#and gave me some nice insight into some character development for one of the characters

[the-orion-scribe]

In Defence of Escape from Reality

Reddit version

Not long ago, there was a discussion thread on the r/GravityFalls subreddit on which is the “worst episode” of Gravity Falls. Now, to put my two cents on this question, personally, I have no strong hatred for any of the episodes, including Roadside Attraction – the fandom’s most riled episode like how Fly is very lowly-regarded in Breaking Bad. For me, Roadside Attraction lowers the stakes and brings us outside of Gravity Falls for a while before what is to come. My favourite part of that episode is Dipper trying to be more confident of himself, even if I agree perhaps the flirting subplot is rather unnecessary. Still, it's a nice break from all the rather momentous episodes, and improves the relationship between Stan and Dipper.

I would actually argue that the preceding episode The Last Mabelcorn is actually the episode that’s out of place, given it was intended to be a space for a low-stakes Wendy-centric story the writers never managed to crack. But that would be another discussion for another time.

I’m deeply amused, nevertheless, when Escape from Reality is mentioned as the worst. Now, before my rewatch, I only had a ‘meh’ impression of that episode. But after rewatching the episode to verify those claims, I now have a newfound appreciation for the episode. In fact, I will personally rate it above its preceding episode – Weirdmageddon 1: Xpcveaoqfoxso.

There are some ‘problems’ the critic of the episode has highlighted, notably how the episode “cuts entirely the rythm [sic] and the tension and rythm [sic] of the entire finale” and shows “the lack of character of development of Mabel Pines” who is “NEVER held accountable for anything she did during Weirdmaggedon”. To check through these claims, I decided to rewatch the Weirdmageddon arc – from Dipper and Mabel vs the Future to the finale, before forming my own conclusion. And I say, the rewatches gave me deeper insights which I think plenty of us overlooked.

Let’s start with Dipper and Mabel vs the Future. I must watch from here, otherwise, the rest of it wouldn’t make much sense given Gravity Falls is a continuity-based cartoon.

It's a fantastic penultimate episode from start to end (I call it penultimate before WMG). Goofy at the start like many of the Gravity Falls episodes, and we explore both the siblings’ arcs. One with Dipper and Ford to find the adhesive to seal the rift in the UFO, and Mabel trying to prepare for their 13th birthday party at the end of the summer.

Mabel's subplot really hits the feels. I still recall how it hits me when a holiday is ending. And while the episode starts off with optimism, Mabel soon realises the harsh realities of growing up. And she also realises her summer friends (Grenda and Candy) won't be with her to celebrate their birthday and see them off. This gradually crushes and peels off the positive ideal Mabel holds, and thus she realises that the future after the summer is not what she wishes to face.

Stan comes in, and offers encouragement that Dipper would be by her side. And that scene, likely overlooked by many, hits hard too, especially when he said “not everyone can say that”, referring to his falling out with his twin Ford (and even Stan realising he would be out of the Shack soon, even if he hasn’t said that aloud). And then when she heard Dipper's willingness to take Ford's apprenticeship, that one hope she held was gone and broke the straw on the camel’s back.

So why am I reviewing all of these? We need this context to understand what happens after. There are claims, especially from Mabel’s critics, that Mabel knew about the nature of the rift and just willingly handed it over. However, from the episode, Mabel only has a vague idea that whatever Dipper and Ford plan to do is to “save the world or whatever”. And Ford keeps the rift when Mabel comes in to check on her brother. So she's unlikely to link that to whatever Ford and Dipper were planning to do to save the world. In fact, neither told her about the rift, even in the previous episodes. Ford even stated in Journal 3 that it’s something he must keep a secret.

At the end of the episode, Mabel is in her most vulnerable emotional state – the world is falling apart around her, especially the prospect she has to face the hard future alone. And she fears that history will repeat itself, her deep-seated fear, established since A Tale of Two Stans, that she and Dipper would grow apart quickly and become hostile like the Stans. The twins have been each other’s source of strength, and they still have more time to mature and grow together. It is unimaginable for her, just at the age of 12, to be separated from her twin for a long time.

And the Bill-possessed Blendin arrives. I also note critics saying she should have known better and not trusted him given “he tried to kill her and her brother not long ago”. Let me reiterate that, since the end of Blendin’s Game, the twins and Blendin are on better terms, given the twins decide to exercise mercy on him and let him go. Anyway, even then, she does not know that it’s Bill Cipher she’s talking to, and in that extremely vulnerable emotional state, she’s in no position to think anywhere close to rationally. Blendin offers her a tantalising offer that seems to address her problems.

We need to relook this scene from Mabel’s perspective. Bill only shows her in a holograph the object Mabel has to pass over to him and dismisses its significance as “a little gizmo (that) he (Ford) won't even know it's missing." So in short, no, she doesn't know what she’s handing over and what she’s in for. Bill is exploiting her emotional weaknesses to get the rift. Swayed by Bill’s persuasion, Mabel thinks the rift is some ‘small gadget’ that will somehow grant her ‘a little more summer’, not a permanent loop without end. And she also thought he was Blendin, someone whom she thinks she could trust, and with the goggles, it’s hard to tell Blendin was being possessed.

The last we know about Mabel is that she got knocked out when it all started. So that brings me on to Escape from Reality.

But let me also do a quick review of WMG1. It’s not bad, though rather slow. It sets the stakes well, but takes some substantial time just for Dipper to figure out what he must do. But it’s indeed distressing for him, who just lost his mentor and the three journals and he is unable to figure out what he should do. A major plus for this episode, nevertheless, is Wendy being more involved and being his guide (wendip fans rejoice) and we also get to see Gideon’s transformation for the better to turn against Bill.

Escape from Reality is wonderful. In fact, this episode is an important turning point – a friend even commented this is “the emotional and thematic climax of the series”. I agree it might be a little jarring in tone, since we were “shoved” into a “sugarcoat land”. But I welcome variety, and actually if you realise, Mabeland is a juxtaposition of the dark and surrealistic nature of Bill's world with Mabel’s worldview. It’s not as clear compared to the previous episode, but you still get peeks of Bill’s touches of what seemed to be an ideal fantasy world. Mabeland’s lack of rules sounds exactly like Bill's "join me" sales pitch to Ford in the subsequent episode. As he claimed: "I'LL REMAKE A FUN WORLD, A BETTER WORLD! NO MORE RESTRICTIONS, NO MORE LAWS!"

I agree with Bill that he has created “the most diabolical trap” he's ever created. It’s a gilded cage, designed to fulfil Mabel’s wants and desires. As it is a prison, the ultimate purpose of everything in Mabeland is to prevent Mabel from leaving by keeping her trapped inside what is essentially a waking dream. Really, Mabeland was just a massive, literalized Sweater Town. Bill believes the bubble to be inescapable because he knows that he would not be able to escape it, and because these “mortal meatsacks” are so inferior, there's no way they could be capable of something he isn't.

Let me also address some pieces of criticism, that Mabel “admits she knows she is in a fake world, she sees what's going on in Gravity Falls multiple times but doesn't even react or show concern”, and instead, she throws all of Dipper's unconditional love and support for her back in his face by not just creating Dippy Fresh, but also sending him to a trial where he will get kicked out into the apocalypse if he doesn't convince her to come out by giving up the apprenticeship. She shows absolutely no remorse over anything she did and very less admits it, and acts as if she had nothing to do with it.”

First off, there's nothing in the episode that shows Mabel is fully aware of what's happening outside. Remember, I said Mabel was knocked out when it all started. She said to Dipper: “But then I woke up in a place that gives me exactly what I wanted: an endless summer where we'll never have to grow up!” And it seems, as Dipper suspected, that Mabel was entranced and hypnotised by all the magic, almost completely caught up in the delusion. She’s not at all aware of what’s happening outside, and Dipper hasn’t so far told Mabel what’s going on.

