#they don’t like it when villians aren’t one dimensional

[fandomrantsandtwittertakes]

#shadow and bone #the darkling #aleksander morozova #marvel #loki #star wars #kylo ren #ben solo #cruella #people hating on villainous and morally grey characters simply because they show humanity #they don’t like it when villians aren’t one dimensional #our fiction must be protected

[sugarcomatosed]

On Miyuki Inaba and Macross:

I’ve heard nothing but love for wave 2-10 of destruction; but I’ve realized that the scene loses some of its magic for western audience because they don’t know it’s a shout out. 

So today I want to break down for you today the biggest reference in 13 Sentinels you most likely missed out on; Miyuki Inaba, Lynn Minmay and The Super Dimensional Fortess Macross.

Join me under the cut for massive spoilers for Sentinels of course, and a nearly 40 year old anime you’ve never seen.

I think everyone knows Sentinels is chock full of sci-fi shout outs. From War of the Worlds, to Terminator, The Matrix, heck even GroundHog’s day, the list goes on and on. Most western audiences will be able to spot the bulk, so why haven’t you heard of Macross?

Simply put, copyright battles. In 1985, Hamorny Gold stitched together three unrelated animes to create Robotech. One of the anime series involved was Macross and Harmony Gold has kept a tight leash on the copyright preventing the series from ever getting a real proper English release ever since.

...so what is Macross?

Well, in super blunt Wikipedia stolen summaries:

Macross (マクロス, Makurosu, English: /məˈkrɒs/) is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mechanical designer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the human race after the year 1999, as well as the history of humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, in addition to 40 video games set in the Macross universe, 2 crossover games, and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

If you asked me to boil the series down to it’s three staples I’d pick the following three elements. Big robot fights, love triangles and music, usually all interplaying together to make some of the most exciting fight scenes in anime.

The series is going strong in Japan ever since its 1982 release, with the most recent series Macross Delta’s newest film “Absolute Live!!!!!!” getting its first teaser trailer days before I sat down to write this post. It’s insanely big in Japan and you’ve probably seen a half dozen Macross references if you’ve watched a sci-fi anime before. Most likely the signature missile blast.

Sentinels pulls specifically from the 1984 film: the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? The story is largely a shortened version of the first tv series which aired in 82 and is considered in canon a film retelling of the events.

The film focuses on a colony ship adrift through space suddenly being attacked by an alien race called the Zentardi, it’s both a war film and a very quiet drama all tangled up in the three central characters of Hikaru Ichijo, the young pilot, Misa Hayase, one of the bridge officers and then Miss Macross herself; Lynn Minmay.  An idol singer aborad the ship who has during its journey become a huge celebrity after starting as a simple waitress at her family’s restaurant. 

Minmay is considered something of the face of the series and while other characters may never come up again in its extended universe, the story of Lynn Minmay is akin to legend in later entries in the seires. 

When mankind was faced with these invaders, there was one simple thing that managed to send the enemy into disarray, the music of Lynn Minmay shocked the Zentardi who had no concept of culture and music. They end up capturing her and the other two leads during the course of the film and while the others manage to escape; Minmay is trapped behind with the Zentardi.

They eventually ask her to look and exam a relic they’ve kept on board their ship, and Minmay discovers it’s of all things, a song.

So, if isn’t obvious enough by this description alone, Miyuki is modeled after Minmay. It’s not a 1 to 1, but the curls in her hair and the style of her outfit make it even more obvious.

They have a lot of the same general vibes too, Minmay over the course of the film becomes a tragic melancholic figure and a symbol of the war effort against her will. Her sweet dreamy smile and glittering energy become subdued as she faces set back over setback. She remains strong up until a point behind her facade of confidence until she discovers Hikaru now has feelings for Misa. Culminating in the finale of the film where a despair filled Minmay refuses to sing because it all seems pointless.

Miyuki foils this of course with her journey from the plucky Tomi Kisaragi of a prior loop to a ghost in the machine; a somber beautiful figure but a changed person. She only has this role she’s taken on in the end. All she can do to impact the out come of this fight is sing and hope Shu hears her.

In the finale, Minmay is given a wake up call and asked by Hikaru to sing her song and try to save the lives of everyone left aboard the macross. Roused from her despair, Minmay agrees and the final battle is set to the tunes of the song the Zentardi had shown her, now with lyrics Misa had translated. At long last reaching them and halting the conflict.

This is of course, what 2-10 is a direct reference too. Miyuki sings Seaside Vacation until she can’t be heard any longer.

Even if you’ve never seen the film, the clip alone is a treat in itself. It’s a lovely piece of animation 

But Macross’s influences go deeper than just Miyuki and the original Macross. In Macross Plus, the primary idol is the artificial intelligence Sharon Apple. She is also it’s major villian as her AI becomes destabilized during the course of the film.

With the illegal modifications installed in Sharon takes control of the capital of Earth with her music and nearly destroys the city. Miyuki’s character is all Minmay, but her role in the story is a heroic Sharon Apple.

And outside of Miyuki, Macross references and influences can be spotted in Tomi’s story in which she and Nenji are trapped in 2025 and he begins to fall for her mirrors the arc that occurs between Hikaru and Misa after they escape the clutches of the Zentardi. The pair find themselves trapped on a mysterious planet, which turns out to be Earth rampaged by the Zentardi. Misa and Hikaru’s hostility towards each other fades as they try to come to grips with this truth. They spend a long time alone in the ruins and eventually fall in love before eventually being saved by the Macross. Which, is roughly what occurs in Tomi’s story between her and Nenji.

Shu’s story as well, with the minor focus on his confusion of his feelings towards Tomi and Yuki are also arguably a tongue in cheek reference towards the series many Love triangles, which aren’t always true triangles but always remain a corner stone of the series. 

Does Shu actually have feelings towards Tomi? No but she’s showing up everywhere and it’s left him a little out of sorts and plays into the misinformation sentinels feeds you, leading you to think there’s a triangle of some sorts:

Maybe they’re stretches, but considering it was stated in an interview the film was a huge inspiration for the game, I wouldn’t be shocked. I found the interview on twitter back in November but can’t track it down now and I’m v. sad

There’s also the matter of the Protoculture.

The Macross is a massive colony ship, sent out into space with the goal of returning to earth after a long space voyage to insure humanity’s survival, much like the probes the 2188 colony sent out. Misa and Hikaru return to find this was the only thing that’s had prevented humanity from being wiped by the Zentardi.

While on earth, Misa and Hikaru manages to discover a set of ruins of a highly advanced civilization that had created both humanity and the Zentardi. The protoculture.

The logs they manage to Find reveal that their inventions grew too great and they have all but disappeared from the universe, but humanity in the end are aliens as well. The invading Zentardi were just tools used by the Protoculture to wage war on itself and contributed to the death of their people.

The song Minmay sings is a relic of the Protoculture, an ancient highly advanced civilization from thousands of years ago.

Now Hm. Why does that sound familiar? What was it Fluffy said about 2188 and the Deimos code....

They’re obviously not 1-1 references, but Sentinels was such a labor of love that pulled from so many genres it’s nice to see such an iconic series get a well thought out reference. 

I hope this was something of a fun read and gives you a better love of Miyuki and 2-10.

I don’t know if I’d recommend getting into Macross if you liked Sentinels, but if you’re interested send me an ask and I could probably give you a helpful breakdown. I love both series so much and consider them my top two sci-fi! 

#macross #13 sentinels: aegis rim #miyuki inaba #lynn minmay #sugar speaks #i almost always listen to macross tunes while working on 13sar fics and am really passionate about both series and ready to shill lmao #i wanted more pictures and tumblr said....no #sugar’s 13 sar collection

[darkwalk]

Brave Police J-Decker: Review

I know a lot of people wish there were more stories like Transformers, and I saw mentions of the Brave Police J-Decker show going around. So my sister and I watched it and I just wanted to say:

IT’S REALLY REALLY GOOD!

