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fermented-writers-block · 3 years

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PART 1 of 6 of the Owl Deity Hooty Theory

[NEXT PART]

[OWL DEITY HOOTY THEORY MASTERPOST] (in development)

(TLDR at bottom of post)

Over several long months of research and analysis since March of 2020, I have been following an utterly fascinating thread of potential misdirection and subtle details throughout The Owl House, and today, I would like to start weaving together of what I believe could become one of the biggest and most cleverly disguised twists in the entire show.

To begin, let’s take a look at the B plot of Understanding Willow:

On first glance, it’s an ultimately inconsequential sidestory with the sole purpose of justifying an excuse to keep Luz and Amity in Willow’s mind, as well as providing some well-needed room to breathe and release tension after the veryemotionally charged confrontation with Inner Willow. After half an episode of Eda and King outdoing the other in ridiculous ways to win Gus’ vote and Gus running off in frustration at the end of the episode from Hooty’s inane rambling, it’s easy to laugh off Gus’ pick and assume that nothing/of value was said when he closed the door for the interview.

However, if one pays close attention to that very scene, Hooty actually canstill be heard (if faintly) underneath Eda and King’s grumbling, interestingly talking about how “It all started with a hunt. Blood red skies. That’s right, I was created-.”

Now, while it may seem silly to focus on dialogue from Hooty of all characters, this A) tells us that there was an event in the past involving blood red skies and a hunt of some kind, B) that Hooty had been created close to said event, and C) implies that what he knows but can’t tell as a story worth a damn is EXTREMELY important to be included and be hidden in such a manner.

For comparison, the only other instance of dialogue being tucked away in the background in the entire show is in Wing It Like Witches:

During the lecture at the beginning of the episode, the history teacher openswith lore on Belos appointing a head witch to each coven over 50 years ago, immediately cluing in the audience to try and decipher the rest of the lecture as it moves to the background. Adding to this is how the musical sting when Luz shows off her movie obscures what he says even further, making it even more of a intriguing puzzle that the creators clearly intended for viewers to pick up on and attempt to solve.

In contrast, the hidden dialogue of Hooty’s interview is much shorter and not as hard to decipher as the teacher’s history lesson, but at the same time, there are few to no indicators whatsoever in that scene to clue in the audience to even check for something like that. It comes at the end of an episode where most viewers would have been paradoxically tired out and driven abuzz by the revelations of Amity and Willow’s relationship, doesn’t attempt to draw much attention to itself, and frames itself as a comedic subversion of audience expectations with neither the “greatest witch who ever lived” or the self-proclaimed king of demons being picked by Gus.

Instead, he picks someone that the show portrays constantly as an oblivious and gullible idiot after being described as a “state of the art defense system” at the very beginning of the series. Someone who, despite it being played for laughs, is scarily capable of casually subduing Lilith offscreen one episode and then beating her and an entire squad of Emperor’s Coven members without even the slightest change in personality or temperament.

Someone who, due to being the Owl House itself, could be considered the titular character of the entire show, yet is taken for granted by those who inhabit him and barely gets any respect from even the cutely patronized King - including when Hooty could be interpreted as having potentially been full on DEAD for a time given the use of extremely cartoony X eyes and a lack of vital signs in The Intruder.

And someone who Eda at best tolerates and at worst abandons in personal interactions and only occasionally acknowledges him when he’s actually doing his job. Yet at the same time is so implicitly trusted beyondprotecting her home to the point where - when up against the closest person Eda has to an equal outside of likely Belos - the only actually recognizable spells Eda used in combat were 1) stereotypical energy blasts, 2) a single shield spell in Covention, and 3) a noticeably large reliance on imitations of Hooty above any other spells she could have decided to use instead.

In short, the show repeatedly tells us he is just an idiotic gag character through and through, but at the same time demonstrates he has immense power through both onscreen and offscreen demonstrations, implicitly tells us his importance ahead of time through Eda’s imitations in actually serious situations, and treats his interview and origin story as - if not even more- important to keep secret than a long lore dump about how Belos’ reign works.

After all, there being only two instances of hidden background dialogue in the entire season is already intriguing on its own, but for one to get plenty of clues to draw in people’s attention and for the other to be treated as just another gag about a “mere comic relief character” - aka a good way to draw away attention and lower one’s guard - heavily suggests a far deeper significance buried under layers of misdirection, comedy, and conditioned audience expectations.

I mean, when Eda bragged about being “a bad girl living in a secret fortress,” Hooty followed with a remark about how “I’m the secret.” While that line may sound like Hooty simply being confused as part of a one-off on the surface, it’s an odd dialogue choice for the writers to pick when you think about all the other reminders of his nature as the house itself throughout the season. With the precedent these moments set, it would have been much more appropriate for him to latch onto the “fortress” side of “secret fortress” AND it would have been just as equally funny of a joke about his awareness skills, but instead, Hooty broke away from the established trend to say something that would make people suspicious were it to come from anyone else.

In a way, this reminds me much of the many subtle bits of foreshadowing strewn across the show, like Luz unknowingly describing Amity in Witches Before Wizards and Eda burning a hole through Luz’s coven type quiz that coincidentally selected the same track she had taken at Hexside as “a punky potionist.” At the time of airing, these initially seemed like one-off jokes, but eventually came back in full force several episodes later with Amity’s hidden sensitive feelings and love for the Azura books becoming clear in Lost in Language, and the reveal of Eda’s school track in Something Ventured, Someone Framed with her school misdemeanor pictures.

That said, compared to these individual bits of minor foreshadowing, the jokes about Hooty in Understanding Willow appear to simply be the most obvious pieces in a giant puzzle, implicitly and outright telling attentive viewers that there’s a major mystery to be uncovered here.

In fact, I feel bold enough to say that we could be looking at a twist on a similar scale to that of the Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz and Stanford Pines twists in Steven Universe and Gravity Falls respectively, what with this particular puzzle piece coming from how Gus wanted to make THE greatest interview of all time, and how he was looking for someone who was “interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy:”

Note the emphasis on the ‘and’ here, as Gus had made a big deal that “people aren’t meantto be all those things” at the beginning of the episode, so as a result, stripping away all the comedic framing of his subplot leaves the intriguing implication that whoever - and, perhaps, what- Hooty is, they really are the most interesting, accomplished, AND noteworthy person out of everyone.

I could go further and talk about why I suspect the mystery surrounding King’s origins, whether true or not, is partially meant to misdirect us from paying attention to Hooty, or how the TOH crew’s could be disguising legitimate clues to his nature among made up and highly meme-able joke answers in order to proliferate said concepts throughout the fandom - thus letting us do all the dirty work of getting ourselves used to the ideas and used to dismissing them at the same time - but to bring things to a close for now, I’d like to leave you all with a question that I’ll start answering next time:

What does it mean when both the most powerful and notorious witch on the Boiling Isles and the possible actual king of demons/the Titan itself/something don’t match up to a house? And what do you think it is that makes him so special to warrant such misdirection?

TLDR: Between Eda’s golem spells, the show stressing his nature as the titular house, his implicit strength, and the odd dialogue and structure of Understanding Willow‘s subplot in relation to him, I believe I have good reason to suspect the show has been giving us many hints towards Hooty being much, much more important than it would like us to currently believe or even joke about. Particularly, through clever uses of comedy to establish and enforce a strong audience bias against looking closely at him or unironically taking him seriously, and to potentially plant the seeds for something I will start exploring in Part 2.

#the owl house #the owl house theory #owl house theory #the owl house speculation #toh theory #the owl house hooty #toh speculation #owl deity hooty theory #long post

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autisticcassandracain · 3 years

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I have many thoughts on the weird phenomena in the DC fandom and the Batfam fandom specifically where probably the majority of people just straight up. haven’t interacted with the source material. and almost all of those thoughts can be summarized as ‘lmao that’s weird and mildly concerning’.

and because I’m annoying I will list them all here right now <3

1. To preface this post, I mean, obviously, comics are inaccessible as all hell, both in the disability kind of way and the ‘you need to understand the concept of hypertime to fully comprehend the DC timeline’ kind of way. Because of this, even if you don’t have a disability that prevents you from reading comics, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to look at the amount of comics you need to read to have even a base understanding of a character and go ‘no thanks <3′ and just enjoy fanart and fanfic in a vacuum. Ultimately, this is fandom, this is supposed to be fun, it doesn’t really matter.

2. That said, it’s VERY weird to me that the majority of this fandom just straight up hasn’t interacted with the source material, and moreover, that it’s considered rude to tell people that they should do so. It’s especially weird considering the amount of fanon-only fans I’ve seen who straight up have a superiority complex over canon. The idea that it’s gatekeeping to tell fans of something to actually interact with canon is just. so weird, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what ‘gatekeeping’ actually entails.

3. But honestly I’m less interested in discussing the ways in which canon and fanon fans should interact with each other (personally, I think it would be helpful to create separate tags of some kind, but that’d require quite a big overhaul of the current fandom state) than in figuring out how this actually happened in the first place. On the one hand, it’s obvious; long-running superhero comics the way DC writes them have made themselves so thoroughly inaccessible that most people are simply too daunted to even try. Most media has a cohesive beginning and end (or at least, a planned end somewhere). Comics just... don’t.

But I do think it says something that, even among people who are clearly interested in the characters (since they have, you know, entire blogs about them), the effort to get into comics just seems to be too much to even bother. This really doesn’t bode well for the future of DC Comics. Obviously, I am no expert on anything at all ever, but I’d personally be surprised if DC survives beyond the few decades, at least in its current form/without a big overhaul.