Bill exploited Mabel's deep-seated insecurities and crafted the fantasy in such a way so that Mabel would remain trapped in her fantasy forever. Indeed, the prison is pretty diabolical and insane like Bill himself, and Bill even said it would take “a will of titanium” to break out. The depiction of Mabeland really expresses the depth of Mabel's almost pathological fear and denial, showing a very underlooked side of Mabel that really paints a terrifying picture of how broken deep down she was. It's easy to brush off the surface of the world as Mabel's selfish denial for growing up and wanting to keep things as they are, but it also can be looked at someone who is wanting to be seen and fit in, in a world that is continuing to no longer care for her way of life.

I admit Mabel's biggest personality deficiencies are her lack of will and self-awareness. When Mabel woke up in the bubble, she would have still been in the same mindset she had at the end of Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future – that her brother was leaving her forever. Mabel's mental state in that episode and leading up to it really paints that picture; a child who's losing grip and control of the reality she was so accustomed to, and without anyone there willing to take the time to stop and listen and help guide her, finally snapped.

Mabeland was her last attempt to maintain the reality she was so used to, to try and let go of the impending reality of truth. An unhealthy way of dealing with it, but the product of the mental state Mabel had fallen into. What Mabel wanted more than anything in the world at that moment was for her brother to be there and comfort her, just as he always has been up to this point. So, that's what Mabeland tried to give her – Dippy Fresh, the fandom’s most hated character. But he turned out to be a twisted fun-house-mirror reflection that's more like a male version of Mabel herself than it is like the real Dipper. I’m sure that Mabel knew this was not her real brother, but it's the closest she was going to get to him during that time of deep emotional vulnerability.

There's also two top Mabel-moments here. Actually three. I think this is actually one of the greatest episodes centering on Mabel. First, Mabel, in her good nature, actually offered to share the fantasy with Dipper and the rest when they first arrived, when she’s not yet aware of the darker side of her world. Second, when Dipper is about to be banished for mentioning the real world, Mabel doesn't want to throw him out right away and is willing to listen to what her brother has to say through the trial.

Dipper: Are you really gonna let them banish me?!

Mabel: No! Of course not; that’s my brother, guys! There’s gotta be another way.

So no, sending him to a trial is not for him to be kicked out into the apocalypse, but offers Dipper a chance to plead his case.

Sure, the court is rigged. But remember this whole thing is crafted by Bill, and Mabel holds an illusion she has control over their world. Mabeland tries to throw out Dipper’s case, but Dipper then shows her there's a better way to get through it than denial, and that's with help from people who care about her. While Mabel raised two past examples of them being bullied, Dipper also shows how the two stayed together thick and thin throughout their childhood. These memories showed that they both work together to better themselves, which, again, furthers the fact that they are co-dependent. “It's how we've gotten through our whole lives.”

The courtroom scene played out extremely well, incorporating a ton of symbolism in regards to the duo's respective individual thoughts. It's touching to see Dipper reminisce about the past with Mabel only to convince her that the future may not be as grim as she perceives it – a precedent laid out by most of the Mabel-centric episodes that forward this very scene. Dipper, her own brother, has always been the only person who could ground Mabel in reality and pull her out of Mabeland, for better or worse. Mabel, on the other hand, knows how to get her brother to take himself less seriously and chill out a little bit by acting intentionally dumb and goofy. The “yin and yang” Wendy mused to Dipper back in WMG1.

Seeing Dipper's love for his sister brings her back from the abyss is really heartwarming. Their sibling bond wins over, and Mabel accepts to return to reality out of her own will. If Mabel is that selfish as what some haters claim, she would have rejected leaving no matter what Dipper tells her. Mabel isn’t a rational thinker, and Dipper must be the one to lay out his case that convinces her. Dipper is the only one who can get through her and understand and address her insecurities. I find it unrealistic and out of character to expect Mabel to just snap out of it herself. I know Mabel is flawed. But the most important thing is, she still chose to go back to the real world with Dipper.

I like to think that what in the end made Mabel wanna face reality was not Dipper saying he'd go back home with her, but hearing him say he understood her fear; admitting he too was scared of growing up. Perhaps hearing her own brother admit that was what she needed to hear; that she was not alone in her fear and that Dipper understood it too.

I'm not sure if it's an intended parallel, but the bond between twins (later Stan and Ford) is what eventually leads to Bill's demise. Like how the cementation of the twins’ bond (sincere sibling hug) eventually ended the fantasy. (In fact, tbh I’m going crazy over this part – it’s a neat development from ‘awkward sibling hug’ from the first episode).

“Aw, man, I never noticed how bright this place is, ugh! Have I actually been listening to the same song for an entire week?”

It was when the spell breaks that Mabel fully snaps out of her trance and has further clarity of what’s going on. As the whole thing unravels as a nightmare, Mabel actually helps them out by summoning giant Waddles and they break out.

And after they emerge into the real world, it is Mabel's first proper look into what's actually happening, and horror sets in.

It’s also of note that as they emerge from the bubble, Mabel says to Dipper that she wouldn’t “get into her brother’s way” if he chooses to take Ford’s apprenticeship. Nevertheless, Dipper decides to stick with his sister when he recognises the cost if he were to take it up.

Actually, Dipper was already hesitant about the offer at the start in the UFO. After that, given the adrenaline of rescuing his Grunkle and overcoming another obstacle (facing without fear), to him it seemed like a rational decision that he can step up to be Ford's assistant, albeit shortsighted. He was riding the high of rescuing Ford and didn't think about how this would hurt Mabel, Grunkle Stan and his parents. And when Mabel ran away and he joined Ford, Dipper also had second thoughts about the decision and started to think with his heart.

I don’t think it’s realistic at all that Dipper should really take up the apprenticeship since he realises the serious implications if he takes it up. The turning point for Dipper's character arc is the realisation that he needs his sister in his life, too. The fact that he attained Ford's approval and consequently the right to be his apprentice himself is undeniable, though in terms of being a human being, that's where he needs her. I personally believe that Dipper would have fully changed his mind right then and there even if things were to go as planned.

Even at this point, I don't know why anyone expects Mabel to take responsibility for causing WMG there and then. I think her being imprisoned in her own bubble is already a sufficient consequence of what she has done. Plus, neither Dipper nor Ford has not blamed Mabel at all since he thought the rift might just accidentally broke. Neither witness what Mabel has done, or even aware what Mabel actually did. As far as they knew the rift must have broken accidentally “The rift must have cracked inside her backpack.”

At this point, it's not a time to play the blame game, as their main focus is to take down Bill. I would think perhaps beyond WMG, and when the Pines discussed what happened, would only Mabel be able to piece together what has actually happened. Mabel’s recognition of what she has done would only be clear after the series.

I decided to wrap this review off with my view on WMG3 and I say… This hits really quite hard. Even for an hour-long, it goes through a roller-coaster of emotions. Excitement, anticipation, dread, sadness and also nostalgia at the end.

Despite their best efforts, the Pines' lives were again on a thread, and Stan's sacrifice really packed a punch. I was also relooking to note the swap between Stan and Ford. What's also rather emotional is Stan and Ford discussing how their siblinghood had deteriorated, and how and why their grandnephews are still able to work together. From all of these riveting experiences of the summer, they've both grown tremendously, so much so as we, the audience, to have absolute certainty that they'll not turn out like the older duo. I note Mabel still plays her role in her story, rallying and encouraging the people to stand up to Bill, and also her grappling hook skills to help the groups navigate the Fearamid.