I have a full review under the cut but warning for VERY MINOR SPOILERS! Also, It’s a little long:

PROS:

First off, I went into this with very low expectations because they were robots who’s sentience was questionable and they were being ordered around by humans. But despite it’s many WTF?! moments, BS science, and other incidents that very obviously defied logic; it was much more well written than I expected. Not just for a mecha-anime but for a kid’s show in general.

Don’t get me wrong -  I yelled at the characters at least five or six times an episode (or more). But something I think they pulled off really well was how rounded out the characters were. Yes, they made stupid mistakes but they also learned from those mistakes. One of my biggest pet peeves with tv shows is characters learning something only to forget it several episodes later or have to learn it all over again. That generally wasn’t a problem with this. Character’s decisions and actions generally made sense, were in character and if they weren’t explained right away - we found out why later. They had reasons for their actions! (This is mainly with the Brave Police - Villians varied btwn completely flat to very complicated. But the variety was nice). The only complaint I had was with McCrane going from semi-pacifist to ‘shoot the problems’ without much of an explanation but that was resolved.

My sister and I called the “Bots changing as people and fragging up b/c they have no idea what they’re doing” as “going through puberty” b/c literally a lot of their action could be seen as kids/teens struggling to deal with crap and too many emotions all at the same time.

One of the really nice things about their characterizations was how they didn’t often fall into stereotypes. My favorite example is Dumpson: he’s a dumptruck alt, prefers to physically solve problems, and isn’t one of the smarter mechs. It would have been easy to make him a clumsy mech who accidentally destroys things or one who solves problems with violence. But he didn’t. Generally, he only fought when someone else started it first. Several times he tried to talk to people before it devolved into a fight. And that? That is really really nice. His enjoyment of wrestling is never called out as a bad thing. He wasn’t made into the “character who solves problems with violence” stereotype.

Their character arcs are very well written. Not only are they figuring out who they are as people, but they’re growing and changing like real people. Gunmax has to learn how to work with a team, how to trust others enough to be on a team. Duke has to learn one of the more important messages carried throughout the show: No one is perfect. No one is purely good. To be human, to be alive and sentient, means to be both good and bad as all people are. 

One of the BEST things about this show (aside from the pure fluff of Deckard and Yuuta) is the deep messages. It’s like the writers forgot they were writing for kids half the time with how often the plot veers dramatically into something dark or questions something that we just don’t have a good/simple answer for and then it’s like “Hey! Aren’t we a kid’s show?” and then veers back into fluff and light-heartedness. Many episodes covered kid messages like learning to get along, that it’s okay not to follow the crowd and have your own opinions, to trust others to help when you can’t do it all by yourself. Still, I’m really surprised at the things they had the audience question:

Sentience, individuality, what it means to be a person (kind of goes with the territory). But also: good vs evil and how we’re all a bit of both, the bonds between people (friends as family), morality, how people who have done truly horrific things are complicated and have good in them. What it means to have choice.

Most kid shows are very flat, one dimensional good vs evil and this doesn’t do that nearly as much. Some of the villians were flat, some wanted chaos, many were insane. Some people actually have good reasons but a terrible way of dealing with things. Some people were forced to do bad things and then had to question if they were truly a bad person. 

That’s really fragging deep for a show aimed at 10-12 year olds. Not only did they question things we as adults have a hard time grappling with, but they tied it all together, carried it cohesively through the entire thing and had a brilliant finale. Yes, this show is weird and sometimes you just have to stop questioning things and just go with it.

But overall it was well made, well written and very enjoyable. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants more sentient robots!

CONS: KAGEROU’S ENDING WAS UNECESSARY AND COULD HAVE BEEN EASILY SOLVED AND I WILL DIE MAD ABOUT THAT!

You can watch it on youtube: HERE!

#brave police j decker #show review #GO WATCH IT #seriously #brave police

[monochromemedic]

borderland rambles

ok so in some of the reviews i saw for borderlands 3 i got the same kinda feeling from alot them and that’s just ‘troy and tyreen aren’t the best villians’  which is like we all expected because this is us coming off of Handsome Jack who we all can agree was a good villian, hell one of the best villian’s in video games so anything coming after that isn’t somehow like... just another verison of handsome jack which... if we just had another Jack under another name people would be upset cause then it’s just ‘oh that character that’s not Jack’ So what do you do you do when you got a top tier villian how do you get something like that again. And... you don’t honestly. Handsome Jack was a one time kinda character. And I think people or at least from my view I can see how people look at Troy and Tyreen and how they act and be like ‘oh that’s a complete downgrade’ cause they are like... they are internet personalities, probably gonna act pretty millenial tbh. But that’s just surface level, I think we liked handsome jack more cause we all know what happens later, the lore, the story and right now we don’t really got that for Troy or Tyreen so I hope that when we get that we learn more and it fleshes them out. Hell we kinda have a weird dynamic between them already imagine the layers beneath that. That and I think Jack was such a good villian because compared to Troy and Tyreen who has like skulls and bandits and a literal cult following... Jack didn’t look like a villian at face value. Most of his guys were hyperion personal who where decked in armor or were just straight up engineers. or Robots who were painted like bright yellow. You don’t associate like yellow with evil, kinda the opposite.  Handsome Jack doesn’t look evil, hell some of the vault hunters look more concerning then Jack does Jack just looks like a pretty boy. Meanwhile Tyreen well she looks pretty fine considering borderlands designs but Troy is a bit intimadating with his strange elongated arm and weird marks on his face that kinda makes it looks like his jaws gonna unhinge. Like all handsome jack had was a mask. and you really couldn’t tell it was a mask cause it was one of his own face it was a normal ass mask. Jack also had his whole hero complex who until the end thought he was the good guy, which is great cause that’s just what a villian would think. His morals you could get behind. Get rid of the bandits? You mean those guys who make skin pizzas? uh yeah i could see getting rid of them and making Pandora a little less meat bicycly.  but what are troy and tyreens goals? uh... be... popular on the echonet? that’s kinda all uh... steal Lilith’s powers? We don’t really know yet but I feel like we knew the basis of Jacks at the beginning.  I still think Troy and Tyreen could be great villians if they flesh them out in a way so they don’t seem one dimensional like Jack seemed at first. and I kinda like that they are basically internet personalities cause that’s becoming popular. The internet is becoming bigger then ever even bigger then tv, they are just following our trends, saying things that can apply to alot of things, lots of just vague internet words like following or subscribing to even more personal stuff like let’s plays. kinda just covering that whole ‘i am an internet person’ I wouldn’t be surprised if they had some sort of instagram or a blog or some twitter kinda reference there too cause i feel like they’d just spread their feelers everywhere.  And we’ve had so much problems with the internet and internet personalities like, cancel culture, cults/fandoms/fanbases, crazy stalkers or stans, rumors, callout posts, influncing people to do one thing or the other like there’s alot they could do and while i don’t think it could be timeless like handsome jack was I think they could be pretty in the time for as long as this internet influx keeps up which doesn’t seem to be slowing down so they might be relevant villians for a while in pop culture.

#rambles #borderlands #like none of this makes sense #borderlands 3 #the calypso twins #Handsome Jack

[lazywhaler]

Serious actual Dishonored 2 Thoughts

I played through Dishonored 2 completely for a second time and paid a lot more attention this time around and as promised here are some thoughts under the cut (some 1700+ words of thoughts). This post is primarily meant to be like a journal-type thing for my thoughts, but I’ve tried to organize it as best I can with my minimal writing skills:

I was initially disappointed by Dishonored 2: I didn’t play this game at launch in 2016 because at that point I had a laptop that could only run Dishonored on low graphics in low chaos. I watched a bunch of walkthroughs on Youtube, read people’s thoughts on the comments in the wiki and all the meta here. I thought, and continue to think that mechanically, and gameplay-wise it’s vastly superior to the first game. 