4. But on the other hand, I don’t think the confusing state of DC Comics is the only thing to blame here. Fandom has a well-known problem with reducing any character down to archetypes to more easily ship and write fic/make content with. This problem is particularly prominent in fanfic, which, if you read enough of it, you’ll eventually start seeing not just the same tropes and trends, but essentially the same fics over and over again. And not just within the same fandom; everywhere, or every large fandom, at least.

Fanon Batfam is entirely built on a bunch of those tropes; insecure/depressed sadboy Tim, team mom with optional hidden trauma/emotional problems Dick, bad boy with a heart of gold + sadboy combo Jason, abused sadboy Damian/angry easily-villified-for-fic-reasons monster Damian, good dad Bruce for found family fic and bad dad Bruce for angst fic, etc. This all culminates in a found family dynamic that’s generic and malleable to whatever fic the writer wants to write.

(This isn’t getting into the ship fic, which I avoid like the plague because the vast majority of it is incest, but I’d bet real actual money that the tropes in those fics fall under what is often preferred by the Migratory Slash Fandom.)

By having a decent excuse not to get into canon (the inaccessibility of comics) and a, by now, well-established fanon fandom, many fans feel free to use the batfam fandom as essentially an excuse to write whatever fic with reduced archetypes and tropes they personally feel the itch to write, without having to bother with even consuming a canon. This is compounded by the fact that canon itself is often contradictory and frankly bad, meaning that whatever interpretation of a character you want/need to go for your fic is at least theoretically backed up by canon (for example, you can just as easily cast Bruce as an abusive shithole dad who his kids need to get away from as a loving father figure who cares deeply for his children), which you can always use as a defense if people question your characterization.

5. This focus on fandom trends and tropes over actual creativity or care for the characters is also visible in the way bigotry manifests in this fandom; namely, in literally the exact way you’d expect. The female characters and characters of colour are shuffled to the side, non-existent, vilified, and/or reduced to harmful stereotypes.

Barbara is probably the one I saw the most often in fanfic, but usually just as ‘Dick’s girlfriend’, and even then, she was often vilified for Dick angst (especially in fics about examining Dick’s trauma from his canon sexual assault; Kori also often gets the short end of the stick in those). After that, probably Stephanie, who fanon fans don’t really seem to know what to do with, so she’s basically just there as comic relief waffle girl, most of the time, though sometimes she can be used to either further Tim angst or further vilify Tim, whatever the fic calls for. Cass has gotten included more in batfam fics as of late, likely in response to critiques of fandom racism for leaving her out, but again, it’s clear people don’t actually know what to do with her. She’s often reduced to a racist stereotype of a quite, stoic therapist for whatever guy du jour needs it. That, or she’s in Hong Kong and just not there. Duke especially gets left in the dust in fandom, usually just being non-existent, but when he’s there, he’s almost always nothing more than the straight man for the actual fun characters to play off of. Talia probably has it the worst, though, and almost universally gets vilified by fanon stans in order to write sadboy Damian.

All of this is extremely predictable behaviour and falls entirely in line with general fandom misogyny and racism; ignoring or vilifying women and characters of colour, or using them as very minor characters at best. The only two characters of colour who aren’t regularly left out of fic are Dick and Damian, who are both also conveniently the two characters most often drawn and written in a whitewashed manner. In addition, there’s a real trend of demonizing Damian in fanon fics where he isn’t written as an abused sadboy, which I’d argue is in no small part due to fandom racism, considering Damian’s behaviour is in no way as bad as Jason’s, who doesn’t get anywhere close to the same demonization and gets woobiefied instead. I also find it convenient that Damian is probably the batboy who receives the most vilification in fic, when he’s the most obviously non-white of the batboys they’re willing to acknowledge.

Fandom often cries for more diversity in canon, only to ignore the diversity already there and focus on the same generic white guys. The batfam fandom is a brilliant example of this.

Which is not to say that fandom racism and misogyny isn’t present in the canon parts of the fandom (and canon itself); it absolutely 100% is. But I’ve found that canon fans are also more likely to like and care about at least one of the characters I’ve listed as ignored/vilified, and are willing to create and consume content for them, whereas fanon fans... aren’t, really. I’ve never seen a fan of fanon Cass the way I’ve seen fans of fanon Dick, for example. Obviously, this could just be by coincidence, or I’ve just surrounded myself with people like that, but it’s been a trend I noticed. Racism and misogyny is present in every part of this fandom and should be addressed as such, but I feel like it manifests the most blatantly in the fanon parts of this fandom.

(I’d also recommend the articles Migratory Slash Fandom’s Focus and Beige Blank Slates, which expand more on the type of fandom racism I think is especially prominent in the batfam fandom, as well as literally every article in the What Fandom Racism Looks Like series.)

6. All this leads me to conclude that the majority of fanon fans don’t actually like the characters all that much; they’re convenient excuses for them to participate in fandom. Which I also think is, in no small part, a reason why so many of them react so negatively to being told to pick up a comic; they came to this fandom specifically to consume it as a fandom, because they wanted the fandom experience without having to consume a canon.

This is not a phenomena unique to the batfam fandom (again, see the Migratory Slash Fandom), but it does fascinate me. While fandom is often said to be an experience focusing on transformative art, I think it’s also safe to say that, especially as fandom has become more mainstream, an increasing amount of people are looking to it less as a way to engage with their favourite pieces of media, and more as a type of media in and of itself. I think the reasons for this are similar to the reasons mass media entertainment like the MCU are so popular; you gain a lot of enjoyment out of it with very little risk involved.

By consuming the same fics of the same characters (or the same archetypes) over and over again, you are rarely at risk of being challenged or even disappointed. It’s often very clear right from the start whether or not a fic will appeal to you, and if it isn’t, it’s easy to just look for another one. It requires less emotional investment than most other types of media, even ‘popcorn media’ like the MCU - or, yes, DC Comics. It’s safe, it’s enjoyable, it’s comforting, like McDonalds, but just like McDonalds, it’s ultimately bland and unsubstantial.

7, TL;DR. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s like, wrong to enjoy the fanon version of the batfam without wanting to engage with canon, and I certainly don’t think it’s okay to harrass people over it. But I do think it’s in large part based on a desire to interact with fandom rather than other pieces of media because people are scared of being let down by those pieces of media (or worse, just uninterested in actually thinking), which is mildly concerning.

#long post #my posts #infodumping #btw i say this as someone who also has trouble consuming much more than popcorn media/fanfic due to emotional exhaustion #but it's not a healthy habit and it's something people can and should try to break out of #also obviously this isn't about EVERY fanon fan specifically so if this doesn't apply to you specifically great then move on

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mikaze-discord · 3 years

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Quartet Night: Love letters

Annnnnd these are the love letters written for Quartet Night!!!

Please enjoy under the cut~

REIJI KOTOBUKI

From Anon:

I've always been drawn to characters with complex (and fairly dark) personalities, so liking Rei-chan was honestly inevitable for me.

He looks like a very bright and cheerful character at first, which he is, but sometimes that part of him is a little misleading because, in actuality, he's a character that holds a lot of negative feelings about himself due to a past that he can't seem to move on from. He holds a lot of those feelings to himself because he doesn't want to burden anyone else with them. He's a reliable, cunning, and ultimately selfless character that chooses to shoulder a lot on his own out of his infinite care for others, and perhaps a secret sense of atonement, all hidden behind his bright demeanor and goofy smile, and it's endlessly interesting to me.

Besides the duality of his personality, he has a lot of other endearing quirks to love about him. He loves his mom a lot and is a mama's boy. His old-man jargon and catchphrases never fail to amuse (I still can't get over the way he says "my girl"). His obsession with anything even remotely British is something my APH England phase can relate to. His style of music brings a lot of pleasant feelings of nostalgia for me, and his pretty voice suits them a lot. And most of all he's just a very good boy overall. I rate 99999 out of 10 would love and support him and also maybe pay for his therapy because god knows he needs it. Happy anniversary!!

From another anon:

Would you like to hear a story? You do? Very well then, may this story be one you enjoy.

What do I like about Reiji kotobuki? A Lot of things actually!

Well, I've always really liked Reiji as a character as he seemed to be one of the more interesting characters to me, due to how complex he is with his backstory and general just personality.

I have always really enjoyed how Reiji just solves problems too? Like he is just such an outgoing person who deserves all the support!!!

Like the best word I can use for Reiji is just, unique. Everything about him is just so Reiji. From the way he talks, to his nicknames or even his texting style. Like have you seen how many people use emoticons when texting as Reiji? It's just so him.

I like his way of thinking too! I feel like some of the interactions in the games are just so interesting, just seeing Reiji’s point of view. How he deals with a sort of survivor’s guilt and all of that.

Personally, some of my most memorable roleplaying moments were watching a Reiji rper in action, like just seeing them interact and flow so seamlessly with the other characters was just so fascinating to wee baby rper me. Such a large part of playing Reiji is just how you flow with the people around you and comedic timing. I have so many funny moments where Reiji was just interacting with people and it was just so inspirational (?) like I couldn't stop the smile on my face. I had learnt alot from them. I still consider them my roleplaying senpai almost! I don't talk to them anymore but I really had an amazing time just seeing their spin on the character.

I don't find him to be a romantic partner towards me nor do I see any of the characters in that light, but I've always found Reiji as such a personal character. Not even just towards me, like even with other utapri stans. The most relatable character always seems to be Reiji.