I still support the decision for Stan to recover enough to be able to send off the kids at the end of the summer. The goodbyes at the end are really deeply emotional. The finale really wraps up the show in a tiny neat bow, ending many of the characters' arcs in the most satisfying way. Of course, it’s not exactly the end, since the twins still have a lot of growing up to do, but the story ended on a very high and promising note.

This is my entire review of the entire WMG arc from Dipper and Mabel vs the Future to the finale. It’s something that I’ve put off for a long time even though I know the episodes are fantastic. And I’m glad actually that post calls me to review this rather underrated episode.

I conclude that much criticism of Escape from Reality is rather baseless, overblown and overexaggerated and stems from the person’s own biasedness toward Mabel. Thanks to them, Escape from Reality has now become one of my favourite episodes of the show (I’m sorry, but Tourist Trapped and Weirdmageddon 3 still take the top spots). I can understand some of the animosity especially if you think the episode doesn’t fit the general tone of the arc. But when the episode is viewed as a whole now I think it plays great – and really is the culmination of Dipper and Mabel's siblinghood. The priority is settling the twins’ problems before the real shit goes down in WMG3. Also all the callbacks, big and little, are great.

If you haven’t rewatched the entire WMG arc, I suggest doing it and judging for yourselves. I understand everyone has their own preferences and opinion when it comes to characters in media, but hate or harm towards a fictional character, or anyone else, is never acceptable. It is important to remember that fictional characters are not real people and should not be the subject of hate or harassment.

Drops microphone and leaves

#gravity falls #essay #personal essay #mabel pines #dipper pines #escape from reality #weirdmageddon #pines twins #gravity falls essay

[otakween]

Digimon Tamers - Episode 12

Woah, sudden quality spike in this one. Great shots, great ambience, and lots of nice character moments. It was another Ruki episode, which...it's starting to kinda feel like she's the actual main character? Her arc has definitely been deeper than the boys so far. I guess it's kinda like in 02 where the first arc was very Ken-centric.

Notes:

Takato becomes a pariah with his friends either because they think he's nuts/delusional or because he's friends with some creepy monster. That seemed like a very realistic direction to take that in tbh. Takato was pretty naïve for thinking they'd just be cool with things.

Ruki was a total brat to her grandma, but I give her grandma mad props for trying to talk it out with her. I was kinda expecting more discipline for that sorta back talk. Good on her for being patient!

The robot bug digimon that appears in this episode was cool, but they didn't really tell us its name? I thought it was a little weird that they gave it an identical palette to Guilmon.

Lots of confusion about digivolving for me. In this episode they state that a digimon only benefits from their partner by gaining the ability to digivolve. We've seen digimon digivolve without partners in the past though (albeit in the other series). Also, Renamon fights Harpymon in this episode who is an armor type. Being an armor type usually involves digivolving with a digimental...again with the lack of consistency.

Culumon and Terriermon are buddies now apparently. I feel like that development happened off screen lol.

Takato being frustrated when Juri called Guilmon "cute" was priceless and so was Guilmon's pleased reaction.

We get a little more insight into Impmon as he fantasizes about being abused by kids. So I guess he's kinda afraid of humans? Maybe he had a bad experience in the past that traumatized him?

HYPNOS man needs to work on his approach so people don't think he's a child abductor lol. It was a little concerning that Jian chased after him...not a great stranger danger message there.

#digimon tamers #digimon #anime

[magiqfetus]

Fast Pass Spoilers: A review of chapter 216

I don't plan on reviewing every chapter but this one may have been my favorite. I honestly really like Thanatos now.

I really love that Rachel is giving Hades flaws, portraying him as emotionally distant and abusive. I'm glad she's making him purposefully unlikable. So far he's just been a "perfect man" in the eyes of the fandom

It's a flaw that I'm glad he has, and I'm glad that other characters are saying what I've been thinking: Hades is a bad boss. He exploits his workers, treats them unfairly, and doesn't listen to their critique. It makes sense that he's seen as unapproachable. He's quiet, has a temper, and has high standards for his employees. I went through the subreddit and alot of people are justifying what Hades did as "well it was Kronos, Hades would never do that" to that I say 🖕. Kronos did rip into him, but Hades did unjustifiably attack Thanatos. I know he didn't ask to be given a child, and didn't know Than saw him as a father figure, but to say that stuff to him....ouch :/ This is why communication is important kids.

We see often how Hades mistreated Thanatos throughout the comic, so I'm wondering if there may be some underlying problems he has with him since he doesn't seem to rip into other employees like he has with Thanatos (I'm honestly thinking he's just a jerk tho) and I don't understand why he's called lazy, since it's not really shown. And the God of death rlly can't be lazy or nothing will die.

Also I'm glad being emotionally distant isn't being glamorized. Or the idea that it's cool to have a boyfriend that's a dick to everyone but you. I see alot of people lately praising themselves or others because they don't talk to others much, hide their emotions, and just generally act distant in order to seem cool or superior to emotional people. Or fandom girls thinking characters like Hades are cool because even though he treats everyone like crap, he's nice to Persephone and Hecate. That's toxic. Yes, I am scolding middle school me rn.

I'm glad we got more insight on why Thanatos acted the way he did. While I don't think his actions are morally reprehensible, the comic is going in that direction. I like the dive into his character and that he has legit motives instead of just not stanning persades. It makes sense that he sees Hades the way he does, and I like that Nyx is canonically not a good parent instead of it just being speculation. Thanatos has alot of issues and he keeps being put in unhealthy situations. Some by and not by fault of his own. This comic made me really like Thanatos, and gave me more faith in Hades' character development (now that he has something to develop) hopefully he can teach young audiences that special treatment is not okay and if your bf is a dick to everyone but you, run away.

Also idc what Daphne says, Thanatos has every right to be upset with Hades for favoring Persephone. But that's another rant rant another day.

I hope Thanatos gets the help he needs and maybe Haded can own up to what he did and maybe they can have a good relationship going forward.

#lore olympus #lore olympus 216 #lore olympus fastpass #lore olympus hades #lore olympus thanatos #i probably will never like hades #but at least theres hope for character development

[okaylikesmomo]

Silly question but do you think you’re not motivated to write Twice because the story so far seems more smut driven than plot driven?

Reply ended up being longer than anticipated, TLDR: I don't really know why I'm not as motivated nowadays.

Not a silly question at all. The Private Manager story started very smut driven, it's my first piece of work and I literally started writing because I was horny for them after their last tour. As the story went on, I started having fun implementing some more depth (well, trying to at least), and that made it really fun!

My plans for Book 2 (a split I partially made because I felt like my writing changed so much over time that I needed a separation) involved a lot more "plot", even if that plot is just silly romance without too much substance - don't think too hard, it's still just fanfic after all, my goal isn't to make convoluted plots with twists and all.

Smut is still something I enjoy, I almost never write a chapter or fic that is completely void of at least one smutty scene. Frankly, the reason I write is still partially (mostly?) as an outlet for my horniness. There's still a balance though, and writing more fluffiness/plot is a tricky thing for me to do. I'm still not particularly confident in my writing ability when it comes to the more fluffy bits, but improvement is gradual!

Who knows why I find it difficult to write for them. Maybe it's just because I'm having more fun writing for LE SSERAFIM, maybe it's because I like the low-commitment of writing for groups/artists who I'm not as invested in (Blackpink, Aespa, IU, etc.). Maybe I have some self-imposed pressure when it comes to Twice because I like them so much?

Perhaps it's just because when I look at my Twice story I see all the low quality (in my opinion) mistakes I've made. Maybe it's in part due to Twice being so busy with their tour that we're not getting the content that made me love the group. Maybe it's because I didn't really love their music from this year.

I've mentioned it before, but I literally have a document of plot points I'd like to eventually hit for my Twice story. Again, don't expect them to be some groundbreaking major box office success level plots, but they're just little frameworks for me to do what I like: set up some smut scenes and develop the characters I've written. I have easily 20-30 chapters worth of ideas.