I was disappointed by the story which was basically a retread of the first but somehow even more simplified. (which even though I love with all my heart, come on, Dishonored doesn’t have a groundbreaking story). The Daud DLCs were so much better in that regard, that I blindly trusted that Arkane would continue to move in that direction.

The characters in this game felt a little more one-dimensional. It felt like almost all the targets were expies of characters from the first game in one way or another, and the Clockwork Mansion level seemed to say that they didn’t care.

Apologies to Stephen Russel, but Corvo’s voice acting is not good at all. Corvo just sounds like he’s staring down a long Monday at the office with a hangover. I might said that maybe that grizzled raspy voice just doesn’t work for Dishonored but Michael Madsen’s performance of Daud pretty much assassinates that argument.

Don’t like what they did with the Void or characterising the Outsider, but this one’s just a personal preference. I can see why people would like it or not care, even if I don’t. 

The story also felt much much lower-stakes than the first one. Dunwall really felt if you pushed it with a feather, it would fall over the edge. Karnaca, in contrast felt like a vibrant, ascendant city being held back by gangs and corruption. Even the bloodflies aren’t that much of a calamity.

Having paid closer attention to the story, and other peoples’ readings of this game, I’ve realised that the ‘low stakes-ness’ of Dishonored 2 is intentional.

Arkane could have chosen to show Karnaca as a city on the brink of utter collapse. The bloodfly epidemic could have been bad enough that instead of buildings, entire streets or districts had to be blocked off. I haven’t done a high chaos run, but in my playthroughs, I’ve never seen Nest Keepers in groups of more than two, in stark contrast to the pant-shitting Weeper hordes from the first game.  Dunwall was literally blockaded, so there was no escaping your fate. The docks at Karnaca are wide open for anyone who wants to arrive. This is all intentional. 

So, the stakes are low. But why would Arkane intentionally make that choice? I think they intentionally lowered the stakes so that all the instances of corruption that you encounter or hear about are thrown into starker relief

In the first game, against the backdrop of a cataclysmic plague that made life very hard for non-aristocrats, it’s pretty easy to see why the City Watch would turn to crime. The plague if not excused, at least justified, a lot of shady behaviour from characters up to and including Sokolov experimenting on healthy people. In contrast, without the threat of the city descending into utter chaos hanging over everyone’s heads, when you try and pull the same shady crap that people did in the first game, now you just look greedy. And I think this game tries to bring that theme right to your doorstep, by letting Corvo/Emily participate in making things worse.

Robbing people’s houses in this game feels a lot worse than it did in the first one. The majority of the apartments that you rob don’t belong to people who are outrageously wealthy and haven’t been abandoned. These are people who are already getting screwed over and you can help make it worse. In Lower Aventa, you get a whole cutscene with the Lady Gaga Black Market woman being threatened by the Howlers and you have the choice to rob her (very likely) after witnessing that. 

Dishonored 2 focuses more on repairing damage done rather than avenging it

A bulk of the problems that happen in this game can be attributed to Corvo and Emily not being good at their jobs and more importantly, not being a good rulers. The game highlights the moral failures of Corvo and Emily to turn a blind eye to Luca Abele’s antics and the problems in Karnaca. They fucked up and they can’t really take revenge because they played a part in it too. That’s why instead of the poetic justice fate-worse-than-death types of nonlethal eliminations from the first game, we have more, for lack of a better word, corrective, options. The Crown Killer is cured. Breanna Ashworth can’t do witch stuff anymore. Knocking out Stilton improves so much stuff and literally heals Billie Lurk. Even Delilah gets an ending that kind of rewards her for all the crap she’s been through, without letting her hurt other people. Kirin Jindosh’s elimination comes across like this, but it’s emphasized that we’re taking him out purely so that we can stop him from mass-producing clockwork soldiers, not out of revenge, For my money, the only poetic justice-type nonlethal elimination is Luca’s even if he’s not really going to be in a situation where he’s better off dead. 

But here’s the thing: even though I ‘get’ Dishonored 2 a little better now, I still think they did a terrible job of trying to convey a lot of this!

I said that I think the low stakes nature was intentional and I think there’s reasonable evidence to support that claim. But there’s also evidence to contradict it. The Outsider keeps talking about Karnaca being on the brink of collapse. So do a lot of NPCs (I’m looking at you, beggar near the Aventa District Black Market). Am I supposed to take that at face value, ignoring what’s being shown to me in favour of what’s being told? Am I supposed to be like ‘Classic emo drama queen Outsider’ and slap my knee, and marvel at humanity’s propensity to make things out to be worse than they seem? I don’t know????

People being squeezed dry by the Grand Guard on the left and the Howlers on the right, with a light garnish of Overseer harassment? Definitely something in the game. When you rob them, and especially the Black Market shopkeepers? It’s Bad. But I guess a twinge of guilt and judgement from me is all you get, because the game isn’t going to punish you. They could have really committed and made robbing the Black Markets an action that increase chaos, even if you don’t kill anyone, but that Did Not Happen.

What about Emily (and let’s not even pretend anymore that this story holds together with Corvo as the protagonist) confronting her failures as a leader, realising she’s Not So Different from Luca Abele? Well, she gets called out on it a grand total of, maybe, 3 times by Billie and Sokolov, who immediately go ‘Well anyway, here’s the next thing I want to say’ and then at the end of the game, she’s like “My time here living as a Poor has given me Perspective. I deserve to be Empress now because I Want it”. Combined with how low-stakes this game is, it feels a lot like Emily took a gap year to find herself, except that the whole thing evidently took two months. I don’t think they executed any of this stuff well. The fact that I have to question these decisions were intentional or not doesn’t bode well.

Emily kind of faces some reckoning for her moral failings, turning a blind eye to the crap going down in Karnaca, but what about her incompetence and utter lack of interest in being a ruler? Or Corvo’s failings as a Spymaster (like seriously dude, how did you not know how any of this shit was going on, so much of it was an open secret). But she barely gets called out on her disinterest in ruling and IIRC Corvo pretty much gets away scot-free with not doing his job. 

Or maybe I’ve just gotten it wrong. I study computer science. Media criticism is way outside my wheelhouse and so maybe I’ve grossly misinterpreted what this game was going for. But the one thing I’m absolutely, 100% certain about is that this game shouldn’t have been about Corvo and Emily.

Even back when we started getting details about Corvo and Emily, I was a bit...iffy about the whole thing. Their stories wrapped up pretty nicely in the first game. “Emily lived to be a wise, just ruler and things were good” or “Emily is a Murder Empress”. The end. And now suddenly it’s not. I hate it when sequels override the endings to previous concluded arcs, and I think there needs to be good justification for doing it. Arkane didn’t do a good job of it and after the wet hork of spit they lobbed at Daud’s arc in Death of the Outsider it seems to be a problem they have. Their story was completely concluded in the first game. No sequel hooks. This game shouldn’t have been about them.

I feel like Arkane were trying to tell a story about corruption and the decay and damage caused by simple human greed, but felt like they had to shoehorn in Corvo and Emily or we’d lose interest. I think the game would have made way more sense with someone from Karnaca’s underclass as the protagonist, maybe a Mindy Blanchard type. Maybe her plan to craft the Mark works, or maybe the Outsider gives her a little push and then she foils the conspiracy to bring Delilah back, kind of like The Brigmore Witches, except Delilah doesn’t actually come back. The main villian in this game could just be people’s appetite for corruption and Emily’s apathy. 

I don’t know. It’s too late for any of that kind of speculation. My faith in Arkane took a huge hit with the one-two of Dishonored 2 and DOTO. It makes me optimistic that Dishonored 3 would have a completely different protagonist, but I’m not going to be blindly trusting, like I was after Brigmore.

#dishonored meta #dishonored 2 #i have never expressed so many thoughts about a thing in one place #and i have a few more thoughts too but i feel like theyre even more subjective than these

[kob131]

RWBY Vs. GAIM: The Shame Battles Part 2

Part 1

Welcome to part 2, where MangaKamen proceeds to do his best MatPat impression.

