#there's too much parodies and anime references that i just had to go to the ones i know OTL

[pokemoncenter]

Introduction

Hello. My name is Sophora. I am a Pokemon veterinarian. I live in Unova, but at the time of this writing, I am beginning a temporary stay in Johto to assist with a research project.

My blog is mostly thoughts and discussions of Pokemon care and science, as well as what photos I wish to share.

I am a former member of Team Plasma. My duties were to care for Pokemon injured by human deeds, and assess whether they could be released into the wild. Though I was nothing more than a child in training at the time. I wish to be clear that I, along with most Team Plasma members you will ever encounter, were fooled by Ghetsis, and truly do wish for improving the lives of Pokemon.

My sole Pokemon is a Zorua named Beans. I have had her for many years, and she is my dear companion.

I am often told I have no sense of humor, so please do not expect much in the way of jokes or banter from me. I am also often called rude, or at the very least blunt.

I will speak often on Pokemon care, as mentioned. I will answer any questions on Pokemon care when I am able, though I am mostly only familiar with Pokemon of the Unova region, and some of the Kanjoh region. I also will often speak on the life of a veterinarian and what sort of things one is expected to do in this job.

The difference between a Pokemon veterinarian and a Pokemon Center, for the record, generally involves overall health versus injuries. If it was a problem or health issue that came from battle, you go to a Center. If it is an overall health issue that did not come from battling, go to a veterinarian. Generally, we will refer you to the other one if you got it wrong.

My hobbies are reading and photography. I have given lectures about Pokemon care at conferences before, and I enjoy trying new foods. I am something of a coffee enthusiast, as well.

Most people I mention on this blog, I will be changing their names. This includes myself- Rotomphones should not replace basic internet safety for you all. The main exceptions will be people on this site who use their real name, and people who are otherwise too famous that it would be pointless to try to change their name.

I look forward to pleasant conversations with you all.

//OOC under the cut!

Player is over 21.

All posts will be tagged with 'pkmn irl' and 'unreality'.

This is, obviously, a Pokemon IRL rp blog.

I intend to not get involved in high stakes with the possibly exception of Team Winter stuff, or things that otherwise catch my interest. Most of them will be assumed to not happen.

Some notes on character canon!

Sapient Pokemon do not exist. There are rare exceptions, but they are extremely special and noteworthy. Pokemon intelligence varies, but generally they're animals. As a result, I would prefer not to interact with sapient Pokemon blogs, and if you do, Sophora will assume that you're a child roleplaying.

Legendary Pokemon are rare. The mainline games are canon but generally, Sophora doesn't know a lot of what happened. If it wasn't on the scale of Kyogre and Groudon, Sophora probably didn't hear about it! Sophora does not believe in a lot of legendary Pokemon as a result.

I do not do the whole 'magic anon' thing and such asks will be ignored.

Human-obtainable superpowers are Aura and psychic powers. That's about it. There are no other superpowers. Legendaries do not give children superpowers.

Legendaries may have been worshipped as gods but are not gods. There is no Arceus-based religion. People do not worship Arceus and do not treat it as the Christian god.

Most products that get parodied do not have the Pokemon parody names, and they just have the real world name. However, it is an in-universe meme to force Pokemon names into the product name, and that's why everyone has such differences (i.e. the proper name for the place is Starbucks, but some people call it Starlybucks and others call it Staryubucks, because it's a meme, not the real name.)

I want to avoid crossover stuff, it is not to my interest.

I want to try to keep to the tone of Pokemon as much as possible, so I'm going to be ignoring most things about murder and killing (unless it is a Cubone's mother).

Sophora can be, and often is, wrong about various subjects. However, she is a veterinarian and thus generally going to be correct about Pokemon care. Please do not show up to just correct me and claim my character doesn't know what she's talking about.

I try to avoid getting involved with the 'multiverse' stuff. As far as Sophora is concerned, there is only one reality, and it's hers. Please do not get deep into the weeds on that with her so I don't have to think about it too hard.

Animals exist! Pokemon are part of the ecosystem but normal animals exist, too. They just don't come up often because they aren't relevant.

Sorry if that sounds like too much stuff! I just wanted to be very clear from the outset.

EDIT:

If you are not someone already relevant about it, I will not acknowledge any asks where you try to prove legendary Pokemon. It's much funnier if Sophora refuses to believe in them. For understanding of the gag, please watch this video.

Sophora will not ever see or acknowledge a Legendary Pokemon outside of very specific circumstances. Please do not try to force the issue.

#pokeblogging #unreality #pkmn irl

[the-plot-blog-thing]

(originally published on 4/6/24)

WDAS TAGTEAM REVIEWS MOVIE #62: WISH (2023)

It's not fair, y'know? It's just not fair....

If I had seen this movie BEFORE the internet decided to already pick it apart, and BEFORE we learned about its earlier versions, I would've just said "Eh, it's cute enough" and moved on.

BUT now that we DO know, I can only see this movie and think, what if?

First, the good: all the acting and singing is all very good. They were wise to actually cast actors who can sing, so we didn't get a Beauty and the Beast (2017) problem on our hands.

The animation is also great! I liked how it looked from the first trailer. The colors are vibrant, and the characters have a great feeling of weight and movement. I really like how the backgrounds look especially.

Now then, onto the bad: The songs are too long and too similar rhythmically. None of them have a strong hook, they just repeat the same lines over and over again hoping that they'll stick in your head. Spoilers: they don't. The animal song is probably the worst.

There's a plot point where Victor Garber's character's wish was to sing a song that inspires the world. That's the main plot point of the first third of the film, and by the end, we still don't get to hear the song. They cut a song sung by Victor Garber in favor of...nothing?

You could really tell that there weren't any Broadway songwriters behind this one....

The film also has too many characters. I chalk most of this up to Asha's friends, who are all parodies of the 7 Dwarves. Only 2 of them are actually important, combine that with the queen, the goat, the star, and Asha's mother and grandfather, it's just a struggle for screentime.

The references didn't bother me all that much actually, up until that last scene where it all got a bit much. I know they were trying to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the company, but the Once Upon the Studio short did that well enough.

Every scene just repeats the same information too many times, to the point where each scene drags a minute longer than it should. And for a 90 minute film, that's saying something.

I was bothered by how Magnifico was corrupted by the dark magic. The fact that he clearly had a tragic backstory, and his wife was worried for him, showed he must have at least still had some small shred of good in him.

But then the film just says "No, once you touch dark magic, you're evil forever!" and that just bothered me. I know we've wanted an outright villain in one of these movies again, but this was not it. Was he under the influence of an evil book or not? You can't have it both ways.

Look, we've all seen the animatics and concept art, and we all heard the interviews. This movie could've been much different and potentially way better, but we can't keep dealing in hypotheticals. We can only judge the movie we got, and this one was just ok.

Emperor's New Groove famously was a totally different movie before it became the comedy we know it as today, and while it's interesting to see what could've been, nobody thinks less of Emperor's New Groove because it isn't Kingdom of the Sun.

As such, I can only look at Wish for what it is, and as of now, it's only a

5.5/10: I wish that they learn and go forward from here

But next time is Moana 2, so who knows?

#disney #WDAS #wish #why did the dumbass animals know more about having personal agency than any other human in the movie? #they only learned to talk 5 minutes ago #wdas62

[twistedtummies2]

Top 5 More Marvin the Martian Appearances

In my previous list, I ranked all five of the classic Golden Age Looney Tunes cartoons featuring my favorite Looney Tunes character, Marvin the Martian. Of course, while those five theatrical shorts were the only appearances Marvin had during the Golden Age, they were not the end of the adorable (yet incredibly dangerous) little gremlin from another world. It’s hard to say when and how Marvin’s popularity took off, but the fact remains that, despite sparse appearances during that great period, Marvin became a favorite character for creators and fans of the Looney Tunes alike. They kept bringing him back, over and over again, using him in all sorts of different ways. His popularity only seems to have grown over the years, with numerous appearances in films, TV shows, video games, and so on. I thought it would be fun, having ranked all of his classic appearances, to count down some of my personal favorites that have come about since then. To keep things even, I’m once again limiting this to just five appearances (although I will note a few Honorable Mentions, besides), so let’s see if any of you recognize them! Let’s waste no more time. Get ready to launch in 3…2…1! These are My Top 5 Favorite Marvin the Martian Appearances since the Golden Age!

5. Marvin the Martian in the 3rd Dimension.

This fifteen minute short film was made as a 4-D attraction at Six Flags Great America, along with a few other theme parks around the world. It was notable for being the first CGI animated film produced in stereoscopic 3D. The short is essentially a reimagining of the classic cartoon “Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century,” with references to some of Marvin’s other cartoons included. The plot sees Daffy Duck as a struggling actor, playing Duck Dodgers; in this world, Dodgers is the hero of a series of space adventure films. Marvin, who has been observing Earth, mistakes a rehearsal tape for an actual declaration of war against Mars, and thus sends K-9 to kidnap Daffy, planning to make him watch as he destroys Earth for their perceived hubris and aggression. The short is essentially one giant space-themed comedy of errors, as not only does Marvin misunderstand the situation, but so does Daffy, who believes all this is an offer for a new movie. It’s an interesting bit of Looney history, and really seems to mark the point in time where Marvin was officially being recognized as a major cartoon star in his own right: although Daffy is the true protagonist, it’s Marvin who gets the headline in the title.

4. The Man From M.A.R.S.

This was an episode of the cartoon series “Taz-Mania,” which featured Taz the Tasmanian Devil as the main character, going on a series of cartoon adventures. By far my favorite episode of the show was this one. Not just because of Marvin, but because…(thinks)...okay, yeah, actually, it IS just because of Marvin. But there’s a little more to why that is than you might think! Much like the previous pick, the plot is the result of a series of misunderstandings: Taz - who has been spooked by a radio play about an alien invasion (a parody of Orson Welles’ adaptation of “War of the Worlds”) - gets scared when Marvin comes to his homeland. Thinking the Martian plans to do him and his home harm, the Tasmanian Devil decides to fight back in the only way he knows how: wrecking and eating everything in sight, in the hopes it will drive the extraterrestrial away. However, Marvin hasn’t come to Earth planning to conquer it, but instead just to spend a humble vacation camping in the wilderness. He takes the aggressive antics of Taz as an outright declaration of war (again, sound familiar?) and thus decides to use a special bomb to destroy the planet. Unfortunately, Marvin’s plan works too well, as he gets stranded on Earth with no way to get off the planet before the bomb goes off. With their lives mutually on the line, Marvin and Taz must put aside their differences and work together to deactivate the explosive and save the Earth. I absolutely LOVE the pairing of Marvin the Martian and Taz: it’s the character among the Looney Tunes who seemingly has the most self-control, up against the Looney Toon who has the LEAST self-control. Taz is a wild, dumb brute who thinks with his stomach more than his head; Marvin is an egotistical intellectual who somehow manages to overthink everything while also missing important details. It’s also interesting to see the two together as they share similar histories: both were characters created fairly late in the game for the Looney Tunes cast, and each only appeared five times during the Golden Age. Yet, somehow, both rose in popularity and are now considered two of the most iconic and beloved Looney Tunes characters of all time. My only gripe with this cartoon is Marvin’s voice; in all his other appearances on this Top 5, Marvin is voiced by the late Joe Alaskey, who does a pitch-perfect impersonation of Mel Blanc’s original vocals. In “Taz-Mania!” however, Marvin is played by Rob Paulsen, whose impression is…not necessarily BAD, but definitely sounds like an IMPRESSION of Marvin, not Marvin himself, if that makes any sense. It’s not enough to cause any real trouble, though…unlike Taz and Marvin themselves, who ALWAYS seem to cause trouble wherever they go, but that’s another story.

3. Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.

It’s sort of ironic that “Bah, Humduck!” is in my Top 3, because I’m actually not ESPECIALLY fond of this direct-to-video reimagining of “A Christmas Carol.” As a huge fan of both the Looney Tunes and the Dickens classic, I feel like a lot of this holiday special misses the mark for BOTH sides of the spectrum. It’s not terrible, mind you, but it’s not brilliant, either; it’s on the lower end of “meh.” HOWEVER…one thing I absolutely, positively, unconditionally ADORE about this special is Marvin’s role in the story. The plot focuses on Daffy Duck as our Scrooge surrogate; he’s the owner of a major shopping center, and works his cartoon employees to the bone. Marvin is one of these employees, and longs to go back home to Mars to spend Christmas with his family. (“I long to hang garland on the Laser Annihilator Cannon!” he says with sinister relish…I freaking LOVE that line.) You’d think they’d play that up for laughs, and, yeah, there’s definitely some chuckle-worthy things…but surprisingly, the special treats Marvin’s wish to go home seriously and sincerely. There’s this beautiful scene where he’s looking through a telescope at the night sky: it’s late, it’s snowing hard, and he knows he can’t go back. Then he sees a shooting star; his face lights up happily, and he clasps his hands together as if to make a wish…and sheds a few quiet tears. Daffy dismisses this as “cheap holiday sentiment,” but honestly, that scene - told entirely through visuals, with not a spot of dialogue - might be one of my favorite Marvin moments of all time, and my favorite scene in the whole film. This Christmas Carol reinterpretation may have gotten a lot of things wrong…but in making Marvin the Martian arguably the most heartfelt part of the entire story, I think it’s safe to say they got a few things right.

2. Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

In contrast to the previous pick, which may be Marvin’s single sweetest appearance (unless you count “Baby Looney Tunes,” which…I do not), this movie is probably one of Marvin’s most despicable since the Golden Age. I’m not sure how people feel about “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” as a whole - whether folks generally love it, hate it, or just acknowledge it exists and move on - but I personally think it’s…okay. I’d rather watch this than “Space Jam,” if nothing else, I’ll tell you that much. (Sorry, “Space Jam” fans: I don’t hate the movie, but in a contest between the two, I think this one does the toons more justice.) The film is a parody of the James Bond franchise, with Bugs & Daffy helping a pair of human protagonists (played by Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman) try to save the world from the evil machinations of The ACME Chairman (played by Steve Martin) and his many secret operatives, all of whom are classic Looney Tunes villains. Marvin is one of the most prominent villains in the movie; he first appears as a captive in Area 52 - a secret military base devoted to studying alien life. On orders from the Chairman, Marvin breaks himself and the other aliens out to attack the four. They manage to escape Marvin, but the Martian returns in the climax. There, Bugs and Daffy (as Duck Dodgers) battle the evil alien in space to stop him from finishing the Chariman’s mad plan to turn all of the Earth’s population into monkeys. It was cool to see Marvin play such a big role in a feature film, as a major antagonist, and the references to various famous sci-fi properties found in his scenes (such as Doctor Who and Star Wars) are a lot of fun. It was also cool to see him face BOTH of his nemeses from the cartoons, rather than just one or the other. Again, I don’t know what kind of reputation this movie has, but if there’s one thing I will always defend, it’s the film’s use of Marvin the Martian.

1. Duck Dodgers.

This early 2000s animated series, another reimagining of “Duck Dodgers in the 24th ½ Century,” is something of a cult classic. It’s largely forgotten by a lot of people nowadays, and, looking back on it, it wasn’t perfect: some episodes, character reinventions, and general jokes worked…others did not. With that said, I don’t think I’m alone in the opinion that, for any flaws this show had…it was, without a shadow of a doubt, Marvin’s magnum opus as a character. While he has had guest appearances and occasional spotlight or supporting roles in other films and TV projects, this series marks the only time to date where Marvin was truly a main character. As a result, the show was able to give him more attention than any other appearance of the cartoon Martian before or since. Marvin (known in the show as Commander X-2, in reference to “The Hasty Hare”) was the main antagonist, usually acting as the villain trying to stop Dodgers and Cadet (Daffy and Porky Pig) on their many adventures. However, while Marvin was still the disintegration-happy, Earth-hating alien from the cartoons, the show was able to play with more facets of his personality and his relationships with characters. We got some cartoons focused on him and K-9, saw his devotion to his Queen (who was also his love interest), and the relationships he had with his arch-enemies was a lot of fun to see unfold in all of its ridiculousness. For as much as Marvin and Dodgers try to destroy one another, you quickly realize each sort of depends on this mutual feud, like with a lot of great nemesis relationships. Meanwhile, the Martian and the Cadet seem to get along surprisingly well; anytime Marvin and the protagonists team up, it’s usually Cadet who convinces him. On that note, for as often as Marvin was the villain, it was just as often that he would help the good guys, or even show a heroic side of his own accord. He was essentially an anti-villain: not necessarily EVIL, so much as just an obstacle in the hero’s path. And considering Dodgers was hardly a flawless hero, often just as terrible as Marvin (if not worse), it was easy to sympathize with the Martian Commander. It’s this series, just as much as his original cartoons or anything else, that cemented my love for this little rapscallion…and for that reason, if nothing else, “Duck Dodgers” deserves the title of My Favorite Marvin the Martian Appearance since the Golden Age. “Isn’t it delightful?”

HONORABLE MENTIONS INCLUDE…

MultiVersus.

Looney Tunes Cartoons.

The Looney Tunes Show.

Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time.

Looney Tunes: Rabbit’s Run.

Duck Dodgers Jr. (from Tiny Toon Adventures).

#list #countdown #top 5 #favorites #best #cartoons #animation #tv #films #video games #warner bros. #wb #looney tunes #looney toons #marvin the martian

[mortallyclearwonderland]

Top 10 Best Polish DUBs part 2

6. The Ice Age franchise, similar to the Shrek and Madagascar franchises, seems to be way more popular and liked in Poland than in the USA. While the general sentiment in the US is that the first one is somewhat of an underrated classic and the best and every single one got only worse and worse. Meanwhile, in Poland, its sequels are held in much higher regard. Yet again, it's thanks to the funnier dialogue and much better voice actors. Sid became an iconic character just like Donkey from Shrek or King Julian from Madagascar, most likely thanks to the fantastic work of Cezary Pazura, an actor and voice actor who makes everything he's in so much better. Piotr Fronczewski as Diego is also great with his warm fatherly voice he sounds way more sincere. If Diego had the same voice in the English version he would have even more simps fans. Wojciech Malajkat is great as Manfred. He would later voice Puss in Boots from Shrek. As the franchise went on not only the quality of writing went downhill but also they started casting celebrities instead of the real VAs or even regular actors. Queen Latifah, Drake who was in like 5 minutes of a movie.

7. Winx Club is way better in Polish, in my opinion. I don't know if it's because their VAs aren't actual teenagers who don't have as much experience, or if they're adults trying to sound like teens and failing miserably, or if their voices are just that annoying. Whatever the case might be the Polish actors strike a great balance between sounding mature but youthful at the same time. Like teens that are on their way to becoming adults but still with some childish tendencies. Not a twelve-year-old trying to sound grown-up or a 40-something-year -old trying way too hard to be cool and hip with the kids. And Polish versions of the songs are amazing.

8. Totally Spies makes their heroins sound way more mature just like Winx Club. To not repeat myself let me tell you about something different, the dialogue changes. It's not censorship or completely changing the meaning of the dialogue but the vocabulary. In the show, they are very much Valley girls. In the Polish version, they still use slang that was (and still is) used in Poland at the time but they also were capable of using big words. Maybe English slang is more annoying, at least to me.

9. W.I.T.C.H. BLAH BLAH better and more mature voices BLAH BLAH better and funnier dialogue BLAH BLAH. What is worth mentioning are the voices of the male characters. Caleb's English VA doesn't fit him whatsoever. I know Greg Cipes sounds like that even as an adult but still. If Caleb looked like his comic version he would be fine but not when he looks like he is 18 or older. Imagine my shock after growing up with the Polish deep manly voices only to watch the English version and hear boys who haven't finished going through puberty yet. I've heard that the Polish language is sometimes referred to as snake language because of the ć, ś, ź, ż, sz, cz, and many other sounds, so Cedric's VA has a time to shine. English Phobos sounds more whiny than menacing.

10. Shark Tale is regarded as one of the worst animated movies ever both in terms of animation and the story. Highly exaggerated in my opinion. I mean it's not great but it's not Food Fight, Video Brinquedo, Animated Titanic, and many others. I think why it's not as hated by me and many other Poles it's thanks to its dubbing. I don't know if you know this, but there is a Polish comedy ''Kiler''. The whole plot of the movie is that the main character is mistaken for a killer. So, the Polish dubbing of Shark Tale is basically a parody of this movie. They even got Cezary Pazura (the guy playing Sid) who played the main guy in ''Kiler''. Instead of gay-lisped Jack Black we have Jarosław Boberek aka King Julian. Now that's a team-up better than the Avengers.

It was a surprisingly hard list to make, not because there are no great Polish dubbings but because there are so many good ones. Any movie or show could've been on the list. To make it easier I asked myself ''What Polish dubbings are better than the original?'' and ''What dubbings had the biggest impact on me but also on my country as a whole?''.

The reason why most of the list consists of shows and movies from the early 2000s is because that's when Poland had a little golden age. There were a bunch of great movies and shows coming out, so it was easy to strike gold. (And that's when I was born.) Now with all the trash coming out, it's way harder to do. The translators for ''Wish'' tried their best to fix those broken lyrics.

