#that show doesn’t have as big a fanbase as it deserves

[cleolinda]

I’ve read a few of the umpteen thousand upset comments about the paid Watcher service, and I’ve read comments angry about the upset comments. There’s one thing I want to point out, and it’s that this isn’t, or shouldn’t be, “You’re saying people don’t deserve to earn money for their work.”

The Watcher guys do deserve to earn money. I already give them money. I give them $5 a month on Patreon, not because I think they do or don’t give me $5 worth of media, but because I want to support them. I canceled Netflix for pissing me off with its price hike/ad tier, but I give Watcher Entertainment money.

They’re saying now that the Patreon will be solely about the podcasts, and they understand if people leave. I’m perfectly happy to switch the support I can afford to the streaming service. With the early adopter 30% discount, I’d actually save money. In fact, I tried to subscribe, but the site didn’t work.

Watcher wanting to profit from their shows isn’t the problem. It’s that they’re now discovering that their fanbase is young and broke in a terrible economy, judging by tens of thousands of comments on multiple platforms. I can throw them $5/month, so I do. But the Patreon only has (checks notes) 5874 paying followers, and there’s a reason for that. $60/year upfront would not be “accessible.” Patreon is literally patronage from the people who can afford it.

If the guys had said up front, “ONLY new shows and episodes will be exclusive to the service,” I think we’d be having a different conversation right now. But at first they did say, “We’re pulling all our content from YouTube,” to the point where Variety had to issue an update. Like, that’s in print and I’m pretty sure it was on video. Now they’ve backtracked to ONLY new etc.—but most people haven’t heard, and they feel crushed. And the trust is probably gone regardless.

So now four years of back catalogue will stay public. And now, you’re paying $6.99 a month for one episode, maybe two, of something a week, and now, not an exclusive back catalogue. I would pay for Watcher shows before I’d pay for anyone else, but I just don’t think the company is big enough yet for a SVOD at that price. They’re not Dropout size. They needed to build more programming and get a higher follower count first, or at the very least, charge less.

The international price/exchange rate situation is a nightmare and I don’t know what it is they’re not doing to make it… not… be like that.

I don’t know what they should have done instead of a full streaming service, but surely there were alternatives? I’ve seen comments from people suggesting they GET a Patreon. Lean on that more! Do the shows exclusive for a month and then let them roll onto YouTube! I don’t know! Anything but One More Fucking Streaming Service, which enraged me, and I was willing to move my support to it!

And I shouldn’t say this, but I will. In the “Goodbye YouTube” video the guys posted, they say that setting up the streaming service has allowed Steven to do a remake of Worth It where he and his cohosts travel the world and eat expensive food. This is the first new show they announce. Not “We have always been committed to diversity and we’re now able to bring on new creator(s) to expand our programming.” No, a redo of an old show that by definition has got to be expensive. Commenters are saying they can’t pay for the streaming service because they can’t make ends meet in this economy. The optics are terrible. I genuinely question what the thought process even was here.

I love the guys and I still watch their shows. I want to see Watcher succeed. I started watching Buzzfeed Unsolved in 2018 while recovering from surgery—as with a lot of people, their shows got me through a tough time. I’m as attached as anyone. If I can continue to afford monthly support—this is not a certainty—I’ll give it to them. I’m not a ~hater who doesn’t want Watcher to make money. But I am absolutely BAFFLED by every single decision here. I want them to figure out how to turn this around and go in a better direction, because right now, this ain’t it.

#long post #I hope nobody hates me for this but like #this is someone supporting you #this is the best I can do #and that should tell you something #watcher

[hannahlovesluca]

Hihihihihi K Anon here :DD

Feel free to do this last or put this one as the last in the row !!

Can i request Luxiem boys(+ Ver cause he's my pathetic boyfailure)'s reactions to finding out that their s/o has a naturally cold body temperature?Like you'd think they'd be warm from their personality but when you touch them it's just freezing cold and they just go (:

Anyways please take care of yourself,drink and eat enough and rest enough !! Your health is important pookie

-K Anon

Luxiem + Ver with S/O Who has a Cold Body Temperature

• before you guys had actually met up irl (met through NIJI) and you told him how cold your hands always were, he lowkey didnt believe you because you just have such a warm personality

• however, when you guys first get together irl, first thing he’s doing is holding your hand because he’s so smitten

• and then his eyes go wide and hes just like??

• even though you don’t actually feel cold, he’ll take both of your hands in his and try to warm them up

• he also lowkey likes it too because he definitely prefers to be cold when sleeping and when you guys are cuddling hes just 🥰🥰

• our boyfailure just loves u sm!!!

• i love ver but i’ll be honest idk too much about him so writing for him is xtra hard 😭😭

• lets say you guys knew each other before niji

• maybe you went to the same high school and started dating then?

• anyway he genuinely worries for you, he does his research and its a pretty big sign for low iron so he’ll probably always ask if theres anything thats bothering you and you have to reassure him that its okay

• im sorry but he DEFINITELY blows on your hands softly to warm them up :((

• hes such a horndog but he can be so so soft and sweet

• and he knows how soft he is with you and isnt afraid to admit that he is!!

• he will NOT hide the fact that he loves you!!

• even if you’re not actually cold your skin just is, he’ll still tuck you in with extra blankets and make sure to cuddle the coldest parts of your body!!

• im sorry but he cracks a few jokes about you being elsa or some shit

• he probably flinches the first time he feels how cold your hand is :((

• he prefers being cozy and warm so it’s a big adjustment for him but he’ll do ANYTHING for you!!!

• definitely teases you about it as long as he knows your comfortable with it, otherwise he wouldnt

• i watch mysta, but again, not one of my oshi’s so its somewhat hard to think of things to add but i swear im trying

• even after knowing about your body temperature, he still probably flinches sometimes :((

• poor baby loves you so much and he wants you to know that and he feels so fucking bad because he doesn’t think hes showing it enough

• apologizes to you repeatedly about it :(

• much like vox, he’ll definitely make sure you’re always covered up even if you’re not actually cold

• “mysta, im having a heat stroke..”

• “too bad.” *sticks tongue out at you*

• GOLDEN RETRIEVER GIVES YOU HIS GLOVES

• “y/n, baby, are you okay? 🥺”

• looks at you exactly like that emoji

• holds your hands in his and probably presses them up against his chest for extra warmth 💟💟

• is the type to make you hot chocolate not only because it tastes good and you like it but because it’ll warm up your body

• hes so thorough with everything he does and remembers everything about you :((

• much like vox, he looks it up and once he sees that it could be something like low iron hes just like :0

• he hadnt even thought about that!!! what kind of a boyfriend was he!!!!

