularly neiru and kotobuki’s), their pretentiousness has basis in reality, and is contextualized in explicit ostracism from that reality while still having the desire to partake in, or acknowledge and reject it.

wonder egg priority acknowledges 14 year old girls as teenagers, a developmental age between children and adults. the way this is expressed allegorically is through frill, who is LITERALLY the manifestation of what two adult men think a 14 year old girl should be, based on data and expectations. the four protagonists, however, deal with themselves how mentally ill 14 year old girls would do so, realistically to their circumstances. by helping others, it distracts them from their own problems or it leads them down the line of resolve. both shows acknowledge that in order for trauma to really get better, it’ll look a lot worse when the issues are actually confronted instead of repressed before it ever gets better. though, while trauma traps people in different ages than they really are, utena’s narrative doesn’t allow them to experience these traumas as 14 year olds outside of the context that their trauma is pedophilia and that they go to school. in terms of character development and execution, they are portrayed with similar degrees of agency as any adult fantasy character. this is where the allegorical execution loses its significance, while also being a genius narrative device. we are meant to see the characters as adults before it settles in with the uncomfortable realization that they are young teenagers. (still doesn’t help that the way characters are drawn in RGU doesn’t have them look their age, but oh well.) wonder egg delves into realistic traumas with exaggerated representations, which is more accurate to how a 14 year old girl would experience their own trauma and the trauma of those around them. the wonder egg girls put themselves through too many responsibilities for their age, and while they may see themselves as more capable than they are, the audience sees them as their messy selves, away from any polished, fairytale narrative until around the episode where ai confronts her parallel self. my main problem with that was the way the latter half of the show was rushed, so anything weird and unexplained and overly allegorical could be easily resolved with an extended run time of the show and a balance of character/world development and characters being people.

from a narrative perspective, revolutionary girl utena did what it intended to do. it was wrapped up perfectly for the kind of story it followed, and the pacing was long enough to cover what was important in all subplots while also miserably dragging on to the point where that drag was immersive to the misery of the characters it followed. wonder egg priority was rushed, fumbled, and a season longer than 12 episodes was unsupported by the budget. my opinion on these two shows mostly boils down to personal preference. while i did enjoy wonder egg priority far more than i enjoyed revolutionary girl utena, the latter had far more time and thought put into its execution that its artistic merit cannot be ignored, and i acknowledge it as one of the best written stories i’ve ever seen. the development of characters as people felt really lacking, though.

#ghostpost #revolutionary girl utena #wonder egg priority

38 notes · View notes

azzie-tangerine · 2 years

Note

confession time. That matpat video literally changed my view of the Mario franchise forever and even if I don’t believe it anymore (with age comes wisdom and the realization you were a 10 year old with the media comprehension skills of a soup spoon) it’s like the sole reason I don’t actually like Mario as a character all that much. I was already a Luigi Stan and it just added More Fuel lmfao. So please hit me with the matpat rant I live to see people clown on it

Thing is, I don’t even blame you for that cause a lot of people were like that too 😭

And I would LOVE to write a 5 page rant debunking every point in that video. It’s my dream to. Unfortunately, I am a full time college student with a very small attention span so I hope a mini rant that summarizes my point works instead lmao. Maybe in the future I could do more mini rants to combine into that 5 page rant.

I don’t have anything personal when it comes to Matpat. I followed him at one point as well. But yeah, he does have a problem when it comes to his theories and making people take them too seriously. Yeah, he says “that’s just a theory” at the end of every video (does he still do that??) but when you have a young audience like he does they’re not gonna realize that it’s all good fun, and they’re going to believe any wild theory he makes. Especially when he talks about these theories in such a way that they are FACTS and not theories until the end, using only surface information that could easily be disproved with a good search.

I always thought Mario was the worst example of this. Because not only does Matpat accuse Mario of some really awful things (abusing his brother and yoshi are the two I remember to this day, I’m not going to watch that video again right now) but he also calls him some terms that could be seen as ableist based on how he says it?? Not saying he himself is ableist, this is a decade old video after all. But since I am only studying psychology and not fully educated yet, I’m leaving THOSE thoughts away for now.

The evidence he uses to criminate Mario is there, sure, but the context isn’t. Mario teases Luigi because they are brothers and siblings do that. And we see Mario caring for Luigi a lot, A LOT more than the teasing act. My favorite example is the crossover game between Mario and Rabbids. He goes out of his way to save Luigi first, Peach second. It’s a really sweet scene I recommend watching the opening to that first Mario and Rabbids game if you haven’t.

And him punching Yoshi? The evidence for that was from a pixelated game, and Nintendo staff have literally come out to say that this isn’t true. It was an idea at one point sure, but that idea never got to animating in that game and the art book mentions he is not punching Yoshi.

Anyways I’ll stop myself there, but you see my point lol. Doesn’t help that I am super biased for Mario, I played and still play his games all the time and as a kid genuinely looked up to him as an idol. So yeah, I am not perfect I am a 19 year old woman getting worked up over fan theories. I just love Mario and always have. I love his adventures with Luigi and Peach and Bowser. Nothing can stop me at this point.

#I won’t make this long!#I say #seeing how long this turned out to be #uh #sorry?#tangerine.txt

6 notes · View notes

thekrazykeke · 1 year

Text

I posted 745 times in 2022

73 posts created (10%)

672 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@tallulahchanel

@sweetoothgirl

@spicyvampire

@tchallasbabymama

@bakarilennox

I tagged 137 of my posts in 2022

#out of context - 79 posts

#thekrazykeke - 14 posts

#college craze - 8 posts

#ask - 7 posts

#reference - 7 posts

#college craze oc - 5 posts

#college craze fandom - 5 posts

#anonymous - 5 posts

#original character - 5 posts

#misc fics - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 72 characters

#did that paragraph say she had an animal on her whole ass titty?????????

My Top Posts in 2022:

Because I got some writing done, I decided to do a two-for-one special regarding my MC’s for @the-kingshound demo release

On the left is Gwenvaël; he/him, 6′5″, stoic, reserved and in control. I’m thinking he’s gonna be my main Arthur romancer, slow burn style.

On the right is Gwenhael; she/her, 4′11″, emotional, open, but fierce. Because I adore height romances, I’m thinking she’ll be with Yniol or this will be an Arthur/Gwyar poly romance.

27 notes - Posted February 5, 2022

I know I’m not active all the time on here, and what I’m about to suggest could imply me leaving the BP fandom and Tumblr community for good (I ain’t never leaving 💀). However with BP: Wakanda Forever coming to theaters in like 9 days, and me getting hella into sims 4 again, I was thinking of writing a Black Panther story but in the sims 4 game? We could make it a BP community event too? Since it’s a large country with lots of culture. Also if y’all don’t play sims 4, then sims 3? Featuring casual gameplay screenshots of rocking T’Challa’s world, being besties with Nakia, or storytelling from anyone interested? @tallulahchanel @muse-of-mbaku @bakarilennox @supremethunda (It’s forreal an open invite, anyone can join)

27 notes - Posted November 2, 2022

Got home and I was so exhausted, I just showered and fell into bed pretty much immediately. However, I’m up for now and I decided to actually get to making these character Picrews like I said (in reality I said moodboard but I’m tired--).

1.) Ri’en The Mistaken Divine

I'm off the deep end, watch as I dive in I'll never meet the ground Crash through the surface, where they can't hurt us We're far from the shallow now

My Elementalist. Sweet as sugar and protective of Shian, Ri’en casually adopted the homunculus, (or were they surprise kidnapped?) and escaped the facility with Ae-ri. Compassionate, humble, stoic and cautious, she fully plans to disappear from the world at first opportunity. It’s nice to be alive once again, but she’s done her part for humanity.

Honestly, I think I ship her with Frieda.

2.) Sirius The Eldritch Elder

Oh, my love What have I done? There's nowhere left for us to run And now I'm standing in the sunlight And I can't bear the sight of you

My Blood wielder. Stoic and proud, merciless and bold, but apathetic, he’s taken Shian with him from the facility, uncertain of his feelings regarding the fact that his heart resides in the homunculus. Literally lost control of his Abyssal form, chomped Amaryllis’ arm, and killed everyone except Ae-ri (the massive loss of control has this boy shook). Regardless of anything, it’s imperative that the child is protected, lest he expire again.

I ship him with Meidh.

See the full post

42 notes - Posted March 6, 2022

People on my posts tryna argue with me. //They deleted the comments because I’m spreading the truth

Legit reblogging and complaining in the comments, and thinking I’ll be quiet.💀 I can do this all day but I won’t since I have work in a couple hours. It still entertains me that they keep reiterating the same thing. Fanfics are literally created for this sole reason: if you disagree with what canon is, you can change it. I know some of y’all clearly enjoy complaining because the creators aren’t doing exactly what you the fans are wanting them to do but you know what that’s called??

Entitlement.

This is a story that they write for themselves and we as fans get to enjoy it for free. It is not a group project. It’s a visual novel, some plot points are going to remain the same no matter how much you cry and ponder sending anon hate over. It is not an IF game where your choices actually can change the story, that is the difference.

Here you go @trashy-corvian since you made a statement about free games. This list consists of IFs and VNs. Remember, don’t send anon hate; that’s 2013 funsies <333

Magician’s Voyage @magiciansvoyage

Honor Amongst Thieves @leoneliterary

Fell Star @fell-star-if

Sinner and Saints @sinnersandsaints-linwrites

College Tennis: Origins Story @allieebobo

College Craze @prettyinkgames/https://www.patreon.com/prettyink

When The Night Comes @https://lunarisgames.itch.io/wtnc

Cute Demon Crashers @https://sugarscript.itch.io/cute-demon-crashers

Our Life: Beginning and Always @gb-patch

When Twilight Strikes @evertidings

but wait, there’s more 😊😊😊: ya just have to look for them.

53 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Spoilers for Andromeda Six episode 6 under the cut. Don’t read if you ain’t finished and can’t handle an opinion.

Truth be told, I think I annoyed myself going in the a6 tag, expecting something different. I was tricked yet again. Some people would be happy Nerissa stayed dead???????? Her being alive erases us from the narrative?

...Wut?

Did y’all forget that big ass post the creators made awhile ago saying that this is not a romance game? It’s mainly geared towards sci-fi and action/adventure, maybe with a dash slice of life and found family trope sprinkled throughout. That’s the whole reason the Traveler exists, that is the point of the story. The players getting to smooch the cute characters occasionally and get close is fan service and the story reads fine without any of that in there, regardless.

So what the real problem is?

I think y’all want Nerissa to be dead so y’all characters can be king/queen/ruler of the galaxy which is everybody’s dream, of course. There’s no guarantee that won’t happen anyway??? The FAQ suggested like 10 episodes, who knows, she could actually kick the bucket and die, Wanderlust could give us choices that lead to her being hurt, etc. and our Travelers still end up ruling anyway.

If y’all don’t see foreshadowing with how the tyrant king became ruler after his family died, to the situation with the Traveler and Nerissa being put in similar situations, I don’t know what to tell you.

103 notes - Posted May 9, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

6 notes · View notes

frostyreturns · 2 years

Text

Frosty Ruins Dead End Paranormal Park

This cartoon looks fucking terrible. I hate the way this cancerous shitty and ugly animation style has become so common. It is appalling just to look at it and it's not just that the drawing is bad the actual movement and animation looks cheap and shitty too. Flash cartoons from the early 2000's looked better than this and I mean that without a hint of exaggeration. Not only is the animation awful but the characters are ugly too. Ugly characters...drawn badly and animated poorly. Like they give everyone these round orange noses that makes them all look like horrific uncanny valley human muppets. And I legitimately think they were designed that way because the artist actually can't draw noses. I think that’s a safe assumption because everything looks so poorly drawn.

Now the crux of why this show is a cancerous and vile blight on entertainment is that it appears to be a show created for the sole purpose of being lgbt propaganda for children. Watching it I can't imagine anyone working on it did any of this for the purpose of earnest entertainment. It's main character is a gay transgender teenager for the sake of introducing children to homosexuality and transgenderism. The park is run by a drag queen to introduce kids to drag. In the second episode like all groomers they seek to separate the kids from their family, they do this by showing the trans character leaving home to live at this gay theme park to seek a new start in their trans lifestyle. In another episode they have groups of children sleeping over at this gay horror park where they summon a demon thing, there is so much summoning of demons in this show it’s ridiculous. Literally just fucking leave kids alone, fuck off I'm so tired of this shit.

That's not where the inappropriate for children elements end,the show is also too creepy for the age group this is targeted to. There are demons, a possession ceremony with a giant flaming demon that possesses a dog, some weird slenderman demon that oozes a milky white substance from its face. The one demon talks about how it would fun to kill the dog...this isn't child friendly content but it's presented in a child friendly wrapping, to me that makes this show fucked up. In another episode they have a skull that forces them to confront their deepest fears...again not content meant for children. Creepy shows for kids used to involve stuff like werewolves and mummies, now it's demons and deep existential horrors conjured by their own minds...it’s fucked up.