Last thing I'll say is that I haven't entirely stopped writing Twice. I don't think I've ever posted about this, only a few people who have DM'd me directly know, but I actually have a few pieces written for Twice that I just haven't released yet (like the Itzy cameo). Either because they're not 100% finished, or because I'm not 100% happy with them. I've even laid out what I wanted to write for the first 5 or 6 chapters of Book 3 (I had a real high after seeing them live again, had to get stuff written down!).

This ended up basically being a whole fic with how lengthy the reply was... but thank you for this question. It was a nice way for me to try and reflect. I hope this gave some insight to anyone who was curious on my thought process, and for those of you are just here to enjoy smut: I hope what I am still releasing is enjoyable still! <3

[lunatic-fandom-space]

I just finished season 4 and unlike with the others I didnt have a whole lot to say as a was watching, mainly because I was actually enjoying myself and thought the season was mostly really good ? absolutely wild. Nevertheless I have some thoughts

I LOVE Alya and Marinette working together, its a delight. When I talk about "man can you imagine if MLB did like a magical girl show and focused on female friendships instead of catfighting" THIS is what Im talking about!! And Idgaf about how this affects the Love Square at this point, this is all Ive wanted! Also, I feel like Alya and Nino knowing each others identities cheapens the Love Square conflict more than anything but I cant fully articulate why so I'll just leave it at that

The Love Square is in a very strange place where, when the identity reveal finally does happen, its simultaneously going to feel like its too little too late (a la the destiel confession bc this fucking show is just straight queerbaiting) and rushed because like. what kind of development is there between these two. They barely focused on romance this season (which is definitely part of why I think its better lol) but I dont mean that in the sense that we had less catfights and Marinette making a fool of herself for no reason, I mean that in the sense that it barely felt like they interacted at all, atleast to me so thats kinda odd

In the past Ive complained about how the civillian plotline usually feels very disconnected from the superhero/akuma plotline and I think theyve done a much better job, my favorite episode of the season is probably Qilin both for tying the akuma into the civillian plot and for having a somewhat unique conflict resolution. In general, I liked that we had people rejecting akumas as well as preventative measures in form of the charms, although I do think it sucks that a few episodes afterwards Shadowmoth just figures out a way to circumvent them and then its back to business as usual. I feel like a better workaround would be that the charms can only protect you from one akumatization each, so like, the charm Ladybug gave her grandfather in Simpleman can only protect him from becoming Simpleman again, but if he turns into Bakerix, she needs to give him a different charm. But I do find the charms cute

The new heroes all suck tbh, the only design I liked was Purple Tigress and Pigella came close to looking kinda good but then they made it this intensely unflattering shade of pink, which I find impressive because Rose is already wearing an completely different intensely unflattering shade of pink in her civillian form. One thing that I appreciated about whatever Mylenes superhero form is called, Pigella and Purple Tigress is that they had more justifiable reasons for Ladybug to pick them than most of the heroes in the last season, who were mostly just picked because They Were There ig. And then Penealteam rolled around and we were back to doing exactls that kind of bullshit. great.

Also, Ive already talked about this in a seperate post, but if they absolutely insisted on looking for a replacement for the Bee, it shouldve been Sabrina and they shouldntve invented a whole new character for it

Adrien got a little more focus this season and we actually got some insight into his character when hes not either The Object Of Marinettes Idolization or Ladybugs Punny Sidekick Thats Slowly Becoming Obsolete which I enjoyed because he has a lot of potential from a dramatic standpoint what with being Hawkmoths son and all, but hes usually so bland that I dont really care too much so this was pretty nice. And it only took us 4 seasons for him to get some focus, yknow, the other superhero in the title? Well better late than never I guess

Speaking of Adrien, Ive made quite a few posts where I said that this season would be ruined for me the second the Sentiadrien reveal happens but it never did, we're getting that in season 5 and I am not looking forward it especially considering the small taste Ive already gotten of it with Adrien being very obviously controlled by that ring. Like, I'll probably talk about it in more detail when it gets fleshed out in the show but for now I'll just say it doesnt make the stakes higher like the writers seem to think, it make the story wayyyy less interesting and it feels like its supposed to be an explanation for Adriens behaviour towards his father when we absolutely do not need one beyond "hes being abused"

I know I said that I thought this season was really good and now Im just just complaining mostly like I always do but idk, Im not as good at formulating my positive thoughts as my negative ones. The last thing I'll say is that I loved Scarabella and I loved her design and I loved the whole episode she was in, as well as the entirety of Sentibubbler, Alya really served this season

Thats it, thanks for reading :D

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug salt #miraculous ladybug crit

[dailycupofcreativitea]

I can't recall if you've talked about him extensively before, but what are your thoughts/opinions on Future Gohan? Are there any aspects of him that you prefer over the present Gohan?

HmmMMMm, no, I haven't talked extensively about Future Gohan before! I have drawn him before though; here's a lil' collection of some of the Future Gohan art I've done so maybe you have a bit of an understanding of how I tend to characterize him:

A comic about how Future Gohan starts talking like he's already dead in DBZ Kakarot after losing his arm

A short piece wondering why Future Gohan chose "Han" as the symbol for his gi

Future Gohan talking about his dream of being a scholar

Future Gohan being a tutor for Future Trunks

Future Gohan teasing Future Trunks about studying

Some Future Gohan headcanons (writing only)

A comic about Future Trunks dying to Imperfect Cell and seeing Future Gohan in the afterlife

Most recent comic which was an Adventure Time reference about Gohan dying against the androids

Anyhoo...

Oh man, had you asked me for my opinion on Future Gohan (or really any character) a few years ago, I probably could have written you an essay. But as I get older I start to have more nuanced feelings about the characters that are difficult to put into words, which is why I primarily draw art now (and not write fanfic, like I used to a few years ago).

I think my summary of the way I see Future Gohan is that I see him as a very little kid still. Like a version of Gohan that grew up physically, but not mentally. Mentally he's still back at the fight with the androids. He didn't get that development that our Gohan does, especially with Goku in the HTC. He didn't get to build confidence in himself, he didn't get to play around a lot or focus on studying like in those 7 years or have to mature to be a big brother to Goten, or anything like that. He just trained himself to death, but without the help of all of his mentors how much could he really have improved, mentally and physically? I see him as still being very scared on the inside, and feeling very, very guilty.

But he also is a generally hopeful, cheery person. Plus, he has Trunks to train, so he had to fall into that mentor figure eventually. So I see him being kind, making the best of small moments, being gentle and appreciating the little things in life. That's sort of how he's always been. Our Gohan maintains that too, the gentleness.

I dabble in drawings about the future timeline when I either want a lil' angst, with a dash of hopelessness (because the future timeline can seem pretty hopeless at times, and is very sad!) or when I want one of those contrast moments, like "a small bit of joy in a very sad time" kind of things. But otherwise I just prefer exploring our Gohan because...well, I guess seeing him build that confidence, develop that sense of justice, and really grow into himself is really nice! And there's a lot more to work with, and a lot of characters for him to interact with (instead of just Trunks, Bulma, Chichi in the future timeline). Just a lot more to think about. Plus, our Gohan's got that Cell Saga phase and it's no secret that that's my favourite Gohan to play around with.

Is there something about him I PREFER to our Gohan? Hmm...I don't know if I'd use the word "prefer", but something interesting he has that I don't think present Gohan does is that he seems like he's a very secretive person and hides his emotions from everyone else. Like a very wounded version of Gohan. I think it's really sad to explore, and really interesting.

I think I'm kind of rambling but I hope these thoughts gave you some insight into what I think of Future Gohan!

