#personal opinions

[dabblingreturns]

Based on this post by @derinthescarletpescatarian I have compiled a 1 to 10 score of how anoying I think the bad kids could be in school.

Adaine Abernant: pros: Quiet, hardworking, keeps her messy personal life mostly off school grounds. Has a very cute orb based farmiliar that she will.let others hold when having panic attacks. Neutral: has a posh accent. Older sister is bitch. Relitive disinterest in social scene. Cons: wore another school's uniform on the first day of school. Also came with a 2 ft diameter focus. Killed the lunch lady with a laddle on the first day of school so is probably violent. Family was rich. Not clear if she is rich....but if you hate rich people she seams like fair game. If you get in her face and anoy her she will tell you exactly what she thinks which can be mean. Also she's the elven oracle. But that seams to be anoying her more than anyone else. Since most of her anoying traits seamnto be anoying her rather more than anyone else ingive her a 4/10 +/- 2 for anoying.

Kristen applebees. Pros: no longer trying to convert people to her God. A boon for people watchers everywhere. Easy to avoide. Fun to watch. Not intentionally crule. Cons: messy personal life. Messy liturgical life. Awkward. Makes inappropriate jokes. 5/10+/- .5

Fig Faeth pros: Easy to avoid. (Just go to bard class) pretty cool about being famous. Seams Generally nice. Con: turns into other people to probe for information. So you think your talking to your best friend but its actually fig. Smells like clove cigarettes so bad for people with sensitive noses. Loud music may also disterb other students with sensitive ears. Generally seams to be fucking around at school while still multiple teachers favorite. 5/10 +/-4.5 if she's directly harmed you you probably hate her....but otherwise she's great.

Riz Gukgak. Pros: quiet, hardworking, relitivly reserved. Cons: awkward, high-strung, questionable fashion choices. Tried to eat the corpse of vice principal Goldenhorde. Moms a cop. 3/10 +/-1

Fabian Aramais Seacaster. Pros: generous and welcoming host. Opened his home up as a study/hang out space for everyone even freshmen. Fun to watch. Cons: rich trustfund baby who's dad's pirating may have lead o the financial ruin of your loved ones. Swings wildly between toxic masculinity as a highschool jock and the most flamboyant dude you ever met. Once shit himself in class. Drive a presumably loud motorcycle.If you have issues with money, privilege, and showboating this dude will push all your buttons. 7/10 +/-3

Gorgug Thistlespring. Pros. Soft-spoken, sweet, donated all his money to a forest reclamation project. Had a long term girlfriend and cause no drama when they broke up. Cons: awkward. Spent freshman year asking everyone if they were his dad. Keeps butting heads with barbarian teacher which is painfully to watch. Also plays really loud music on headphones. And once turned the artifice class into a jam session so loud that other teachers had to get involved. Also has a shitty bird construct name cloaca. Really unclear weather this kid us a genius, and idiot, or both. Going though his mean girl phase.....but still pretty nice. Also his parents may have sold your parents a sex lawn mower. 4/10 +/-2

#the bad kids #fantasy high junior year #fantasy high #personal opinion #gorgug thistlespring #fig faeth #riz gukgak #fabian seacaster #kristen applebees #adine abernant #cloaca #personal opinions

[thx2my]

From a victims perspective, I believe Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel) is one of the best SA/victim representations out there.

Angel does a wonderful job and portraying a lot of things that are common in victims, but is seldom portrayed in any media.

Stockholm Syndrome:

While not considered a real thing, Stockholm syndrome is when one falls in love or finds comfort within their captor and/or abuser. You can see this a lot within Angel. While he doesn’t like the situation is, and is scared, as well as hurt, there are many scenes where it seems as though he’s ok with it, wants it, and likes it. Some have said this is romanticizing SA, but I think not. This is something incredibly common in victims, that most are afraid to talk about in fear of backlash. Especially in sexual abuse cases, when someone gives you that much attention it’s hard to not start to like them. And/or feeling like sex is all you’re good for, or what makes you lovable, so you go back. A lot of people genuinely believe their abuser loves them, and it’s wrong to make people feel bad for that. Obviously it’s not good, but it’s not *their fault*. For a lot of people, including myself, seeing Angel going through the same thing really helped me feel seen, and not so ashamed.

Hypersexuality:

Hypersexuality is described as “an obsession with sexual thoughts, urges, or behaviors that may cause distress or that negatively affects health, job, or relationships.” This is a trait very obvious in Angel. While it’s perfectly ok for victims to be uncomfortable or scared by sexual themes and topics, it’s not ok that that’s the only kind of reaction that’s accepted and represented. While another common reaction from victims, hypersexuality is seen as weird and wrong. I see people on other apps opening up about it and just getting pure backlash. When you’re sexualized by other people enough, it’s hard not to sexualize yourself too. It can feel like it’s all you’re good for, and all people want you for. You can see this a lot in Angel. He over sexualizes himself, and makes sexual comments constantly. But later in the show we see how that’s mainly just a wall and an act he puts up because that’s how he feels he “needs to be”. Which is, again, how a lot of victims feel. And made me personally, and a lot of other people, feel seen and heard and represented.

Not Sugarcoating:

I’ve seen many people complain about how forward and in your face the sexual abuse and assault was in episode 4: masquerade. But I thought it was perfect. Sexual abuse is something that happens every day, every hour, and every minute to millions of people. There is no reason to sugarcoat it. It’s supposed to be gross, it’s supposed to be disgusting, it’s supposed to make you uncomfortable, that’s the point. There was a warning at the beginning of the episode, so I don’t see the issue. There’s nothing wrong with showing things how it is, in fact, it helps people feel less ashamed of what happened to them. Lots of victims feel gross after what happened to them. But this kind of thing helps with that.

Reminder that, while you’re entitled to your opinion, unless you’re a victim, your opinion doesn’t matter on this subject <3

#hazbin hotel #helluva boss #angel dust #blitzo #fizzarolli #sa #sexualabusesurvivor #awareness #personal opinions #vivziepop #vivienne medrano

[otts-the-verminqueen]

I'm bored. Let's rate random ships.

I can't think of anything else to post, so you know what? I'm gonna start a series of posts rating different Genshin Impact ships.

This is all FOR FUN. These are just my personal opinions on these ships, and I do not want this to come across as any form of hate. It's not. It's just a fun thing to do because I don't know what else to post.

You can also suggest some ships if you'd like! I'll start with four ships here and do another post of four more ships in a few days.

~~~~~

1. Childe x Diluc

Rating: 100/10

This is by far one of my favorite ships (if you can't tell from how often I write stuff for them on AO3). The perfect ship for an enemies to lovers trope, which is one of my favorite tropes.

2. Xiao x Zhongli

Rating: 0/10

No hate to anyone who ships this, because I am fully aware that these two characters are not actually related to one another, but I've always viewed their relationship as more teacher and student or father and son. As a result, I've never really been a fan of this ship. I can see where people are coming from with it, though. It is cute. Just not one I really like.

3. Albedo x Kaeya

Rating: 50/10

Yet another favorite. Not as loved as Chiluc, but it's still one I love. I think these two characters mesh well together and there's a lot of different tropes that you can write with them.

4. Neuvillette x Furina

Rating: 0/10

This is another one where I understand that these two characters are not related by any means, but I personally have always viewed their relationship as loud older sister and quiet younger brother. I do see where people are coming from with the ship. It is cute. But once again, another ship I'm not a very big fan of, honestly.

