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ihopesocomic · 1 year

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I feel a little bad for the MP creator. She worked really hard on the show, working every day to the point where it was bad for her own mental health. But that didn't change the fact that the series had bad writing and problematic characters. I want to make my own animated stories, but I never really stop to thought about it.

We should work as hard and put as much effort into the story writing as we work on other elements. Not just being in a "hurry" to get it over with so other people can see it.

Sometimes it's even scary to imagine someone reviewing my story like you did with MP. Not because I don't want to take criticism, but imagine seeing a video of more than an hour showing how bad your story turns out to be because you couldn't figure it out on your own lol

But I also doubt that the creator of MP didn't get even a single criticism or any warning of how Hover's relationship with Nothing was toxic and other things. It must have been the belief of "well, there's a lot of people in the comments saying they liked it, so I guess it's okay!". Because even today there are people defending Hover for what she did, and those kind of fans don't help much either.

Several things to take into account here about MP's creator:

She's a professional with experience in the industry. Apparently, her LinkedIn page backs this up.

She apparently majored in creative writing.

She both had beta writers and an editor helping her with MP's script writing.

She asked for critique several times during the show's production. In all areas. Whether that be disability representation, sound design or whatever. She asked, and she received. I know this because she sent a Google Doc to myself and about ten others to write in and tell her what we thought about Episode 1. I personally feel she took none of the criticism in that doc on board, as I remember critiquing the music being overused and ruining the mood of certain scenes and it remained very much the same.

The above is especially important to point out because we've had people insinuate once or twice that we're assholes for critiquing somebody's work "without their permission". All we did was take the critique given to the creator when she requested it and condensed it all into one singular video essay.

MP's creator had many, many opportunities to correct the wrongs that many pointed out in her handling of certain themes in the story, long before our analysis was a thing. The whole reason we made the analysis is because both she and her fans would just sweep any criticism under the rug and we felt it needed to be heard more.

I'm sorry that making this show was not the experience she thought it was going to be. However, that still does not excuse asking people for assistance, wasting their time and then doubling down on the more concerning aspects of your writing that has been pointed out. Such as Nothing's name, Hover's behaviour in Episode 5 or Lite's characterisation.

It's also worth noting that we tried to be as nice as possible with our analysis? We never aimed to tear this creator a new one. The goal of the analysis was and always has been to educate people on how NOT to handle the themes that we felt My Pride took on and mishandled. We tried to be constructive and educational as a result.

My Pride was also not what I would describe as an "indie" series. It was not only handled by someone with experience in the industry, it had a budget of around $100,000-$150,000 CAD (the exact number is unknown but that's the range) and it had an entire team handling it. It is NOT on the same level as other indie series on YT that we're all familiar with, which are generally only made by one or two individuals in their spare time and volunteer voice actors. This was a paid production and, with this budget, came many, many opportunities to do better that other creators on YT can only dream about.

So, with that said: we had different expectations for My Pride as opposed to other YT series. Not only was it made by a professional and a team of editors helping her, it was made by a professional who asked numerous times for help but - for whatever reason - chose not to take advantage of the assistance she gained. There's not being perfect and then there's just being aware of issues but ploughing on regardless.

The deal with Nothing's name will always make me angry. It just felt like a massive 'fuck you' to every disabled individual and their mother who consistently expressed concerns about it. Good for you if you're disabled and find no harm in it. For me, it'll always leave a bad taste in my mouth. It felt like the creator decided that socking it to "the Twitter crowd" or anyone who openly disliked the name was more important than giving Nothing the agency she deserved. Regardless of whether or not that was her plan to begin with (even though Hobblestep got a name change in My Pride's original story), I can't get behind that.

It is why we put a lot of importance on our audience critiquing our work and bringing up any concerns to us. Our goal is to deliver a story where both LGBT+ and disabled individuals can feel appreciated and seen. We do not want it to turn into a personal wet rag that reassures us that we are above critique when we're not.

If it is not purely about how 'boring' and 'safe unrealistic' our writing and characterisation is (because I'm not gonna bend my knee to people who think you need ableism in a pro-disability story for it to be entertaining), then we're willing to listen.

And that's the flip side of the coin, anon: we also encourage people to be constructive and kind when critiquing the work of others and only do it when permission has been granted.

We also expect folks to use discretion and sensitivity. Us critiquing My Pride is NOT on the same level as critiquing an amateur YT series made by a singular individual and unpaid voice actors.

If you're gonna come at our work or anybody's work out of pettiness and spite: you're also part of the problem. Simple. - RJ

#ask #ask us stuff

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kyomunosaki · 10 months

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Random thoughts on G-Witch

Honestly I really loved the whole run of G-Witch, but I wish it didn't de-fang some of the stuff it seemed to directly draw inspiration from, namely Universal Century's Anaheim Electronics and Armored Core: For Answer. I don't really know how to put it in my opening here, but I just wish they made it more of a compelling social commentary if they're going to be dealing in a corpo setting.

Spoilers obviously, and it's just mostly rambling on my part. Please don't take my opinions too seriously, they're just opinions.

I don't want to devalue the cool stuff it does with Utena homages with the Holder system and all, plus the really sad but heartfelt parts where the main two question their sexuality or whatever, that stuff's pretty good. But a lot of the Asticassia-related stuff just feels like a much safer, less interesting way of tackling the whole MS testing/selling idea compared to Anaheim Electronics. The difference between testing your suits through the OYW versus rich kids with no legitimate stakes other than more wealth is something to me, especially with the original metaphor and how it extends into later sequels, spinoffs, and fanfiction like Unicorn. I know this alone is petty, and maybe it is even with my other points. Still feel like it says nothing, while mostly just existing to support a different portion of the show, when it could potentially be a narrative about both.

I want to bring up that a lot of stuff like Peil Technologies and it's influence into the Space Assembly League is lifted seemingly directly from Armored Core: For Answer's Omer Technologies and League of Ruling Companies. Peil even galvanizes scientists from Vanadis Institute similar to Rayleonard! (There wasn't a good place to do it, but I feel like I need to mention how they got Wataru Inaba to design Peil's mobile suits, since he also did Rosenthal! The depth of the homages kinda go crazy.) Even with major elements of the show being taken wholesale from something that actually asks significant questions about the same topics G-Witch does (even has a "fuck them all ending"), I find that it fails to deliver by instead being one about bad actors and something about traumatized rich people leading to injustices, rather than critiquing the systems that allow that to occur.

This is just a guess, but I felt that in the show they originally planned to play with POV more. There are some bits in the first cour that are framed to be fun school club activities, but if you even think about it for a second they're a branch of a megacorporation advertising a war machine in a family friendly way to promote, medicine? Alongside the primary characters all being from prosperous backgrounds in a world that's run amuck with inequality, and the character framed as a villain who's seen as a hero to those on Earth, something interesting could've been done here! Two major events related to this happen, but quickly get glossed over due to some SEED-level MacGuffin spawning during the last portion of the show.

Thanks Rau.

One thing to note is that by the end, while Prospera gets to retire, Shaddiq just drew the wrong card in Monopoly. I would normally take this more in good-faith, but the framing of it just felt extremely wrong to me. It's taken more as a fact of the system, rather than something that can be fixed through stuff like action and education. But yeah, take this with a grain of salt since it's just my read on it.

Overall while the queer stuff in G-Witch is genuinely amazing, I do find the other social inequality stuff just completely lacking. It makes me wonder why they even included it outside of having the Utena stuff on a not!Aneheim colony through some Raven arena ranking system. I have a theory that some staffer, say Ookouchi, simply likes these works (check what he's worked on for example), but I really wish it paid homage to them by actually utilizing them.

I'm really hoping they make more anime in the Ad Stella timeline, since I think it has potential to be some of the most interesting Gundam stuff ever, especially since this sort of stuff doesn't get discussed in the series all too much. It's also the closest I'll get to any sort of Armored Core anime. Next time BL tho.

#gundam #gundam the witch from mercury

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selfidentifiednerdyprude · 1 year

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kink & asexuality: further thoughts

inspired by these tags via @\skelebk on this post (not tagging them because this post might get a little tmi and they're like. a stranger. but I do want to credit them for giving me the inspiration for this rant because their tags bring up something important that I feel needs to be discussed)

(also, disclaimer that this post isn't trying to change anyone's mind. if you're happy in the kink scene, great! I want you to keep being happy. but this post is about why I, personally, was not happy in the kink scene, and how I made myself a hell of a lot happier once I left it.)

#had a friend who was very into the kink scene#would go to those kink clubs sort of into the scene#they would go on a lot about kink and how great it is and would encourage me to try it out#at some point it started to feel like talking to a religious person who keeps trying to convert you#they also IDed as ace and knew I did too#they kept stressing it wasn't all sexual#it was very tiring#ace#some people just need therapy and not kink#and that's okay

and I want to ramble for a second (it might be gibberish but I am asking you to please bear with me here) about "they kept stressing it wasn't all sexual"

because that's one of those things, like "some aces have sex"/"some aros can be in romantic relationships" that is... true, I guess, but also missing the point. because yeah, not everything under the umbrella of kink involves bumping uglies. that's true. however, the vast majority of how the kink community is organized and structured, its aesthetics, what is talked about within those spaces, what is assumed of people who choose to spend their time within it, etc. exists with the expectation that there is a psychosexual nature to the activities being performed. I know this, from my ill-fated attempts to fit my kind of relationship into the paradigm of kinky power exchange. I also know this from my time trying to do conventional kinky power exchange in a "nonsexual" (but still, because of the nature of kinky power exchange, psychosexual) way.

"nonsexual" kink is, more often than not, still psychosexual. "nonsexual" kink done in an unsafe, irresponsible, or abusive manner can still affect someone in much the same way that sexual trauma can affect someone. and most importantly, "nonsexual" kink is still incredibly dangerous to participate in unless you are a mature and autonomous adult with a good handle on how you react in difficult or stressful situations.

the thing is, though, there are elements of kink that have applications outside of the psychosexual. but if someone wants to explore a certain not directly sexual thing that happens to also fall under the umbrella of kink, whether that not-directly-sexual thing is leader/follower roles or certain types of sensory experiences or whatever, the kink community is often the only place to explore that. and it shouldn't be, especially when it is so hostile by design to so many who could benefit from things that originated within it.

personally, I think that what we need is other types of communities that aim to center different lenses through which these things are experienced. the kink community centers the psychosexual— we need communities that center the psychosocial, the spiritual, the sensory, the intellectual, the cathartic. we need communities that build on the work that kink communities have already done while also critiquing the places where kink communities fall short. I'm already kind of starting to do this, with Trusted Companionship (specifically, what I am doing is looking at power exchange from a psychosocial angle, focusing on consensual exploration of leader/follower roles as a liberatory practice for those who have had power wielded against them).

but we need more people doing the same thing from different angles, because just like kink as a paradigm won't work for everyone, Trusted Companionship as a paradigm won't work for everyone who kink doesn't work for.

and we also need to stop doing that annoying thing where we assume that the only way to have a healthy relationship at all is through kink. because jesus fuck, dude. why do we do that.

#asexuality #kink mention

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tanadrin · 2 years

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TBH after reading the first paragraph of your latest post I thought the rest of it was going to be "and here's why all of that is laughably retarded and my take on how our institutions are captured by lysenkoists" - entire fields are badly wrong often, especially nutrition, why do you buy it?

I buy it because the science is reliable.

I don't know how you could characterize nutrition science as "captured by lysenkoists" in any form, unless by "lysenkoist" you just mean to generally disparage science you think is politically motivated. "X field is Lysenkoism" seems usually to be a lazy critique by people who want to dismiss politically inconvenient research without engaging with the substance of why they think a field or sub-field is wrong, which is the least interesting kind of critique.