#asks #future gohan #dbz #dragon ball z #son gohan #gohan #really interesting question thanks!! #man the older i get the more difficult it gets to articulate literally anything #i operate only on vibes now

[robotlesbianjavert]

Nana was done dirty. why is she the one telling deku to kill her grandchild just so kudou "anti-afo mercenary mocking deku as a peace-loving fool who wants to save our moral enemy" BakugoLookAlike can swoop in to say no. believe in deku. because he was a kind toddler.

SO REAL. so real. why is this fuckin kudou prick the being forced into the narrative and made the voice of the vestiges as if he has anything actually useful to contribute to the story. me bitching on leaks night:

okay but man this is why i can't get into kudou as a character. he keeps saying or doing contradictory nonsense. doesn't accept deku but is easily talked into it by yoichi but actually just looked into deku's memories. claims that quirks are called as such cuz idk well nevermind the historical context mva gave us. and now deku has tried to see the goodness in EVERYONE** including other quirkless people somehow??

**also general complaints about how deku is apparently the ultimate good see-er but doesn't have shit to say about people like muscular and overhaul. and seriously "or even the quirkless" have to do with anything. deku is the only relevant quirkless person here.

plus the whole "AFO is triggered by kudou's visage so that we can force an unnecessary justification for a throwdown between him and bakugou??" like can we just get this guy out of here.

while yoichi is the 'source' of OFA and his relationship to AFO is relevant for parallels & ideological personifications etc etc, nana is the character with the most pathos revolving around her, who is most directly involved in this conflict with shigaraki. so if kudou can stop wasting panel space that should be used developing her place within OFA and the conflict, that'd be nice.

i should say that i don't mind nana being conflicted about everything going on, putting up a stoic front to cover up her anguish and despair, leaning on pragmatism over idealistic sentiment, or giving into hopelessness. there's also a balance to be had, where she's the Only Female Character who's a part of OFA and it'd be really annoying if she was reduced to the being the bleeding heart, defined by love for her family above all. women can suck too! :)

but i'd like to at least feel like i'm just waiting for the story to get to the point where deku wins the day and she fawns over him like everyone else does for saving shigaraki's heart. it'd be nice to actually get some insight into her mind and thought process that is meant to flesh her out, not just prop deku up. or for her to take a more proactive role in events. back in the day i used to ponder the idea of her conflict straight up disrupting OFA and ability to function, forcing introspection, realignment, and resolve for how deku and the gang should move forward. something to that effect.

i don't know i just want her to be allowed to actually do something and be a part of all this. instead of being sidelined for fuckin kudou.

#i don't care if kudou is gay for yoichi. he should die. #bnha bloggin

[dsneybuf91]

Other 2022 Recommendations

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

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

Honorable Mentions

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

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

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

Recommended Movies

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

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

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

Directed by Domee Shi

Written by Domee Shi and Julia Cho

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

Starring Pedro Pascal as Javi Gutierrez

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

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

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

Directed by Gary Alazraki

Written by Matt Lopez

Bonus Features

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

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

Recommended TV Shows

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

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

Guest-Starring Fred Armisen as Geraldo

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

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

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

Created by Matt Braly

Starring Brenda Song as Anne Boonchuy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Narrated by Pedro Pascal

Starring various South American scientists as themselves

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

Starring and Executive Produced by Diego Luna as Cassian Andor

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

Guest-Starring Antonio Viña as Kassa

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

Plug

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

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

[utilitycaster]

D’you have any favorite Unearthed Arcana ideas that you wish had seen the official light of day?

Yes - I haven't kept up that much with UA lately because I just cannot be bothered with new character races - like I'll read the official materials and use them if I like them but I am, as always, not terribly invested, and I haven't actually looked at official Strixhaven stuff so while I liked certain aspects of Strixhaven I can't answer to what got implemented, but I did use a decent amount of UA stuff as a player and I have a few subclasses I really liked from the past several years:

The Feats for Skills was a great idea and they should implement it. I played a character with the Arcanist feat. I think the more flexible skill system of Pathfinder (and therefore, I assume at least, 3.5e) is one of the major benefits of that system and while I respect streamlining things in 5e, feats are a great way to allow for that kind of customization within the 5e system. The abilities they gave with these feats were great too - using intimidation to demoralize enemies, for example? Incredible.

Similarly, the optional spell versatility rules were really helpful to me as a bard in a campaign where I was, for a long time, the only full caster. It is definitely a little OP but it was also really nice to have. Maybe don't make this super official, or provide some more DM guidance, but perhaps specify it as an option the way customization was provided in Tasha's.

Subclasses that should have been made official:

Needs work but the concept was cool:

College of Satire was seriously underpowered but the idea behind it was great; perhaps leaning a little more into the physical skills and providing a guaranteed minimum roll on insight or something might have been better.

City Cleric is incredible. It needs some slight reworking to work in a more "classic" D&D setting but it's such a good idea.

I do like the idea of Theurgist but the execution wasn't great and at this time I think multiclassing wizard and cleric is the way to go...but I'd be interested in a revisit. I don't know what it would look like, but I would look at it.

Should have been made official and WOTC fucked up on this one:

Seeker Warlock was also super cool and leaned into the lore of warlock as, well, a seeker of knowledge, AND astral plane bullshit my beloved. I think a lot of the mechanics of this got gutted and used for Genie, which is really a step down and a poor choice.

Just saw this bc of this question and now I want it:

Lunar magic (sorcerer subclass) which per the UA page was SUPER POPULAR and they are officially developing it! Hell yes!

#d&d

[sitzfleischh]

Ted Lasso Finale Thoughts

Ok starting in point form:

Keeley not ending up with either Roy or Jamie - sure!

Jamie and Roy both regressing on their character development so that they could both do some misogynistic bullshit to hit home why Keeley shouldn't be with either of them 👎

Keeley, Roy, and Jamie still being friends and hanging out together at the community barbecue thing 👍

Actually back on that first point, obviously throuple was not going to happen but tbh I do think it would have been better to EITHER have keeley and roy end up together and show Jamie's character growth through how he handled it, OR have none of them end up together but told from Keeley's perspective, giving us more of an insight to her making the decision to move forward single and figure herself out more, etc.

Rebecca and Keeley starting a women's league 👍

Rebecca selling 49% of the club to the fans 👍

Trent's outfits 👍👍👍

The fact that we never got to hear Trent read from his book 👎

The fact that all they did with their apparently groundbreaking gay plotline was have Trent say some vague shit about becoming who you always were and have Colin kiss his fella with no futher discussion 👎👎👎 (and that they didn't even at least cut to show a Trent reaction when it happened, EXCUSE ME??) 👎

Jane/Beard wedding 👎👎👎 after she SHREDDED HIS PASSPORT 👎👎👎

Vague montage clip of Jamie visiting his dad in (?? rehab ???) 👎

Ted being deeply emotionally empty and having almost no reaction to anything that happened this ep other than being happy when they won 👎👎👎👎👎👎

Rebecca getting together with the Amesterdam guy 🤷 I don't hate it but would have prefered she be a single mom raising a kid with help from her community. Also literally what the fuck was the deal with the green matchbook did it just mean nothing? It was just a matchbook that she got for no reason?? 👎

The overall hetero bullshit "a family is a mummy and a daddy and their white picket fence" vibe that really jumped out this episode 👎👎👎

TED/MICHELLE AMBIGUOUS UN-DIVORCE MOVING BACK TO KANSAS BULLSHIT?????? 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

LITERALLY ZERO TED CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT ?? 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎

Unfortunately this show really succumbed to the issues it has always had which is that it is ultimately an Extremely Liberal Fantasy about like... just being nice and cooperating will always win out in the end, oriented in a relatively centrist direction. The places it really shone were when it allowed itself to get a little more complicated but still have an optimistic mindset-- to show peoples' foibles and vulnerabilities and still have hope and compassion for them, to orient itself toward the unknown (and they even gave Ted a line about that but wouldn't commit to it!!!). But the problem with a finale is that they had so much pressure to wrap it all up that they hit way too hard on the easy answers, the liberal fairy tale ending where nobody ever actually has to struggle too hard because the world isn't that bad, is it? Just go home to your wife and kid, it'll be okay. And they did a disservice to their characters by doing so because it negated how genuinely complicated it all was. In this life we do not get easy wins, or clear good guys and bad guys, or straight up and down correct answers, and that's okay. Being in community with other people and allowing each other the grace and room to grow is what helps us make it through that. We are imperfect. Life is imperfect. That's okay. We believe we can be better, can change. We keep going anyway.