~~~~~

Once again, you can request different ships for me to rate in the future if you would like. I figure I'll make a series out of this just to have something to post. And I'm all for some simple debates, but please don't be mean to each other (or me) in the comments. This is, once again, FOR FUN. And it's just my personal opinion.

#Genshin Impact #Childe #Diluc #Chiluc #Zhongli #Xiao #Furina #Neuvillette #Kaeya #Albedo #Kaebedo #for fun #personal opinions #be nice

[missxfaithc]

Okay I gotta bone to pick with Markiplier about something.

In his livestream breakdown for WKM, way back when, he made a big deal of saying how if something wasn’t expressly stated in the story, then it wasn’t canon. Like, even if he verbally said it later on, it still wouldn’t technically be canon, unless the story itself was added onto to reflect as much.

But then, by the time ISWM came around, he added in a bunch of cryptic shit to fuck with the fans and when people naturally began to theorize and be like “ohhh I see some plainly laid out connections here between this scene/character/line and something in WKM” he was just like “nahhhh none of that shit means anything. You’re looking too much into it”.

Like… bruh. You were the one who told us that the only things that mattered were the things actually stated in the story itself. Like, he made the conscious decision to put parallels in the story between some of Engineer Mark’s decisions/lines and some of the things Damien said in WKM. The same thing goes for the parallels between Mrs. Whitacre (or however you spell her name) and Celine.

People also pointed out, at the time, how Engineer Mark’s whole speech at the end to the Captain about how tired he was, and how sorry he was could be representative of Actor Mark finally taking accountability for his actions in WKM.

But then Mark was just like “nope. They’re two completely different people. ISWM is a completely different story from the WKM thing with completely different characters. Actor Mark isn’t a part of this… except maybe he is”.

Like ??? 😩😩😩

Please, Mark, just give us something. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t simultaneously say that “only the things in the actual story are canon” and “I just added that shit in there to fuck with people”. Those two statements severely contradict each other.

Unless he changed his mind and that’s no longer how he wants us to view these stories??? I guess???

Idk, fam. This is no shade to Mark. I just find it kind of funny in a weird way and also kind of frustrating.

The way I see it, there are 2 ways to look at the Markiverse. You can examine the stories themselves on their own and draw your own conclusions thusly. Or you can listen to Mark’s explanations and get the version of the story that he either intended or wanted, regardless of whether the content itself expresses as much.

Again, this isn’t me criticizing Mark (well, mostly 😂). I just love the universe (multiverse, I suppose now) he’s created so much, and I love discussing it and theorizing about it. I just find it interesting how different a story’s content can be sometimes in comparison to how its creator views that story, and what message they want people to take from it versus what message it’s actually sending.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that at one point during the livestream breakdown for ISWM, I’m like 99% sure Mark said something along the lines of “yeah this story isn’t connected to WKM at all” and then like before the end of the stream he also said “I’m sure I’ll get back to finishing that story eventually” (in reference to everything that got started in WKM). So like…??? Which is it? Are the character arcs started in WKM actually finished or not? My man’s out here changing the rules on us again during the SAME livestream.

Also I saw someone in my replies mention those godforsaken masks that came from WMLW and yet to this day have never gotten an explanation. Mark E. Plier, Sir, please… I am begging you 😩 just put us out of our misery and give us SOMETHING we can work with.

#iswm #in space with markiplier #wkm #who killed markiplier #random thoughts #personal opinions #youtube #youtubers #markiplier #pls no one get mad at me for this post I’m just passionate about this stuff

[terrence-silver]

I endeavor to respect all fandom opinions to the best of my abilities but I genuinely can't believe there's nonironically people out there who think Terry Silver's ponytail looks bad on him. 😬

#personal opinions #terry silver #this is a very pro-ponytail hairdo blog

[fanfic-inator795]

WoY: A Decade Later (A personal retrospection)

Wander Over Yonder… for a time, it was - in my opinion - the best cartoon ever. It was my number one, and I wasn't sure that anything else could top it. While I don't necessarily feel the same way these days, it's still a cartoon that very much lives in my heart and I don't think I'll ever truly leave it behind.

From a personal perspective, it was probably the biggest and most active Fandom I had been in at that time. It wasn't my first fandom/hyperfixation - prior to WoY, there had been Cartoon Network's Chowder and Regular Show, as well as Disney's Phineas and Ferb. But Chowder was short-lived and RS and PnF were both shows I had lost interest in due to them beginning to dip in quality.

WoY, however, was new, fresh, exciting and growing rapidly. It inspired me to write probably at least a hundred fanfics. It was a blast live-reacting to new episodes with everyone and seeing all the art that would come afterwards. It brought me into the RP scene and, if not for that, I might have never met my best friend of 10 years (and counting! Love you, Tessa).

Looking back on it 10 years after the fact, I can't fully say that WoY is still my favorite cartoon (shows like Kid Cosmic, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Big City Greens and Craig of the Creek have all outshined it in one way or another), nor can I claim that it is/was a perfect show. But man… It sure was a hell of a ride.

(Keep reading for all my admittedly VERY LONG personal thoughts or opinions regarding this one of a kind show)

Humble Beginnings

Pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I actually didn't care for WoY at first. It was the summer right before college, and I remember watching the sneak peek - The Picnic - early one morning after not being able to go back to sleep. I remember not really laughing much or even seeing the appeal… and yet the episode stuck in my mind, to the point that I ended up watching it again during a free moment I had from Freshman Orientation Week. I had a similar reaction to the show's proper pilot, The Greatest - not loving it, but not hating it either.

The fact that people/friends from my RS and PnF days were also posting about it helped keep the show in my mind (shoutout to Taylor, Erin and Darkwing). But it wasn't until two specific episodes - The Fugitives and The Good Deed - that I managed to finally start to connect with the characters myself. 

I started to see the appeal in this little furry orange spoon who just wanted to do good and make others happy, even when it was a struggle. I really liked the show's core theme of not just optimism and positivity, but also just being kind. I also started to really enjoy the show's sci-fi and space aesthetic and grew to adore its animation and gorgeous backgrounds, as well as laugh at its wacky sense of humor (I still laugh at The Fugitives/Good Deed quite a bit, even though I probably have their entire scripts memorized at this point).

So, it was official. I was hooked. Whenever there were new eps, I'd either try to watch them on the basement TV in my college dorm or wait for a livestream or FreeCartoonsOnline upload. If we're being honest, the first half of season 1, while being much more low-key than the wackiness that the show would end up eventually shifting to, was probably when it was at its most consistent. Other eps later on would reach higher highs, but getting stuff like The Bad Guy, the Prisoner, the Troll, the Pet, the Box and The Little Guy back-to-back just made my love for the show grow more and more.