The human body is complicated, so nutrition is hard to study. That sounds quite simple on its own, but it's very difficult to underrate the complexity of systems developed by random mutation and selection. I remember an anecdote I read once about circuits designed via genetic algorithm, which produced results that were difficult to understand. Individual elements usually had multiple overlapping functions, and there was one that had a closed loop totally unconnected to the rest of the device--but if you removed it it totally stopped functioning. Only after some serious investigation did the experimenters determine this was because of some kind of weak electrically-induced effect that this loop produced, which was nonetheless critical to the circuit's function. Most biological systems are designed in a similarly infuriating way, and the algorithms that produce them have been running for millions of years. On top of that, it's difficult to observe the human metabolism in action, and we're still not equal to the task of simulating it at any kind of realistic detail.

I think like a lot of biology, nutrition and food science has done quite a lot of impressive stuff given those restrictions, but "what are the causes of fatness in general, and the obesity epidemic in particular" are narrower questions that we've focused on intently only for a few decades. The obesity epidemic is recent, and for most of its history the science of food and nutrition has been concentrated on more pressing issues like how do we feed a rapidly growing world population, and prevent dietary diseases like rickets and pellagra, and not "what is the precise relationship of fatness to various health conditions, and what factors most directly control fatness."

The stuff you refer to as "laughably retarted" is what falls out of the evidence as soon as you start looking at it in any detail. These aren't controversial or difficult-to-replicate results--they're out of step with the common medical wisdom in some ways, but only because the common medical wisdom is often laughably retarded. Some doctors still get taught as fact that black people feel pain less acutely than white people, and until COVID hit and forced us to reexamine the evidence, common medical wisdom totally misunderstood how airborne particulates worked, based on a single totally misinterpreted study from a hundred years ago, even though any air pollution scientist could have set them straight. Because of a single anecdote by one researcher (I think Kinskey, but correct me if I'm wrong), a lot of gynecologists seem to think the cervix feels no pain at all, meaning IUDs are commonly inserted using sharp-tipped forceps to hold the cervix--and while this is fine for some, others find it excruciatingly painful, because it turns out that the sensitivity of the cervix to pain varies wildly among individuals. And these areas--pain, airborne disease, and gynecology--are comparatively tractable to study.

We have known since time immemorial that if you starve, you get thin and eventually die. Since 1761, we've had calorimeters that can give us a rough guess on the energy contained in food; and with those two tools you can rough out at basic CICO model. You could stop there, and treat all subsequent developments in the area as Lysenkoism because they didn't conform to your prior assumptions on what fatness is and means, but then you'd have no tools to understand questions like why obesity began rising toward the end of the 20th century, long after wealthy industrialized countries moved to a more sedentary lifestyle, how appetite relates to actual food consumption and exercise, what the metabolic effects of different foods are, the role of gut bacteria in health and how they're influenced by diet, and lots of other interesting questions. And, well, that would be laughably retarded.

#i mean correct me if i'm wrong #but this isn't even a case of competing theories #there's just a set of rather interesting studies over here #and a bunch of people who haven't looked into them at all putting their fingers in their ears #and going 'la la la this contradicts my assumptions so it must be wrong'#if somebody ran a study that said #'yep diets do work and people do keep weight off long term in most cases'#by all means tell me about it #i'd be super interested to hear it

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utopiawx · 1 year

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NM3217 - Final Project (At LAST)

Transformation of Logo & Brand Style:

According to the project prompt, the guide for us was: 1) What do you know about yourself? 2) How can this project best encapsulate/ represent your values? 3)How would you go about representing YOU as a brand? Or develop a brand that represents you?

and on week 11th our last F2F tutorial we were told to come up with a word cloud. Hence with that, I came up with a word cloud above. My initial thoughts were between doing a plain boring black and white (which was my most preferred colour on any day in the "introvert" me) vs something crazy that suits my extrovert days ~ from what you can see I chose the latter.

Funky & fun was the first word that came to my mind, I thought of using bright colours, neon schemes especially to create the partying vibe.

Following on, I have searched for some images that give me the vibe that I want and attempted to draw some inspiration from them. From it, 2 colours stand out to me, Pink (Magenta) and Cyan Blue. And that's how the colour scheme for our brand style comes about!

Sticking with the maximum 3 colour guidelines, I have also decided to make use of white to balance up the colour a little.

Typography:

For typography, I chose the Eras series, as I feel that it fits the vibe I am looking for, funky looking yet still keeping a bit of a professional look in it, as I have taken into consideration that it will be used for my resume. Now for the Logo:

I came up with a few draft sketches for it, initially, I thought of just keeping it simple by incorporating my initials OWX into it. But after which after looking at examples online, I thought to include other traits into it as well.

Adding in traits like birthday date 03-09 and Chinese name. I decided to incorporate my Chinese name because since it's a logo that represents me, I am Chinese and personally more fluent in Mandarin, I thought it would be cool that with one look, someone can tell that I am bilingual from the logo itself no explanation needed, which was also why I purposely left out the language section in my resume after. I was in a dilemma after coming up with the above 3 logo design, but thankfully I asked my friend for opinion for it , which brings me to the final design: With that,

Software used when doing Brand Style:

For this assignment, I made use of

illustrator (My favourite by far~)

2. Indesign (because required to...)

This is also because I wanted to "play cheat" by tapping on the fact that elements could be copied directly from illustrator to Indesign but not from Photoshop. Also as I find the Indesign feature a pain in an ass to use, so I made use of illustrator to do most of the brand style portion and just copied it over to Indesign to do the layout.

Initially, when I was doing the I was all hyped up about it and thinking that since My brand image, I wanted to be as bold, as loud and as crazy as I could. So as I was doing the brand style, I tried to go crazy a bit with how I presented my work. Unfortunately~~~ it got struck down during the critique, I was told that its too loud, and too bold, presentation of the work was too messy unable to find a visual hierarchy. Which at that point, I was thinking of reversing back to the plain simple and boring black-and-white style. However, since its MY BRAND, I thought that NOPEE~ I am not giving in on the colours but for the sake of the assignment criteria I will just tone down and do out the very standard and of the norm kind of presentation style which is:

Making every background white, keeping the text colour as standardised as possible. Guess, not everybody can accept being crazy ~ or rather everyone has a different definition of crazy.

DO's :

For Do's the very first thing I thought of would be since I am using white which is a common colour for printing surfaces (White Paper). Hence, I thought to resolve it by allowing the use of black to substitute the white outline of the logo.

Seclusion Zone:

DON'Ts :

I also thought of 6 don'ts think of how people might commonly abuse the logo.

Name Cards:

For the name cards, I came up with 2 variations, with it showing the variation of the logo. I purposely left out the job position because I am still exploring my options and have not selected the career path that I want in life.

Resume on Indesign:

I created a template for the resume using illustrator first before copying it over to Indesign to add the fonts.

As well as editing the layout for the other components of the brand style in Indesign.

One thing I think Indesign came to use in this assignment is the fact that it allows me to set the orientation of the PDF such that there is both landscape and portrait mode.

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ive-tumbled-down-a-rabbit-hole · 3 years

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A spa(r) day you say?

“So, we’re all in agreement that we’re having a girls spa day tomorrow, followed by pizza and films at mine afterwards?”

Steph’s voice carried out of the library and down the hall just as Jason was walking past. ‘Spar day’ hit his ears and he perked up. That sounded like an awesome idea. He loved a good spar. It had been a while since the guy’s had done something like that other than training. This though was making it to a fun event, rather than Bruce critiquing their techniques. And the girls were planning one for tomorrow. Mind made up, he needed to wangle his way into their plans. It was an opportunity to show off to Marnette who he might or might not be soft for. On top of that Steph couldn’t really argue with him joining as she had announced to the whole house with how loud she was talking.

“I’m in” he stated as he walked into the library to find Steph sprawled across one of the sofas, Marinette was locked into a sketch she was working on with Cass sitting behind her playing with her hair.

“You’re in? In what Jay?” Steph looked at him puzzled. “Your spar day. I want to join in! It’s been ages since I’ve had a good spar day” he replied.

“You want to join our girls spa day? Since when do you like spa’s? You teased me last time I had one.” Steph bemusedly responded. Jason looked aghast, him, not enjoying spar’s, teasing her about sparing, what rock is Steph hiding under?

“Steph, No offences but what the fuck!? Of course I love a decent spar. If I was laughing at you last time its cos you were making a fool out of yourself and need to brush up”

Cass hummed to herself and continued playing with Marinette’s hair watching the verbal blows exchanged between Steph and Jason with amusement. The pair were funny to observe, though the words were mean, there was no heat or hurt behind them. It was more aggressive banter.

“M, should we let Jay join in our spa day?” she quietly whispered in the girl’s ear. Mirth filtered in her voice “It might not be quite what he is expecting though”

Marinette jolted out of her design flurry back into the real world by Cass’s whisper, and quickly observed Steph and Jason trading insults and quickly understood what Cass meant.

“I’m ok with Jay joining us if he is that desperate”

“Desperate! YOu think I’m desperate?!”

“How else would you describe the battle of words between you and Steff to allow her to let you join in?”

Jason could only splutter at that. How could Mari betray him like this.

“Urghhh! Fine! Since Cass and M have agreed with you joining us… I guess you can join in! But you’re not invited to films and pizza night though! That is sacred ‘Girl Time’ which you will NOT encroach on. I don’t care how much you claim I’m hogging M, you’ll already be crashing spa time AND the fact that you’re crushing on her won't sway me! I’ll text you the location of the spa. Meet us there tomorrow at 10.00. Remember to bring the stuff you need.”

Steph pouted, while relenting to Jason’s demands since her chosen sisters were allowing it. In the corner of her eye she could see Cass grinning with mischief and Marinette smiling with amusement. Maybe letting Jason join them won’t be too bad since Cass seems to know something that has going over her head.

Jason’s ears tinged pink. He could see Marinette and Cass smiling at what Steph had said, how dare she bring up his (not so) subtle crush. Ok he would have done the same but still. Rude!

“We’re not sparring at the manor?”

“No, Jason. If you used your ears you’d know that we spa-ing it elsewhere. Like I said bird brain I’ll text you the details.”

“Fine, you better” Jason muttered before storming off. He didn’t need the teasing from Steph, or for Cass to join in in front of Marinette. He was glad he left when he did as the cackling laughter that erupted from the library moments later wasn’t something he fancied facing. At least he would be able to get his revenge on Steph in a few Spar matches tomorrow.

……………………………………………………….

Jason had been played. He knew it well and truly. It was partially his own fault. Steph had sort of tried to discourage him but hadn’t actually stopped him. Cass had a look of chaos when she said to let him join, that should have been a huge warning sign. They were key elements he should have noticed. Then not “sparing” at the manor was another big hint. Him not researching the location Steph texted him was another huge mistake. Meeting them there rather than beforehand to see that the girls were NOT in fact wearing gym clothes again probably was on him as well. Still, he was going to blame Steph for relenting and letting him join. It was her loud mouth's fault in the first place he was here, therefore all her fault.

It was because of Steph he was in a Wayne Hotel and SPA and not a gym for the day. And it was painful!

He had to cope sitting with Cass, Steph and Marinette, who all wore swimwear (unlike him having to refashion gym shorts) and dressing gowns, all having manicures and pedicures, him included.

It was torture. He had admired Marinette’s physique before wearing normal clothes and her wearing her ladybug outfit was a distraction at times. Here and now sitting with his traitorous sisters was physical torture. Bikinis allowed way too much muscle to show. Her hidden strength was on full display. That was not fun.

He also had to suffer through mud pack facials, while dealing with Steph demanding “photo time”. It wasn’t photo time at all. It was her method to extract black mail evidence.

He might admit the back massage could have been nice, if Steph hadn’t booked a sports massage. No, she had planned her revenge to craftily with Cass, and maybe with Marinette.

He may have enjoyed the lunch if there was more of it. It was like the gala’s with the tiny pretentious food, taste nice, looks good but hardly counts as a meal.

Listening to the girls gossip about everything and anything was not something he wanted to listen to.

He could be easily convinced Steph had designed the day to make him feel miserable, if it wasn’t for the fact the trio of girls looked like they were having a blast. It could have been at his expense, you could never tell with Steph.

The only enjoyable part might have been the steam room and sauna. But again he was there with his sisters and Marinette with their bodies on full display. This resulted in him being on hyper alert to protect their modesty by glaring at creeps so not really enjoying the heat from the rooms at all.