But nobody's perfect. I'm a firm believer that there is no terrible Polish dubbing but they still can make mistakes, questionable decisions, and voices that will make you switch the channel until they stop talking.

See you soon, in ''Top 10 worst Polish DUBs''.

#shark tale #dreamworks #w.i.t.c.h. #totally spies #winx club #ice age #polish dubbing #Youtube

[tarashima]

I'm honestly just gonna come out and say it, and I don't mean to dismiss anyone who disagrees with me (with some exceptions, but I know those people don't follow me, even have me blocked).

But I've despised and been deeply disappointed with the Revolver event in Duel Links. So deeply that I doubt I will ever pick up the app again.

Keeping rant under read-more.

While there were things that I genuinely enjoyed, like the music during Rev's duels, hearing Shunsuke-san again, Rev's beautiful sprite and receive a lot of goodies (like gorgeous sleeves and icons ♥), there were a lot of things I actively disliked, and those were too many to save this event and make it the funny experience I'd hoped for ever since VRAINS world was released (even announced, let's be real).

The writing felt off from the start, with a lot of things that were strange, especially since the story of VRAINS world has been marketed as a follow-up of the anime, a s4 we never got (or just second half of s3). A follow-up for me meant Revolver would take off where he ended: guarding the network and make sure everyone stayed safe, actively stopping something like the Lost Incident to ever happen again.

Seems like the writers, as well as the localisation team, had forgotten all that and instead went with Revolver's s1 persona, once again making him the antagonist that needed to be defeated to protect the Ignis (or well, just Ai). Not only that, they also took away any kind of character development Revolver went through during the last half of the anime. Something that was only made worse by the localisation team, who amongst many things made the deliberate choice of changing lots of Playmaker's dialogues about saving Revolver to be about Ai instead, as well as changing LOTS of Revolver's dialogues over all.

Another example of a thing that deeply pissed me off and completely crushed me with disappointment was the reference to the rain duel between Revolver and Soulburner. The writers wrote it as it never happened, while also simultaneously saying it did, in fact, happen, as they told the two variations paralleled with each other. Then they had it ended with what seems to be the shitty dub-dialogue (let's stop pretending it ever was a dub, it was nothing but a parody) and no conclusion for either of the characters. And I'm sorry, but what in the actual hell?!

They've created nothing but plot holes that won't be easy to fill in the future, telling a story that is such a disservice to Revolver's character while also not portraying him properly, not even in the original Japanese versions (I've seen so many Japanese and Korean fans being confused about this event as well, some even going as far as outright saying "I'm glad I still like him despite this"). The fact that there are people out there judging Revolver's character and actions based on this event is disgusting, and once again makes me say that you're all free to hate him as much as you want but this isn't even Revolver, you're hating a version of him that didn't exist in later canon. Calling it post-canon is an insult.

Even worse, all the other characters have felt like post-canon versions, with at the very least decent writing, yet it still making some sort of sense.

I saw nothing of that here, and I'll be forever salty about them messing it up so badly. You can use his second avatar as much as you want; if you deliberately keep him stuck in the season 1 mindset and actively ignores that s2 and s3 (except the last duel between Ai and Playmaker, as well as bits and pieces of the last duel between Revolver and Soulburner) happened, you're not giving Revolver a post-canon story. You're making up an antagonist to fit your purposes and only uses Revolver's face for it. And that's such a disservice to his character and I'll never forgive the team who worked on this event (except Shunsuke-san and the music composer, they did an amazing job ♥).

I still finished the event completely as well as maxed Rev's level (something I haven't done since DM and maxed up Yuugi), only because I love him. But the sadness I feel about all this can't be ignored.

Again, I doubt I'll ever pick up Duel Links again after this, and I said as much in the survey afterwards. I usually try to keep a somewhat friendly tone when filling in surveys after events, but this?

Ohohoho, they got to hear how badly they messed up. And I was not nice. Because they didn't deserve it.

I'm done. I hate it. Get the fuck away from me. I was afraid this would happen.

I'm sticking to the merchandise in the future. At least they know what the fans want/never thought they want but definitely wanted and appreciated. TCG bros can keep their rotten excuse of an app.

Also, as much as I love Borreload Datastorm Furious Dragon, you can't fucking label it SR when I got 10 copies of it, and wasn't alone in doing so. I've gathered less of NORMAL cards that I did with Borreload. Morons...

Oh, and I might as well mention how much it actually irked me to constantly put up with not only Varis but also Roken Kogami when those aren't the names that should be used. Again, it's not a fucking dub, it's a joke for people who the creators deem stupid. Burn it to the ground for all I care and never talk about it again.

#angry tara is angry #but also #sad tara is sad #I hate you konami #so much #duel links #vrains #ygo vrains #yugioh vrains #I'm honestly gonna start blocking people who use Varis #I'm done #me and my friends have ranted together for many hours #the sad thing is I can keep on #this is a truckload of salt so read on your own risk

[lillywillow]

The Call is Coming From Inside the House

Summary: The team watches horror movie to see which is the most messed up of all time.

 Written for: @buckybarnesbingo

 Words: 1163

 Square Filled: U2- FUBAR

 Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female Reader  

 Warnings: Mentions of horror movie violence

 A/N: If you’ve watched any of the movies I’ve mentioned, you’ll know exactly what I’m referring to

 It started off with a conversation about horror movies. Everyone had their own opinion on which was the most messed up of all.

 “I’m telling you, it’s the Re-Animator Trilogy. There’s just a level of misogyny that’s not even in the original H. P. Lovecraft story,” you protested.

 “No way. The Saw movies are way more FUBAR than those cheaply done flicks of the 80’s,” Clint argued.

 “Are you kidding, Clint? Some of the best franchises came out of the 80’s. Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Aliens, Friday the 13th just to name a few. Not to mention The Thing. I mean, that was pretty messed up if you ask me,” Nat chimed in.

 “Guys, the foreign market has way more messed up movies than those. Just look at Last Train to Busan for example. Then the original Japanese copies of The Grudge and The Ring,” Tony countered.

 Steve and Bucky had no idea what anyone was on about. Back in their day, horror movies were a lot more sedated in their day. Movies with the likes of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. who were all masters of the craft without going over the top.

 “Well, there’s only one way we’re going to settle this… we’re going to have to watch them all,” you suggested.

…

 So began your mega movie marathon, starting with the 1982 classic The Thing. Bucky thanked all his lucky stars that in all his time fighting aliens, he never came against one so disturbing. Then again, he hadn’t visited Outpost 13 in Antarctica…

 “You know, I once saw a Pingu version of this movie,” you stated.

 “You lie,” Clint huffed.

 “It’s not a lie. Apparently it was pulled from YouTube for being too messed up and I think licencing also had something to do with it being pulled as well,” you explained.

 Before Clint could argue, Tony butted in.

 “No, she’s right,” he said, bringing up the video on the big screen. “It’s supposed to be a parody on both…”

 The video was much shorter than the movie but no less creepy, maybe even more so given that it was based on a children’s show. After that, you watched the first of the Re-Animator Trilogy. When it came to what was perhaps the most messed up scene of the movie, Bucky and Steve couldn’t stand to watch. You followed them out too as it was your least favourite scene.

 “You actually like that stuff?” Bucky asked, feeling rather queasy.

 “That scene in particular? No, I can’t say I do. It has nothing to do with the original story. When I first read there was a movie based on it, I thought it was cool but then I was totally blindsided by that scene. I read up on it and their first choice in actress had to back out because her mother didn’t want her doing it. The scene was taxing on the actor and cost him his marriage… I like certain elements of horror; the jump scares, the suspense, the complex characters and clever use of practical effects but stuff like that I feel is completely unnecessary…”

 Bucky nodded slowly. When you put it like that, it made sense. He too liked a story with a good plot and decent characters but when it came to stuff like that… Before Bucky could say any more, Sam called letting you know that the awful part was over and you could return to the living room.

…

 After watching all three movies (the others agreed the third was the weakest in the trilogy), it was getting late. You decided to squeeze in one last movie before going to bed which was the first of the Saw movies. Bucky felt sick to his stomach at the gory scenes. He had been trained in torture techniques as a part of HYDRA but this was some next level stuff. Feeling overwhelmed, Bucky walked out. You decided to follow him.

 “You can go back and watch the movie if you want,” Bucky sighed as you stood next to him.

 “I think I’d much hang out with you,” you confessed.

 Bucky smiled softly at you. Before he could say anything further, the power was cut. Instinctively, you reached for Bucky’s hand as he pulled you closer to his body. Part Avengers training, part paranoia from the movies, you were both on edge, preparing for danger. The power went back on just as suddenly as it went out.

 “Sorry, everyone. There was tripped power switch,” Tony explained.

 The pair of you sighed in relief, still holding each other as the adrenaline coursing through you started to calm down.

 “I think… I think I might just go to bed,” Bucky sighed.

 “Actually, that sounds like a good idea,” you agreed.

 “Could you… stay with tonight? After all those horror movies, I… I don’t want to be alone,” Bucky confessed.

 “I understand that,” you softly smiled. “Of course, I’ll stay…”

 Bucky smiled back and held your hand as you headed to his room.

 “Hey, you two. You know one of the top rules about horror movies. The couple who goes off together usually are one of the first to get picked off,” Sam teased.

 You flipped him off as you passed by, making everybody laugh and relieving some of the tension built up by the movie.

…

 After you both got changed, you and Bucky cuddled in his bed.

 “Are you okay, Bucky?” you asked, noticing how quiet he was.

 “Yeah… it’s just… today was a lot… I’m not used to that much violence…”

 “You’re an Avenger,” you stated, raising an eyebrow.

 “Yeah, but that’s different. That’s… action violence not… you know…”

 You cuddled close to him, making him smile.

 “I think I understand… There’s only a certain amount of that kind of thing I can watch in a day too… horror movies can be fun and all but I like them in small doses…”

 “Do you want to watch kid’s cartoons until we fall asleep?” you asked.

 “That sounds nice… Not Pingu though. Still feeling a little scarred from that last movie.”

 “Fair enough,” you laughed, putting on a light and cute cartoon.

…

 So that was how your horror movie marathon ended; with you and Bucky peacefully falling asleep to something more wholesome. The next day, the others wanted to continue but you and Bucky turned them down. You both decided to have a movie marathon of your own that was a little sweeter and more comfortable and a whole less FUBAR. If it meant cuddling with Bucky, you wouldn’t ask for it any other way.