Kids don't need to be watching a show where characters have HIV and nobody should be watching a show where the messaging of the character is that its okay to sleep around when you have a potentially deadly life altering disease thats transmitted sexually...without telling anyone beforehand. It's not just a bad show, it's not just annoying social politics the creators are actively vile and heinous people seeking to groom and corrupt children.

After watching this and seeing how godawful this pile of shit they want to call a cartoon is I thought I'd do something I don't normally do when writing a review...go look at other reviews. I wanted to see what positive things people could possibly have to say about this...because I can't see a single redeeming quality anywhere in the show at all. Of course the only praise I seem to see for it are political. They praise the show as diverse and queer. That should be telling in and of itself because there are certain people who should be tripping over themselves to excuse all manners of terrible dogshit in this show just for identity reasons. And yet all they can come up with is that they love that the character is trans. They can't even bring themselves to say it's a good or funny show with a trans character because it simply isn't. It's a horrible show and they know it, but they have to say they love it because the character is trans.

It's at the point where they are not just making bad shows, they are actively ruining cartoons. These kinds of shows are so common and available that it's going to become what kids think of when they think of cartoons. We grew up with great cartoons and there would be some you didn't like but most were good... but kids today are growing up where all the cartoons being made look horrible, are boring, unfunny and political. Kids are going to get tired of this and just not watch cartoons anymore. One day kids will look back and hear their parents talk about liking cartoons and wonder why their parents ever liked something as gay as cartoons. Yet again the woke crowd of retards are killing industries with their parasitic, incestuous and cancerously terrible control of said industries.

Not only should you not watch this and not let your kids watch this, cancel Netflix for having this on their service and putting it in the kids section. This show has many demons in it but the worst ones of all were the ones who created it.

7 notes · View notes

professoraurabolt · 1 year

Text

Hi my very dear and lovely friend @cherubimeyes asked me to answer every single question to the Layton meme, yes all 40 of them, so umm, basically, I die. (yes i'm tagging you because look look look look look l-) Putting under a read more because, you know.

Oh and uh, obvious spoilers for like, every game

1) Who is your favourite character?

Luke, it's Luke, always has been always will be, he's just a boy and I love him so so so so so so so much. He's just so silly he makes me so happy anytime I see him, he’s literally just a 13 year old boy and he’s my son :')

2) What’s your favourite game?

Hate this question, hate it because there's things about every PL game that are my favourite and I genuinely love every entry in the series. Though if you made me pick, it'd say either Lost Future or Spectre's Call, I can't choose between those two at all so you have to take that as my answer hehe.

3) What’s your favourite soundtrack?

Lost future hands DOOOWN, they went so hard on the OST for this one like it's insane, like so many of the songs on that soundtrack are so memorable and they stand out so well I jUST AAAA.

Plus the main theme makes me cry every time I hear it is so good. I love all the Layton main themes tbh they always fuck so hard lol but Lost Futures one is just the best to me its so all over the place but in such a good way.

4) What’s your favourite puzzle?

Ummmmmm I can't remember tbh, even more of an excuse to go play every layton game again lol. I do like sliding/jigsaw puzzles so anything along those lines would be one of my favourites!

The Alchemist Lab from MM’s and AL’s daily puzzles are a big favourite of mine!

5) What’s your favourite setting? (Misthallery, Monte d’Or, etc…)

I really fucking love Misthallery, like just the vibe for it is so good to me, mainly because it really does come off like a weird English town that's you'd just stumbled upon while exploring. Plus it's so….Misty..

6) What outfit of Luke’s is your favourite?

Gonna go with the OG trilogy on this one, sorry I just think his jumper is cute, I do love his other outfits though they're such a look. So hyped to see what his new outfit is going to be but I already love it!!!

7) What’s your favourite cutscene?

Maaaaaaaan there’s so many that stand out it’s hard for me to pick one!!! Any scene with Claire, all the fight scenes, the ferris wheel scene, the one where Luke gets fucking kidnapped and just screams for like a whole minute, any scene with Randal, the little cutscene where Arouras getting her new outfits (why was she Irish btw?), the ending to PL vs AA. They’re all so good to me and I love them all so much, insane.

8 ) What’s your favourite end credits song?

Azran Legacy's, I know AL isn't everyone's favourite because of how the story is but come oONNN THE END CREDIT SONG IS SUCH A GUT PUNCH, especially with the original Japanese lyrics to it!!! Genuinely sad they never dubbed over the end credit songs with lyrics because holy shit all the songs hit different with vocals added, I love you saxophone but you will never be a vocalist.

9) What’s your favourite minigame?

The tea mini game, I love giving those two the most rancid tea possible and watching them cry over it. I am really just a 5 year old making "potions" for people to consume and get sick from. Over favourite is the hotel mini game, I always feel super bad if i can’t get them both a bed before their first night at St Mystere but I love hearing them bitch and complain about their room layouts so much, Luke gets two beds just as a treat. :)

10) What’s your favourite animal/pet? (The bunny from MM, the parrot from UF, etc, etc.)

I love the bunny minigame but honestly the parrot, for the sole reason that you can name it My Dick and have Clive say "just sit back, and watch My Dick work its magic", like that is never not funny and if you say otherwise you're lying.

11) Do you have a favourite quote? If yes, what is it?

“Isn’t that odd, I find that odd! Doland, do you find that odd?” - Professor Layton

It is, in fact, odd.

12) If you could have a spinoff game about one character, who would you choose and what would the game be about?

Still holding out for that Luke solo American game, or just any Luke solo game, I know there was a mini one for Pandora's Box but I want a full game, send him out into the world to solve mysteries please he’ll love it.

I’ll also take an Flora, Emmy, or even Randal solo game, though I have no fuckin idea what kind of game. You think I could get a Randal farming simulator game??? Please???

13) If you could meet any character’s voice actor and have them say something to you as their character, who would you choose and what would you have them say?

I really wanna meet Luke's UK voice actor and ask her to say "Professor, have you heard of the hit new game Among us? Pretty Sus innit", I don't care how much money I have to pay for it, no price is high enough.

14) If you could punch one character in the face, who would it be?

Bill Hawks, I hate the government and I still want that bitch dead.

15) Would you change how any of the games are executed? If yes,what would you change?

The only one I'd change would be Azran Legacy, all I’d really do is just make the story more fixed/linier instead of giving the choice to the player, I just found it made the game feel a lot shorter than it is.

16) Did you enjoy PL-vs-PW?

YES YES YES I FUCKING DID SO MUCH, Mainly because this game gave me Darklaw and I don't talk about her nearly as much as I should, she takes up so much space in my brain.

I do suck at court cases so the ace Attorney parts were a bit challenging but other than that, it's a good game and I love it a lot teehee

17) Do you have any headcanons? If yes, what?

I do not, aside from like small things that I really can’t think of off the top of my head I got nothing, I’m sure if you sat me down and asked me to think hard enough i’d come up with one but my mind goes blank when i’m put on the spot lol

18) Did you cry at any games? If yes, what ones)

Yes, all of them, every single one, there is no exception. PL games just hit me in the emotions too much and make me so and cry and throw up everywhere.

19) Do you prefer the 2D art or the 3D art?

Gotta say 2D, no hate to the 3D style because I do actually like it, but not everyone translates well over to 3D, especially with how most of the Layton characters look.

That being said, hopefully they’ve improved a lot for the new game, but man I do think the push to make every game 3D is… not a good one lol.

20) How many times have you played your favourite game?

Ohhhhhh man idk, I replay the whole series like every year or so but it's been a while so I don't remember. Definitely more than once, I think I replayed Lost Future as soon as I completed it the first time because there’s something wrong with me.

21) Do you cosplay any characters? If yes, who? If no, would you like to? Who would you choose?

I used to cosplay as Luke a lot back when I was younger, haven't done it since because you know, I got other things to cosplay, but I could probably pull off his look a lot better now than I did then, my hairs actually short now. I would need to but everything again because despite not growing since I was 10, I have outgrown his old costume, still got the hat somewhere though hah!

22) Do you have any merchandise? If yes, what? If no, would you like any? What would you get?

I don’t have a lot but that’s just from me not going out to get it! I have the Eternal Diva Luke plush who’s one of my oldest plushes and I love him so much!!! Other than that, I have the Fangamer Curious Village t-shit which I wear whenever it’s clean, and I have a bunch of fan merch too! I just try and pick up PL stuff whenever I can but I definitely want to get into collecting more of it!

23) Has the series had an impact on your life?

Um??? Yes??? You think playing a video game at the age of 11 wouldn't??? This game has impacted me in ways I can't describe and helped spark my love for art and storytelling and creativity, so without it I wouldn't be nearly half the person I am today, it's hard for me to articulate exactly how, but trust me it has and I am so grateful for it.

24) When did you first discover the series?

I got Lost Future advertised to me in 2010, I don’t think i’d heard of the game series before, I wasn’t as chronically online as I am now so back then TV ads really did work on me lmao

25) How old were you when you first discovered the series?

I was about 11 or so, you know, a crucial age to have media influence your entire life.

26) How did you discover the series?

Again, it got advertised to me, so I asked to get Lost Future for christmas and my life has been a downward spiral ever since lmao

27) Will you play Layton 7?

Oh man you can tell this meme is old lmao

I can't even remember what Layton 7 was originally going to be??? Like I know it ended up being Kat's game but I know it was planned to be something before that, but I seriously can't remember what it was. But umm yes I will play layton 7, I'm one of those annoying fans that will play anything in a series regardless of its quality.

28) Do you have any ideas that could easily be future games?

I can’t think, they’re literally making a new one and I have no idea what it could be at this point, so they can throw whatever they want at me at this point and i’ll take it.

29) Did you enjoy Mystery Room?

Honestly, I never played it. I know I should and I probably will at one point, but I didn't have a smartphone when it was released so I kinda missed out on the hype for it unfortunately, again I might play it now but yea we’ll see, Alfred is a whole mood dhdjbwhd

30) If you could tell one character something, who would it be and what would you say?

I’d say to Clive that he had the right idea but a giant mobile fortress wasn’t the brightest idea, if he had the money to build a giant robot toy, he could’ve just exploded parliament instead. Think smarter Clive, also have fun rotting in prison, hope you stay there.

31) Did you enjoy Eternal Diva?

I LOVE ETERNAL DIVA SO MUCH!!! It’s such a Layton movie, like it's the perfect video game movie to me!!! it's just, so Layton. Everyone I've ever met has been subjected to this movie at some point in their life, it’s like important research in order to understand what’s up with me. If I'm friends with someone who hasn’t seen it yet, don’t worry, you soon will.

32) What was the saddest moment/s in the games for you?

Literally all the endings??? That’s why I keep crying like a bitch over all of them.

Though Luke leaving to go to America will never not make me cry, like just the whole set up for it as well as the end cutscene just, god that sucks so much wAA. Also any mention from Luke about his family makes me sad too, like both in Specters Call and PL vs AA, I don’t know why I just find it sad, boy deserves so much better than what happened to him in Specters Call like come OOON, Weird kids deserve so much love.

Oh also, the reunion scene in PL vs AA wasn’t sad but it still made me cry, so mad it never got turned into a cutscene.

33) Have you met people as a result of playing the games?

YES! MANY! A good chunk of my early online friends were from our shared interest in Layton! Even today I will happily bond with someone over this game and I am always happy to introduce people to it, it’s just such an amazing series that I really can’t praise enough. Hey you, dear mutual, if you’re reading this and you’re a Layton fan and you’ve never talked to me, you’re already my friend now because you have amazing taste in video games.

34) Do you want more games or do you think the series has run its course and is fine as it is?

OK SO, I ANSWERED THIS QUESTION A WHILE AGO AND ORIGINALLY I SAID NO, BUT THAT WAS BEFORE FEBRUARY 8TH 2023. I am bouncing off the walls and eating the furniture and kicking and screaming for a new layton game. I am so interested as to how this new one will play out but I am so HYPED for it and I’m so glad it doesn’t look to be going in the direction I was fearing it would go in if they made a new Layton game!!!

35) What Layton meme did you enjoy the most? (Clive and the snails? Desmond’s bread hair?)

Regret to inform you that I’ve been a Layton fan since 2010/11, so umm… I’m 42 years old, and uhh… baseball, if you even care. No attatchment to the source material it’s lost on me now, those quotes are just burned into my head from being 12 years old.

But I do 100% love Clive and snails, he’s so wrong by the way and I would put snails on him in a heartbeat.

36) Has a moment in the games ever scared you?

I used to be really scared at the fact that everyone in St Mystere were robots, like that just unnerved me so much, but that was 100% from me being scared of robots at the time I first played it, I’m better now but it still weirds me out a bit lol

Other than that, can’t really think of anything, anytime they all get

37) What’s the wackiest NPC you have ever seen?