I've always been pretty similar in many aspects to him and I often find myself relating to him in numerous ways like his vibe is just relatable! I have often found myself trying to make other people laugh and have fun that many times I'm spreading myself thin and feel unappreciated...Reiji really helped with that.

This is where i start getting into the really personal stuff LOL feel free to skip if you dont wanna hear the angsty backstory.

I had really come to love Reiji when I had just...hit a low. I had a group of friends who I enjoyed hanging out with and just talking to, but they weren't very good friends per say. I often had to schedule every activity we did and I spent days and nights trying to think of concepts that might be fun. They took it for granted.. I had spent 4 months trying to make a game for them, and they had constantly pushed back times that we would play it. Using excuses to not play it, without telling me out right what they did not like or even why. The site I used was later taken down without notice and thus I had lost all my progress. Later, they had mentioned how they would like to play it except that later ended up being two years later. I really wish I could've solved things with that friend group like Quartet Night did but that didn't happen. That is when I started seeing things Reiji’s way? Not to say that it was the same or similar scenario to Reiji but I had just associated it with him.

RANMARU KUROSAKI

From Anon:

Ran is such a fun character! He sounds like a "rough outside, soft inside" kind of character, but his roughness is more like an integral part of him and it's through it that he shows he cares rather than setting it aside. That's what made me want to rp him. I also like how he is such a strong guy who's always determined to do his best in everything he does despite so much having gone wrong in his past. And it's very satisfying to see him form bonds and start to trust people.

From @mikaze-san:

Originally, my favourite Utapri boy was Ai, and it had been the robot boy for several years upon entering the fandom. In fact, it only switched to Ranmaru sometime late last year but regardless, I would still die for this man. Part of the reason why I switched is because I’ve always been a fan of Suzuki Tatsuhisa and I have a huge bias towards any man who wears nail polish without fearing being “feminine” because fuck gender roles.

As someone who studies fashion, I think Ranmaru is very coordinated and confident when it comes to portraying himself that way. He knows he’s not very good at expressing his emotions and utilises his passion for rock and playing the bass to portray those feelings through his songs. It’s also incredibly inspiring to know that he bounces back from pretty much anything considering his backstory and the stuff he deals with in the game/anime.

But my main reason for loving Ranmaru so much stems from the fact that I admire him a lot and want to be more like him. For a long time last year, I got to roleplay as Ranmaru in a few Utapri groups and through those experiences, I gained a better understanding and appreciation of the characters that I wrote for. In some weird way, by highlighting his flaws, character progression and how he dealt with different emotions, I ended up providing insight into how I dealt with similar issues by looking at them from a 3rd person perspective.

I used to be very shy and was very shut off from friends and family, and due to this I’ve always admired people in my life or fictional characters that are so confident in being who they are. Ranmaru particularly struck that chord in me because his bluntness knows no end. He’s very opinionated and doesn’t fear confrontation, in most cases being the one to provoke it. He speaks his mind openly without being overly anxious of the consequences. This is something that I feel is especially relevant today with being your authentic/unapologetic self is such a trend.

It’s something I’ve also noticed with having met people in or outside of this fandom, the notion of idolising a fictional character containing traits that we want to see in ourselves. Which made me think about a lot of my favourite kinds of characters which at the end of the day all boil down to sharing one similar trait: Being a bitch.

And in Utapri, Ranmaru embodies that. So naturally it’s very easy for me to idolise him.

(Tldr: I like his bitchy attitude.)

AI MIKAZE

From Arashi:

It's hard to put into words why I love Ai Mikaze, perhaps it's because I'm subconsciously drawn to him, maybe it's because his hair and eyes are my favorite color, maybe it's because his voice is that of an angels, there are many reasons why I love him. I couldn't tell you a definite, "These one or two reasons are the entire reason I love him", but I'll try to sum it up.

I grew to love him by admiring his personality, his smile, his determination to reach his goals, everything about him made me happy. He's strict and a little scary at times, but when he sees people caring for him, he becomes happy and in a way, sentimental. He's not sure how to explain the way he feels, but he tries. I think I admire how he holds all the little things precious to his heart as he learns about them, and he wants to understand how to care for others and how they care for them in return. Even after six years, he still remains the most dear to me. I think that he now has a sentimental value to me, because even if I 'loved' another character more for a while, I will always come back to Ai. Ai deserves the world, and I'd give it to him if I could. He'll always be special to me, and I think that he very much deserves that.

From Maronda:

My love for Ai started after I found Shining Live by chance and started to play. At first I wasn't particularly attached to any of the characters and decided to go back and watch the anime to maybe remember some context other than who Starish was. When I got to the episode focused on Ai and his "secret" I was absolutely thrown off by it all. I ended up feeling like I had so many questions and I knew that the anime would give me little to no answers, so I frequently turned to rambling on the internet about it. Eventually, this fixation on weird things about him seemed to turn into a clear fondness for him, and friends made me realize just how much I liked him. Knowing the cold and often strange aspects of his personality was due to something out of his control was something I resonated with as someone on the autism spectrum. He reminded me of some of the ways I used to think and behave.

I also began to notice other things I loved about him. Things like how soothing I found his voice, the pleasant shade of light blue in his hair and eyes, how ridiculously pretty he is... but the best things are the endearing parts of his personality. Though he's somewhat harsh, he's still entirely genuine. His curiosity is absolutely precious and his occasional awkwardness in expressing emotion or understanding the emotions of others made me empathize with him. And if you look at the Ai in Shining Live and compare it to the Ai in the anime and games... he really has changed a lot and grown as a person. He now seems so much gentler and understanding, and he clearly values the friendships he has now too! I think he's a wonderful character and ever since friends of mine encouraged me to selfship I've essentially been in love with him, but it also makes me happy to see other people appreciate him for other reasons as well. He's just so lovable!

CAMUS

From @uta-no-fakku-sama:

At the very beginning of my UtaPri interest, Camus never really caught my attention. That is until he became my first My Only Prince UR. I’ve come to appreciate him a lot more ever since, and now he’s become my favorite QUARTET NIGHT member! Along the way, I learned more about him and realized he’s one of the more complicated characters to understand. Nonetheless, I absolutely adore him. I tend to tease and make fun of him a lot, but deep down I truly do like him a whole bunch!

From @/waddamaloooon on twt:

A little Camus appreciation post

(alternatively known as; how this guy managed to harshly take my heart and step on it like the gumin I am.)

Hello, this is Suikamaru, here to share a tiny story of why I, and eventually you, love Camus Rondo Cryzard.

At first glance, his looks appealed to me, but not his behavior (and ironically enough, his voice) so I didn't bat an eye on him. I've always been on a neutral leaning to dislike opinion on Camus, which is quite understandable because have you SEEN the way he acts. Unfathomable.

…..To a Young Suikamaru, that is.

I've grown, so naturally I've changed preferences regarding characters, ikemen, and who to stan and who to avoid like the plague. I will lie if I said that I expected to like that blonde confectionery devouring machine at any point of my life.

But it did happen so who are we fooling here.

It dawned on me that Camus is the type of character that you cannot appreciate unless you go in depth into his lore, backstory, and see him for who he really is. Because then everything else will make sense. And that never happened in my case until I started roleplaying as him.

I realized that he's not just a two faced, sweet toothed mean man. He's a perfectionist, someone who's always been raised since his childhood days to be nothing less than complete, who has locked on his heart and emotions to devote himself completely to the purpose given to him. He has the looks and brains for what though? He should be a little stupid honestly.

But his intelligence gave him the complexity that he just needed for his characteristics. Because as aforementioned, he's not someone to easily like or fall in love with. And I think that's quite rare in characters, and very much appreciated due to the fact it gives the fans a chance to not actually stay on a flat level of knowledge regarding their favorite characters.

I've slowly started to see myself in some aspects of him, which was the number one factor of liking him. Then came the Maeno magic when I realized Camus shares the same VA as another character that I love as well. (Hamelin, from SinoAlice.) From then, everything went downhill.

In a good way. I think..

Well, that is all from me, please read about this handsome man and appreciate his hard work both as an individual and as an idol. There is SO much to him that's p much overlooked and I'm getting broke from spending my money on his living expenses rent free in my head. Take him off my head.

#utapri #utanoprincesama #uta no prince sama #Reiji kotobuki #Kotobuki reiji #Ranmaru kurosaki #utapri camus #ai mikaze #mikaze ai #quartet night

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mc-critical · 3 years

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So something that I’ve noticed is a rather popular opinion (at least as far as what I’ve seen) is that Turhan is the most unlikeable or one of the most immoral characters in the series. Would you agree or disagree with this sentiment and why?

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement and it's one of the popular opinions of the fandom that I can get behind without any reservation whatsoever. Turhan is my least favourite sultana of the whole franchise and at no point did I find her likeable or could I ever sympathize with her.

She's vile, nasty and exceptionally ruthless throughout her entire screentime. What turns me off the most about her is her backstabbing nature and hypocrisy - her dynamic with Kösem never had the chance to feel organic because of it, it all seemed like a false charade right from the beginning. She staged a whole massive coup on the castle and influenced Kösem's decision to kill Ibrahim, then she highly and mightily claims, right when she's planning out the coup, that she's not like Kösem and won't kill innocent children when she already, consciously played a part in such a thing. She has a tendency of consistently manipulating the narrative to her favor and advantage.