#buckybarnesbingo2022 #bbb2022 #Bucky Barnes #buckybarnes #bucky barnes x reader #FUBAR #the call is coming from inside the house #Horror movies #marvel #marvel fic #marvel fanfiction #marvel one shot

[kanjukucompany]

【A3! Translation】 Sumeragi Tenma SSR: Blank canvas (1/3)

PART 1 / PART 2 / PART 3

thank you for coming home!!! T__T even if my wallet hates me for it

(translation under the cut)

Determining "Value"

Kumon: Today's special drama looks interesting!

Yuki: A horror, huh.

Muku: H-Horror's a bit...

Itaru: How about that anime movie I recorded the other day instead?

Yuki: Go watch that moe anime crap by yourself.

Itaru: Grr...

Kazunari: Oh, then, what movie are they playing on TV tonight?

Muku: For tonight, let's see.... it's the romantic masterpiece, "Ghost: The Phantom of Manhattan".*

Tenma: I'm surprised they're playing something that old.

Izumi: Well, it is a good movie.

Muku: The scene where the main couple do pottery together is so wonderful...*

Misumi: I wanna spin some clay around too, and make a triangle!

Yuki: Like a cone?

Kazunari: I think you'd make a beautiful triangle~!

Kazunari: I'd want to make a vase for a single flower~.

Yuki: I think I'd make an accessory case.

Kumon: That sounds like a blast! I'd love to give pottery a try~.

TV Narration: "Featuring the popular actor, Sumeragi Tenma!"

Izumi: Tenma-kun?

TV Narration: "This time, Sumeragi Tenma's challenge will be--."

Muku: It's a promo for a variety show special.

Kumon: Oh, it's this one! The one where the contestants try to tell luxury and cheap items apart!

Yuki: Huh, sounds interesting.

Kumon: And Tenma-san's gonna appear in it!? Awesome--!!

TV Narration: "Sumeragi Tenma's unique perspective on love will be revealed!?"

Tenma: It's actually the interview segment I'm appearing in, not the game.

Kumon: Whaaat~.

Kazunari: Bummer.

Izumi: Speaking of, Homare-san did a similar thing for role-building.*

Tenma: Ah, you're right...

Izumi: The 'Elegance Test for True Gentlemen'!

Kumon: What's that, sounds fun!

Misumi: Gentleman are cool~!

Tenma: That time, he nearly ruined one of my precious bonsai...

Izumi: Homare-san had said he was going to transform the winning bonsai into something even better, he even tried to go at it with scissors.

Kazunari: Oh! In that case, why don't we have Tenten attempt the Elegance Test this time?

Kumon: Great idea! He could use it for role building, too!

Tenma: You guys just want to goof around.

Misumi: We've been exposed~!

Tenma: Well, whatever. I guess it's fine if it's for role building.

Tenma: (Time for a bath...)

Homare: Hmm, why I think that's a magnificent idea.

Kazunari: Right!?

Tenma: ...? What are you guys up to?

Kazunari: I was going over the deets of Tenten's Elegance Test with Arinrin!

Tenma: Okay, but isn't that not for another week? It's a bit soon for that.

Kazunari: As artists, we can't cut corners.

Homare: And with such intriguing things like this, that applies even more so.

Tenma: You really don't need to waste so much energy on this kind of thing...

Kazunari: Oh, BTW, I've got one ready for you to try. So why don't you go give it a shot and see how it goes?

Tenma: Now!?

*'ghost' is a famous american 1990 romance/supernatural film, the second half of the name is made up but does reference the plot (artist couple lives in manhattan and spoiler... one of them becomes a ghost)

*arguably the most famous/parodied scene from ghost (mild nsfw warning if you choose to look it up!!!!!)

*reference to winter troupe's 'My Master Likes a Mystery' N backstages

#a3 #a3 game #a3 translation #my translations #tenma sumeragi #izumi tachibana #misumi ikaruga #muku sakisaka #kazunari miyoshi #yuki rurikawa #kumon hyodo #itaru chigasaki #homare arisugawa

[somethingshifted]

I could image a film working today, what with all the adult animated shows like Legend of Vox Machina, Hellova Boss, Bojack horseman, and Harley Quinn, and I think that's what netflix was going for, when I look at Jamie's storyboards for cracker island it feels way more grittier and scary, I'd love the idea that gorillaz was making a documentary(mockumentary in our world) but was hijacked by celebrity zombies (or in cracker islands case celebrity cult members) throughout the documentary, and its worked kinda like a parody of a found footage horror film (think of the Scooby Doo blair witch project parody but more mature). but unfortunately we'll never get a film because Netflix is just like any of capitalistic money hungry corporation that will gut there animation team for a quick buck. (i have the strong opinion that a gorillaz film or even an album with heavy lore hasn't worked not just because they had too many ideas but because of capitalism too)

the climate's better for a gorillaz animation now compared to 2003, yeah. and i completely forgot about the mockumentary angle though they were throwing out a ton of ideas... i'd like that more tbh! gorillaz has a good amount of b-horror film references it can work. though flashing cult imagery in relation to hollywood or celeb worship culture and making an entire movie about it requires a very fine line to be tread.

i do agree with your strong opinion. they have a lot of ideas and not a way to fund it properly, and asking tv or movie companies for help is a surefire way to get your project manhandled by corporations who want to dumb it down and make it palatable for everyone else. which, they avoided with dreamworks via backing out, and were saved i guess by netflix dropping them. i really do want to hear what the script was since they were in the middle of writing it and celebrity harvest got to have some tidbits dropped here and there. damon said cracker island was created after the cancellation so it wouldn't be a wild guess to say it was related to whatever new plot they had... certainly explains the story-book level information dumping. BUT that's me making shit up rn as i wait for info

and on the heavy lore-based album part, i don't know! it could work or it couldn't. i personally think they work better in an episodic style, maybe you can see how it railroads the characters if they go down a heavy lore style, it can be stifling for a band like gorillaz where the style changes when new ideas and world events crop up which is why i prefer the band stuff to lore stuff... of course referencing past events/history between the members is always great, but it gets kind of heavy handed when the crazy events of plastic beach occurred and its been like, 3 albums of 2D and murdoc having tension but bouncing back to being friends then suddenly referencing the kidnapping and shit, and since PB didn't feature much of noodle and russel talking they've stagnated since then. if they can avoid that kind of stuff i'd be all for it. (it's hard to sum up my feelings on recent stuff between 2D and murdoc because they like don't hang out as much anymore

#ask #like if they can somehow make it work id like a movie but otherwise its just lead to scrapped work after work since 2002 #that has to be disheartening to them. and then selfishly im like ALL THE UNRELEASED MUSIC/ART... #edited to add the last paragraph bc i didnt fully read the ask sorry

[commenter2]

What if Warner Bros. owned Roger Rabbit and co.

A “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” review video pointed out how though the movie was very popular when it was first released as it is today, Disney never did much with the franchise afterwards when it came to animation. Sure there were 3 shorts, a scrapped sequel, and a reference in Aladdin 3 (I’m not counting that Chip and Dale movie as everything was referenced in that) but I still think they gave up on it pretty quickly. That’s why it was a surprise when I realized that their rival Warner Bros. has done more stuff with the Who Framed Roger Rabbit franchise by parodying and referencing it in shows like Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, and even Superman: The Animated Series.

It does make sense as along with WB liking their bunny characters while Disney cartoons (especially back then) are more aimed at children and families, Warner Bros. cartoons like Looney Tunes are more aimed at everyone to enjoy to a point they are more mature in comparison. This got me thinking of what things would have been like if Warner Bros. had owned the rights to Roger Rabbit and co. the whole time and made the characters part of the Looney Tunes franchise.  Long text warning.

Roger would likely have had a Goofy like role as though not dumb, his habit of being clumsy and not paying attention can lead to trouble, like he will lose an important item by making it fall into a mail truck and would spend the who episode trying to retrieve it from the very dedicated mailman. I could picture him being a protégé of Bugs Bunny as from time to time the latter would teach Roger his ways of Looniness. Roger also could have been the bane of Bugs, as Roger would accidently cause Bugs pain, good for when there are moments when Bugs goes too far with something or when Bugs has to be the target of slapstick for the episode.

Roger’s inclusion could also have been a way to bring a twist to some of the franchises most popular stories. I could picture one where Roger gets involved in a rabbit season/duck season debate and while Daffy would still get shot, somehow Roger would get Bugs shot as well and similar to Daffy maybe Bug’s tail would fly off and do things like form a toupee or beard/mustache on Bugs, Elmer, or another animal. In another, similar episode I could see Roger having a gag where he constantly mentions his wife and in the end Jessica would arrive revealing she is the Park Ranger of the local area. She then clarifies that it’s neither rabbit or duck season as hunting season ended a week ago and Elmer is technically breaking the law, so she takes him away to be fined. Bugs and Daffy then bring up why Roger never mentioned his wife was the Park Ranger and he just simply says they never asked.

Another cartoon idea is that the rabbit community wants another rematch with the turtles. The turtles choose Cecil to represent them and while Bugs is confidant he would be the one to race, the others choose Roger given Bug’s past with Cecil. Roger states that though he will try his best, he’s going to have fun as he states winning isn’t everything. This of course makes the other rabbits nervous so they force Bugs to help Roger win the race no matter what or they will take out their anger about losing on him. Throughout the episode Bugs tries to aid Roger but his actions always lead to Roger falling behind and make Cecil mock Bugs which annoys the bunny. Bugs eventually gives up near the finish line but this causes Cecil to take a moment to mock Bugs which causes Roger to catch up and win the race surprising the two. Bugs then mocks Cecil for losing but sadly his fun is short lived as footage of the race makes it look like Bugs was trying to make Roger lose, causing an angry mob to form alongside another mob of turtles who are mad at Cecil for losing in a manner like in the fable. The episode ends with Cecil and Bugs teaming up to escape the mobs while Roger enjoys his win with Jessica. 

Maybe Roger could have played the main role of a “Peter Rabbit” parody episode, as maybe he is challenged to get a rare vegetable or lost ball from a highly secured garden.

Jessica Rabbit could have been a nice addition as along with being another female character, it would have been interesting to have a human cartoon character play a role that isn’t as antagonist or always a side character. Sure she would still have been the eye candy but along with how that didn’t stop WB from doing that in other shows for many years, she would still be as clever as she was beautiful and use that cleverness to clearly stop the antagonist of the episode she is in

I could see her having episodes where a just as talented female character always gets jealous of Jessica being chosen for something (like up for a promotion or will be the opening act of someone) and the rival always tries to ruin Jessica’s gig but Jessica always seems to get out scott free unlike the rival. Ironically Jessica would always treat the rival like a friend the whole time and maybe in some cases gives the thing to the rival, getting a win from time to time. Obviously she and Roger would have many episodes together, like where they go on dates but some guys always try to flirt with Jessica so she uses her wits to make them go away in funny ways before Roger finds out. These kinds of episode would end the same way as Roger would always see one of these guys with Jessica and we discover that Jessica was doing these things to “protect them” as Roger would go all chivalrous and uses his toon powers to make the guy go flying away from them, which Jessica doesn’t like as she hates it when her sweet husband gets all tough though she is quick to forgive him since he always goes back to his normal self. 