The Little Guy specifically is one that is just incredibly well-crafted in its dialogue, story-telling and pacing, being both enjoyable and heartfelt. (Also the last time I watched it the ending made me bawl so, there's that, lol). Shortly afterwards, The Hero was another ep that I distinctly remember sticking in my head for whatever reason (Dracor and Demurra are still adorable, ngl). Then we had another favorite of mine, The Nice Guy.

I know I may be in the minority on this one - I remember my parents being annoyed and frustrated when they watched it with me, haha - but I absolutely love this episode. I find the jokes funny enough - the cashier is one of my favorite minor characters tbh - and the space gas station appeals to my aesthetic. But what really sells this episode for me is how it handles and portrays its moral of "being nice isn't always easy, but it's still right and still worth doing". Its ending never fails to get an "awwww" out of me, and honestly I could probably go on for an hour about all the little details and things I like/appreciate. I've also grown to really like its sister episode, the Time Bomb.

But no show is perfect, and right around here is where the show, in my opinion, started having some misses. It was mostly just "meh" affairs like The Night, The Toddler and The Big Job (weird, since I usually like heist eps… though I haven't rewatched this one in a while so *shrugs*). Other eps like The Tourist and ESPECIALLY The Helper (which I consider to be the show's worst outing, the vibes are just SO WEIRD on this one) I just didn't care for at all. 

Nothing terrible (save for the Helper), just cases of the jokes not landing or the stories being boring. This was also when the show really started leaning into the wackiness - which wasn't BAD persay, since it led to some really funny jokes and memorable moments when it was used well - it's just that looking back, I sorta miss the simplicity of early s1.

Thankfully, the season put out some real bangers by its end, with my personal faves being The Epic Quest (that ending will never not make me cackle. Again, it's a case of the wackiness actually working incredibly well), the Halloween/Christmas special, and the Rider, which is a great adventure to cap off the season and also the Horse from Horsin’ Around guest stars in it! (and does a pretty good job too. Will Arnett is def one of my favorite celeb VAs at this point, ngl)

So yeah, between the two seasons, s1 is easily my favorite. Call it nostalgia or personal taste, but for me it's all about that consistency. Adding in the fact that s2 has some pretty notable flaws and is thus a lot harder to look back on without noticing those flaws, and it's really no contest for me. 

New season, New problems

I certainly remember the excitement - as well as the fandom's stir craziness - in the lead-up to s2. There were crackships that were invented, silly RP blogs were rampant, Craig McCracken and crew (back when they were still on Tumblr) kept us fed with cool behind the scenes info as well as sneak peeks of the new season, and while I can't recall when it specifically happened, I also vividly remember the 'Bad End to Episodes' phase that the fandom was in at one point. Ah, the joys of still being in your angst phase.

Come that year's Comic Con, and a new round of hype came from the reveal that our new villain of the season was going to be a girl! …yeahhh, it sorta sucks recalling how hyped we all were about Dominator now that we know that she didn't quite work out the way we were all hoping for…

But regardless, s2 had a very strong start. Outside of the premiere, my favorites of this first batch would easily be The Boy Wander and The It for both just being incredibly funny. Although, if you had asked me at the time though, I probably would have said the Skeleton Dance fueled eps that were The Big Day and the Fremergency Fronfract - and like, yeah those eps can still be funny and enjoyable, but I've definitely cooled on the Skeleton Dance ship since these eps first premiered. (Still love a lot of the cute fanon stuff though)

Skipping past the next tent-pole episode for right now, this season had two of my favorite episodes of the ENTIRE SERIES - these being The Cartoon and The Black Cube. The former is just hilarious while the latter has a unique visual presentation and feels like an early s1 ep, and I mean that in the best possible way. I also really enjoy the Eye on the Skullship as well as the Hole… 'Lotta Nuthin' (this one especially, as it's another instance where, for as good as the ep is as a whole, it's the heartwarming lesson and hilarious ending that makes it such a winner in my book).

But for as much as the show was still putting out hits, I'll admit that there were also quite a few meh or just okay eps, especially as the season goes on. Some eps I found funny when I first watched them, but that humor doesn't hit as well when I watch them now. I also feel like there were points where it tried to be TOO silly to the point where it inhibited the actual humor and made the characters flatter and a bit flanderized compared to how they were in s1 (Hater especially got hit bad with this, where it’s less about him ‘softening up’ to show that he has the potential to be a good guy, and more just him constantly leaning into him being a bratty teenager instead of having that mix of dumb/bratty teen boy and legit evil conqueror).

Other times, it was just another case of a story not being as good as it could have been - and by this point in the season, while there are still enjoyable eps with fun concepts/jokes in the latter half of the series, the only one to get near the peak of the show's typical high quality is the musical ep, and if we're being real, it's Andy Bean's impeccable songwriting that saves this ep and makes it so good to rewatch despite its connection to the season's flawed overall story.

And I think it's about time we talk about that…

Not Quite Ready for Serialization

Being a show that was made right after Gravity Falls but before stuff like Star VS, Amphibia, and Owl House, s2 of WoY felt like a show with one foot stuck in episodic stuff and one foot trying to step into serialization. Because of this, the season’s overarching plot feels incredibly underbaked.

Now… Am I saying that I’d want the show to be like ATLA where every episode had to relate back to either the overarching story or one of the side-arcs? No, absolutely not. We’d be missing out on some of my favorite one-shot episodes if they did that, and if I had to choose between the season we have now and the season we could have gotten had the WoY crew gotten more freedom and were allowed more serialization, I’m going with the former each and every time.

HOWEVER, I still have to acknowledge just how poorly done the structure of this season was when it came to the overarching story. Basically we got four tentpole episodes acting as the season’s beginning, arc shifts and ending. During the season’s second and third arcs, there would be certain episodes afterwards reacting to the change in the show’s status quo.

Now, I get what they were TRYING to do but in my opinion it just really didn’t work as well as it could have. I’ll talk more about this in a bit but the season’s second arc (the “romance” arc) definitely got tiring after a while, meanwhile the third “Stop Dominator” arc felt like it was sort of killing time given that it was mostly just the main 4 trying to find some sort of weapon/figure out some sort of plan that ultimately resulted in some ‘funny’ failures and some quick lessons, with the occasional character piece thrown in here or there.

Now, I didn’t hate these episodes. By this point, it should be evident that one of my favorite elements of WoY are its morals and lessons, so even if the episodes themselves didn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things and were essentially filler, I can at least appreciate a message like “being sad doesn’t mean you’ve given up hope” or “allowing yourself to laugh even in the dark times can help a ton”. So yeah, not completely pointless.

Unfortunately, even with a few bright spots here and there, the overarching plot of s2 still feels underbaked somewhat - and that’s ultimately because of the new character its focused around.

Dominator’s Dilemma

Okay, fess up. Whose idea was it to completely exclude Dominator from the first six episodes of the season (after the s2 premiere)? Because WOW does this decision backfire a lot. I don’t even like Dom that much and I can still acknowledge that she needed much more screen time and focus than she got.

