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#the.. bias is showing but it's mainly because someone recently put up a lot of like. 15 jugdral cards for 250 (5 usd equivalent i think) an
lucinagf · 7 months
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my cipher cards so far:
archanea: 14
jugdral: 22
elibe/magvel: 8
tellius: 4
ylisse: 4
nohr/hoshido: 4
fódlan: 2
colorless: 4
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duchezss · 3 years
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Buckle in folks cause I’m about to put more effort into this than an english assignment Presenting Why Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous is actually an amazing show
Now what defines the term amazing you might ask? I’m talking about a show that goes above and beyond in plot, characters, storytelling, and overall experience. Nowadays most adult shows don’t meet my standards much less a kids show so if that gives you an idea how good this show is stop right now and go watch it if you haven’t. Spoilers ahead ofc but as an aspiring film major I will be diving into just about everything I love and this is gonna get long. 
For your convince I will start with a simple bullet point list and then extend on them below, so if you only wanna see the big points and not my thoughts behind them this first parts for you. 
Black mc 
Diverse main cast (4/6 are poc) 
Actual plot lines and a lot of suspense 
Very dark for a kids show 
Complex characters that develop 
Fits in with the main Jurassic World series beautifully 
Body language and facial expressions are top tier 
Have genuine relationships (platonically and/or romantically) between all of the main 6
Phenomenal camera angles and use of special effects 
Great with details 
Amazing VA’s 
Continuity 
So the nose dives begins 
Black mc: To some people this might not matter that much but holy cow this is so important and such a big step. The people complaining are just weird middle aged white people, like do you know how big of an impact a black mc can have on young black children. It’s so important and it makes them feel happy because someone actually looks like them. Clear evidence of this was Into The Spider Verse (which is also an amazing movie oml). Come to think of it the only black mc I think I’ve ever seen in an animated kids show is probably Static Shock (also an amazing show ily). Somehow representation has got swept under the rug in this day and age which is ironic really, but this show does an amazing job with tackling that and I love it. 
Diverse main cast: I can’t think of any recent kids movies/tv shows, live action or animated, that have this much representation. In animation is also very easy for the show runners to make a character poc and then have a white VA, but jwcc is quite the opposite. Honestly the characters look so much like their VA’s that something tells me the animation team based the characters off them and not the other way around. Not only that but their names actually match with their ethnicities. So for reference or just anyone that doesn’t know, Ben and Brooklynn are white, Sammy is hispanic, Darius is black, Kenji is asian, and Yazmina is middle eastern. Sammy’s last name is Gutierrez, Yazmina’s is Fadoula, Kenji’s is Kon and Darius’s Bowman. Gutierrez is a common last name in Mexico and Latin America in general. Fadoula is found throughout upper Africa and the Middle East, Kon is rare name of Japense origin, and Bowman is a common last name among black folks in the US. So not only do they have a poc cast, voiced by poc people, but all the characters have realistic names. Not to mention they are very good on skin tone in the show, personally I think Yaz should’ve been just a bit darker but hey I’ll take it and run. 
Actual plot lines: This seem like stating the obvious but work with me here. Most kids and even adult shows have a very episodic format, there’s nothing wrong with that per say but having a plot and conflict build up and having little things matter is much more satisfying in my opinion. Most kids shows have some conflict but its very PG which is also fine that’s what it’s meant for. But every once in a while you’ll find a show that had plot wise beyond it’s years and those are the golden ones. Easily and rightfully the most famous is Avatar the Last Airbender or ATLA. This show to this day is still one my favorites and truly nothing will ever top it, but in my years of watching kids shows after it jwcc might just be second. We can argue all day about what’s the best and it’s truly a matter of opinion, but to me atla and jwcc just achieve such a level of complexity that 99% of kids and even adult shows don’t reach. 
Very dark: While this might not be exactly the best for kids it’s great for an olderish audience. Honestly it having a much darker element makes the show enjoyable for all ages while still keeping it chill enough so that children may watch. But come to think of it it’s hard not to make a show about dinosaurs dark, the show runners do a wonderful job at keeping it intense and exciting, but still kid friendly, and to me thats incredibly impressive. Not to mention since the show isn’t afraid to go dark they can do more (such as ben’s “death”, the hunters etc) which makes it go from good to great. Reminds me a lot of atla and I know I keep mentioning atla but know that is the biggest compliment ever. atla is easily the best animated/kids show of all time so the fact that a bring it up so much is huge. There have been shows in the past that have tried to replicate what atla (such as voltron..) and it just hasn’t worked. I think this show nails the boundary between too dark and not dark enough. 
Complex characters: Oh yes. If there’s one thing I love more than an ensemble cast it’s a cast that grows and develops as the series progresses. Sure the main 6 might start off as typical character tropes (Darius the super fan, Yaz the loner, Sammy the extrovert, Ben the underdog, Kenji the arrogant, and Brooklynn the influencer.) but they become so much more than that. I’d say at least half of them are completely different people between the 1st episode and the latest one. An easy example being Ben and Kenji. Ben started off as a naive, timid, and terrified person and has become confident, independent, and brave. Kenji started off as arrogant, selfish, and apathetic person and became compassionate, driven, and concerned. All of them have had some sort of change even if it’s not super dramatic and that’s important. It makes the storytelling better because they grow as they go. 
Fits in with JP/JW beautifully: In terms of shows connecting to movies this has gotta be some clone wars level s-tier stuff. Personally I have never watched clone wars but my sister has and she always raves about how well this show connects to the movies, and from what I’ve seen I completely agree. A youtube channel by the name of Silverscreen Edits actually put together the scenes from every time they overlap, mainly in S1 but also the cold open from Fallen Kingdom. I’d advise you to watch it because it’s just incredible. The show runners nail ever detail of these scenes and it truly feels like you’re watching the same scene from a different perspective. The set up is beautiful and I cannot rave enough about how amazing it is, my favorite easily being the dome scene because of all the small details. Not to mention this show actually connect JW and FK because it shows us that the cold open was 6 months later while the rest was 3 years later. Quite honestly I had no idea these two scenes were that far apart from each other, I thought the opening was from a years or two later not 6 months, so this show really connected the dots between these two movies and made them flow together much nicer. And I love all the countless references too old and new JP/JW movies. Overall this show is a great addition to the franchise. 
Body language and facial expressions: You might be thinking to yourself, hmph that is a really odd point to make, let me tell you it’s not and I’ll explain why. When analyzing films I usually tend to stick to live action because one of my favorite parts of films is how characters react to things, and we animation we really don’t get that. Most of the time even if shows get this complex they won’t use both the way jwcc. What impressed me so much was how amazing they are at this, the animation team seriously needs more praise. Jwcc is great at facial expressions which I will say other animated shows know how to do as well, but they are also so amazing at body language which is rare rare when it comes to animation. It’s because it’s so hard and often times it just doesn’t fit, but they do an amazing job with this and it makes the characters feel so life-like. When a character is sad or closed off their shoulders hunch, when they feel scared they stiffen up and cover their ears (which is another detail I love so much, I never realized till this show that hardly anyone ever covers their ears and it makes a lot of sense because these dinos are very loud) and when they feel hopeless their shoulder sag and their head drops, do you see what I mean? You can quite literally tell what these kids are feeling and thinking without them saying anything that is so impressive and it makes the show that much better. It makes it easy to analyze and if it wasn’t clear around I love to do so. 
Genuine relationships between all of main cast: I will not budge at this point at all, gonna say it right now if you disagree argue with the wall. I might have some bias on this but one, if not my favorite, part of any media is an ensemble cast. It’s something I actively seek out, and when I say ensemble cast I don’t mean a trio, I mean a full cast, my favorite being 6 but 4 or 5 will do. So when I found out this show had 6 main characters I was immediately interested. Not only because I love ensemble casts but I also wanted to see how they handled it. Ensemble cast are so rare because they are extremely hard to do and do well. I will even criticize atla on this. At one point they had 6 main characters and they never elaborated on more than a handful of the duos and just focused on the group as whole. But this is typical and easiest to do without giving up individual character development so I get that. But jesus christ jwcc does a phenomenal job with this, and I mean phenomenal. Out of the 15 different duos you can get between 6 characters then have elaborated on 11 of them, and it could easily be more this is just from memory. I might make a post elaborating on this specifically because it’s just amazing. This time they take to flesh out these relationships truly makes them feel like a unit and a family, instead of just a group of people all working towards the same goal. This is easily the most impressive and rewarding of any of the points on this list in my opinion. (coming from #1 squad lover right here)
Camera angles and special effects: This shows downfall for some was that it had strange animation, honestly it never bothered me and since I’ve watched dragon prince and rwby, it’s clear that bad animation never stops me from watching a show. But I think people just won’t give it a chance, because when you do you’ll see it’s actually very good. To me the coolest part of the animation is the dinos. They look incredible and so so similar to the cgi used in JW. That’s hard to do so more claps for the animation team I love y’all. They also have to work around the PG side of this show and do a great job at implying what happens but never actually showing what happens. This is all angles, not to mention they do a great job at showcasing the park and the scenery so that magic from the movies really translates to the show. Finally my favorite scene of the show from an avid slow mo lover has got to me when Ben falls of the monorail (idk why it is cause he’s literally my fav and I was so upset) The scene is just beautiful and the set up before hand makes it that much more heart breaking. The use of slow mo is amazing I literally cannot rave about this scene enough. It builds so much suspense and they used just the right amount, to much and the scene would move to slow, and to little the scene would be to fast. I need more great scenes like this in S4 (idk if I want the angst that comes with it too I’ll get back to you)
Details: To me details, in any show in general, is what makes it go from great to fantastic. An example of this is Harry Potter, something that hooked me into this franchise was how much small details mattered and it’s the same with jwcc. There are so many throw away lines that end up coming back and all us are hitting ourselves for missing it. Such as Ben saying early on he knows where the tracker beam is and when he “dies” and the crew can’t find it it shows how important he was. Those are details I love to see. Or the three dinos, one of which Sammy released, coming back all season. Of course toro as well and he always kept his burns. Not to mention the animation team always kept Ben’s scar in and I think that’s an important detail because he shaped who he is. Keep up the good work animation and writing team because I love what you’re doing with this (also I’m 90% sure the compass is another one of these details I’m calling it rn) 
Amazing VA’s: Honestly VA’s in general do not get enough credit and they really should. But these 6 are pretty amazing let me tell you. If I’m not mistaken Ryan Potter (Kenji’s VA) is the only one with a notable history of voice acting as he played the title character in Big Hero 6. (fun fact I had no idea and when I found this out I quite literally screamed). But the others have also done things as well, most of it being live action though, and voice acting is much different. Honestly I just need to make a post about the various roles they’ve had cause looking into this has been an experience. Anyway all of them do such an incredible job with this ahh. I think the times where you can really tell how different they all are is when they lash out. This happens quite often and honestly it’s expected, I mean they’re 6 teenagers in a stressful environment of course they’ll last out. But all of them have such a different way of doing it, Darius is hopeless, Kenji is nervous, Yaz is emotional, Ben is harsh, Brooklynn is stern, and Sammy is level headed. Usually everyone lashes out the same way so the fact that they’re so different in just one aspect shows you how good they are. Each character is so individual and all of them have different goals and morals which is not only realistic but it makes way for conflict which is always interesting. 
Continuity: Now this could arguable go with details but it’s slightly different so I’m making this a separate point. Continuity to put it simple it basically not have the show be episodic. Honestly that completely what I expected from this show because that how most kids shows are. In this show the plot not only progress each episode but so do the characters and their trauma. Most of the time the plot will progress but anything bad that has happened to the characters will not show and is hardly talked about (COUGH VOLTRON). To me it’s something that has to be addressed because if the characters don’t grow what was the point of it. And they’ve shown that characters grow based on the events that happen and I love that. Another thing about continuity is when show runners stick a pin in something and actually go back to it (COUGH RWBY). Jwcc is amazing at this and make a point to bring back just about everything that gets sidelined in the first place. It’s so impressive and make the show that much more enjoyable. There have been countless times where I get so caught up with the pins that shows just leave there and it makes me so mad, but jwcc is good at for the most part because of course some things will slip through. But they always get back to the important things. 
The conclusion: Overall this show is phenomenal and if my essay hasn’t convinced you I’m not sure what will. The show is amazing at storytelling and plot and the lovable main cast makes it that much better. It is so much better than a good chunk of kids shows and honestly part of me wishes it was rated PG-13 cause I really wanna see that. But they do an amazing job and keep it kid friendly enough while still discussing mature topics. It’s the next atla to me and something that many kids shows now days try to be and fail. It’s impressive and complex and truly one of the best shows I’ve ever watched. Film major mara out, and if you actually read all of this ily mwah. 
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yourkimjaejin · 3 years
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Moxy with the NCT 127
The long awaited post for me!!!! Here is a closer look at Moxy’s relationships with the members of 127. Enjoy!!! ~ Author Izzy
Moxy x Taeil
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Taeil was always nice Moxy. Treating her kindness and respect but never getting to close. Anytime he wanted to, it seemed like Johnny and Doyoung had everything under control
So Taeil decided to be her silent support. During her first two promotions with 127, Taeil would always keep a close eye on her. Eventually, he began to be able to tell when Moxy needed someone. And when she did he was there. 
Taeil became her emotional support oppa. Whenever she needed quiet cuddle time, she went to him. Mainly because he never told anyone. The real reason: Haechan was right. Taeil is a perfect cuddle buddy. 
As she got more comfortable with her position within 127, Moxy visited Taeil a little less but she knew that her oppa’s arms were open for her always
These two constantly trade edm songs with each other. When the rest of the members are out, they’ll blast music and have their own party in the dorms. 
He knows Moxy doesn’t like chocolate so if he makes a dessert with chocolate in it, he’ll make a special one for her with white chocolate
Moxy x Johnny
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Johnny is Moxy’s dad. No ifs, ands or buts. He is her father.
With Moxy having her own room, Johnny makes a habit out of coming in and checking on her. He also drags her out to get sunlight every couple of days.
Johnny: You will not sit here and become a vampire. Let’s go!
Moxy: But I’m allergic to sun..
When Johnny was doing NCT Night Night, Moxy came to watch in studio. Usually falling asleep to Johnny and Jaehyun’s voices
Whenever he buys her clothes, he refuses to buy her any black clothing. Claiming she need to expand her color palette
Johnny has a job a Moxy’s Bodyguard #1. He sits or stands one place down from her to keep an eye on her. In airports, she remains in his eyesight's at all times. 
Moxy x Taeyong
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For some time, Taeyong and Moxy didn’t have a relationship. She didn’t get to know him. He didn’t get to know her. In an effort to take care of the other (at the time) nine members, Moxy just flew under the radar.
After an interview gone wrong, Taeyong made the decision to pay more attention to the younger girl
Taeyong was impressed by her talent, all aspects of it. So he began to help with her rapping and dancing. 
Taeyong was the first member to notice her non-eating habits. To rectify that, he started keeping small snacks he knew she liked with him
Taeyong loves to run his fingers thru her hair. During vlives, he’ll pull her in front of him and start twisting and tangling her hair
These two are always bouncing ideas off of each other. Moxy’s very in touch with her feelings she knows exactly what she needs to do to express those feelings in a song and that really helps Taeyong when he gets stuck with lyrics. 