This whole day was a Dick thing to do.

He was confident he could honestly say he hated Spas after today.

……………………………………………………….

“Thank you Jay for coming with us, that last guy was really unsettling. It was nice having you there to scare him off. Not that I didn’t not enjoy having you around all day. If that makes sense?”

Marinette sweetly said while walking towards where Alfred was parked waiting to take them back to Stephs.

“I so needed this day, Stephie! Thank you for organising it” You could physically see the stress and tension the girl had had disappeared. Cass smiled, twirling her as she guided her out, nodding in agreement giggling at the girl antics. Marinette's high spirits were contagious.

“No worries, M. You were overworked. Plus it was fun being with you all. Even bird brain here. Now for pizza and cheesy films at mine!! Lunch was nice but too small for my liking. Onwards to Alfred”

Steph declared. Jason watched, as he escorted them to Alfred, the trio bounce and dance around each other. Ok he might have not enjoyed the torment he went through today but seeing them content and happy might slightly make up for it. Marinette’s beaming happiness was worth it.

After greeting Alfred, Marinette turned and gave Jason a kiss on the cheek, while the double trouble pair climbed into the car. “Really... Thank you for today. It was fun with Cass and Stephie but, I really did enjoy spending it with you too” a slight blush graced her face, before she ducked into the car and waved bye as Cass and Steph turned on her to find out details.

Jason waved at them in a daze as Alfred drove off. The kiss was unexpected and blush so cute on Marinette. Her antics definitely didn’t help his heart and falling for her. Shaking his head as he returned to reality he walked off towards his bike to leave.

He might consider changing his mind. Spas were ok if Marinette was involved.

...............................................

Masterlist

#maribat #jasonette #well hinted at #jason x marinette #marinette x jason #steph x marinette #marinette x cass #same pronunciation different meaning #miscommunication #maribat au

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white-tulips · 3 years

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well, since it’s 5 in the morning I think now’s the perfect time to ramble about my thoughts re: OMORI vs Yume Nikki game design, Black Space, and how trying to copy something successful kind of sets you up for missing the mark

these are thoughts I’ve been stewing in since january, I don’t want people to forget that I have a lot of opinions about OMORI as a game

(firstly, I’m sorry if this is all over the place or not worded well. it is 5AM)

I’ll preface this by saying that these are merely my opinions. I’m specifically going to be focusing on one aspect of game design here, so if you’re curious about any of my other OMORI game design opinions they’re scattered around my blog and are not hard to find tbh

okay so my thoughts about this are mostly Black Space exclusive, and considering that’s one of the climaxes of the game this might be a bit of a spicy subject to talk about KJFGHKFJG but I am passionate about good game design okay. especially in psychological horror RPG games. (also throwing out there jic that I don’t think OMORI is a bad psychological horror. pls reference this post)

(also want to say that I genuinely like Black Space. okay? okay)

so this was something that I was talking about with a couple of friends back when I first finished OMORI around the beginning of january. actually, at this point I hadn’t even played Yume Nikki yet, but when I did finally play it recently my thoughts on this were 100% solidified

essentially, our thoughts on this can be boiled down to how Black Space was trying too hard to be Yume Nikki, but didn’t grasp exactly what made Yume Nikki so impactful in the first place

obviously taking inspiration from something you like and wanting to rework it into your own creation is normal, good, and even encouraged! however, the most crucial thing with that is the “reworking” part. when being inspired by something, the goal is to take what you loved, and didn’t love, and mold it into something entirely new. it shouldn’t be “well I like this thing, and this thing did it like this so I’ll try to do it like that too” because it’s just not going to work. (this is actually an all around issue I have with OMORI, not just Black Space, but more on that later)

so to me, a good 50% of Black Space came of feeling kind of... eh...? it was like... you have 50% that feels so well thought out and meaningful, and then 50% that’s there just to. be there. and be like Yume Nikki, I guess. even before I played Yume Nikki, I couldn’t even remember some of the rooms in Black Space existed until I replayed it again, which is a shame because Black Space is the type of area where everything should leave an impact

now I want to talk about the game design itself-

Yume Nikki is a game about experiences, and atmosphere. there’s limitless area to explore, so much so that it feels endless. there are so few things to interact with that sometimes it feels like you’re doing nothing at all. all you have is aimlessly wandering these huge areas, taking in the sights, and listening to vague sounds and music in the background that are often just a few seconds of audio played on loop. (this is one of my favorite OST in the game. having this be all you hear for 30 minutes as you walk around in a looping forest really does things to your head)

it uses all of these elements to make you feel lost, confused, and very alone. you’re just trapped in a dream, where even with all the space in the world to explore, the lack of anything to do makes it feel suffocating. even the small area you have in the waking world is designed in such a way that feels cramped and destitute-

Yume Nikki is a perfect example of “less is more” and “show, don’t tell.”

then take OMORI, which doesn’t really know how to balance those things with it’s tendency to try and shove too much in. for instance, think about the over abundance if NPCs with irrelevant fluff dialogue. it was all too much and so dull it got to a point I stopped reading most of them altogether

(and something important to note I think, is that the general feeling of Yume Nikki is the same throughout the entire game. the tone never really changes, and neither do the expectations. OMORI, however, tends to just drop things on you out of nowhere. and that’s not necessarily a bad thing! it works for a lot of different sections of the game, I’ll say.

however, Black Space was different. it’s kind of like, it just drops you in there and expects you to understand the way it works, despite the fact that all of the other horror segments lead you to have a completely different set of expectations for what you should be doing/feeling. it’s like shifting you into another game entirely, and it’s almost immersion breaking. up until this point, OMORI was not the same type of “show don’t tell” type of game, so suddenly jumping to attempt to do that can make it lose some of it’s impact)

like I mentioned before, Black Space is designed in a way that’s meant to mimic Yume Nikki. and I think we need to ask ourselves “just because we can do this, does it mean that we should?” again, taking inspiration isn’t a bad thing, but it’s the execution that matters

and here’s where my biggest issue actually lies, I suppose. it’s the fact that OMORI has multiple instances of trying to take inspiration from other things, and failing because it’s trying too hard to copy, not rework. it’s just most obvious because of Black Space, I think. because, like I said before, a good half of Black Space is just trying to be Yume Nikki without giving it any OMORI original flavor, and the fact that it’s trying to be something else is immersive breaking as hell to me

for example, take the red mazes. I don’t think the idea to incorporate it into OMORI was bad, but. you can plainly see when you compare the two maps that nothing was really reworked, made more interesting, or even given a OMORI flavored twist-

(Yume Nikki-1 ; OMORI-2)

another instance is less about the game design itself, but surprising/not-surprisingly, it actually has to do with OST

this is something my friend was telling me, because I myself have not read Umineko, but there are OST in OMORI blatantly trying to mimic songs from that VN, even down to their names

the biggest offender imo is GOLDENVENGEANCE which is a decent song, I won’t say it isn’t, but compare it to it’s Umineko inspiration, Golden Slaughterer

it’s just another unfortunate instance of “this thing I like is good, so I’ll try to copy it!” with no clear grasp on why it’s successful and it’s disappointing. that’s really the only word I have for it at this point, disappointing

and the reason it’s most disappointing is because of things in OMORI that are obvious inspiration, but were reworked so well

let’s take this other Umineko OST, Worldend Dominator. this is a brilliant song, and it’s really fun to listen to. and, it very clearly inspired beloved World's End Valentine

World’s End Valentine slaps. it’s great. it takes aspects of Worldend Dominator and shifts them around to be a unique and fun piece of music that also fits into OMORI perfectly.

something important to note about this, is that World’s End Valentine and GOLDENVENGEANCE were written by two different composers. what this makes clear to me is that there were people on the OMORI dev team that were better at reworking ideas than others. because, despite a lot of the criticisms I was talking about, there are things in OMORI that are obvious references that I love and think are great!

like this one, the most pointed out nod to Yume Nikki-

I think it’s great. it’s taking a very memorable bit of imagery from Yume Nikki, and giving it a reference while also giving it it’s own deeper meaning beyond just the aesthetics of it. it’s just good, I love it

and yeah, not all of Black Space feels like one giant copy of Yume Nikki. there are plenty of doors that I think take the same aimless, empty, and unsettling feelings and use them in a new way that feels more grounded in OMORI. my personal favorite door is the “Sunny... I love you.” room.

actually, funnily enough, the area in OMORI that felt the most like Yume Nikki to me wasn’t in Black Space at all. it was actually the snowy area right before Snowglobe Mountain. something about the vast empty space, simple yet atmospheric OST, and little things to find scattered around just gave me a nice Yume Nikki vibe, but mixed with the OMORI style (hell, the OST there and the one for the snowy area in Yume Nikki even have a pleasantly similar vibe, and not in the “oh this is a copy” way [X] [X])

gosh, I feel like if I keep talking I might end up going in circles more than I already have

hopefully my words made sense!! I’d love if anything I said resonated with anyone aha. I just hope that I’m not coming across as hating on something because I’m biased towards something else or something... almost all of the critiques I have about OMORI come from a place of genuine interest

thank you if you read all of this!

#text #omori #omori spoilers #oh no tumblr user white tulips made another opinion post that took 3 hours to type #meta

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brawltogethernow · 4 years

Note

So on the whole, how useful would you say Death Note is for teaching someone how to write a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters that's at least... 50% watertight?

General disclaimer that I haven’t touched the source material directly in many years, and all my dn posts are me feeling my feelings. But yeah, I can shake my 8-ball about this.

There are two components to dn’s approach to “a convoluted plot between enemy chessmasters”, and they’re only roughly stapled together. There’s the rivalry/characterization part, which is both compelling and silly, and is mostly about aesthetic. That never really concludes in a satisfying way. It’s not TRYING to, because the characters are pretty much there to hold up the thought experiment premise, which demands a lot of grit and unpoetic death and not solid foundations of character/relationship work. Like there’s stuff there but you’re really deep-mining for it and doing a lot of the work yourself, and that’s by design. All of the character arcs, which are pretty thin on the ground, trend in a negative/dismantling direction (because it’s a tragedy), and few of the relationships play out all the potential they have (because it’s not a tragedy about relationships).

The character aspect of the chessmaster stuff is heavily reliant on the conceit that once people are smart enough they will start reaching the same conclusions in the same way. Like there’s a single most ideal train of thought for every situation that even people who should have very different thought processes will reach with the assistance of enough little gray cells. This isn’t uncommon in smartboi stories, but dn went absolutely ham on it, if you want to make a study of that trope.

The biggest takeaway there is probably noting how the creative team seems to have been unaware that a lot of their audience was actually buying into that between the lead and their rival as a “meant to be enemies” kind of thing and didn’t realize that faction would be less interested once it became obvious that no, all geniuses in this world are taking turns using one brain. I’ll freely admit I deliberately misread this element to maximize my own investment.

Then there are the tricks and puzzles. The odd logical hole is inevitable, but overall they’re solid. They’re also just procedural plots delivered in a less formulaic story than that usually makes one think of. There’s nothing distinguishing them from the weekly puzzle of a House episode or a Detective Conan arc except for raw creativity and panache. There is rarely any characterization going on whatsoever. The twists require players, but you never get the sense that only whoever is being pulled to act could fill their part. They’re always stand-ins for perfectly generic individuals, putting their distinctive quirks and intense personal philosophies aside. This is that idea that there’s one way of thinking that everyone is accessing at staggered intelligence levels in play again. People are simplified until they can be pieces in contraptions no more complex than Light’s exploding desk drawer trap.

This is why the trick plots of dn don’t get pored over a lot by fans. They’re looped too loosely to the rest of the story to have an emotional impact that will make them memorable long-term. They’re deceptively simple, too. Kind of the opposite of a story twist that makes you rethink everything that came before it in a new light. You can’t dismantle dn and reassemble it like pentominoes very easily. A lot of it is grand set pieces, and if you tease out any of the puzzle plots they sort of lose structural integrity and flake away. This is why most canon divergence fic for dn is “diverging” by asking the question “what if Light were less of a shit”.