There are lots of Sultanas that had the possibility to get quite close to the same ruthlessness, most of them are very questionable people and MCK only tripled down on that trend, which fits so much in the own ruthlessness of the time period itself. Look at Gülbahar, in example, she's far from a good person, she's an incredibly toxic and manipulative mother, but I stan her as a character. I stan her, because she's so nuanced and well-written and has a simplistic, down to earth backstory that complements her motivation. Gülbahar could also be very cruel and her dynamic with Kösem also veered in hypocrisy for quite some time, but there were many moments in her writing that outweighed that and at least gave us perspective as to why she's like that. Turhan's on the precise opposite side of the spectrum, because her unsympathetic traits only make themselves stick because of the writing: they're the only thing she has.

One-dimensional characters are far from rare in Magnificent Century and Kösem, but no display was as insulting as what the show did with Turhan. Turhan's offputting traits are the only traits she possesses, they're all she is from her first appearance. Her introduction becomes confusing from the start, because she's simply playing this game without any backstory or explanation. It's obvious she has to survive in this environment and it is an absolute given that she has to get rid of Kösem, her being a clear threat for herself and her son. But the immediacy of it turned out to be flat out hilarious, because of the relationship she managed to effectively build with Kösem. Turhan's hypocrisy and false play is found out by the audience light speedily quickly and it could cease making sense, because of both Turhan's ambiguous, unestablished motivations and Kösem's earlier attitude towards her. I admit that's more of a writing issue than a personal irritant for the character - it would all be a little better if they tried a E80-84 Şah Sultan-esque hypocrisy. That was more subtle, more interesting and we were waiting for it to fully unfold. Şah's motivation was revealed to us slowly, but surely, Turhan's only seemed to exist in a vacuum. Ibrahim's distaste for her also did very little motivation-wise. It was there and it put certain things into context, but it wasn't enough to justify most of her extremely irraneous actions and these still remained unexplained in their overexagerration. Her betrayal was convoluted and I not only knew it would happen, I waited in boredom for it to inevitably happen.

《Thing is, however, this character could've worked so much better, with such foundation alone. Her traits are heinous, but could be interesting if dealt with better. Turhan's character, in theory, works incredibly thematically: the last Sultana of the Sultanate of Women that turns out to merely contrast Hürrem - her being introduced as a ready product of her environment wasn't a bad idea, it makes her stand out and creates a stark contrast with Hürrem's thorough exploration and character development, the in-depth explanation on why she became the way she was, her character going through many stages of evolution. The way this fleshing out of motivations lowered in every Sultana of the SOW until we get to Turhan, when she's ready to act in an instant is a nice touch, in a way. And it's not only this- Turhan's whole character does to an extent present the evolution of the SOW in the franchise with her structure alone - the development of the concept of power: Hürrem gets her power from Süleiman/ Turhan gets it FULLY from herself, without a sultan who loves her, Hürrem had a long way to go to get her power/ Turhan was immediately in power; the way Turhan is the best example of the MC/MCK contrast that is wanting power because of personal motivation/wanting power for the sake of power - Out of all Sultanas from the SOW, Hürrem has the most personal motives involved with her craving power, because of the many attacks against her and her own situation/with Turhan it seemed as if she was powerful without a single detailed reason whatsoever, the first actual display of that extreme; the narrative roles of each member of the SOW: Hürrem is a main protagonist/ Turhan is a final boss; the shift of personalities: Hürrem is overally cheerful and fierce/ Turhan is overally stoic and cold and what best highlights it all, the contrast between the character establishing scenes of Hürrem and Turhan after the culmination of their respective character arcs. Hürrem's monologue in MC's season 2 finale and Turhan's stampede in MCK's show in such a chilling way the thematic difference between both characters and the respective shows: Hürrem has an active monologue throughout the scene, her purpose being in accordance with everyone around (except Mahidevran ofc), it is set in the center stage/ Turhan's look in the balcony is merely a mirror of the situation in the harem, it all happening over the monologue of another character that is Kösem. {I especially love the additional details of the scenes like the color contrast, the soundtracks that seemigly contradict each other and the massive thing that sells it all with people bowing down to Hürrem/lying dead on the floor with Turhan etc., but I'm really starting to detract from the point here.} Turhan's stampede is the only time that excessive ruthlessness so prominent in her character made some sense and wasn't there only for the sake of it and that was hardly sufficient.》

All these thematic details of Turhan's were amazing in intent, but very messy and almost absent in execution, for they barely show their purpose. Instead of these traits being only additional endorsement of the alleged purpose of her character, she's reduced into a one-dimensional caricature with all these traits only, turning her impossible to stand altogether. She is vile, ruthless and cruel, but her hypocrisy makes sure she's devoid of any actual character and personality. By that I mean that there is no moment where she isn't any of these traits, the balance of them is highly lacking in narrative and there is never a moment where she stops and thinks - we never get to see the character to breathe and to flow, not even a single scene. There is always this prominent facade she likes to keep and all her hypocritical, manipulative games, binding it all together. She never gets to have a moment for herself, where we could know her a little better. She always stays in her own unbreakable mask and that only has an antagonistic role or plays as a plot device. These potentially interesting traits, writing-wise, are devoid of substance and mainly that makes her impossible to root for. There have always been asspulls in character writing, there have always been antagonists later reduced to one dimensionality, but nobody, not even Safiye, is as grossly oversimplified like that as Turhan. Her scenes with Mehmed, her supposed most sincere bond, did nothing as well, with her not showing much affection even towards her own child. We only had a slight sign of that when they tried to poison him and even that seemed to focus on the fact that Kösem dared to go that far, not that Turhan was about to lose the one dearest to her. I'll never forget her smug grin when she was looking at the results of her coup (which was in the scene I was referring to when contrasting her to Hürrem). Looking like that at so many people who died because of you, no less, and only focusing on your newly put on thematic ring, not even thinking to check on your child, is something indescribable. This woman lacks conscience and that is very offputtingly utilized by the writers, leaving us with no reason to sympathize with her or think she has any moral scruples whatsoever. Even Dilruba, Halime and Safiye have softer sides that give us a chance to delve deep into their psyche. Turhan was a wasted potential through and through, with even lesser screentime and less chance to even show she's more than a cruel, ruthless sultana.

[And I find that really unfortunate, because historical Turhan seems so fascinating... If the writers gave MCK Turhan more material to work with, and they had a lot of that, in my opinion, she wouldn't be the worst sultana of the whole franchise, both sympathy-wise and writing-wise.]

#magnificent century #magnificent century kösem #magnificent century kosem #magnificent century: kösem #turhan sultan #ask #stuffandthangs #that turned out to be more of my general impressions on Turhan's character than strictly how sympathetic and moral she is but pff

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joyofcrime-elinorhigh · 4 years

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Hello everybody, my name is JoyofCrimeArt, and legacy can be an fascinating thing in regard to animation. Since cartoons are made with the intent of being seen years or even decades after they're created, it can be interesting to see how the general consensus people have about a series can change over time. One day you can be on top of the world, and your series is loved by critics and audiences alike. But then, something happens. Sometimes it's a specific episode. Other times a season. Maybe it's a controversy within the fandom. But whatever it is, something happens that causes peoples opinions to turn. And suddenly your show has gone from being universally praised to becoming much more divisive. And when something like that happens, it can be hard to recover. It happened to Steven Universe. It happened to Rick and Morty. And it happened to Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

Created by Daron Nefcy, Star vs. The Forces of Evil premiered on the Disney Channel and Disney XD in 2015, and quickly became one of the hot cartoons that everybody was talking about. It makes sense, as it came outright around the time where more continuity based fantasy series were really starting to take off, so it's natural that it became a hit. While the series was generally well regarded upon its debut, as time went on the series became much more of a "love it or hate it" type of show. And while that's not too uncommon for any show that amounts a large flowing, what makes Star vs. so interesting is that it seems like nobody can seemingly agree when the show got bad, if it did at all. Some people say the quality dipped after the first season. Others say the third. Some say the fourth. Others say that the show was good until the finale. And some say that the show was solid throughout. This divide among fans is why I feel confident calling Star vs. The Forces of Evil one of the most divisive shows of the 2010's, even if the debate around it isn't nearly volatile as other series. But now that the series has ran its course I have to ask, does it hold up? Did the show really go down hill, or is the hate undeserved? That's what I'm here to find out.

I feel like I'm in an interesting place to talk about this series because, while I tend to try to keep up with all the big name animated show coming out, I actually didn't watch most of Star as it was running. I watched the first season until my family cut cable right before the finale of season one (You know, around the time people started to care about the show.) And only caught up with the show in the last year or so while doing research for my "Top 30 Cartoons of the Decade" list. So I went into the series mostly blind with the exception of a few spoilers. I just felt like this was important to point out as I feel it may have an effect on my view of the show.

Also, while I usually try to go spoiler free when I do a general overview of a series, for this review I may have to go into some spoiler territory. Since this series features an ever changing status quo, as well as a lot of major characters who aren't introduced until late in the series' run, doing this review completely spoiler free would be difficult. So I'm going to be doing this review under the assumption that anybody reading this has already seen the show, and are just curious to hear my take on it, or don't care about being spoiled. So if you wanna go in blind I suggest you sign out now.