• ^ the best one ever

• HE LOVES TAKING WARM SHOWERS/BATHS WITH YOU

• im brain rotting i want to shower with him

• pls he deserves so much love how has he never had a gf anyone would be so lucky shouldve been me shouldve been me oh my god

• no parasocial

• anyways probably tells the lucubs and your fanbase about how cold you are just naturally and how hes worried, and when the clip gets shown to you youre just like 🥹🥹🥹

• “yeah, chat! Y/N is so cold, it kinda worries me. Apparently it can mean a lot of things and im scared they might have low iron or something..” *with a pout*

• and that was when they realized something was going on between you two

• THE MAN OF SEX HIMSELF

• anyways, much like vox, he definitely blows softly on your hands with warm breath to warm them up im so :(

• he also, like luca, will probably get you gloves (he would lend you his but they wouldn’t fo much)

• he probably reads to you while holding your hand and will look at you now and then just to make sure you’re ACTUALLY not cold

• he worries so much about you and being an overthinker doesnt help his case

• i imagine he’ll probably breathe on your hands whilst singing to you softly and just cradling you in his arms

• the man wants nothing more than for you to be happy and healthy and and and and

• ugh he just wants you to have everything good in life because you deserve it and

• i could rant about this man for ages plz restrain me

• anyway if he catches you wearing the gloves he bought you his heart will explode because he got you those and its just so :))))))))

• yk that Harry Styles song “Falling” thats literally him with you thats him in a relationship i cant explain it i just

• he also has a naturally cold body temp

• so the first time he holds your hands hes just :D

• much like ver, he prefers sleeping somewhat cold so when he cuddles you hes practically in heaven 🥰🥰

• his head buried in your chest while cuddling i cant

• brain is not functioning

• shu is just such a chill guy he wouldnt really have that much of a reaction 😭😭

#luca kaneshiro #ike eveland #nijisanji en #luxiem #shu yamino #mysta rias #vox akuma #luxiem x reader #ike eveland x reader #luca kaneshiro x reader #hannahlovesluca #hannah susge

[buggyjuggie]

I know this might be a weird request but I saw on one of your old post and it was mentioning a swap AU with kenshi and Johnny, I wanted to do something kinda similar and it be instead swap, be opposite personality (ex johnny instead of being confident and cocky hes timid and insecure) I'm new to MK so im not sure how opposite kenshi would be but I hope you understand, if you have any questions feel free to ask me again!

──★ ˙ ̟Johnny and Kenshi Swap personalities AU

( There’s little hints of johnshi here but can be read as just platonically)

「 ✦ Kenshi ✦ 」

* So because this is swapped personality but not positions Kenshi i imagine is in a higher rank in the yakuza than normal.

* Because of his cocky attitude he takes more jobs and is more confident about his missions.

* He still doesn’t like doing them but he hides his guilt using his personality.

* I feel 50/50 about the idea of him being a show off for example in MK1 Johnny tends to show off his wealth, fame, movies, everything but i feel like even in this AU if Kenshi did it would make him look insane on one hand he’d do it because of the amount of time he’s spent in this bussines has at least semi desensitised to it but im not sure at the same time cuz i dont feel like it’ll fit his character so idk let me know what you think.

* When Kenshi broke into Johnny’s mansion i want you to imagine the scene where johnshi + Kung lao are walking to Baraka’s village and basically take the dialogue and put it here Kenshi just straight up shit talking Johnny to his face

* After losing to Johnny, Kenshi is absolutely pissed because he’s never failed a mission.

* Johnny and Kenshi’s relationship initially starts off very hostile they bicker argue and insult each other but trough training at the academy they slowly start to put that behind them and it evolves to a sort of rivalry less hating each other and more competitive if that makes sense.

* Kenshi was surprised when Johnny gave him Sento while yes he’s cocky and acts childish Kenshi still feels guilty for all the lives that he has taken while being a part of the yakuza, Kenshi doesn’t feel like he deserves this until Johnny explains his reasonings and slowly starts to put the past behind him and starts hope for a brighter future.

「 ✦ Johnny ✦ 」

* Because his personality is different in this AU instead of being knows for action movies Johnny is most known for horror and historical films.

* His social media presence is small but he’s still got big fanbase that likes him for his mysterious aura.

* Because of his now more silent personality when Johnny drops movie quotes in conversations it tends to sound more ominous and makes people scared of him.

* Johnny and Cris break up still for the same reason as normal : Johnny’s spending habits and perhaps some looked over alcohol problems.

* Did not understand at all what was going on when Kenshi broke in. Whas this a movie ? A prank ? Or is it real ? Dont look at him because he doesn’t know either.

* Johnny keeps sento to himself not because of it’s monitory gain instead for it’s history and doesn’t give it to Kenshi because he think that he’s untrustworthy.

* Eventually after being in the Wu Shi academy for long enough he starts to slowly open up to the people around him.

* Kenshi tends to rile him up so after a while when he gets annoyed he’ll talk shit back to Kenshi and they’ll be off just bickering (like love birds WHO SAID THAT)

* As for the dreaded Mileena poking Kenshi’s eyes out™ i imagine it goes pretty much the same Johnny realises that Kenshi saved him. Even trough all the bickering and rivalries that they had Kenshi still choose to sacrifice his sight for him.

* After the incident Johnny gives Sento to Kenshi as a token of his appreciation of the man and the sacrifice that he committed.

「 ✦ Random hc, these can be read as platonic or romantic ✦ 」

* Because Kenshi was part of the yakuza since he was young he didn’t have many chances to see any type of movies so when Johnny suggest to watch something Kenshi is on board,he’s really excited and keeps talking and making comments while watching.

* Kenshi’s favourite movies tend to be action and thrillers.

* Yes Johnny did show Kenshi the movies he played in but only because he was forced to after loosing a bet. Kenshi just talked about how hot Johnny was.

* Because Johnny doesn’t flaunt his fame like in MK1 his mansion is diffrent. It’s smaller, has simple designs, the awards that he’s won in his carrier are stored on a shelf in another room, all the items he bought are expensive but in the modern art type of way aka simple shapes, basic colours, some of them are small and don’t take up too much space.

* Johnny and Kenshi have different aesthetics when it comes to clothing Johnny tends to wear more basic and neutral colours while Kenshi if he’s not on some sort of mission wears more vibrant clothing.

* Ok i know this one is basic and practically canon to the fandom but still i gotta do it. Johnny buys Kenshi blindfolds, they tend to differ in colour so Kenshi can match them to the outfit that he’s currently wearing some of them have embroidery on the front(?) to make them fancy.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Happy new years !!! I wanted to get this out before new years in my time zone so I’m a bit late lol. This one was a bit hard to write and get idea and I’m REALLY hoping that i didn’t make the character OOC if i did please let me know so i can improve but yeah hope you like this :3

#johnny cage #johnshi #mk1 #kenshi takahashi #mortal kombat #AU #johnny cage x kenshi takahashi #headcanon #request #i love them

[seasurfacefullofclouds1]

I see Louies on Twitter worrying about Louis’ Spotify monthly listeners and I just do not get why? Yes, call out larries who don’t actually support his music, they will always deserve that, but monthly listeners prove nothing 😭 and we as fans can’t do anything about that. A pretty large portion of monthly listeners come from casual listeners, people who listen to the big playlists on shuffle or from the top down. Louis does not get access to those playlists, because he does not get radio playlisting or the support of the industry and his team don’t know how to get around the blocks he faces in his solo career, etc. I’ve been to see artists with more monthly listeners than Louis or with a similar number but who play smaller venues, which I’m not saying is bad by the way, some of my favourite ever shows have been at theatres or hotels. My point is that louies need to stop worrying about this. We can’t do anything about it and it also doesn’t define success. We really don’t need to act like those fanbases who base their entire personalities and enjoyment of music around the number of Spotify listeners an artist has. I personally don’t base my enjoyment of an artist around their numbers and some of my favourites have never gotten over 2 million monthly listeners. Do I think Louis’ music deserves a larger audience? Absolutely but it’s not something I dwell on or think defines his success or talent

I agree, mostly. Although if fans knew they just have to stream one Louis song per month to maintain his listener numbers, then why not take out 10 minutes per month to do that? It’s less time than you spend looking up a fic on AO3.

But I also agree that it’s not a big deal to stress about. Spotify monthly listener numbers don’t make or break an artist.

[briebysabs]

I’m going to continue saying it.