That is to say, ignores all information that contradicts him and plows on ahead in intellectual dishonesty because fuck research.

So the next point consists of MangaKamen’s video consists of him talking about characters basically.

Firsts he tries talking about Ruby. ‘Tries’ being the keyword, seeing as he says Ruby is unaffected by the deaths of Pyrrha, Penny and Torchwick when we clearly see her broken up by the events of Volume 3 at the ending where she’s nearly crying to her dad, multiple points in Volume 4 where she is openly solemn and sad (like say, the clip of her watching Jaune that he shows on screen), the ending of Volume 4 where he viewpoint clearly changes from ignoring the fact that bad things just happen to accepting that and moving beyond that, in Volume 5 where she openly talks about and is acting OOC about Pyrrha and Penny. 

He also tries to say that Ruby was being hypocritical because they stole an Atlas airship because the group chewed Ozpin out over the same reasoning they use (that they have to) when in  actuality Ozpin’s reasoning was ‘I’ve been betrayed too many times’ and the group was mad at him hiding information from them. And then we have the fact that Ruby NEVER shows an issue with Ozpin over that but rather with how he was holding them to a double standard. This continues as he tries to portray Torchwick as in the right for what he said to Ruby, ignoring how Torchwick fighting for himself got him killed and Ruby has proven him wrong by surviving numerous encounters without succumbing to the same nihilistic thought process. 

Considering what he said earlier and his previous inconsistencies with the show, I can only take this to mean one of two things. He’s purposefully lying to be a troll or he’s purposefully lying to make the show look bad. Considering the fact that he complains regularly about people not doing research and has done  extensive research himself, I cannot accept the idea that he didn’t look this stuff. And if he did refuse to research then I can only say: “Too bad.”

Not to mention how he judges these two characters (Kouta and Ruby) based off how well they fit the Shounen Protagonist template which is absurd in many ways: from how Kouta was made with being a Shounen Protagonist in mind while Ruby is not, to not defining what makes a Shounen protagonist, to this not connecting with Ruby being a main character and many more (like calling Jaune a self insert of Miles Luna which has been THROUGHLY debunked.)

There’s also inconsistency in how he treats Kouta and Ruby. He praises Kouta for getting a power up to defy the idea that he has to sacrifice people while never mentioning Ruby’s Silver Eyes, which allow her to defy the idea that she has to bend to the world and accept bad things happening. He praises Kouta for his development in power as he shrugs off gunfire while ignoring how Ruby oneshot a Nevermore in her Volume 4 character short, a Grimm that needed ALL of Team RWBY to handle. He praises Kouta for his supposed depth while denying Ruby her depth, making it seems like Kamen is denying facts just to support his agenda.

Then we have how little information he gives on Kouta. I don’t care that he can shrug off bullets because I have no idea how much they affected him before. Idon’t care about Kouta and sacrifice since I don’t know why this means so much to him other than ‘because nice guy.’ I don’t care that his worldview was questioned because I don’t know how sure of it he is. I don’t care about Kouta because MangaKamen never told me the very basics of his character or tehe relevant information for me to care about him.

Next we talk about the supporting cast.

He talks about how the Kamen Riders have differing viewpoints and clash with each other but they can set aside each others differences to fight....something. No examples given mind you and MangaKamen did admit previously that he had a bias. Combine this with his convenient forgetfulness regarding RWBY and I have to suspect that this might not be the case or that this is an extremely shallow case. See this is why you don’t make potshots at a show or openly admit that you’re trying to piss people off when making a comparison video: you shoot your credibility in the foot and it only gets worse from there. 

Next we have him talking about the chemistry. He brings up an example with Kouta and Orin? where Orin is a threat to the Beat Riders. And when he gets a Driver and because a Kamen Rider, he becomes antagonistic-Weren’t we talking about the supporting cast?

Yeah...Suddenly we start talking about antagonists despite having talked about supporting cast beforehand, supported by how he goes into the antagonists of RWBY. He doesn't talk ONE bit about the actual supporting cast of RWBY right AFTER saying GAIM’s was more complex. I dunno part of the video was edited out or something but this is unacceptable Not only does he not explain himself but he completely IGNORES half the conversation.

What a disgrace

So if MangaKamen being biased as fuck wasn’t evident before, it basically waterboards you now here.

He says that Roman and Neo aren’t bad villians while saying the others are just ‘evil for the sake of evil’ aside from Hazel, whose stupid.

… Mind you, we know Cinder, Emerald, Mercury, Hazel, partially Tyrian AND Salem’s motivations while Roman’s about as fleshed out as Tyrian’s and Neo has no explanation and is quite literally evil for the sake of evil, opposing Emerald whose dependent on Cinder for validation, Mercury whose a result of his upbringing, Hazel due to his inability to get over his sister’s death, Cinder whose lusting for power and Salem whose taking out her anger on the world of Remnant. 

Even the character description he gives Roman reeks of bias. A gambling man? How is Torchwick a gambling man? We never see him take risks. If anything he’s a guy who only acts when he’s sure he can win and retreats when he can’t. Competent in battle? He lost straight to Ruby, lost to Blake TWICE and only managed to hold his own against his rematch with Ruby because he had Neo. Charismatic? How so? He doesn’t give an example and considering his crap beforehand: I have no trust for him. 

He then goes onto Cinder and says that she was portrayed as a Chessmaster in Volumes 1-3 and a schemer while in Volume 5 she has an ego and is one-dimensional ‘evil for the sake of evil.’ Not only does this ignore the fact that we DO have a motivation for Cinder in that she has a lust for power but that she also had the ego in Volumes 2 and 3, where she treated everyone else as beneath her and as pawns to discard for her own benefit. Could this have been done better? Yes, but MangaKamen never makes that point. he just strawmans Cinder and moves on because...I dunno, GAIM is shit or he has a bias against RWBY. Same with everything else he’s done up to this point.

Also note that he uses DIO as an example of a good villain. DIO, the crazy man with a massive ego and a god complex. This is gonna blow up in his face later...

So he tries to say Cinder’s plan sucks because people can spot Mercury and Emerald at the tournament in the Penny vs. Pyrrha match and thus they should be taken in for questioning. You know, ignoring how only Team RWBY knows this and Emerald could just hide herself and Mercury from any guards to get into the arena. Basic knowledge of the abilities of the antagonists would solve this issue and would advance the conversation but apparently that’s too much to ask for a man who regularly complains about this very same thing.

Then he mentions the other villains being stereotypes (doesn't even identify WHAT stereotypes they are. because shut up) while Hazel is stupid for wanting to get revenge on Ozpin for his sister’s death...because his groups wants to harm the world. … This is like saying I shouldn’t be angry someone ran over my dog because I drive a Hummer and thus cause a lot of pollution. Those two things DO NOT correlate. At the very fucking least when people strawman Hazel they mention Salem controlling the Grimm whereas he just makes a passing mention to it. Nevermind how people can become blinded by grief and suffering and how Hazel is CLEARLY portrayed as in the wrong.

Then we end things with him calling Salem a crazy lady with a massive ego and a complex. … So basically DIO, good to see those standards are so fair and totally not biased!

Also I skipped the GAIM stuff because MangaKamen does such a horrid job explaining the series in his video I can’t make a single judgment nor can I trust his words since he could very well be lying.

I would talk about his points on the fight scenes...except he uses FLOOFARTIST as a source for the RWBY part.

FloofArtist, the guy caught lying about RWBY and RT numerous times.