Ultimately, Death Note only gives the impression of being a complex engine made of moving parts. Its strong suit is its showmanship. It’s very good at carrying you along from twist to twist in a state of mild beffudlement that doesn’t quite escalate to belligerent and securing that “Oh wow! That was clever!” reaction. The mastermind-offs of are deceptively static, pretty much coming down to one party either failing or succeeding to thwart a plot laid out by another in advance without a lot of combating each others’ machinations in real time. Once resolved, twists vanish from the consciousness like disappearing gold. There’s no fiber to them, just flash.

This isn’t critique! Most elements of this story do what they’re deployed to do. (If the tricks needed workshopping, people would analyze them more, ironically.)

I’m myself shit at (de)constructing brain tingler twists and can’t really identify if dn’s are useful for instruction purposes. Not for people who don’t already have a natural talent for them, I guess! It might be interesting to identify why they’re not immediately identifiable as bloodless trick plots, except I suspect it might just be that the rest of dn is so insane and dissimilar from stories that usually contain those? Like I already compared it to two Holmes descendants, and it definitely has BBC Sherlock “let the asshole speak, genii are a protected species” vibes, and the criminal protagonist facing off with a detective premise is Arsene Lupin-y, yet I still feel weird identifying Death Note itself as in this broader genre because *gestures to all of it*.

It’s the least formula-reliant example of the breed I can think of right now, which is neat. (Annnnd also definitely feeds in to people being dissatisfied with it because they miscalled what it was trying to be. Dn is just generally pretty unique, and I imagine the team was making up a lot of its playbook from scratch as it went along, which leaves the audience in kind making up the experience of consuming it.)

All of the above is incidentally why dn is infamous for being very compelling in the moment but then having people revisit thinking about it and decide the he-knows-that-I-know-that-he-knows conceit is actually ridiculous and needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

So uh. This all SOUNDS like bad form, but that’s arguably me being a basic bitch who “likes when plot and character and aesthetic inform each other”, and that’s just fundamentally not what Death Note is. Also it’s kind of a lofty starting goal and writing is hard. Like! This approach worked! We are discussing a very successful property with many fans. (And a weirdly finite cultural impact for its popularity but this isn’t necessarily why.) I guess this is an acceptable playbook, and the takeaway is that you CAN successfully Frankenstein together different unconnected storytelling methods, and it will look dazzling and impressive and barely leave any of your readership feeling confused and hollow inside and likely to return and make fun of themselves for accidentally liking your work wrong.

Oh, also, dn as do’s and don’t’s of building a mastermind character. Do give headlining characters eye-catching, memetic traits. Don’t fail to trace those traits down so they actually represent something at your character’s core because you crossed over the line from “spinning characters out as foils and parallels who compare and contrast to each other in interesting ways” into “all of your smart characters are basically the same challenge-seeking misanthrope stamped with different surface features” -- except WHO ELSE IS GOING TO HAVE THAT PROBLEM? THAT’S NOT NORMAL.

So yeah you COULD study Death Note, or you could binge some crime dramas and then some X-Men issues that have battles in the center of the mind over the same weekend and get basically the same net effect.

#death note #mirrorfalls #asks answered

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pl-panda · 4 years

Text

Damienette aranged marriage: part 3

Whoa... Two parts in one day. Sorry if this one is worse, but yet again I wrote this instead of sleeping.

Warning: there will be some cursing from Jason, but can you really blame him? Credits: Miraculous Ladybug team for the elements I take from MLB show. DC for their characters, @ozmav for the AU, @maribat-archive for giving me access to so many different stories to have take inspirations from, @thyladyanput for idea for Chat Damian and me for the plot.

Part 1

Damienette arranged marriage: Part 3

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“And why would you tell her everything?!” Jason screamed, still hidden behind Batman’s towering posture.

“Because she is my wife Todd!” Damian screamed. The silence in the room was thick enough that if the assassin swinged his sword, he would be able to cut it in half. Finally, Bruce was the one to break it.

“Fuck.”

This worked like detonating a bomb. Immediately, Red Hood, Red Robin and Nightwing pushed their way into the room and surrounded the two teens.

“You were gone for less than forty-eight hours!” Dick

“How did you manage to get married!” Drake

“You are just fifteen demon spawn!” Todd

“And who is she!?” Drake again.

Talia watched this whole ordeal with no small amount of amusement. That is until Bruce suddenly appeared next to her. His frown was downright scary even for her. “Explain. Now!” The growl was low and emotionless, but it was enough to yet again put the room in dead silence.

“Beloved. It is good to see you too.” Talia smiled seductively.

“I am not in the mood. Now talk!”

“Fine.” She dropped all illusion of niceness. “I made peace with old enemy of the League. Or even a shaky alliance. But to seal the treaty, an assurance was required.”

“And that assurance was?” Jason asked confused, earning a facepalm from Dick.

“The Royal Marriage. An heir of the League and future leader of the Order.”

“And that leader would be… her?” Batman asked, not fully convinced.

Marinette was standing there the whole time, greatly uncomfortable with the attention Bat Family was giving her and Damian. She did read a bit on them, but it was always Alya who never shut up about heroes. For the most part, she preferred talk about Ladybug, but lately there was slowly forming a rift. The aspiring reporter was falling into Lila’s lies, posting unreliable videos on Ladyblog. Rossi had it for Ladybug and Alya, together with the rest of Marinette’s class, was falling for her machinations. They still hanged out with Marinette, but there was this distaste forming around her. She was no longer their to-go person with personal problems, being replaced by Lila who was awful at helping others unless it benefited her. But now Marinette had more pressing matter than a pity little liar. She looked at Batman, then at the bat-kids and finally at Damian. They were all looking at her expectantly.

“Oh right! Sorry. I did it again…” She gave them a sheepish smile. “I am Ladybug, hero of Paris and Great Guardian of the Miraculous.” She stated. Most of the heroes (bar Damian who knew a tidy bit about the Order of the Guardians) were confused.

“Paris doesn’t have heroes. There aren’t even any supervillains there.”

“Excuse me?! How does nobody knows what is going on in Paris!” Ladybug shouted. “Ugh! Seriously?!”

Batman narrowed his eyes. “Forgive me, Ladybug, but the Justice League would know if there was a threat in Paris. So who are you really.”

“Then ask Green Lantern. He was the one who laughed at my plea for help.” She scowled, but then her demeanor changed. She calmed down and gave a sheepish smile. “But guess I should thank him. I can only dread what would happen if Superman was akumatized. Or Flash. Or anyone really. I don’t think I could win.”

Batman frowned. He would have a talk with Hal once he dealt with this. If there was really a threat like that, ignoring it was not only stupid, but dangerous. And the girl was at best Damian’s age. She was dealing with this for how long? The way she spoke suggested that she was in charge. A child fighting in a war all alone.

“For now beloved, it should be enough for you that the two of them are legally married.”

“Like hell!” Jason shouted at her, waving his gun. “They are fifteen. No court would accept this.”

“Actually,” Tim started, “under some laws they can be married. For example ‘The Personal Status Law of Muslims’ in Sudan sets the minimum age at ten.” He spoke like he was reading an encyclopedia.

“But we are somewhere between Nepal and China. I don’t think there are such laws here.” Dick said, but his confidence wavered.”

“Tt. First of why don’t anyone ask me or Marinette about our opinion?” Damian asked irritated.

“Shut up Demon Spawn. Adults are working here”

“If you don’t shut up, Todd, I will make you eat your dirty socks until you choke on the stench.” The young boy threatened. Marinette cringed at this, not really wanting to imaging such situation.

“The marriage stays.” Talia stated coldly. “Otherwise, I will not be able to stop League from going to war against Order of the Guardians.”

“You are their leader.” Batman pointed out.

“That may be correct, beloved, but I am but a regent. Only after Damian finally assumes the leadership, his word will be law. I do try to reform the league, but there is little I can do in this situation.”

“Bullshit!” Jason cursed. “You are just manipulative bitch.”

“Jason!” Dick hit the back of Red Hood’s helmet, causing him to almost tumble. “Language. There are minors in the room.”

“Don’t worry Mousier.” Marinette noted that the whole debate shifted to English. She learned it years ago when she first got interested in fashion. Some of the greatest fashion critiques wrote only in English and she didn’t want to be left behind. And other foreign critiques and designers were always translated into English. “After today, cursing is the least of my worries.” During the talk, Marinette pulled her yo-yo to check the situation in Paris. The good news were that there was no Akuma attack since her confrontation with Hawkmoth. Bad news: she was gone for over forty hours already.

“What exactly is the deal?” Bruce sighted. He loved his boys, but he could practically feel his hair graying. At least the girls didn’t go around marrying total strangers. “I want the full story Talia. Don’t even try to deceive us.”

“As you wish Beloved.” She smiled and sat back at her chair. Jason was about to hop onto where Marinette sat, but Damian ‘accidentally’ tripped him. Ladybug detransformed and Tikki flew out.

“What is this flying mouse?!” Dick screeched upon seeing a kwami.

“My name is Tikki. I am kwami, or if you prefer a small god, of creation and luck.”

“Okay… I’ve totally seen weirder.” Jason shrugged and Tim was too busy trying to plug in his pocket kettle to make himself some coffee.

“Ekhm.” Bruce faux-coughted to get their attention. “Begin Talia.”

“Many centuries ago, magic jewels bestowing extraordinary powers were created. These were... the Miraculous. Throughout history, heroes have used these jewels for the good of the human race. Order of The Guardians was responsible for protecting and distributing the Miraculous for the good of all humanity. Some time in the past, League has learned about the existence of this artifacts, more powerful than even Lazarus Pit. A secret war began between two organizations. There was a constant stalemate until the Order was mysteriously destroyed without a trace. We believed all miraculous to be lost until two years ago heroes and villains using them appeared in Paris. Initially, we ignored them, long since abandoning this war. But then, some month ago a temple of the Guardians suddenly reappeared with the Order in chaos. The League attacked, but they were strong enough to withstand the initial strike and turn it into a siege. In time, we would have succeeded and wiped them once and for all. But instead, the Guardians understood their situation and reached to us with agreement. A truce and alliance, in exchange for sparing them.”

“Yeah right! Only an idiot would take such offer!” Red Hood kept arguing with the Assassin woman.

“Or a strategist. Either way, the League wins. They no longer need to worry about threat, but this way they also get an ally.” Batman remained expressionless, but he kept sending Damian and Marinette side-glares. He wanted to know how they are coping with this. The girl was a bit shaken, but that was to be expected. He would talk more with her later. What surprised him was that Damian seemed to show concern for her. The kind he usually reserved only for his brothers and father.

“Yes. While our methods differ, the League and the Order have a common goal: prosperity for all humanity. But to ensure that neither side would go against the other, there needed to be a more tangible symbol of this union.”

“Marriage of the heirs. In the past such method was often used to symbolize an alliance. It symbolized equality of both partners and parties they represented.” Tim acted as an universal encyclopedia again, which Jason did exploit to tease him mercilessly while the others focused on the discussion.

“And let me guess” Dick frowned. “If they break the deal, it means war?”

“Yes.” Damian simply nodded. The memory of his mother’s threat hanging over the girl’s live was still fresh. Now that he got to know her better Damian was surprised that someone so brave and strong could at the same time be such emotionally unstable or open. It was almost refreshing. His family was awful with emotions and beyond that women only saw his last name. Many times he dealt with liars who tried to use him to get into the pockets of his father. But with Marinette he was sure that she was genuine with her feelings. He could not find any reason for her not to be at the moment, especially after she revealed her secret to him.

“So what? We are just supposed to roll with it? What will press think? You will give Alfred a heart attack Damian.” Dick rambled. Youngest Wayne decided to ignore him and turn to his father.

“While this might be a bit inconvenient, I believe it is the best course of action for now.” Damian spoke with cold and calculative voice.

“And what about you?” Batman turned to the girl, who for the most part lately was busy discussing something with the kwami in French. Bruce was proficient, but he was too focused on Talia and Damian.