Stormbringer needs to be a movie. Perhaps we can go Kizumonogatari style and split the book into two films. Because first of all, we’ve all seen how thick that light novel is. How in earth’s name are they going to fit ALL that in 4 episodes? Unless they omitted more than half of the content. A movie is the most logical way of going about it.

The content in stormbringer is so relevant and big, arguably much bigger than DA. Mainly because Verlaine survived is why this will be animated in some way. Don’t worry Studio Bones you can trust the fanbase to blow it up. And I’ve loved this show, I liked the prequels, the Beast AU broke me internally. But stormbringer is just special to me. And I believe it’s because the light novel is basically a character breakdown of Chuuya.

Yes we have Verlaine which is essentially why this will be animated. But this whole thing was a deep dive into a character (which I’m all about). Themes of identity, acceptance, and self-love. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter if Chuuya is an equation or technically not a human.

Chuuya sees himself as real. We the audience sees him as real. And the people that care see him as real.

Which is why Dazai being the most adamant to prove his humanity is so meaningful. Looking at their relationship without shipping lenses, they obviously care about each other more than they let on. However it’s complicated. Their annoyances at the other person is not a facade. Dazai, at where we are in the story, has likely come to terms with his thoughts on Chuuya. But at sixteen, yes he cared but there was genuine irritation and resentment towards him.

The light novel makes the comparison that they’re both lonely souls. Forever in darkness, unlike anyone else. But Chuuya has a fire in him, always persevering, always fighting. Meanwhile Dazai never had that, thought he shouldn’t bother, so seeing Chuuya truly annoys him. Perhaps a part of him was envious. He could never be Chuuya so Dazai turns his insecurities into venomous insults.

But Dazai exhibits genuine emotions when he’s with Chuuya. He’s peeved, worried, excited, etc. Now you’re telling him that someone who’s made him feel more than anyone else has in only a year, is a bunch of lines constructed in a lab. He would never accept that.

To sum it all up, what I’m saying is that stormbringer is a brilliant character study and deserves a movie (if not two).

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsd light novel #stormbringer #bsd storm bringer #chuuya nakahara #dazai osamu #paul verlaine #bsd manga #let’s get movies #skk #Chuuya’s character is amazing #kafka asagiri #dazai and chuuya #dynamics #bsd verlaine #character analysis

[rescuesonic3]

The Sonic Movie fanbase is DISGUSTING!

The Sonic movie fanbase is disgusting.

A few years ago, an amazing movie called Sonic The Hedgehog came out. It was BEAUTIFUL. A heartwarming story about a young blue hedgehog who found a home and a family on a new planet.   Unsurprisingly, people loved it. And people loved Sonic. Many of them said they'd guard the little guy with their lives.   But then the second movie came out.  The entire second movie was basically a giant snuff film. There wasn't a single scene in the entire movie where Sonic wasn't being beaten senseless or suffering somehow else. Knuckles, who dished out most of it, didn't get any sort of punishment for all the needless harm he brought. 99.9% of the humor in the movie was just Sonic being beaten for cheap slapstick.  Surely, the same people who said they'd defend Sonic with their lives would be outraged by this, right?  They f*cking loved it.  In fact, they swapped over and started loving Knuckles instead, even cheering as Sonic was mauled and maimed for no reason. They even had the audacity to call Knuckles CUTE of all things. Yes, they called a bloodthirsty caveman foaming at the mouth "CUTE."  Why did the second movie do this to Sonic? Why didn't Knuckles get the punishment he deserved? Well, perhaps that's because the movie's chief writer, Pat Casey, flat-out hates Sonic. He even posted a tweet reading "[Sonic] gets his ass kicked in every movie, it's tradition" on his Twitter. Surely this should have outraged all the so-called "Sonic fans" who claim to like Sonic, right? Nope! Instead, they CHEERED at Pat's tweet, EXCITED to see Sonic suffer at Shadow's evil, bloody hands. I know you might say “Well, he was just joking!” Well, can you prove that? I didn’t think so. If he were joking, don’t you think he’d give some kind of signal that he was? Welcome-to-green-hills is especially guilty of all of this, but so are 99.9% of the entire Sonic Movie fanbase.  I'm growing tired of hearing Sonic Movie fans talk about how much they "love Sonic" yet they advocate for his suffering and want to hug the bloodthirsty monsters like Knuckles who maul and mutilate him. Lots of people argue that he saved Sonic’s life and therefore made up for his wrongdoings. But for f*ck’s sake, the only reason he saved Sonic’s life was because HE saved HIS! So that doesn’t really even the playing field! Not to mention, even if your argument WAS true, that’s hardly an apology given he nearly killed Sonic 3 times throughout the film. And now, you’re going to defend Knuckles by claiming he was misled by Eggman and that his parents (who, in addition to ORPHANING SONIC, were warlords and killers who undoubtedly had innocent blood on their hands for the record) are dead. What the Hell does that prove? If I were tricked into committing a crime, would the police just left me off and forgive me since I didn’t know any better? Of course they wouldn’t. Knuckles being misled doesn’t justify ANYTHING that he did. If you REALLY liked Sonic, you'd advocate for Knuckles to have received the beating he rightfully deserved, and you'd be outraged at the idea of someone who hates Sonic as much as Pat Casey does writing any of the films. But no.   Quit hiding behind the facade. If you hate Sonic, just admit to it. Pretending to love or care for a character you don't give two craps about isn't productive in the slightest. If you hate him, you hate him.  But if you really DO love him like you say you do, why don't you try SHOWING it for once? I do realize that movie protagonists have to suffer a bit in order to overcome their struggle. But don’t you think there’s a pretty big difference between a protagonist’s struggle and reducing the character to a punching bag? You’ll still argue that all the suffering he went through was just “the hero overcoming his struggle” but what the Hell did Sonic “overcome?” NOTHING, that’s what! He lost every single fight in the movie except the Super Sonic scene, and none of the people who wronged him except Eggman got the punishment they deserved for it.  If the movie would have been better, Sonic would have won the temple fight (so Knuckles would have gotten what he deserved) and all the humor in the movie wouldn’t revolve around pounding Sonic for cheap laughs. How hard could that have been to do?  I know that you, the “Sonic fan” reading this, are probably furious at this post. You probably can’t stand seeing this. You’re gonna comment some threat that isn’t even related to my argument, aren’t you? Well, let me give you this: if you don’t have an actual argument to combat mine, that literally means I’m right and that you can’t change it!  If you hate Sonic, that’s just fine. You can have an opinion. But pretending to love him WHILE hating him is where you’re going wrong.  

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic prime #sonic movie #sonic movie 2 #sonic movie 3 #pat casey #sonicthehedgehog #movie knuckles #knuckles the echidna #tails #Miles Tails Prower #movie sonic #movie tails

[anxresi]

AARGH etc.

I just had a MASSIVE argument with someone on tumblr about the upcoming one-sided infatuation of Zoe with Marinette in Miraculous Ladybug.

They seemed to think I was against it because I ‘hated’ Zoe (true enough, but mostly because of why she was created, not the character herself ) but then came their accusation I was against LGBTQ pairings in general…

…

…

Reader, I am not known for losing my temper, but I pretty much blew my top at this point. 🤬🤬🤬🤬

I am NOT against any kind of ship, as long as it’s not totally gross (like siblings, or a HUGE age difference. I even welcome same-sex relationships more than most, as I feel they are hugely underrepresented in animation in general.

The imbalance between them and straight ships is only just beginning to be redressed, and my favorite one as of right now are these two dorks from a show (The Owl House) SO much superior than Miraculous even mentioning them in the same sentence feels utterly wrong.