Moxy x Yuta 
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Yuta is the second member of the silent supporters. Yuta keeps Moxy safe using his body. If the group is walking thru a crown, Yuta keeps Moxy in his sights at all times. If they’re on a sidewalk, Yuta makes sure she walks on the inside even if she’s not walking with him
These two love to watch anime together. As of right now, they are in the midst of a Fairy Tail rewatch. Whenever they have time, they catch a couple episodes
He is the only person Moxy could do no wrong with. The only hyung who will let Moxy do what she wants. If Moxy sneaks out to get some fries, Yuta causes the distraction
Yuta always encourages Moxy to dress in more girly clothing. He knows how much she enjoys it but never feels confident enough to wear it. So he’s tries to help her overcome that
Moxy x Doyoung
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(I love this gif!!)
If Johnny is the dad, Doyoung is the mom. 
He looks after her all the time. Doyoung was always scolding both her and the other members for not really getting to know each other. 
Doyoung helped her a lot to break out of her shell. He even accompanied her to practice her gymnastics in Korea for the first time
Doyoung found out about Moxy’s terrible eating habits in the worst way possible. From then on, he made it his personal mission to make sure she eats
During Doyoung and Moxy’s early time with NCT, Moxy would have a hard time sleeping so Doyoung left his door open to her. Most of the time, She ended up in his room before morning
Doyoung does not like for Moxy to show a lot of skin around other male idols outside of NCT. There are plenty of clips where Doyoung will cover Moxy’s legs and shoulders with the closest blanket or jacket
If Doyoung is having trouble with dance moves, he’ll pull her aside for help 
Moxy x Jaehyun
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Jaehyun is the third silent supporter Moxy has. Fans can catch him fixing her clothes, moving her hair into the correct place and softly catching her attention to check on her. 
Moxy has a tendency to space out. During those moments, Jaehyun usually grabs her hand and rubs his thumb on the top of her hand in small circle until she snaps out of it
Jaehyun always guides her off stage. He’s a tensy bit scared of her walking in heels and possibly slipping and falling
Moxy likes singing with Jaehyun. Around the dorm, the two will start singing and (without talking) harmonizing
Moxy x Jungwoo
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Jungwoo and Moxy were close from the get-go. Moxy helped Jungwoo find his place within 127 and he’s always thankful to her. The other members of 127 are just a bit jealous of how close the two became in such a short time
Moxy and Jungwoo flirt.....alot! There is literally no boundaries between them. When Moxy lived in the 127 dorm she would steal his clothes all the time. 
When on stage, they might as well be attached at the hip. Fans will see them gravitating towards each other like magnets. At fansigns, Jungwoo will tell the fans to checkup on his girl two spaces down
Jungwoo is the only person who will ever see Moxy freak over other kpop groups. She would rather appear indifferent to everyone else. Jungwoo was only other member to figure out Moxy had a crush on Mark from Got7
Moxy x Mark
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M squared didn’t have any sort of relationship until recently. For most of their shared career, they were just members in the same band. 
Early on, K-fans made many comparisons between the two 99 liners. Both were from countries outside of Korea. Both were exceptional at rap, dance and singing. In most title tracks, you can bet Mark and Moxy are gonna have a rap verse where they go line for line
Many fans called Moxy a mixture of Taeyong and Mark. Those comments got to him. And because Mark didn’t talk to her, she didn’t talk to him. This all came to a head when SuperM was just starting. 
Mark should have been happy. Happy to have his raps all to himself. But he found himself missing Moxy’s energy. Her hype affected him so much stage. It made go even harder with every word. 
When Mark finally got back for Superhuman promotions, Mark finally started to make a effort to befriend Moxy. While the two are getting closer, Mark is still at the bottom of her relationships within 127
Moxy x Haechan
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Different from Mark, Haechan and Moxy grew close fast. At first, he saw her like Haechan see’s Taeil. The quiet member who just the right person to break them out of their shell. And that he did
Haechan would always crash into her room like a hurricane, kick everyone out and steal Moxy for the rest of the day
They love learning old and new kpop dances together. These two are a walking random play dance challenge.
During the summer fight, Donghyuck would stow away in Moxy’s room. The hyungs wouldn’t hear any noise coming so they would check on them almost every thirty minutes just to make sure the two were ok.
Moxy is one of the only members who is privy to Donghyuck in a down mood. “You never have to front with me. You got me?”
Moxy and NCT Dream
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Moxy is their noona and don’t you forget it. 
Moxy adores Renjun’s energy. His aura never fails to make her feel safe and calm. Moxy and Renjun have little dates where they just sit in his room and watch YouTube theory videos
Jeno likes to workout with Moxy but she will only join if he’s going to a gym. Moxy refuses to ride bikes across half of Korea
Just like Johnny does with Moxy, she drags Jaemin out of his room for some outside time whenever its been awhile since they’ve seen the sun
Every third Thursday of the month, mochenji get together at chenle’s house and have a sleepover. Private time between the maknae’s and their favorite noona
Moxy and WayV
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Hendery, Xiaojun and Yangyang love to tease Moxy about her bias on Ten. They flood her text message with pictures of him. They make little comments that make her blush in front of him.
Ten thinks its Moxy’s crush is adorable. He found out a while ago (I mean Moxy isn’t subtle.....). The only person Ten told was Kun. Ten loves to buy things for her just to see her eyes light up
You can’t put Moxy in the same room as Lucas cause she will literally pass out from laughing too much
Back in their trainee days, Kun would accompany Moxy to the train station to get home. One time, it was really late and Kun walked her all the way home. Kun became her grandmother favorite NCT member that day. 
Winwin and Moxy found common ground in the tricking Winwin did (i.e. the front flip in fire truck) Winwin loved going to her gymnastics practice and practicing flips with her. 
Moxy and NCT U
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Shotaro is her shy Japanese child and if anything hurts him, Moxy would burn Korea to the ground. 
Other SM trainees tried to scare him by warning him about Moxy’s “Bad Attitude”. Telling him that he would never get her help or advice. Shotaro not knowing any better steered clear. 
One day, Moxy found him struggling with his Korean lessons and She immediately sat down with and helps him. Breaking everything down slowly. She even called Yuta to help because she only knew a tiny bit of Japanese. Ever since, Moxy has protected Shotaro. 
Sungchan loves to flirt with his Noona but all he gets in return is a swat on the arm. Truly, Sungchan loves being around Moxy. She took the time to introduce him to the other members and let him cling to her while he was getting used to being thrown into such a well known group
Moxy loves to take care of Sungchan and Shotaro. She’ll buy them food and The members of 12 were shocked to see how easy it was for the new members to drag Moxy out of the house
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khaotungsfirst · 3 years
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ali‘s embarrassing celebrity crushes throughout the years
thank you to @fengqing for wanting me to expose myself, i hope y’all don’t judge me too much 🥴i had to go through my archive to remember most of these cause as fast as these crushes hit me sometimes, some of them went away just as quickly.
tagging: @schnaf @manhasetardis @morifinwes @xiaodaozhang​ @huigusu​ @yibocrisis​
ok here we go, putting it under a read more cause this got long
MEN (since 2006)
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tom kaulitz nothing more attractive to 10 year-old me than this 15 year-old with dreadlocks and pants that hit the floor askdjhgkjfdg
joseph gordon-levitt i..... can’t even explain this?? lmao.. i mean inception was and is my favourite movie but not because of him so like??
niall horan niall girls unite!! i was a niall girl until i got into larry and then that was all i cared about for a long time ksadjgkdf but i still love him!
dan howell he was funny and british, that’s it
dylan o’brien listen every teen wolf fan was mainly there for him, don’t even lie about it
seb stan holy shit i was crushing on him so hard after the winter soldier came out. he was the epitome of perfection to me! this was a big one for me but it went downhill once he started growing out his hair afgkjdfgjkd retrospectively i’m not sure if i was only thirsting after him because everyone else on my dash was doing it (also does anyone remember political animals??)
dane dehaan oh god..... listen, it’s all the fault of the amazing spiderman 2! also his look is so versatile like in some photos he looks really nice and in others..... 😬yikes lmao skdjgfdk idk man
loïc nottet this was a short-lived crush but he absolutely killed it at the 2015 esc and tumblr went wild over him so... 🤷🏻‍♀️
marc bartra so we’re getting into football players now and just look at him! he joined my favourite team (bvb) and i immediately loved him cause he made such an effort to integrate himself. after the team bus was attacked and he got injured my love for him only increased. he just seems so sweet and nice aaahh
niklas stark idek how i came to know abt him cause he plays for hertha which i don’t care abt aksjgjghjf but he has such a beautiful smile i think that’s what got me
andré silva i just thought he looked neat (still does but he doesn’t blow me away anymore)
héctor bellerín 2016 bellerín?? oof!! don’t look him up on google tho, he’s had a lot of... questionable hair and fashion choices throughout the years 🥴the way we all dragged him for it was really funny tho. i still love him he’s a great guy always supporting good causes
arón piper listen earrings and curly hair maketh the man
matthías tryggvi haraldsson once again a crush resulting from esc. he was my icon before i turned into a mdzs blog. i don’t even think he’s super attractive, i just love the contrast between hatari matti and normal matti
harry styles i’ve given in to the harry supremacy propaganda. he really is my favourite 1d member these days, musically-wise and looks-wise
bill kaulitz we’ve come full circle!! nowadays bill is my favourite kaulitz twin. it’s funny cause they literally have the same face so it all just comes down to how they present themselves and bill is just my preference
MEN (recently/currently)
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wang yibo i don’t even have words!!! his look, his personality, his talent just!!! I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM!! (as we all do) (also big genvy causer)
lesbian yibo this gets a separate bullet point cause i had this realisation like two weeks after falling for regular yibo but oh boi am i gay for her
xiao zhan he’s just.. so pretty and lovely. i thought about putting wwx into the fictional characters category cause i think xz looks the prettiest as wwx but xz as a person just seems so nice and down to earth that i had to put him here
bright (vachirawit chivaaree) a baby!!! his smile is so pretty and overall he gives off very ~soft~ vibes. also how does he look so good when crossdressing??
boun (noppanut guntachai) once again the jewellery got me. boys with earrings really will be my downfall one day... (this is not to say that he isn’t pretty without them, his face is also very much up there on reasons why i stan him)
tul (pakorn thanasrivanitchai) get you a man who is as comfortable in his masculinity and sexuality as tul
felix lee will i ever get over the dissonance between his looks and his voice?? probably not. also he’s just a fucking cutie
hyunjin felix might be my bias (oh god i’m starting to speak in kpop lingo) but i’m also kinda simping for him, what can i say?
WOMEN (sadly not as many but you know, heteronormativity)
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scarlett johansson literally everyone on this planet thinks she’s hot and they’re right (yeah she’s kinda problematic but i can still appreciate her looks)
halsey remember when halsey used to kiss her fans at her concerts?? completely unrelated to that, i really wanted to go to one of her concerts..... 🙃 also i once dyed my hair blue bc of her
kiko mizuhara she was fancast as blue from the raven cycle so many times and i was so on board with it cause in my head she fit the character perfectly but maybe that’s just because i thought she was really really beautiful and wanted to see more of her 🤷🏻‍♀️
rihanna i mean... c’mon
michelle phan oh man this goes way back.. she was one of the first youtubers i watched in like 2010 before i even played with makeup myself. she just always gave off such calming vibes and she seems so nice. also look at her 😍
zendaya oof zendaya is a big one for me. she’s just so fucking beautiful just... how?? what??? i- AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
lena i started actively following her on ig after she released her last album in 2019 (which is great btw) and... damn girl do i want to be you or date you??
xuan lu oh god she’s so adorable but then also so hot but then also so etheral but then also so cute but then also so beautiful but then also s-
FICTIONAL CHARACTERS
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stefan salvatore (tvd) gotta love how even at 14 i already knew not to make the toxic choice 😊
legolas (lotr) if you didn’t have a legolas phase you’re lying
draco malfoy (hp) if villain bad then why sexy?
anakin skywalker (star wars) if villain bad then why sexy? 2
noora amalie sætre (skam) she’s just really pretty, ok? the red lipstick didn’t help either...
chris p (skam) if villain bad then why sexy? 3 (ok he’s not a villain but he’s an asshole)
tokio (money heist) hhnnnnnnnggggggg girl with a gun make brain go brrr
wen qing (the untamed) funny how in the show i’m simping for wq but irl i prefer xuan lu... someone explain that to me. but anyways, she’s pretty, she’s fierce, and she looks fucking hot in red
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animefinatic · 3 years
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Fire Force: 1st thoughts/impression
Okay so I’ve been hearing some murmurs about this anime for a while but because I weird I move slow when it comes to new anime for some reason, mainly because I want something to binge. But since getting Hulu recently I’ve been watching a lot of nostalgic shows (Digimon s1-3 and Yuyu Hakusho along with some old school nickelodeon and cartooonnetwork shows) but I’ve decided to finally get around to watching something new for a change. I’m not done with season 1 (episode 12)yet so I’m just going to give some 1st impressions on a few characters. Just some general thoughts, I’m sure overall feelings will change as i finish what’s currently out so don’t get bent outta shape if I don’t like someone or mention someone. Also be respectful if you’re a manga reader.
World building: The whole people turning into infernals at the drop of a dime and killing other people and the rest of humanity seems to have all been clustered in some small ass piece of japan lowkey put me in the mind of AOT (humanity being behind walls, the monster being humans all along type shit) I went into this thinking the protagonist is some sort of form of internal with that logic.
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Shinra: Sharp teeth. I’m not into the whole teeth thing (Rin from Free, Soul from Soul Eater, Kirishima are swell in their own way but i was never a fan of their teeth) I like his little ‘smile in tense situation quirk because bless his heart i know when he’s nervous or tense about something. He’s a good kid all the same and he lowkey gave me Izuku vibes because they want to be a hero but he also gives me Rin (Blue Exorcist) vibes because he gets a bad rep and being called Devil even though he’s really sweet and has a good character. Seeing him in action I can’t help but think how would he do in the my hero universe (he’d kick so much ass) Has a typical shonen protag tragic backstory about his mother and brother and so has a reason to be in the fire force, I like the drive to be a hero from that kid dream he had, I look forward to him finding the answers he seeks while also not looking forward to seeing him fight his kid brother (I fucking swear if he has to kill his own brother I will fucking scream)
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Akitaru: Oh my god fucking hot, fucking cute that's my husbando right there. When he called Shinra’s smiling quirk cute I fucking melted. The Dad (and daddy) of this squad I see him looking out for the other and providing a solid foundation of justice. a swell guy that has the whole groups trust and respect and I just hope nothing happens to this man. When Joker gave Shinra a reason to doubt the fire force i was a little nervous but so far so good team 8 seems to have been formed for a specific reason bc the other teams are lowkey shady.
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Hinawa: stereotypical glasses character, annoyingly strict, and give the mc a hard time. In comparison to captain he annoyed me, by putting down my boy Shinra without giving him a real chance, (it wasn’t Nighteye lvl of annoying  but still) but overtime I’ve warned up to him, I tend to like the glasses characters too (Kyoya...I blame Kyoya) so by this point I see he’s a caring individual in his own way, what sold me is when he pulls Shinra aside to check on him and ask if he was ok...also mans can cook so bonus.
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Maki: Mikasa vibes, just a woman with some muscle but she seems very insecure about it. I like she’s such a romantic maiden at heart though. I like her Sputter flames, so cute it made me think of calsifer from Howl’s moving castle.
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Iris: I took one look at her and went: a sister. oh fuck religion is going to be a big influence in this show. Ignoring my own personal bias feelings of religion it seems she serves the purpose of praying for the souls of those who turned nothing too special about her, she’s sweet even though she has her tragic backstory with everyone but her and Hibana watched the whole damn church burn. 