“I… I accepted that my duty as Great Guardian comes with certain responsibilities. If this is what it takes to preserve peace, then I guess… I guess I will roll with it.” She smiled at Dick, almost daringly. Damian smiled too. Anyone who teased his brothers like that earned some points in his book. “But I can’t just leave Paris. For now it’s peaceful, but I don’t know how long it will last. And there are my parents… Oh Kwami! What will I tell my parents! Or my friends! Or my class! What if they reject me for this and I will be kicked from home, then I will not become a professional designer and I will never fulfill my dream and I will be forever lonely…” She unintentionally rambled in mixture of English and French while walking in circle and waving her hands. Damian grabbed her by her wrists to stop her before she accidentally knocked someone out and then cupped her hands with his. She was still talking random stuff, which made absolutely zero sense. Damn. She is cute when she is rambling. What!? He shut down the intrusive thoughts and focused on the girl… his wife.

“Calm down. Take deep breaths. You will not be alone.” He hoped it would work, but she barely slowed down. He sighted. Damian looked her deep in her bluebell eyes and she saw the two whirlpools of jade green he had. They were more prominent that Adrien’s. “Listen to my voice. All is going to be fine. We will not leave you.” This time, it did work and she calmed down.

Rest of the Batfam watched in shock how Damian has acted. It was most unusual for him to initiate physical contact at all, much less act this gentle. They looked at Talia, but she shrugged.

“I didn’t do anything if that’s what you think.” She smirked. “But I don’t think I needed.” Two newly-wed were just standing there, starring in each other’s eyes.

“Robin!” Batman finally got him to break out of this. “We gotta go. We will figure out exactly what to do later.”

“Fine. But we are taking Marinette with us.” Damian stubbornly stated.

“Yes. She should not stay here. And I have more questions for her.”

The flight to Paris was surprisingly fast. They traveled in perfect silence, but she felt rather uncomfortable with how everyone (bar Damian) sent her a suspicious glares. Finally, they landed around 8 PM on the rooftop of local Wayne Enterprises headquarter. She walked out first, happy to finally get back onto her home turf.

“Now there are some questions that needs to be answered.” Batman spoke.

“Uhm… Okay?”

“Stop intimidating her Father.” Damian scowled.

Bruce reluctantly nodded. “Maybe it would be the best to discuss it in private of my office.” He pressed some buttons on his glove and the bat-plane camouflage. Well, it was probably more of Bat-cargo plane since it could fit six people comfortably and still have much space free.

They got into the office, where Bruce had a total of five armchairs set around the coffee table. Immediately, Damian and Dick took two of them, leaving the head one for Bruce and one in between the two Waynes for Marinette. Tim didn’t bother trying to fight with Jason over who gets the last place, instead opting to just jump onto computer chair at the desk and activating a holo-screen. He quickly connected to Batcomputer and started to pull various files (mostly on Marinette and her close ones, but she didn’t see it).

“So tell me. What is our young couple planning to do now?” Dick teased them.

Jason was standing next to the alcohol bar, pouring several glasses of whiskey. Before Bruce could protest, he brought five and placed them on the table. His reaction to disapproving glare from the other adults was to just shrug. “What? They are married. I think underage drinking would be the least of the problems. Oh! That reminds me.” Jason grinned maliciously and pulled his wallet. He tossed something square and silver at Damian. “I don’t want any demon spawns junior running around soon.”

Once Marinette realized what was that and what was he implying she turned redder than Tim’s outfit. Damian scowled. “I have a sword on me Todd, so watch what you are saying. I might not have chosen her to be my bride, but I will not let you embarrass her just for your fun.”

Jason saw an opportunity and he would be damned if he didn’t take it. “Which sword are you talking about?”

Damian hissed like an angry cat and drawn his sword, lunging at his brother. Todd initially wanted to block the attack with his gun, but fine steel cut right through it. Seeing murder in Damian’s face he did the only plausible thing: started to run.

Marinette was inventing new shades of red with her blushing. Bruce gave her an apologetic look. “Please, don’t take his comments to heart. Jason is…” before batman could find a right word there was a sound of something crashing, followed by a painful yelp. In just a moment, Damian returned happy, his sword a bit bloody.

“Please tell me you didn’t kill him…” Dick begged. Marinette was not sure whether this was a joke or not, but the longer she stayed with the batfam, the less sane they appeared.

“Nah. But he didn’t look where he was running and toppled the stack of boxes and I ended up stabbing him in his left calf. He will live.” Damian assured them. And true to his words, a limping Jason appeared in the doors. He grabbed a fresh bottle of whiskey on his way to the armchair and slumped resigned. “Demon spawn!”

“Idiot!”

“Enough!” Bruce wanted to pull his hair out. “We came here to discuss a certain situation not stab each other. Marinette?”

“Yes monsieur Wayne?” She asked, still stunned with what happened. She had to admit Damian acter chiviliarus protecting her honor, even if his way was pretty violent.

“I was trying to ask you, what do you plan on doing now?”

“I… I don’t know. This all happened so fast…”

“It’s okay. I don’t think anyone would have a plan for such situation.” Dick reassured her

“Bruce does. It’s inside the safe in the batcave in folder labeled ‘Talia never gives up’.” Tim chimed in before returning to his research.

“Well, no one sane has such plans.” Dick tried to cheer her up. It did work even if just a bit. “But ask yourself what do you want.”

“Well… I would wish to finish my education and I always dreamed about becoming a professional fashion designer.”

“And how is this plan working so far?” Bruce inquired.

“Well, I do run a small internet boutique, where I take commissions and uncle Jagged refuses to wear anything that wasn’t personally designed by me.” She said casually.

“Wait a moment… Uncle Jagged as in Jagged Stone, the world-class rock musician?!” Tim suddenly shouted.

“Uh… yes?” She got confused

“But his only designer is the mysterious MDC! That would mean you are MDC!”

“Uh… yes?” Marinette had no idea why Tim acted like that.

“Oh god! Oh god! I got to meet MDC! Can I get your authograph?” He was suddenly next to her, holding a copy of the her first album cover she made for Jagged.

“Sure.” She signed it and handed it back. It read: ‘Good luck TD, MDC’.

Tim Fainted.

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Taglist (sorry if I missed you)

@pheonixashtree @sassakitty @unabashedbookworm @vixen-uchiha @maggiecc12 @actualdisasterwoman @tired-butterfly @shizukiryuu @floralfi @imanerddealwith @northernbluetongue @krispydefendorpolice @toodaloo-kangaroo @dast218 @bluesoulblueheart @theatreandcomicfreak @disneyfoxuniverse @mindfulmagics @alwaysnumberonetruth @nyaabinch @jardimazul @lenamau @rosep16 @dramatic-squirrel @sonif50 @daminett4life @lulutheawkwardess @weird-pale-blonde-person @mooshoon @jeminiikrystal @mochegato @moonlightstar64

#fanfic #fanfiction #crossover #marinette x damian #order of the guardians #guardian!marinette #maridami #maribat #damienette #maribat au #league of assassins #arranged marriage au #batman

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alfafilly · 3 years

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New Year New Me

I want to make a small New Years Resolution this year aimed specifically towards my role in the Sly Cooper fandom. It’s gonna be kinda long and venty so warning!!

As a bit of backstory, I haven’t been in a fandom/actively drawing fanart since like... 2012 maybe? Like in terms of drawing fanart for the same series routinely. I went through a really stupid phase where I thought fanart was a waste of time because I had been hounded over and over again by peers and those I looked up to that only ORIGINAL © DO NOT STEAL content mattered. I looked down on fanart and used every excuse to belittle fanartists. I dunno if this was also in part due to the last fandom I was in being extremely toxic (that being the Invader Zim fandom. Booooois them 2006-2008 deviantART IZ days were something else) and my college experience constantly telling me “fanart in your portfolio is stinky bad no do that” (which is hotly debated btw).

Anyway... jumping into the Sly Cooper fandom has been extremely positive for me and helping me shed a lot of that negative attitude. Dare I say there was character development?! And while, for the most part, Sly fandom isn’t that toxic, there are elements of it that have caused much chaotic negativity within me that I am hoping to get rid of.

Maybe it’s a result of my former opinions about fanart, but I have always felt a sense of inadequacy, or as if I NEED to make my place in the fandom for me to be relevant and to matter. I have vented about this in the past. My first fanart piece was a compilation of my interpretations of the cast, and it was well received, and everyone talked about how they wanted me to draw more characters, to see more designs, etc. Which is why I said I wanted to redesign ALL the cast because the people DEMANDED IT!! This could be my way of placing myself in the fandom!!! HELL YEAH!!!

But it didn’t make me... happy, I guess? I DO enjoy redesigning, but when I do it under my own terms, with no pressure. I think coming out of art school made me put on blinders and tell myself what I used to believe in: “If you’re going to waste your time on fanart, better make it good. You know, people can hire you if you show good fanart! These redesigns could get you a job in the industry! You gotta ONLY do work that will benefit your end goal and nothing else!!”

This often made me feel extreme guilt when I started drawing more of my Arpeggio content, or my Arpeggio AUs because despite how much fun I was having, that little voice in the back of my head was saying “No!! Stop drawing that!! Draw stuff that everyone will care about besides just you!!! You’re not going to get anywhere with this!! Drawing sexy Arpeggio won’t get you a job in the industry KJSNJKGNSKNGKJNAJ!!!!”

This mentality also crafted some uhh... extremely negative competitive attitudes towards other artists in the fandom. Certain artists would piss me off every time they posted to the point I would have to block them to stop seeing their work just to prevent these feelings. There is a notable artist I won’t name, but they do Sly redesigns too. I was fine with them initially, but after they blatantly stole one of my designs without crediting me I was LIVID. I called them out and they did apologize and changed the design, but every time I saw their work from then on out I had this insane urge to “beat them”. It was a sick competitive game. I felt jaded they ripped my design and kept getting popular anyway. TBH it’s rather petty and I am trying not to harbor any ill will towards them because I don’t think they meant anything by it and the design was rather insignificant in the whole scheme of things. But I still have them blocked or muted everywhere because I am still struggling to ignore that great urge every time I see their designs to drop everything I’m doing and draw my own redesigns out of unhealthy spite.

And I’m only briefly going to go over the god damn Deceit of Thieves drama. Apparently they are still making it into a legit game? They have a Patreon apparently and are posting stuff about it? I found out about that and the same sort of fiery rage filled me. But this was much less personal. Sure, I had given a critique to them but I honestly wanted the game/story/whatever to flourish? After seeing their poor reactions and being attacked by their white knights, my taste towards them grew bitter and I think my fellow Sly fans having the same bitterness fueled me to flat out grow a hatred for them. That’s kind of awful? I never expected to want another member of the fandom to have their project fail. What kind of asshole am I for wanting that?? I don’t want that. I want them to learn from their mistakes and make something great. Not hold some ridiculous resentment. I can decide not to support them if I wanted, but wishing failure is a whole other horrible thing.

So realizing this I knew I needed to... change my perspective on how I see myself in the fandom and how I process my feelings towards it. I don’t want to be here to produce soulless portfolio worthy content. I don’t want to compete with other artists or wish them ill. I just want to draw some god damn fanart of a series I love and that makes me happy!

I’m posting this here as a way to hold accountability to myself and be honest. I started drawing Sly stuff again in 2017 so it’s been an issue appearing on and off the last 4 years and that’s... sad. It needs to end! I appreciate everyone in the fandom who has supported me in my endeavors, as ridiculous as they are. I can’t believe drawing and writing about a dumb bird man and cat lady and throwing my stupid OCs into the fray for my favorite childhood game has made me learn so much about myself, my work, and gained me so many great peers and friends. I definitely don’t want to stop any time soon! And I apologize profusely if I ever hurt anyone in some way because I lost sight of that (or was just a dick for whatever reason).

Thanks for your support, and I hope 2021 will bring me loads more positivity into my content!!

#sly cooper #vent #rant #text post

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coffeebeannate · 3 years

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Not to go on ancient tangents again, but you know. I’ve been thinking.