…But then again, maybe it’s a bit unfair to compare a couple who had entire SEASONS worth of development full of ups and downs before the couple finally hooked up in an unforgettable scene which was like poetry in motion. 🥰

Compare this to something (IMHO) which has obviously only been thrown into a ‘kid’s’ show as a sop to a much-neglected percentage of the audience. It’ll only last one episode at the most, be quickly forgotten about afterwards in canon and STILL have a lot of commentators calling it a ‘big step forward’ and will say Zoe is their best character based on her newly-revealed sexual preference alone. 🙄

It’s sad to think that some members of the community will be taken in by such shamelessly manipulative pandering, but it seems to be working already. Just ask my now ex-follower, who now think I’m some kind of irredeemable bigot, for just stating my opinion above. 😢

Oh well, if anyone feels the same way about me, feel free to hit that ‘block’ button. But before you do, consider this: don’t LGBTQ audiences deserve just as much effort put in their ships as straight pairings do? 🤔

Does a throwaway one-episode-wonder crush featuring an incredibly bland character (Zoe) that’ll undoubtedly be pushed aside afterwards afterwards REALLY represent progress? (Miraculous ain’t exactly known for the continuity, is it?) 😅

If I was more cynical(!), I’d suggest this was just to bump up Zoe’s fading popularity after being such a pointless addition to S4, despite being a Creator’s Pet. Just because she might be gay, it doesn’t automatically render all the other complaints people have said such as her utter uselessness, flat personality and only being put in the show to p*ss Chloe’s fanbase off null and void. 🤪

Stop trying to use a certain subset of the fandom to justify your horrible narrative decisions and weird grudges, Mr Astruc. 😤

Oh and I hear you’re leaving after S5. Don’t let the door smack you on your a** on the way out, there’s a good show-wrecker. 😇

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous #chloe bourgeois #ladybug #ml salt #queen bee #marinette dupain-cheng #disney #ml #the owl house #amity blight #luz noceda

[louisisalarrie]

Can you explain what you mean about Louis team not trying anymore? Do you mean in terms of promo of him/his tour?

Louis is on a break at the moment so not sure what we’re expecting his team to be doing? I’ve got to say I’m not that keen on them either. I mean I like his band members but the management crew do seem lazy and disinterested. Not sure if it bothers L or not. He’s so laid back it’s hard to tell!

Heya anon! Thanks for the inbox, and welcome to the show.

Look… yes, he’s on a break. That’s fine, and while Harry and zayn are currently getting press, there could be concern for over-saturation in the market due to the overlap of fans, and therefore could even be Agreements between H/L/Z’s managers to space out the promo a bit so fans can absorb one thing at a time. Niall’s on tour with consistent promo social media posts (not too many headlines though), so he’s not to worry, and Liam isn’t getting really any press, even though he is being more active with fans. However…

Just because Louis is on break, that doesn’t mean his team needs to be. They should be gearing up with promo for the LATAM tour that starts in 2 weeks. They’ve always been lazy with trying to reach GP and having substantial press/working with interviewers or industry professionals that will connect him to a larger demographic, and have relied on a very dedicated fanbase as their main source of income/Louis’ success. The problem with that, is by forming such a special connection between Louis and the fans, he (his team) need to be creating content and delivering to the fans so it doesn’t feel so one sided. It frustrates me to no end because even though they are doing well with the relationship between louis and fans, sometimes they don’t even know that demographic as well as they think they do.

Louis 100% deserves a break. I don’t expect him to be posting every day or doing livestreams or twitter chats, but his team need to at least be posting on Insta/twitter once or twice a week for him. Theyve been really MIA a little too long in my opinion, and the whole point of this promo is to sell tickets to the upcoming LATAM tour. It is crucial promo time, ya know?

So anyway, again this is just in my opinion and experience and analysing the marketing strategies/timelines of Louis’ past tours/album drops etc., they just aren’t delivering that promo, and haven’t actively tried to reach a larger demographic with the GP like… ever. Could he have done a couple of pre recorded interviews while he wasn’t MIA to drop over this time? He should have. Maybe a few pre written press articles about his tour ready to drop on a specific date? Hopefully. There should be content available to post whenever necessary. And hell, I’m sure there will be some level of promo before the tour, but leaving it til last minute doesn’t really do him any favours.

His team come off as lazy and often rely on us to do the work for him, which like… fine, fans literally keep an artist’s career alive so there is obviously a level of fans promoting said artist, but it feels like it’s a lot of us giving and hanging around and a lot of them taking and too much reliance on just his already established fans selling out shows, not new fans who could grow his numbers substantially.

Again, I’m 100% not advocating for him to not have a break, I’m saying his team are barely doing the bare minimum at the moment, and it’s not doing him and his tour any favours. I’m not saying Louis is lazy, and I’m not saying that he doesn’t care, this is strictly to do with his team and their strategies.

And yes, he does come across as very laid back and yes, he loves what he does and works hard. But I feel there may be a level of complacency with his team right now. Like “oh well, you’re not ever gonna be as big as Harry, so we won’t even bother with this strategy even if it worked for him” kinda thing. But, for the hell of it, let’s say that Louis doesn’t really wanna do more promo. He’s happy at the level he’s at, doing just enough of what his team wants him to do, and he doesn’t want to strive to be any more successful. He knows he’s at a good place, so why bother? But… Matt Vines needs to make money. He’d be on a commission rate of an industry standard around 20%, but might be more depending on their Agreement. It wouldn’t be any less. So… if Louis isn’t making more money, Matt isn’t making more money (he would be making a certain amount with the other artists he manages, but overall Louis would be making the most out of that roster, his commission on smaller bands may lead closer to 15% standard). Obviously money is still coming in to them, but you get me. So, even if Louis is chilling and happy, it’s weird to see such a little amount of promo leading up to a very exciting and hopefully successful tour in LATAM.

You can read in this interview from 2022 with Matt, about his ideas on management. Notably, the below about previous data from 1d and their activations and campaigns and I haven’t really seen too many elements of that in his current promo (obv gonna be at a different scale because 1d was one of the biggest bands in the world for a hot minute there, but there’s been little to no elements of these strategies in his current promo season):

So i truly haven’t seen much of those marketing techniques employed within his promo these days. And here, he talks about the relationship he has with his artists and why his company stands out from others:

Which, yes, I agree that a manager-artist relationship should be different from what it’s traditionally known. And I can see that they do have a different relationship, with the lack of stunting and louis taking the reins a lot more. We see more authenticity, and less show, which is great. Louis is serious and has actively worked to understand the business and how different streams and parts of the industry work.

But his team aren’t working to grow the fanbase. Matt Vines has been in this industry long enough to understand marketing and promo and demographics more so than Louis, but it feels like he’s not even helping him grow bigger. Idk, it feels disappointing that for a hot minute he was on a roll and gaining a lot of traction and it seems to have stagnated a little bit and his reach has only gone so far, where it should be further out to the GP too.

Anyway, look, again this is just my opinion. I’m incredibly proud of him and his team have done a lot for him, but they can always do more. And yet, they haven’t. I don’t want to see Louis exhausted and a wreck from touring like the 1d days, but promo comes in so many different forms and it’s not just about stunting and clothing lines and social media. There’s more his team could do for him, without him working 100% of the time.