I don't actually ship tedtrent or tedbecca but look forward to reading everyone's fix-it fics because I imagine y'all will have some far more interesting things to do with these characters. If anyone just does a full episode rewrite that isn't focused on a ship please send it my way because I will be ON THAT. If I wasn't busy I'd write one myself lmao truly we could have had so much better.

#ted lasso #ted lasso spoilers #anway im... disappointed but ultimately not surprised #my meta #also to be clear I'm saying Liberal in terms of the centrist political orientation #as in Liberal not Leftist

[dogbertliveblogsowlhouse]

IT’S BEEN A MONTH FELLAS

and tomorrow the new episode comes out! now, i feel it’s kind of weird jumping directly from the middle of season 1 alllll the way to season 3, so let me give a brief summary of my thoughts on every episode that i didn’t blog in between adventures of the elements and thanks to them!

Backend of Season 1:

The First Day:  a pretty good episode to officially kick off luz’s actual tenure at hexside! also why couldn’t this basilisk have been as nice as the one we meet later

Really Small Problems: development: tibbles is my least favorite character in the entire show, and this episode is just a worse version of little dipper

Understanding Willow: great insight into willow and amity’s fractured friendship, and i love a good mindscape episode

Enchanting Grom Fight: gonna be real with you chief i remember very little about this episode outside of the last ten minutes. but hooh BOY those last ten minutes

Wing It Like Witches: usually i’m not the biggest fan of sports episodes, but this one was pretty good! also has some very good lumity in it, which is i think the main reason people remember this episode

Agony of a Witch: pretty good first part of the finale! even if it DID write out amity for no good reason

Young Blood, Old Souls: great capper to the first season, great official introduction for belos, just really great things all around. also fun fact: all my speculation of “who put the curse on eda” during the blog was a giant ruse, i knew it was lilith the whole time, and i was going to reveal that during the actual reveal, but YKNOW. THINGS HAPPEN.

SEASON 2A:

Separate Tides: fun pirate adventure! man this “golden guard” character is pretty neat, hope nothing bad happens to him!

Escaping Expulsion: this episode gives some nice insight into the families of the hexside kids, especially Amity. Odalia Blight is a very strong contender for my least favorite character in the show, but tibbles is staying there for now

Echoes of the Past: i feel like this is one of the most underrated episodes of season 2. it really gave such immense depth to king’s character so quickly, when, god bless him, he really was basically just a joke character in season one. it sets up its reveal so brilliantly and does it in such an interesting way, without directly giving away the massive reveal later in the season.

Keeping Up A-Fear-Ances: this episode is some really neat insight into the clawthorne family, which we previously knew very little about! also they really gave lilith’s beast form one of the scariest designs in the show only to never use it again, huh

Through The Looking Glass Ruins: wow, they made mattholomule not completely unlikable! way to go! also the little lumity kiss at the end was cute, if not a bit overshadowed by events to come

Hunting Palismen: yknow what, i don’t even care that the bat queen was in this episode! because this is the first episode where we really get to know hunter, who’s honestly probably my favorite (or at least one of my favorite) characters in the entire show. love this boy.

Eda’s Requiem: this episode introduces so many great characters! it didn’t really hit with me when i first watched it, but it’s grown on me. what i just said can also be applied to raine as a character in general

Knock, Knock, Knockin’ On Hooty’s Door: this. mother. fucking. episode. this episode has literally everything you could want as a fan of this show. it’s got KING development, it’s got insanely massive EDA development, it’s got the official solidification of LUMITY, and it’s got hooty galore. yes, yes, he ate the letter, but considering who the sender of that letter turned out to be, was that really a bad move in retrospect. love this one, definitely in my top 3.

Eclipse Lake: this episode is pretty good! it’s got pretty good doses of lumity, hunter, insane lore implications in backgroud details that soon turn out to be crucial plot points, and one of the coolest fight scenes in the entire show! what more could you want? a belos face reveal? WELL WE GOT THAT TOO

Yesterday’s Lie: this episode has a pretty otherworldly feel to it. which is funny considering it takes place on earth. after spending so much of the show on the boiling isles, just    going on a small adventure in a connecticut town is a pretty wild change of pace. vee is adorable, camilla is great, that in-between dimension is wild, and the ending, hooh mama. great way to cap off the first half of season 2. (also yes, i too think it’s funny how much they hyped up “evil luz” only for it to just be a cute little basilisk with no ill will in its body)

SEASON 2B:

Follies At The Coven Day Parade: ehh it’s alright. i don’t really like kikimora, and this episode just sort of cemented that further. also knowing the fact that raine was faking being mind controlled would probably make this episode rough to rewatch

Elsewhere and Elsewhen: now THIS is how you do a time travel episode. great origin story for phillip/belos, who’s honestly one of my favorite villains of all time now, throw in some nice luz and lilith bonding, some collector-shadowing, and some fun time travel chicanery, and you’ve got yourself a banger episode

Any Sport in a Storm: okay, the last sports episode was alright, but this one just... hits home. thank you, thank you, i’ll be here all night. really though, this episode is really great for hunter and willow’s development, starts a ship i didn’t know i wanted, and tibbles dies right along with one of the biggest fan theories! what fun!

Reaching Out: this episode is mostly just some fun wholesome wrestling shenanigans and then dear god do the last five minutes hit. as someone who’s also grown up without a father, and is “totally fine with it”, the big reveal of this episode just makes looking back on luz’s actions throughout the episode all the more tragic, and makes the ending even more heartwarming. also the blight twins are as great as ever

Them’s the Breaks, Kid: some adorable baby eda and raine shenanigans, plus it makes terra even more terrifying than she already was! not as fantastic as some of the other episodes in this half of the season, but it’s pretty dang good!

Hollow Mind: this is my favorite episode of the series. “oh it’s just restating information to the characters that the audience already knew” don’t care. this episode is everything i love about this show. such intense reveals, character moments, tension, and even some comedy thrown in. slowly piecing phillip’s entire backstory together through the events of the episode as well as minute background details is genuinely rewarding, and the episode officially introduces one of the most important scrunklos in the show, the collector! and the ending is genuinely stressful for everybody involved. this episode is just a three-course dinner of everything that makes the owl house great. mwah

Edge of the World: AND THE OWL SHOW JUST KEEPS SWINGING, WE GOT YET ANOTHER BANGER ON OUR HANDS. this is probably my favorite king episode, it has one of the best double-reveals i’ve ever seen in anything, and even though people already sort of pieced together King was a titan, I didn’t, okay. this episode masterfully takes things that were already set up, and uses them to its full advantage. love this one.

Labyrinth Runners: one last great classic hexside episode, that really pays off to gus’s little arc throughout the season. also introduces probably my least favorite coven head, but he’s not bad by any means. amity and willow’s plot does meander a bit, but the real stars here are gus and hunter. love their chemistry, love how overpowered little baby man gus is, love this episode.