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Arthur: Annoying. I thought he was gonna be some sort of edgy rival for Shinra since they seem to fight on sight. However he’s kinda this cute idiot. But his knight at the round table schtick is kinda aggy he reminds me of that one classmate in my class that took Shakespeare too seriously. Maybe he’ll warm up on me later he has got to be more than the idiot blond (maybe at some point they’ll drop a back story on him)
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Tamaki: Adorable, her powers make her look like a twin tailed cat (I not sure but I think there is like fire yokai so it works for the fire theme of this show) and I love cats so she's adorable. However this trend of her being clumsy af all of a sudden and becoming undressed and/or being groped or touched by Shinra accidentally only for her to hit the hell out of him is a trope i kinda want to die already like it’s not even funny. I’m an elder weeb so i’m not new to this but idk if it just my old age but I’m kinda over it. So even though I found her so cute earlier she’s almost annoying me even though its not her fault its the creator. 
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Hibana: Bad bitch, she had dudes as her chair and had dudes lined at her feet like a red (in this case orange) carpet. Love seeing a black woman thrive (she’s brown skinned or whatever so I’m claiming her as black until further notice).Stunning, only I hate the oddly shaped eyes (it works given her power is flowers and her eyes are in a shape of a flower) but it was jarring to see it. It reminded me of Nia teppelin (Gugrren laggan) did she make me wanna stomp her for messing with my boy Shinra? yes. But I kept wondering why was I so awed by her I looked up her VA and it made sense, fucking Riza Hawkeye and Erza Scarlett (I am watching it dubbed, blame Hulu for not letting me have an option for sub but its whatever I’m committing to the dub for now) and well I respected her more. Also love how she wasn’t actually into that religion stuff even though she was taken in by the sisters. Now her moment with Iris after she got her shit rocked, sweet, adorable, so cute. Also her sudden affections for Shinra going forward is cute not sure if I ship anyone at this point but adorable is adorable I can not deny that.
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Rekka: My stars that annoying. I also cringed because it reminded me of (yagamiyato’siida if you know then you know) And again with the weird ass eyes its not missed on mean that Hoshi is means star and its a part of his surname. But he went from 0-100 real quick once I realized he’s who Shinra is looking for and once again  me being wary over religion is validated through the white coats or Evangelist running around turning people into infernals on purpose (once again we back on some AOT shit) this man is bat shit crazy but he somewhat succeeded I wonder what it means for that kid who happened to be compatible with that bug thing (and of course Shinra is special bc the bug reacted to his fire) anyway what I learned from this character than religion got this universe all the way fucked up and the direct result of this is that religion has a firm hold in government and I know this is not finna be good.
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Survey #395
“suicide? i’ve already died  /  it’s just the funeral i’ve been waiting for”
Have you ever met a famous political figure? No. Have you slept for longer than usual today? Ugh, no. I officially have my APAP mask for my sleep apnea, and I chose the one that covers my nose and mouth considering it varies which I breathe from when I sleep depending on congestion. It is very hard to get used to. When is the last time that you experienced rejection–literal or imagined? Hm. Is there an artist or celebrity whom you admire for their craft but take issue with their personality or politics? Yeah, such as Marilyn Manson. He's a pretty gross person but by god do I love his music. What’s the last thing you made out of clay? An anatomically correct heart. Do you like bacon bits on your salad? Yes. What do you do to celebrate Earth Day? Nothing. :/ I wish I could think of something to do for it. Have you ever had someone try to intentionally bully you to suicide? Bro what the actual fuck. No. Who are your favorite kids that you’ve babysat? My nephew Ryder. Would you feel funny if you kissed somebody of the same sex? I've kissed a girl and it felt pretty great, so. Name three things in your room that others probably don’t have in theirs: 1.) a snake; 2.) a huge meerkat collection; and 3.) an APAP machine. Besides furniture, what’s the biggest thing in your bedroom? My snake, I think. Describe your feet: Ugh, the worst. My feet are horribly callused from when I used to walk all the time. I have small toes. What’s a pretty bird? Peacocks. Besides sleeping, what do you do in bed? Just about everything. .-. How do you like your hoodies? Loose/oversized. Can grills be sexy on a guy? They're hideous, if you want my honest opinion. Have you ever been in a Catholic confessional? Yes. How fucked up are those, honestly... I really hate the concept of teaching children that they have to tell some random guy things they feel bad about and let him ask God to forgive you or else you're going to Hell. What color was the hair of the last person you kissed? Brown. Can you do a backflip? No. Where are the last three places you went? The TMS office, a gas station, and my sister's house. Do you consider yourself a flirt? No. How old is the oldest person you’ve dated? I actually don't know, but at least close to 30 now for sure. I just know we were both in high school, but he failed I think two years. What’s something that makes you feel more creative? Music. Who has the best personality on YouTube? Guess who, lmao. Which YouTuber seems uber-confident? Mark is a very confident person. I envy 'im for that. What is the funniest YouTube video you have ever seen? I watch YouTube like... constantly, so I've seen thousands upon thousands by now. I really don't know. Have you ever been inside a Victorian mansion? No, but that's like a dream marriage venue for me. What was the most boring field trip you ever want on? I don't think I ever had a boring one. Man, I miss those. Do you enjoy watching videos of babies being born? NO FUCKING THANK YOU. Does ANYBODY? Are you a hoarder? No. If you were rich, what things would you get done cosmetically? I would say liposuction, but I honestly want to lose the weight myself. If/when I lose the weight I want to, I am 110% getting loose skin removal at LEAST on my stomach because I feel hideous with it. Also if I achieve my weight loss goals, I want to get a breast lift. Weight loss-related things aside, I'm pretty serious about getting laser hair removal on my legs because I HATE shaving and my legs are VERY hairy, and the hair is dark, so I'm extremely self-conscious about it. Are you the type of person who asks a lot of questions? It depends on who I'm asking. With some people, I'm afraid to look stupid if I ask too many. How many states have you visited in your lifetime? If you're excluding the ones I've merely driven through as well as lived in (which is only one), I've visited Ohio, New York, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, and Illinois, so six. I MAY have been to Michigan as a baby, but I don't remember. What is your biggest fear for the future? Ending up homeless after Mom passes. I'm scared my family will give up on me, which is completely unrealistic, but I'm terrified of living on the streets. Do you like seafood, or not so much? I only like shrimp. Have you ever cried from being so nervous? Oh, certainly. What is your favorite book series, if you have one? Hm... of all series I've ever read, probably the Shiloh trilogy. I adored the books and the movies. Have you ever had a parasite before? NO NO NO NO NO, DON'T MAKE ME IMAGINE THIS. I am PETRIFIED of parasites. Do you have a big heart when it comes to animals? Absolutely! Have you ever put your pets in a kennel for a while? I actually don't remember? It's possible when we've gone on an extended vacation, but I'm unsure. Whenever we've gone somewhere, friends have normally taken care of our animals. Where is your favorite place to buy clothing? Hot Topic or Rebel's Market. Do you enjoy listening to older music? I love classic rock and metal. What do you think is the most stupid song out there right now? "WAP" for fucking sure. I haven't even heard the whole thing, and I don't EVER want to. As a child, did you ever want to become a mermaid? Nah. Ariel was my favorite princess, but I wasn't obsessed with mermaids or anything. Can you compose sentences in any other language than your own? Some German, yes. Mainly just the basics. Have you ever met someone who was really racist before? Yes, many. -_- Do you have any celebrity autographs? No. If you could be a Disney character for a day, who would you be? Maybe Kiara from TLK. What is your favorite color of clothing to wear? Black. Did you ever build furniture forts as a child? Oh yeah, lots of times! I sometimes even pretended they were burrows and I was a meerkat, ha ha. What kind of dog is your favorite? I have a beagle bias. Do you prefer water or land? Land. Have you ever had a seizure? No. Do you plan on losing weight any time soon? Hunny, I've been trying to since 2016. -_- I lost like 70-ish pounds through 2017-2018, but recently I've gained almost like... all the weight back and it is upsetting beyond words. Have you ever been in a heated pool? Uh, a hot tub? Yes. Are you looking forward to anything? Getting Venus' terrarium, finishing TMS so I can maybe get a job, visiting Sara again... What was your GPA in high school? Over 4.0. Do you require a lot of private time? OH yes. What do you plan on doing with the rest of your life? I hope achieving a sense of accomplishment and becoming content with my hopeful career, marrying a fantastic partner, and having a family of lovely pets. If you have a favorite television show, who’s your favorite character? I'll go through the very few I deeply enjoy: 1.) Mozart in Meerkat Manor; 2.) probably Hyde from That '70s Show; 3.) perhaps Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist; 4.) Jerome from Ginga Densetsu Weed; and 5.) Shiro from Deadman Wonderland. Did you use to watch Blue's Clues? OH yes. I loved that show as a kid. Do you stutter when you get nervous? BADLY. Your lunch consisted of...? What DID I have... uhhh OH leftover pizza. What is your favorite kind of chips? Hot, crunchy Cheetos. What is the best way to tell someone that they stink? I wouldn't. Do you have any embarrassing usernames? Some from the past, yeah. Do you have a backpack in a shape of an animal? No. I found a meerkat one once, but it was way too small for me to use in school. :( I was so disappointed. Have you ever waxed your legs? No. I've waxed my upper lip and eyebrows, but especially with how long and thick my leg hair is, I think waxing there would be excruciating, so no thanks. Do you own any shirts with a peace symbol on it? No, but I would if it had a cool design. Have you ever taught a little kid to flick people off? No, and I wouldn't. Children generally don't have a strong enough grasp on when profanity is appropriate and not. Have you ever itched yourself until your skin was raw? This is VERY common. Like right now, my right arm is the Sahara with how dry and raw it is. Do you always clear your history after using the computer? Nah, got no reason to. Have you ever eaten a Big Mac? No, because I know I wouldn't like it; I don't like lettuce on my burgers. Do you feel like you’re judged for your looks? For my weight, yes. Name one world issue that upsets you. Just one? Poverty is high on the list. Just... no one should have to live like that. Do you like Wendy’s frosties? After they thaw a little bit, oh yeah. It's physically impossible to drink them for a good few minutes because they're so damn thick.
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Do you think we’ll ever get a S5?
Hi Nonny!
So, I’ve gotten this question asked in a variety of ways but generally boil down to this exact question, so I’m going to tackle this one first, and answer any others in regards to the actors separately because they’re a whole other can of worms.
I have answered variations of this question in the past, so you can read these if you want, but today’s answer is my most recent opinion:
Do I think there’s Going to be an S5?
Will There be a Season 5? 
Is there Ever Going to be an S5? 
Is it True S5 will Happen (Plus some Mofftiss Shitposting)? 
Will There Be S5 and Will Johnlock Happen? 
What Do You Think it’s Gonna Be About? 
Do You Think it’s On Hiatus Right Now? 
What Do I Think is Going On in S4 and Will There Be An S5
Will Johnlock Ever Become Canon?
Will they ever make a new season?
So you can check those out after reading this post.
In the spirit of my blog, I have two answers for you, and the “honest” answer is the one you won’t like.
That said, do you want my honest opinion or my tinhat opinion?
Tinhat opinion: Yes, because the story is incomplete; too many plot holes and S4′s sloppiness and complete 180 from the original plot is so bizarre (([THIS POST TOO])). Too many fucked up things that make me WANT to believe that it’s clever trick and all will be explained when S5 is finally done. There’s evidence that it was commissioned before S4, but I’ve had this theory very well debunked for me on this post here, and my opinions have changed a lot since that post.
Which segues into this: note I say “want to believe” up above there, though. Important wording here, because I feel like my faith in Mofftiss has essentially disappeared because of S4, since I really do enjoy theorizing and speculating and the evidence was RIGHT THERE. But what changed my mind was mainly the reactions and body language of the actors and my annoyance at the arrogance of Mofftiss acting like S4 was brilliant when no one else agrees with them.
This is where my honest opinion comes in, and this is me speaking without bias and with a heavy heart, and are MY OPINIONS, so you can take it or leave it, I don’t care. I’m not here to deflate anyone’s balloons, but Occam’s razor and all.
Honest opinion: No, at least not in the next couple years. Mofftiss kind of disregarded a large chunk of the fandom and got too cocky (Mofftiss: TFP is the best episode of the series! // Also Mofftiss: Yeah, but we’re not going to pitch it for an Emmy nomination) (Mofftiss: we can make anything and everyone will love it! // General Audience Critics: You THOUGHT so, what is this?) and the general disinterest of all the actors surrounding S5 is very telling to me (see the Buzzfeed “Ben With Puppies” interview, this interview with Martin Freeman, and this recounting of Setlock S4). Occasionally it’s brought up with Martin or Ben and they basically say “we’re on a pause”. I think Martin definitely felt really shafted the last season in favour for his ex (who is a whole other barrel of monkeys I have a lot of opinions on), with what they did to John’s character, and I don’t think he has any interest in continuing on any time soon. And Ben’s Buzzfeed “Interview with Puppies” is super telling to me, honestly (timestamp 1:34 if you want to see the part about ‘Sherlock’) – he was NOT “tee hee, I’m being sneaky” (sorry, I HONESTLY don’t know how people are seeing that response as such…), he was “ah, nope, not touching that one because what I wanted to happen and was told would happen isn’t anymore and we’ve been essentially silenced to talk about it.”
Plus Mofftiss seem convinced that this new Dracula project is their next big thing and even they seem to have lost interest in Sherlock all because they didn’t get the praise for S4 that they’ve gotten in the past. I’ve also read a long while ago that Ben is busy with his production company and Marvel for the foreseeable future AND Mofftiss have ANOTHER project after Dracula, and it’s not Sherlock (unconfirmed on this second point, it was just a mention on someone’s blog and I can’t find any articles on the other project they’re doing after Dracula).
And since I mentioned it: No, I don’t think Dracula is a “secret Sherlock thing” or “will have clues to Sherlock in it”. Yes, of course it’s going to have Sherlock Easter eggs in it – almost every showrunner has Easter eggs to their or their actors’ previous works in literally everything – but those E-Eggs will have NOTHING to do with the narrative or future of Sherlock. So, at the very least because I’m worried about everyone’s mental health, it’s already looking like Dracula’s going to be another queerbaiting mess, so please totally enjoy the show if you want, but don’t look too much into it or any E-eggs that the show has. It’s not a secret Sherlock project.
And let’s not forget the general disdain Mofftiss seems to have for their fanbase, essentially selling out because who cares about making sense, all because we criticized S4 because it didn’t make sense and called them out for their queerbaiting without an explanation of S4 [THIS ARTICLE TOO], especially after… Gatiss I think… admitted to using homoerotic subtext in the series to draw in viewership.
Even if they were doing this all to pull the ACD thing on us (essentially kill off Sherlock in a literal sense), it’s a shit way they’re going about it. To me, it feels like S4 was “revenge” for the fandom figuring out their plot before they got a chance to reveal it, because they were annoyed we figured out TAB. That, and I think certain… people… manipulated their way into having input into what they wanted and usurped Ben and Martin out of either spite or a need to be relevant. *shrugs*. But this is getting too biased, so I’ll leave it there for now.
I have mixed feelings about S4, S5, and what I want. I’ve various theories in my ‘s5 and beyond’ and ‘s4 and beyond’ tags if you’re interested in further rabbit-holing. 