#anon #answered #louisisalarrie chats

[zourried]

i’m so sad. i was so excited to go to the bangkok show. prepared everything from my outfit to my sign and even made a group chat with people i’ve never met to go with. literally everything was planned out. and then three days ago i notice that all tickets are marked as sold out which we all get really excited about bc yay louis sold out our show. and then last night i see all the rumours of the asia leg being cancelled but it’s okay bc it’s just rumours and probably just singapore being cancelled right? then i wake up this morning to live nation announcing thailand being cancelled first. and then i realise that they just marked the tickets as sold out three days ago bc they knew it was gonna be cancelled and didn’t want any more sales to refund. i simply don’t get it. smaller artists come here and go ahead with their shows even if they weren’t sold out. like there are literally so many artists i haven’t heard of that tour here. louis is bigger than all of them even if we think he doesn’t have that big of a fanbase in asia. the 1975 literally just had a gig at a much bigger venue than louis would’ve been at. conan gray performed at the same venue louis would have like a month ago. what i also don’t get is why it’s completely just cancelled. not postponed or anything, just cancelled. and all my parents care about is the damn refund so i really have no one to vent to. sorry for this lmao

dont be sorry, love, you're allowed to be upset. I'm so sorry this happened and I hope you guys get the explanations you deserve <3 sending you all the love!

#asks #anons #hate this for all of you istg

[limmastyles]

The downfall of Olivia Wilde was completely preventable. It was slow, painful, sad, pathetic, completely deserved and again preventable. Jason had a huge career were surgeons in the last couple of years and Olivia Wilde could have done the exact same thing if she just stayed with him. And even if she was smart during the stunt it could have gone so much better for her. It doesn’t matter if the drama between Olivia, Harry, Florence, and Shia LaBeouf happened or not the movie wasn’t good. Her directing wasn’t great, the script was not good, and she kind of fucked it up. But if she focussed more on promoting the film instead of herself, creating a good relationship with the cast, getting them all to participate in promoting the movie Venice film festival could’ve been a huge success, promotions for the movie could have been amazing. The press junkets alone would have done so well for her but she chose to Be stupid and bask in the temporary thing that she got. She experienced her 15 minutes and didn’t use it wisely. I still don’t think Olivia realizes that don’t worry darling flopping is not good for her. Studios are looking at her kind of sideways now, production companies are looking at her sideways, moviegoers and movie critics are looking at her sideways but also actors and actresses are looking at her kind of funny now. With all of the drama that happened and a lot of it that she created herself a lot of people aren’t going to want to work with her anymore. And Florence is a big name in the industry. She also has a lot of industry friends. Who probably know what happened between her and Olivia. They are probably going to want to work with someone who created such a hostile and Weird environment on their sets especially a woman. A reputation to the general public has turned, people online and do not like her, but her reputation in the industry. Is soured. Going into the stunt she had a relatively good first movie and a relatively good reputation in Hollywood. After the stunt she had a flop movie which was the laughingstock of the year in the movie industry. With a 10 times worse reputation than when she started the stunt. She left with a bad reputation, a bad reputation in the industry and someone who could not sell a film. Olivia Wilde not being able to get anyone in her cast to do any type of press for this movie is sad. Especially with the cast that she had there was no excuse they all should have Been doing press. And the reason they weren’t is because of rumours and speculation that was started by the Director. People who didn’t know Olivia before this don’t like her. Her next couple films are going to do well because he’s not in them and she doesn’t have his Fanbase to count on but also they majority hate her. And I wanna make this clear again. Even if the stunt didn’t happen and all of the bullshit behind the scenes never occurred. Don’t worry darling was not a good movie. She flopped. She dropped the ball. She fucked it up. All of the added drama didn’t hurt the movie it hurt her reputation and that’s what she’s more pissed off about because in Hollywood your reputation is everything. Her being a weird director who has affairs on sets, start rumours about her main actress, can’t get her cast of fall in line and listen to her and depressed for this movie And continuously call her out and throw shade at her shows that she’s not a good leader, she’s not a good Director, as she has no control over what happens on her set. The general public not liking Olivia it’s a big deal for her. The movie industry and studios and executives and producers hearing these things and not wanting to work with her is even worse

#fauxlivia #holivia #holivia is fake

[dsneybuf91]

Other 2022 Recommendations

I often find a fascinating piece of media with at least one Asian or Hispanic/Latin American entertainer prominently involved, but don’t end up blogging about it. Sometimes, I feel too far from the target demographic to properly discuss it. Other times, my admiration doesn’t feel as deep as it does for the likes of Everything Everywhere All at Once. Yet other times, the subject seems too intricate for me to blog about, especially if I check it out beyond its time of relevance. Still, some of this media felt entertaining and/or noteworthy enough for at least lip service. For brevity’s sake, I’ll limit my recommendations to works released this year. Each section lists them by order of release date.

Most of these works have more Asian, Hispanic, and/or Latin American cast and crew members than listed.

Honorable Mentions

Various Disney Channel cartoons: The Owl House (episodes #30-41 aired this year) and The Ghost and Molly McGee (#11-20) deliver charm and emotional appeal, best appreciated when watching the respective shows in whole. The Owl House probably would've risen into the Recommended TV Shows section if Disney didn't force everyone involved to rush the story.

Easter Sunday: Reportedly the first major motion picture with a predominantly Filipino-American cast, this comedy draws laughs from satirizing FilAm family quirks and celebrity worship culture. Unfortunately, while the characters' exaggerated demonstrations of admiration for Manny Pacquiao formed the plot line that I enjoyed the most, they wouldn't amuse viewers who never belonged to his fanbase - as I once did - and/or wish that the movie gave his role to someone non-homophobic.

Toon Makers' Sailor Moon pitches: The long-awaited unearthing of a cheesy, unfaithful, and failed attempt to adapt Naoko Takeuchi's beloved manga for American children deserves acknowledgement in this year-end retrospective, as well as at least one viewing from American Sailor Moon fans.

Recommended Movies

Turning Red: The nostalgic feature-length directorial debut of a future Pixar vice president of creative proved objectively nice enough to become one of my top 10 favorite movies from the studio.  It also became the first Pixar picture from this decade that I would purchase on Blu-ray and digital.

Starring Rosalie Chiang as Mei Lee and Sandra Oh as Ming Lee

Co-Starring several other Asian actors, including Maitreyi Ramakrishnan as Priya Manga, Hyein Park as Abby Park, and Wai Ching Ho as Wu

Directed by Domee Shi

Written by Domee Shi and Julia Cho

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent: Delightfully expert comic timing and a wide emotional range help develop passionate cinephile Javi Gutierrez beyond a wish-fulfilling self-insert.

Starring Pedro Pascal as Javi Gutierrez

Father of the Bride: Among all the movie adaptations released so far of Edward Streeter's novel, the humor and drama of this one feel the most up my alley, though I felt I needed at least one more viewing to fully grasp the worth of the added divorce-related storylines.

Starring Andy Garcia as Billy Herrera, Gloria Estefan as Ingrid Herrera, and Adria Arjona as Sofia Herrera

Co-Starring Isabela Merced as Cora Herrera, Diego Bonita as Adan Castillo, and Pedro Damián as Hernan Castillo

Directed by Gary Alazraki

Written by Matt Lopez

Bonus Features

Embrace the Panda: Making Turning Red: As with Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, Turning Red's most insightful extra feature remains exclusive to Disney+.

Almost Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Everything Everywhere All at Once: The Everything Everywhere All at Once Blu-ray and DVD contain the most comprehensive extras platter I've found in quite a while for a brand-new movie, especially since this 41-minute documentary runs longer than every other documentary I've seen on an A24 Blu-ray.  One of the other bonus features even reached the big screen, when EEAaO's critical and financial successes convinced A24 to theatrically distribute a version of the film with the gag reel tacked onto the end.