O Titan, Where Art Thou?: this episode is fucked up! okay, that’s a bit of hyperbole. the main part that’s fucked up is the sheer contrast between luz and eda, which leads to the one fight in this show i never would have saw coming. eda’s sheer hopelessness vs luz’s misplaced optimism is really devastating to watch at times. but, the ending DOES leave a good taste in your mouth, which is great. also steve is funny. i like steve.

Clouds on the Horizon: yep, odalia’s my least favorite character in the show! this episode is a great prelude to the finale, and also the first and currently only full-on lumity kiss, so that’s great. it has a pretty good resolution to the blight family drama, some great character moments between... pretty much everyone, and leads into king’s tide pretty well. speaking of...

King’s Tide: alright i’m gonna come right out and say it, i love the collector. i love their vibe of “clueless little kid with the power to literally destroy anybody and anything if they want to, but they just want to play.” pre-release and post-release collector feel like two completely separate characters (especially when you factor in the collector we saw in the owl beast’s flashback), but it works i think. also i like phillip’s “i’m quitting my job, time to tie up every loose end” energy in this episode. a great finale to probably one of the best seasons of television in history. i love how dire the stakes are at the end, and i can’t wait to see them continued tomorrow.

and with that, that should bring us all up to speed with where i’m at currently with my thoughts on this show! can’t wait for tomorrow, seeya all then.

#the owl house #owlblogging #in between #recap #season 2

[zer0stormz]

Fav games I played in 2022 #8 - Tales of Vesperia

Tales of Vesperia was a really fun journey. I really enjoyed Yuri as a protagonist, it's nice to have a protagonist who is already fully developed and steadfast on their ideals, having them instead push the other characters forward to develop. I also really liked Rita a lot, and it took me a while but I warmed up to the other characters too over time, especially Karol and Raven who I didn't care much for at the start. The game did a solid job of giving them all time to shine I think, and there were plenty of great skits as well (one of my fav parts about Tales games).

Combat was a struggle for me in this game. I was really frustrated with it for a good while and I don't feel like I really got any good at it by the end. Flying enemies were a nightmare for me, I really did not appreciate there being multiple flying bosses in the later half of the game 😠 Also wasn't fond of having to get equipment to learn skills, my eyes would glaze over as I try to figure out which ones I wanted for what skills, and the later ones took forever to master.

I feel like the story could have also used some trimming on certain things so it could flesh out the main parts more. It was still enjoyable over all though. I will say my biggest disappointment though was not enough Flynn. Seriously, his dynamic with Yuri is the freaking best!!! Every encounter between the 2 of them is one of the best moments in the game, I just love these two besties who frustrate one another to no end but always got each other's backs and believe in one another 100% Now I kinda want a prequel game focused on the two of them in their earlier days.. omg I need that now. I think there was a manga about the two of them but I couldn't find it.

Speaking of manga, I read Raven's manga, Kokuu no Kamen/The Empty Mask, and it's amazing!!!!! Seriously, If you enjoy Tales of Vesperia you HAVE to read it!!!!!!! It made me appreciate Raven's character a lot more, to the point that I think he is now my favorite ToV character!! Also it gave some good insight to parts of the story that weren't elaborated on in the game and more insight into Alexei's character.

In the end, while there were things that frustrated me, I really did enjoy Vesperia quite a bit. It was a fun journey with lots of laughs to be had. The party was great and had a lot of good character development, and Yuri is just such a fantastic protagonist.

#tales of vesperia #tov #tales of series #video games #poor raven #seriously though i really need more of yuri and flynn

[jaimebluesq]

deep fic writer asks: 1, 9, 17, 19 :D

1. what's the fic you're most proud of?

You're gonna love this one - the completed fic I'm proudest of is Reality is Overrated - the one I did to fill your Man Who Has Everything prompt. It was such a great idea to begin with and inspired me immediately, and so many elements just came together naturally. There are lines I still giggle over (e.g. JZXun saying "what did I do to deserve this" and NHS going "Shall I make you a list? Well..." and drunkenly ticks items off on his fingers), and the ending gave that last bit of bittersweetness that offset the return to the canon world with its dead Da-ge and revenge plot. I'm just really proud of what I did with it :D

9. what's your writing process like?

There can be some variation on pre-writing aspects - if I'm filling a prompt/doing an exchange/challenge/something specific, then I try to at least make an outline with points I'd like to touch on (point-form), particularly if there are required elements (I also do this sometimes if I'm writing something that has lots of pieces of information, like OC names and plot elements, etc etc). But whether I outline or not, the one consistent thing about my writing process is that I write linear - as in, I don't skip ahead to write a scene further down the line (I tried doing that with a 5+1 type fic and it was hard to get back into the earlier parts). Even with an outline, I always try to give myself some leeway - when in the middle of a scene, things sometimes go in a direction I didn't expect, so I need to be flexible enough to go with the flow. Other than that, I've found that youtube playlists are great to have in the background - there are some "deep focus" types that I've found pretty useful.

17. What’s the best engagement/interaction/feedback you’ve received from someone who’s read your work?

I think what hits most in feedback is when people pick up on something I've worked hard on but that may not necessarily get noticed by most. Examples:

My first MDZS/CQL fic (Portraits of Qinghe) had me worried about starting in a new fandom, and the first response was a long comment where the person talked about many of their favourite things in the story, one of which was the set of advisors (OCs) I had created - I'd worked so hard on them, it meant a lot to have that noticed, and it meant so much that my first fic in the fandom was so well-received.

In "Winning the Game", I tried really hard to write the story in a way that you really don't know if the OC Wen character was genuinely kind or just acting that way (because the not knowing was supposed to make NHS' actions hit hard), and it meant a lot when some of those who commented talked about the ambiguity I'd worked so hard to create.

When a certain person noticed how I started the first paragraph of every (with 1 exception) Murder Tortoise fic - actually, "New Shell, Old Tricks" was so much of that for me, it's like I felt my fics were so seen because of all the little things you found to add in there, just wonderful and had me happily over the moon for quite a while :D

19. If you could write an ideal fic, what would it include?

Great dialogue - I just LOVE writing dialogue, getting into a character's head to find their voice

Plot - I genuinely love a plotty fic, the more elements the better - I especially love political elements, and with CQL/MDZS, the Jianghu politics are a fertile ground for plots

Good characterizations with insights into how the characters act/think

Romance - I just think it's neat ;) But it has to be genuine and not forced, organic in how it develops (and sex scenes are nice but not required - sometimes they disrupt the flow or mess with the tone)

Relationships - Not just romantic, but friends and family as well (e.g. I write so much NHS that it wouldn't be an ideal fic without NMJ and some sort of observation on the Nie bros' relationship)

Humour - doesn't have to be the focus, but there needs to be some humour to break up the heavier scenes

A satisfying conclusion

I've talked a few times about this epic SangCheng fic I've been working on for a year now, and it actually has all the elements (except for the satisfying conclusion because I'm not there yet - actually, now that I think about it, Reality is Overrated has them as well) - if I finish it and perfect it through editing, it would def. be my magnum opus.

Thank you as always for the ask!!!

[brave-symphonia]

I might write down my thoughts on Olympus later, I haven’t been doing them for the lostbelts so far, because they’re just so much longer, so it’s a bit harder to get everything down that happened.

But I went through Olympus, writing down thoughts I had on the various moments, so I might just make a post with all of that, for now I’m just going to rank the lostbelts right now.

6. Scandinavia

I’m not sure if there’s a real reason for this, but it definitely felt the weakest. I liked Napoleon and liked Ophelia well enough, but there was just something missing.

I’m also not sure if I ever really loved Brynhild, and that may have something to do with it, too.

I still enjoyed it, just not as much as the others.