All of them, LEVEL-5 just knows how to make insane looking characters that will kill you, I know a good chunk of them haven’t aged well but you know, not much I can do about that.

As for the wackiest, literally all the kids in Mistalery, there;s something so up with all of them I don't wanna go there ever.

38) Do you ship any characters? If yes, what are your ships?

Outside of any canon/canon implied ships, not really??? I never got into PL shipping it was just never for me, though I will admit that Ranlay is very fucking good and I appreciate it a lot. But yea I’m kinda more interested in all the found family stuff that goes on in PL games more than anything else!

39) Are you going to buy this art book when it comes out in November?

The original post for this meme is deleted so I can’t even check when this meme was posted. But umm, no I guess, if they do a new artbook for the new game then yes I will get it, no questions asked

40) Can you play any of the soundtracks on a musical instrument? If yes, what instrument and what soundtrack(s)? If no, would you like to learn? What ones would you like to be able to play?

I cannot play an instrument because I spent all my time learning how to sing instead, and I can’t even sing any of the layton songs because they’re all in Japanese and I don’t KNOW Japanese. Maybe if I ever learn one day then yea i’ll learn to play the ending credits.

#AURA SHUT UP #professor layton #ok well. um anyway. screaming and crying and throwing up everywhere still

4 notes · View notes

makeit0utalive · 2 years

Text

I’m not gonna read all the books that the songs on Every Trick In The Book are based on but I am gonna watch the movies so like always, thoughts below:

Romeo and Juliet (Star Crossed Enemies): Nearly everyone knows this story, I’ve read it and watched a movie for it. I love this song, it’s so so good. I love how it doesn’t solely focus on the love between Romeo and Juliet but also of their fate caused by the war between their families, hence the song title. My favorite song on the album, so good.

The Exorcist (Communion Of The Cursed): I’m not proud to admit…that I fell asleep during this movie…literally during the exorcism scene. Not my finest moment. What I did watch of this movie was good. I really wish I hadn’t been watching it on live tv and having to sit through commercials, because the movie is long enough (to me anyway) as is and the addition of commercials didn’t help. As for the song, this is definitely one that gets better after you have context for the lyrics. This was the first INK song I heard, so actually understanding it is a great feeling. I’ll probably watch this movie again some day, and hopefully not fall asleep during it…

Carrie (Hell In The Hallways): Let me just say I knew absolutely nothing about the story beforehand other than the song, so I was very much surprised to find out Carrie had powers. Like I just thought this story was about a girl that got bullied and took her anger out on them…though in a bit of an extreme way. I’ll be honest, I’ve never been super obsessed with this song, but after seeing the movie I enjoy it more!

Animal Farm (Nature Of The Beast): Ok I was expecting this movie to be kinda weird, but I had no clue it was going to be SAD? I was literally over here about to cry at some of the moments in this movie. There was definitely still some weirdness to it but it was sad!! I’ve always really liked this song but never really understood what it was about, so actually understanding what the lyrics are about really improves it. I will literally never watch this movie again or ever consider reading the book, because the movie made me upset.

Go Ask Alice (Alice): I had always wondered what this song was about when I first heard it, like what it was based on, because when I saw the title “Alice” I assumed it was based on Alice In Wonderland, but of course that wasn’t the case. I had no prior knowledge of this story, so when the ending happened…I was very surprised. **tw for mentions of drugs starting here** I’ve never been one to ever considering doing drugs or drinking, but I really believe this movie will stay with me in the future and probably keep me from making some bad decisions. If you won’t find it too triggering, I would honestly recommend watching (it’s free on Tubi) because this truly has an important message. As for the song, I like the intro of “dear diary…” more now that I have the context for it. For some reason I didn’t like it before. Overall, song does well on covering the message of the movie.

The Diary Of Anne Frank (The People In The Attic): I read this in 8th grade + watched a movie about it. I should look for the actual version because the one I read was in the book for our class and I’m pretty sure it left some things out. Anyway, I think most people know this story and how horribly tragic it is, especially knowing it’s real, not just a story based on someone, and I feel like maybe everyone should take the time to read it or at least watch one of the movies based on it. The song isn’t really super detailed, but I think that part right before the end was a good addition.

Tess Of The D’Urbervilles (Tess-Timony): So this is one where I definitely think the book would’ve been better than the movie. I think the movie left out some important parts (despite being like 3 hours long…) that really impacted the story. Watching this honestly didn’t help me understand the song any better. With that being said, I think this is an amazing song, and the book is probably good, but the movie…could’ve done better.

Alive (The Plot Sickens): “it’s hard to swallow the unthinkable” that’s such a horribly good pun for this movie/song. I’ve gotta give it to the people in this movie, they had a much stronger will to live than I would’ve. I’m gonna be honest I had no idea who was who in this movie. They all had such similar names. I don’t even know what to say about this film. The situation they were put in was just…horrifying. That’s all I have to say. I wasn’t always the biggest fan of this song, but I think I’ll enjoy it more now that I have the context. Or…maybe I won’t….

Jekyll & Hyde (Me, Myself & Hyde): this movie was kinda slow, but overall it was pretty good. Watching this made me realize that this song isn’t as detailed as I thought it was. It doesn’t seem to have as many direct references. I do like how the song goes from heavy verses to softer choruses, switching between the two as Jekyll and Hyde do. I feel like this song probably fits better with the book than the movie, but oh well. Song and movie are both pretty good, but not my favorites.

Dracula (Bloodbath & Beyond): why is this song like. Dracula but make it hot. Dracula is a crusty dusty musty old bastard why is his song giving sexy vibes. Anyway. Dracula is annoying as fuck. This mans was popping up everywhere. Like get a life dude. It’s funny that I saved this and Jekyll & Hyde for last because they both started the same person (as least the versions I watched). Fuckin Arthur and his 2010 Justin Bieber haircut was the most useless person. Ok I know I sound like I’m complaining but I actually kinda enjoyed this movie. It isn’t gonna be a new favorite but it’s not bad. Overall, pretty good movie, and I love the song even if I don’t get the sexy vibes.

And with that, I’ve now watched all the movies for the books that make up Every Trick In The Book. Maybe one day I’ll read the actual books and make another long post.

#i think it’s interesting how I didn’t love these movies as much as the ones for the other albums #i think it’s because these are all based on books #whereas many of the others were just straight up movies #i think movies based on books just aren’t as good #Ice Nine Kills

3 notes · View notes

faustocosgrove · 4 months

Text

and on the thirteenth day of reviewmas I, Fausto, give to thee:

[(a show taking place in 2040/6 other shows i reference in this dual review)/(a different franchise with 1 manga + 4 anime series + 3 tv specials + 5 feature films + 1 musical +1 video game + 2 live action adaptations)] - (one show released in 1994 - the other released in 1987) = 13 reasons why i’m placing this review at number 13.

one of 12 instances of elder abuse

11 yawns

my 10 remaining brain cells after this shitty movie jfc

9 instances this show reminded me of a better show

an 80s cult movie

7 lgbt main characters in an incredibly queer manga like holy shit

6 ye olde government agents

5/5 stars best movie of the decade easily. might be the best movie of all time

4 scantily clad teenaged girls (fbi open up! meme)

the 3rd time i read the same book about lawns maybe?

2 high school animes

and a ninja book

…from a guy who still thinks about the naruto series in the year 2024

yes that math checks out. i would have simply placed it else where if it didn’t.

here’s the math again without words to make it easier on you:

[(2040/6)/(1+4+3+5+1+1+2)]-(1994-1987)=13

hell, i’ll even show my work

2040/6=340 1+4+3+5+1+1+2=17 1994-1987=7 340/17=20 20-7=13

Another dual review!

this review contains spoilers for a series not reviewed here: the nausicaa manga.

So I was turned off by this first show’s art style and kept scrolling around it but i’m running out of bad 80s and 90s anime on this free streaming service. also there’s like 3 seasons and 2 movies i keep seeing over and over again so i finally said the hell with it and turned it on. i don’t know how far i got through episode one, but i turned it off before the credits rolled. Anyway, City Hunter is the story of a vigilante/mercenary in 80’s tokyo with a gun who is also a massive pervert. that’s it. that’s the show.

based on the wikipedia page, it seems to have been quite popular, considering is has like 2 seasons and 3 movies or whatever up on the streaming service i should have seen that coming.

y’know i’d brush off that i didn’t like this on the fact that i’m not a fan of crime dramas, but i literally watched all of Nightwalker and that show was fucking awful. and i would also make the excuse that i’m not a fan of pervert is comedy but that’s a good chunk of Ranma 1/2 and like all of Urusei Yatsura and i didn’t hate either of those. i dunno, stars weren’t aligned or something.

Anyway, since i was scraping the bottom of the barrel for 80s and 90s anime i made the massive genre shift to a 90s american saturday morning cartoon.

i am not a clever man.

I also only got part way through episode one of Phantom 2040, but i’ll probably come back to it, just not often enough to shelve this review until i do.

I have never seen an animated show where everyone is ugly before. it’s fascinating. i want to study it. i mean the bad guys are clearly uglier than the main cast, but even the Phantom, who is supposed to be an 18 year old kid, is kinda ugly. best looking character in the whole cast so far is light googling Guran, the grandson of the original Guran. i mean at least in a franchise that’s core theme is “white man gets magic power from africa and is trained by a black man” makes everyone uglier than the one black character. i choose to believe that was intentional. tiny consolidation prize for the overarching racism.

the show also has that 80’s “this show was made for the sole purpose of selling merchandise” feel, mainly in how all the character models look like they’d translate into dolls very easily. unfortunately the result of the dollification is that everyone is doing the tory power stance at all times. like, so the doll can stand up by having its feet apart. this choice also leads to a lot of weird crotch shots. like, a guy or an evil robot gets shot and tumbles backward. with their legs apart. so you just get this animation rotating around the whole no-no-zone. and like i can see kids playing with their dolls shoot them and they die and knocking them over and like the kid knocks the doll down to show it’s dead. and this is like animating that. but it’s still weird crotch shots.

mild tangent warning, but i am going somewhere with this.

i am a huge fan of nausicaa of the valley of the wind. it’s my favorite book, bar none. yes my favorite book is a manga, shut up. i’m really touchy when it comes to nausicaa references. i detest the character rei from the new star wars movie because the opening sequence of that movie is just nausicaa references and then the rest of the movie has zero environmentalism. i’m also a huge Lily Orchard fan who has through the years used rei as an example of a perfectly fine character that men don’t like just because she’s a girl. and in spite of all the evidence i’ve seen of rei being a perfectly fine character whose trials and growth just don’t happen to revolve around environmentalism, i still can’t bring myself to like the character because i can’t detach the lazy nausicaa references from her. a thinking error on my part, but i just can’t fix it.

and then there’s the movie I Kill Giants where in the final battle the little girl’s hallucination tells her to stop fucking around and go see her mother before she dies of cancer and then drops the line “All things that live in this world die. That is why you must find joy in the living while the time is yours, and not fear the end. To deny this, is to deny life. But to embrace it…can you embrace it?” which has some, keyword some, resemblance to the final fight scene in nausicaa where our hero says “all things are born from the darkness and all things return to the darkness” and “suffering and folly will not disappear in a purified world. they are part of humanity. that is why, even in a world of suffering, there can also be joy and shining light” and “we can know the beauty and cruelty of the world without the help of a giant tomb and its servants” which is not to say that i think the mom cancer movie was ripping off nausicaa like starwars did. i understand that accepting death is a concept that many works depict and use almost these exact phrases because we all have to fuckin grapple with death, but the lesson of accepting death is an important one and it’s one the movie i kill giants did poorly. but because i’m obsessed with nausicaa it’s an insult to nausicaa to tell a story where a little girl is in denial for like 80 minutes then gets all the lessons crammed in her face that she somehow accepts suddenly versus nausicaa who comes to this realization herself after her father dies in book one of seven, being in a content wide war, and suffering from radiation poisoning herself. i mean even her pets die. her teacher dies. and in the purified garden scene nausicaa has to be brainwashed for her to forget all that’s going on and she only struggles for about 5 minutes with the idea of forgetting the real problem and playing a game of everything being fine in fantasy land before she snaps back to reality.

wow i really wrote more words letting you know how obsessed i am with nausicaa than i did reviewing either of the shows.

anyway, back to phantom 2040. there’s this bit about the new phantom discovering a leaf that after scientific analysis is determined to be a plant that absorbs the poison in the soil and destroys it.

unenthusiastic drumroll

exactly like the forest of corruption in nausicaa.

and… i don’t hate it.

i don’t know why it doesn’t come across as blatant plagiarism to me when i kill giants literally had nothing to do with nausicaa and i hold it to that standard anyway. it might be because i haven’t finished the series so i don’t know how bad it gets. it might be because phantom 2040 clearly didn’t make any money so i guess i think stealing is okay if you suck at stealing so bad you can’t even make money by copying literally the best thing to ever be written? sure. there you go, there’s my review.