I checked The Old Guard’s IMDb page again this week and it’s still sitting at 6.6/10 which while not horrendous, isn’t great either. And yet..elsewhere viewer and critic reception has been good, and strong. And positive.

Not accounting for the types of people who may be reviewing on IMDb, I keep thinking about the reasons people are giving it negative reception. Or what I personally consider possible legitimate reasons.

(Nixing any reviews that just called it ‘woke’, ‘liberal garbage’, ‘politically correct pandering’. ‘feminist shit’, ‘gay guys and women empowerment, who needs that??’ and ‘wokeflix’ aside because, IMO those automatically negate a review from possible critique and straight into bullshit territory). I have to think about some other comments I saw.

Some of which seemed to be:

(Under a cut because this gets long)

Low Budget

Badly Acted

Poorly Shot

Poorly Designed

Weak Storytelling

Weak Villains

Anti-Climatic

Generic

Cheap Overall

Within this realm, was some critique towards Gina’s directing (that i don’t agree with at all), poor storytelling (another I don’t agree with) and perhaps one that I REALLY don’t agree with ‘terrible acting’.

Now, I don’t know NEARLY enough about film making to comment on the technical elements, I can say with some assurance that I can at least recognize good acting the same way any casual viewer can? As well as decent, good or strong storytelling.

Because to me, the acting is NOT terrible. To me, the acting is phenomenal? And that is shown pretty strongly! Even breaking down every single character and the like, (yes including the villains), there are a TON of strong points from EVERYONE. And I do mean everyone. From Andy to Celeste, there ISN’T a weak point in any of the acting that I am aware of.

And believe me. I’ve watched enough times to notice.

When I think of the acting in this movie, lets say outside action sequences, I think about how pained Andy looks sitting in the Charlie Safehouse, looking at her hand and asking herself questions we can’t hear. Thoughts we can’t see but understand are happening. I think about Nile in Afghanistan after she becomes immortal, trying to take it all in and just vanishing with her ipod to have one moment to herself. Or how Joe’s brow creases and his hitched ‘I must get this out or else’ breathing when he gives the van speech. Or Nicky’s snarl on the kill floor. Booker talking about his sons. Quiet clarity from Celeste.

I think about Merrick giving his little inane speeches with utter determination and belief. Copley talking about his wife, Keane doing whatever he has to do. Kozak and her detached coldness.

Or how these interactions are always laced with feeling, depth and emotion. A movie with bad acting where you ‘don’t give a shit about these cookie cutter people’ *as some commenters have claimed*, would not make you feel this much. If the characters were poorly acted, why would the audience at large be overcome by feeling for them?

Even Quynh and Lykon, we GET A LOT with them. Even the smallest, most blink and you’ll miss it lines leave an impact.

How come my breath is still held during the van speech, even with my I don’t know how many rewatches? How come Andy’s pained shrieks in the medieval England sequence and Quynh’s terrified cries still hurt enough that I sometimes feel tempted to mute it? Or when Andy screams after Booker shoots her? Broken, betrayed and horrified?

Nile giving her description of her nightmare about Quynh, getting more and more passionate with the rawness of the dream she feels? Feeling Quynh’s pain and rage as her own because it’s just THAT real to her? Quynh panicking when Lykon won’t heal? Asking Andy ‘what’s happening’ with true terror in her voice?

You think you can have something like the Malta scene and think ‘yeah, these actors are moving like zombies through this project’. Why? How? I am not trying to be critical, I legitimately don’t understand.

And on a meta level, KNOWING how much work the actors put forth into their characters, all the little touches added in by themselves. I just question things. I suppose.

What make as good movie? I suppose the answer is always up to the audience at large, and no one person is going to have the same experience. And I’m not saying The Old Guard HAS to be a movie everyone enjoys. Of course it doesn’t. And I would never expect it to be as such. It’s either going to be your cup of tea, or it won’t be.

But I think it’s kind of unfair to completely lash out at it and blast it with comments like ‘bad acting’, ‘bad storytelling’, ‘terrible plot’, ‘boring characters’ just because it’s not running on a Marvel budget and full of CGI and a large cast quickly recognizable to mainstream audiences. Or Idk. the next Taken movie.

Does a movie have to be massive to be good? I don’t think the Old Guard at all qualifies as an indie movie, and it had a decent budget and delivered, in my opinion. Or maybe I do still have those rose-tinted glasses for it. But I think my brain is functional enough to be able to openly critique something, whether I’m obsessed with it or not.

And I gotta say..some of these critiques seem very illegitimate to me, but that is a whole other post.

I guess, end of the day, I want to see it succeed (though I think it has) and I want to see it getting the type of recognition it deserves. And feel salty about the 6.6 rating.

#the old guard #nate rambles #meta #i guess?#or is a rant #an essay?#i don't even know i'm just feeling things tonight #basically tl'dr I love this movie and it does not deserve the hate the outside gives it #and basically i saw those van speech gifs again and got lost in marwan's expressions and needed to wax poetic on a larger scale

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glitchlight · 3 years

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castlevania s4 thoughts

this is basically a live tweet thread but I didn’t live tweet it because a) spoilers for something fairly fresh and b) [ASSHOLE]’s name is all over this, as he was apparently fired after his role had wrapped up anyways.

the tl;dr for s4 and the whole of the series imo is “Incompetent Writing Well Executed” because there are frankly juvenile editing and pacing mistakes everywhere but the animation, voicework, and design are often exceptional.

i also think it’s constructive for creators to develop a strong editorial eye and to be able to see what the flaws in other works are, and what works well, a lot of my thoughts are specifically tied into that, and also criticism since I basically watched it because I have friends modestly interested in finishing it but not wanting to touch it because of [ASSHOLE]. this contains modest spoilers but a lot of the later plot details i refer to only obliquely.

-boy it doesn't feel great seeing [ASSHOLE]'s name as the first name on the title card. I get giving people their due in writing but you could've had a slighly longer title card to elevate the people who worked on it aside from [ASSHOLE] so we can celebrate them. -you could teach the first half of the first ep as what not to do in setting up plot threads it's that blatantly obvious -lenore and hector are basically different characters from s3 because [ASSHOLE] needed to introduce more intrigue to Carmilla's court. -Women need trauma to be villains hack shit. -must we introduce a morally grey androgynous woman of color badass who doesn't care about the deaths of her allies -fly demon becomes a character just cause people liked his scene lol hack shit -isaac remains easily the best and most interesting character in the series (aside from the problematic elements of his character) -fantasy "i'm blocking your number" scene is funny -Vampire Lady Hot -THEY GENDER FLIPPED GRANT??? -boy the animation budget for episode 4 got slashed for no reason?? it looks way worse than the preceding material. -cool st. germain's back and the girl he's into is literally a voiceless random badass-- the fourth such one this season? [ASSHOLE] is a hack but come the fuck on. - I personally liked the implications St. Germain was from a different physical reality than ours or at least a different timeline (such as with the triangular notebook, which I know was a real thing but serves a different purpose as shorthand in a series when it passes without mention like that) but him being from europe still is boring. - the library dimension is fun but would be less jarring if it weren't so visibly 3D in a series that ostensibly aims to be 2D - Yet Another Nameless WoC Morally Grey Badass Facilitating White Male Plot huh. - I get that we're doing a "St. Germain is of the same as Dracula" plot here and that "in service of love people do terrible things" but it's undercut by how much I hate St. Germain as a character and don't give a shit about him. - also, furthermore, i just straight up hate narratives that have to tell you a villain's motivations in detail by giving them perspective. it's hack shit. - the infinite corridor is a weird plot element that doesn't really add anything to this story beyond a fabled otherworld and some cool aesthetics. -god lenore you interupted hector last season saying "the real people are talking" and now you care about him?? [ASSHOLE] is an idiot. - this entire series of fights is rendered toothless by remembering alucard can literally control his sword with his mind and is just holding it for plot convienence. - this scene of sypha and trevor both, separately, doing what they do best is a good scene. i've been critical of a lot but this is a good scene. - we're triggering the endgame now? like right now? Carmilla's been in one scene. Like I know the prior seasons have been criticized for being too much set up but this is literally set up into climax already?? - well here's where the money from episode 4 went. - You spent all that time in season 3 setting up the sisterhood and then didn't make them the villains of season 4 huh. Fuck off. That's so fucking stupid. - AND HECTOR AND ISAAC?? YOU HAVE FOUR MORE EPISODES YOU ABSOLUTE CLOWN - I am Russian I am Soldier - Soldier boy having the same rant as carmilla we get it vampires are bad -stock-child-laughing-soundeffect.mp3 - "Of course I'm insane!" "The fuck what now?" is actually a kind of fun line. - [ASSHOLE]'s writing style isn't so much a puzzle box plot, one of many moving parts intricately sliding together, so much as heaps of mud being flung at the page from a half dozen different hands. It all sticks together but it does so messily and only with great violence. - this is just a kaiju -Where did this second vampire army even come from, who the fuck is Dorgon or whatever? Was this written for Carmilla's army then got changed because that would make way more sense than this rando -Boy I'm not comfortable with this slur being thrown around even if it's usage is complicated. -the inversion of the invasion in dracula's castle hall is a nice touch. - they did the op as fight music thing. - ah damn this guy has the same fight gimmick as a character i was gonna do dope though - Sypha continues to have the best fight scenes which makes up for her not having a character arc this season in [ASSHOLE]'s eyes. - That plot twist is okay I guess but it's very funny that he talks like that. And says Fucked Up. - I can't believe that after one of the biggest critiques of season 2 was that there were a bunch of vampire fights with nameless voiceless vampires who don't matter and you don't care about, it ends the exact same way. at least the fights are weirder and better than the kind of lifeless scene in S2. - This trope is so common but still works. - This ending is, par for the course in this adaptation of Castlevania, rather anti-climactic - You had to make the shoutout, and i bet you felt so clever [ASSHOLE] - Is that finale worth it in the end. like hell yeah good animation but fuckin didn’t make a lick of sense. - that bit of cleaning up got me to cry but only because i'm a tender-hearted idiot. - this ending is far too tidy (Hack shit) and the sequel hook is bullshit dumbfuckery. - FEET

#spoilers //#long posts /

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watching-pictures-move · 3 years

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Put On Your Raincoats #15 | Rainbows in the Dark

To the extent that a porn director crossed over to the mainstream, Gregory Dark would be it. Certainly, there have been directors who did one or two porn features early in their careers, like Abel Ferrara, William Lustig and Wes Craven, but they're known almost entirely for their mainstream work. There are also porn directors who did maybe one mainstream movie, like Gerard Damiano, but their careers were relegated to porn for the most part. Dark is the rare director who was prolific on both sides, so to speak, starting with massive hardcore hits like New Wave Hookers, moving on to directing softcore, thrillers and softcore thrillers with some regularity and eventually becoming a popular music video director. My initial plan was to explore the full gamut of Dark's career. I wanted to get a sense of each phase of his work and to see what elements of his style translated across them. Essentially I wanted to understand Dark as an auteur. But then something miraculous happened. I got lazy. (Also I had a muted reaction to some of his movies and became more interested in another director in the meantime.) So I decided to limit my exploration to a few of his early movies and call it a day.

The first one I watched was New Wave Hookers, his best known hardcore title and considered a classic in the genre. What I expected going in and what worked for me can be deduced from the title. Dark's visual style very much brings to mind the "new wave" in the title: big hair, fog machines and neon lighting, all of which are first seen in the opening credits, in which the female talent almost ritualistically present themselves to the camera. There's some stylistic precedent in the work of Rinse Dream AKA Stephen Sayadian (the artist I got more interested in as I delved into Dark's work), but Sayadian's aesthetic feels culled from the art underground. (Dark reuses a few of Sayadian's actors in some of his films.) Dark's style feels more commercial, almost packaged for MTV. (Dark intended his film as a reaction to hardcore porn features of his era, although I'd argue that his choice of camera angles still feels in line with other films of the era.) This is a movie that looks good and, thanks to some choice music courtesy of the Plugz (whose song "Electrify Me" accompanies the opening credits) and the Sockets (who provide the theme song), sounds good too.