I don’t know if this was to build up the ‘mystery’ surrounding her or because they wanted to get back in the groove of writing the main 4, but this was the crew’s first crucial mistake. Hell, in the first two episodes she plays an active role in, she’s nearly silent in both of them, only having her little fangirl rant in The Greater Hater and a small handful of lines in The Battle Royals. (Which, if I’m being honest, is still a really fun episode for 90% of it, having both great action and absolutely hilarious jokes that still make me laugh, but I get the ending of it making people sour on the episode as a whole.)

Again, it felt like trying to build up this artificial mystery surrounding her when it really wasn’t necessary. Dominator was meant to be a MAIN MEMBER of the cast! Yet I’m pretty sure Emperor Awesome got more significant screen time than her in the end!

Things got a teeny bit better as the show went on, with Dom at the very least getting more lines and more moments to be both badass and totally villainous, but she still felt more like a goal/obstacle than an actual character. I’m not sure if the writers MEANT to do this persay, or if it was just an accident.

Ultimately, it wasn’t until The Night Out when Dom finally got a spotlight episode… which was a little over 3/4ths of the way through the season. You could argue that she also got a bit of characterization in the musical episode, but it was really more emphasizing what we already knew or could infer about her. 

The Night Out, meanwhile, gives us something new - that she’s lonely - and we get a teeny hint of this again in The Robomechabotatron before being told outright in the series finale. Ultimately, it truly does feel like too little too late - especially when her secretly desiring friends just sorta feels like it’s aping off Hater’s secret motivations of wanting to be liked/admired and to have friends/people who love him for who he is.

So yeah, the crew completely dropped the ball on Dom’s characterization, using her as just a goal/threat/obstacle/etc. for nearly all of her appearances. Not only does it make Dom feel like a shallow character, but it also just feels unfair in general. Practically everything we know about Dom is for the sake of other characters.

She’s a test for Wander, an enemy/temporary love interest for Hater, an obstacle for our main four to overcome, and a threat to the characters we already love. Again, there’s nothing wrong with having a character that’s only meant to serve a purpose in the narrative, nor is there anything wrong with a character being shallowly evil… it’s just that the WoY crew hyped her up so much and claimed that she was a fifth main character (implying that she would get about as much development as the main four), so it just felt all the more disappointing when we didn’t get that. Add in her character design - a mix of goth/punk girl energy with Hartman Hips - and it does feel just a tad misogynistic.

There were things I liked about Dom - her cool lava powers and gadgets, her excitable personality, her villain spotlight moments, and her fun vocal performance provided by Noel Wells were all excellent. But unfortunately, these were all surface-level elements, and the crew just didn’t put in enough time to give her much else, essentially saving all her deeper character stuff for the never-made season 3…

A love-hate relationship (leaning towards hate)

Of course you can’t talk about Dom without discussing the season’s second arc, which many see as both a tumor on the plot and the absolute low point of the season. Admittedly when I was watching the season for the first time, I didn’t mind the romance arc all that much. I didn’t care if Dom was getting short-changed, I was too busy laughing at Hater falling all over himself like a dork and thought all the ‘critics’ of the arc were just focusing on the wrong thing and didn’t know how to have fun with a silly cartoon.

Obviously, this was the wrong perspective to have about this sort of thing (I was in the mindset of “I don’t want to accidentally make myself hate this thing I love so I’m going to ignore all criticism of it”. Definitely not the right approach), one that I still apologize for because the critics were totally in the right. From both an objective and a storytelling standpoint, this arc was just the worst - and for several reasons.

Leaning into the overall problem with Dom herself as mentioned previously, this arc was focused solely on Hater and Wander (and to an extent Syl and Peeps as they tried to talk some sense into their respective friends). Whenever Dom was brought in, she either used Hater’s crush to mess with him or just ignored it entirely, being obviously annoyed - and that was the extent of focus that her feelings got.

Outside of those moments, however, Dom’s feelings are relegated to the background, deemed as ‘unimportant’. Sure, in the climax of the arc, she gets this big whole musical number about how she’s “not the damsel” and isn’t interested in Hater’s affections - but again, it’s at the VERY END of the arc and the moment is less about Dom standing up for herself and more about emphasizing just how cruel she can be, as instead of simply rejecting Hater’s advances, she laughs in his face, continuing to mess with him to try and make the rejection as painful as possible before ultimately trying to kill Hater.

But while the arc ends in a showy (and admittedly still kinda fun, thank you Andy Bean and your musical talents) way, the way it starts sorta proves why this idea was so rotten to the core. The ONLY reason why Wander tries to get Hater and Dom together is ONLY because he knows Hater wants a GF and believes that a ‘positive’ thing like love could only ever result in the two villains finding happiness and no longer being evil. Nevermind the fact that Wander is shown only really caring about Hater’s perspective, not once considering Dom’s feelings or even asking if she wants a BF or romantic partner in general.

We get Syl calling him out on this a couple of times, but it’s in that ‘oh that Wander, always with the crazy ideas’ way. You’d think Sylvia, the icon that she is, would be just a bit more blunt and maybe even a bit harsh about how Wander’s treating Dominator - it’s not just a matter of it being a dumb and dangerous plan, but it’s essentially objectifying Dom, treating her like Hater’s missing piece. But hey, it’s fiiiiine, because Wander learns his lesson in the end, right? Except, no not really.

Because even when Wander FINALLY realizes this and feels guilty about causing so much trouble, Syl is more concerned with comforting Wander about it, because he TRIED to do what he thought was right and that “acknowledging you messed up is the first step towards making things right”. Like… yeah I guess but you could have let Wander actually acknowledge what he did was wrong and super messed up, focusing more on the personal aspect of how his whole romance scheme affected Dom AS WELL AS Hater (not JUST Hater) instead of how his scheme broke Hater’s heart and inadvertently made Dom more powerful.

(Also we see Wander shipping and actively pairing up the little Pikmin things in “The Sky Guy” soooooo no I don’t think he fully learned his lesson)

I also have to bring up how there are fans who view Dominator and her whole anti-love thing as aphobic. As someone who only recently figured out she was almost definitely aromantic, I’m certainly not the authority on this, but I can certainly understand the critiques.

What I THINK the WoY Crew was trying to go for was a ‘strong female villain who don’t need no man’, but between Dom constantly being described as ‘heartless’ and Peeps saying that he “doesn’t think she likes anybody” and her cruelty being turned up to 11 whenever someone expressed romantic feelings towards her, it does sorta imply “She can’t love and THAT’S why she’s a villainous monster” rather than simply “she’s a villainous monster”. And because we don’t get any real development or strong characterization with Dom, it’s hard to say where exactly her cruelty comes from, so it’s hard to really argue against these implications without simply inserting headcanons like “Dom is a lesbian”.

Now to be fair, I have seen some aromantics see Dom as good representation - I recall a month or so back when I saw people praising her after she was included in one of those Tumblr polls, with this one being focused on aromantic characters, saying that they liked how she didn’t sugarcoat her rejections and seeing her as this strong, cool, badass villainous who didn’t need romance. So yeah, obviously not every person who shares an identity is going to agree on representation and whether or not it's good, but considering all of Dom’s baggage and the inability to determine whether or not her heartlessness is the cause of her evil or simply a by-product of it, I personally feel like she’s just too messy of an example of a potential aro character.