5. SIN

Enjoyed it more than Scandinavia, thought it had a good villain, some interesting dynamics.

It gave Spartacus a time to shine, it had some interesting things to say with everyone being at peace and living happily, but still having that dark part where they were effectively just animals, with QSH being the only real human there.

4. Russia

The first lostbelt was the strongest for me for a while. It introduced the concepts of lostbelts and started off strong.

I loved Kadoc as the Crypter, the time with Patxi was great, the history behind the lostbelt was interesting, and Ivan was an intimidating threat.

I also loved Avicebron, his development coming off of his experience in Apocrypha was really neat. And that boss fight with Salieri playing in the background while fighting on top of his golem was just great.

Not the mention how curious I was the whole time, desperately wanting to know more about the lostbelts, the tree of emptiness, etc.

3. India

While I’ve come around and I think it would’ve been nice to see more of Arjuna, I don’t really have too much of a problem with him not getting a ton of screentime in this lostbelt. And From Lostbelt really gave a bit more insight into him.

But he was an intimidating villain, it was cool to see a Crypter that joined us after completely losing control thanks to one of the Alter Egos, and I loved a lot of the characters.

2. Atlantis

Everything about this was just amazing. The entrance into it, immediately getting attacked by everything they had, the lore behind it all, the advanced technology, lengthened lifespans.

Charlotte, Odysseus, Jason, Man of Chaldea, Kirschtaria’s fight, the Servants from the past that led us there, Orion and Artemis, just all of it.

Definitely one of my favorites.

1. Olympus

I’m making a separate post later with everything on Olympus, but just there’s so much. So much to talk about, so much I loved.

#zack plays video games #zack plays fate go #zack explores nasuverse

[cocamalfeta]

Why are you always quoting that old Taekook blog? I’ve read their blog, too, and as with all Tumblr Taekook blogs, find some things I agree with and other stuff that I don’t. What ideas of theirs do you agree with?

I’m not really in the mood to get into specifics rn, more for providing just a general idea. Everything I re-posted and liked from her blog, it’s sth I’d agree with –I like the way she writes and thinks, I also love her insights on the Asian mindset, and I believe she had a deep grasp of members' characters and bonds. I liked too that her observations were so reality rooted, so no doubt her assessments feel quite brutal at times. Overall, her blog is my comfort place to go, it’s overtly entertaining and fun, and many posts of hers I’d ‘ve read like many times already.

However, I think that no matter what, people shouldn’t rely on their observations as their primarily way to assess anything. They’re indeed valuable, but extremely risky, first because it’s just not possible to ever know the whole picture, and there’re always external forces, context/ environment, biases, that’ll influence your views and will make you sway from one place to another. That's the part where I disagree the most with her.  But this is something that she acknowledged and tried to mend somewhat later. She'd fight with other Jkkrs, and try to make them recover some sense, to no avail. As she’d become at one point de facto one of them, so it’s not wonder she'd be forever mocked by them. Then she'd start her own musings on her blog. 

If you want some instances of things I’d agree with her (there’re a lot more but I’d more time to find the quotes). She wrote, in a more frivolous manner, on Jimin solo album:

I do not think he has had much hands-on participation in composing and writing lyrics.He probably gave pointers to RM like I want the song to have references to moon and sea and the moon wants to see me and I'm missing the moon and stuff like that. I think his album will be full of references to kookie and some his close friends that we will not realize.(Early August 22) 

If the lyrics have too much intricacies, it definitely will have come from RM. Let's wait and see. If I am not wrong I also predicted there will be a lot of references to moon and how he is missing the moon or the moon is missing him or sun and moon. Let's wait. (End of September 22 post)

More seriously,  I’d like to find the exact quote now on Jungkook promoting Jimin, but she wrote in 22 or before something like: Jungkook supporting Jimin in the way he needs it or something along these lines. I remembered her words now, when Jungkook apologized because he’d forgotten the latest single by Jm. 

Finally, about you mentioning her blog was “old”. If only people were more aware of general past of BTS and their relationships, many wouldn’t be grieving so hard with latest developments of these past years. These "old" Blogs who posted in real time are the most useful to have a better understanding of their reality (or part of that reality) at the time and to avoid re-interpreting, re-writing their history and to put things more into context. Now, her blog was absolutely on the fringe of the Tkk fandom, it didn’t represent at all Taekook fandom state, like, in 2018.  She wasn’t even a Tkk blog –more like a Tae/Jk solo who happened to realise through her observations that there was sth between them –she was at a very early stage of being a Tkkr.

I hope I’d made some sense with this. Have a nice day! 

Jas, a nice Taekook pic:

#taekook

[jaykeybloggz]

Evaluation

In this project I have taken my work in slightly different directions depending on which artists and topics I have been researching and looking into each week.

Initially I looked Into Sherlock Holmes and the victorian era, especially around London. I figured out that i especially liked how the characters of Conan Doyles stories were drawn in the Disney film "The Great Mouse Detective"

I have always enjoyed drawing animal characters, as they are easy to design distinctively, so I decided to for this project.

With the knowledge that we would be designing a cult and a sacred object I took inspiration from one of my own interests, 1930s animation. In the great depression era cartoon "Bimbo's Initiation" comical looking cult leaders are seen.

As these cartoons are rather macabre and gothic looking i thought it would fit with the grittiness of the victorian tone. Especially the backgrounds. (notice the broken windows and knocked over trash can, indication of the great depression) The hard times these cartoons were made in affected their visual design, just like how dark and gloomy victorian illustrations were.

I decided To make a rough design for my cult leader, with somewhat comical robes. as well as design my logo.

The name of puddle gang was a completely off the spot thing, however I thought this could mean a puddle of blood. The name is inconspicuous enough to fly under someones radar as anything suspicious.

At this point in the project we were looking into pixel art and experimenting with how that would look. It was then that I Designed my detective on the spot. Somewhat taking inspiration from Paul Robertson by using black continuous outlines.

Then in the same week as my pixel art experiments we moved onto practical sculpting. first using clay and plaster to create a large logo and then moving down a scale to using super sculpy and resin to cast a wax seal.

This wax seal would be used to seal any letters my cult sent out to its members. I have always been fascinated by wax seals, so i wanted to make this as good as i could. Here is a fairly nice initial mockup.

I also played around with some basic anatomy by using tracing paper to create a skull from an already designed creature and by sculpting an ear, a very complicated shape which i am very happy i replicated as well as i did.

At this time i also toyed with some basic pixel art animation and reseached the voxel art style. looking at paul robertsons amazing composition and the voxels 3d nature made me realsie i would like to add depth to my work when i can. Even if i am not the best at pixel art.

I was able to do just that when i had a rather frustrating session with the program magicavoxel. while i can see the potential it has i found the controls unweildy.

adding depth became less frustrating when i added it to text using phtotoshop. this i had fun with.

I then designed my trading card, improving on an earlier design which is quite ugly. this is on paper and is just a rough sketch, however i liked it so much i vitualy traced over it.

The next week I was able to complete my letter. i used coffee grounds and graphite to make my letter look aged which was a new process for me. when i was little i used teabags ro stain my own little treasure maps of our garden.

I then was able to sculpt on top of the resin seal i had made. making a blade from thin wood and combing that with sculpy to make a hilt and a mound for the balde to stick out from.

the next day we went to the EGX gaming convention in london whcih was good fun, however the most relevent thing to my work was seeing all the indipendeent creators set up shop and gain an audience in person. it was quite inspiring and gave me a little insight into the creative industry.

Overall I am very happy with the outcomes of this project and I think I have given clearly explained how my project developed in this evaluation. I think to improve this project I really could show a more detailed record of my progression with more pictures of my semi complete work. I also think I could plan a bit better. I think the most fun I had was sculpting for the first time, it was really enjoyable.