Listen I GET wanting to hold onto hope. Hell, I still do. But sometimes we all need to step back and look at the facts from an unbiased point of view, off of the Tumblr-sphere. I’m still a fan, as we all are, and being a fan means that you also are allowed to question things that make no sense. I really wish people would stop gatekeeping just because we all have different opinions. It’s okay to love something but know that there’s SO many problems with it (ie. Disney).
I say let it rest, and leave the fix-its to the fandom. I’m going to watch it if it ever happens, and of course I’ll start speculating again, but right now, I don’t think is the time for S5 because Mofftiss clearly have their interests elsewhere, but keep dangling the promise of more Sherlock to stay relevant.
So, TL;DR: I think if we get S5, it will be a long time from now, and I fear it will follow the plot of S4, because, like Disney with FinnPoe, Mofftiss are coming off as  “passive progressive” cowards (I saw that term in a YouTube review of TRoS, and I thought it was perfect to describe them: We’ll put social issues and gays in our shows, but can’t make the leads gay for each other).
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gmiles21ahsgov · 4 years
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Blog Post #2: Media Assessment of Racial Injustice
1. Liberal: Mother Jones https://www.motherjones.com/author/jessica-washington/
     The main point this article is aiming to convey is to show what Syracuse University did to take steps to be anti-racist. The article references a number of racist incidents involving graffiti and threats, causing students and a number of staff members to feel unsafe. The author wants to convey how prevalent racism is in today’s society, but there are steps that education boards can take to be anti-racist and teach students anti-racism.
     Jessica Washington authored this post; she graduated from University of Pennsylvania, studying in Political Science and Government. She is a woman of color, so my first assumption would be to believe she would have a left biased opinion.
     This source was produced on November 21, 2019 on Mother Jones. This was almost a year ago, but it shows education boards were beginning to reform and will continue to in the present and future.
     Mother Jones published this source. Mother Jones is a left leaning media outlet, so the intended audience would mostly be liberals, or people with liberal views. The information may be a little skewed right, and the author may have chosen certain quotes from interviews and statements in order to appeal more to liberal readers.
     The article reads as mostly objective, however, with the knowledge that Mother Jones is more of a left biased news cite, I would want to do more research. I would want to go to a more conservative news cite and find the same story, and see if it is told differently. But, there is nothing in this article that makes it feel subjective. The only thing that is arguable subjective is the fact that Syracuse University is becoming more aware and acknowledging they need to educate professors more on how to teach as well as be anti-racist. This is something I very strongly agree with, and I find it hard to understand how someone could openly believe we should not try to dismantle racism whenever possible.
     This author had a couple different quotes from some relatively important people, one of which was Syracuse Chancellor, Kent Syverud. There was also a quote taken from CNN. In addition, there were quotes from students who attended Syracuse University, speaking on behalf of their experiences with racism and racist actions towards them.
2. Objective: CBS News https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-at-instagram-students-private-school-racism-social-media/
     The main point this article is aiming to convey is the exposure of racism and traumatic experiences with racism on college campuses. Black Alumni as well as current students are trying to bring light to everyday racist actions from microaggressions to physical assault. The article addresses the discussion of racism in private schools on social media and using social media platforms as a form of group therapy. It has been made a safe place for students to speak out about their traumas and support one another.
     Caitlin O’Kane authored this source, she is a digital content producer at CBS Interactive. She went to Fordham University and received a Bachelor’s degree. She majored in Communications and Media Studies, with a minor in Political Science.
     This source was published September 14, 2020 on CBS News, so it is very recent, making it very reliable.
     CBS News published the source; CBS News is a relatively objective news outlet, so I am inclined to believe that it is intended for all audiences, written with as little bias as possible. Not entirely without any bias at all, but written with an absolute minimum.
     This text is objective; CBS News is a very reliable and an objective media outlet. There are a lot of quotes from students and professors at private schools. The author of the article (O’Kane) addresses different ways students are about to reach out through social media and the changes that are beginning to take place in schools. On another note, however, a filmmaker Michèle Stephenson said it’s a difficult path due to the resources it requires (time, money, access being heard, diving into deeper levels of structural racism). I agree with the side that says we need to make every effort to crack open racism and make it widely seen so that we can begin to heal from it and learn to be anti-racist. We need to be as extensive in teaching about racism as possible, regardless of resources.     
     The evidence used to support O’Kane’s claim is quotes from students and professors as well as statements from the Head of School from Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School, Dr. Bill Donohue.
3. Conservative: Washington Times https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/4/students-alums-see-racist-culture-at-chicago-priva/ 
     The main point this article is aiming to convey is the miraculous amounts of racism that show up in colleges, specifically private schools, all over the county. After describing a black student’s experience at Latin School of Chicago, the source continues on about changes the schools are making, and efforts that are being put in place to dismantle racism and white supremacy. The most prominent focus of this article is to express how schools can be more educational about exemplifying anti-racism.
     Adeshina Emmanuel authored this source. I can’t find any information on him other than he has written a number of articles for Washington Times. Most of the articles he has written pertain to social and racial justice.
     This source was published on July 4, 2020, which was only a few months ago. This means it is recent enough to show racism is still very prevalent in schools (especially private colleges). It also shows that if they have begun to work on being anti-racist and teaching anti-racism on campus, that likely there has been at least some progress made towards total inclusion and equality for all.
     This source was published by Washington Times which is primarily a right-leaning media outlet and so I would expect the article to have conservative undertones. This may affect the reliability of the source because in my experience people who identify as conservative tend to downplay racist incidents and occurrences.
     To the naked eye, this text reads as objective despite it coming from a primarily right-leaning media outlet. It makes the point that schools need to start teaching anti-racism in the classrooms and acknowledging the existence of it. Something that caught my eye was a comment at the bottom of the article by a man claiming that the stories written in the article were false. This is possible, Washington Times is a fairly reliable news source, and my guess is that this man is a conservative who wants to downplay racist acts or believes that racism is not as prevalent as it actually is (as I actually mentioned in the section above).
     The primary evidence used to support the authors claim is first-hand stories from an African American student that attended the Latin School of Chicago. In addition, there are quotes from other students who attended private schools all over the country. These students experienced racism firsthand.
a) A main similarity between these three articles were the uses of personal stories and statements from both students as well as professors. Whether it was through experience or through witnessing  racist acts, all three articles featured direct quotes regarding prominent racism on campus. I also noticed that for the most part the three articles read mainly as objective, which I found interesting because one of the sources came from a conservative news site and another one came from a more liberal viewing news site. A difference that I noticed was only the article from Washington Times (the conservative outlet) contained a comment with the accusation that the stories of racism were inaccurate. The other two articles didn't have anything along those lines in the comment section.
b) I identified the most with the liberal article which was Mother Jones. I believe it is incredibly important for schools to take steps to become anti-racist and specifically to acknowledge things such as graffiti. Some people may believe that racist graffiti is not as much of an issue assault, verbal insult or microaggressions, or anything along those lines;However I think that it's really important that Syracuse University took such drastic steps to correct the behavior and to make a change happen. 
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lynxalon · 4 years
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wait !! a couple of days ago u rb that thing asking ppl to send u idols and u would name ur 3 fav things abt them and u mentioned ur ult and i meant to ask ur top 3 things abt them and then Forgot but !! if u still wanna i am curious as to what ur top 3 things abt them are !! i also feel kinda bad for not knowing who it is ! :/
Omgomgomgomgomgomgomgomg My heart just fucking parkoured or something 😂
Kim Taehyung is my ult! Since BTS was my first kpop group, they've been my ult group ever since. And Tae was the first my eyes landed on and since then, he's remained my ult. He means a lot to me, and I've learned so much about myself because of him, so here's a list of 3 (or more!) of my fave things about TaeTae!!!
1. Family oriented. I cannot help but love how family oriented he is. I can't relate, because my family sucks and so I'm pretty detached from all of that, but he really loves his family. He'd win prizes at variety shows (when they did that) and save them for his parents, he loves kids and would be sucha kind and comforting father, and of course the way he loved his grandmother. That last one I have to bring up, because it kinda shocked me how impacted he was by her death. Back then, I couldn't imagine shedding a tear for some of my grandparents. It really made me reevaluate how I thought about my family and grandparents. Now, I care more for my nana and papaw. Like I said, I was reaaaally detached from any sense of family. Tae is so loving and giving, and I seriously hope he will find/has found someone who he can love and who can love him wholeheartedly.
2. Humor. I absolutely love Tae's humor. He can make jokes with such a serious face, which makes it even funnier! For example, when asked what his favorite lyric from their (BTS') songs was, he said with a straight face 'set it on fire bow wow wow.' There are so many other examples of how funny he is, but I'm gonna limit myself or this would be veeeeeery long 😅
2.1. His acting. I love him??? I love that him and Jimin will randomly reenact or make up scenes and just. Act them out? And the other members either go about what they're doing or look like their three seconds away from being like, 'Right in front of my salad?' I'm hoping he'll get another drama role, because man. I'd love to see more of his acting. I also love that he uses this to his advantage 😂 Idk if you've seen any Run eps, but Run!BTS is wiiiiild. They fight over gift cards and food as if they aren't wearing accessories and clothes more expensive than cars (*ahem* J-Hope wearing an 80,000$ watch in front of a 70,000$ car...) One of my favorite things is when Tae very casually convinces the others that he's not up to anything, and they always believe him no matter how many times he does this XD Like that one Run! ep where they had to get stickers or something onto the other members backs, and Tae went up to Jimin and pretended to help him fix the thing on his back while places so many stickers on and... Jimin just let him. He even said something along the lines of 'I trust you so I'm showing you my back' and 'Thank you for helping me.' Like... Bruuuuuh it's cute that you trust Tae but 👀 he had an agenda 😂😂😂 the end, when Jimin found out, was so fucking funny. Tae really played his soulmate like that lmao
2.2 And! How you can always trust him to show how the group entirely is feeling. Like in interviews and stuff. Tae absolutely doesn't mess around. He's very true to himself, and doesn't put up with stupid questions. He doesn't like people who are clearly clout chasers and people who use BTS' name and pretend they love them but. Often times they're just racist and using BTS for followers. It sucks, because ARMY don't want to hype up someone who's using BTS' name, so we kinda all look to Tae at this point. Any good (or even decent) interviewer will be able to get Tae engaged in the interview and smiling. Gosh, a recent interviewer called ARMY insane and the members reactions to that... We're BTS' everything just as they are ours. Calling us insane is the quickest way to BTS' shit list. But, I just think it's really nice be able to gave the group's overall mood through Tae. He can gauge a person's bad vibes reaaaal quick lmao 😂
3. His dancing!!! I got into BTS and kpop around... 2? 3 years ago? Anyways, it was a few months before Tear comeback on May 18th. If I ever lose all of my memories I have no doubt I'd remember that comeback date before my own birthday. That was when he officially became a part of the dance line. I always differentiate dance lines styles of dance like this: Hobi is powerful, Jimin is graceful, Jungkook is bold, and Taehyung is subtle. Tae really mastered this art of subtle movements and expressions. His Singularity performances are always different in some way; he fully expresses the lyrics and song with his movements and it's so fascinating to watch him dance. He is a dancer that continuously gets better, even when it seems like he has reached top of the mountain. Tbh it was mainly his dancing that drew me to him. I got into kpop the year after I'd had to quit dance, and at that time I'd fallen out of love with it. The way Tae dances helped rekindle my love for dance, because watching him is almost magical. I absolutely love watching him dance! He's a phenomenal dancer!!!
3.1. He's cute 😖 I have to bring this up. He is c u t e. He eats in pout and has this cute and quirky happy dance he does and he likes cuddling someone to sleep well and he drinks too much water when he's nervous and his smile is boxy like a rectangle and he has an elephant on his arm and he can't drink coffee and he is very artistic and loves to paint or draw on his clothes and adapt his fashion to suit him and he loves artwork and classical musicians and he posts blurry pictures of funny faces for ARMY and he likes photography and if we ask about Yeontan (his dog) he'll post cute pictures of Tannie and his eyes shine with love and adoration for BTS and ARMY because we're his everything. This kinda went from 'cute' to 'I lomve him and here's just a few reasons why' but that's okay XD
At first, newer ARMYs only had older content to help them learn about BTS. Each member had one characteristic that became all they were, and it became harmful and toxic. For Tae, he was the weird alien. People didn't understand him. Thankfully, these views have worn away over time, and there's newer content that helps new ARMY learn who BTS really are. But I started out seeing these views. And, honestly, I really resonated with the 'weird alien' characteristic. That was how I'd been viewed my whole life, so to see how people have come to understand him and love him as wonderful and quirky as he is really makes me happy. He's someone I really relate to and he's helped me love and express myself more.
I don't talk about him much on here, but that's mostly because what is there to say? I love him so very much, but I don't need to express that all of the time. For him it just. Is. This barely scratches the surface of how much I love him and how important he is to me. He makes me happy, so I hope he is happy often. I hope knows how loved he is. So... Yeah 😅 This definitely got longer than I intended but I wasn't kidding when I said I'd totally need more than 3 points for my favorite things about my ult bias 😂😂😂
Thank you for asking!!! And, I hope you were able to make it to the bottom of me gushing over Tae 😂 💚💚💚
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whoreforfanfiction · 5 years
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They See You Fighting (PJO/HOO)
Was in the mood to write for my fav demigods sooo here ya go. Btw from now on I’ll start using feminine pronouns just because that’s how I write and it flows easier for me, but if you prefer it to be gender-neutral or something message me and I’ll be sure to fix it. I’ll try not to use them too often. 
Percy Jackson
- it came out of nowhere
- not in a million years did he expect to see such raw power come from such an adorable person
- is slightly taken aback and stares at you in awe
- “Well, I guess I don’t need to fight anymore, you’re a one-woman army”
- still secretly keeps an eye on you during fights
- he knows you can handle whatever monster comes at you, but he doesn’t want to see you get hurt or worse
- he’d blame himself forever if anything even minor happens to you
- boasts about you a lot to his buddies 
- “Yeaaaa you’re a good fighter, but my girlfriend is a hell of a lot better. You should watch her spar”
- admires you a lot and thinks you’re way better than him 
- really holds you on a pedestal and you start to get a little anxious not wanting to let him down
- it makes you train harder
- and seeing you be so good, he wants to keep up with that, so he trains more
- badass couple
Annabeth Chase
- she was shocked but so so so proud
- right after the fight she ran up and kissed you and praised you a lot
- is kind of a dork for your fighting skills 
- she thinks you’re the strongest person she’s ever met
- when coming up with fighting strategies, she utilizes you the most and puts you in almost every position
- “Uhhhh Annabeth, I can’t possibly do all of that” you say shaking your head after she draws out the battle map.