(Honestly, Syl feels like a better example of an aromantic character to me, given that she and Ryder seemed just as platonic as she and Wander are, as well as her multiple rejections of Awesome and general disinterest/discomfort with romance. Buuut given that those latter examples are specifically with villains and thus it makes sense why she’d reject them regardless of her orientation, it’s still just a vibe/headcanon).

Before I close off this section, I do wanna acknowledge that beyond the potentially aphobic nature of Dominator, WoY’s LGBTQ+ rep isn’t nearly as great as I thought it was once upon a time as a young shipper. Some parts are still pretty okay, like Wander being coded as genderfluid/agender, but overall it still feels more like an old Looney Tunes cartoon than an episode of “The Owl House”, if you get what I’m saying.

In Craig’s defense, the man has never been all too interested in romance in his shows nor has he claimed otherwise - he either uses it as a joke while portraying it as a negative (see Ms.KeenexProf.Utonium, BlooxBerry or, obviously, DomxHater) or it’s a wholesome relationship that ultimately still stays in the background because it’s not all that important (see DracorxDemurra or Ramona and Carlos Flores from “Kid Cosmic”). 

BUT given that there were LGBTQ+ crew members working on the show in s2, such as N.D. Stevenson, as well as LGBTQ+ allies, it is a shame that no proper representation came of that. We got a whole episode where the joke was “oh, Wander and Hater are planning Wander’s execution like it’s a wedding”, an episode where Peeps and Hater essentially break up when Hater fires him, and an “I just can’t quit you” sort of moment from Peeps in the s2 finale when he goes all heart-eyed over Hater deciding to continue being a villain. That’s it, all jokes but nothing substantial. Even the show’s number one lesbian/wlw pairing of SylxDom got a quick Girls Night montage and one sweet moment between them, nothing else.

Again, it’s fine if you’re just looking for jokes, and yeah the WoY Crew never outright promised any romances… buuuut given how much they chose to lean into the Skeleton Dance and DeathGlare stuff while at the same time never outright confirming any of these characters as LGBTQ+ (they didn’t even have to make any ships canon, they just had to say whether or not Wander/Hater/Peeps were gay/bi/pan/etc), I’m not gonna invalidate people who feel just a bit queerbaited about the whole thing.

Bittersweet Goodbyes

As I said before, I was starting college when WoY first premiered. It’s the show that led me to my best friend and it’s the show that helped me through those first two years of college (easily the roughest part of college). It was a show that made me laugh and got me excited, even during the times where I was stressed out or worried. For all its flaws, it was one of the brightest lights in my life at that time.

So, needless to say, when I heard the show was canceled, I was devastated. I remember crying about it that night and even the day after, and I remember joining in as many online strategies as possible to try and get the show back, from letter writing to petition signing. Of course none of that worked, but as a bright side, going through this helped emotionally prepare me for the next time one of my favorite shows was suddenly canceled (looking at you Nickelodeon. Though considering how the RotTMNT movie turned out maaaaybe it was for the best…)

Honestly, for as much as I can look at the show through a critical lens nowadays and point out all the ways it could have been better, I think there will always be a small part of me that wishes we could have gotten some sort of continuation, whether it be through a special, a TV movie or a comic - or hell, I’d even take the plans for s3 leaking at this point. Now, given that the end of WoY brought about the creation of “Kid Cosmic”, I feel like this part has faded a bit, but I’m always gonna want closure on things like Hater’s arc as well as his origins given how much they were teased.

But that in itself is another critique I could give the show. Whether it be Wander facing a different type of threat that wasn’t just another villain, Hater’s transition into becoming a good guy, Peepers getting fed up with his boss and striking out on his own, or Dom’s true characterization that the crew kept insisting was there - the show simply saved a lot of it’s most interesting ideas for a potential Season 3. It was a gamble, and it was one they ultimately lost. It sucks, but it is what it is.

There’s a few more things I could critique about the show, such as its take on the idea of character redemption and Wander becoming a bit of a karma houdini that the show pretty much stopped calling out, and while these critiques are valid I feel like there are other fans who could do a better job talking about those points. But in the end, while season 2 was both a let down in some parts and a bit of a mess in others, I still feel like there were ultimately more good things to be found within the show than bad things.

It’s not a perfect show, far from it. Frankly, I don’t look down on anyone who fell out of love with this show or enjoyed s1 but hated s2. But for what it’s worth, the memories I got from the show are still ones I treasure, and episodes like “The Good Deed”, “The Little Guy”, “The Nice Guy”, “The Epic Quest”, “The Rider”, “The Boy Wander”, “The Black Cube”, “The Hole… Lotta’ Nuthin’” and “The Cartoon” are ones I still love to bits and will probably always love as I watch them over and over.

Disney Channel itself may not care all that much about this show these days save for an occasional rerun or a quick cameo in their Chibi-Verse shorts, but I’m always gonna remember it - for better and for worse. So here’s to 10 years, WoY. I may not always like you, but I still love you.

#wander over yonder #woy #long post #personal thoughts #personal opinions #fair warning this is VERY long hence the read more #wasn't tempted not to post it because of the length #but this show was such an important part of my life #and I wanted to get all my current thoughts out about it

[dyslexicandakeyboard]

Very unpopular opinions about Gone Girl (the film because it's very different from the book).

Nick didn't feel remorse for cheating on Amy. The shit he said in the interview was a ploy to get her out of hiding to clear his name. He was manipulating her. Nothing he said in that interview was truthful (like I'm pretty sure he later admits)

Amy was a ticking time bomb. There were already hints that Amy was dropping her Cool Girl persona since they moved to Missouri. Even if Nick didn't cheat, sooner or later, she would have gone-girl-ed his ass.

Nick also had the equivalent of a Cool Girl persona. The recession led him to drop it.

Amy telling Nick she got her parents out of debt with her trust fund mirrors when Nick moved them to Missouri. With out consulting the other party and not letting them voice their opinion. It showed that they both contributed to the unhealthiness of the relationship.

Amy was always in control of the relationship, especially when things were going to shit. She owned his job, probably the house and controlled all the finances. Pretty sure Nick's whole upset with the prenup thing is that Amy does control the finances.

Desi Collings is just like Amy just in a different font.

Nick was not as bad as Amy IN THE MOVIE. I know, crucify me. He's a cheat, lazy, has no ambitions, slightly misogynistic, sleeps with his student who is half his age. But, none of these are crimes (Andie was over the age of consent but's it's immoral. He's a pig). Amy commits crimes and wastes police resources. She kills a man not in self-defence, fakes a rape accusation, (tries to) frames Nick for kidnapping and murdering her, stole his sperm and impregnated herself. Plus, she's also slightly misogynistic and classist. Movie!Nick and Movie!Amy are not comparable. Yes, they are both awful people but Amy defiantly is the worst. Book Nick seems to be just as bad. Again book doesn't equal movie.

Amy was always a psychopath saying Nick drove her to psychopathy or any other version of this is quite dumb ngl and ignores Tommy O'Hara. Hell, her actions with Tommy makes me even more sure even if Nick didn't cheat she still would have punished him.