#fausto reviews things #city hunter #phantom 2040

0 notes

simplyotometrash · 3 years

Text

MC turns into MSheep!

Inspired by the lil anime announcement we got because I love MC still being represented by a lil sheepie~!

As usual, this is gender-neutral reader!MC

It was a total accident. You were just working on your potion project with Solomon. He was helping you with the math of it, mostly, since it was pretty complicated. You had no idea where things went wrong. There was a puff of pink smoke when you added the last ingredient and suddenly Solomon was a giant! Well, actually you were turned into a small pink sheep...

Lucifer:

He didn’t know what to say when Solomon brought you home.

You were a sheep. A tiny sheep. And very pink.

His beloved was a sheep.

Lucifer.exe has stopped responding.

Honestly, give this old man a few moments to take in the shock and let things settle.

Then he’s going to threaten Solomon because who else would have turned you into a fucking sheep?

A tiny voice sounded from the sheep. It sounded like you, only smaller.

“It was my fault. I think. Solomon didn’t even touch my potion ingredients.”

Well, that doesn’t change anything. Solomon had best change you back or else.

And those words shot pure ice through your veins. You knew when your Lucifer got pissed off, his threats were not to be taken lightly.

For the time being, however, you had to live as a sheep.

Lucifer didn’t hesitate to just carry you everywhere. What if you got lost? Or Beel tried to eat you? Or Belphie thought you were a pillow? Or Mammon tried to sell you?

There were too many variables and this old demon just wanted some peace of mind.

So you went literally everywhere with him. You two still talked as normal. You even slept in his room still.

You promised yourself to help him relax once you were human again. You knew your situation caused a lot of unneeded stress on the poor man.

It took three whole days before Solomon was able to change you back.

But when you were human again you didn’t expect Lucifer to hug you so tightly or give you such a firm kiss. He had missed his human being, well, a human far more than he cared to admit.

But you better make good on helping him relax. I think there’s some grey in his hair now.

Mammon:

Haha, good joke, Solomon! Now, where was his human? Really, where were they hiding?

He was so sure it was a prank and you were taking pictures from the bushes or something.

When you voice sounded from the small sheep Mammon nearly fainted.

What the fuck did Solomon do to his human?! The Great Mammon’s human was a sheep!

You explained your situation and Mammon only grew more jittery.

He was grinding his teeth. He didn’t hesitate, though, to snatch you away from Solomon and hold you like you were the most sacred thing in the whole of Devildom.

“Ya better turn them back! I can make money at the casinos so name the price!”

Oh he was serious. Mammon was willing to pay good Grimm just to turn you back.

And Solomon, after cruel teasing with pricing your return to human at over a million Grimm, said he would do it for free. After all, there was no telling if this would wear off or if it needed to be reversed.

So he would do it. It was a good chance to study your potion recipe and figure out how you fucked up.

Mammon, like his older brother, took you literally everywhere with him. But by everywhere I do mean everywhere. Lucifer at least had the decency to leave you out when he went to the bathroom. Mammon did not.

He was also making sure to keep you away from Asmo, who had fallen for your pink and fluffy form on sight.

Mammon talked to you like you were still human. He treated like his human.

But he also acted like you would break at any second. He had never been so careful in his life.

He honestly cried on the third day, worried you might be stuck as a sheep. He didn’t know what to do.

Of course, you were turned back by that evening. Solomon had dropped by to check in and the potion naturally wore off.

Mammon hugged you so tight you felt like you were being suffocated.

But he was back to normal the second Solomon joked that he wanted to get paid for his efforts.

Levi:

Once Solomon was able to get into his bedroom, Levi just about fainted at the sight of you.

He wasn’t even skeptical about this.

It was just like the anime “Help I’ve Accidentally Been Turned Into a Sheep and Now I’m Stuck!”. Literally, just like the anime!

You needn’t worry about anyone trying anything with you while Solomon worked to turn you back, it wasn’t like you would be leaving Levi’s room very much.

You were in his lap almost 24/7 save for when you needed food or to go to the bathroom. Or he needed to do the same.

His room was a fortress so you were pretty much safe.

You couldn’t remember the last time you got to spend quite that much time with your otaku. He could be difficult at times, especially when he was playing a game.

You actually relished the time spent as a sheep because of it.

Levi was not-so-secretly getting more and more anxious though.

He saw the anime! He made you watch it with him in one sitting, too! What if this turned out just like the anime and you never turned back into a human?

The main character in the anime was a sheep for an entire YEAR!

If he had a soul it would have left his body at the very thought.

By the end of the third day you could tell he was totally falling apart.

His partner was a sheep. Probably forever.

With a poof of pink smoke you were human again.

And Levi unconscious because, for some reason, you turned human and had no clothes on.

You just put on some of his clothes for the time being and called Solomon.

You caught a glimpse in the mirror as you were on the phone and told him to keep working on that reversal potion.

You still had sheep fluff for hair, horns, and sheep ears...

Satan:

If looks could kill then Solomon would have been dead where he stood.

The sin of wrath was so pissed off that there was an evil, menacing aura radiating from him.

And it was directed solely at Solomon.

“I don’t even want you working on a way to turn them back. You might be a great sorcerer but I’m going to do this myself.”

He snatched you away and slammed the door in the sorcerer’s face.

No one tried to bother him as he stormed back to his room.

“I promise I’m going to turn you back, MC.”

He poured over his books and had you give him the potion you had been making. You had to tell every single detail you could remember of what happened leading up to your transformation.

But he didn’t only focus on turning you back.

He couldn’t neglect you being in the room with him. You still brought out the calm within him and made him feel at ease.

When you insisted he take breaks, he would make some tea and give you a straw so you didn’t get tea in your wool.

Like he usually did, he read to you when you wanted to go to sleep. It was even more relaxing holding a warm ball of fluff.

But he barely slept.

He had to figure out a way to turn his favorite person back to normal.

You were still you, no doubt about that, but he missed you being a person. Someone he could kiss and hold hands with. Someone he didn’t have to worry about accidentally crushing or losing because you were so small.

He finally figured it out. He studied your potion recipe for hours on end until he figured out what went wrong. You had been given a recipe that had been “mislabeled”.

Knowing that made it a cinch to turn you back within the hour.

Now to murder the dodgy sorcerer who gave you the recipe for class to begin with.

Asmo:

“Whaaaaaat? MC? A sheep? Oh, darling, you are so cute! And so soft!!”

He canonically loves cute things (did you read the Devilgram story about him taking care of bunnies?) so he was having the time of his life.

And then it hit him as soon as Solomon laughed.

He couldn’t go out on dates with you. He couldn’t kiss you. Or see your stunning face. Your voice wasn’t the same.

Solomon promised to do what he could to fix this, but it could take a few days.

Did he spend the next hour crying and hugging your fluffy body? Yes, yes he did.

You got him calmed down, reassuring him that it was temporary and there were some perks. He would totally get lots of attention on Devilgram if he posted your pictures! You were pink, his favorite color! You had lots of soft wool he could brush and he could paint your tiny sheep hooves!

That perked him right up.

He spent the next several hours styling your wool, somehow managing to put braids in it. He gave you cute decorative pieces to wear in your wool, painted your hooves to match his nails, and even gave you a little bowtie!

And boy did his Devilgram blow up with attention at the sight of your pictures.

You even inspired his newest clothing designs! Clothing for pets! Devildom didn’t have a cute variety of pet clothes, and while you weren’t a pet, you were very inspiring to look at.

Even pets deserved to look beautiful!

You were so soft to snuggle with but nighttime really made him miss you. Even in an innocent way, he missed skin-to-skin cuddling. It was always so reassuring.

But he didn’t have that.

He managed to get through the days that went by before Solomon finally turned you back.

And he was beginning to wonder if Solomon had drawn out your time as a sheep on purpose.

That didn’t matter, though. Not when he had to take you out on a date!

Beel:

Solomon was holding something soft and fluffy. Was it food? Cotton candy? It looked really sweet and tasty.

“Beel, no, it’s me!”

“MC...?”

He wasn’t happy once the situation was explained. But he didn’t show it. To be fair, he wasn’t the most outwardly expressive of his emotions unless it was necessary.

With Solomon’s promise to return you to normal, he just carried you back to the kitchen with him.

But he wasn’t hungry anymore. Not when his dear human was in a new and unusual form.

It caused him to go into a bit of a crisis, though.

What did sheep eat? What could YOU eat? You were a human in a sheep’s body after all. Did you have to eat what sheep ate or could you still eat your favorite things?

He sat there, staring at the cupboards and fridge, with the most worried look on his face.

To be fair, you weren’t sure either.

And you two stayed liked that until Satan said you could still eat whatever you liked, though it would be best to avoid meat unless it was basically shredded.

Then came Beel’s next huge crisis: he was terrified of crushing you!

You were so tiny and delicate now, even more fragile than when you were a human.

It took a little convincing but Beel took to carrying you literally everywhere you wanted to go. He loved how soft you were.

Though you didn’t like how often he drooled on you because your fluff looked too tasty. You promised to get him cotton candy once you were a human again, which kind of helped the situation.

Beel even made sure to make everything you ate easy on you! He didn’t want anything to be hurtful to your little sheep body or hard for you to eat!

He didn’t hesitate to help you drink the reversal potion once Solomon got it made, holding his breath until he saw you in your proper state again.

He could breathe easy again.

Belphie:

What was Solomon carrying? A new pillow or something?

It looked so soft and like it would be a perfect napping pillow.

He wasn’t even listening to anything Solomon had to say, the explanation going in one ear and out the other.

He was focused on going inside to use the new pillow.

Until he heard you talking to him after Solomon had given up on explaining anything.

Now he was mildly concerned. You weren’t you anymore. You were a sheep. He actually listened as you told him your story, unlike with Solomon, and he merely shrugged.

“Well, what can you do? You’ll be normal again eventually.”

You knew your grumpy demon, though. He was worried about you. But Belphie was never good at showing his worry for others unless it was drastic.

True to form, he passed out once he laid down again. You were held against him as if you might disappear while he slept.

It was all the more proof he was worried about your situation.

He still slept most of the time, he was like a cat in that he slept for hours without moving. You had to wiggle free to do anything. No one wanted to wake up to a sheep smelling like piss and you didn’t want a bath.

Belphie whined that taking care of you as a sheep was too much work, but the moment anyone tried to take you from him he immediately got defensive. He even threatened to break Mammon’s hands.

The only one he trusted with you was Beel.

Always sleeping holding your little sheep self did make him realize he wanted a stuffed animal version of you just like that.

It was so nice to snuggle with.

But he missed the normal you. He wanted to have you to lay on or go “star” gazing with. He wanted to do things with you again that weren’t quite possible with you as a sheep.

So he may have gone to find Solomon and threaten him if he didn’t turn you back quicker.

It was all for naught, as he came home to find you curled up in his bed in your human form once again.

He’d wake you up later. For now, he wanted to take another nap with you.

#obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me shall we date #obey me lucifer #obey me mammon #obey me levi #obey me leviathan #obey me satan #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me belphie #obey me belphegor #obey me fluff #waylonwrites

1K notes · View notes

constellaj · 3 years

Text

top ten danny phantom episodes based solely on how gay dash is in them

i will not be ranking these based on plot, animation, or literally any other criteria ok here we go

10: Public Enemies

dash himself is not very gay in this one but danny does beat him up and he gets the angst of being possessed and not remembering what happens. also this screenshot is literally so gay

4/10 for wasted potential in proving dash is gay. this couldve gone so much harder. but bonus points for for passed out dash

9: Doctor’s Disorders

fellas is it gay to lock yourself in a bathroom stall so fenturd doesnt see the horrible monster youve become, tell him to ‘get away,’ and then pass out before being able to fight him despite being a school jock who could probably deal some damage and has a better immune system than the other kids? is it also gay to then when your entire life revolves around ghosts and having ghost powers to watch a sappy romcom while waiting for phantom to come save you? the answer is yes. 6/10 again it couldve gone harder

8: Frightmare

again dash himself isnt explicitly gay in this episode. but danny why is your ultimate dream scenario being best friends with dash and having him know your secret. it gets a higher rating than the other two bc its literally a wish fulfillment scenario aka 174% more gay. but mathematically speaking 2/10 for baiting me with dash in the first two minutes and then never bringing him back

7: Forever Phantom

“watch it, fentertainment tonight! i’m chasin’ a real somebody!” 10/10

also spending the entire episode devoted to hanging with phantom + another reference to the romance channel. not very nuanced but still very gay

6: Reality Trip

what do you think it means when the school jock finds out your secret, wastes exactly 0 time in helping you, and finds a way to shoehorn in giving you his clothes to wear while doing it. dash was only in this entire movie for like 4 minutes but damn if he wasnt homosexual for all of them 7/10

5: Ultimate Enemy

”but dash wasn’t even IN the ultimate enemy!!11!1!” EXACTLY. if older dash had been in the future with dark dan he simply would have smooched him and then there would have been no conflict. if younger dash had shown up to the big fight then dark dan wouldve broke down sobbing at what couldve been. they had to restrain dash from this entire episode bc of his power. 9/10 i know the truth.