- “YES YOU CAN YOU FIGHT BETTER THAN ARES YOURE LIKE A FUCKING GODDESS I CAN ONLY TRUST YOU WITH THIS”
- spars with you all the time
- she thinks it’s a challenge to find ways to get around your overwhelming strength 
- “brains usually beats brawn, but in this case i’d have to say that’s false”
- always loses but is never negative about it
- she loves learning from you
Jason Grace 
- he’s known as the fucking blonde superman
- he’s the son of fucking zeus
- gets HIGHKEY jealous when he sees how amazing you fight
- he feels so much pressure to be the best because he’s the son of Zeus
- but holy shit your amount of power put him on his KNEES 
- spars with you a lot because he’s never met someone so much better than him
- he finds it mesmerizing
- asks you to teach him 
- partially because he wants to learn and improve
- mainly because he wants the excuse to spend extra time with you
- he knows your strong, but insists you stand next to him during every fight
- he doesn’t care if you’re stronger than Zeus himself, he will always be right next to you to protect you and isn’t the slightest bit ashamed of that 
Piper McLean
- when she saw you take the giant wave of monsters alone, she was worried
- as soon as you finished slaying the last one, she ran over to check on you
- she was hella shocked to find you had zero wounds
- lowkey thought you were a goddess for the LONGEST time afterwards
- “a-are you sure you aren’t a goddess? like i’ve never seen a mortal do anything close to that”
- “yes for the hundredth time pipes, i’m just like you” you repeated as you kissed her forehead 
- starts trying even harder during fights and ends up taking on more than she can chew
- “why are you fighting so much more recently?”
- “because i don’t want you doing most of the work and tiring yourself out” 
- she’s adorable 
Leo Valdez
- I AM THE BIGGEST BIAS FOR LEO I LOVE HIM 
- his jaw motherfucking DROPS
- “I guess you’re the bad girl mcshizzle now” 
- talks about it for the next year
- “That was so COOL! you went BAM and then WHOOSH then SMASH” he says while swinging his fists around while everyone else at camp stares awkwardly
- “t-thank you leo but you don’t have to tell the story to everyone a million times”
- shows you off an embarrassing amount to the point where hazel has a talk about it with him 
- still doesn’t stop 
- cheers the loudest during sparing and war games
- people yell at him to shut up but he never listens
- crafts you your own armor and weapons
- he doesn’t trust anyone else to make them 
- wants them to be perfect and flawless so he knows you won’t get hurt and they won’t break
Hazel Levesque
- never in all her years has she seen someone so stunning and strong as you
- cups your face in her hands and whispers how impressed she is 
- spends the night in your room admiring you
- you blush a lot because she’s being entirely too sweet and kind more so than usual
- you ask her about her actions one day 
- “i already thought i was completely head over heels for you. i didn’t think i could fall any more in love. but every day you show me a new side of you and it reminds me why i adore you all over again” 
- lots of crying and cuddling while caressing each other’s faces
- she’s honestly the best girlfriend let me tell ya
Frank Zhang
- he stares at you with the widest eyes you’ve ever seen 
- “you just killed a dragon all by yourself with a hand tied behind your back” 
- “yes frank. are you impressed yet or should i do it blindfolded?”
- “that’s unfair. my life depends on a stick but you’re invincible.” he pouted 
- you open up your arms for a hug, but he turns into a bear and gives you the biggest bear hug 
- turns back and says “i’m very proud and super impressed. i love my little warrior” he smiles as he kisses your forehead
-  isn’t as loud about is as the others are, but makes it known how excited and proud he is about your abilities
- ares is sitting on his throne smiling 
- so happy his son snagged such an amazing fighter
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puppyluver256 · 5 years
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Underworld Ultimatum: The Quest for the Hottest Hades
So I mentioned in a previous big text post that I have some Very Strong Opinions on the interpretation of Greek god Hades shown in Disney’s Hercules film, and now I’m gonna talk about those opinions dammit! But let’s make it a little interesting. I always believe that if you can’t say something nice you shouldn’t say anything at all, so I’m also going to use this as an opportunity to talk about a Hades that I do enjoy. It’s a competition, babey! The Underworld Ultimatum! Or, if you’re preferring to reference a property one of these guys is in, the Hades Cup! (though to be fair this is less of a true competition and more of me showing why I like one and not the other)
First off, it’s the guy who inspired this, give it up foooor...
Disney’s Hades!
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First of all, the guy’s design might’ve seemed cool back in the day, but looking back on him he’s kinda bland. Grey toga with accents of other greys, blue deathly pallor, nasty teeth... The flame hair is a pretty good concept, but considering the ancient Greek idea of the underworld probably wasn’t fire-themed I don’t know if it was an appropriate choice.  ❌
Speaking of that flame hair, he commits the crime of “blue fire is totally cooler than red fire you guys what is physics?” nonsense. Anyone who puts even the tiniest bit of research in knows that, disregarding chemical compounds that affect flame color, blue flames are hotter than red/orange/yellow flames. Yeah, from an artistic perspective it seems counterintuitive, and blue flames work better with his standard palette, but even with that in consideration they couldn’t’ve made it so his flames turned white when he got angry rather than orange? Lazy... ❌
This is a problem with the Hercules film overall, but this feels like a christianized take on the ancient Grecian pantheon, with a much less horny Zeus in the place of the christian god and Hercules as sort of a Jesus figure. In line with this, Hades is portrayed as an equivalent to Satan and thus is shown to be undeniably evil. This is inaccurate to the actual mythology of Hades, where (and someone with a better scope of Greek mythology can either back me up or refute me on this) he was just a dude who ran the underworld and had no real malicious intent. But of course, a character is themed around death, they have to be a completely irredeemable villain. ❌
AND continuing the villain thing! He ugly, at least according to western society standards and especially compared to the hero and leading lady who are conventionally attractive by those same standards. This is continuing a long Disney tradition that a villain should be ugly. He’s evil, thus he doesn’t get to visit the dentist. ❌
His goals are basically just the same as every other villain, take over the world with some big strong brutes that are locked away by a supposedly benevolent horndog. Well, specifically Olympus, but considering that’s where the gods live and his brief rule subjugates the GODS, if he’d been in the head for longer he’d basically rule the world. Boring, bland, think of something else for once. Or at least have a good reason other than “I’m the villain, world domination for me!” ❌
There’s no real satisfying tension between him as a villain and the hero! His initial direct action against Hercules happens when he’s an infant (speaking of, dude actively tries to kill an infant), and then the next direct interaction between them is like nearly 20 years later and Herc has no knowledge of who this guy is and how big of a threat he’s been this whole time. Call me crazy, but I feel a villain is more effective when the protag is aware of the threat they pose for longer than just “oh he showed up today and apparently he’s been trying to kill me since I was a baby and now he’s got my girl??? guess he’s a bad guy” ❌
Following this point, there’s no satisfying confrontation between Hades and Herc that works to finish off the conflict between them. The major battle that Herc has against him is mainly against the titans, and iirc the only thing that he does to him in the “grabbing Meg’s soul from the soul pool brb” section is punch him in the face. I don’t remember any direct action that Herc does to cause Hades to fall into his soul pool. ❌
He’s voiced by James Woods, who is a major jerk. I’m not going into detail here as this is already long-winded enough, and Google is free. ❌
He’s got Cerberus, as any good interpretation of Hades should. That’s a plus! ✅ Though this Cerberus seems to be based on the “generic mean dog breed” aesthetic, and also I hated fighting this guy in Kingdom Hearts (the original, not the final mix with updated controls, OOF), which leads me toooo...
The guy THEN proceeds to smear his presence all over nearly every Kingdom Hearts game! Like, you’re not needed! Get out! Leave some room for better Disney villains!!! ❌
So nine bads, one good, and that “good” only comes from me liking dogs.
Next up, we have a more recent contender to the Hades mythos in modern media. Showing up outta nowhere in the first entry into a classic series for 21 years, let’s bring our hands together fooooor...
Kid Icarus Uprising’s Hades!
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First off...look at this man. Look at this man! Hell yeah that is my aesthetic! Look at all the chaotic colors, the wild anime-esque hair, aaaaa! Amazing design! I would ask someone to get me the name of Uprising’s character designer so I can shake their hand and tell ‘em they did a wonderful job on the Hades look, but they’re probably Japanese and I don’t know a lick of it. Maybe someone at NoA could pass on my compliments... ✅
He does have a flame head form at some point with blue flames, but it doesn’t become red to show his anger so there’s no more of a violation of physics then the rest of his insides are. ✅ And that’s the real problem I have with Disney’s Hades for this particular point, if you’re going to violate physics at least have some damn fun with it instead of just thinking that cooler fire is hotter just because it’s made of warmer colors.
While this Hades is also irredeemably evil, there’s no weird christ-washing of Greek mythology going on here, because the Japanese generally don’t do that sort of thing when throwing a bunch of other culture’s mythologies together. Sure, Kid Icarus includes a lot of Greek mythology elements (Medusa, Thanatos, Pandora, arguably Palutena being based on Athena, among others), but it also incorporates a lot of original elements, such as the Forces of Nature who are not based on any specific Greek gods, the Chaos Kin, the Aurum, freaking space pirates?! And in regards to the Aurum, this Hades is able to put differences aside in order to help the other factions around at the time defeat the Aurum so there’s that! ...though he’s not exactly the best team player, hehehe... ✅
While he does show up out of nowhere after the defeat of the initially perceived villain, Medusa, once he debuts Hades is a constant presence. He’s almost always poking his head into the dialogue to taunt Pit, make some quip or joke, flirt with a female character, give a dastardly threat. Everyone’s always aware of exactly what kind of threat he poses! Good villain writing! ✅
But yeah, speaking of that, he does do the whole “initial villain wasn’t the real villain SURPRISE BITCH” thing that I’m not that fond of. Call it lingering resentment from Twilight Princess where Zant was basically thrown away in favor of bringing Ganondorf back. ❌
This Hades also doesn’t seem to have a Cerberus. Twinbellows is a Thing, yes, but they never show up in the same instance in time. The real Twinbellows is dealt with in the first chapter of Uprising, and the fake version of Twinbellows that shows up in chapter 9 is dealt with LONG before Hades reveals himself. ❌
His goal is to use the souls of everyone and everything that’s died to increase the ranks of his army and in the process throw off the natural order of things, which honestly makes sense as a goal for a malevolent death god. It’s helped by the fact that there’s really no one “good” faction in this game, everyone has their own self interests and Palutena’s just the one that’s most kind to humanity and Pit, who is the protag we experience the game’s events through and thus passes on a little of his bias. ✅
Oh, you want satisfying hero/villain confrontation? The boss battle against him takes up a whole chapter and oooohhhh boy is it a good’un. Do yourself a favor and look up the battle on YouTube, or to avoid a lot of spoilers and gain a lot of context, do yourself an even bigger favor and look up Chuggaconroy’s whole Uprising playthrough. The man goes into detail about everything of this game, not just its characters and basic gameplay. ✅
He eats Pit at one point, and then that whole chapter takes place in his innards. Ew. Gross. ❌
He’s voiced by S. Scott Bollock in the English dub and Hōchū Ōtsuka in the Japanese original. I don’t know whether either of ‘em are jerks, but I doubt they’re as bad as James Woods soooooo... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Setting aside cameos like being a spirit in Smash Ultimate, this Hades has only had a significant appearance in a single piece of media. Even though it’s a tad bittersweet, he doesn’t overstay his welcome, unlike another Hades. ✅
That’s 7 goods, 3 bads, and a shrug. The winner is clear! KI Hades is the victor! Or at least it’s obvious that I prefer him over the Disney version. Rant over, thanks for sticking through my ramblin’ goofballery. It was fun at least, right? I had fun. :D
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belonglab · 6 years
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Growing Up Brown in America: When Every Day is Halloween
By Neha Sampat, Esq.
October 16, 2018
(Previously published in News India Times, The Teal Mango, and Thrive GlobaI)
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Sometimes, taking off the mask is what is really scary.
I’ve been working on that the past few years. I found myself struggling to process a personal loss, mainly because I was more worried about how others perceived my loss and my reaction to it than allowing myself to just feel what I felt and honor those feelings. I realized I had become so swift to gauge others’ needs and so preoccupied with telling them what they wanted to hear, that I had forgotten in some ways who I was. I had covered myself in a cloak of expectation, carefully crafted over four decades of my life, and it was suffocating me.
“How did I get here?” I wondered. I thought back to kindergarten, when I proudly raised my hand when the teacher asked who knew the alphabet. Upon her request, I began to recite it, but was brutally stopped at “H” by my classmates’ uproarious laughter. I couldn’t comprehend why they were laughing at me, which only added to my distress. Finally, someone explained to me that it was pronounced “aych,” not “etch,” as my mom had taught me through her Indian accent. From there sprouted a seed of self-consciousness, a ceaseless suspicion that there was the equivalent of a “Kick me” sign taped to my back, and the silencing shame of being different.
I started to adapt by downplaying my differences. I figured I had to try to be like them in order to be with them, and I had to say what they wanted to hear so they would listen to me. And thus, I gathered the fabric of fitting-in and the string of assimilation, and I began to assemble my costume.
Once I had a passable prototype, I began to perfect it with the right props. For me, one such prop was the simple fork. In my Indian-American family, I remember from early childhood eating with our hands. My mom and grandmother would use their hands to carefully and evenly work warm jaggery into crumbled wheat rotis to create glistening spheres of goodness, which they would lovingly pop into my mouth. Even in the moments we resorted to silverware, we went straight for the spoons, effectively cutting food by forcefully and frantically sawing with the spoon’s side. When invited to a white friend’s home for a meal, I initially feared the fork. I would meticulously study how my friend’s family ate, marveling at their mastery of interchangeably using three utensils in one meal, and I would bring home with me those lessons in “civility, normalcy, and good manners.”
In middle school, I was thrilled to discover another useful prop: Lip gloss in the perfect shimmery shade of frosty pink. It made all the white girls look so shiny-sparkly-good, and that’s what I needed to be! But with my darker lips asserting themselves from beneath the cotton candy sheen, I couldn’t quite achieve the desired effect. Yet, there was no room in my world for the question my mom gently proffered as to what was the right shade of lip gloss for me, so I persisted with the pink.
Thankfully, we all grew out of the Bonne Bell stage. But for many of us brown folks, that just meant our costumes needed to be updated. I observed with an eagle-eye every expression, every choice, every quiet movement made by my white counterparts, and I plotted how I could improve my costume to make it more real and more believable. I started to become more accustomed to wearing the costume and, soon enough, was rarely taking it off. In the safe space at home with my Indian-American friends, I thought I was taking the costume off, but I realize now that remnants of the deception remained: an expression, a choice, a quiet movement.
All of this seemed to work well enough for me as I graduated from my educational endeavors and entered the professional world. I knew how to dress like a white girl, talk like a white girl, and for the most part, act enough like a white girl to get by. And trust me when I tell you that this is what it takes to get by in many professions. Even worse is that in most professions, mimicking a white girl isn’t even enough to excel, due to a cultural bias against women leaders.
In spite of this set-up, I took some risks. Once, when I was a summer intern at a law firm, I asked my assigned mentor attorney if I could wear an Indian outfit to an off-the-clock gathering at a law firm partner’s house. My mentor shook her head incredulously and issued a resounding “Noooooo!” Curiously and quite distressingly, despite my consistently well-received work product, I later was denied a position with the firm for reason of “not being a good fit.” It doesn’t take more than one or two outcomes like that to shake your confidence and chase you right back into your costume, which then is what begins to feel like the safe space.
Without even consciously realizing it, my M.O. became more and more about flying under the radar. If they didn’t notice me, it meant that I was fitting in. That my disguise was working.
Eventually, my costume started to fray from overuse, and the seams started to split to reveal more of my true personality, which, as it turns out, does not want to fly under the radar. I want to do something big and important! I’m tired of the same ineffective solutions to the same problems in business and society, particularly when it comes to diversity. And I’m tired of listening to people tell me their stories and then walk away before hearing mine.