I truly believe Nick did want to leave her. It is said by Amy herself that she knew he wanted a divorce. Nick was shown to want to leave during the end of the movie. Literally, the only reason he stayed was because of the child, the whole outrage that would follow (Interestingly, this could be seen as Nick's own preoccupation of controlling his image).

Amy is the more unreliable narrator compared to Nick mainly due to Nick having a voice of reason, Margo, while Amy doesn't. (Unless I'm under his spell. But I don't think so because I hate Ben in the DCEU and that colors my perception across franchises. Came into this movie full expected to hate Nick as much as Amy or more so but left surprised.)

While I understand uprooting one's life and moving across the country with out the other partners input is quite upsetting and can make you feel like shit. A person was dying. Amy's feelings are valid but like. Cancer? Taking care of dying mother? Amy expected Nick to be OK with a huge financial decision to help her parents, make some allowance. Rubbed me the wrong way. I'm a family gal.

Amy may have loved Nick at one point, kinda like Nick loved Amy at one point, but she ultimately sees relationships and love as a form of winning. This seems to stem from her childhood as she was always one step behind Amazing Amy. All her mistakes were washed away clean in Amazing Amy and sold to the masses. Everyone could see just would Amy couldn't do. Because of this, Amy doesn't see herself as a person as much as a character in a story, expect this time she controls it. She's going to have a picture perfect marriage and thus life. Thus she wins at life. This is also very half-baked and formed by one watch of the movie.

Amy wasn't abused by Nick. Amy fictionalized most of their life in Missouri(She's an unreliable narrator). Like it was revealed that Nick hated Amy and that he wanted kids while Amy didn't. The whole "Let's have kids" fight seems very improbably with this information. Unless I'm under Nick's influence. Plus, Amy doesn't seem that afraid of Nick even when he is violent with her.

The Cool Girl monologue while hits some true points to the idea that society values woman to change themselves to be picked by a man. But it also implies a heteronormative society, implies that woman absolutely cannot like shit like football on their own as they are only doing it for men, acts as if liking things are unnatural for woman, makes sexist judgment of random woman she literally passes who are hopefully living their best life, and is sex negative.

preemptive warning because fandoms can be really toxic for some reason. Don't interact if you don't like.

#gone girl the movie #nick dunne #amy elliot dunne #personal opinions #anti amy elliot dunne #anti nick dunne #but he's my favorite character strangely enough #I should read the book #but that won't change my opinions on movie!nick #sympathetic to nick dunne #fuck desi collings #all my homies had desi collings #gone girl #any hate is not tolerated. #any other unpopular opinions on gone girl please add

[blackplaaague]

My fatal flaw is that, despite the tiktokification of analogue and digital indie horror, and the fact that everyone treats media as something to mindlessly consume, I genuinely enjoy stuff like Lacey's Games, Chezzkids Archive, FNaF VHS, WTD, TWOMP, and The Walten Files.

I can tell a lot of time went into making them, and the creators are very proud of all the effort that went into producing something they thought was spooky and fun, even if a bunch of ipad kids and hobbyless trolls spam every comment section as tiktok slowly consumes any of the series' remaining dignity.

I like this stuff, though. They remind me of being 11 years old, crouched over the family computer, with the screen slightly tilted so my parents can't see I'm reading Creepypastas, wholeheartedly believing in stuff like The Backrooms and Jeff the Killer and the Russian Sleep experiment.

Spooky internet stuff is escapism for me, so I don't care if it's not "dignified horror" because dignified horror isn't even a thing. You just make whatever you think is scary and you show it to people.

I don't think analogue/digital stuff made by, like, a team of 3 people needs to be super sophisticated and the pinnacle of all art, I just like the nostalgia of finding something made by some dude on the internet and watching it till midnight. I think we should be allowed to enjoy stuff that makes us happy, even if it's cringe or weird or has bad sound mixing and plot holes and stuff.

People have been making goofy, creepy stuff since the dawn of the internet, and it doesn't have to mean anything. And if it means something to someone? Respect that.

I hate all the stuff big companies are pumping out mindlessly, so I may as well enjoy something that doesn't make sense until you've seen six hours or weird blurry lore videos.

#bp rambles #personal opinions #don't come after me #I am just saying words #creepypastas #internet horror #digital horror #analogue horror #consuming media #indie horror #fnaf vhs #chezzkids archive #the walten files #lacey's games #TWOMP

[myrskytuuli]

please do share your thoughts on small talk 👀

I just feel like people get weirdly smug about "not doing small talk" Yes, there are wild differences between cultures about where and when small talk is expected. I hated the "how are yous" from cashiers of uk and usa, because they are not expected in my culture. But if I want to get to know a new person, or navigate unexpected social situations, now matter where I am, it just has to be done through small talk. It's just a necessary component of how human interaction works.

And yes, many people are bad at this. Being bad at small talk is fine, but trying to jump over it straight to the "good parts" usually always makes things worse. Small talk very much has a purpose, and its social calibration to scope out the feel of the person. What kind mood are they in? What kind of energy levels they are at? Where the conversation veers from there depends a lot from what you suss out during the lighter small talk topics. If someone is already tired or sad or melancholy, I would not want to bring up depressing existential topics, while a more energetic and positive tone gives me a green light to veer the conversation to more silly topics. A little bit of small talk when you approach a new peron you don't know that well can save you from very unplasant moments of saying something completely tone deaf and embarassing. It's also that if you approach a new person with a really heavy conversational topic already locked and loaded, they might feel trapped by it. It's easy to just casually slide out of small talk, if you don't want to talk to someone, but if that someone has started the conversation with "do you believe in free will" or "let me tell you about the life-cycle of the hummingbird" it is difficult to just leave without looking like a dick. That's why I would never be brave enough to jump over small talk when starting a conversation, because I'm terrified that I've locked someone into listenign to my infodumb against their will. I feel much more comfrotable sequieing from meanigless chatter about the weather into more spesific topics after I've gotten a bit of read on how the other person is responding to me.

Also, and this is just my own experience speaking, but I do feel like people who are loudly proud about being above small talk have the tendency to think that everything they say is deep and meaningful and everythign you say is shallow and meaningless. I think most people who have attended house parties have at some point met this person. The one who loudly proclaims that the world would be a better place if we all just discussed philosophy more, and then goes on a two hour monologue about their last breakup with full confidence that this is a philosophical discussion instead of a onesided ramble. And don't even get me started on all the tinder profiles with no other text expect "don't approach me with a hello, say something interesting or gtfo" Like, call me a boring normie, but I don't want to start every interaction with coming up with a new and clever quip that's measured as the only indicator on whether any conversation should be even started.

And if you are locked in a situationship with total strangers, I don't want to hear about their hobbies or philosophies. I want to hear friendly noises, that assure me that we all feel friendly towards each other, despite being stuck in an elevator. Just meaningless chatter that tells me that no one here is about to throw a random temper tantrum, while we wait to be let out.

And sometimes I just want to lightly chatter with my loved ones, even if we have nothign of really importance to say, to just exchange some idle gossip or telling about mundane things that have happened, just for the pleasure of getting to hear the voice.