4: Splitting Images

it is important to remember that dash has no goddamn idea that’s sidney. danny literally does 1 (one) nice thing for him and dash decides “ok well i will be his best friend and play football with him and be impressed by his skills and then throw a party and also put my hands on his shoulders several times.” this proves my point that if danny werent a little shit he and dash would already have been dating by the time the show starts. 8/10 for letting dash be mundanely gay instead of knowing anything about ghosts. it doesnt happen very often

3: Attack of the Killer Garage Sale

do you ever just get a tutor who happens to be the exact sister of that nerd you pick on and also call him a twink and then invite him to your party even though you do not have to and specifically tell him the dress code and get him at the popular kids table and then realize he might not have the money for the dress code so you intentionally seek him out to give him money for some computery thing you dont know about but you also also realize that probably isnt enough so last minute you change the entire dress code to something you know he has and wear his exact outfit to make him seem cool by comparison. do you ever do that.

also these two shots are back to back 10/10

2: Micro Management

the pièce de résistance of all dash content. im talking 20 minutes of nonstop dash. im talking taking every opportunity to talk about how cool phantom is. im talking abt getting grabbed by phantom to be saved by him. im talking abt having a mental breakdown cause you think youre not good enough. im talking about casually flirting via jokes. im talking being unable to stop thinking abt fenton even when youre face to face with your biggest hero. im talking about saying “we did it!!! :D” to cheer on said hero. im talking taking his hand. holding his hand. being lifted or pulled. im talking abt flipping the switch to save the day! im talking abt micro fucking management baybey!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12/10

but what in the goddamn world could have more gay dash than micro management??? well ill tell you

1: Pirate Radio

he SAVES him. he calls him a hero. they are on EQUAL FOOTING and they KNOW IT. they have MATCHING GODDAMN OUTFITS!!!!!!!!!!! dashs personality doesnt have to be absolutely scrapped for him to be gay (”but i will be wailing on you”) but he clearly DOES get better (”sorry, old habits.”) he puts his heart and soul into fighting side by side w danny and we dont even SEE dashs parents which means that is Not Exactly The Reason he Is Here. he also believes with 0 hesitation that fenton is capable of throwing a total rager. NO there is not as much dash here as in micro management but. i mean look at these screenshots. THIS is gay representation. THESE are some genuine fucking boyfriends. 18/10

#danny phantom #dash baxter #swagger bishie #danny fenton #micro management #pirate radio #attack of the killer garage sale #long post

3K notes · View notes

lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 3 years

Note

If you ever do write for Dash, what direction would you go with him? What would his motivations be?

(I like seeing him as a closeted romantic who drinks the toxic masculinity kool-aid and Danny is his "favorite" because he has feelings for him and that just makes him more insecure and angry, but I don't think that would be fun for you)

oooh I feel like Dash very much fits into the category of someone who has been moulded by his expectations

canonically we know that he collects teddy bears, and has a tiny dog named uhhh Pooky? I think? he's clearly got a soft side that he keeps very firmly closeted (literally in the teddy bear case)

I thought maybe his obsession with football could be a parental influence, the cliché football dad pushing him in one direction, but that's boring and overused, I want him to have a dad like the Coach from trollhunters tbh, big Sport Man but also Super Nice and Supportive, mean jock having nice parents is a dynamic I really dig

so then I thought, this would have to be either self imposed expectations or pressure from friends or the school, Dash has mentioned multiple times in the canon that he has a very bleak outlook for his future, he has very little confidence in his abilities outside of football

I propose that Dash struggles so much in school that he has to rely on football as his one only ticket to success, maybe he has an undiagnosed learning disorder or dyslexia, something that's made it almost impossible to study properly and learn at the same level as other kids, leading him to rely on his physical prowess alone as a career option

and his whole attitude wouldn't be solely because he has learning difficulties (that's rarely a reason or excuse for treating people like shit and also a stereotype I don't wanna lean into) it's more that he's surrounded himself with other jocks who've built this toxic environment that made him bury his shit deep down and he's become afraid to ask for help for fear of ridicule

he doesn't force other kids to do his homework because he has a learning disability, he forces kids into doing his homework instead of asking for help because he's been taught that asking for help is for losers, the behaviour is a direct result of his social group and the education system failing him by not looking more deeply into his struggles, teachers will just always assume he's lazy and not ask further questions

so he struggles in school without understanding why, relies on football as the One Thing he can do well, but falls into that awful jock mentality that makes him a pretty shitty person, but he can't get out of that because he relies on being good at football, he can't lose his place on the team or the respect of his teammates, it's all he has, he is trapped in that toxic cesspool

so he walks like them, talks like them, shoves other kids around like them, and when he finally starts to realise there might be a reason he's struggling, he keeps his mouth shut about it because he doesn't want to get special treatment because he doesn't want people to know, because teenagers are fucking awful and his 'friends' would absolutely give him hell about it

I'm sure his parents would have figured something out eventually and that's why he ends up being tutored by Jazz, maybe she was willing to research his issues and work with him to find a way to manage it discreetly

so I don't think Dash would have been an awful guy by nature, I think if he hadn't lumped himself into a bad crowd he wouldn't be so insecure and wouldn't have to take it out on anyone, I think he really does like soft things and cute things and little animals and he absolutely has a secret instagram full of softcore vibes, and he's probably really sweet to his parents and behind closed doors

I also think the only friend he's open to about this is Kwan because Kwan is also Peak Soft Boy but he struggles to hide it, which is why in the one ep where Danny was given a place at the popular table, Kwan was the first guy they kicked out, Dash probably felt pretty bad about that but he couldn't let the other guys think he was going soft, they all voted Kwan and he felt like he had to follow suit, otherwise it would be him next time

I think he picks Danny as a target because Danny is probably a lot smarter than he looks, Dash might have been stuck sitting next to him at some point in middle school and watched Danny scribble out his work at the last minute and still get pretty decent marks

it probably pisses him off that Danny is so clearly really smart but just can't be bothered doing the work properly (when really Danny is adhd as hell and struggles in his own different ways)

so Dash picks him to do all his homework, because he knows Danny can do it, and he thinks Danny deserves it for wasting the skills Dash wishes he had

and Danny does it, because he's scared of Dash and also because it keeps Dash from shoving him in his locker tomorrow, he'll do the damn homework because he just wants to get through the day

Dash probably gets a whole lot worse once the events of the show take place because Danny was barely managing to get everything done to begin with but now with a chronically disrupted schedule via ghost shenanigans, he can barely get his own homework done let alone Dash's

which is why Dash gets extra personal about it, Danny is once again wasting his potential, he's failing his classes because Dash can only assume he's being a lazy piece of shit, instead of being a cripplingly exhausted neurodivergent superhero

honestly if his teachers had picked up on his difficulties early and he was given the help he needed he could focus on more than just football and not be stuck completely relying on that social group, he probably wouldn't even resent Danny, I like to think that he eventually starts to mellow out halfway through high school as people start to grow up and become less petty

I like to think he chases down Danny after graduation and gives a genuine apology for how he treated him, once he's come to understand himself a little better (talking to Jazz really helped), Danny doesn't forgive him right away, but is willing to let Dash earn his forgiveness by proving he has really changed, he probably gets involved in support groups for troubled kids as a way of atoning, keeps the cycle from repeating

so yeah those are my Dash thoughts, a soft boy by nature who's the victim of a shitty education system and toxic masculinity, but he comes out the other side alright

#asks #lula's headcanons #danny phantom #dash baxter #I am both Dash and Danny tbh #I'm almost 100% certain I have dyscalculia #I got brutally humiliated for asking a question in math class in my first year of high school #NEVER ASKED A QUESTION AGAIN #I JUST S U F F E R E D

147 notes · View notes

lovebecomeshim · 3 years

Note

hello! your zutara posting today has finally motivated me to ask this question because I came to atla very late(last year, to be specific) and I Love It Very Much but am 1000% out of the loop as far as why what remains of fandom (at least that I've seen among my friends) is so very strongly zutara. I'm not opposed to it per se I just don't really know what has driven it to apparently be such a popular ship? can you help me understand and maybe convert me a little bit?

Hey!! Your ICON! :D I can try but I’m not sure how coherent I’ll be; however I AM sure someone a lot more competent will be willing to add to this. Either way, I’m glad you asked because my plan was to drag down as many people as possible with me.

*smacks the hood of zutara* this baby can fit so much mutual love and support!

This got so long, I’m so sorry. I don’t know how to put it under a cut on mobile and it already got deleted once so I’m scared to mess with it lol. Moving on.

I’m gonna start this with a disclaimer that im on mobile so formatting is tricky and I’m also really new to atla in that I only completed my first watch through in like 2019??? So some of my info is all just based on what I’ve picked up from Discourse 👀 so anyway the sparknotes version: zutara was wildly popular from the beginning. To the point where the atla crew internally disagreed on which ship should be endgame. (Ex. Bryke [showrunners] asked the writers to rewrite The Southern Raiders to make Zuko seem less ideal for Katara than Aang [which failed, depending on who you ask]; the animation team purposefully created a visual parrallel between Oma and Shu in the Cave of Two Lovers and Zuko and Katara in the catacombs under Ba Sing Se in the Crossroads of Destiny; etc.)

The ship was popular enough that Bryke actually chose to display zk fanart at a con for the sole purpose of mocking the fans, but that’s neither here nor there. The entire episode Ember Island Players, while a love letter to/parody of the whole show, was an opportunity to address zutara’s viability as a canon pairing (while, again, mocking zutaras for romanticizing that catacombs scene). Point is! It’s always been popular but with it not being endgame, there’s got to be something that’s given it staying power.

And that’s honestly got to do with three things: their dynamic, thematic cohesion, and potential.

(You know what... you know what, it’s four things. The fourth is they’re so aesthetically pleasing together and individually. Like, they’re just good looking people [specifically when they’re grown but they’re also cute kids] and that absolutely doesn’t hurt) (but it’s not the Point, it’s just nice to point out sometimes)

The dynamic is hard to get into without also looking at the canon pairings, but I think I can do that without unnecessary bashing. It’s just that part of the magic of zutara is really highlighted by what they give to each other that their other relationships don’t.

First off, it’s classic enemies to (would be) lovers. The absolute truest form of it. It’s not too different from how CS started out: a rogue antagonist with a job to do—but no personal vendetta against the future love interest—who is deeply and emotionally invested in his personal storyline (revenge/redemption) with little regard for how it effects other people after his entire life and genuine good nature are marred by suffering, and a fierce warrior girl with a strong moral compass and her own personal investment in stopping him (protect her family and save the world doing it). Obviously frustration and animosity grew between them by the nature of them being on opposing sides, but that just lends itself to the sweetness of their later reconciliation.

The thing is that while they’re wildly different on the surface (he’s a hot-headed prince of a fascist regime who is trying to capture the Avatar to please his father; she’s a nurturing daughter of the chief who is trying to protect and train the Avatar in order to topple his father’s throne) they find out that they have so much more in common both in their experiences and their personalities.

(What follows is an excessive use of the word “both” and I’m sorry about that)(I can edit it. I can do that. That IS an option............)

They both have an innate sense of justice that they are determined to see done (zuko, at the war meeting, sticking up for the Earth Kingdom kid when the guards torment his family, choosing not to steal from the pregnant couple despite his circumstances, abiding by his word to leave the SWT should Aang come willingly, etc.; katara, literally.... at any point). They both have pretty one-track minds at accomplishing certain goals once they’ve put their mind to it, regardless of a lack of support in that endeavor (it goes without saying I guess, but zuko’s entire hunt; katara’s determination to get the earth benders to fight back, her determination to absolutely destroy Pakku until he agrees to teach her, etc.). They both lost their mothers at young ages. Their worlds are war-torn and traumatizing to them both, if in different ways, but that ultimately forces them to grow up too quickly to be wholly independent individuals. They both have issues with their fathers (for WILDLY different reasons, but). They both hold extreme prejudices that they need to learn to overcome (which ties into thematic cohesion)(bit like Lizzie and Darcy in that way but magnified by a million). They’re both extremely emotional and empathetic—which can and often does result in loud outbursts. Katara’s a bit better adjusted and can temper her anger for longer than S1 Zuko can, but they both feel that anger deeply and have no compunctions expressing it (Katara is, usually, more justified, particularly in S1. Again, S1 Zuko is severely maladjusted but at the point when they could’ve feasibly become a couple, he’s so much better off with the way he carries himself). They both struggle with feelings of inferiority in their bending abilities when confronted with prodigal benders like Aang and Azula, but have the work ethic required to double down and become two of the most powerful benders in the three remaining nations. This is a little more minor but it is a parrallel that appeals to some shippers that they both have these alter egos in the Painted Lady (notably fire nation coded) and the Blue Spirit (water tribe coded) that are pretty different from who they are day-to-day and are useful in accomplishing a purpose that they as themselves cannot.