But to everyone else, let's dive in and talk about Star vs. the Forces of Evil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hJ5ecrpp8k

Star vs. The Forces of Evil stars (He, get it. I'm funny.) Star Butterfly. A princess from the dimension of Mewni who, upon her fourteenth birthday is given a wand of unbelievable magical power. However, after causing nothing but trouble with her new found powers in her world her parents decide to ship her off to Earth, where she can be somebody else's problem. There she befriends a human boy named Marco Diaz and the series mainly follow these two as they go on all sorts of magical adventures as they battle all sorts of evil monsters and ne'er-do-well who want to take the wand and use its power for themselves. Or at least that's how the series goes at first. As the series goes on it begins to focus more on the world building, as Star and Marco discover that the kingdom of Mewni isn't as great as they first believed, and are forced to battle political corruption, conspiracy within the royal family, and the generation spanning systemic racism against monster kind.

The best place to start when talking about the show are the characters. Lets start with the main leads.

We got Star, your typical fun-loving, ditzy, hyperactive action girl. Which seems to be a common trend in Disney Channel cartoons now that I think about it. But she does enough to stand on her own. She's a fun character, and an overall good lead for the series. I admit that her bratty nature and general stupidity could turn some people off, and there are times where it can get a little annoying, but I never minded it all that much. I think that's kinda suppose to be the point of her character. She's a royal, and spent her whole life with a silver spoon in her mouth. So it makes sense she would be a bit selfish and be unaware of the world around her. And she does improve over the course of the series, as she begins to take her job as a princess more seriously and spends much of the series actively fighting against monster prejudice. Though I'd be lying if some of these less desirable elements of her character don't continue to pop up every now and again, even later in the series and especially in the last couple of episodes. Also she's kinda a sociopath. Like especially early on in the show there are like...a lot of casualties to Star's antics. I'm kinda surprised Disney let them get away with that.

Also, can I just say that I am sick and tired of people asking "When is Disney going to include their first LGBTQ+ princess, completely ignoring the fact that Star is bisexual as fu*k. Like, come on now!

Marco is also a good lead. He's a neurotic, responsible, karate student who often acts as the straight man to Star's antics. However, I like the fact that he's not a total stick in the mud. Sure he's more cautious than Star is but he's still capable of getting in on the adventures as well. He comes across as a realistic teen with his own set of flaws. Namely his insecure nature and general social awkwardness. I also like that due to his expertise with karate he's able to hold his own in a fight even without magic. He always feels like Star's equal and never like a sidekick. He and Star have a great dynamic in general, and the two play off each other well. They contrast with each other and It feels like the two really cover each other's flaws. And it's kinda refreshing seeing two characters who are so different manage to genuinely get along with each other.

But of course, we also have the forces of evil that the shows title so clearly mentioned. Each season focuses on a different villain, and something that I really like is how all four major villains are introduced relatively early on. So the show doesn't suffer from that "Dragon Ball Z" type thing where it's like "Haha! I know you just defeated the villain, but now's there's an even BIGGER villain who we just haven't happened to mention until now!" They've always around in the world, and many of them even start out as joke villains only to become more serious later down the line. And they manage to do that in a way that feels very believable.

The best example of this is the shows first villain, Ludo. Who upon introduction is portrayed as a completely comedic villain who Star could easily take in a fight. But things change when a new more serious villain, Toffee, usurps him as the season one antagonist. Stealing his castle and army in the process. Come season two and Ludo is left alone, having lost everything, and is forced to toughen up in order to get back what he once had. He builds a new army, stronger than his first. He finds a new castle to form his base in, and becomes a genuine threat to our cast. Scrappy underdogs villains who lost everything might be one of my favorite tropes in fiction. Other examples of this trope used effectively would be Peridot in Steven Universe and Jamack in Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeast. However, while those shows use this trope as an opportunity to have these villains go through a redemption arc, Star goes the other way and uses it as an opportunity to make a character become more of a threat. That said, he never loses the comedic charm that made his fun to watch in the first place. Part of me honestly kinda wish that Ludo stayed the main villain of season two, instead of being usurped Toffee yet again. That said, the episode "Princess Quasar Caterpillar and the Magic Bell" does a good job giving his arc a satisfying conclusion.

Speaking of antagonist, let's talk about Tom Lucitor. Star's demon ex-boyfriend. While not a season spanning villain like Ludo or Toffee, he has several appearances early on as a recurring antagonist only to go down the more traditional "redemption arc" route later on. And I just want to say upfront, Tom is one of my favorite characters. Not in the show, but in fiction in general. It would of been so easy to make Tom your generic "toxic boyfriend" arch-type but even early on it's made clear that even though he's an antagonist, he isn't pure evil. His love for Star is genuine, but the problem is that he hasn't earned it. He tries to improve himself and become a better person but his own anger issues and jealousy keeps getting in the way. Specifically jealousy of Marco because he seems him as a romantic threat. But as time goes on, he does become better. He learns that he and Marco have a lot in common and eventually accepts that he can't make Star love him, and lets her have her space. And that, ironically, causes Star to becoming willing to open up to him again. They become friends and eventually get back together. But what I like is that while he has gone through efforts to improve and work through his problems, they still persist throughout the series. He's still very insecure and is looking for constant approval from Star. He still is jealous of how close Star and Marco are even though he has become friends with both of them. And it's shown several time that Tom tends to put his own problems above the problems of others. It shows that even though he wants to change and is willing to change, that doesn't mean that change come easy. It takes time and can be a long process. These are realistic character flaws that make Tom such a more complex and relatable character in my eyes. I relate a lot to Tom with his desire and constant struggle to improve as a person, and I feel like it's a struggle that's easy for a lot of people to relate to. Also...he's just such an edgy dork. He's...he is good boi.

Another fantastic character is Eclipsa. Introduced about halfway into the series, Eclipsa was a former Queen of Mewni who was imprisoned in crystal due to dabbling in dark magic and for running away from her arranged marriage and marring the King of the Monster, Globgor. The show builds up mentions of Eclipsa early on, with characters talking about how evil and dangerous she was. Eventually she becomes free from her prison (cause lets be real, whenever there's a villain sealed away somewhere you KNOW they're going to get out.) But surprisingly, when we see her she actually doesn't seem that evil. She's polite, kind, and is even willing to go through the proper legal channels to prove that she isn't as bad as people say she is. She is an excellent example of a morally ambiguous character cause for the first several episodes we the audience don't really know if she is actually a good person who's just been judged too harshly by society or if she is actually evil and this is all an act. As even as the show goes on and it becomes clear that Eclipsa is a good person at heart they still manage to keep the audience guessing. Much like Star, Eclipsa can be kinda selfish and impulsive, making her a bit of a loose cannon. Despite the shows title "Star vs. The Forces of Evil" Eclipsa goes to emulate one of the shows major themes. That life isn't that black and white.

The show deals a lot with shades of gray when it comes to its characters, as all characters have there own motives and backstories and relations with each other that can make them either allies or enemies depending on the circumstances. An example of this is the Magical High Commission, a group that monitors magic across all the dimensions. throughout the series it is shown that they stand on the side of Mewni. So in season two when Mewni is being conquered by Ludo and Toffee they're good guys. But just like most most people in Mewni they hate monsters and believe that Eclipsa is evil. Making them antagonist in seasons three and four. Their motives stay the same, but their role in the series changes.

However despite my praise not all the characters are great. In fact the show can be kinda hit or miss with their cast. The characters that are great are really great, but then you get characters like...

(Art by JelloApocolypse)

You know what, I have to be honest. I kinda like Pony Head. I know a lot of people say she's annoying and selfish and contributes next to nothing to the plot...and they're right. But I also just kinda like her. I think what makes her more bearable to me is that she's kinda disliked in-universe. Even Star, who is Pony Head's best friend, often times get sick of her crap. Real talk though, can we all agree that Pony Head is basically just a discount Lumpy Space Princess from Adventure Time? Like, they're nearly the exact same character.

A character who I don't like as much though is Glossaryck, the magical spirit guide that lives in Star's spell book. I never really got his deal. Sometimes it seems like he likes Star and genuinely wants to help her become a better magic user, while other times it doesn't seem like he really cares. He dies in the beginning of season three only to come back a few episodes later acting like a wild animal and yelling "Globgor" over and over again without any explanation as to how or why. Than at the end of season three it's revealed that it was all an act and he was fine the whole time. Like...why? We later learn that is a highly recognized historical figure in Mewni. Why is he yelling his name? And why does nobody question why he's doing this? I can buy that Star and Marco might not know who Globgor is but most everybody else seems to. I keep expecting that moment for his motivations to click. Where it's revealed how everything he's done was all an elaborate ploy to help Star or something, but it never really happens. Though my opinion of him does slightly increase in season four, but that's just because Keith David took over the role of voice actor. And adding Keith David can make anything better.

Some characters can even change in quality between seasons. Janna is this edgy punk girl who joins the main cast in season two as a new friend to Star and Marco. I liked her well enough in season two even if some of her more abrasive elements could be somewhat obnoxious. She's more or less absent for most of season three. Then come season four she returns and I found her more annoying. I don't know if her character got worse or if it was just the fact that her character didn't work as well in later episodes after the show had become more dramatic. But near the end of the season, they give her some long overdue character growth. Not a lot, but some. And I found myself liking her more.

There are other characters in the series as well, and they tend to vary. Star's mom, Moon is a BAMF and I like Buff Frog a lot. Jacki and Kelly are fine characters, though I admit there's not that much to them outside of being love interests for Marco, though they still have there own personalities. King River's kinda annoying but I've seen worse examples of the "dumb dad" trope and Alan Tudyk gives a great performance.