Recommended TV Shows

Our Flag Means Death Season One: While not the main character, incognito assassin Jim Jimenez and their vengeful plight form some of this charming show's most intriguing subplots.

Co-Starring Vico Ortiz as Jim Jimenez and Guz Khan as Ivan

Guest-Starring Fred Armisen as Geraldo

Directed by Fernando Frías (#5: "The Best Revenge is Dressing Well"; #6: "The Art of Fuckery"; #7: "This is Happening")

Written by Eliza Jiménez Cossio (#4: "Discomfort in a Married State"), John Mahone (#5: "The Best Revenge is Dressing Well"), and Zaye Ferrer (#7: "This is Happening")

Amphibia episodes #50-58: The most widely-appealing Disney Channel cartoon I've seen with a female lead of color aired its last nine episodes this year, and managed to stick the landing in the finale.

Created by Matt Braly

Starring Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy

Co-Starring Anna Akana as Sasha Waybright, Haley Tju as Marcy Wu, On Braly as Mrs. Boonchuy, and Brian Sounalath as Mr. Boonchuy

Co-written by Jenava Mie (#52a "Sasha's Angels"; #54a "The Root of Evil"; #57 "All In") and Gloria Shen (#50 "Return to Amphibia"; #52b "Olm Town Road"; #55a "Newts in Tights"; #57 "All In")

What We Do in the Shadows Season Four: This offshoot of my favorite Taika Waititi movie deftly pulls off a literally monstrous premise with strong comedy and pathos.  Season Four's changes to the status quo resulted in some worthwhile revelations and storylines, even if not all of those changes will carry over into Season Five.

Starring Kayvan Novak as Nandor the Relentless and Harvey Gullién as Guillermo de la Cruz

Co-starring Anoop Desai as the Djinn and Parisa Fakhri as Marwa

Directed by Tig Fong (#36: "The Wedding")

Written by Marika Sawyer (co-wrote #36: "The Wedding"; wrote "#38: "Go Flip Yourself" alone)

Patagonia: Life on the Edge of the World: This miniseries delivers some fascinating insight into various types of South American wildlife, and their relationships with the environment and humans.

Narrated by Pedro Pascal

Starring various South American scientists as themselves

Andor Season One: Due to my preference for Star Wars chronicles that instill a sense of accomplishment and/or hope, episodes in which the Empire inflicts realistic despair only appeal to me if I can bunch them with ones in which Cassian and his peers achieve rousing and immensely satisfying, yet either small or incomplete, victories.  While this condition and the relatively low view counts could call into question Disney+'s decision to release Chapters 4-12 at a rate of one per week, the season's grounded insight into the Rebellion, captivating performances, and high-quality production values still turn this into one of the most exemplary Star Wars TV shows.

Starring and Executive Produced by Diego Luna as Cassian Andor

Co-Starring Adria Arjona as Bix Caleen, Varada Sethu as Cinta Kaz, and Andy Serkis as Kino Loy

Guest-Starring Antonio Viña as Kassa

Whether you agree or disagree with me on any of these works, or if you have any other relevant recommendations, feel free to politely let me know in the comments section.

Plug

Discrimination towards Asian-Americans has reached alarming levels.  I would like my readers to donate to The AAPI Community Fund, even if I personally take no share of the funds.

#turning red #what we do in the shadows #wwdits #the unbearable weight of massive talent #our flag means death #stop asian hate #new year's eve #amphiba #father of the bride #star wars andor #my posts #movie review #tv show review #star wars review

[childofaura]

Which 3H units do you wish have more alts? For me it’s:

Claude because poor dude doesn’t have a lot compared to Edelgard or Dimitri. I feel like Claude would fit well in a Christmas banner or even in the next desert banner. (azu-taro can return to draw another Claude alt or maybe even have Kaoru Hagiya to draw a Claude alt)

I wouldn’t mind another Hilda alt so as long as it makes sense. Actually, put her in a Duo Hero with her big bro Holst lmao.

Marianne because she is a geniune sweetheart. (I kinda feel that the artist behind Resplendent Julia would’ve drew Marianne very well)

Lysithea because I wouldn’t mind having another Lysithea alt. (I kinda want to see Lysithea being drawn by either Miwabe Sakura or even Kofuzi Konzon)

I would’ve said Leonie but she needs her base form in FEH and the same goes for Ignatz, Raphael and Lorenz.

Seteth and Flayn because dear god were we cheated out of the 1st Summer banner!! I wouldn’t mind seeing Flayn frolicking in a very cute summer dress and seeing Seteth showing of his muscular body. (I’ll let the Shamir and Catherine Summer Duo Hero slide, becuz the girlfriends deserve a summer vacation)

Claude honestly deserves an alt on a banner WITHOUT Dimitri and Edelgard, and I’m saying this as a Dimitri fan. The other too are WAY too overhyped on the banners and poor Claude gets the short end of the stick 95% of the time.

There’s a couple of units I feel definitely need alts, some who aren’t even in the game:

Alois would be great having an alt along the lines of Dozla, where he’s helping people or children.

Manuela ALWAYS can have another alt.

Dedue is in desperate need of an alt. How come him and Hubert have none while Hilda gets THREE?! Oh wait, I know the answer: Boobs. THAT’S why.

Balthus. PLEASE IS, REMEMBER YOUR FEMALE FANBASE. EVEN IF YOU COVER HIM UP I DON’T CARE, I WANT HIM FOR *HIM*!!!

I’m not super crazy about him but Hanneman would be pretty fun.

Jeralt. PLEASE give us a Jeralt alt.

Arval, give my best friend an alt!!!

Shezs, either one. But maybe not too soon since we already had the summer alts.

And regarding your picks, YES Seteth and Flayn need a Duo unit! And Marianne I would be totally ok with her having an alt. You’re right about the others who need their base unit in the game, but I wouldn’t mind them having alts again too.

[oceanslament]

What She-Hulk did right with Daredevils cameo

Since the analysis I had on the show She-Hulk was focused on the idea of cameos and the Daredevil one in specific, it‘s only fair to talk about the episode he appeared in.

Finally, the character people have been clamoring for ever since She-Hulk first showed him in the trailer, has returned to screens once more and jumpier than ever. Finally. We got Leapfrog.

Alright, let’s be honest here. There’s no denying a lot of people checked out She-Hulk just to see Matthew “Daredevil” Murdock on screen again. I think even the most die hard She-Hulk fan couldn’t argue with said statement, because as much as the show should have been watched for the titular character, people are way more excited over the cameos.

In my previous post on the show, one of my main points was about these cameos and how they really bogged down the show(at least personally). Especially since a lot of cameos don’t really have a justification for being in the episode for the first place and I remarked I thought the same would be true for their Matt Murdock appearance.

And then, much like how I felt seeing him cgi’d in a fight, I was surprised by what I didn’t consider. That She-Hulk handled his cameo well and much better than anyone else’s.

First off, let’s talk his characterization. It’s been a bit since I’ve seen the original Daredevil show, but the general consensus I’ve seen was he was very in character. I liked his level of sarcasm and cockiness he shows in the show that really contrasted Jen Walters in a way. A vigilante who has been doing this for a long time and is comfortable in his action versus a newer vigilante who isn’t used to the whole heroism thing. While I’m admittedly not the biggest fan of Jennifer Walters in this show, I’m sorry to say I haven’t really read her comics, their dynamic was actually pretty fun. They also allowed him to be in his own sense of humor! Some people complained that he was cracking jokes, which would be ignoring that he made jokes in the comics and his own show, but they didn’t feel like the usual bland MCU quips most characters make nowadays. He still felt distinct and himself through and through, which made his appearance so much more enjoyable.