I don't care what the point is, you may as well be citing a news story about Donald Trump using CNN at this point. Not helping is that he makes the valid point about how the characters just stand around...using Ruby and Weiss SPECTATING a fight in Volume 3 between Qrow and Winter and tries to say that the teams don’t work together, citing the Volume 5 finale...ignoring Volume 1 Episode 8, Volume 2 Episode 1, Volume 2 Episode 4, Volume 2 Episode 11, Volume 3 Episode 1, Volume 3 Episode 2, Volume 4 Episode 1, Volume 4 Episode 6, Volume 4 Finale, Volume 6 Episode 1, Volume 6 Episode 10-13. So even if he didn’t use a bullshit source, he still fails to be at all fair.

RWBY is not perfect. Never has been, never will be. Nor is it the best thing ever. Gurren Lagann, Kill La Kill, My Hero Academia, JoJo-there’s a lot of shows I would recommend over RWBY. In fact I use comparisons to Volume 1 as an insult, that’s how lowly I regard some parts of RWBY.

So imagine my surprise when a supposedly intelligent YouTuber can’t even make a single valid compliant against the show, let alone one I haven’t heard before, let alone one I haven’t thought of before. All while comparing it to a completely different show through vague similarities just to make RWBY look bad.

Little does he know by lying about RWBY repeatedly he actually makes the show look better. It’s like using violence on a political enemy: you only end up validating the enemy because you sent the message that you couldn’t beat them fairly. Same here: MangaKamen basically said ‘Kamen Rider GAIM isn't actually better than RWBY so I’m going to say a bunch of misinformation and blatant lying in order to make it appear so.’ If you can’t beat someone or something fairly, you never could beat them in the first place.

And guess what? He’s basically destroyed his credibility here by acting like the people he mocks. He mocked MatPat for ignoring basic to research information while making basic mistakes in his video, he mocks Quinton Reviews for his biases and ego while looking biased and egotistical himself. He mocked others for using fallacies while making a video about nothing but fallacies. So why should anyone listen to him except the people who want to hear their own thoughts and opinions? He’s not trustworthy anymore, nor does he have any grounds to talk down to people anymore.

Congratulations MangaKamen, you are what you hate. All while making a show you like worse while making just a general shit video. I once trusted and respected you as a content creator. Now, I won’t make that mistake again.

And this, my dear readers, is why self reflection and self awareness is so important. Because you may just lose everything you worked for by your own hand. And what you should take away from MK’s failure is that you should always double check your own words.

I’m Knight Of Balance...

Have a nice day.

#rwby #rwby6

[knightofbalance-13]

https://rwby-rants-and-theories.tumblr.com/post/165987379278/c-e-gold-replied-to-your-post-stop-asking-for

People were promised LGBT representation. Years later and a cheap hetero romance plot later, they haven’t received it. Maybe I’m crazy, but I feel people are justified in their anger over the lack of said promised representation. Especially since we previously received Ar/kos and heavily hinted Re/nora.

You do realize that there being heterosexual romance does NOTHING to the LGBT character right? And that if somehow one takes away from the other, the LGBT population makes up, at most, 10% of the US population and 1% at least so in all likelihood: The side you keep clamoring about would be the abandoned side. All I’m saying is: If you act like watching a different sexuality play out is terrible and awful, then majority rule dictates what happens so you might want to back off a little.

P.S.: Isn’t that the same rhetoric you would call “homophobic” IE “Ugh, cheap homo romance” ? Yeah, keep refusing heterophobia. Just shows you shouldn’t have any say on this.

I feel I should also state that Miles ability to write a romance should hold no bearing on his ability to write LGBT characters. The 2 aren’t mutually exclusive.

It shouldn’t....but since RWDE has made it clear that if an LGBT character doesn’t get into a relationship, you will riot: It does now so suck it up.

Also: Can’t really do your full skill in writing when you can only use certain tropes and ideas, as RWDE has consistently bitched about. No homosexual villians, no negative traits of homosexual characters, nothing even remotely negative: You guys bitch about the quality of the writing then demand a Mary Sue. Yeah, pick one.

Thank you so much, these are excellent observations.

AKA This confirms my bias so thanks for jerking me off so I’ll jerk you off.

I want to add 242 LGBT characters were killed on screen between 2015 and 2016 alone. If there’s a reason we want representation is because we kept getting killed in fiction for shit reasons while cishets get a variety of happy endings and three-dimensional characters.Â

A. Cishet is fucking slur, thanks for confirming you are bigot.

B. How were they killed? Why were they killed? When were they killed? In what context where they killed? In what type of story were they killed? 

See, you don’t care about all those things, which gives meaning to a character’s death. You just care that someone died because you reduced them down to their sexuality. Which shows just how shallow you view these characters and why you shouldn’t be listened to.

C. Mind giving proof? A link or an article? No? Fine, I’ll just assume that’s a 1% decrease then considering your penchant for blowing things out of proportion.

D. Yes, because people who only sees themselves as a part of a group are always the most artistic of people, despite the very existence of art being based on individuality and freedom. You should totally have a character for you, just like white supremists and homophobes should get a character because they reduced themselves also down to a group, because they aren't fickle as shit.

E. Hard to make someone three dimensional when you basically demand a Mary Sue, an inherently two dimensional concept. Then again, considering you think all LGBT people base themselves around being LGBT and not their hobbies, their political views, their jobs, their passions or their philosophy, you have a rather two dimensional view of LGBT people.

It’s fucking tiring to hear about people like me still getting killed in real life and then seeing the same damn thing on TV.Â

A. Heterosexual people get killed all the damn time, in both real life and in fiction. And if you are talking about for their sexuality: no one kills a character because they are LGBT.

B. So you wanna see you. You don’t care about what anyone who doesn't share your view: You just wanna see some blank slate to project yourself on to. Yeah, try Kirito. I hear he makes for a great blank slate.

Let’s stop pretending this is about a ship when it was never about a ship.

It’s just about you and your freakishly hivemind mentality about LGBT people and your near psychotic need for a blank slate to project yourself onto, ignoring how it would affect the quality of the show, what other LGBT people would want and any sort of good, deep writing.

Once again: people like you who obsess over one aspect of a character shouldn’t be listened to.

#rw/de bullshit #rwby-rants-and-theories

[thisnerdblog]