I’ve tried to share with some people how much I was bullied as a child because I was different, but I often find they start to get visibly uncomfortable or try to tell me that my race may not have been a reason, for they, too, were bullied for being nerdy or not wearing the right clothes. I’ve learned through my now well-honed observational skills that people don’t really want to hear me talk about how I was called a “sand n_____” by my elementary school classmates. Or how, even after being the last one picked in 6th grade gym class, my square dance partner considered my brown skin too dirty to even touch, and we both miserably do-si-doed with a deep, dark chasm between our outstretched hands. Or how my high school English teacher told my mom that my potential was less than that of my white classmates since I was “English as a second language.” All of those stories make people break eye contact with me, wriggle in their seats, and try to change the subject.
I have this friend who is Jewish. She and I often have connected over some of the similar traits of our cultures. She is a gifted storyteller who doesn’t shy away from questions that help her understand others’ experiences, and I accordingly have found her to be compassionately and sincerely open to my stories. I recently relayed to her a detailed version of the story about my request to wear Indian clothes to the law firm gathering. Her eyes welled up as I related the events that led to me being dinged from the firm. I could see that it was hard for her to hear. As it should be, because it was hard for me to tell and even harder to experience. In fact, there was a new pain I felt in relating that experience. It was the pain of knowing better. It was the ache of wisdom telling me that I shouldn’t have put up with that and regretting that, as a young, female law student of color eager to make a good impression, I felt disempowered and showed up to that event costumed up, asking them to drop a treat in my bag.
Unfortunately, yet understandably, this form of disempowerment is common among minorities and women. In the 1960’s, sociologist Erving Goffman coined as “covering” this behavior of a known stigmatized individual attempting to mitigate the obtrusiveness of the stigma. It is difficult to metrically ascertain the impact of covering, when it includes lost professional opportunities, decreased confidence, identity and self-worth, and a whole lot of cognitive dissonance. But as law professor Kenji Yoshino recognized, “covering” amounts to a civil rights issue: African-Americans have lost their jobs over wearing their hair in cornrows; Women have been demoted for choosing to become mothers; and Jews have been terminated from the military for wearing yarmulkes. Professor Yoshino explains that courts are willing to protect immutable traits such as the color of one’s skin and one’s sex, but “will not protect mutable traits, because individuals can alter them to fade into the mainstream…If individuals choose not to engage in that form of self-help, they must suffer the consequences.” Such consequences are too often dire in these days of rampant racial profiling, especially for our African-American brothers and sisters who might wear a dark hoody on a candy run. And so, as incentivized by some of our classmates, teachers, neighbors, mentors, and bosses, and also by the law of the land, we cover, hiding our true selves behind masks of the majority and resigning our society to a persistent and oppressive homogeneity.
Abby Norman, in her article about liberal progressives not enrolling their children in her predominantly black neighborhood school, asks, “Really, if we are experiencing diversity on white terms, what good is that diversity anyway?” I’d guess that Ms. Norman and I would agree that the answer is, “not very good at all,” but you don’t have to take our word for it; the data speaks loudly and clearly. In spite of ongoing claims of diversity as a top value and mission of many organizations, African-Americans and Latina/o-Americans remain significantly underrepresented in many industries, even more so in senior leadership roles. Even in a legal profession charged with upholding justice, barely modest strides have been made in diversity metrics.
Clearly, “success” needs to be redefined when it comes to diversity, and innovative and diverse approaches must be welcomed, supported, and earnestly attempted to reap the many benefits of diversity and inclusion. To genuinely engage our underrepresented brothers and sisters, we all must battle our own implicit biases, in part by expanding our own social networks to be genuinely inclusive of others who have different backgrounds and experiences from us. If organizations truly seek diversity and inclusion (and that is a question meriting candid organizational introspection), they must make space for everyone, especially minorities and women, to bring their true selves to the table. Most, like me, have learned the art of “covering” to survive in organizations because that is what our society has required of us. It is now on our society and our organizational leaders to undo that to allow minorities and women to thrive and offer their unique perspectives and ideas for assured organizational and societal improvements. Seats at the table aren’t enough; organizational leaders must warmly and earnestly ask minorities and women to share their stories and then must listen, especially when it is painful and uncomfortable.
At the same time, we minorities and women must be more aware of and intentional about when we put on our costumes. There always will be some amount of care and strategy we employ in determining with whom, in what scenarios, and to what extent we show our true colors. However, it is important that we not be scared by past risks that didn’t pay off and continue to share our stories with the people in our lives who will be moved and impacted, and who will remind us of the power of our true narratives.
For me, that means remembering the way food always tasted better to me as a child when it was fed to me by my mom’s or grandmother’s hand instead of a cold-clawed fork. And it means acknowledging that the pretty pink lip gloss made me look like the living dead.
I’ll save that costume for Halloween.
Neha Sampat is founder, consultant, trainer, and coach at GenLead|BelongLab, where she collaborates with clients through consulting, training, and individual coaching to innovate approaches to leadership, inclusion, and professional development that are both data-driven and grounded in the subjective experience. Her best Halloween costume to date was Buffila Slayerjee (the South Asian vampire slayer), and when she wears lip gloss, it is in the shade of coco plum. Find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram (@belonglab) and Twitter (@nehamsampat and @BelongLab).
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mohartproductions · 6 years
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Approaching Diversity
This is something I've been wanting to express for sometime now. I don't know the best way to put this into words, and generally for everyone to understand, but I feel this recurring trend of bashing a certain product for pushing for representation of minorities has gotten way out of hand. Now in some cases it's not always the audience's fault; sometimes it's on the creative team's part or even the marketing since either or could potentially slip up, especially if they either don't do a good job representing minority characters or send vague or even pretentious messages prior to the release of that project that exposits how diverse it is. (sometimes they would even go far to call someone out as sexist... something which I'll talk about in a bit) But more often as of late a lot of negative backlash towards a product showcasing diversity or representation does tend to be rather callous and even bigoted. Ever since promotional art for the upcoming She-Ra reboot was released it was meat with crass remarks like "Those SJWs are just shoving diversity down our throats again!" or "Oh look, a female character who looks like a queer just like the creator, clearly this is a gay agenda!" or crap like that. Those might not be the exact words but from what I remember they definitely come off as insensitive and even downright bigoted. And with this recent surge of conservatism and right-wing politics taking hold of social media it's definitely worrying. Look I can understand criticizing a project for being preachy, especially if that's how the marketing approaches this tactic, but then there's the matter of bigoted remarks that follow, and what's even worse is the direct attacks at certain individuals for their personal identity when they are merely performers who are just doing their jobs! We've been seeing this happen again and again with Star Wars, and recently with The Titans trailer and the initial casting of Batwoman, and it's NOT okay! (also the news of a new MLP series with Applejack being voiced by a Black voice actress, the reception to that is pretty racist if I must say so myself) The problem with how a product or creative team push for diversity is NOT the idea itself but rather the marketing and the execution of the final product, and that's no more apparent than with the 2016 Ghostbusters film. A movie about a new team of Ghostbusters that's primarily female is actually a good idea, in fact from a meta perspective the premise of that film actually had a lot of good ideas it's just that they weren't used very well, from the characterization right down to the overall narrative of the film's story; then of course there was the marketing campaign and the campaign outright insulting it's potential audience that "They're sexist if they don't like it" just before the film's release... and inevitable flop! Now bare in mind, that movie flopped not because of "diversity," and even if "diversity" was to blame it's only to an extent, the real reason why it failed was because of how the marketing exposited on how it was "diverse" as well as the over all film just not being that good at all. But like I said the film did still have a lot of good ideas going for it, including a female Ghostbusters team, it's just that they weren't used very well. That said, on the tv side of things there are shows that push for diversity and are actually successful, shows like Avatar, Steven Universe, My Little Pony, and Star vs the Forces of Evil are some very obvious examples; pushing for diversity IS a good thing, the only reason why some (if not most) people think it isn't is because of poor campaigning prior to a product's launch, particularly based on vague or pretentious hind sight that either doesn't offer much detail on said product or how it will approach said diversity, as is the case with the recent trailer of "High Guardian Spice," which isn't really a trailer so much as a production sneak peek so already it's been sending vague messages, and it doesn't really "force" diversity so much as just exposit on it's supposed diversity. So yeah I can understand certain criticisms in those regards... BUT then we have problems from the opposite extreme, as I already said before. As of late there has been a lot of toxic reception towards minority characters or even minority actors portraying said characters, and yes they do come off as sexist, racist, and even queerphobic, and simply using phrases like "SJW," Snowflake," Leftists," white genocide" or "cuck" that I dare would not use for standards of decency do not in anyway help their cases; in face phrases like those can practically be taken directly from the Alt-Right dictionary, as I have been docking down from various right-wing themed videos from across youtube by people like Black Pigeon Speaks, Andy Warski, and Aydin Paladin, right next to using "Autistic" as another phrase for "retarded."(which is a word I dare not want to use btw, but I had to so you know which word exactly) In fact of all the phrases, let's talk about the phrase, "Forced Diversity" shall we?! Just like with SJW or Snowflake or Tumblrina, using the term "forced diversity" as a means of bashing a product is also just another Far-Right dog whistling, however unlike the other aforementioned dog whistles that method of pejorative slang is a lot harder to come to grips with because based on mismanaged campaigning in some products it actually sounds much more reasonable, but like all those other dog whistles though it only sounds reasonable until you look more into it yourself and start rethinking about it. In fact here's something profound, maybe forcing diversity can actually be a good thing; now bare with me I did not say that forcing diversity IS a good thing... but it can be, and here's why-- Pushing for more diversity, particularly if you are a creator of a certain product, because it can actually force you to be more creative about how you want to approach a character based on a certain identity; and it can also be a positive for other people who really don't know too much about minorities; more often than not they'll see "we get it" but the surface is only skin deep, there is more to a minority character than just their ethnicity, orientation, gender, religion, or any other cultural background on the surface, while you probably shouldn't be too preachy about that person's personal identity, that identity on the other hand can be beneficial to building that character as well as coming to grips with what it's like for that individual to grow up and live based on that inherent background. Of course you could just leave it as just a trait, but it can go hand in hand with other characteristics to help make that character connect more with the audience be they of that same background or not; so like writing a story with a beginning, middle and end, pushing for diversity in your character roster is also a creator's equivalent to going to the gym, because it helps them to learn more about other people and be more creative in writing your story and fleshing out your character. But if this pattern of vague and pretentious campaigning and following failures for a product do continue then both general public (particularly if most of them aren't a minority) and the higher ups of the entertainment industry will start to think that pushing for diversity is marketing poisoning; and eventually they'll give up diversity altogether... and I for one do NOT want that to happen. I do want diversity, I want more representation of minority figures in entertainment media, especially as a means of educating the non-minority majority (an oxymoron I know) and pushing back bigotry or insensitive bias' altogether. Again I understand criticizing a product for being preachy, or how the campaign for that product is being preachy, but if you simply think a minority character, or a character who is portrayed by a minority performer/creator is a problem, or if the idea of diversity in itself is too political, particularly if you use "diversity" or "sjw" as dirty words, then I'm sorry but you're the one doing the shoehorning a vindictive political agenda, an agenda that practically says "the portrayal of minority characters or involvement of minority performers and creators is what upsets me!"
I know that's not how every non-minority individual who criticizes something thinks, particularly if a character in that product based on their non-majority background is poorly written, although it does seem contradictory to how a poorly written minority character is often associated with "forced diversity" and as "proof" as to why it's bad by those in the majority, while a poorly written majority character doesn't receive similar scorn by either minorities or majority groups. :/ 
Like I said, I know not everyone in the majority who criticizes something is racist, sexist, queerphobic, or religiously or culturally intolerant, but looking back on Youtube conservatives are mainly invested in minority characters and performing individuals getting as little representation or general screen time as possible, be it in movies, television, video games, and especially in comic books; that's why some "critics" of Steven Universe, the recent Star Wars movies, or the upcoming She-Ra series, (when it's not even out yet mind you) as well as a number of superhero comics be they from DC, Marvel or otherwise would pretend that anything like those is trying to push some "Anti-StraightWhiteMale agenda" or start hand-wringing about a matriarchy, especially if this kind of motivational stigma is revealed through the fact they almost always sugarcoat their bias with neo-reactionary right-wing buzzwords like again "Forced Diversity" or of course "SJW;" a term that of course initially was used as an ironic insult, but has over time become so synonymous with actual bigots that it's practically unironic and is basically a billboard that says "I'm an idiot and I don't know what I'm actually talking about!"
If you have the time btw, I encourage you to watch this video by ContraPoints titled "Decrypting the Alt-Right", as she nearly perfectly illustrates alt-right dog whistling and how you can determine who is a bigot based on them.
Now does that excuse campaigns or even creative teams directly for how they handle showcasing diversity?! No, of course not, especially if they don't do it very well... which is the real friggin problem!! (as well as feeble minded dog whistling of course)
All the same, I'm always looking for more diversity and representation as long as it's good, especially if it represents those characters in more complex ways a number of people still don't know about. So don't be afraid push for diversity, expand your horizons, learn more about other people, and even if anyone calls you out as an "SJW"... eh, don't worry about it, heck if anything you can just take "social justice warrior" as a compliment since they're basically saying you're a "warrior of justice." Or you know, you can just shrug off and ignore them. Either way at least you know you're doing something right. ;)
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Fic Recs/Writers *updated 09/12/2019
THE LIBRARY IS OPEN DARLING....for some actual reading.
A list of fics/writers I’ve come across that got some of that pretty sweet stuff. And also because I’ve read around too much and can’t remember names or fics to save my life. THE UPDATES MAN!
Warning: Some fics (as will be indicated) are +18/rated M for Mature/take me to church kinda deal
@versigny
I’d say almost all of their stuff is worth a read (whoever your bias may be, they got stories on them), but my personal faves are their vampire au series, some +18 stuff there but majority of the stories are oneshots and drabbles
@honeyedhoseok (I think now @tawnytaehyung)
I’m sure everything they wrote is worth a read from what I’ve read thus far but because of that, I can really only recommend the three fics I actually read.
Series: Besitos (ta!Jimin) rated M for recent developments hoho~
Bruh why is this not reality? Why don’t we get really hot TAs to crush on? It would’ve made my school life hella easier and I’d get that perfect attendance. Jimin is your hottie creative writing TA who you can’t help but crush on (but can anyone blame you) and envious to all, he likes you back too. College au shenanigans, teacher/student dynamic, and dorky wingman ta!Taehyung friend.
Oneshot/drabbles (Crossroad demon!Jimin): Crossroads + Hunted + Captured Part One *NEW + Captured Part Two *NEW
I’d sell my soul to satan if he looks like bs&t!Jimin. You basically make a deal with crossroad demon!Jimin and can’t help but actually grow fond of the supposed devious, soul eating creature of hell.
Series: The Black Book (CEO!Hoseok) rated M
My heart can’t take the drama but it’s still a really good read. CEO!Hoseok may be young and rich but he definitely has some questionable methods of relieving stress, one that you’re all too aware of which makes things super awkward cuz you in love with the man. Does CEO!Hoseok eventually change thanks to you or do old habits die hard and just leave you in a world of hurt? Again if it’s Hoseok he can be the biggest jerkface and I’d still be charmed.
@dovechim
Shorts/Drabbles: the ocean (mermaid!Jimin) + drabble
Because goddammit mermaid!Jimin is cute okay??! (and I love me a good supernatural au of any sort) You’re a ballet dancer going to Busan Arts and stumble upon Jimin chillin’ in the water by the beach. You mistake him as fellow peer but hey he shows up to your class anyways (totally rocks the dance thing) but then as time passes, you find that something is quite...fishy about him.