(I’m.... I just realized that this could potentially get very long. Should I have made a slide show with bullet points??????)

Anyway, similar. I know there’s more but there’s literally so much to love about zutara that I’ll drive myself a little crazy trying to compile all the ways they’re similar. (Just gonna say that at this exact moment I went back to add more similarities.... so okay then)

Once they’ve reconciled, we see how all of these things only lend themselves to a deeper intimacy together than they share with literally anyone else. There’s a steady partnership that positions them as the mom/dad of the gaang, while also providing the support necessary to allow the other to not have to carry so much responsibility. A lot of zutaras will point out how zuko is actually depicted doing the more domestic chores that are normally relegated to Katara once he joins the gaang, since the others in the group are two 12-year-olds and sokka. The one that sticks out the most is how he makes tea for the group and then serves them, while Katara is able to just relax with her friends around the fire. Fanon expands upon this a lot to Zuko helping with the laundry or the cooking or whatever else needs doing since he, as a once-refugee, is used to doing his own domestic tasks. Before Zuko joined, Katara was the one mothering everyone, sewing for them, cooking for them, etc. She’s always tending to the needs of the group, and that includes emotionally. She does the emotional labor for the gaang 99% of the time, but when she’s the one falling apart, she’s usually doing it alone and without the comfort that she normally provides for others. Until Zuko. And that’s before they’re even friends.

Which is WHY people romanticize the catacombs of Ba Sing Se so much. Katara is verbally attacking Zuko out of her own righteous anger but also her own prejudice when Zuko, surprisingly, chooses to be vulnerable with her. He’s been on a journey that’s opened his eyes a bit, but he’s never actively chosen to expose the rawest parts of his past to anyone. But for some reason he chooses to do that with Katara of all people. While she’s yelling at him. He sees her humanity, and for once can look past his prejudice and empathize with her. And this time, when she breaks down, she gets to be comforted. Katara normally talks about her mother when she’s trying to explain to someone else that she sees and understands they’re pain, as a form of comfort to them. Here, Zuko uses the exact same tactic. He sees her and he understands. And for zuko? He’s not being shut down. He’s allowed to articulate his pain regarding his mother without being ignored and made to internalize it, and he’s allowed to process how he feels about his scar out loud without being told that he deserved it. And then he lets her touch his scar, something we’ve seen him actively avoid before. He’s completely open to her and she’s completely open to him and all it took was one five minute conversation. She was about to use the little bit of Spirit water that she had, that she was saving for something Important, to heal the scar that still daily causes him pain just because they had, somehow, connected.

Plus there’s the whole parallel to the star-crossed lovers forbidden from one another, a war divides their people—

And then zuko messes up, he regresses, he gets what he wants and he HATES it. And the sense of justice he had as a child has been restored to him against his will and he can’t think of anything he wants to do more than the Right Thing, so he joins team avatar. Before he does that though, we get to see his relationship with Mai, which is where comparison really comes in. And what we see is Zuko, fresh off of his encounter with Katara in the catacombs, trying to be emotionally honest with Mai... and getting shut down and dismissed. Which is just how Mai is and it’s fine, but not for Zuko. Still, he keeps trying, and he keeps getting ignored or scoffed at or yelled at. Which is really a larger symbol for how he doesn’t fit in his old life anymore, but again that’s about thematic cohesion. He tries to articulate his anxieties about returning home, he tries to make romantic gestures, he tries to explain how morally conflicted he’s feeling—and Mai diverts to some kind of physical affection to shut him up and a parting comment that is pretty much always, in essence, “I don’t wanna talk about this.” So they don’t. On the other hand, once zuko and Katara are friends, we see him again emotionally distraught and caught up in his anxieties about facing Iroh, and it’s Katara who comes to him and listens to him and comforts and encourages him.

Similarly, we have Aang clamming up and getting uncomfortable whenever Katara shows any negative emotion, usually resulting in him making excuses or running away. Or, in the case of the Southern Raiders, lecturing her on how she needs to just let go of her anger about her mother’s murder. People have talked this episode to death and usually better than I ever could, so imma... keep it brief. There’s a serious disconnect between Aang and Katara in his ability to empathize with Katara and her needs that has her tamping down her vulnerability and amping up her anger. He tells her that he was able to forgive his people’s genocide and appa’s kidnapping (petnapping? Theft??), which is blatantly not true but also not an entirely equal parrallel to Katara’s situation, and continues making these little remarks throughout the episode. But it’s Zuko that Katara opens up to. It’s with him that she’s able to talk about the most traumatic day of her life, and it’s with him that she’s able to get the closure she needs, cementing their bond as friends and partners. This disagreement between Aang and Katara is then... never resolved. They just never bring it up and hear what the other is saying.

There’s a fic called The Portraits of Ember Island that has a line that so completely sums up the heart of the matter for why people love their dynamic. For context, zuko has woken up early to help Katara with the cooking and they spend the whole time just letting one another talk, and zuko stops to ask why she always just lets him talk. And so she stops to ask why he’s always helping, and it goes as follows:

There’s just... so much mutual support! Trust! Intimacy!! And it just continues like that from the Southern Raiders on, listening to each other, advising each other, watching each other’s backs! And then! Literally saving each other’s lives!! I will never be over the last Agni kai. Not ever. Zuko may have been willing to jump in front of lightning for anyone, but he actually did it for Katara. And in a show, that’s the thing that really matters. It’s a fulfilled trope usually exclusively applied to romantic pairings, and it ended up applying to Zuko and Katara. And then she ran out into the middle of a fight with tunnel vision just to get to him.

Also!! Also Zuko pushing Katara out of the way of the falling rocks at the Western Air Temple!! And Katara catching him as he fell from the war balloon that he fought Azula on!! Before they’re even getting along, they’re the ones reaching for each other. They come to this place of equal ground, as partners, who watch each other’s backs, call each other out but still listen attentively and understand, and provide the support that the other has been sorely lacking up until they knew each other (whether that be from lack of effort or lack of understanding from others, or an unwillingness to accept it for themselves).

Then, trailing along under the surface of this, we see the themes of the show totally embodied by Zuko and Katara as individuals and in their relationship to one another. There’s a YouTuber, sneezyreviews, who has a, like, 2-hour explanation on why she not only loves zutara but also believes that their endgame would’ve actually elevated the writing of atla to new levels particularly because of thematic cohesion and resolved character arcs. It’s the zutara dissertation I never knew I needed, and it’s funny and eloquent and effective, so I’m just going to sum up her section on thematic cohesion to the best of my abilities and then link it for whenever you have the time. And I HIGHLY recommend it, especially if you want a full understanding of what makes zutara so great and gives it such longevity.

Guru pathik has a line that goes something like this: separation is an illusion; things that seem different are just two parts of the same whole. Iroh also tells Zuko something similar: balance and strength are achieved when the different nations come together and influence one another and celebrate what makes them each unique. And this lesson is a massive central arc that both Zuko and Katara go through, moving past a black-and-white, good guys-vs-bad guys, us-vs-them mentality and into a greyer, more nuanced view of the world. Zuko sees the fire nation from an entirely new perspective and while he still loves and hopes for his nations future, he surrenders his blind loyalty to them in exchange for an unflinching loyalty to peace and love. Katara too had to come to terms with the fact that cruel people exist in the earth kingdom and water tribes, while some fire nation citizens are just regular, kind people who also need and deserve to have someone speak on their behalf. And this is honed in directly on how they view each other. They grow in their individual journeys to be open to the humanity in the other and then, once they’ve found that, they’re able to grow more in compassion for others in a beautiful feedback loop. And this is all matched in the symbolism repeatedly and intentionally associated with them in canon: sun and moon, fire and water, yin and yang, Oma and Shu who found love despite their warring nations. Their individual arcs are completed in each other and complement the themes of atla beautifully.

The canon pairs... just don’t. Which, again, is fine. But the very things that give atla longevity and popularity are anchored in zutara. Kat@ang doesn’t accomplish this. They’re... nice. Sweet. Especially when you erase a good portion of their interactions in S3. It could’ve been just a sweet love story. (Personally, the dynamic between toph and aang accomplish the same thing that zutara does, with complementary personalities that fulfill the theme of opposites blending in harmony) M@iko, on the other hand, is less sweet but I think wasn’t even supposed to last. Zuko’s relationship with Mai seems to represent his relationship with his old life as a whole. He can’t be emotionally vulnerable, he’s goaded into abusing his privileges, his agency and opinions aren’t respected. They just don’t have common ground with which to discuss anything that matters, so they don’t. As far as themes, the relationship doesn’t fit with atla. It’s zuko returning to and sticking with what is (on the surface) like him, what’s expected. Fire nation with fire nation. Fluid water bender with the flexible air bender. Like with like, separated from what is different and challenging and complementary.

And all of these things combined of course lead to the potential for the ship. I don’t know how familiar you are with the post-atla canon but... well, miss “I will never turn my back on people who need me”, miss “I don’t want to heal! I want to fight!” ends up living quietly in the SWT as a designated healer who turns a blind eye to the water tribe civil war happening right outside her front door. Which can be fine! People change! Some people just wanna stay inside. I just wanna stay inside! But the potential future for zutara is so much more satisfying, with Katara becoming the most unconventional Fire Lady the uppity old cads who are stuck on the old ways have ever seen. Fanon has her serving as a voice for the other nations within a kingdom at the point of its biggest political upheaval, as a confidante to Zuko who can actually help him while he’s trying to figure out how to move forward and make reparations. They have the opportunity, together, to accomplish what they both have set on their hearts to fight for: positive change that lends itself to harmony and balance. And the steambabies! A popular headcanon is that their firstborn daughter, the crown princess, is actually a waterbender, which causes such an uproar among the people who are adamantly clinging to the old ways. It’s just a future full of potential to be forces for good together, full of trust, intimacy, joy. The exact era of peace and love and balance that zuko announces that he intends to ring in with the start of his reign as Fire Lord is, again, magnified by the very personal zutara relationship. And we love to see it.

tl;dr zutara isn’t for everyone. Some people just don’t vibe with it. Some are nostalgic. Some love the canon they grew up with. Some have been disappointed for years. Some just see themselves in other characters and want their happiness instead. Whatever the reason, that’s fine. But for me, I love the way these two, from the moment they give each other a fair chance, are able to lower their walls and prejudices to see the other for the kindred spirits they are. They see each other’s humanity, and their response is to pour out love and support and compassion. I love that they’re a power couple in battle. I love the symbolism and, honestly, soulmatism that colors their every interaction. I love that they embody the whole storyline of atla in their relationship and how it develops, which is notably why their seasonal arcs always culminate in each finale with how they relate to one another. I love that zuko adopting a waterbending move is what actually saves his life and then katara’s. I love the chemistry! And I love the future they could’ve had, instead of the ones they were given.

So, in conclusion: I just think they’re neat and I hope you do too, at least a little bit. Even if it’s just respectfully from a disinterested distance cause you do you. And now here is the video I mentioned. I’m sorry this post got so long and then I gave you an even longer homework assignment, but I can’t recommend it enough. She says it all better than I can.

youtube

#zutara #atla #zutara rant #like really the way the canon relationships were written throughout s3 #it would’ve been more believable for zutara to happen #or at least be hinted at #all of the major issues presented in those relationship were dug up extensively and then... never resolved #and then they just slapped some kisses on a screen and said ‘there all better’#and we just kinda had to say ‘oh ok guess it’s all better then’#this got long I’m sorry #I wrote it all out and then tumblr ate 2/3 of it #which is why it took so long #and what I’ve written now doesn’t even match what I had before #because there’s too much to say about why I love zutara #and the stuff I left out the first time is what came out this time #rip to my original thoughts but this post is different #anyway that’s why this took so long #and I should’ve just made a PowerPoint...#I can do that too if you’d rather not read all of this lol #I won’t be offended #this is incoherent #Alia rambles uselessly #also hoping this doesn’t end up in any wrong tags because I don’t wanna step on toes lol #it’s not anti!! it’s just critical #in a compare/contrast way #I can pinpoint the moment when I started trying to rewrite my points from memory #because everything gets shorter and more succinct #like... I really said all that??? sounds fake and I don’t remember it anyway so here’s the condensed version #with no!! smooth!!! transitions!!!!#also why am I so lazy with proper grammar over text

136 notes · View notes

derangedhyena-delphinidae · 3 years

Text

numerous issues with “The Aftermath of Seaworld”

When I get time to do so (aka when I’m done with the documentary), I’m likely going to make a video version of this going into the details.