What I gelled to much less was the sense of humour. The movie opens with two buddies played by Jamie Gillis (wearing a tie over a t-shirt) and Dark regular Jack Baker shooting the shit and watching another Dark production. ("That fuckin' guy looks exactly like you. Is that you?") Baker starts expounding on his thoughts about pimping and "programming" women to fuck with music. Baker also notes, "a pimp calls a chick a bitch". They doze off, and when they wake up they find themselves inexplicably in an office. Baker is wearing a yellow tracksuit, Gillis is sporting an East Asian accent, and there's a guy on the floor substituting for their phone. (Gillis asks: "Why do we not have a regular telephone?" Baker explains: "He got the power, the second sight.") As the movie proceeds to make good on its premise, wherein women have sex after listening to new wave music, we're treated to a steady stream of racial taunting. Baker grouses about black music being ineffective for their purposes, dropping the N-bomb. Gillis continues with his accent. The two get into racially charged arguments. A middle eastern client is served in a tent and barks like a dog after he's finished. At one point, Gillis wants sushi and is served by Kristara Barrington while East Asian style music plays on the soundtrack. I recognize that a lot of humour from the era is extremely politically incorrect and has aged poorly, but there's something about Dark's use of racist and misogynist humour that feels especially confrontational. I admit I was a bit bothered by all of this.

Still, there are moments of humour that did work for me. One of the headsets that the characters use has dildos protruding from both earpieces (pointing outwards, of course), and the production design, while not always stylish, is at least endearing in its blatant cheapness. To their credit, Baker and Gillis have undeniable chemistry and do sell the material as well as they can. (I laughed when Gillis, when confronted by the vice squad, drops his accent and exclaims "I used to work in your fuckin' office, and now I'm rich, I'm satisfied, and I'm Chinese, you assholes." Am I a bad person? Probably.) And in terms of how it meets genre expectations, I do think Ginger Lynn and Kristara Barrington have a real magnetism in their scenes.

Given the racial content in New Wave Hookers, it probably won't surprise anybody that Dark was a pioneer in interracial pornography. I am not a sensitive enough writer to begin unpacking all the implications of the concept, but I did watch one of his movies in the subgenre, Black Throat. This was a shot-on-video effort and looks considerably cheaper and uglier than New Wave Hookers, but shares some other qualities. It opens and closes with a punk song that references that film as well as Let Me Tell Ya Bout White Chicks, Dark's first interracial feature, and to be honest, the song is pretty fucking catchy. The movie follows Roscoe, a man who wears yellow sunglasses and both a polo and a Hawaiian shirt and his friend Mr. Bob, a talking rubber rat. He's searching through the garbage while arguring with Mr. Bob over what to eat when he finds a business card. "Madame Mambo's House of Divine Inspiration Thru Fellatio!" (All of the characters pronounce fellatio differently. Mr. Bob says "fell-uh-tee-oh" and calls Roscoe a "fuckin' honky", to which he responds "Fuck you, Mr. Bob!")

Roscoe insists he has to find her. "If I don't find her, I'm gonna die!" (When asked why, he responds, "I dunno, it sounded kinda dramatic, I guess.") Mr. Bob enlists the help of a "young urban professional pimp" named Jamal, played by Jack Baker. (He prefers the term "flesh broker" and describes upgrading his diet, clothes and investments.) Roscoe, Mr. Bob and Jamal go from scene to scene, watching other characters having sex in different racial combinations, asking them where they can find Madame Mambo. (Sometimes they ask the characters directly, other times they talk to their private parts.) The best of these scenes, in my humble opinion, is a light domination flavoured sex scene featuring Christy Canyon. Perhaps because of the dynamic, there's an element of actual acting involved here, and because Canyon is, uh, pleasingly proportioned and has a certain magnetism, I found this scene more engaging than the others, at least until it turns into a regular sex scene.

Eventually they go back to Roscoe's place and find a voodoo ritual taking place where a black woman with multicoloured hair (think the George H.W. Bush rainbow wig from the Simpsons, but straight, not curly) is jumping on their bed while a bunch of white dudes in hats, capes and sunglasses jack off around her. This of course is Madame Mambo and at this point the movie makes good on the title while drumbeats and funk play on the soundtrack. Given the premise, this movie proved (thankfully) lighter on racial humour than I expected going in. There is an element of racial critique in Baker's character, and Madame Mambo is certainly exoticized, but the racial content otherwise is limited to the interracial couplings and doesn't overload the dialogue. However, this is a fairly ugly looking movie, shot on video, featuring unimpressive camerawork and lighting as well as extremely cheap looking production design (although the movie does mine this for laughs). I also found the sex scenes overlong and the music a bit repetitive. I imagine if you were jerking off to this back in the '80s it was easier to get through, but trying to watch it now as an actual movie, despite some decent humour throughout, proved a bit of a challenge.

The next one I watched was White Bunbusters, which despite the first half of the title is not particularly racially charged. The theme song here, crooned in the style of early '60s rock'n'roll, explains that the movie is about anal sex, as the second half of the title suggests. We begin with Tom Byron thrusting into his wife Shanna McCullough (while wearing his glasses) only to be disappointed by her refusal to take it in the butt. The next day at the office (decorated by construction paper all over the walls, drawers sketched in magic marker and a crude sign with their business' name "Acme Proctology"), he hears an ad for the "A-Busters", an enterprising duo who will convince your wife or partner to let you put it in their butt. We cut to the A-Busters office and see them in yellow shorts, lime green suspenders and orange baseball caps, fiddling with their hi-tech instruments (which include an "anal listening device"). Soon we see them go to work on Jack Baker's girlfriend, taking a cash payment after the fact.

Meanwhile, Byron's friend Greg Rome hears about his woes and offers to let him fuck his wife Keli Richards (Rome is named Bob and Richards is named Bobette). Of course Byron takes advantage of Rome's generous offer, but later gets annoyed when Rome insists it was a "one time deal". They're interrupted by Jennifer Noxt, who asks about a secretarial position for the law office next door. Rather than correcting her, which would be the right thing to do, they have sex with her, which is absolutely not the right thing to do. ("So do I get the job?" "We'll call you later, baby.") We go back to the A-Busters, who go to work on a pornstar warming up for her first anal scene (the movie is called Hershey Highway to Hell). Eventually, Byron decides to make use of their services, and in the climax, when he's having a nice dinner with his wife (complete with plastic cups and paper plates), they crash the party and get to work. After it's all over, Byron thanks the A-Busters and shakes one of their hands, only to promptly wipe it off on his suit.

This is as lo-fi as Black Throat, and features a lot of raunchy humour, but thankfully no real racial content outside of the title. Perhaps because the focus is on a specific set of acts (threesomes, anal sex, double penetration), the execution seems more consistently energetic. The ratio of the threesomes is a little off from what I prefer, but I was not unmoved by the scenes involving Keli Richards, Jennifer Noxt and Shanna McCullough. I realize there are more dignified ways to spend one's time than watching in its entirety and singing the praises of a movie called White Bunbusters, but sometimes the lizard brain takes over. I feel compelled to report the facts, and the facts are that this is good at what it does. As an actual movie, there isn't a whole lot to this, but were I to rate this on the Peter-Meter as the filmmakers intended, it would fare respectably.

Where Gregory Dark's style and the sum of his provocations really worked for me was in The Devil in Miss Jones 3: A New Beginning and The Devil in Miss Jones 4: The Final Outrage, a two-part odyssey through hell. (Attentive viewers may note that the original Devil in Miss Jones takes place before the heroine is sentenced to hell, but this is not a direct sequel. There is also a second part by Henri Pachard and later sequels directed by Dark that I did not see. The narrative in the third and fourth entries feels pretty self contained.) The movie begins with close-ups of our heroine, played by Lois Ayres, taking a shower while "A Christian Girl's Problems" by the Gleaming Spires plays over the soundtrack, her interiority hinted at with an astute song choice. (It's worth noting that this was not an original song made for the movie.) The structure intersperses her story with a series of interviews with those who knew her: an ex-boyfriend who "had a disagreement about the relationship" (he slept around); a woman speculates that Ayres was "a closet lesbian" and that "she probably went to live in one of those lesbian islands in the Caribbean"; a girl who knew her as a prude back in high school, a priest with a thick accent who offers a eulogy; her brother, who speaks in new age euphemisms and resents that she was the favourite growing up; and a blind ex-boyfriend who claims she was the loveliest person he knew "after Helen Keller". (This last character describes his sex life as very "normal": no peeing or dogs, wouldn't fuck pizzas, etc.) All these people knew her, but they didn't really know her.

The actual story follows her after she breaks up with her boyfriend (over the phone, as he shaves another woman's pubic hair while feigning innocence). She heads for a bar, brushing off a stereotypical black pimp played by Jack Baker who mistakes her for a prostitute, and promptly orders a "taco" (a draught beer, a Bloody Mary, and a draught beer in three separate glasses). Beside her is a man asleep on bar in tuxedo, who turns out to have been stood up at his own wedding. They hook up, leading to a sex scene scored by a blaring saxophone that I assume was practice for Dark's softcore work. The scene ends when the heroine knocks her head against the headboard and wakes up in a pitch black space near a grave. In comes Jack Baker, riding atop a woman, to tell her what the situation is. "You are dead, you got no clothes, and this is hell!"

The rest of the movie follows them going through different rooms, the heroine being unable to comprehend her fate, as they watch the different punishments endured by the denizens of hell. There's the room full of "peepers", virgins doomed to only watch sex for all eternity. (One of them explains: "I showed my tits to a guy to get a Gucci purse. He went off an overpass.") There are characters doomed to fuck until their genitals wear out or are ravaged by venereal disease. Baker gives Ayres a raincoat "to keep the come off", but the moment she forgets about it she finds herself getting gangbanged and promptly has to be rescued by Baker (okay, not that promptly, we get to enjoy this for a few minutes). Along the way we're led to believe from the interviews that the heroine might have a fetish for black men, and the conversation between Ayres and Baker grows increasingly heated and racially charged. This idea culminates in a trip to the "racist room", where a white man with a swastika armband is having a threesome with two women of colour while a white woman is sucking off two black men in tribal makeup. Ayres and Baker have a final confrontation on the subject.

"What about all the black racists?"

"Look bitch, when a black man hits a white man, we don't call it racist!"

"What do you call it then?"

"Smart!"

"That's ridiculous, there are plenty of black racists!"

"No dig, you stupid ass white bitch!"

"Look, you're even one of them, calling me a stupid bitch and a white bitch!"

"We'll you're stupid, you're white and a bitch, so what is your motherfucking problem?"

"You're crazy, negro, and you're one of the sickest people in here!"

"That's right, I'm a crazy negro! I'm so crazy I'll eat my own arm!"

This is a deeply uncomfortable scene, and what follows is even more disturbing, as we learn the true nature of the heroine's relationship with her father, a reveal that Dark plays for maximum shock value in depicting "The Ordeal of the Taboo Breakers".

In some ways this isn't all that different from New Wave Hookers, but Dark's direction seems more purposeful here. The stylized depiction of hell, with its black backgrounds and harsh neon lighting, imbue a real sense of menace into the proceedings. With the exception of two scenes, the sex isn't all that outrageous, but Dark's mise-en-scene has a way of rendering it almost as horror. It's not exactly scary and probably still "does the trick" if you're watching this for those reasons, but there's an undeniable charge here. Likewise, the dark humour and the racial content seem to work in tandem here, and Ayres and Baker really sell their adversarial chemistry. (It's worth noting that even by the standards of the video vixens that appear in Dark's movies, Ayres has an amazing hairdo.) Dark may not have entirely thought out his thesis along these lines, but the movie is provocative in its handling of this content, and unlike New Wave Hookers, not in a way that hurts it. At a combined 2+ hours, this probably runs a bit too long, but it does shape the usual procession of sex scenes into a structure that carries an uneasy momentum that matches the heroine's trepidation. We might not like what we're seeing, but we also can't help but keep looking.