Series: It’s okay, that’s love (splitpersonality!Jimin)
No not the drama. Okay so a shrink is still involved and that’s played by you and you’ve got water polo player!Jimin who has split personality disorder (he’s scary when he’s angry...) as your patient, except he doesn’t know about this ‘other self’ of his. As if feelings aren’t already making things complicated, imagine accidentally finding yourself rooming with him (along with your other favourite boys).
@hobibliophile
Okay so I might’ve read all of their Jimin stuff and yes. All yes (warning: they’re +18 stuff soooo)
The only other fic I’ve read from them is Ambrosia (M) starring Fallen Angel!Hoseok....I like supernatural au fics alright. Fallen angel or not, Hobi is still super sweet and since this is a series, we don’t know what the reason was and MAJOR CLIFFHANGER!
@jimlingss
Series: Beyond Reach (ghost!Hoseok) ft. Reaper!Namjoon and other ghosties
This shit made me nearly cry five times....FIVE TIMES. I say nearly because I don’t like crying so it took literally all my willpower to not (ended up with a runny nose though). ANGST AS SHIT. Has some triggering stuff involving death so be warned. It’s a good read though....BUT SAD AS HELL (at least it’s completed :’))
One Shot: Head Over Heels to Hell (reverse soulmate!AU, Childhood Friends to Enemies to Lovers! Hoseok x reader)
Oh yes, this was a WILD RIDE. Goddamn it’s like you hate the man but then in the end that shit got me emotional for some reason like djgskh good shit good shit (you have gone through multiple different lives meeting Hoseok, all of which he screws you over somehow but in the end of it all... perhaps things could still work out??)
Series: The Deli Diaries (produce! Jimin x Deli worker!you) fluff, slow-burn
Holy shit this is cute af. It’s so mundane (guess that’s a fair warning??) but just reading the way the relationship develops is just....ahh!!! I want my own cute Jimin who pines after my dumbass TAT
Series: Jungle Park (Workplace Romance AU, Lawyer! Hoseok x New HR Manager!Reader) fluff, slow-burn, slice of life, a little angst **NEW
A long series for those of you who love to read chapter fics! Oh my God this was a thrilling ride of emotions! The pacing is amazing, each chapter you’re hooked on wanting to see more development on the history between these two so it’s worth a read! I love how Hoseok is portrayed here; it’s like a piece of how he would be in real life is put into just another scenario (Also hate how reader is like... relatable in a way where I also majored in HR so...WHERE’S THE OFFICE ROMANCE LIFE TRAIN GONNA HIT ME WITH THAT??)
Three Shot: Magic & Mysteries (Familiar/Hybrid!Jimin x Witch! Reader) fluff, a little angsty, comedy, romance **NEW
A three shot series involving what the title says! Magic! It’s a little adventure tale of our reader who’s a witch struggling to find her place in terms of specialty and overcoming some fears and insecurities with the help of sassy (but secretly cares a lot) Jimin who’s a wizard cursed to be a dog (that looks like Chimmy!) It’s cute and pretty wholesome in my opinion :)
Also an honorable mention from them is the Service Series (it’s fluffier dw) and honestly their other fics are definitely worth a read :D
@7cypher
Oneshot: Devil’s Advocate (devil/demon!Jimin)
Ironic how despite being a devil Jimin is still the sweetest being to exist. Devil!Jimin walks into your life abruptly and worms his way into your heart with his devilishly good looks and sweet charms. It’s hella cute, a slightly angsty ‘defining’ moment that actually had me tearing up a bit??? (I’m a sap for sweet, tender affection like the ones that happened in here okay??) but it all ends well :)
@seokkbuns
I’ve read most of their Hoseok and Jimin stuff but I think all of their fics are worth a read!
@boymeetsweevil
Oneshot: Cover You In Constellations (Hoseok x reader fic)
I’ve read this a while ago but keep coming back to it because oh god this was cute, so domestic and so fluffy like this is the kinda shit I would pull if I had a boyfriend like Hoseok like skdjfskgha. I like the way writer portrays Hoseok because it feels so like what I imagine he would react. Hoseok deserves all the love ;_;
@kittentaegu
Series: My Boss, The Vampire (Vamp!Jimin x reader fic)
Two parts are out so far and I’m loving the premise! New office worker with notoriously hot CEO Park Jimin who has a secret to hide (guess what it is). One day, you find out what it is and so now what?? Things get steamy ;D Also, the title of it is so K-dramaesque and I don’t know! I like the charm it adds to it!
@readyplayerhobi **NEW
Honestly all of their fics are worth a read because they flawlessly combine story building with any kind of genre you can think of. Some are smutty, some of fluffy and some are just downright angsty but you just want to read them all regardless!
@yminie **NEW
Series: Nine-One-One (Detective!Jimin x First Responder! Reader) fluff, angst, romance, old flame au, future smut, and other mature themes!
This is thrilling! In both romantic and story aspects! The base story line is that there’s a serial murderer on the loose who’s been stalking reader and Jimin and his team are on the case about it. They’ve both got romantic history with each other and as old feelings resurfaces, so does the situation as things hit a little too close to home. Obviously with serial murderers involved, there is mentions of death, suicide and well...the warnings there!
A03 Fics
*will be pretty rare on this list; am I the only one who finds it super hard to find good fics on there?
Author: kimtrain
I swear they had a tumblr before since that’s the only reason why I remember them and their fics. Thankfully they’re all there still and all of them are 👌👌👌 Mermaid!Hoseok AU and the Hybrid!AU are my faves.
Fic: Warm Blood by ARMY_BRAT
The one instance where my weakness for supernatural AUs + wanting to read something paid off. MC is an ARMY but also a grim reaper so what happens when BTS shows up on her list, destined to die? Well, she says NOT TODAY but that just throws EVERYTHING out of the loop, leaving her to fix it.
Went into it with a grain of salt (ngl description was...ehh) BUT was pleasantly surprised! Digging the writing style which made MC really likeable so far and the AU strongly reminds me of Goblin: The Lonely God but focusing more on the grim reaper side of things which, personally, I was WAY more interested in even with the drama so yay! :D Glad someone took inspiration from it. Still ongoing and fairly new so dsfajdkas
Fic: Three Pints Full by Valkook **NEW
Woah it’s a vampire/supernatural fic! A little on the mature side because there’s well...blood...a little bit of death mentioned...and smut... BUT a really compelling story! Set mainly as a Cop/Detective! Reader who’s been assigned to solving some mysterious deaths/murders happening in the wild parts Montana joined in with appearances by Hunter/Tracker!Yoongi, Partner!Hoseok and Vampire!Jimin, Jungkook and more!
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earthconstructs · 4 years
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Blog
I started a blog in July 2017, paid for a domain, did it up using Squarespace, made it super pretty. In 2017 I started focusing on improving my writing, and in my goal for 2018 was to become a better writer. 
In November 2018, I finished working at the Water Corporation after I had documented the “Kep Project”. My manager was acting in another manager’s role, and so an acting manager ended up signing off on my final report. I put a lot of effort into that report, I spent many evenings alone in the office trying to figure out if it was laid out well, clear to people who may be coming across the topic for the first time. I wonder if anyone will actually read it, or has, in the last two years.
The acting manager who was reviewing my report was known to be a stickler for detail, call out bad quality work, and be quite picky. She read my report, signed it off, and gave me feedback that it was written really well. And that was it for me - I had achieved my goal of being a being a better writer / writing better reports.
It’s funny how I needed the paid domain and blog back when I was working full time, and had a lot going on in my life, to motivate me to write. if I didn’t, then it would be like I was wasting the money I’d spent on it. 
But now it’s a huge expense. So I’m closing the blog, and keeping this free brain dump version of a blog. Where I just brain dump, without being strict on myself, and reading every post over and over and over again for fear of being judged by my friends - the only people who read it anyway. 
Finishing here with a copy-paste-dump of the 4 blog posts I wrote from July 2017 to April 2018. 
30 July 2017 - I am an engineer
I am an engineer trying to figure out my place in helping to make the world a better place for everyone to live in. I became a mechanical engineer because I liked understanding how stuff works. But recently, I've realised that a big part of the stuff I am interested in is how people and the world work to create this life that I am living. I am always learning, so this blog is my attempt to capture some of it, so that I can refer back to it later, and to hopefully share something new with you as well.
 30 July 2017 - My first visit to Kalgoorlie as a guest speaker
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WASM Wall by Jason Dimer
OK, I’ll admit it, when I saw a request come through EWB* channels for a female engineer to present at the GEMIA* Girls and Guys Exploring Mining Forum, in Kalgoorlie, I jumped at the opportunity!
There were a couple of reasons why:
As a female engineer and EWB volunteer, I am passionate about inspiring students, especially female students, to pursue careers in STEM* fields as I believe these fields nurture the critical thinking so needed in our current world, and that increasing the number of females with careers STEM fields is one of our quickest paths towards gender equality
I had heard a lot about Kalgoorlie, but had never been there myself. I believe that the best way to learn about a place is by visiting, experiencing, immersing and talking to the locals (spoiler alert, I spent a lot of time doing this in my one and a half days there)
Everything we do at Engineers Without Borders links to one of the Aims from our 2020 Strategy. Speaking at events such as this Mining Forum for Year 9-11 high school students in Kalgoorlie fits into our aim to redefine engineering, specifically: “We will redefine engineering as a community centred profession that provides leadership in the creation of a more sustainable and inclusive world”.
And that is what I had at the front of my mind as I was putting together a presentation covering my career in engineering to date, my work as an Engineers Without Borders volunteer, and the concept of humanitarian engineering - with the aim to engage and inspire teenagers!
I wanted to share some examples of humanitarian engineering with the students, and luckily Sheena Ong, our ex EWB WA President and creator of the documentary “The Humanitarian Engineer", allowed me to include video clips of snippets from the documentary. I chose three examples that I thought conveyed the message of humanitarian engineering and appropriate technology concisely:
Rob Hughes, EWB field engineer, on developing biodigesters in Tonle Sap, Cambodia
The installation of Playpumps in Africa
Darren Lomman, Dreamfit founder discussing examples of equipment design or modification to make them accessible for people with disabilities
For each of the above examples that I showed the school group, I asked them three questions:
Did it address disadvantage?
Did it use science or technology?
Did it consider the community or persons’s needs in the design process?
After running through the second definition of humanitarian engineering covered in the documentary - humanitarian engineering is engineering that puts human well-being at the centre - I asked the students if I was a humanitarian engineer.
The questions I asked were answered by the students with a combination of murmurs of yes, and cocked heads. When I queried the teachers about this later, they said it was because this was not a topic that they had heard of before. I hope that I helped them to think about what engineering is, and that it can be related to more than the gold mining happening just up the road from Kalgoorlie town centre.
I like to think that I succeeded; later in the day one of the students asked me:
If I could be any kind of engineer, what would it be?
EWB = Engineers Without Borders GEMIA = Goldfield Education Mining Industry Alliance TEM = Science, technology, engineering and maths
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Lemon Scented Gum at the Mt Charlotte walk trail and waterwise garden
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Mulla mulla overlooking the superpit
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Amok Island - 58 Egan St Kalgoorlie
21 August 2017 - Diversity and Inclusion
I had a really good weekend. I had back to back appointments and catch ups from Friday to Sunday night, and like the good extrovert that I am, it left it me feeling happy, stimulated and productive.
Which brings me to Monday night. I’m writing this during my first free moment, after my first day back at work since getting home from two weeks leave (while half watching the latest episode of Rick and Morty with my domestic partner). Anyway, I'm here to write about the Engineers Without Borders Humanitarian Day Gala, which I attended last Friday night.
On this night we heard from three speakers - Pete Baynard-Smith (Engineers Without Borders CEO), Suzanne Brown (Water Corporation Drainage and Liveable Communities Manager), and Fadzi Whande, social justice advocate and inclusion and diversity adviser.
And while I loved hearing about Pete and Suzanne's experience and work, I'll admit that I learnt the most from Fadzi, from a diversity perspective. I do not know many (any?) women from Africa, or much about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, other than it is important.
There are two points that Fadzi shared which have stuck with me. The first is the analogy she used about diversity and inclusion:
Diversity is being invited to a party, inclusion is being invited to dance.
The second is - The are six steps towards diversity and inclusion in our life and in the workplace are:
1.      You
2.     You
3.     You
4.     You
5.     You
6.     You
What a great way to emphasise that, as with pretty much everything in life, the most important thing I can do is to focus on myself, and what I myself can do or change.
By saying this, I understand that Fadzi means that to work towards diversity and inclusion, we need to start by changing our own circle, recognise that we are mainly surrounded by people that we are used to, and that a way to change this is by changing our own circle, and getting out of our comfort zone.
Hearing this motivates me, as I partly feel that I am on track because I already do this - by going to events I haven't been to before, where there is an opportunity to learn something new or that are attended by people outside my usual circle.
However, I appreciate my circle a lot. I am so lucky to be surrounded by so many smart and admirable friends.
People who:
value logic and data*
are open minded
who have  taught and helped  me see so much of what I understand today
who recognise that we can't assume that we know someone's whole story
(and people who can explain to me what unconscious bias is because they are studying a Masters of Psychology - hopefully you'll get a guest post from that friend soon!)
Thank you Fadzi, Pete and Suzanne for sharing your words and experiences at EWB WA’s Humanitarian Day Gala, and to the special, like-minded people who I got to spend time with on Friday night. You all keep me inspired.
*On Data - I need to figure out my thoughts around data, perception, and community development. On one hand I believe, as Fadzi said on the night - data doesn't lie - and on the other hand, I believe in human centred design - that a community knows what they need, and what the statistics show may not always be what the community needs. I want to figure out which thought applies in what contexts If you have any ideas or information about this, please let me know!!!
9 September 2017 - Chasing Coral
Well, you know they've done a good job with a film when they can make you cry about coral.
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CORAL BLEACHING FEBRUARY 2016 AT HERON ISLAND, PHOTO COURTESY THE OCEAN AGENCY / XL CATLIN SEAVIEW SURVEY
But films like this leave me feeling like I'm not doing enough about the ocean's temperature rise. That being vegan isn't enough; I'm still driving an internal combustion car, I don't have solar panels, I'm not putting enough pressure on our Australian government, and not having enough conversations about this with my peers.
I haven't been keeping up with the news much since I got back from a 2 week holiday to WA's North West. Today on triple j's 3pm news, I heard that the Nationals are having a federal conference where NSW and Queensland will present motions to phase out renewable energy subsidies and support the development of the coal industry.
They will also move to resist the determination of environmental groups "to disrupt and impede the progress of this important industry".
I'm just in disbelief. How can they not understand that this is going backwards? How can they not care about the damage that has already been done?
Maybe I need to find myself an opinion piece written by a member of The National party, so that I can try to understand where they are coming from.
Coal is the most polluting way to produce electricity. There are other options. We need to implement them. It seems so simple, what am I missing?
I'm going to The Great Barrier Reef in November. I hope that I won't be too saddened by what I see, and that I get to have some conversations with locals. As I've mentioned in a previous post - learning by immersion.
I'll end this depressing post with an infographic made by the Chasing Coral team, and the fact that I need to stock up a reef-friendly, oxybenzone-free sunscreen, now that summer is one season closer!