And since I don't have time to go over my thoughts on EVER character in this series, I'll do what ever online review does when they don't have time for nuance. Create a tier list!

If It's not apparent by now, the characters in this show run the gambit. With the best ones being some of my favorite characters of all time, and the worse one's just being generally annoying. However, if there's one thing that this show excels at is not painting things as black and white. No character is evil without a reason and all the heroic characters have un-heroic flaws to their characters with unique motivations that make sense for their characters. (For the most part anyway.)

The shows animation is also really good. Featuring thick outlines and a lot of nice coloring on the characters. (Even if some of the background colors can be a bit drab at times.) Most of the first season is done in flash, but it's good flash, which does well to accentuate the character expressions and the fluid action scenes. Part way through season one though the show's animation changes to more traditional animation. I think there is a bit of a divide on which style people consider to be better, but I personally prefer the look of the later seasons. The bouncy look of the early season one episodes look good, but I don't know how well that would of worked in the more dramatic and somber moments that happen later on.

I also appreciate the world building. The first two seasons are set mostly on Earth in the town of Echo Creek, but the last two seasons changes things up and focus much more on Mewni, allowing us to explore both settings. I know some people don't like the change as it resulted in several of the characters introduced earlier being written out of the show but I never really minded that. I think Mewni and the cast of characters who inhabit it are on the whole more interesting than the people of Echo Creek. (I mean does anybody really miss Sensei Brantley?) Plus the change in setting allows us to get a bit of a role reversal with Marco being the fish out of water, and Star having to show him how her world operates. And even if you do prefer the Earth setting we still cut back to it on occasion. And when you add it all up the total series runtime between the two setting is fairly evenly.

I like how characters can kinda come and go in this series, as it shows that the world doesn't revolve around Star and Marco. And it allows the writers to see which characters people gravitate to and focus on them while keeping less interesting characters out of the way. It also allows for character arcs to actually have conclusions, without the need for them to be drawn out just for the sake of keeping characters around longer.

Let's talk about themes for a moment. Specifically the main theme of prejudice and systemic racism in the show. It's handled...okay. It's kinda standard stuff and it doesn't go super complex on the issue, but for what it is it works though. That being said the show can be a bit confusing in terms of what counts as "monsters" and what are just regular races in this world. Which can make the metaphor a little muddled. I get that the idea is that there is no difference, and that monsters are only deemed as bad as an excuse for mewmans to justify their mistreatment of them, but it can still be confusing as to who's oppressed and who isn't and to what extent. I feel it would be even more confusing for a younger children watching who might not understand all the nuances of this stuff. However, the way the show tackles this isn't bad either. And the fact that the show tackles this element at all is admirable.

But who cares about systemic racism! That's not the real reason people are watching this show! We all know that everybody is really here for the shipping!

Yeah, as the series went on the shipping seems to become a much more major element within the series. So much so that to many the increased focus on the shipping is often cited as one of the main elements that caused the show to go down hill. However I never really minded it. I mean Star vs. has always been a bit of a love letter to the shojo/magical girl genre and romance is a very important element to those types of shows. So it makes sense that it would be used here. And I think it's used pretty well here overall. These are just kids struggling through these types of feelings for the first time, So it makes a lot of the stupid decisions that they make feel a lot more believable. But if this kind of thing isn't your cup of tea, it might end up bothering you. Because they do devote a good amount of time on it.

But you're probably wondering, who do I ship? Am I team Starco or team TomStar? And honestly, while shipping has never been something I've ever gotten too invested in, if I had to pick I would probably have to say team Starco. Which may be surprising as I previously went on and on about how Tom was one of my favorite characters of all time. But this is the way I see it. Tom's whole arc is about learning how to get over his jealousy and controlling nature regarding his relationship with Star. And it's shown that even after he's dating Star, and has everything he thought he wanted, he still couldn't fully get over his hangups. Even though he loves Star and Star loves him, it's clear that the relationship still isn't exactly the most healthy. And it's clear that they are going in different directions in their lives. Tom knows what he wants. To be with Star. But Star doesn't know what she wants. Not all relationships have to end because one person does something wrong or because one of the parties involved is a bad person. Sometimes two people just aren't compatible in that kind of way. And seeing Tom be the one to break up with Star shows just how far he's come as a character. Plus, like I said earlier, Star and Marco have great chemistry. And I do genuinely see them working as a romantic couple, beyond the fact that there the two main leads.

Besides, StarTom is technically incest so....

*record scratch!*

Oh wait, you didn't know about that.? Yeah, according to the official "Star vs. the Forces of Evil Magic Book of Spells" Star's Great Great Great Grandmother Rhina Butterfly was in a relationship with John Roachley, a second cousin to the Lucitor's. Now granted that would mean that Star and Tom aren't THAT related. But still. Incest none the less. Not that it even matters anyway since all of the Mewmans are descended from like five random people!

Seriously, this is some Ishigami Village levels of incest we got going on here.

But despite how heated the flames wars can be, I think we can all agree that Tomco is the best ship anyway. Like come on now.

So yeah, even the shipping elements didn't bother me. To be completely honest, while the show did have some problems here or there, I found myself enjoying the show well into the fourth season. But I knew it was coming. Since I was watching the show months after the series had concluded, I had heard things about the finale. A finale that figuratively "cleaved" the fan base. But in order to talk about the finale we have to go a few episodes back and talk about the episodes leading up to it. Obviously spoilers ahead.

To briefly recap, at this point in the series Eclipsa had become Queen of Mewni along with her husband Globgor after Star relinquished the crown to her. And many of the Mewmans are upset by Eclipsa's new "pro-monster" policies had left to live with the former Queen Moon. Meanwhile Mina Loveberry, a legendary monster fighter from generations far gone, had begun building up an army to invade Eclipsa's castle and take Mewni back from the monsters. A lot of people I hear don't like Mina as a final villain, but honestly I was surprised by how threatening they were able to make her despite how goofy she is. And her backstory about basically being a magically altered super solider driven to the point of insanity really helped to make her sympathetic. (Like I said, in this show everyone is painted with shades of gray. Even genocidal lunatics.) She invades with a Solarian Knight, a giant magic powered mech and it takes all of our heroes working together to barely defeat it. Until it is revealed that it was only one of many. It's an amazing twist that really leaves you wondering "How are or heroes going to get out of this one." Up to this point I was digging this final arc. But that's when I finally got to it.

To me, the moment where Star vs. the Forces of Evil got bad was the moment it was revealed that Moon was working with Mina to reclaim the thrown from Eclipsa.

It just doesn't fit Moons's character to do this. While it is shown throughout the season that Moon does not agree with Eclipsa more extreme policies, It was still shown that while Moon may be against Star's decision to give the crown to Eclipsa, she acknowledges that since Star was queen at the time and was within her right as queen to decide what was best for the kingdom. And in previous episodes she seemed generally happy not having the responsibility that comes with being queen anymore. But now she suddenly wants her kingdom back? If she wanted it back, all she had to do was say so from the start. At the start of the season most Mewmans still hate Eclipsa. It would not be that hard to stage a coup if she really wanted, especially since the magic high commission and all of Mewni would be on her side. Why would she work with Mina, who Moon knows is insane and racist even by Moons standard? Sure Moon and Eclipsa definitely don't see eye to eye on a lot of things but Moon still wouldn't want her dead, and Moon knows that Mina wants to kill her. I know she thought she could control Mina's army but that's still a big risk. It seems uncharacteristically reckless for a character as intelligent as Moon to make these choices.

So then, after it turns out that Moon can't control Mina's army, our heroes are basically screwed and are forced to hide out in a special tavern located at the edge of the universe to wait things out while Mina begins rounding up all the monsters in Mewni. They are all trying to figure out a plan on how to possibly defeat Mina's army when Star suddenly goes on a rant about how magic is bad. And this idea had been brought up a few times in the series, but overall had never really been portrayed as a major aspect. But suddenly the show treats this as if it's all the magics fault, and that everything would be better if it was gone. And that's when Star comes up with the genius plan to use go to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Thus making Mina's forces useless. And while I admit that yes, they are very much been pushed to a wall here, this has to be one of the most overkill ideas they could of possibly think of!

Now, I've seen a lot of people online saying that by doing this, Star would be committing mass murder on a multiverse scale, potentially destroying many universes. And I think that is a bit of a reach. From what we see in the series, it seems to me at least that magic is kinda a rare thing in the universe. That's why so many villains are trying to steal the magic wand away from Star. And I see very little implying that there are whole universes that are reliant on magic outside of Mewni. THAT SAID THOUGH, this would result in the deaths of a lot of innocent people. But Star really only seems concerned with the fact that once magic is destroyed, all people who come from parallel universes will return to their home universe, meaning she won't be able to stay with Marco. Which makes Star seem beyond selfish and generally pretty horrible.

Hekapoo, one of the high commission members, despite being made of magic and knowing that she will die from this, is totally on board for this plan because plot. And our heroes travel to the magic dimension to destroy all the magic. Which they do. Defeating Mina's forces and leaving her powerless. She still manages to escape however because nobody decides to actually, you know, try to arrest the person who just committed a political coup and nearly whipped out an entire race. They just let her walk off, because she's powerless now. I mean what's the worse she could possibly do, right?