12, 13, 21

For the salty asks:12. Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?People really seem to hate on AoU, and I didn't think it was so bad. It def suffers from middle Movie syndrome and too many cooks in the kitchen, but I don't think it didn't do any characters justice. People got pissy about Clint's secret family, I love them. People got up in arms about Tony diving right into creating Ultron, I thought it was a great lesson for him to learn. People hated how Natasha was treated in this, and I'm sitting over here confused because AoU gave us the deepest Natasha we have gotten so far. People rioted and dragged the director over BruceNat, and I those people are crazy. Yes it was a tad rushed and could have been better, but the idea was solid and the actors really sold it, and out of all the current avengers why wouldn't Nat dig Bruce. And why wouldn't she? He's the only one on the team who can remotely relate to her¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I think people give AoU waaaaayyyy to much hate when it was a really decent movie.13. Unpopular opinion about XXX character?Ummmm, since no specific character was given, I'm going to take this as a sign to go off the rails with the rants and the salt.Steve Rogers: Fuck him with his stupid shield. He lives in the past and that makes me furious! He puts his past friends up on this pedestal and puts them before the "friends" he has now. I really hate how he refuses to try and make a new life for himself, he refuses to move forward, he refuses to put the needs of the modern people before preserving his past. He wants to wallow in the past and any time he seems to be ready to move forward, something with Bucky seems to rear it's head and he will regress in an instant, and that's what pisses me off the most about Steve, it's his inability to move on.And because of this inability to move on and think straight when Bucky is involved, he keeps on ducking over the people who choose to follow him. Steve is supposed to be this good leader, he is supposed to have this magnetic presence that pulls people too him, yet what we have been presented with is something quite the opposite and I can't wrap my head around why Sam and the others follow him blindly?MCU Steve is such a disappointment and they expect me to suck his taint with everyone else because he's captain America. ಠ_ಠ Bucky Barnes: ugggggggfhhhhhhhghng. Sooooooooooooo boringgggggggg. Bucky was cool in the first Avenger, he was sassy and had a personality! But when he became the winter soldier I was out sooo fast you have no idea! Being the blank brainwashed slate that is slowly kinda getting memories back is such a boring overused trope, especially when they don't bring any hint of his old personality back. Like, I understand he has gone through extreme horrible trauma and that is enough to change parts of a persons personality, but like it would be sooo much better and heart breaking if you could have a hint of that previous personality. I dunno, I just think MCU Bucky is to bland and boring and doesn't deserve the amount of love and adoration he gets. (Buts it's because the actor is "hot" and people love a hot woobie character.)Loki: THE ULTIMATE WOOBIED CHARACTER EVER!!He is a dick, his moral compass is not pointing in a good direction, he is all about himself. He is a good VILLIAN! He does have a sad backstory, but as you all know "cool motive, still murder" is a thing. He doesn't have a heart of gold deep down inside, Loki works for Lokie and nobody else. I HATE with the passion of five thousands sun that people woobify Loki (and other "hot" villains), and the biggest slap in the face is when people put him on the Avengers team.Sam Wilson: I love Sam, Sam is such a darling baby and he deserves so much better than what he gets, but I just don't get why he just FOLLOWS Steve. Branch out my love! Be your own super hero!!! Wanda Maximoff: THERE HAS BEEN NO REPERCUSSIONS FOR HER SHITTY ACTIONS IN AOU!!!!!Yes she has been imprisoned, yes she is on the run, but like!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What about while she was living with all the people she mind fucked!!!!!!!! They don't mind living with her???? Was there no conversation? The Avengers didn't like sit her down and expressed how she hurt them????? I dunno, she needs a slap to the wrist specifically for her actions in AoU.Tony Stark: has done so much wrong, but still strives to be a hero! THIS IS HIS STORY, HE IS THE HERO!!Fight me about this!Natasha Romanoff: I love how she was portrayed in AoU, I love that they made her three dimensional instead of generic badass fight girl. She has fears, she has faults, she has hope, she has morals, and she will put others happiness above her own. She is part hot mess part avenging Angel, she is complex and wonderful! Plus I love that she is respected by the boys and not the "girl" but a fucking core member and is friendly/friends with the guys.Bruce Banner: I just love this asshole, ok.Like this is how you woobify a character, bad shit has happened to him, and you feel sorry for him, but he's still a prickly asshole, he's self deprecating and KNOWS how dangerous he can be and his friends aren't fawning over him saying "no you aren't" instead his friends are saying "yeah, you could be, but you have the power not to be, you can control your anger!" The beauty I love about Bruce is that he COULD have been a bad guy, but made the important choice not to.Thor: Thor is smart! Thor is intelligent, he is sweet and patient, but he runs hot and has a short temper and is gullible. Like I love that Thor is gullible, he believes the best in people and it's sad when he is proven wrong.21. What are your thoughts on crack ships?They are good! Have fun you guys! Do your thing!

[elsa-of-arrendelle]

If Destiel shippers are allowed to post why they ship Destiel, I am allowed to say why I don’t.

I’ll point out that, yes, I’m religious. I’m a Christian of the LDS church and I believe that marriage and sexual relations should be between a man and a woman. But that’s not the big reason I don’t ship Destiel (Heck, I think Cecil and Carlos are *neat* and freaking adorable). 

I don’t ship Destiel because of what it cancels from the characters, the healthiness of the proposed relationship, and the effect it’s had on the fandom over the years.

Destiel is a ship that began as a fanon ship and still is. The biggest promotion is fans on tumblr, the lip-service and stories are written by fans, the scenes are either drawn by or edited from available sources by fans. The writers clearly have no intent of making it canon and the actors (mainly Jensen cause he’s tired of the constant peppering) have said that Destiel does not exist in the show.

The character-destroying reasons I don’t ship Destiel:

There is a canonically straight man who watches soap operas, cleans, cooks, has worn pink satin panties, drinks flavored water, listens to kids, show empathy, cries, is unafraid to show affection to his male friends and family, mother-hens his friends and family, and listens to his own moral code. It bashes so many stereotypes it makes me want to cry of happiness. Turning Dean Bi changes “breaking useless gender roles and stereotypes” to “Oh, well yeah, he’s gay so that makes sense now.” and degrades how revolutionary his character already is against mainstream media.

There’s also an angel who doesn’t care about sexuality more than a person’s actions (a slap to Westboro Baptists) with no personal reasons for it other than his conscience. He is sweet and kind but can also be awe-inspiring and ruthless against his enemies. Has immense power but tries to use it to help people, even in small acts of service which takes down the idea that abilities are only useful if they’re out beating up bad guys over doing what you can no matter how small.

And I refuse to ignore Sam because he is not going to be demoted to a cheerleader for Destiel. Sam is kind, passionate, and endures immense hardships and is just as valid as Dean or Cas. He is his own powerhouse and while I’m certain that he supports his brother being happy and healthy in any relationship that Dean might choose, he shouldn’t be ignored or downsized as a character to make way for a new romance plot which will inevitably happen because guys, this is tv land. It always happens.

Meg. Megstiel was actually canon. Yet, during the same time that people were still trying to make it Destiel. Meg was literally making out with Cas and it was not one-sided. I have seen more romance - proper, healthy romance, mind you - and positive character development between these two than between Dean and Cas. Castiel would compliment her poetically and she had her pet-name for him and would fuss over him and cared for him when Dean didn’t because the Winchesters had their own problems to deal with.

^^^ Related to this but Destiel shippers have actually stolen a lot from Megstiel which is just messed up. The Pizza Man was based on Megstiel. The idea of having a “unicorn” is from Megstiel. Could you please use your own cliche’s in your fanfics and headcanons??? You can’t think of any that you have on your own?? That’s messed up. If you can’t write a story without stealing a competing ship’s motifs to pass as your own, you probably shouldn’t be writing and should be researching your own dang ship instead.

Dean and Castiel’s relationship would be toxic, in case you didn’t notice. It very nearly is right now. Cas is not and never will be Dean’s top priority. He’s still a priority for sure, but he’s not Sam. A healthy relationship has either each other on equal standing whether their first priority is each other or God. Goals, real-time emotions, or anything else too changeable are easily toppled. The reason Dean and Lisa worked out for a year was because Sam was not an option for Dean to prioritize anymore but the second he came back, the relationship started (sadly) to fall apart and Dean lost that stability. Unless Sam is also Cas’ #1 priority, their relationship is going to capsize faster than the Titanic without interference from Balthazar.

Not to mention, when Dean is stressed about losing Sam/failing the world/problems, he dishes out on Castiel. Cas is a strange character in that he is so old and has so much knowledge but he’s simultaneously like a child for the first several seasons because he’s missing so much social development. Two emotionally unbalanced factors in a relationship either balance each other out perfectly or they go up like a nuclear reactor. Sometimes it’s immediate and other times it builds up, but Dean and Cas initially clash and still clash on many major decisions. They don’t balance each other, they make the other alarmed by their unpredictability and recklessness.

Dean does care about Cas, but he’s not used to him or expressing concern to anyone beyond Sam, John, and Bobby. He’s bad at expressing negative feelings in an okay way. I’m not going to be the anti-shipper who paints Dean as some kind of abusive monster cause I love Dean and they twist him out of context too, but Dean has said some hurtful things and failed on the supportive front for Cas several times because Cas is not his main priority. Similarly, Cas has shown no interest in becoming a human, he enjoys human interaction and helping humans. He’s not some Ariel out to be ‘part of our world’ and S12 had him taking up Joshua on the deal to allow him back into Heaven. They have their own goals and those goals do not align in a way that gives room for a relationship. In short, their relationship will hurt each other, not support each other.

The fact that other characters refer to them as a couple is obsolete. If anyone has ever referred to you and someone else you know as an item, you understand that other people’s feelings on your emotions do not create a relationship, your individual feelings do. So that is not ‘proof’.