Just like with Roger interacting with other Looney Tunes characters, I like the idea of making her the owner of the cat character from the Pepe Le Pew cartoons, where she would use her wits to prevent Pepe from getting to her cat. I could see her doing things like give Pepe a heavy anvil to hold while he is climbing up a ladder or she just so happens to have a anti skunk collar for the cat to wear, making Pepe flee every time he got close to the cat. Course she isn’t always like this as I can picture one scenario where in an episode where she is a vet, she does a surgery that gets rid of Pepe’s stink which instantly makes all the female animals attracted to him. Another is that she pairs Pepe up with a raccoon that loves smelly things thus giving Pepe a happily ever after ending.

There could be an episode where Yosemite Sam, after realizing he is the only criminal to not tie a lady to some train tracks, decides to do it on Jessica but she keeps outsmarting him causing Sam to be the one to get hit by trains. The episode ends with Sam giving up but surprised that everyone is cheering for him, as apparently other criminals have tried the same thing with Jessica but they all ended up dying, so the fact that he survived makes him a legend.

Another possible episode is one where Jessica gets turned into an actual toon rabbit like Roger. We see her react and use the new form to handle a threat but the vast differences between species starts causing her to act abnormal (in this case sillier) as a side effect, so Roger has to try and change her back before it's too late.

The Toon Patrol, which I can see being renamed “The Weasel Gang” could have been an upgraded version of that cartoon crime duo of the small boss and the big, dumb henchman. They would be the troublemakers would commit crimes only to get stopped by another toon. I could picture a few episodes where Bugs messes with them such as after the gang steals all the carrots in the area so people would have to buy from them or when he discovers the weasels are going to dig a tunnel going through his house in order to rob a bank. They likely would have gone through the most changes, especially when it comes to some of the characters names and designs such as having Smartass just be called Smarty or Boss, Psycho would likely be given an outfit that matches his crazy personality like wearing a tutu with swim shorts and a Christmas sweater, and Wheezy would be replaced with someone else like a weasel with a sugar or screen addiction.

Baby Herman would have been made a man who looked like a baby. His main gag (which I think Looney Tunes did before) would be that he is a criminal or escaped convict that would disguise himself as a baby or in later episodes a boy in order to lose the cops. However while in the disguise he would suffer either cause the adults that adopted him were very stupid and irresponsible or he would get in trouble while trying to escape the school he is pretending to attend. Later on I could see him getting a redesign where he looks like an fully grown man but with a baby like head, picture that Babyface villain from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. His new gags would be that people try not to laugh at his appearance and that occasionally he will act like a baby such as crying when he gets caught by the police.

This also makes me wonder how their inclusion in Looney Tunes shows and movies would have changed them. 

In Space Jam since Jessica would be in it, that version of Lola Bunny would likely have had a different personality which in turn could have been a better step in the right direction to giving us her Looney Tune Show version. That or maybe Jessica would have been a cheerleader that distracts everyone XD

In Looney Tunes: Back in Action, after it is pointed out that without Daffy, Bugs doesn’t have someone to argue with someone gets Roger to fill in the role which leads to Bugs being shot by Elmer in that alternate rabbit season skit I talked about earlier. Though this team up is well received it makes the company a bit less money than what they are used to, so the VP that fired Daffy goes out to get him with Bugs following. Jessica Rabbit could have been the toon partner of the spy at Yosemite Sam’s casino and helps Daffy and the others escape town.

For Animaniacs, maybe its implied that Hello Nurse is Jessica’s cousin or niece.

I could have seen the characters have a big impact in Tiny Toons as that show was full of references and shout outs to Who Framed Roger Rabbit. One would be that Roger would be the founder/principal of Looniversity, something that was actually joked about in one episode, but again fits with the idea of him being a protege of Bugs as I brought up before. Maybe the show could have had a character/characters that were the kids of Roger and Jessica. Tiny Toons did have an episode where Babs Bunny wishes there was a female cartoon role model she could look up to so maybe it leads her to meeting Jessica who then introduces Babs to the other female Looney Tunes characters like Granny and Witch Hazel, maybe even Dot from Animaniacs. Either way the episode would end with Babs going from zero role models to several role models and realizing that if she works hard enough could be a female cartoon character for future female toons to look up to.

Ignoring all the bad shows we get to The Looney Tunes show. Roger and Jessica could be new neighbors in Bugs and Daffy’s neighborhood. At this point I would see Roger and Jessica wearing normal clothes but more on that in a bit. Roger would be a rising comedian as he is known for using all kinds of props in his routine, some that even parodies some old Looney Tunes gags like a projector will show stars and birds in one of his skits when he gets hit by “heavy” objects or his show will end with a hollowed out prop shaped like a anvil falling on him. Jessica would be someone that works at city hall and would be a great way for the characters to find out what is going on in the city. When working I could see Jessica wearing a business suit but outside of it would wear something casual, and her iconic dress would be worn on date nights or special/fancy occasions.

One episode could have Bugs being jealous of everyone liking Roger’s jokes and after fearing that he could be the new funny guy tries to out funny him. Another could have Jessica being in charge of keeping an eye on Daffy and Lola after the latter are forced to help out at City Hall.  In one episode where the Rabbits celebrate their wedding anniversary not only does this make Daffy wonder what his wedding would be like (even going out to wear wedding dresses) but this gives Lola the idea of becoming a wedding planner and being surprisingly good at it.

You know with Warner Bros. being in a Looney Tunes making role lately what with making Looney Tunes shorts again and the Tiny Toons reboot, along with Disney losing a lot money recently, I bet WB could easily buy the rights to those characters and implement them in future works. Heck while watching the Tiny Toons reboot this week (spoilers) there was an episode where a green liquid was used to harm toons by effect their Looney DNA, which reminds me of the "Dip" from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. This again just proves my point but its just a fun idea in the end.

What are your thoughts about all of this? 

Roger Rabbit is owned by Disney Warner Bros logo is owned by such company base by HopetectiveR35

#who framed roger rabbit #roger rabbit #jessica rabbit #warner bros #looney tunes #tiny toon adventures #cartoons #disney

[lizardsfromspace]

My favorite admin freakout on a forum was the forums for The Agony Booth, which is a now-defunct site that mocked movies and TV episodes in that 2000s "text with screenshots" way

The admin's specific grievance was that his pop culture parody website that mainly reviewed b-movies and Star Trek episodes and that was named after a relatively obscure Star Trek reference had attracted a userbase of nerds. At first he took steps like sectioning off anime and video games into their own forum with notes about the deep contempt he held for both. Then he banned users for "posting too much", but not with a daily post limit or anything. He banned anyone whose posts-per-day got too high. You know. The stat that will inevitably always go up for regular long-term users & that is just their posts divided by how old their account is.

Finally he just started making announcement posts lambasting his users for not discussing "real" movies. He lamented that there were several threads on [some recent nerd property, I don't remember], but zero on...Righteous Kill. How could the forum not be discussing the long-awaited pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino??? He hammered the point home. We shouldn't be talking about nerd shit on his Star Trek parody website, we should be discussing Righteous Kill, that modern classic!

Ah well. RIP the Agony Booth, I think after that you pivoted to video and now you're a spam placeholder site about celebrity gossip. I'm so sorry you had so many nerds on your MST3K-inspired site that advertised itself off making fun of Star Trek

#web #2000s #old web #forums #forum culture #web culture #movies #film

[indygotcha]

What are your thoughts on Chip n Dale 2022?

Hooh, it's almost gonna be a year since that came out... I remember writing a long Twitter-thread after finishing it.

To sum it up.... while it was mildly entertaining at times, the whole movie just was so laced in that edgy, cynical "childhood cartoons turned cynical/fake"-vibe that you could get a-plenty from likes of DorklyBits/CollegeHumor's parodies on Youtube - which works for that kind of instant, low-brow humor in that site. Considering who they got to helm this movie, it's no big, whooping surprise. Prolly why the animation quality matches that kind of effort too.

But it becomes kind of difficult to sit through this sheer lack of sincerity as the whole movie just shoves us ickily unflattering versions of Toons we grew up with, either to get low-hanging edgy internet humor or meta jokes out of them that leaves me more embittered on having grown up with these shows, as now I'm watching them being mocked or twisted beyond recognition on-screen.

I've long been dead-tired of the "Grown-Up Caillous" or "Toons in Modern Hollywood/Youtube-Era"-trope that's been rampant in our industry or entertainment for so long:

This insistence that these characters and the shows we grew up with from our childhood days, are meant to expire in our minds as shallow stuff for "kids" as we reach into adulthood, and thus grow "beyond them", in a way - and thus find belieability or entertainment on them not really growing with us as result. Often these people have such little self-awareness to think the only way we'd ever be interested about these cartoon characters adults, is to just portray them in very gritty, "realistic" ways that are supposed to speak to your modern, cynical adulthood.

So when I have to watch Lonely Island just takes these characters for granted, giving us these edgy takes like Monty being a crackhead for cheese enough to apparently drive him out of rent - or tone-deafly written villains like Sweet Pete... yeah, it kinda leaves me with very disgusted taste on my mouth. (And the less said about the intended humor driving the "relationship" Gadget and Zipper, the better.) Finish this with a Modern Corporate and Post-Ironic, Reference-laden Hollywood writing on top of what Lonely Island's best at - and you get a movie I've been wanting to stay as far away as possible, unless I'd go watch reviews lambasting it for these very aspects.

The most important thing about Roger Rabbit has always been how the people behind the movie showed us just how and why the Toons meant so much to the generations that grew up with them: whether they had entertained you in zany, infectiously charming ways in the original theatrical runs in 1940s - or the various syndicated runs on TVs post-theatre era. That kind of deep appreciation and sincerity towards all of the Toons in Roger Rabbit - you can just feel it throughout every cameo and portrayal of them in the entire movie.

It's no GD wonder how it helped usher in such renewed appreciation and fondness back towards Western Animation back in the late 80s, and eventually ushering us to such amazing resurgence on it as we'd hit the 90s with Disney Renaissance, WB's Animated TV Series and even a few cartoon-only cable channels. How's that? It's kinda unfortunate how there's so many people thinking how R/R 2022 is apparently a modern successor to Roger Rabbit - when you can clearly see that the people helming former doesn't really thing as much highly about medium of animation as Richard Williams and his crew movie crew did.