So yeah, Mina is defeated, but everybody is sent back to their home dimensions. But somehow, through the power of love I guess, the universes of Earth and Mewni begin to merge. Thus allowing Star and Marco to be together. Happy ending, I guess? I don't know. Like Star and Marco being together is treated as a good thing. But we also see humans screaming as there world have now been overrun by monsters. Is this suppose to be a joke? A bittersweet ending? I'm not really sure.

In concept the idea of a universe merge is actually a pretty interesting idea. As it feels like a natural progression of the shows themes of racial tolerance and mutual understanding. Now that we've gotten semi-tolerance between monsters and mewmans we could now have an arc about trying to bridge the cultural gaps between the humans and the mewmans. Plus it would be a good way to appease both the people who enjoyed the earlier seasons focus on Echo Creek, and fans of the later seasons who preferred the stories set on Mewni. It's not a bad idea, but it needed to A.) be set up better and B.) needed more time to be fleshed out. I get that it's designed to be a sequel hook, but it's not like this is something that the series had been building up to to the point where we the audience can put together what happens next. As is, it's just weird.

So yeah, the last couple of episodes of Star vs. where a total mess. It's fitting that the finale to Star happened to come out the same day as the finale of Game of Thrones. While I'm not going to act like there weren't some parts I liked or some good ideas sprinkled throughout, this finale was pretty bad. How do you have a show that preaches acceptance and equality and end it with a genocide?! But hey, genocidal problems call for genocidal solutions am I right?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ufmrn7BCuA

My God, It's Dragon Ball Super all over again.

And the worse part is that the series didn't have to end this way. Cause the show actually had a pretty good episode about half way through the season, "Cornonation" which would of acted as a great series finale! With the series ending with Eclipsa as Queen and ruling with Globgor by her side, with the mewmans finally accepting monster kind. You'd have to change a few things, like rap up Mina's plot and put Star and Marco together, but other than that it could of really worked. Admirably it may end up feeling more like a finale for Mewne as oppose to a finale for Star but it would thematically fit with the message of the series. Or if you really wanna keep this finale more in tack just don't have Star destroy the magic. Just have Star, Moon, and Eclipsa go off and do the one thing the three of them had never tried doing. Working together. And have them defeat Mina the old fashion way. They even allude to this idea in the tavern episode before Star goes on her whole "We gotta destroy the magic" kick.

It is a bit ironic to think that a show that's whole message is about unity could end up being so divisive with it audience. I genuinely believe that had the show ended on a better note, people would look back on the show more fondly. Despite the flaws. To the people who don't like Star vs. The Forces of Evil, I can understand where you are coming from. Even if you ignore the finale there are things to not like. A lot of things aren't very well explained and the show has its fair bit of plot holes. The series can be repetitive with its frequent shipping and "racism is bad" episodes. And some of the characters can be a bit annoying, including our main lead at times.

That being said though, I have to say, I can't bring myself to hate this show.

I don't know what it is, but I just found myself getting really invested into this series. Maybe it was due to me hearing so much bad things about the later seasons that I had low expectations, and while that may be part of it I don't think that's the whole reason. When you watch as many cartoons as I have, and for as long as I have, it becomes harder for things to impress you. Sometimes it can feel like your just checking shows off of a box, which is something that I've been trying to improve upon. But watching this show, it brought me back to the way I felt back in the early 2010's when I first started getting into these types of series. For all of Star's flaws, and trust me there are many flaws, it felt like it was doing something unique. Like it was in it's own little world that wasn't quiet Adventure Time and not quiet Steven Universe. And the series stuck with me after I finished watching it, which is surprisingly kinda rare. It's why I became interested in doing this review in the first place.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a flawed show. Very flawed. But I'd rather have a flawed show that's unique than a perfect show that's something I've seen a million times. And while I may not be a fan of how it ended, I don't think that should completely take away from all the good that this show has to offer. This show isn't going to be for everybody, and If you somehow made it this far into the review without seeing the show than I hope I've said enough to help you figure out if this show is right for you. But for me, despite everything, the series still has it's magic.

What did you think of Star vs. the Forces of Evil? I really genuinely want to know on this one. Did it go downhill and if so than when? Leave those thoughts in the comments down bellow. Please fav, follow, and comment if you liked the review. And have a great day.

#Star vs The Forces of Evil

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revangerang · 4 years

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Oh boy I really got in my feelings and wrote way too much lmao

Tagged by: @edithpattou86

Tags your friends to do their own lists: @chierafied @mother-ishvara @doughygraduatestudent @kazoomajor @pagan-assassin

[[MORE]]

Top 5 animated movies:

1. Whisper of the Heart - Such a cute and whimsical slice-of-life coming of age story, and so inspiring for creative types! I love how Shizuku sees her fantasies come to life in the world around her, and how she just follows her whims to wander the city and treats each day like an adventure. I see a lot of myself in her. The grandpa and his shop are so cool! I want to find a place like that in my city! I love how she and Seiji inspire and encourage each other to improve themselves. Even though they’re so young and I usually hate that kind of thing, I think it’s a very realistic portrayal of what true love and a healthy relationship should be. The way her writing is treated as a creative process and something she can polish with hard work is just such a wonderful message and so inspiring to me.

2. Spirited Away - I love the Japanese culture and mythology, and the serene, still tone of the film. Truly beautiful. The way it doesn’t paint the spirits and gods in a bad light is good and correct: they were the careless humans who went into their world and took what they shouldn’t have. But it still focuses on the supernatural and eerie elements, often without even explaining anything, which I love. And the bathhouse feels like a real functioning place with workplace culture and all. And of course it’s great that Chihiro steps up and learns to be strong. I just love it.

3. Howl’s Moving Castle - I love all the characters so much, and all the magic and whimsy. The fantasy European setting is so charming, and they did a good job depicting Western magic. Ghibli movies really have such mundane magic, and they make me feel like my life is magic too. Sophie is so good and strong and I love seeing her come into her own. And Howl is hot. lmao

4. My Neighbor Totoro - I had the original Fox dub of this on a bootleg VHS my grandma made us when I was literally like an infant. My parents threw it away when I was still young- like no older than 5- because it “has Eastern religion in it” 🙄 Too bad for them the damage was already done lmfao. It was definitely one of the biggest influences of my formative years, I loved it so much and I’m so grateful to it. That mundane magic I talked about before, and just introducing me to a totally different worldview from my sheltered white American Christian bubble. I was fascinated by every single aspect from the traditional Japanese-style home to the bentos to the shrines... I really admired Satsuki and how grown up she was, taking care of her little sister like she did, making the lunches, all that. It’s really such a charming movie with great music and such a realistic depiction of childhood. Plus who doesn’t love Totoro himself?? And catbus! Iconicccc. I still look for little portholes in bushes and trees to this day lmao

5. Mulan - My little 8-year-old enby ass crying in the living room and repeatedly playing the Reflections scene over and over makes so much more sense now 😂 But really it’s just such a great film with a unique art style, fun characters, and great music. I love how Mulan fights for what she believes is right, and wants to protect her father. And I think it’s great how she also fights to find her own place in the world. I like how they don’t make it a “not like other girls” thing, but just that she personally somehow doesn’t feel comfortable in her own skin with the makeup and all that. Between her living as a man and the clear romantic relationship between “Ping” and Shang, it’s pretty good queer representation for a 2000s Disney movie lol. Also Mulan and Shang can both get it I mean what.

Honorable Mention: Prince of Egypt - That animation tho! So fucking cinematic!! And the music and everything just ugh so good! The characters are really compelling too and you can totally feel the brotherly love and familial issues.

Top 5 live action movies:

1. Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day - This is a movie where you can’t look away for a moment or you’ll miss something important. It really is just one entire heck of a day for the main character like howwww does so much happen. It’s really just written so well honestly that they manage to pack so much into a single movie and a single day. I aspire to that level. The 30s setting is so great with the costumes and set and music ahh I get so much inspiration from it. Every single character (and actor for that matter) is just fantastic. It’s super funny- that situational comedy is my jam. And there are touching moments that give me inspiration for my own life. I relate to Miss Pettigrew with her clear social anxiety, and perhaps neurodivergency? But I love how the events of the film bring out the best in her. And Delysia is just so charming! I want her confidence

2. La La Land - Such a fun and whimsical musical about life for creatives in Los Angeles~ It makes me feel nostalgic and proud to live here. I love all the different homages to classic Hollywood, and the music is so good!! The love story feels realistic and I actually really like that they don’t end up together in the end. They just encourage each other to be better, and if that means being apart, they’re willing to do it. It is another one that gives me inspiration for my life and creative endeavors, especially The Fools Who Dream 😭 Gets me every time.

3. Mamma Mia - This is my shameless feel-good movie. I love just putting it on in the background as I clean or whatever. It’s just so upbeat and fun!! I love Amanda Seyfried and Meryl Streep especially. And I like that the main character learns what she wants (and doesn’t want) out of life right now. And I love that they depict older characters and women!! having full and rich lives including romance and sex. The message that it’s never too late for love is so great! And also just like please communicate and you will probably save yourself so much heartache lmao.