Something I want to point out to the fandom:

These are like the 3 most aggresively sexualized moments that the fandom has to work with when it comes to hardcore shipping over fluff. Usually these images are followed by fics of making out passionately after these moments. Fans have turned these moments into ‘magical’ events that scream UST and drama.

But I need you to understand something so listen up.

In each of these moments... DEAN IS FREAKING TERRIFIED. 

#1 +2. Castiel warning Dean to show him respect... because he brought Dean out of Hell and could throw him back in and Dean at this point is most definitely not close to coping with the trauma of those 40 years. He’s threatening him with his biggest trigger right here.

How Romantic. Sparks are flying, guys.

#3. Castiel is literally beating up Dean in an alleyway while yelling at him that he’s being selfish and weak and ignoring Cas’ sacrifices. By the end of this, Dean believes that Cas is just going to kill him.    Awwwwww...

#4. The angels have just been exposed at villians and Dean has yelled at Cas to make a decision. Several hours later, Cas appears and slams Dean into the wall and Dean is completely lost and alarmed by this and is unaware of what side Cas has chosen until after a moment of waiting for something to happen.

All of these moments have Dean afraid and/or believing that he is probably going to die. STOP TRYING TO TURN FEAR INTO AROUSAL. That is some serious rape-culture logic and it is messed up. It’s not “kinky”, it’s not “sexy”, it’s fear. If you can’t tell the difference, go see a psychologist.

Okay. Moving past that, the fandom has a lot of issues to deal with when it comes to context and character intent. Most of the scenes ‘supporting’ Destiel are regular pictures taken at a moment with 0 context provided. Others are gifs where something else is actually going on but it looks flirty when there aren’t words so it goes. Most shippers will also confess to not being very big Destiel shippers before they got into the fanfic because it changes their perspective and makes them look for a notice things that aren’t meant to be that way. I read some Bela/Dean stories and found myself shipping them for a while when I used to be die-hard Lisa or Jo.

Also worth mentioning: The argument of Cas being a “multi-dimensional wavelength of celestial intent and therefore isn’t really gay so there’s not a problem” is a double-edged sword with the fact that Castiel has never been with anyone not female (or even human btw it was a reaper and almost Hannah and Meg), but you’re also backspacing over the idea that if it was canon it would be a gay ship so... there goes the side opting for LGBTQA representation...what is your goal with that?

I don’t ship it because I’m tired of great characters being simplified, of great relationships being ignored, of made-up images and quotes being spread as though they were true, of looking up Supernatural and being hit by a wave of Destiel headcanons, of people insulting my favorite actors for both refusing to approve of the relationship and for trying not to shut down the relationship, of the level of tin-hatting required to insist that a character is bi because of the color shirt that they wear, and for people tagging every post - no matter how unrelated - as “Destiel”, I’m sick of it all. 

Spamming is the biggest reasons for Anti-Destiel blogs. Tagging everything with your ship name makes anyone who doesn’t ship it want to scream and hate you. This is not how you gain support.

I’m personally just very sick of feeling like I’m not really a part of this fandom because I don’t ship Destiel. But a lot of fans don’t. A lot of fans aren’t on tumblr, they don’t read your fanfic, they don’t consider Cas and Dean to be a couple, they just watch and like the show. That’s kinda what being a fan is. Making everything on Supernatural about Destiel is how you lose support for the show and the fandom.

Shipping despite this is fine. You want to, go for it. It won’t change the show that I enjoy, but please remember that not everyone will ship what you ship and spamming them or harassing them is pointless and rude.

#i don't ship destiel #rant #anti-destiel #post #i've wanted to make this for a long time. #venting #I feel like I can breathe easier now

[yuzuka-rei]