But duh - what did you expect from people who weren't that into animation at the first place? And I think that's the problem. For the past few decades, these celebrities getting to helm or act in movies like these... Lonely Island, whatever all-star casts in Live-Action Disney Remakes, critics at Oscars, and rich executives in Hollywood - all have come to believe that animation's for children - while also being interested on brand recognition that brings them more fame and money ultimately. So it's easy for them to not just treat medium of animation like crap, but also see these animated characters as mere lifeless, floating signifiers for their brand recognition - or even prop them as representations of naive, childish immaturity or bad role models for youth that they can lampshade or mock in post-ironic fashion later, thanks to so many poor or twisted generalizations on the animation industry or even internet that Disney most notably has attempted to "address" in their movies for years now.

TL;DR: No sir, I didn't like it.

#asks for moi #princessofanimationblr #chip n dale rescue rangers 2022 #rescue rangers 2022 #makes me wanna revisit re:creators again atm #this movie's been a major point on why I've been trying my darndest to even explore my current mass crossover AU with no ounce of irony #as much as a setting where 90s' anime and cartoon characters meeting up in a city resort would make that sound difficult to feel believable

[spagheddiesquash]

okay actually im gonna go on a little ramble about the later half of the 2010s (2016-2019, commonly referred to as just 2016 if I remember correctly because everybody lumps the years together. not saying im not guilty of doing that too sometimes though!) alr so I actually really liked it back then??? though thats probably because I hardly had anyone to talk about Undertale with irl and I was just super happy that somewhere out there in the world there were people who wouldn’t think I was weird for liking that stuff 💀💀💀

anyway back then I was unto Undertale, cuphead, BATIM, baldi’s basics, ddlc, hello neighbor, you get the idea, but mostly UT. I also was really into gravity falls!! I would make gacha life stories all the time and id listen to those stronger than you Undertale things, which by the way I honestly think we should just call what it is, that being an Undertale song because imo it got made a lot more popular from Undertale parodies, but thats just from my perspective because I could never really get into SU lmao

this is what my phone looked like in I think 2019?? the last year in the era but it still says something about me back then. I had a dinky lil iPhone 6S I believe?? I remember getting it for Christmas I think. I also had an iPad mini for pretty much this whole era, but i dont think I have any good screenshots of the Home Screen.

(the reason I even have these us because I screen recorded myself playing Minecraft and also was getting receipts that I was being picked on relentlessly via Snapchat)

as you may have noticed, I had framecast! (I was UTforever67 if any other former framecast users find this) and I was on it frequently back then! I continued using it until the shutdown last year but less frequently. anyway, another sorta interesting thing I guess?? I used to use ÚwÙ and OwO unironically. As well as aua, eue, qwq, ;-;, UnU, OnO, :3, :P and just about any other sort of those emoticons you can think of, and id say stuff like “im a smol kawaii potato :3 dont touch mah cookies ÒwÓ”

another sorta interesting detail! so I had this 2DS, which I still have, I just need to buy a charger for.

and now, on this 2DS I had YouTube. I would plug my headphones in and watch some Undertale videos, top 10 videos (not like watchmojo, think trendcrave and planet Dolan), and the one that I think of the most looking back on this time; gravity falls amvs to edgy music.

the one I remember watching the most was to a song called my demons by a band called starset. I loved the song so much that I would plug in my headphones, make my 2DS screen face down on my bed so no light peeked out, and I would go to sleep to the amv. if you were to travel back in time to then and find me sleeping, chances are you’d very faintly hear that song playing.

sometimes I would also look for 10 hour versions of Undertale songs on YouTube and put them on my tv in my room. I would always wake up to the video still playing obviously, since I sleep for like seven hours, not ten. man, that was always fun waking up to a song like Undertale, home or quiet water. I would always watch Undertale as vines on that tv too, since I liked vines and Undertale and I always thought it was funny to see what vines people thought the characters were most like.

I know animation memes were a super big thing back then, and I remember making three of them: higher, wonderland and close up. besides that I didn’t watch too many of them actually, apart from the occasional compilation.

another thing that I talked about before like a year ago, there was a short period of time where all I listened to was Undertale music and royalty free music. yknow, like the stuff they play in YouTube outros. and I used to save as many monstercat albums as I could to piece together the lore (for those who dont know, there were 30 monstercat albums that had pictures on the covers that told a story of sorts. I only made full sense of the lore just a few weeks ago actually! Id be happy to explain if anyone wants). I loved the Undertale fan songs and lyric covers and remixes a lot! I would always sing the tokyovania control lyric cover whenever I was outside in my backyard. so cool that tokyovania is apparently a mashup of megalovania and Tokyo teddy bear. had no idea sharax was a vocaloid fan!

ok so that was kind of a lot I think. ramble over lmao. if anyone has questions about anything I mentioned ask away! I know a lot about everything I mentioned heheh 😅

#long post. #ramble #undertale #undertale au #2016 nostalgia #2017 nostalgia #2018 nostalgia #2019 nostalgia #nostalgia #very long post

[firedragon1321]

Hey Kids! Who Wants to Learn What it Was Like Getting into Digimon in America in 2007?

This is my Digimon origin story. Click to read my tale of woe, Youtube videos, bootleg figurines, and the birth of the Tai thirst.

IN THE BEGINNING

So I was too young for Digimon Adventure’s original airing. I was around five, and- at that time- I wouldn’t watch anything I thought was “a boy’s show”. Yet, I was okay with The Powerpuff Girls and its brutal opening sequence. Buttercup was my favorite. So ???

Little me was stupid.

Pokemon came first, and- without it- I wouldn’t have gotten into Digimon. There’s a Youtube Pokemon parody that sucks, but it mentions Digimon and Agumon. Here it is if you want to suffer-

My sister knew that Ash’s blatant OOC got under my skin, so she would play this 200 times a day. It was enough times for me to wonder what an “Agumon” was. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because you could barely hear the word “Agumon”? He doesn’t even show up in the video.

So I looked up Digimon. I discovered the In-Training and Rookie-level Digimon first, which was good because they resemble Pokemon the most. I fell in love with the cute blobs and critters. This led me to wiki pages for the DigiDestined. The first one I found was Sora, followed by Tai.

Yes, this man. But Kizuna didn’t exist yet, so it was when he was a cocky little shrimp. That cocky little shrimp moved into my brain and hasn’t left.

But this was 2007. Digimon didn’t air on Saturday mornings on Fox Kids anymore. How could I possibly access the adventures of Tai, Agumon, and the rest of the gang? Well, there were two answers, and both sucked absolute shit.

METHOD 1: JETIX AND THE TIME SLOT OF DOOM

Any anime fan of a certain age- namely from before streaming- remembers a time when anime was only on at an ungodly time. Midnight, 2 AM- whenever normal people weren’t awake. This was common- and somewhat understandable- with anime loaded with violent content, in order to keep it away from the kiddies. But Digimon is specifically for children. Yet, it still got this treatment.

At least, any season before Data Squad did.

Digimon was owned by Disney at the time, and they aired it on Jetix (which was one of the higher channels you had to pay extra for). Data Squad- the newest season- got a normal air slot. This may be due to the fact that Disney had a hand in its dubbing. In fact, Marcus Damon shares his English VA with Axel from Kingdom Hearts, and references his famous catchphrase in one episode. (Go to 0:27 to catch the line, plus avoid having your ears destroyed.)

If you wanted to watch Adventure, 02, Tamers, or Frontier, they were only on at Stupid AM. I kept my interest in Digimon a weird secret at first- probably because Tai awakened my hormones and I felt embarrassed. My mom caught me at two in the morning watching a children’s cartoon, but she thought it was...something else. 

After explaining the issue, we taped the episodes on old video cassettes. I still have them around somewhere. So we did find a way around the time slot of doom. Unfortunately- once Disney XD came into the picture- they nixed everything but Data Squad, which only aired for a very short window. After that, they were pretty much done. Digimon wouldn’t air again until Fusion dropped on Nickelodeon, and Fusion was never one of my favorite seasons.

Which brings me to-

METHOD 2: YOUTUBE PART 1/3 VIDEOS

Yeah. I had to deal with these.

I didn’t know about pirate sites. There was no Crunchyroll back then. The only episodes I had on tape were those obtained via Method 1. Because Digimon requires watching all of its episodes to understand the story (unlike Pokemon, which is more loose with its storytelling), I needed a way to fill in the blanks.

Enter Youtube.

Youtube’s videos were a godsend. I watched them while waiting for after-school activities. I even used the software at school to make a crude AMV begging for a continuation to Tai’s story (this was before tri. threw me a monkey’s paw). There was just one teeny issue, and any anime fan from this era knows what I mean.

Part 1/3 videos were the only way to access Digimon episodes on demand in 2007. While it didn’t bother me much back then, it was nonetheless a pain in the ass. For the whippersnappers- Youtube videos containing old anime episodes cut them into pieces (usually two or three, but sometimes four), forcing you to dig through the recommended videos or the uploader’s account to get the whole episode. This is still the only way to watch some old anime for free. Fighting Foodons and the English dub of Mon Colle Knights come to mind for me.

...I like kiddie anime. Digimon and Pokemon both had a hand in that.

ADDENDUM: FANSITES 

Digimon had little to no active internet presence in 2007 outside of ancient shrines. I would read shitty fanfiction on Angelfire relics. This was also my first exposure to bad fangirl practices, which came through sites like The Lost Temple of Ishida. This was its splash page (found through Wayback Machine- the site itself is dead).

The best/worst part of this is “come in my pretty ones”, which is just so out of character for Matt that it’s funny. But at the time, I only had a instinctual understanding of what OOC was. It was the thing that made the Pokemon parody so annoying, but I had no name for it. So I had a weaker bullshit detector than I do now, which let me enjoy more fanfics with plenty of OOC trash in them.

Everyone starts somewhere.

I didn’t interact with any Digimon fans- as the sites were old and inactive- which was probably for the best. Their ancient scrolls introduced me to fandom basics, like shipping. I tried my hand at it, shipping Taiora in part to deal with my Tai thirst. That didn’t work for reasons listed below.

ADDENDUM: TAI THIRST

I had a crush on Ash as a small child, but that was innocent since I was small. Once Tai came into the picture, I was a bit older. My crush on him was- different. Like “look up pictures of his naked butt in the uncut version of Ep. 8 and save them to a friend’s computer so I didn’t get in trouble” kind of different. (I’m sorry, friend.) The fact that this content was only in the Japanese version made it doubly taboo.

(Actually, this image is about the same quality as what I had access to, lol.)