I used to be firmly in the camp "I hate small talk, it's dumb" untill I met too many obnoxious people who have made it a weird point of pride to be condescending towards other people who are just trying to navigate social interactions in a completely logical way. Nobody needs to be good at small talk, or even enjoy it, but in my opinion overenthusiastic small talkers are much more preferable to the cynic who doesn't waste time with small talk.

#anon ask #personal opinions

[midnightlovestories]

Arguably, there are few things that we would call an indisputable canon in the Addams Family:

- they are close, loving and very supportive family unit - Gomez and Morticia are madly in love - they love all things macabre - they are not afraid of violence, death, dying, fighting etc. (Yes, yes I'm still salty about that bullshit swordfighting scene in Netflix's Wednesday)

And of course, Christina Ricci pretty much established what is perceived as canon for the character of Wednesday Addams.

Other than that? There's not much set in stone. Continuity? Please, TAF wouldn't know continuity if it stepped on it, things are all over freaking ship, so it's very likely that, as a fan, you will love some iterations of Addams Family and hate others, that is completely normal, not all content is created for you. Let's accept that.

At this point, with the success of Netflix Wednesday this fandom reached its, arguably, largest audience. Whether you hate or love the new show, is irrelevant - it's success is indisputable, and it brought a lot of new fans, often completely new generation of fans who will interact with the Addams Family in a completely new and different way than you or me or Jerry next door.

Does it irk you that creators and more and more fans focus on Morticia solely as a mother figure? Yeah, it irks me too, no really, it annoys the hell out of me but at the same time... it's my freaking problem not anyone else's, the least of all the new fans, and allow me to explain why:

How we react to any given character is deeply, deeply personal. We come to the show with our own, unique set of experiences and those experiences will largely inform which characters we're going to relate to and what those character will mean to us. It can be and, very very often is, completely irrelevant to canon.

So say, each iteration of Mortcia is slightly or even vastly different from the other but some people will inevitably see her as a surrogate mother figure (or Gomez and Morticia as dream parents, whatever) and there can be a number of reasons for that, maybe some folks just didn't have great parents, maybe they had no parents, maybe... whatever - it doesn't matter, they are allowed to see that character as parent figures even if others don't.

Do I see Morticia as a mother figure? Nope. Never did, never will, although she's a fantastic mother. To me personally, she was always a representation of bad ass, empowered femininity - a strong female role model. I adored her since I was about 6 or 8 years old but she was never a mother figure to me. I love how she's happy and content in her role as a wife and a mother - that's her thing, she adores her family and that's where her focus is and she's absolutely unapologetic about it.  She's like a really awesome, badass housewife, she's telling you to do you, irregardless what the current trends for women in society are, but especially, at the time when women were told to have it all blah blah blah, and being a housewife was all but frowned upon -  Morticia's like no thank you, fuck that shit (except those odd times when she wants to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade). And I always loved that, to me she exemplified the true meaning of feminism - the right to chose whatever the hell you want to do in life as a woman. Career woman? Go girl. Housewife? Awesome, if that's what makes you happy.

Where am I going with all this?

Bottom line, do you want to ship Wenclair - hon, ship them to your heart content if that's what brings you joy or helps you feel represented. Do you want to ship Gomez and Morticia ? - bless your little, tender heart, join the club! You want Morticia to be your surrogate mother - go ahead, enjoy! Do you want those characters to be the representation of your experience as a gay, trans, neurodivergent person? - baby, go for it. Especially if it helps you go through some really tough shit.

Yes, your personal fanon might disagree with mine, it might even piss me off - I might hate everything about it and secretely bitch about it to likeminded fandom members, and I do. I might hate your take on the Addams Family altogether - but remember! that's not your problem, it's mine. You do you, whoever you are.

#The addams family #morticia addams #netflix wednesday #wenclair #Gomez x Morticia #Personal opinions #wednesday addams

[trolls-poppy-specialist]

working on the second part of Sometimes You Don’t Have To Care About VILE (But You Really Must) rn be like:

and realising I’m potentially traumatising carmen be like:

then proceeding to write about the rest of the team being worried for carmen be like:

Personal HC that Carmen is very anxious whenever surrounded by people (probably trauma from her time on VILE Island), sometimes even her team but she hides it very well

So like it’s this point where she breaks and her anxiety is let loose, even in front of her team, and in her emotional state she accidentally say that, “People only see the bold, cunning side of me, they fail to see what, even WHO I am. They fail to see beyond what I am on the outside. Like, they’re unable to see that I’m struggling internally, and when they do, they’ll just sweep it aside, believing that I’ll get over it because I’m so ‘brave’ and don’t need help at all. They believe I’m perfect, but in reality, I’m just a pathetic, useless person who just needs someone to listen to me! I might as well have just stayed on VILE Island.” And she’s basically crying while saying it, the last sentence carrying a slight scoff.

#carmen sandiego #carmen sandeigo 2019 #carmen sandeigo netflix #carmen sandeigo #carmen sandiego 2019 #Personal opinions #Don’t judge me #Meme #memeing #memeing to cope #carmen has trauma #hang on tight #Hurt #hurt/comfort #carmen sandiego netflix #Leaking of crucial statement #Carmen is stressed #Carmen needs a listening ear #And team red will give her one #Promise #pinkie promise

[c-rose2081]

Alrighty, went and saw The Little Mermaid.

It was nice to have a theater with NO kids in it, as everyone is seeing Spiderverse so I could enjoy in peace.

Let me tell you. I went into this movie with ground level expectations. In the DUST. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was so enjoyable to watch start to finish, and there were plenty of moments that made me smile or frown.

The marketing of this movie did not do it justice. There were some incredible sequences, textures and CGI work here on background creation and cinematography (that final battle? PHEW I was tense). It’s a colorful film, not dark like I was expecting (though color correction in some areas is still needed)

Halle absolutely shined as Ariel, and I loved the supporting cast (yes, photo realism and all). Ariel and Eric’s dynamic in this movie was ADORABLE and I could actually imagine them falling in love quite quickly. Ariel is shown straight out the gate as curious and fearless, and Halle brings a wonderful, innocent beauty to her that captured my heart at once. Melissa (say what you’d like of her) did wonderful as Ursula — though I am sad that we didn’t get any actual drag queen rep), but you can’t expect to much from Disney in that regard.

NOW. I still stand by what I said before. The CGI movements in this movie are really…off. The tails are beautiful and look great in some shots, but just plain wonky in the next. Hair physics on Ariel looks ok, but on Triton and the daughters? YIKES. I would’ve liked to get more time with Ariel interacting with her siblings, as she does in the original movie/sequels, but I assume that may be open for the future.

Wasn’t impressed with Triton himself. I had a really rough time understanding his accent, seeing as he spoke low and had some echo in his voice which garbled up his lines. He also just wasn’t very likable which makes sense but his sudden change of heart still doesn’t make much sense to me (I think that’s just a story problem).

There were also some song sequences that I wasn’t impressed with, Under the Sea unfortunately being one of them. Obviously it’s hard to capture the atmosphere of the song without the use of traditional animation, but mixing a bunch of random animals all looking much too real together? It was disjointed and somehow still felt so empty. The prince’s song was ok but heavily auto tuned and boring visually. And do I have to say much about…eh, Scuttlebutt? Like I know you have Awkwafina but WHY? It was the worst part of the film in my opinion.