But for right now, I’ve made this. Both as a guideline for me and so everyone can begin to get an idea of the severity of issues involved.

Researching things is time-consuming and can be very difficult - believe me, I know. But I’m of the mind that if you’re making content with the intent of educating people, you have a responsibility to perform a certain level of due diligence. It IS okay to express uncertainty or doubt if you have it. It is NOT okay to confidently assert things that you do not know with certainty.

The video has an anticap slant, and I’m obviously not disagreeing on that front. But again: if you’re gonna go through the trouble of teaching people something. Bare minimum... please make sure it’s actually correct. *** 1) x ‘founded in 1964 and based out of Florida’ - ???? Seaworld definitively began on the west coast, in San Diego, CA. And given that the first park opened in early 1964… things came together before that. Uh? 2) x ‘four people founded Seaworld [...]’ For one… it wasn’t originally conceived as a restaurant, it was originally conceived as an underwater bar/lounge. Two… calling the four guys involved in founding the place “frat brothers” is fucking ridiculous and completely overlooks a) how each was actually involved and b) the overall significance of their contributions to the field as individuals. Hint: like it or not, they were important and did a lot!

3) x If one is going to bring up SWBGCF/rescues while talking about the literal founding of SW, it gives the impression that it’s been around for that duration. It hasn’t. It’s actually a bit unclear when SW started an organized rescue program, but the Fund itself and all that it did came about much later. The rescue information and how it’s presented is actually INCREDIBLY complex, nuanced, and has a fascinating history (from a “bad company behaving badly” perspective). Oversimplifying this, to this degree and in this misinformative way, does the facts of the situation an INCREDIBLE disservice.

4) x [assertive statement about what the name Shamu means] ….Uh actually there’s several explanations for the name Shamu, and the most likely one IMO seems to be the “she-namu” one, not the “friend of Namu” one(? What is this even based on.) 4b) It’s not quite clear if she’s saying “Namu was the first ever orca to be displayed and perform shows” or or Namu was the first to be displayed and, like Shamu, performed shows. Either way, Moby Doll was the first to truly be displayed to the public, not Namu.

5) x ‘Namu died after one year in captivity and you’d think that this might deter Seaworld from doing the same thing again…’ Seaworld truly had nothing to do with Namu. And they leased/took possession of Shamu before Namu died. ‘Again’? What?

6) x “Now, PETA paints a pretty disturbing picture…” [while showing Okura’s artwork] This video segment is, and this is putting it nicely, a pile of poorly-researched BULLSHIT. -Yes, PETA talks about Shamu’s capture, re: the harpooning of her mother. This Youtuber cannot apparently be arsed to look more than 1 Google search into this, as she proceeds to dismiss the information as potentially fabricated. There are two detailed accounts of Shamu’s capture that I’m aware of - in books - and though they have some slight conflicts, it’s absolutely NOT in doubt that the female who was very likely Shamu’s mother was 1) harpooned, 2) died from her injuries and 3) this had been done to make her easier to catch/locate because there was a fucking buoy attached to the harpoon. Which she dragged around for at least 24 hours prior dying. So maybe don’t dismiss that as PETA hysteria, maybe TRY to determine the truth of the matter, which would inform one that it is both true and completely horrifying. -In addition, Okura is an awesome individual who has worked very hard to create a variety of informative artwork for our cause. Okura is NOT associated with PETA and it’s borderline libel in my eyes to use their artwork in this dismissive manner when the primary sources of it can be easily identified online, with full explanations and everything. Do I take special offense to this because of the misuse of artwork? Absolutely. Artists get disrespected enough online. I’m tired of it. This kind of laziness IS NOT acceptable.

7) x ‘timeline is fuzzy about when Shamu died’ …………… it’s…. It’s really not … newspapers are pretty clear about it…..

8) x [complete and utter oversimplification of the lifespan issue, which is not acceptable for anything published in 2020. It just isn’t. If you’re going to bring it up like this, either do the legwork and get into the weeds or stay out.] 8b) [same for reproductive ages. sigh]

9) x if we’re going to talk about when Cornell was involved with Seaworld it’s very important to specify when Cornell was involved with Seaworld and not make it seem like it’s present tense.

10) x “both were rescued by Seaworld” - uh? no. Zero orcas have been rescued by Seaworld. Literally none. The infected-jaw orca was Sandy, whose story is complex and certainly does not involve Seaworld until much later. And many of the orcas in that time period had bullet wounds, often only identified post-mortem because they didn’t seem to hurt the animals much. Also, unflinchingly blending 70s captivity ethics with modern ones is also complete nonsense?

11) x [tilikum coming from sealand] inhales I am going to make an entire video centered on this fucking subject because it’s one of the single most profound arguments for Seaworld being garbage as assessed by US government agencies in the 90s yet everyone utterly fails to mention this. Why?!

12) x what on earth is this nonsense re: quoting a quote from Zimmerman’s article - which has already been removed from its original context, so the original context is not available - and then penalizing the quote for existing as if Zimmerman’s article were the context? That is offensively disingenuous. I honestly don’t know what the original context is, either - but it’s wildly inappropriate to act as if the Zimmerman article is.

13) x this is relatively minor but ‘Paul Sprong’? You literally have his name on the screen. And then mis-reading his age too? While asserting it from a static article published years ago? Effort? Where is it?

14) x ‘another trainer, Peter’ ….. Ken Peters….

15) [weirdly glossing over the widely-available list of orca-trainer injuries/aggressions, despite it being central to the point.] 16) x This pilot whale outrage certainly happened but it was pretty clearly Blackfish that started the cascade of woes for Seaworld. Who has ever asserted this?

17) if you’re gonna just rehash blackfish, tell people to go watch blackfish.

18) x I’ve already gone over the context issue with Seaworld calling out Howard’s statement in Blackfish here (point 23). Which is to say, IN CONTEXT in Blackfish it’s clear what Mr. Garrett is talking about but, divorced from that, it sounds incorrect. But this Youtuber AMPLIFIES the issue by doubling down on the assertion with “no record of a killer whale doing any harm to anyone in the wild.” The surfer event should always be mentioned. Yes, there’s absolutely room for doubt. But there’s also a clear demarcation between an accidental attack (eg mistaken identity, as was likely for the surfer) and intentional one (eg the incidents at marine parks.) Why do people kneecap themselves on this point 18b) please stop acting like Luna represents orcas in general.

19) x “Howard, for all of his research…” … while referring to David Duffus’ b-roll and statements. Uh. 20) x Apparently this Youtuber has single-handedly resolved the dorsal fin issue. You know, the thing that hasn’t been properly researched ever, that has been subject to a ton of debate, that isn’t 100% settled for a variety of reasons, and almost everyone talks about in terms of theories and likely possibilities. 21) x Alexis Martinez wasn’t “torn to shreds.” In a space where even moderate exaggerations are often penalized harshly by the opposition, this kind of blatant nonsense is not welcome. Plus, the reality’s bad enough… you don’t have to make anything up!

22) x *sighs. points at own webpage*

23) Talking about the shows stopping without acknowledging how that’s a bit of a farce is something else. In addition to apparently just flipping to buying what Seaworld’s selling re: its ‘improved image.’

*** Tl;dr video is so unrelentingly full of errors ranging from small to egregious it makes me seriously concerned for the veracity of the rest of this person’s content. The maker of the video provided a list of their sources in their video description, which I will have time to look through in detail later. The above is solely a response to the information they present IN THE VIDEO - which, is very important because let’s be real: a lot of people are not going to look at the list of sources. People don’t even do it when citing papers (no really, you’d be surprised, fml.) For anyone who wants to whinge that I haven’t linked or asserted any sources of my own for my claims… well, remember what I said about time-consuming and ‘I’m busy’? Yhea. Getting all of that together will be part of making a video. So if you want to shrug loudly at my list here… you can, that’s your prerogative, I’m happy to say I DGAF if that’s your takeaway.

What I hope, is that if there’s anything I’ve made clear over the While of running this blog, it’s that I don’t fuck around when it comes to sources and information and do my best to provide what information exists, all of it, not just cherrypicked bits and bobs. Anyways. Here’s step 0 at least. Please don’t share that video. Pretty please.

#seaworld #grumble

480 notes · View notes

x-childish-x · 3 years

Text

Valentine’s Day Mystery Special! Part 3

How They Would Spend Valentine's Day With You!

Request: No

Warnings: Swearing, fluff

Word Count: 1243

A/N: Day Three! Here it is! The Mystery Valentine's Day Special! It's basically a brief list of some head-cannons of what spending V-Day with these characters would be like (from my opinion). SORRY THIS IS LATE MY COMPUTER DIED LMAO! Characters who receive their own special are not included on this list. Another reminder that requests are still open but will not be posted until after 2/15. However, you can send in a Valentine's Day request and I'll do my best to post it with the specials! If you would like an extension of any of these, send in an ask and let me know! I hope you enjoy!

Part Three: X-Men

Kurt Wagner

(gif not mine!)

Shyest person ever. Oh my god, so shy and awkward. He would be so shy that you almost didn't become his valentine, even if you were dating, because he was way too afraid to ask. And gifts? Oh god, for gifts he'd get so shy he'd probably teleport away by accident and then reappear and ultimately startle you from how quickly he disappeared and reappeared. He'd immediately begin to apologize about scaring you and about a "bad gift" because you'd have tears in your eyes. But the tears would be happy tears because Kurt would put literally SO MUCH time and effort and thought into your gifts. It'd take you a while to reassure him that they were indeed happy tears and not bad tears. Kurt loves you so much but he'd still be so shy and awkward about the whole day.

Warren Worthington iii

(gif not mine!)

Listen, I love Warren but he would be so full of himself. He likes Valentine's Day but mainly because it means that he gets chocolate and he gets you to spend the full day with him. He'd get you a stuffed animal and some candy/chocolate, he'd wanna watch a movie with you and probably would ask you to make dinner. You'd both share a lovely dinner but, overall, Warren's not the most romantic guy. He's the type of person who's into Valentine's Day for like two hours and then it's just another regular day (and he's not necessarily wrong). However, despite all this, he would spend the day making sure you understand that he loves you dearly and he appreciates you. You mean so, so much to him for giving him a chance after the whole Apocalypse thing, so he would definitely want you to understand your special and he loves you so much.

Erik Lehnsherr

(gif not mine!)

ROMANTIC. Oh my... I can't even begin to explain how secretly romantic this man is. Erik loves you, and I mean he loves you, and he 100% uses the excuse of Valentine's Day to flaunt it. He would wake you up with breakfast in bed of your favorite breakfast foods and he'd give you your favorite flowers and your favorite sweets. Erik would definitely pamper you the whole day and he would not be an ounce of shy about giving you gifts. He'd just be so happy to give you stuff. You'd watch a movie together and then he'd make you a gorgeous, candle-lit dinner. Of course you'd end the day taking a bubble bath together and he would be the freaking cheese to leave a trail of rose petals. Erik is the definition of romantic himself, so I have no doubt that he would love Valentine's Day for the sole purpose of getting to have an extra reason to spoil you all day because, "You are perfection and therefore, you should feel like perfection."

Logan Howlett

(gif not mine!)

Bless his heart, bless Logan's heart, but he definitely lets his ego get in the way. He'd definitely try to act all manly about the day because he doesn't like Valentine's Day that much. He would think flowers aren't manly so he'd get you some chocolates and something you'd been asking for for a long time, maybe he'd even make you something. Logan loves you more than he could ever actually express but he's just not the most romantic person, seeing as his past relationships never ended that well. Logan would definitely be watching some sports game and you'd kiss his cheek before getting up to like, refill your drink or something and this is when his guard would fall. He'd snatch your wrist and be like, "Where are you going? You're not leaving are you? I'm sorry I've been so.." and you'd just smile and raise your glass, quickly refilling your drink before coming back to sit beside Logan only to be yanked into his side and have a kiss placed to your temple as he'd mumble, "Love you so much, bub."

Wade Wilson

(gif not mine!)

Wade loves Valentine's Day so much. He'd get one of those corny Valentine's Day shirts and wear it with so much pride, and you can of course expect him to have matching Valentine's Day socks. You though? Oh you can bet your ass you are forced to stay in bed or on the couch. Wade barely even lets you lift a finger because, you're his queen and "Queens let their Kings serve them." He would get you anything and everything you wanted. Candy? He bought you enough to last you years. Flowers? You don't even have enough vases. Jewelry? You don't have enough body parts. Your first Valentine's Day, it took you maybe two hours to realize he was purposefully going over the top because... it's Wade. But you know his intentions are all good because holy fuck he loves you so much. However, when night comes Wade would literally get so flipping kinky with you because... again... it's Wade. One last thing, there's a 99.9% chance that Wade didn't even ask you to be his Valentine, he probably just demanded it.