I went hog wild at first. I wrote bad poems and had a binder full of screenshots. I wrote my first initial and his in hearts on my notes. It was pretty bad. Over time, I figured out this was kinda cringe, which intersected with general shame at my sexuality waking up.

So I shipped Taiora. I thought- by putting Tai in a relationship with another girl- I could segregate myself from my raging crush on him, and all the uncomfortable thoughts that came with it. Unfortunately, this pairing didn’t click in my mind. I was plagued by daydreams of Tai being deathly ill, which was my brain’s way of saying “hey- maybe forcibly shipping Tai to deal with your personal BS is a bad idea?”. So I moved on to Mary Sue stand-ins, which had the same result.

The one good thing about being 11 in 2007 means I (sort of) grew up in real time with the character. Tri. dropped when I was 19 (kind of odd, but there was only a two year difference between me and tri.!Tai’s age of 17). Kizuna was only two years ago. Both of us were in the adult world in our own ways. Tai’s like an imaginary childhood friend, and he helped me through a lot of things. I know he’s fictional, but I really felt like I grew up with him.

By around tri., I decided I didn’t give a shit anymore, I compromised by keeping my fangirl thirst to Tai exclusively. Since I had a lot of background with the character in addition to thirst, it was more “acceptable” to me. tri. Determination...helped.

I just completely lost my mind with this screenshot. This led to the towel my friend gave me, which I haven’t used but can’t get rid of. I’m in a more comfortable place on this subject than I was in 2007, even if it’s not perfect.

ADDENDUM: MERCH

Finding merch in 2007 was a pain in the butt. It wasn’t really widely available in the same way as Pokemon. So there was only one option- eBay and its bootlegs.

There was a woman who was somewhat of a family friend at the time. She was my ticket to all the Digimon figures I wanted. But of course- eBay being eBay- the figures I got my mitts on were fakes. I didn’t care, as long as I got tiny Tokomons and Patamons to play with. As a kid, I was drawn more to the cute, more Pokemon-like Digis. Blame Tai (again) for making me obsessed with the giant dinosaurs.

This was my only ticket to any form of Digi-merch, except the odd book here and there. Except the Bin that Got Away.

I remember  someone was selling Digimon figures at a giant yard sale. My mom only allowed me to buy two of them. So I chose a large Terriermon- who I’ve since lost- and WarGreymon. I liked WarGreymon due to his connection to Tai (it all comes back to Tai). 

The catch is this WarGreymon was a digivolving figure that went with a MetalGarurumon. At the time, I didn’t like Matt, and connected the Digimon to him. My reasons for hating Matt were really dumb, since he’s a lot like me personality-wise. Matt always fought with Tai, so I thought their relationship was more antagonistic, like Ash and Gary. Not to mention I didn’t like Matt’s fans. My only exposure to them was The Lost Temple of Ishida. So I purposefully picked out the MetalGarurumon bits of the digivolving figure, only taking WarGreymon. 

Some other lucky kid bought the whole bin, so now my WarGreymon can’t digivolve. But I can take comfort in the fact that he was equally screwed.

CONCLUSION

Being a Digimon fan in 2007 was tough. If I wasn’t an autistic kid who hung out with other, older autistic kids, I might never have found anyone to talk to about Digimon. Luckily, times have changed. I now have all of Adventure and tri, on DVD, and Kizuna on my PS4. On top of the old tapes, I have one or two official tapes I got from consignment shops, including one of Tamers. I figured out Digimon merch could be found if one knew where to look. I have the blursed towel.

As I keep collecting things and thinking about what these characters mean to me, this story will keep growing.

#digimon #my digimon origin story #multiple videos #mentions the evolution of my fangirl thirst #might not want to open this at work #it's not graphic but you never know #tai kamiya #matt ishida #fan origin story #taiposting #Youtube

[thefaceman]

There's something I want to say: The Rise Boys are not that different from previous versions at their core. :)

Leo is a BIG example of this. Throughout the series, we can see Leo take charge and be serious (Man vs Sewers), think logically (The Gumbus), think of plans on the fly and 5 steps ahead of the enemy (nearly ever episode), and be super self-sacrificing (many..many episodes but mainly shows in the Maze of Death episode and Flush but Never Forgotten). There's also Leo's love of sci-fi movies that is a direct reference to 2012 Leonardo (Leo in that series loved a Star Trek parody called Space Heroes). Leo from other version DO in fact joke around when they can, his one liners are pretty universal. I have more examples with 2012 since I watched it recently, but in the episode where Donnie got hurt from Dr. Rockwell for the first time, Leo was the first to laugh and was the ONLY one making monkey puns with "I bet he went bananas". And in the one episode where Fishface gets his legs, Leo laughs, points his katanas at him, and says "Look, sushi that delivers itself!". Leo appears more laid-back because, well, he is. He doesn't have the crushing weight of oldest brother AND leader on his shoulders. Take that aspect away and we have the Leonardo we all know and love from Rise.

Raph is the second biggest example. In previous versions, he see an angry brute. But that's really not the case. In Ries, we get a look at a Raph that's the oldest, the one that must be the most responsible and HAS to keep his anger buried deep within himself. Most people don't catch this but, Raph is actually quite gentle and protective of his family (and that includes friends since they see them as family too). It's hard to catch sometimes because of his anger problem, but there are moments that really bring it in. Such as the goofing off that he does with Mikey in the 2003 version. Or the many times he has comforted Mikey in the 2012 version (he has moments with the others but Mikey and Raph in the 2012 version are the closests out of the 4 bros). Raph in Rise though, he DOES get highly irritated at times. Like when things don't go as planned, when his brothers don't follow his orders (main example is the Pizza Puffs episode), or when someone else is telling him what to do. Raph LITERALLY says that last one in the Donnie's Gifts episode about the helmet that was barking orders at him, "Well my gift just keeps nagging me. I don't need to be told what to think." I predict that's gonna be a really BIG issue in the movie and we may or may not get the famous Leo vs Raph fight that we usually see from the other versions. In fact, I believe that Savage Raph (Man vs Sewer) might actually be a result of suppressed anger. Raph's not afraid of BEING ALONE, he's afraid of the actions he'll do in that angered state of mind. Raph also has a deep emotional connection to animals like with 2012 Raph.

Donnie IS a little different on the surface of his character, cynical and a "bad boy" but there are times where parts of the other versions pop in. Donnie is a tech genius, not always the smartest in things like emotions or, in some cases, pop culture. Much like the two previous versions. He's sassy and sarcastic, something that has gotten more and more amplified through each incarnation of the Turtles. Donnie in 2012 even created his own tech-bo (though...it didn't end well), and had a space staff that was similar to the bo that Donnie has in Rise. However....it really bothers me when people complain about Donnie's bo-staff when that "simple stick" can break someone's skull open (like Mikey's nunchaku).

Mikey's well...Mikey. He's goofy, loves to have fun, and is the most educated in emotions and pop culture. He's the adorable baby of the family but can also be a little devil in disguise when he wants something, and in previous versions, that aspect of his personality was mostly to bug the crap out of his brothers. They did add two things to his character that I thought were interesting: That he can cook decent food (all Mikey's love cooking but Rise Mikey is actually good at it) and they gave him the love of art that was given to Raph in 2012.

My my...Sorry this so long QvQ

But thank you for anyone who stuck around to read the whole thing! ^^

#tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles

[swordgayist]

cultural appropriation in ATLA (hinduism edition)

i’m sure there’s already a ton of posts about this, but whatever, i’m still making one idc. 

ATLA’s cultural appropriation, everyone knows about it, the white people don’t speak about it, and the asian and indigenous people get ignored. we know the cycle. but i wanted to come here and highlight some of the most prominent examples of ATLA abusing hinduism, as i am kinda sorta hindu (i was raised in a hindu household, i go to chinmaya mission, that kinda shit). i might forget some things so keep that in mind.

this is gonna be divided into 3 main sections, since there are different ways that they disrespect hinduism that i don’t wanna lump together.

and i’d say i know a lot about hinduism but that doesn’t make me an expert, obviously, so if other hindus have anything to add and/or correct then please do !! and if anyone else wants to share how their cultures were appropriated then please do that as well !!

so let’s get started shall we?

appropriating hinduism

1) the avatar

we’ll start with the most obvious example: the avatar itself

i know that there are parts of the avatar mythos that are taken from other cultures as well but the idea of the avatar itself is primarily from hinduism.

basically in hinduism, the term dashavatara refers to the 10 reincarnations of lord vishnu (the god of preservation), with avatar(a) meaning form or incarnation in sanskrit, and das(a) meaning ten. it was said that whenever the world was out of balance, lord vishnu would come down to earth in a certain form to restore balance. Each reincarnation is considered a different life with a different story. the avatars of lord vishnu are often considered the saviors of the world.

so basically, the central idea of the show and the actual name of the show is largely based on hinduism.

2) chakras

many different indian religions have a concept of chakras (chakra meaning wheel or circle in sanskrit), but hinduism is the one that primarily preaches the system of seven chakras, the version used in ATLA.

chakras connect the physical body to the ‘subtle’ body (referring more to the spirit and the psyche) by connecting parts of the body to aspects of the mind. the idea is that through different forms of steady meditation you can manipulate the different chakras and allow the pure flow of energy through the body.

the whole idea of chakras on ATLA is that aang has to unblock them all to let the cosmic energy flow through him so that he can go into the avatar state at will. so yeah, pretty much that whole idea was taken from hinduism.

3) terminologies

these are just a few terms that were taken from hinduism. i’m pretty sure there are more that i can’t think of right now but yeah.

“agni” kai 

i’ll be honest i don’t know where the ‘kai’ part is from, i don’t think it’s from hinduism but if it is well fuck me i guess.  ‘agni’ in hinduism is the god of fire, so the creators used it in ‘agni kai’, the name for a firebending duel.

“bumi”

this is in reference to the hindu word for ‘earth’, which is bhoomi. this is also in reference to our goddess of earth, bhoomi devi. also this doesn’t really bother me but i wonder if the creators knew that bhoomi is a name typically used for women (as are most hindi names ending in ‘i’/‘ee’).

in general, concepts like having multiple complex gods (the spirits) who are capable of good and evil and the reincarnation cycle are prominent in a lot of asian cultures, including (and arguably primarily) hinduism.

mocking hinduism

now we get into the mockery of hinduism in ATLA, because it is very much there.

1) whoever the fuck that baboon guy in the spirit world was

now what the fuck was this.

i mean i wouldn’t say this is the most egregious example of them making fun of brown people but lord why did this even need to be there? this random guy from the spirit world has an indian accent ? and is fervently chanting ‘om’ for some reason, and it’s clearly meant to be seen as comical. also portraying brown people as monkeys....... really.