Part of Your World was great, as was Poor Unfortunate Souls and I LOVE Ariel’s song upon first arriving in the kingdom. Kiss the Girl was the same, even with slightly adjusted lyrics which are barely noticeable.

Summary: If you go into the movie looking for something to not like? You’ll find it. There are plenty of things wrong or in need of tweaking in this film. It absolutely isn’t perfect. But if you go into it with intent to enjoy, you will. There is nothing outright horrible about this adaptation. It follows the original CLOSELY, and once you get used to the odd cgi you lose sight of it. Most who really complain (oh, this movie is worse than the lion king blah blah blah) are either racist regarding Halle, or are people who lack the capacity for wonder and have the inability to look past flaws to enjoy an experience.

—

Rating:

Enjoyment: 10/10

Quality: 6.5/10

Music: 7/10

#movie review #the little mermaid 2023 #halle bailey #the little mermaid #film stuff #thinking thoughts #personal opinions

[eolewyn1010]

Time to finally pick up my booklog again! And I had a lot of time to read lately, just no time to post about it. So I have some backlog. Reread one of my darlings: Alan Bradley's The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie / Mord im Gurkenbeet.

I'm honestly not even sure what genre this series is? Are they murder mysteries because there's always a corpse around to investigate? Kid novels because our protagonist is 11 years old and a lot of the story is about her family? Historical fiction because they play in 1950? Who cares! The Flavia de Luce stories are awesome. Flavia is immensely clever, so following her around is fun and, thanks to Alan Bradley's research addiction, choke-full of 1950s immersion. But she's also a kid with quirks and a difficult familial situation and the ego you would expect from an 11-year-old. Her thoughts are a bit prone to hopping around, but tbh I love that, too. It makes her so relatable to pick up a suspicion one moment and drop it the next. And luckily, she takes a break every once in a while to sort out the facts, so nothing gets lost. The whole book is funny, suspenseful, clever, and so heartfelt.

TL;DR - five out of five Gladysses (Flavia named her bicycle Gladys; isn't she awesome?): 🚲🚲🚲🚲🚲

#reading year 2024 #books #personal opinions #Flavia de Luce

[orionsangel86]

A bit of a moan under the cut...

It's funny to be in this position where I follow a ton of SPN blogs, and a ton of Good Omens blogs, and so I get a lot of interesting hot takes across my dash.

It's fine for people to be critical, but I do find criticism of GO from SPN fans kinda hilarious and hypocritical.

"the writing was like bad fanfiction"

You did actually watch Supernatural yes? Even season 4 had its terrible fanfiction moments *cue trauma memory of Sam Winchester explaining "w*ncest" to his brother and shudder*

"There was no plot at all and it was all pointless."

Hmmm... reminds me of seasons 12, 13, and 14 of SPN

"The relationship reveal at the end was so stupid and clearly a crack ship from tumblr"

Yeah I was also really surprised when Dean and Crowley hooked up in Season 10.

"Neil Gaiman was clearly bullied into making them canon by tumblr, he absolutely hated fans asking if Crowley and Aziraphale were gay and in love back before the first season came out"

And? Why is him changing his mind (if thats what happened) a bad thing? What exactly do you think was happening behind the scenes at Supernatural regarding Destiel?

"Even if Neil Gaiman DID change his mind and decide to make it romantic, its still disingenuous and he's lying to you about what he planned with Terry Pratchett"

Sure. He could be. Funny how sometimes at some point people may see the light regarding their characters and realise that the story works better if they are together - at least Neil Gaiman was able to follow through, unlike Bobo Berens and Andrew Dabb who had their vision shat on by the CW.

Maybe he is exaggerating about what exactly he and Terry plotted out. He's protective of Terry's memory but clearly also painfully aware of how rabid the fans are and has gone a bit overboard in reassuring them. How many lies have you been told by the creators of SPN? How many times have Jackles and Mollins lied to you? Queerbaited you? Mocked you? Have you ever heard of a little thing called growth?

If you are gonna be critical about GO and Neil Gaiman, by all means go ahead. But DO NOT then sit there in the same breath and say SPN was better, that SPN had your back, or sing SPNs praises in any way.

Both shows have good and bad moments. Both sets of creators have lied at times, and tried to do whats best for their fans at times. Both shows are filled to the fucking brim with fanservice - at least GO didn't mock and ridicule its fans by either portraying them all as sad loser men, obsessive stalkers, or teenage girls who are a bit too obsessed with the sappier moments to be taken seriously. The fandom inserts in GO were older, wiser, calmer, and rather badass lesbians actually. I thought that was pretty neat.

I'm not even a huge Neil Gaiman stan, find most of his asks cringe (and often wonder if he picks out the cringier ones specifically to toy with and mock the fandom) and def find some of his explanations surrounding the origins of the GO sequel contradictory and nonsensical. Whilst he is a great fantasy writer, he isn't the best at screenwriting imo. He is also rubbish at comedy and needs support on that always. It is very clear to me that he has absorbed some of the tumblr mentality in his later years, as this is apparant to me in both GO and the Sandman, and yet, as someone who rather loves the tumblr mentality, I'm all for it. I think he is maybe trying a bit TOO hard to appeal to the tumblr specific queer community which can be alienating for wider audiences (i say this as someone who considers herself very much part of the tumblr specific queer community), and I do sometimes wonder if there is something a little bit disengenuous on his side about that, because, well, how much can an older cishet white man ever really understand the overly millennial/Gen Z queer majority AFAB leaning tumblr space? I do think some people have really got to crawl out of Neil Gaiman's ass because he is not your God. He is just a guy.

But I also think a lot of the hate thrown his way is unnecessary. A lot of people's gripes about him seem to be complaints that he is too wrapped up in tumblr culture. Which is an ironic criticism to come from tumblr users. If you hated GOS2 that's totally fine. But if you hated it and then proudly proclaim that "Supernatural did it first" "Supernatural did it better" or just "Supernatural was the best and Good Omens will never be Supernatural". Please, for the love of God, shut the fuck up. Supernatural was heavily influenced BY Good Omens, and the Sandman. Supernatural was so braizen in its stealing ideas from GO and the Sandman that it even stole one of the main characters NAMES.

As a long time SPN fan, any SPN fans ever claiming Neil Gaiman stole ideas from SPN is a fucking embarassment to the rest of the SPN fandom. By all means criticise Gaiman's work to your hearts content, but at least criticise it correctly and leave the hypocrisy at the door.

#good omens #supernatural #fandom discourse #fandom critical #neil gaiman #personal opinions

[dyslexicandakeyboard]

as soon as people stopped calling things like emo and punk subcultures (the ideals and concepts along with fashion done by people that are grunge, punk, emo etc etc) and dubbed them an aesthetic (making these subcultures ideals meaningless and focused on how ones looks while destroying the actual purpose of these subcultures) lead to the destruction of both the actual fashion of these subcultures and the culture within them.

#the bisexual one #personal opinions #obviously grunge and punk already were going down hill #but things like preppy and the dark academia subcultures are clear examples of this #like literally why