The Dark Affices: Lord of Shadows Analysis

(Unpopular opinions sorry+mostly criticism but the book is good, its just Imm irked by these points GAH ) I loved this book while reading it, the plot flowed well, the characters were quite lovable, but once I finished it- it felt like I had read nothing at all. The only feelings I had came from the whole situation with Kieran and Mark and Cristina, and that was just because I'm a total sucker for sad romances where one loves the other way more than they are loved back but ANYWAYS. (THE KIERARKTINA ANALYSIS IS NEAR THE END) Plot Villians Unseelie King Isn't even half as threatening or formidable of an archenemy as Sebastian Morgenstern, and that makes the whole story quite weak already Seelie Queen She's going to do something that will bite the shadowhunters in their arse the moment Julian gives him the Black Book. Predictable. She could've done way more manipulation on the others as well. Zara and the Cohort Everyone who fought in the way againt the Circle/Valentine is still alive. There is no way that within 10 years people who go back to wanting to brand downworlders and such. They remember the last time someone wanted to do that a massive war broke out and their relatives died. Also Zara is a two-dimensional character: her goal is weak, and she doesn't seem to have any human/likeable qualities. So she's a Regina-George-type character, made to be hated, but the Unseelie King has already taken that role. Repeat: Sebastian Morgenstern was a way better villian, since he had a single human quality: he wanted to be with his family, his sister and his brother. This brings us onto my next point Characters Both the villians and the heros both had very single-trait, non in-depth personalities, probably due to the amount of characters and arcs. Emma: too unflawed. Her emotions are quite simple throughout the book (there could've been great inner turmoil about whether she could give up being shadowhunter to love/protect Julian). She killed a rider too easily- making her seem to powerful. Julian: He was a pretty horrible person in this bk but in terms of character depth he's not too bad. He loves his family and would do anything for them and it's shown in a variety of ways. I've been comparing him to Cersei, since he's on the whole "family is most important" and "manipulation" thing. However, considering that he's practically been running the family, he should definitely sound less whiny and more mature. Cristina: I don't even know what to say. I can't even remember what you did apart from sing lullabies and be attached to Mark. Her lack of more personality sucks because Kieran keeps saying she's really nice and kind and stuff, but it's not that supported really. She could've contributed way more to the fantastic love triangle, by trying to actively push Mark away because she's seen how much Kieran loves him. Her selfishness here doesn't lone up with her wanting to end the Cold Peace for both faeries and shadowhunter's gain. Mark: I hate him and love him. Cassie made a good decision in making him quite the douchebag, not quite loving Kieran as much as he loves him and not caring enough about Kieran's feelings. But that makes him the most realistic of all characters: he feels regret since he's practically ditched Kieran the minute he didnt need him (I mean there's the whole "you made my brother and sister get tortured but you saved my other brother" thing which should've been Mark's excuse to himself about why he's not choosing Kieran, but he's doesn't and runs around with Cristina anyways. Interesting. Kieran: I love him to much to make any judgement. Also he's a faerie- they aren't exactly "humans" and their emotions are more 2D so... Ty: Better character compared to some others, and we now understand mildly how the twins and Kit work together as a team (since Kit needs to become one of the only people that understand Ty due to Liv's death) . Also his loyalty to family as seen by the letter to Annabel. Cassie has laid great groundwork for him. Can't wait for him to be a main character. Kit: He and Ty need potential to evolve in the next series so I'm giving them some slack. I'll do more analysis on their relationship later. Liv: She loves her brother and is curious about Kit and she's a generally more "realistic" character. Really thats it. I wish I felt tears for her death. I dont. Cassie could've developed her even more as a character, but then that would make her death more painful so. But her importance to Ty and the rest of the family is written enough that it would justify the changes that will happen due to her death. Dru: TBH Cassie could've not spread the characters out so much that we're kinda at a lost. Time spent writing about Dru could've been used on main-er characters, but Jaime needed an introduction. So did she. Looking forward to reading more about her in TWP. Diego: A character with multiple loyalties! Yay! Diana: It would've been way more influential if she had been forced by Julian to explain why she couldn't apply for the institute instead of dropping it like a "bonus" story which makes her seem like then token LGBT character. It's a great plot twist that couldn't have seemed even more forced. It's kinda sad that a brilliant character reveal was ruined Gywp: He's leader of the Wild Hunt and I know he's in love with Diana but he's not Magnus, who's always had nothing better to do than help hot shadowhunters. (Jkjk) Magnus/Alec/Jace/Clary: domestically cute and cameos that contribute to the main arcs. Now, onto the more controversial topics: THE ROMANCE Julian/Emma: This entire book is supposed to be about them balancing dealing for their love of each other with saving the world. It's written in a whiny way and not nearly enough character (If you've read the Throne of Glass series, then you'll understand- they needed the long-ass training scene between Aelin and Rowan). We never read about how they fall in love and that makes the emotions quite plastic...? It would've been fantastic to read more about how they fell in love instead of how they are insanely tortured now. It doesn't emotionally appeal to me at all. Cristina/Mark/Kieran: Words cannot express how much I fucking love this romance arc. It gives me so many feels, and half of them make me cry. I'll analyse Kierark first. When it first debuted it felt like the "token hot gay ship thats thrown in for the fangirls to get off to", but then as time passes we slowly learn how toxic this relationship really is. Kieran doesn't love anything else in this world apart from Mark, having no family, no friends to love him. Whereas with Mark, he's always been surrounded with love, with his half-brothers and sisters, Emma, Helen... etc. He doesn't understand how much he means to Kieran, and Kieran definitely loves Mark more. In the Wild Hunt, it's shown just how much Mark depended on Kieran to stay sane, which suggests, as Cristina says, that Mark owes a debt to Kieran. But it is not nearly that simple. Kieran's love for Mark is what kept him sane, and love is unconditional in most cases, including this. It is undeniable that Mark, despite him having the possibility of not being in love with Kieran when they first become lovers, due to it merely being what he needed, it is certain that Mark does feel for Kieran. Even when Kieran betrays Mark, Kieran believes it to only bring Mark back to him. I see someone so broken that they'd do anything to have their lover back, not a selfish bastard who doesn't cate about Mark at all. Kieran doesn't understand "Family", and in his defence the Blackthorns are a large enough family to survive without Mark. I'm not saying Kieran is entirely blameless, but its a totally understandable thing to want things to go back to how they used to be, and that is extremely human and ("I betcha you would have done the same"). Their love is insanely primitive and raw, and it is more of a "need" to both of them. Kieran needs someone to give him love, Mark needed someone to keep him sane. Then we move onto Mark. For some reason, the faerie-blooded characters seem to act the most human in this series. Mark is a bloody douche for stringing Kieran on, while pursuing Cristina, but then that's exactly what he craves. He needs someone to love him, in a simple way. He craves normality, and that comes in the form of Cristina, whom he finds himself attracted to, originally physical (he says he wants Cristina and that Kieran wouldn't mind: he was not emotionally attracted to Cristina. But now that he's spent time and realised how easy she is to love, he loves her). Kieran and Mark's relationship is not just sexual, or romantic, or friendship, or brotherhood- it's insanely complex and dependent and its toxic but they will never be able to remove the bond between them. They've experienced life and death together. But Mark doesn't want to be burdened by such a heavy emotional relationship anymore, and that's understandable, so he turns to Cristina. Kieran cannot bring himself to hate Cristina, since she wants the Cold Peace to end and that shows how much she cares for everyone and how she uncharacteristically wants to protect faerie rights despite being a shadowhunter. Cristina also oddly finds their relationship arousing instead of being jealous of Kieran, which leads to some of the fandom wishing for a polyamorous relationship. (Including me to an extent). On one hand Cristina could neutralise the toxicity of Kierark and also slowly teach Kieran to love other people, which would result in him not requiring the entirety of Mark's love. (Cuz currently, Kieran love mark with 100% of his heart and wants Mark to do the same. If Kieran loved other people it would be less toxic, since Mark does HAVE to share his love with his family even if Cristina is out of the picture ) On the other hand, it would be great for Kieran to find someone who will love him as much or even more than he loves them. The smol deserves more love in his life, don't you think? Also, I forgot to mention that Kieran does need to go back to the Wild Hunt, or he might become Unseelie King, and then Kierkark could actually be impossible, but I firmly believe they'll always love each other, maybe not as much as before, but they've left quite the imprint on each other's lives (The stars will go out before I forget you, Mark Blackthorn) Ty/Kit: LIKE THEY COMPLEMENT EACH OTHER SO WELL TY DOESN'T OPEN UP EASILY WHEREAS KIT DOES (he's already attached to the Blackthorns) And Kit is so much more outgoing and cool and GAH its a great ship looking SO forward to TWP. (Srsly I have so much hopes for TWP cuz in my opinion TDA is a bit of a weak arc and the only redeeming characters seem to be Mark's drama (I don't think we're going to see this in TWP I'm sad) Gwyp/Diana: super cute and deserves more love In conclusion: I love Cassandra Clare's style and how she can make character relationships insanely lovable. The fact that she always protects the characters all of us love from dying is great too. But @cassandraclare if you see this, please do consider these points made by a fangirl who is nitpicking a bit (I hope this series ends up as good as TID) for the greater good😂 (Also Diego/Kieran ain't too bad of a ship either😏😂) If you disagree with any of these, I am open to dicussions:) Just please don't blindly hate on this: all of us are entitled to opinions, you have yours and I have mine. Let's respect each other, okay?

#the dark artifices #lord of shadows #kieran #kieran of the hunt #mark #mark blackthorn #cristina rosales #emma carstairs #julian blackthorn #tiberius blackthorn #kit rook #shadowhunters #the shadowhuner chronicles #jace herondale #jace wayland #clary fray #malec #kierark #kierarktina #kitty #diana wrayburn #and erm i dont know what to tage next #cassandra clare

[sandalaris]

Honestly, I think part of why I prefer stories and universes where Joker actually loves Harley is because I think it makes him feel more complex as a character.

This! I couldn't agree more. I know some people aren't into it, and that's fine, but I think it adds something to him. Rounds him out in a way. And not just him, but Harley too, it changes her character for the better if she's not just a crazy stalker with a crush chasing after some guy who sees her as nothing but an annoying pawn, but this question is about the Joker so I'll refrain from getting too far into that side.I've seen some say that it's because if he can love, if he can see a person as more than just fodder for his games and yet still do the things he does that it actually makes him scarier. And I can see that. It centers him, humanizes him, and there is something far more threatening, far more real, about a human who does monstrous things than a monster who's just being itself. Several shows touched on this, Supernatural being the first to come to mind the few times they come across a human doing the monster-of-the-week thing.Personally, I don't see it completely as the way above, and part of why I prefer him being in love with her is because of what it says about Harley. I've never liked characters, or rather I don't like this part of their personality, who don't get the hint that the other person doesn't like them, or who refuses to accept it and just move on already. Never liked the unrequited love trope. But I do see his connecting to another person in any capacity as something that rounds him out. He's pretty one-dimensional on paper, it's how he's written to keep his chaos and mystery in tact, but it can backfire easily and giving him a connection with another living thing help flesh him out and prevent that. Batman does it too, when the writers go there, showing that Joker sees Batman as the closest thing he has to an equal helps complete the Joker as a character.There have been times when people have written the Joker as complete on his own, at least that I've seen, but those times Harley was nowhere to be seen in those versions. If she had been, and been her typical Stalker with a Crush self I'd probably either dislike Harley or only like her when she isn't fawning over the Joker (and considering how much of her character revolves around her love of the Joker, at least in her origins, I'm leaning towards I'd probably wouldn't like her in general. I didn't in the cartoons the few times I remember her.) Suicide Squad did it right, rounding out both characters while keeping the scary villian factor for both. Although some of Harley's best villian moments got cut, her mind games and the evidence of how she plays up her Bubbly Happy Psycho persona to make people underestimate her, almost all of it was cut. Even the Joker, who's entire plot/every scene revolved around him either telling Harley's origin story or him trying to get to Harley. He was still shown as a well rounded villian who was not to be messed with.