2) combustion man/sparky sparky boom man

when rewatching ATLA in 2019 i actually had no idea that this was a thing, because the last time i had watched it was as a kid and i didn’t finish it.

so lord was i in for a surprise when i saw...

now... now what.

if you didn’t know, combustion man’s ‘third eye’ is designed to replicate the hindu god of destruction, lord shiva. right down to the vibhuti on his forehead (referring to the three line markings around the third eye).

in hinduism, lord shiva’s third eye is used to reduce people to ashes, though as far as i can recall, not very frequently. the primary significance of the third eye is that it represents the ability of higher spiritual thought and higher consciousness.

the ATLA writers take the ACTUAL significance of the third eye, throw it out the window, and then take its destructive abilities to make a super duper cool and dangerous new firebending technique.

and if that wasn’t bad enough, the actual person who uses this technique, and is meant to emulate a GOD who is PRAISED, is a scary, burly, half metal man who is a villain and an assassin. not to mention the design of his facial hair replicates that super duper scary “terrorist” depiction of brown people, particularly of muslims, that white people are so thoroughly terrified of for no reason. 

this is a parody of a god, and they portrayed him as this terrifying, maniacal fucking assassin who, along with p’li, the combustion bender from LOK, is constantly referred to as a “third-eyed freak”. i’ve made this analogy before and i’ll do it again, this is like making jesus into a hitman.

now onto my favorite example...

3) guru pathik

ah, this motherfucker.

i don’t really have any problems with him as a character, i mean hell, must’ve taken a fuck ton of patience to handle aang’s “why would choose cosmic energy over katara” bullshit.

but we all know it, we see it plain as day, don’t even try to deny it.

“guru” literally just means teacher or guide, so i don’t really know why pathik needed to be referred to as “guru” so distinctively from aang’s other teachers and guides, but that’s just extremely trivial compared to all the other issues with this character.

first of all what is this character design? what is he even wearing? if they’re trying to replicate the clothes of swamis and priests and stuff this is already wrong, realized people don’t dress like this. and why the fuck does he have an indian accent? and why was this indian accent done by a non indian (brian george)?

once again, the poor but extremely heavy indian accent is clearly meant to be mocking, if it wasn’t, they wouldn’t’ve gone out of their way to get a non indian person to DO an indian accent, and instead they would’ve just gotten an actual indian person to play the role. 

and oh yeah, the onion and banana juice. because hindus just eat weird shit right.

whether it’s actually weird or not, the show certainly portrays it as weird. and as far as i know no hindu actually fucking drinks onion and banana juice.

ironic because brown people can absolutely destroy white people in cooking. but i digress.

i know what you’re all waiting for. because the guru apparently didn’t have enough fun with guru pathik, so they just had to come back to him in book 3:

where do i begin.

so this is obviously john o’bryan’s super funny and hilarious depiction of pathik as a hindu god.

usually when a god has multiple arms it’s to carry an array of things, from flowers to weapons to instruments, and one hand is typically free to bless devotees (ie. goddess durga and lord vishnu respectively):

but of course white people see this as weird and so they make fun of it, hence guru pathik having multiple arms just flailing about aimlessly (save for the two that are being used to carry the aforementioned onion and banana juice).

then there’s the whole light behind pathik’s head which is usually depicted in drawings of hindu gods to show that they are celestial.

also what the fuck is he holding? is that supposed to be a veena? because this is what a veena looks like:

and i assume the reason this was added was to mock the design of goddess saraswathi, who carries a veena:

but that right there in the picture of pathik looks more like a tambura than a veena. 

and it also just kinda looks like a banjo?

but i guess the animators just searched up “long indian instrument” and slapped it on there. actually no, that’s giving them too much credit, they probably didn’t search it up at all. 

and then the actual scene is pathik singing crazily about chakras tasting good or something while playing the non-veena and it’s all supposed to be some funky crazy hallucination that aang is having due to sleep deprivation. just some crazy dream, just as crazy as talking appa and momo sparring with swords or tree-ozai coming to life.

our gurus and swamis and sadhus and generally realized people are very respected in hinduism, they’re people we look up to and honor very much. and our GODS are beings that we literally worship. and the writers just take both and make caricatures out of them for other white people to laugh at.

4) other shit

before we move to the next portion i just wanna mention there are also smaller backhanded jabs that i can’t really remember now, but one example was when zuko was all “we’ll be sure to remember that, guru goody goody”. or when a character would meditate and say “om” only when the meditation is supposed to be portrayed as comical or pointless. or in bitter work when sokka was rambling on about karma. small things like that. but moving on.

south asian representation, or lack thereof

now i finally get to the “losing” hinduism part. by this i mean the lack of actual representation there is of south asians (the region where hinduism is primarily practiced) despite the fact that hinduism plays such a big role in the show’s world design.

i think it’s safe to say that broadly the main cast consists of aang, katara, sokka, zuko, toph, azula, iroh, mai, ty lee, and suki. 

a grand total of none of these characters are south asian. the writers don’t even attempt to add any south asian main characters. 

there are characters with dark skin, like haru and jet, but a) they’re not confirmed to be south asian and don’t have any south asian features or south asian names, b) they’re side characters, so they don’t count as representation, and c) even if they were south asian and main characters, jet wouldn’t even count because he’s portrayed as a terrorist.

the ONLY truly south asian character we get is fucking guru pathik. so yeah. not representation.

i don’t get how the creators of this show rip off of hinduism (among many other south asian cultures they rip off of), mock indians, and then don’t even have the decency to HAVE a main character who is south asian.

i’ve never gotten a chance to compile all this, and this definitely isn’t all the creators have done, but i hope this was somewhat informative.

#atla #cultural appropriation #hinduism #guru pathik #combustion man #chakras #avatar

[ukaiknowsbest]

what do you think of gintama in general? is it really a masterpiece or just overhyped

My answer is BOTH. Here's why:

AS A WISH - GRANTING STORY

If you grew up on other wish-granting stories especially those from CLAMP, you realize that Gintama isn't that special. The formula is the same: there's a shopkeeper, there's a request, there's usually an apprentice (or two), they fulfill a request, sometimes their life is in danger, sometimes the solution isn't as straightforward as it should be, they finish the mission, they collect the reward. Along the way you discover the characters more, their pasts are revealed, their intentions are brought to the surface, they try to grant their own wishes, sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail, sometimes it's in between.

If you look at GIntama that way then it's pretty standard fare. You read Getbackers, Petshop of Horrors, Mob Psycho 100, it's all the same thing.

AS A PARODY

Gintama's real strength comes from it being a parody anime. I can say that it's a masterpiece in that regard. I don't have much experience in gag series like this. But Gintama sure kicked it up a notch with the popculture references and making fun of tropes. Everyone from Sorachi, the editors, the marketing team, everyone must have been really ballsy and gutsy to let this work of art come through and be allowed to be published.

I'm saying this because I was so reluctant to start Gintama if not for the numerous prince of tennis parodies that they have done and because of sorachi and konomi-sensei's art exchange for Prince of Tennis 20th year anniversary. The parody aspect was definitely what sold GIntama to me.

I am still pretty impressed by the feat it has accomplished while taking advantage and making fun of all the things that came before it.

ON SORACHI AS A WRITER

Okay Gintama has 704 chapters and almost 400 episodes. and only about 30-40% of that is actual plot. Anyone with no patience would balk. It's a real btch to get into. People should understand that. Nobody has that kind of time nowadays. It's absolutely unfair to expect people to hang on that long.

That alone says a lot about Sorachi as a writer.

It is so clear, so damn clear that he didn't have a real idea for the plot, that he had no real goal all along. Bruh. GIntama has at least 4 alternate endings jfc. It's almost a miracle how SJ let him get away with all of it. Now this is not to say that he's a bad writer. He's different. He managed to convinced everyone in the project to let him just go with flow and deal with things when they happened. Maybe it's his charisma, or his skill but he managed to convince everyone to let Gintama happen and for that I have nothing but sincerest awe.

Now I am not an Shonen Jump expert. I don't read/watch a lot of SJ so I don't know how unique Sorachi is from all the others. I'm gonna talk from my experience being more immersed in seinen / shojo and sports anime.

Personally I like how Sorachi reuses ideas from older chapters and more foundational characters and incorporates them into later (and sometimes more serious) arcs. Good ideas should be reused imo. He gives good payoff most of the time. It's actually quite fun seeing concepts from comedy arcs being used in serious moments. Many of the characters aren't one-sided too. There are some exceptions but overall most of the character designs are good and well thought of. It feels very organic, very real.

It has one of the best depictions of war I think. I've talked about it in other posts. Actually i talked about all the cool things I like about Gintama in an older review that i did few months ago. I put the link at the bottom of this post.

ON BIGOTRY

Then again, Sorachi falls into the same old bigoted rhetoric that SJ is super known for. You see every kind of bigotry in Gintama and you remember that "ah yeah, a japanese man wrote this, surrounded by japanese male editors in a very japanese male dominated publishing company." All the bad '-isms' are in Gintama whether we like it or not.

I don't know if it was by design that it's supposed to make watchers uncomfortable. Maybe it does. It jokes around those bigoted -isms, yes, but we all know that for every joke there is a half-truth to it. Gintama reflects the situation/beliefs of japanese traditional society on the ground whether we like it or not.

Now I'm bringing this up because of the hype people give to it.

OVERHYPED

I do not know how Gintama is marketed in japan but most non-japanese reviews I've seen are talking about Gintama with an image that is wayy too wholesome that it should have.

Yes they tell you about the poop and dick jokes, yes they tell you about the parodies, yes they tell you about how it gets serious at the end, yess they tell you how badass the ladies are (and act like it's the epitome of feminism), etc etc. yada yada

the kicker?

they dont tell you about the bigotry. you suffer it for yourself. What's worse is they tell you that you're an overdramatic idiot and that you're too soft if you get bothered by the questionable elements in the show.

Most of the big gintama accounts do not welcome almost any criticism of the media and they bully people/call them names for having problems with characters and the plot "coz it's just for comedy! it's for fun!" nevermind if people are feeling actual discomfort.

It's disappointing really.

My verdict? The fandom leaves much to be desired. They are hyping gintama to unholy levels to the point that its core messages are forgotten. It's not only the fandom, The anime producers themselves do it. The merch team do it. It's not fun.

Gintama needs trigger warnings. Lots. It's the kind of series where you need to develop an acquired taste for it. You're supposed to grow into it, get used to it. People acting as if it should be loved on the spot and that there's nothing wrong about it are jerks and gatekeepers. :)

here is my first review post of gintama back in january btw.

#gintama #gintama thoughts #gntm hotcakes #i already made a review similar to this months ago #link to it at the bottom