#film #put on your raincoats #movie review #gregory dark #new wave hookers #black throat #white bunbusters #the devil in miss jones 3: a new beginning #the devil in miss jones 4: the final outrage

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derpcakes · 4 years

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So we watched (nay, Experienced) the BBC/Netflix Dracula series

Brought to us by everyone’s favourite team, Steve Moff and Mark Gatiss, promising to be an innovative and exciting new vision of the classic novel

Boy it was definitely something!!!

First I will say: obviously Moff is not my favourite TV writer and my fam and I did go into this with a bias. I’m happy to report, though, that it’s going to be one of these shows that haunts me forever, because if it had just been bad I could have said “bleh” and deleted it from my brain. But because parts of this were genuinely cool, interesting, and fun, and parts of it genuinely had potential, all the bits that were bad stand out as so much worse and the whole thing feels as cursed as a 500 year old undead count.

Things that were enjoyable and well put-together:

Van Helsing has been gender-swapped into a vampire-hunting nun and her cat-and-mouse game with Dracula is rife with belligerent sexual tension. I was ready to hate this, and ready for like, Sherlock and Irene Adler 2.0, but their dynamic was actually pretty fun to watch! Their power balance is kept even throughout most of the show, and Helsing is never struck down because of ~womanly failings~ or infantilised. She’s consistently really clever and, even if there are some cringey one-liners, I found her and Draccy’s playful quest to murder each other one of the most fun parts of the show. It could’ve been better, but it was enjoyable! (I also like how Helsing isn’t Young and Hot, but is a capable older lady, and her actor and Draccy’s even seem about the same age. Amazing)

The second episode is a spooky murder mystery/horror mini-movie on a ship, with a cast full of interesting characters who all had different things going on and different relationship dynamics that were compelling to watch. There’s even an interracial gay couple! And they’re like, written pretty sympathetically and to be layered and flawed in ways that didn’t feel too stereotypical! And they don’t die first!! Wack! I understand the bar is on the ground, but it’s still worth a mention

Some fun with vampire lore: Draccy absorbs knowledge and traits from people he drinks blood from (which is how he learns languages. Get Duolingo, dude, stop eating people), leading to the intriguing suggestion that myths like “vampires will die in sunlight” and “vampires are afraid of holy symbols” have kinda become real to him even if they don’t literally work, because he’s swallowed so many people to whom these superstitions and beliefs were law. I’m sure this isn’t the first time this has been done, but groundbreaking or no it was kinda neat

Things that were not enjoyable and well put-together:

EVERYTHING ELSE

Episode 1: a weird speedrun of most of the original novel, feat. weaponised nuns and a weird fixation on whether or not Jonathan Harker and Draccy boned. They did not. Dracula pops out of the body of a wolf and he’s Whole Ass Naked. Him and Van Helsing have a power play where she stands just on the threshold of a convent and calls him a little bitch, knowing he can’t come and get her. A knife is licked.

Episode 2: aforementioned cool ship horror story. Definitely the best ep. It really makes me think about hbomb’s critique that Moff is pretty good at doing standalone stories (and pilots), but when things are tied into a bigger narrative things get zonkers.

Episode 3: Things Get Zonkers!!

Let me just. Okay. I have the most to say about this one because this is where things really got batshit. And yet, also really boring? How does that figure? Anyway:

Dracula emerges from under the sea and finds that 123 years have passed and he’s now the star of a Modern AU. Upon setting foot on British sand he is immediately accosted by what appears to be an anti-vampire task force. There’s a helicopter. It is later explained how they knew to pounce on him at this exact moment, but holy god it was wild to watch the entire British Secret Service descend on this one wet bastard in a suit

The editing shifts aggressively in the direction of Sherlock. Mark Gattis is there playing an amazingly annoying character. There’s a fuckign.... Underground Secret Society devoted to studying vampires and they put Drac in a Designated Glass Prison for Smug Geniuses (also as seen in Sherlock). Van Helsing is dead but her great-great-grand-niece is played by the same actress and. Okay. Van Helsing, vampire hunting nun, possesses her descendent and rises through the ether to roast Drac one last time, and he’s DELIGHTED TO SEE HER AGAIN.

And she has cancer, right, so her blood is poisonous when Draccy tries to bite her, but in the end, right, the end of the episode, right, the final shots of the show, he comes to a place where he’s willing to die, and she’s already dying, and so he drinks her blood and they die together on a table while cinematic metaphor vision shows them having sex in the middle of the sun

There was a badly CGI-ed vampire baby. Jonathan Harker falls from a tower and a scene later they flash back to this event by reversing the footage of him falling down, meaning we just see him go VWOOP up through the air, bouncing off the wall on the way. Van Helsing says the words “come boy, suckle” when she’s goading Drac into drinking her blood. The show sits in a weird middle ground where the characters talk about sex a lot (”dID yOu HaVe sExUaL iNterCOURSE with COUNT DRACULA?”) and Drac is clearly meant to be super magnetic and sexy but the characterisation and cinematography is not horny at all. People have these sexy-type dreams of their lover of choice when Drac is drinking their blood but even those are very boring and weirdly chaste, except of course for the final one where, if I can take the chance to remind you, Van Helsing and Dracula have symbolic Mind Palace sex inside the centre of the solar system

I can’t speak too much on its quality as an adaptation since I actually haven’t read the book, but splitting the story so that some characters (the Harkers, Van Helsing) existed in the time the story is set, and some (Lucy, Dr Seward) exist in The Modern AU felt very strange. Was there any reason to set the third episode in modern times, apart from the fact that I guess they wanted to do their Sherlock thing again? Or, perhaps, because they wanted to do their Jekyll thing again?? Oh my god, that’s what the editing reminds me of - the small clips of Jekyll I’ve seen. The zooming. The slow-mo. The emphasis on The Monster Man’s weird goddamn teeth

(Also, I don’t really feel qualified to dig too deep into it, but I will say there felt something a bit uncomfortable about Lucy being black in this version, while also being written to be very promiscuous and vain. idk. Also, since it happened in an ep of Sherlock as well, “weedy white Nice Boy rescues the Very Cool woman of colour he has a tragically unrequited crush on” is now an official Moffattis trope)

Count Moffatula is an experience. Its pacing is buck wild. The speeding through the original plot and the mish-mashing of elements in the Modern AU section feels like another expression of contempt for the source material on Moff’s part. Someone says “reality is overrated” in a show set in the 1890s. Draccy quotes a Beatles song. He also makes quippy allusions to having eaten various famous figures and basically winks at the camera every time. Granted, this wasn’t as obnoxious as I was maybe expecting, but there are still too many lines of dialogue where you think “oh, the writers high-fived each other after they wrote that one, huh”. The fact that Moff has such vitriol against fan fic writers is more and more grating every day because this is so, so clearly a zany-ass fanfic that he happens to be getting paid for. The costumes are nowhere near as nice as they could have been, and Dracula’s cape looks like his mum made it for him for the school play in which he is playing Dracula.

This show is So Much. Watch it to share in this fever dream. Or don’t, and save approximately 5 hours of your life. God. 5 hours. Who was I before Count Maffatula. Who am I now. Why was his cape so bloody ugly. Why did they bone in the centre of the sun

#i'm ascending from my body #count moffatula

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mistressmedia · 4 years

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Is Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Worth It?

A little less than a month ago, Nintendo hosted a partner showcase that was in all honestly, pretty lackluster. However, something that caught my eye was Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition. I’m in the middle of playing through Final Fantasy VII right now and having a great time. The game looked cute but a lot different from the other Final Fantasy games I’ve played. For this reason, I was hesitant to drop thirty dollars on it, since there was a chance I wouldn’t like it. Luckily, Square Enix has a demo version that allows players to try the first three dungeons. I want to preface this review by saying that I haven’t played the whole game, just the demo. I’ve researched elements of the game I want to talk about that I didn’t encounter, but I’m not an expert or anything.

There is a synopsis on the Square Enix website, however it doesn’t really go in depth. The gist of it is that your character’s homeland is coated in a substance called ‘miasma’ which is essentially poison. The only way for the inhabitants to survive, is for caravanners to venture our and gather a substance called myrrh. The only way to obtain myrrh is by exploring one of the games thirteen dungeons. After you defeat the final boss, you will be able to collect a single drop of myrrh into your crystal chalice. If it sounds like there’s not much room for plot there, that’s because there isn’t.

The trailer features a variety of different characters, so it was rather surprising to discover that they don’t actually exist. One of the first things you do upon opening the game is create your own. Final Fantasy games tend to host casts of dynamic characters, so it was shocking to realize that essentially there were none. In addition to this, the character creation is quite limited in comparison to games that normally feature that type of thing. You can choose from one of four races, these are the Clavats, the Litlies, the Yukes and the Selkies. Each race has different strengths. After this, you can set your gender and select a preset character design. There are a few different options but you can’t change anything about them, not their skin color, not their hair color or length, eye color, clothing, nothing. Considering the variety of races, one would think there’d be options that resemble people of color, but there’s not.

Next up you can choose a family job for your character. The options are shown below. The job that you choose can have an impact on gameplay, but this isn’t featured much throughout the lite version. Once your character is complete, you are quickly seen off by your family and encounter another caravan. Here, you are given a tutorial on how to play the game. You learn how to fight, how to use magic, etc. How do you do it? You press A. Want to use your weapon? Press A. Defend? Press A. Use magic? Press A. Use a strong attack? Hold A. Basically, the combat in this game is far from rivetting. You use the L and R buttons to switch what you want to do and that’s all there is to it really. Monsters usually die within a couple of hits, though the final bosses obviously take longer.

I think the worst part of this game for me is the world map. The player can guide the caravan to different places on the map. Not only are there dungeons, there are also shopping areas and character events. The latter happens super randomly, it will interupt the game as you’re bringing the caravan from one location to another. The map is a little hard to navigate (at least on the switch) so I would often find myself going to the wrong place by accident. Normally this wouldn’t be a very big deal, the thing is, every time you go somewhere or a cutscene occurs, there’s a loading screen in between. The screen goes blank for about 20 seconds with a little moogle animation in the corner. So if you go to the wrong place and have to click out, guess what you have to sit through again? That’s right, the loading screen. It gets really annoying after awhile. Since the game is just a remaster, you would think it wouldn’t take so long to load.

I wasn’t sure what the dungeons would look like going in, but they’re not very ‘dungeon like’ at all. However, I would say this is more of an observation than a critique. The first is called the River Belle path and is actually quite pretty, as the name suggests. The music is rather soothing and since the monsters are fairly easy to beat the experience is almost relaxing. The only annoying part about the dungeons is if you get out of range of the crystal chalice you start to lose health. There’s a moogle that will carry it around for you, so basically you can’t go any faster than him. This definitely can get tedious, especially if it happens while you’re fighting a monster, but there are definitely worse game mechanics out there.

All in all, I think that this game has both good and bad to it. It definitely could be fun for kids, the dungeons aren’t very complex so they probably won’t get too frustrated playing through it. There are also probably a lot of adults who played it back when it came out the first time in 2003 and enjoy it for nostalgia reasons. However, I still don’t suggest buying the game and here’s why. While Square Enix wants to charge you $29.99 to play on the Nintendo Switch or PS4, the game is available for free on IOS and Android. If you ask me, that hardly seems fair. The App Store warns that the game includes In-App purchases however, it says right in the description that you can, “Play up to 13 dungeons for free!”

If you’d like to pay thirty dollars for a phone app, be my guest. I can genuinely see why someone might want to support their favorite gaming company in this way. Maybe they want to experience the game on the big screen. To each their own. Personally, I’d pass on this one or play it on my phone for free. There are multiplayer options that might make the dungeons a bit more interesting (I didn’t use them because I don’t have friends who game). Since I liked the dungeons as is I don’t really feel the need to include that in the review. So, what do you think of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles? I’m a little disappointed but, at least I still have Final Fantasy VII.

#final fantasy crystal chronicles #final fantasy #ffcc #ffccr #game review #dungeon crawler #character customization #nintendo switch #ps4

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