Hank McCoy

(gif not mine!)

Hank is... well he really has no opinion on Valentine's Day. He doesn't dislike it but he doesn't necessarily like it. As for your date/gift exchange all I can say is picnic. Picnic, picnic, picnic, picnic! I can't stress this enough, Hank would take you on the cutest picnic you've ever been on. Like, it'd be next to some beautiful waterfall or on some hill with an outstanding view, but it'd be so cute and so neatly packed. He'd definitely be shy about giving gifts but would love the tiny squeal you'd left out when he'd hand you your favorite candy and something you'd mentioned a few times but not enough to suspect he'd actually paid attention. Hank is shy, so naturally he'd just want to spend the day appreciating you and making you happy. You'd be laid back in his lap, taking in your surroundings and Hank would mumble, "I'm truly the luckiest guy in the world."

Alex Summers

(gif not mine!)

This boy loves Valentine's day, can't express it enough. He full-heartedly believes that the mansion needs to be decked out in decorations, every single year. Alex is definitely not the most romantic person but he tries so hard to be romantic and his efforts definitely work. Not only would he get you chocolates and candies and flowers but he'd definitely be the person to get you balloons and a card. He would put so much thought into the gift because he'd definitely make it all into a little gift basket with all the gifts and the card would definitely bring you to tears.

Scott Summers

(gif not mine!)

Scott pretends to hate Valentine's Day but everyone knows he loves it. He loves seeing you smile and hearing your laugh. I touched a small bit on Scott in the Peter special. Definitely gives you flowers, and he would go more off of which flowers smelt the best rather than which were the "prettiest". Scott would totally get you chocolates and your favorite candy but he'd get you like those Lindt Lindor chocolates or Sees Candy. I feel like Scott would leave the whole day up to you. If you wanna watch a movie, sure! Which one? If you want to go out to eat, sure! Which restaurant? If you want to go exploring, sure! Where to first? Scott literally finds joy in seeing you happy so I think he'd just spend the entirety of Valentine's Day trying to make sure that you're as happy as possible.

241 notes · View notes

supercantaloupe · 3 years

Text

okay yeah actually, i’ll bite. i’ve got some of my own thoughts about the unsleeping city and cultural representation and i’m gonna make a post about them now, i guess. i’ll put it under a cut though because this post is gonna be long.

i wanna start by saying i love dimension 20 and i really really enjoy the unsleeping city. i look forward to watching new episodes every week, and getting hooked on d20 as a whole last summer really helped pull me out of a pandemic depression, and i’m grateful to have this cool show to be excited about and interested in and to have met so many cool people to talk about it with.

that being said, however, i think there is a risk run in representing any group of people/their culture when you have the kind of setting that tuc has. by which i mean, tuc is set in a real world with real people and real human cultures in it. unlike fantasy high or a crown of candy where everything is made up (even if rooted in real-world cultures), tuc is explicitly rooted in reality, and all of its diversity -- both the ups and downs that go with it. and especially set in new york of all places, one of the most densely, diversely populated cities on earth. the cast is 7 people; it’s great that those 7 people come from a variety of backgrounds and identities and all bring their own unique perspectives to the table, and it’s great that those people and the entire crew are generally conscious of themselves and desire to tell stories/represent perspectives ethically. but you simply cannot authentically represent every culture or every perspective in the world (or even just in a city) when your cast is 7 people. it’s an impossible task. this is inherent to the setting, and acknowledged by the cast, and by brennan especially, who has been on record saying how one of the exciting aspects of doing a campaign set in nyc is its diversity, the fact that no two new yorkers have the same perspective of new york. i think that’s a good thing -- but it does have its challenges too, clearly.

i’m not going to go into detail on the question of whether or not tuc’s presentation of asian and asian american culture is appropriative/offensive or not. first of all, i don’t feel like it’s 100% fair to judge the show completely yet, since it’s a prerecorded season and currently airing midseason, so i don’t yet know how things wrap up. secondly, i’m not asian or asian american. i can have my own opinions on that content in the show, but i think it’s worth more to hear actual asian and asian american voices on this specific aspect of the show. having an asian american cast member doesn’t automatically absolve the show of any criticisms with regard to asian american cultural representation/appropriation, whether those criticisms are made by dozens of viewers or only a handful of them. regardless, i don’t think it’s my place as someone who is not asian to speak with any authority on that issue, and i know for a fact that there are asian american viewers sharing their own opinions. their thoughts in this instance hold more water than mine, i think.

what i will comment on in more depth, though, is a personal frustration with tuc. i’m jewish; i’ve never really been shy about that fact on my page here. i’m not from new york, but i visit a few times a year (or i did before covid anyway, lol), and i have some family from nyc. nyc, to me, is a jewish city. and for good reason, since it’s home to one of the largest jewish populations of the country, and even the world, and aspects of jewish culture (including culinary, like bagels and pastrami, and linguistic, like the common use of yiddish words and phrases in english colloquial speech) are prevalent and celebrated among jews and goyim alike. when i think of nyc, i think of a jewish city; that’s not everybody’s new york, but that’s my new york, and thats plenty of other people’s new york too. so i do find myself slightly disappointed or frustrated in tuc for its, in my opinion, rather stark lack of jewish representation.

now, i’m not saying that one of the PCs should have been jewish, full stop. i love to headcanon iga as jewish even though canon does not support that interpretation, and i’m fine with that. she’s not my character. it’s possible that simply no one thought of playing a jewish character, i dunno. but also, and i can’t be sure about this, i’m willing to bet that none of the players really wanted to play a jewish character because they didn’t want to play a character of a marginalized culture they dont belong to in the interest of avoiding stereotyping or offensive representation/cultural appropriation. (i don’t know if any of the cast members are jewish, but i’m assuming not.) and the concern there is certainly appreciated; there’s not a ton of mainstream jewish rep out there, and often what we get is either “unlikeable overly conservative hassidic jew” or “jokes about their bar mitzvah/one-off joke about hanukkah and then their jewishness is never mentioned ever again,” which sucks. it would be really cool to see some more good casual jewish rep in a well-rounded, three-dimensional character in the main cast of a show! even if there are a couple of stumbles along the way -- nobody is perfect and no two jews have the same level of knowledge, dedication, and adherence to their culture.

but at the same time, i look at characters like iga and i really do long for a jewish character to be there. siobhan isn’t polish, yet she’s playing a characters whose identity as a polish immigrant to new york is very central to her story and arc. and part of me wonders why we can’t have the same for a jewish character. if not a PC, then why not an NPC? again, i’m jewish, and i am not native, but in my opinion i think the inclusion of jj is wonderful -- i think there are even fewer native main characters in mainstream media than there are jewish ones, and it’s great to see a native character who is both in touch with their culture as well as not being defined solely by their native-ness. to what extent does it count as ‘appropriative’ because brennan is a white dude? i dunno, but i’m like 99% sure they talked to sensitivity consultants to make sure the representation was as ethical as they could get it, and anyway, i can’t personally see and glaring missteps so far. but again, i’m not native, and if there are native viewers with their own opinions on jj, i’d be really interested in hearing them.

but getting back to the relative lack of jewish representation. it just...disappoints me that jewishness in new york is hardly ever even really mentioned? again, i know we’re only just over halfway through season 2, but also, we had a whole first season too. and it’s definitely not all bad. for example: willy! gd, i love willy so much. him being a golem of williamsburg makes me really really happy -- a jewish mythological creature animated from clay/mud (in this case bricks) to protect a jewish community (like that of williamsburg, a center for many of nyc’s jews) from threat. golem have so often been taken out of their original context and turned into evil monsters in fantasy settings, especially including dnd. (even within other seasons of d20! crush in fh being referred to as a “pavement golem” always rubbed me the wrong way, and i had hoped they’d learned better after tuc but in acoc they refer to another monster as a “corn golem” which just disappointed me all over again.) so the fact that tuc gets golems right makes my jewish heart very happy.

and yet...he doesn’t show up that much? sure, in s1, he’s very helpful when he does, but in s2 so far he shows up once and really does not say or do much of anything. he speaks with a lot more yiddish-influenced language than other characters, but if you didn’t know those words were specifically yiddish/jewish, you might not be able to otherwise clock the fact that willy is jewish. and while willy is a jewish mythological creature who is jewish in canon, he isn’t human. there are no other direct references to judaism, jewish characters, or jewish culture in the unsleeping city beyond him.

there are, in fact, two other canon jewish characters in tuc. but...here’s where i feel the most frustration, i think. the two canon jewish humans in tuc are stephen sondheim and robert moses. both of whom are real actual people, so it’s not like we can just pick and choose what their cultural backgrounds are. as much as i love stephen sondheim, i think there are inherent issues with including real world people as characters in a fictional setting, especially if they are from living/recent memory (sondheim is literally still alive), but anyway, sondheim and moses are both actual jewish people. from watching tuc alone you probably would not be able to guess that sondheim is jewish -- nothing from his character except name suggests it, and i wouldn’t even fault you for not thinking ‘sondheim’ is a jewish-sounding surname (and i dislike the idea/attitude/belief that you can tell who is or isn’t jewish by the sound of their name). and yeah, i’m not going to sit here and be like “brennan should have made sondheim more visibly jewish in canon!” because, like, he’s a real human being and it’s fucking weird to portray him in a way that isn’t as close to how he publicly presents himself, which is not in fact very identifiably jewish? i don’t know, this is what i mean by it’s inherently weird and arguably problematic to portray real living people as characters in a fictional setting, but i digress. sondheim’s jewish, even if you wouldn’t know it; not exactly a representation win.

and then there’s bob moses. you might be able to guess that he’s jewish from canon, actually. there’s the name, of course. but more insidious to me are the specifics of his villainy. greedy and powerhungry, a moneyman, a lich whose power is stored in a phylactery...it does kind of all add up to a Yikes from me. (in the stock market fight there’s a one-off line asking if he has green skin; it’s never really directly acknowledged or answered, but it made me really uncomfortable to hear at first and it’s stuck with me since viewing for the first time.) the issue for me here is that the most obviously jewish human character is the season’s bbeg, and his villainy is rooted in very antisemitic tropes and stereotypes.

i know this isn’t all brennan’s fault -- robert moses was a real ass person and he was in fact jewish, a powerhungry and greedy moneyman, a big giant racist asshole, etc. i’m not saying that jewish characters can’t be evil, and i’m not saying brennan should have tried to be like “this is my NPC robert christian he’s just like bob moses but instead he’s a goy so it’s okay” because...that would be fuckin weird bro. and bob moses was a real person who was jewish and really did do some heinous shit with his municipal power. i’m not necessarily saying brennan should have picked/created a different character to be the villain. i’m not even saying that he shouldn’t have made bob moses a lich (although, again, it doesn’t 100% sit right with me). but my point here is that bob moses is one of a grand total of three canon jewish characters in tuc, of which only two humans, of whom he is the one you’d most easily guess would be jewish and is the most influenced by antisemitic stereotypes/tropes. had there been more jewish representation in the show at all, even just some neutral jewish NPCs, this would not be as much of a problem as it is to me. but halfway through season 2, so far, this is literally all we get. and that bums me out.

listen, i really like tuc. i love d20. but the fact that it is set in a real world place with real world people does inherently raise challenges when it comes to ethical cultural representation. especially when the medium of the show is a game whose creatures, lore, and mechanics have been historically rooted in some questionable racial/cultural views. and dnd is making progress to correct some of those misguided views of older sourcebooks by updating them to more equitably reflect real world racial/cultural sensitivities; that’s a good thing! but these seasons, of course, were recorded before that. the game itself has some questionable cultural stuff baked into it, and that is (almost necessarily) going to be brought to the table in a campaign set in a real-world place filled with real-world people of diverse real-world cultures. the cast can have sensitivity consultants and empathy and the best intentions in the world, and they’ll still fuck up from time to time, that’s okay. your mileage may vary on whether or not it’s still worth sticking around with the show (or the fandom) through that. for me, it does not yet outweigh all the things i like about the show, and i’m gonna continue watching it. but it’s still very worth acknowledging that the cast is 7 people who cannot possibly hope to authentically or gracefully represent every culture in nyc. it’s an unfortunate limitation of the medium. yet it’s also still worthwhile to acknowledge and discuss the cultural representation as it is in the show -- both the goods and the bads, the ethically solid and the questionably appropriative -- and even to hold the creators accountable. (decently, though. i’m definitely not advocating anybody cyberbully brennan on twitter or whatever.) the show and its representation is far from perfect, but i also don’t think it ever could be. still, though, it could always be better, and there’s a worthwhile discussion to be had in the wheres, hows, and whys of that.

#sasha reviews #sasha speaks #the unsleeping city #unsleeping city #long post #dimension 20 #gd i stayed up way too late to write this #tuc #the unsleeping city chapter 2 #the unsleeping city 2 #tuc2 #antisemitism

155 notes · View notes