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2 October 2017 - Experts (I am not one)
I’m writing this as I am watching the sun go over a hill in the distance at Roelands Village, just outside of Bunbury. The hill is known to Les, the director of Woolkabunning Kiakaand his ex-Roelands mission peers as “Bunbury Hill”. It might also be the hill where he pointed out their traditional-spear-watchmen-shaped tree out to us earlier today. Anyway, it’s f*cking blissful as you can see in the photo below, which does it no justice.
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I’m here at the ex-Roelands mission for the annual Engineers Without Borders strategy retreat. This year I agreed/volunteered to feed all 20 attendees over the two day weekend. I wasn’t really looking forward to it – but saw it as an opportunity to challenge myself! As well as cooking in the kitchen, I got to take part in the sessions put on by the president, vice president and some other long time volunteers. In one of the sessions, we defined inspiration, which is actually really hard to do!
I was talking to a good friend of mine in the car as we were driving down. I think it was actually the same trip 3 years ago where we first began our deeper conversations about feminism, people, psychology and ethics. This year marks our 10 years of friendship, which for some reason I find a pretty crazy fact (the 10 years part, not the friendship itself). One of the many topics we covered in the two hour drive was - blogging about topics which we are not an expert in. I concluded that for me, this blog is my way of collating and sharing topics and solutions that I come across and am learning about, but is not me speaking as an expert. I hope that by my sharing information and resources, I am supporting the good work that is being carried out by others. There is so much happening around the world; something in place to address nearly every single issue that exists. I just want to keep track of, and share them all! I also hope that this becomes a way for me to hear about interesting work that I might not already know about.
So, you know how I mentioned that I wanted to find a marine friendly sunscreen, after watching Chasing Coral and realising that corals are actually very delicate creatures, and that chemicals in sunscreen are harming them? Well, I did a bit of research and found a couple of brands. One of them is Stream2sea, but as they are an American company, I was on the hunt for something a bit more local. It wasn’t too hard to find – Surf Lifesaving Australia sell a sunscreen where proceeds from sales supports surf lifesaving training and development programs around Australia. They even listed that this sunscreen was in a recyclable aluminium can instead of plastic and I thought, “Even better, it's plastic free - at least when aluminium gets recycled it doesn’t become a lower grade product like in the case of plastic.”
But then when it arrived, in a standard post plastic bag, it was further packaged like this.
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How ironic, an item marketed as being marine friendly, wrapped in an item that is widely known as causing enormous damage to the environment, especially marine environments.
When I complained about this in the Zero Waste + Plastic Free Living Perth, WA group on Facebook, Darren Lomman told me that almost all items in the health and beauty aisle in supermarkets comes transported like this. Why? I don’t know enough about wholesaling and packaging to be able to answer that. But it just looks like such as juxtaposition to me:
Marine friendly                                                                                  
                                                                                                                            Plastic
So now that I am done complaining, I need to write a letter Surf Livesaving Sunscreen, to ask them about the irony of this situation. I’m unsure if this will change anything, but at least I will have tried. I suppose the other approach is to accept that it needs to be packed like that for a reason (which I hope I find out when they reply), or do something about the packaging that has already been used and is here to stay in our environment now.
Enter Greenbatch. (Remember how I spoke about interesting projects above?)
Greenbatch is Western Australia’s first PET plastic reprocessing facility. It is founded by a guy called Darren Lomman, who studied Mechanical Engineering at the University of Western Australia (like me!). Darren recently handed over the reigns of Dreamfit, an organisation he founded that designs equipment for people with disabilities). He is now using his engineering and entrepreneurial background to establish a plastic processing facility, with the aim of reprocessing 100 million bottles by 2025, preventing them going into landfills, oceans and waste incinerators. Plastic processed through Greenbatch will be turned into 3D printing filament for schools to build and create with.
You can support this amazing social enterprise by:
-          Telling your friends about Greenbatch
-          Giving them a donation
-          Getting your local school involved
They are also holding a free community event at Perth City Farm on Wednesday 18 October. This event will give us the opportunity to learn from experts in the fields of sustainability, education, marine conservation and plastics recycling.
The experts will share what WA is doing about waste and recycling and ways that it can be improved, and talk about initiatives currently underway solving waste problems and how you can get on board and be a part of this sustainable change.
For more info, or to register your spot at this event click here.
I hope to see you there, and if you can’t make it, stay tuned for a summary of the event here on my blog :)
13 April 2019 - Work, Life and Balance
Well, it's been 6 months since my last post. I can remember the last 6 months so clearly, though it feels like they passed in a blur. I have felt so much anticipation in the lead up to big events that I had been excited about for months or years; 18 months of anticipation before getting married, 7 months of awaiting Kep's arrival in Perth, and two and a half years of looking forward to moving to Europe.
Kep's arrival... I'll give some background before I continue.
Kep is Water Corporation's leak detection dog. She's the world's first dog to be trained solely to detect underground water leaks, using only the scent of treated water alone, as a cost effective way of leak detection in areas where it is difficult and costly to perform leak detection via the usual methods.
In August last year, after I lead a successful trial with two experienced detection dogs, I learnt that I would be the project manager of a project to acquire Water Corporation's first leak detection dog. I worked together with the dog trainer, Steve Austin, to select a working English Springer Spaniel puppy, who we named Kep*. She began training with Steve in Sydney, and her delivery date to Western Australia depended on her physical and mental maturity. On her arrival in Perth, I would also complete training to become her primary handler.
From August to November, as well as working on water source planning projects as part of my substantive role, I spent a lot of time detailing options for the implementation of a detection dog into Water Corporation's business, including all required logistics  for the transport and care of the working dog.
After getting married in Perth and honeymooning to the Great Barrier Reef at the end of November, December passed in the usual holiday-period way - fast. In January, I spent every spare moment during the weekends doing the things I love - camping, hiking, scuba diving, going to the beach, seeing friends, teaching piano and learning new things (surfing!!!). February was spent preparing for Kep's arrival, and I also fit in a trip to Melbourne where I presented at the Australian Water Association Young Professionals conference, and caught up with dear friends (some human, some furry).
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And then, it was the end of February and the end of summer! I spent 3 weeks being a new dog mum and handler, before I handed Kep over to her other handler so that I could fly off for a 4 week trip to Europe,, where I have been since the end of March.
I had never been so excited for a holiday before; usually I would feel excited about going to explore new places and eating new food. This time, I just needed a break badly.
For the first time in my working life, I had felt...stressed.
In the lead up to, and in the 3 weeks after Kep's arrival, I had been featured in workplace internal communications, been on TV multiple times, and presented at an Engineers Australia Young Innovative engineers presentation.
I felt like everyone within Water Corporation, and a lot of members of the public, knew about my project, and I was very aware of the two most common attitudes of people when they heard about my project:
- You have the best job ever, how did you get it?!
- Will it really work, is it really that effective?
Both attitudes make me feel slightly guilty about how much I love my job at the moment, and how good I have it, in different ways.
It wasn't until both the dog trainer's program manager and my CEO's personal assistant had asked me - "How are you going with all the pressure?" - that I realised that it was normal to be feeling how I was. Once they asked, it made sense - I was experiencing what I was because my project was in the public eye.
Through my experiences in the last few months, I've learnt a lot more about myself and become better at dealing with pressure. By this I mean I am better at controlling how I feel internally, as apparently it doesn't show on the outside. What I also now know, is how it feels to be excited and invested in my work every day. The last 6 months have made me realise how much I enjoy working on new, exciting, and never-been-done-before projects.
The answer I gave to a student's question in Kalgoorlie has also stuck with me. I still think about working on plastic reprocessing, and ocean clean ups. And my next career goal is to have a bigger impact on issues that I care about. As my time away from Australia is wrapping up, for now, I'm starting to think about how I want to spend my time when I am back in Perth. As well as the busy project schedule awaiting me for the implementation of Water Corporation's leak detection dog into the business, there are still many issues that I want to delve into and learn about in more detail. And I'd like to get better at balancing work, exercise, diet and reading/learning.
For me, this post reflects on and captures a certain point in my life - the feeling of wired-excitedness for what will come next in my life and career.
*Kep
Kep was named after the Noongar word for water, which was selected in consultation with Noongar elders and the Water Corporation's Aboriginal Affairs team, and was the winning name in a Facebook poll with the Western Australian community where 7 000 people voted.
You can view more about Kep here:
Kep's Water Corporation page
Kep on Channel 9 News
Kep on GWN News
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falneou17 · 4 years
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BanG Dream! Favorite List - 2
I will be adapting someone else’s style and format for these lists as I thought it was a pretty neat way to do this.
It’s the start of 2020, we’re about two weeks away from the start of the third season and... I’ve already switched around some characters’ positioning on the list. And nothing would emphasize this more than...
Favorites
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Aoba Moca (2, 1)
Yes, it finally happened! The #1 spot in my favorite list for the franchise has finally been stolen from Saaya’s hands. Moca, the girl who people have assumed is my favorite girl of the franchise since I first made my presence known in the fandom, is finally exactly that! It’s honestly not really what Moca did, it’s what Saaya didn’t do. Now to hope that the newest BlueFlora 4* (which is... ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!) will come home at some point... at least it is a perm.
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Yamabuki Saaya (1, 2)
So... long story short... BanG Dream is a gacha game where we have to save up resources and hope and pray that we get the card we want. The one dream card we have been saving months for. ...yeah, Christmas Saaya will probably always haunt my nightmares. At least I still really love her as a character? And, hey... she has a chance to redeem herself in her next limited 4*?
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Mitake Ran (3, 3)
Same old-
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Hazawa Tsugumi (4, 4)
Song and-
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Imai Lisa (5, 5)
Dance.
Loves
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Shirokane Rinko (7, 6)
So here is a fun one... I’ve been toying around with a multi-chapter story with Rinko (wink wink hint hint) and once I get past the new writing style I need to adapt for her conversations... she’s a really fun character to work with and use. And, for those who have been keeping track, you’ll notice I have published nine fanfics (and counting) of Rinko; the only BanG Dream girl I have written more stories for is Moca, at eleven. To emphasize that point even more: I’ve only written five fics for both Ran and Tsugumi; admittedly, multi-chaptered ones, so they feel like they have gotten more, but still. So, yeah... Rinko is a ton of fun and I thank @reiriniverse​ in particular for giving me all the ideas and opportunities to write more Rinko-centric stuff.
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Uehara Himari (6, 7)
Himari only dropped because Rinko took her place, but I don’t have any other reason to put her one step lower. She’s still the same old Hii-chan as ever~.
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Udagawa Tomoe (8, 8)
Tomato-chin is as amazing as ever. Also, for those who might be wondering why I started calling Tomoe “Tomato-chin”: it came up in passing in a convo I had with a friend of mine of the possibility that Moca, who calls her “Tomo-chin”, sometimes jokingly introduces Tomoe as “Tomato-chin” and it has stuck ever since.
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Maruyama Aya (9, 9)
While it does seem like she’s staying pretty static, Aya is actually slowly but surely starting to climb her way up the ladder thanks to the fact that she’s really shining in the new songs.
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Wakamiya Eve (11, 10)
Another slight jump, this time for our Bushido-loving gal. All I can say is that the new cards in JP are really doing Eve justice; they are amazing. No, I do not play JP but I do check out the new cards from time to time.
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Okusawa Misaki (10, 11)
...being in Hello, Happy World is really a bad thing for her. She’s a really fun character, but with HaroHapi being, well... HaroHapi, everything starts to become slightly monotone in a way. I’m sure people who don’t like Afterglow would say the same thing about Afterglow, but that just shows how much I like the band that has the sole person in the Very Bottom tier in it.
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Asahi Rokka (12, 12)
Nothing really new for RAS, for better or for worse, as they’re not in the game yet (or... I don’t think they are) except for a couple of awesome songs. Until we get S3 she’ll probably stay here unless something happens to those around her.
Likes
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Tamade “CHU2″ Chiyu (13, 13)
Same as above.
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Nyubara “PAREO” Reona (14, 14)
Same as above.
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Tsurumaki Kokoro (16, 15)
For now... she, too, has gotten a lot of good cards (the vocalist bias on the developer’s side is real) and that Nico x Nico original song that came out is an absolute bop and easily my fave song of the band, but... we’ll see how long she can outshine the ones around her.
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Hikawa Sayo (17, 16)
I still stand by my stance that her immense amount of character growth and development has almost effectively changed who Sayo is on a basic level, but... I can find things to enjoy about the new Sayo as well. Sayo is still really weird to place, though, because I have to consider both old!Sayo and new!Sayo for this. More so than for the others because of all the growth she went through...
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Ichigaya Arisa (15, 17)
Like Himari, Arisa didn’t really “drop”... the two below her from the previous entry just shot past her.
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Udagawa Ako (19, 18)
While I am still of the opinion that Ako got affected really badly by the two Roselia seiyuu switches, I just... Sakuragawa Megu is just too much fun to drag her character down too much ^^’
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Hanazono Tae (18, 19)
Dropping mainly because of the problem I had with her in the previous entry: she’s rather static. Here’s to hoping S3 can be nice to our rabbit-loving gal.
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Wakana “LAYER” Rei (25, 20)
Now here is an interesting entry who jumped quite a bit, and I can explain the jump with one sentence: RAS has blown my expectations out of the water. We’ve received a handful of RAS songs since they first started up, and for all the songs they have gotten in their first year-and-a-half or so (when were they first performing? I found records from May 2018 but... eh, whatever) they have... honestly not disappointed me even once. And when a band does well, the vocalist bias means a big part of the attention goes to the singer. Let’s hope S3 can piggyback off RAS’s hype and give LAYER some much-needed growth and development.
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Satou “MASKING” Masuki (20, 21)
Same as Rokka, CHU2, and Pareo before her.
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Shirasagi Chisato (22, 22)
While she’s still 22nd, she’s jumped up from “above neutral” to the bottom of the “likes”. Like Kokoro and Eve before her, the Chisato cards have been really amazing.
Above Neutral
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Hikawa Hina (24, 23)
Hina still has the problem that she gets compared to and related to Sayo so much (for, admittedly, obvious reasons), but her cards have, too, been really good.
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Toyama Kasumi (26, 24)
Five words are more than enough to explain this small but significant jump: Only My Railgun Full Version. That cover might very well be the absolute best cover of that song that I have ever heard. And with Railgun being my favorite franchise, you can imagine how many covers of its iconic OP song I have checked out already. The fact that Poppin’ Party stood on stage performing this song live alongside fripSide is just... everything a Railgun and BanG Dream! fan would want in one performance and so much more.
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Matsubara Kanon (23, 25)
Poor Kanon is the subject of being dropped to a lower rank because those below her skyrocketed above her.
Neutral
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Minato Yukina (21, 26)
How the mighty have fallen. Roselia has really fallen from grace, and with the Roselia songs that came out recently being... okay, “UNIONS” Road is all right, but generally speaking my interest in Roselia as a band has been wavering since... RAS was introduced, really. The cover songs... ironically, they chose songs from popular and well-known franchises that had quite the following, like No Game No Life, Re:Zero, and Steins;Gate... but I never got into those franchises so I can’t appreciate them as much as a fan of those franchises can. And unlike say... like RAS’s cover songs, which are also from franchises I never got into, I... don’t particularly enjoy any of the new Roselia songs, both original and cover songs. The recent Yukina cards are also... they’re not “bad” but they don’t leave me in awe and wanting to save months of resources just for them, either... so... neutral it is.
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Yamato Maya (27, 27)
Same old-
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Ushigome Rimi (28, 28)
Song and-
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Kitazawa Hagumi (29, 29)
Dance.
Very Bottom
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Seta Kaoru (VB, VB)
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