I also that they wrote him a lot lighter to fit with the shows vibe. Brooding Matt Murdock can be interesting, but he deserves a nice break and to feel happy. Him acting that way in the show probably would have been too much for those who haven’t seen Daredevil and it might be confusing for those who don’t remember him that well. They also did really well with homages to his series, with playing a bit of his theme and sticking that man in his natural habitat, the hallway fight scene. Still though, Charlie Cox has so much charisma as Matt Murdock/Daredevil that I fully believe whatever they would give him for this show he would have done well with.

But what worked so well for Matt Murdock’s cameo? The question of the hour has many variables to it that seemed to align for an episode. Do I think him being an established character who already had a fanbase helped, of course. But that doesn’t matter because it was actually due to a big writing choice.

The writers made his appearance work for the plot, not the plot work for his appearance. Every other cameo in show seemed to be “linked to the plot”, but after some consideration it’s hard to ignore the plot of the episode revolves around them for them to appear.

This makes sense for something like the abomination episode, but why does Wong’s second episode seem to be more about him then the show’s main character. Or the Megan Thee Stallion cameo, I don’t even remember which episode it was in, but I remember she appeared in the show in some of the worst animated dancing I’ve seen to date. (Sorry to the vfx artists love you guys theres no way to make twerking look good in general, the effort was there).

But that episode’s B plot about her ex coworker thinking he was dating Megan Thee Stallion was kind of forced to have her appear and it shows in the writing. The whole asguard shapeshifter was a dumb character and was made up again, just so they could include in a celebrity. I do respect that they’re doing a bit better with the writing and handling the cameo of the week, but it’s a short show. It should have been handled properly since episode one.

The use of one of Daredevils comic villains gave him a justifiable enough reason to appear in the show as both Matt and his devil persona. The scenes with him clearly had love for the character, and I desperately wish the show had that towards all its characters. The writers should have given less focus to the cameos and really let the actual main characters drive the series. There’s so much from the comics they could have used to explore Jen Walters and it’s a a shame that she didn’t get the love and care she deserved in her own series.

(Hey so this post was made before the finale so his appearance in that is pretty much everything I was against in their cameos. Thanks for clowning me she hulk, I’ve painting my face with my hope that you could write good. But that doesn’t matter seeing as the writers cameos highlighted their egos.)

Other She-Hulk analyses:

• A look into She-Hulk and it’s cameos (or how an oversaturation of cameos can ruin what make them good and how revealing the appearance of a character like Daredevil can ruin the experience and even the show) (the original)

•How She-Hulk’s themes and ideals seems to be hypocritical (or how She Hulk fails it’s woman empowerment narrative and how it hurts both the woman and men of the show) (post finale ramble)

#she hulk #daredevil #she hulk critical #matt murdock #human disaster matt murdock #she hulk show #jen walters #jennifer walters #anaylsis #long post #they were fun together but sorry I am not interested in seeing them being a couple in any way #mcu has a bad couple track record and I just don’t see them in an actual relationship

[my-mt-heart]

Hmm not sure who your anon source is, but they're just flat out wrong on one point, that NR is somehow owned by AMC. Whatever branch of the industry they work in (and I don't doubt they're in the industry), it's clearly not casting. He's got connections by the truckload, a reputation for being easy to work with, brings a big fan base with him, and does well with a wide range of demographics: "middle America" and overseas, men and women, etc. The perception is that he managed to keep TWD a major earner for AMC (pretty sure TWD still drives the most new subscriptions for AMC+) and kept the show clocking high ratings even as it lost its leading man and other high-profile actors, usually a death knell for a long-running show. It's true that AMC will pay out the ass to keep him, but he would get paid elsewhere, too. Hollywood has a long tradition of wildly overpaying middle-aged male stars.

Source: my wife is a casting AP who has worked in the industry for a decade.

Also, NR already cut his rate multiple times just because he liked a script, and tends to have a bunch of irons in the fire at once. It doesn't seem like he's hurting for money so badly that he'd stay at AMC if he didn't like the project.

Source: just my speculation :)

My other industry anon can respond if she wants to (she doesn’t have to). Like you, she’s only providing her speculation based on experience. No one’s claiming to have all the facts. I appreciate that insight from you and your wife. My one skepticism is the idea that TWD’s sustainability (fairly certain ratings took a huge hit) after AL left can be attributed mostly to NR. AMC certainly marketed the hell out of him to push him as the main protagonist, absolutely, but did the audience really stay for Daryl/Norman? That’s not a dig on him. I love Daryl so much personally (more than Rick), but his story alone is not why I watched. Frankly I think AK has a lot to do with why people stayed on. She’s a good storyteller when her hands aren’t tied by the “sexist dicks.” And speaking of sexist dicks, as I told @normanthatisall, that is the main issue we’re fighting here. That AMC continues to push these male driven narratives and treat two very valuable women as if they’re expendable, replacing them with two white men. I have no doubt they’re going to market the hell out of a Daryl and Rick reunion, but can they stand to lose the Caryl/Carol fanbase in the process? Are they so sure a Gimple-run action story is going to maintain an audience just because they put another showrunner's name on it, as opposed to what AK had developed for the Caryl spinoff? After the All Out War Rick vs Negan dick measuring contest was so heavily criticized? Just things to think about. 

P.S. I hope Angela’s new project is a success. She deserves it and I have no doubt her plan for the Caryl spinoff would have been amazing. I’ll never get over the fact that I don’t get to see it come to life. 

#caryl #carol peletier #melissa mcbride #angela kang #darylneedscarol

[thebroccolination]

Someone on twt was saying how MekBalloon were terrible for each other and together. Idk if it's just me, or because I love the establishment and and the "of course" of them, but (regardless of the show's direction and production and etc) I always thought they were such a great couple. Like their personalities and their story together and the implication that they worked it out at the end... I just love them a lot. (They didn't talk about the kiss so it didn't happen).

MEKBALLOON.

It’s been a long time since I saw Once Upon a Time, so forgive me for doing this from memory but!

So I think you and I are on the same page, Anon. I love MekBalloon, and I think they had great potential, and I was really excited for their episode because “one of us is closeted and one of us wishes we could be openly affectionate” is one of my favorite premises for queer stories. (Partially why SOTUS S and Dark Blue Kiss are still in my top five.)

I don’t agree that they’re terrible for each other, but that’s less because I think they’re healthy and more because I think we don’t know enough about them to judge in any direction, which is the writing’s fault. 👀

Most Thai BL series don’t seem to be passion projects. BL is a profit-generating machine right now, so of course it’s gonna be rare for all the elements of loving detail, abundant production window, and generous budget to overlap. Of the series that are passion projects, many are likely to struggle with at least one major issue. Maybe the casting isn’t right, the script wasn’t tightly edited, or the production just didn’t have the budget for thorough workshops that would really nail the characters and their chemistry. There’s usually at least one big problem that prevents it from feeling like a stand-alone hit. Not Me didn’t have the script editing it deserved, so it lost sight of several plot elements it needed to deliver on its ambitious premise; Dark Blue Kiss has a high barrier of entry for new fans, and it doesn’t stand on its own particularly well; The Eclipse lost its deliberate pacing and threw way too much at the audience all at once toward the end; etc. (I love all three of those, to be clear! My special adoration of PeteKao, SunMork, DanYok, and AyanAkk is well documented.)

Off the top of my head, there’s only a vanishingly few series that I’d point to and say, “That was well-crafted all around, and I’d recommend that to a new person.” Those are: My School President, I Told Sunset About You, SOTUS, aaand Triage. (Until We Meet Again and Between Us are my favorites from a character standpoint, but SWS is a li’l studio and they’ve struggled with a lot of production aspects—BU more than UWMA.)

My School President comes across as a well-developed, smart series in which most of the characters were given considerable thought and the actors were given time to explore and connect with them.

Until We Meet Again gave me the same impression, which is why it’s so much fun to write fic for them; the characters are fantastic and nuanced.

I’ll never shut up about SOTUS if I start praising it.

Same with Triage.

Where 7Project fell completely apart for me was where most series fall apart for me: 1) the writing, and 2) the lack of character depth. (So, y’know, 90% of what it needed to reach beyond the actors’ core fanbase.)

I really liked MekBalloon, but I’m pretty sure most of my affection came from finding BounPrem generally charismatic and fun to watch. I think they were profoundly underserved as actors by their episode, especially Boun.

Balloon is the oldest child burdened with his father’s expectations and is terrified of coming out, but he manages to remain a dependable older brother who loves and protects his younger siblings, one of whom is also gay and struggling with bullying.

Mek is…kind, I guess? Wants to be in open relationship with his boyfriend. Has been patient with Balloon’s circumstances for years. He doesn’t have a family, but we don’t know when or how he lost them. That lets us know that his boyfriend is all he has, but the narrative doesn’t seem to sympathize very much with him. And yes, the kiss was weird. I still remember as the episode was airing, the SWS cast and director were on Twitter going, “OH NOOOO??? DON’T MURDER BOUUUUN TEEHEE,” so to this day I’m pretty sure they just threw that in for shock value and there was zero character motivation for it. I vaguely remember New tweeting something like, “Cheating is always bad even when you’re hurt.” So I guess that’s the reason? Mek’s feelings were hurt by Balloon reminding him that his parents are dead, so he kissed someone else. Like, they easily could have made that conversation something like, “It’s difficult being in a same-sex relationship when society pressures you to be closeted. Being with a woman would be easier, but I’ve never been with a woman.” Or something like that. Anything but the half-baked nothing they actually gave us.

I promise I like MekBalloon, Anon! I just have a lot of opinions, and 7Project was so underwhelming that hardly anyone talks about it anymore, so: word vomit.

What I’m saying is that they weren’t fully formed characters, so I can’t really shovel too deep. They don’t have enough internal consistency for one thing. Like, Balloon goes from “huh where’s my sister” to “YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A FAMILY YOU FILTHY ORPHAN” and??? What are we meant to take away from that? It’s clearly framed as a shock to Mek, but Mek didn’t say or do anything to trigger a response like that. Balloon’s under pressure from closeting himself, so why is his trigger his missing sister and not, like, Mek cuddling him while their friends are approaching? There were so many opportunities to make this an evocative story and I’m gently screaming at whoever edited this (assuming it was edited, which it might not have been).

That all said! I wrote two fics about them because they absolutely had potential! I think ultimately the premise of a couple struggling with closeting and BounPrem’s legendary chemistry was enough to hold it above water. BounPrem deserve a bonus every time they agree to act in anything. ✨

I realize that was pretty rant-y, Anon, my apologies! Granted, I haven’t seen it in a while, so I’m probably overly focused on what I remember not working about it. I’d love to hear what you love about them, if you’d like to share!

#kiranokira answers #7 project #mekballoon

[octascratchrock]

The Sonic movie fanbase is disgusting

A few years ago, an amazing movie called Sonic The Hedgehog came out. It was BEAUTIFUL. A heartwarming story about a young blue hedgehog who found a home and a family on a new planet.   Unsurprisingly, people loved it. And people loved Sonic. Many of them said they'd guard the little guy with their lives.   But then the second movie came out.  The entire second movie was basically a giant snuff film. There wasn't a single scene in the entire movie where Sonic wasn't being beaten senseless or suffering somehow else. Knuckles, who dished out most of it, didn't get any sort of punishment for all the needless harm he brought. 99.9% of the humor in the movie was just Sonic being beaten for cheap slapstick.  Surely, the same people who said they'd defend Sonic with their lives would be outraged by this, right?  They f*cking loved it.  In fact, they swapped over and started loving Knuckles instead, even cheering as Sonic was mauled and maimed for no reason. They even had the audacity to call Knuckles CUTE of all things. Yes, they called a bloodthirsty caveman foaming at the mouth "CUTE."  Why did the second movie do this to Sonic? Why didn't Knuckles get the punishment he deserved? Well, perhaps that's because the movie's chief writer, Pat Casey, flat-out hates Sonic. He even posted a tweet reading "[Sonic] gets his ass kicked in every movie, it's tradition" on his Twitter. Surely this should have outraged all the so-called "Sonic fans" who claim to like Sonic, right? Nope! Instead, they CHEERED at Pat's tweet, EXCITED to see Sonic suffer at Shadow's evil, bloody hands. I know you might say “Well, he was just joking!” Well, can you prove that? I didn’t think so. If he were joking, don’t you think he’d give some kind of signal that he was? Welcome-to-green-hills is especially guilty of all of this, but so are 99.9% of the entire Sonic Movie fanbase.  I'm growing tired of hearing Sonic Movie fans talk about how much they "love Sonic" yet they advocate for his suffering and want to hug the bloodthirsty monsters like Knuckles who maul and mutilate him. Lots of people argue that he saved Sonic’s life and therefore made up for his wrongdoings. But for f*ck’s sake, the only reason he saved Sonic’s life was because HE saved HIS! So that doesn’t really even the playing field! Not to mention, even if your argument WAS true, that’s hardly an apology given he nearly killed Sonic 3 times throughout the film. And now, you’re going to defend Knuckles by claiming he was misled by Eggman and that his parents (who were warlords and killers for the record) are dead. What the Hell does that prove? If I were tricked into committing a crime, would the police just left me off and forgive me since I didn’t know any better? Of course they wouldn’t. Knuckles being misled doesn’t justify ANYTHING that he did. If you REALLY liked Sonic, you'd advocate for Knuckles to have received the beating he rightfully deserved, and you'd be outraged at the idea of someone who hates Sonic as much as Pat Casey does writing any of the films. But no.   Quit hiding behind the facade. If you hate Sonic, just admit to it. Pretending to love or care for a character you don't give two craps about isn't productive in the slightest. If you hate him, you hate him.  But if you really DO love him like you say you do, why don't you try SHOWING it for once? I do realize that movie protagonists have to suffer a bit in order to overcome their struggle. But don’t you think there’s a pretty big difference between a protagonist’s struggle and reducing the character to a punching bag? You’ll still argue that all the suffering he went through was just “the hero overcoming his struggle” but what the Hell did Sonic “overcome?” NOTHING, that’s what! He lost every single fight in the movie except the Super Sonic scene, and none of the people who wronged him except Eggman got the punishment they deserved for it. If the movie would have been better, Sonic would have won the temple fight (so Knuckles would have gotten what he deserved) and all the humor in the movie wouldn’t revolve around pounding Sonic for cheap laughs. How hard could that have been to do? I know that you, the “Sonic fan” reading this, are probably furious at this post. You probably can’t stand seeing this. You’re gonna comment some threat that isn’t even related to my argument, aren’t you? Well, let me give you this: if you don’t have an actual argument to combat mine, that literally means I’m right and that you can’t change it! If you hate Sonic, that’s just fine. You can have an opinion. But pretending to love him WHILE hating him is where you’re going wrong.

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic movie #sonic #sonic movie 2 #sonic movie 3 #outrageous #rant #rant post #personal rant