4. Across the Universe - I have an affinity for the 60s and 70s, and I love how this movie kind of takes you through that era with the various characters. It’s such a fun movie with great costumes, cinematography, and music! I just love all the covers of the Beatles songs!! I honestly like them just as much as I like the originals. This is one of the first things I ever saw with positive/neutral queer representation?? Like Sadie is presented just as she is, without it being like WHAT SHE LIKES WOMEN?????? I”MPOSSIBLE !! Or making it all about sex or whatever. It’s literally just like “I want to hold your hand.” Also the whole bit with Eddie Izzard is just incredible lmfao

5. LOTR - My first fandom~ I love these movies so much ughhh. The music! The costumes! The characters! The world! The high fantasy!! I think PJ was so true to the books, or at least as much as he was able in just 10-ish hours. I love that they just went for it and filmed all three in one go, and made them over 3 hours long, which was basically unheard of at the time for blockbuster films. They did so good fully representing the different races through costume, language, culture, and the music too. I literally used to just lay on my bed for hours at a time in junior high, listening to the soundtracks and being immersed in the world. My friends and I would often play pretend that we were in Middle Earth (so lame for middle schoolers lmaooo). I love every single (not-evil) character and I will fight for them. I will especially fight Denethor I don’t even cARE !

Honorable mention: A Little Princess - Sooo whimsical and lovely, even when the girls are going through hardship! I love Sarah and how she literally does magic and even puts a curse on what’s her face omgg. She’s so charming and a genuinely good person too, even though she could have been a spoiled brat. The big climactic scene is so !! Omg I still get the adrenaline when she’s crossing the board and then hiding from the police even though I’ve seen this countless times since I was a small child. And it’s so wonderful that she’s reunited with her father, and they adopt the other girl. It taught me at a young age that the world isn’t fair and people will be nasty and abusive for no reason, but that you can still believe in magic and “fancy yourself a princess.” And the neighbor guy taught me that strangers will step in to help out of the goodness of their heart.

Top 5 TV shows:

1. ATLA - One of the best series of all time. The worldbuilding, lore, storyline, character development, animation, music, etc, are all incredible. If they had gone with the original intention of making Zutara canon it would have been literally perfect and so subversive and innovative! As it is it is still nearly perfect and they still did an amazing job with Zuko’s redemption arc. I just ignore that very last scene tbh. In my mind, it didn’t happen. The series addresses so many issues like imperialism, sexism, abuse, family, disability, war, etc, in a very realistic way. Uncle Iroh is literally a treasure.

2. Steven Universe - So charming and wonderful!! I just love it so much!! It is so goddamn queer, it makes me so happy. Stevonnie is the nonbinary representation we don’t even deserve!! I love every single character. I love the animation and the music too! The bgm is so bubbly and glitchy and cool, super on point for trends these days. And the original songs are so charming~ It also deals with a ton of important issues like imperialism, interpersonal relationships, oppression, self-identity, abuse, leadership, mental health, boundaries, consent, brain-washing, unlearning unhealthy behavior, etc. I love that every single character, even minor ones, get character development and a chance to be strong and improve themselves. And it shows that even the ones we initially think are super strong and have it all together, actually have their own issues that they struggle with too.

3. Yuuri!!! On Ice - This show!!!! Oh my goddddddd. Literally perfect. I love that it just subverts every single trope???? Especially with the events at the beginning and the big spoiler in episode 10. Simply incredible. I love every single character so much??? Even ones I was expecting to hate, like how Yurio is a little shit at the beginning, and then when Lilia is introduced as this super severe tyrant, but she ends up just being a good, yet strict coach because she really wants Yurio to succeed. It’s honestly just so wholesome! The music is so amazing and the ice skating is really realistic too! It really shows that they had an actual skating choreographer and worked off video of him performing. I love how realistic the whole show is like with lots of social media, youtube, instagram, etc. And it does a queer romance without it being a gimmick. It’s just a sports anime with a side plot of a romance but it just happens to be gay. And Kubo-sensei has stated that homophobia doesn’t exist at all in their world which makes me so happy. It’s honestly so queer and I adore how all three main characters are genderfucks a bit. I also love how realistically Yuuri’s anxiety and depression are portrayed. I relate so much to him, especially because mine exhibit in the exact same ways as his. It’s another one that inspires me to fight to be better and live the life I want to live.

4. OTGW - So charming. A perfect addition to the canon of New England fairy tales. The music is great, the animation is wonderful and nostalgic, the characters are fun and interesting and spooky. I love how liminal it is and you aren’t really sure where they are or what’s going on for the majority of the episodes. Greg is the most realistic depiction of a small child and the brothers’ relationship is the most realistic I think I’ve ever seen in my life lmao. He’s just so random and weird and has such Little Kid Logic I love it so much lmao. The story is perfectly contained in its 10 short episodes, and it gives a very satisfying ending. I still can’t get over how many huge stars were in it too?? Like fucking Tim Curry as Auntie Whispers???? I can not believe.

5. Inuyasha - I’m weeb trash and this show is also trash but I love it so much okay. As a big fan I hold so much against the anime for changing things from the manga, but even so I love it. Overall I think the animation, music, and voice acting is perfect. It’s so cool with all the mythos of youkai and the shikon jewel, plus I love traditional Japanese culture stuff. And isekai type stuff is my jam. If I found a portal to another world or to the past you bet your ass I’d go through it. I totally don’t still look for portals as a 30 year old adult, I don’t know what you’re talking about 😂 Kagome is such a great mc tbh like she’s so smart and strong and talented and kind I just love her so much??? I want to be more like her. And I love all the characters honestly. I have to overlook some questionable 90s anime tropes for certain ones, but I still love them. As much as we rag on the constant upgrades thing, the battles and stuff are pretty thrilling, and overall the series is good fun. And yes Sesshoumaru is my husbando, next question.

Honorable Mention: Doctor Who - I love how this show manages to be like every single genre?? SciFi, historical, comedy, thriller, mystery, slice of life, etc. I love all of the Doctors, and all of their companions. I just love how much the Doctor loves humans, and how much faith they have in humanity. And again it’s that whole isekai, time travel, normal modern human goes on magical adventures thing. I would go with the Doctor in a heartbeat. I still cry over Donna 😭

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foxwatchesanime · 4 years

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How I stopped caring about comments: A rambly post by me

This is rambly so hold onto your seats, I apologies.

I’ve been thinking a lot about comment/review culture in the last few months, particularly after returning to a brand new fandom as a writer and regular content creator. Maybe this is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, maybe not, but I wanted to share my thoughts on the way I perceive comments, how it’s changed for me since I’ve been in fandom and I’d love to hear from other people what their opinion is and how they relate to comments on their work.

I’ve been creating content in fandom spaces for about eleven years now. I started out on YouTube when I joined my first fandom, Merlin, and I made my first fanvideos in 2009. In December of 2009, I published my first fanfiction, plus one sequel which remains unfinished as well as a few other smaller projects. In October of 2010, I published my first podfic and would go on to publish two more. My focus in fandom had always been YouTube, where I regularly created fanvideos. My schedule was never consistent, as with most vidders back in the day, but I’d be comfortable in saying I posted regularly discounting three unintentional hiatuses, one in 2013 following the Merlin finale, one in 2015 probably due to a lack of inspiration and one in 2017 after what I was sure was going to be my permanent comeback to YouTube, only for my hard drive to break and delete all my footage yeeeeeey.

I’ve now made an actual, official return to my original platform, this time creating videos for my new passion and fandom: anime. Since February of 2020 I’ve also been regularly publishing fic and have no desire to stop doing so. I’m thoroughly invested in new fandom spaces again and am engaging with its fans and the content.

But the one thing I have seen change drastically in my approach to things is commenting, following and general engagement.

Let’s take a step back.

When I first started posting content, comments were not something I even had in my consciousness. I think I knew YouTube comments existed, but I didn’t really pay attention to it. I didn’t even know what subscribers were until I started hearing other people talk about them and then I suddenly felt like it’s something I should be keeping an eye on myself.

In a centuries old vlog of mine that is now private on my channel, I noticed that when I hit 100 subscribers, I made a video thanking everyone because I was so excited that with more subscribers, I was going to “make more friends.” Oh dear xD

But the truth is, I have been consistently and chronically bad at keeping up with or caring about the analytics of my various platforms. It wasn’t till writing this post today that I went to check my FF.net account to see how many comments my first two Merlin fics ever got. I still couldn’t tell you my exact number of YouTube or Ao3 subscribers, how many hits or kudos my fic have and I don’t think I’ve ever checked my bookmarks for notes, or whatever you’re able to leave on there.

Commenting culture on YouTube, for all my joking earlier, was primarily about connection, at least back then. Most of the old guard have moved on and those who have remained are now vidding in other fandoms. The social aspect of YouTube in my opinion has changed dramatically since I was at my peak output on there, but I remember how interactive the comments sections used to be. They literally were, where you made friends.

A couple of years ago, me and a friend of mine started a Merlin podcast called Merlisten. We created it for fun and without many expectations of what might come out of it. And it was this that changed my relationship with commenting for good.

Doing Merlisten felt, for the first time in a long time, like pure creativity and passion without anyone’s permission. We always encouraged people to leave feedback as one does, but I don’t think either of us expected to get much, if any. Even considering the incredible support we’ve received with feedback coming in almost every single episode now, there is still a clear and overwhelming gap between the amount of comments given to an episode of Merlisten, to one of my old fanvids or fics. It’s even more interesting when one considers how much more effort and time went into creating Merlisten compared to say, editing or writing, at least for me personally. The amount of man hours spent on creating one 2.5 hour episode from pre-production to final posting often outweighs any other video or chapter I’ve created. Not always, but often.

What struck me as interesting, however, was that even though comments weren’t always consistent and I always love and continue to love reading them, it’s not what was fuelling me to work hard on this project. I was doing it because I adored it and I knew it was something I was proud to put into the world.

And that literally changed everything.

I think for a long time, I was always trying to cater my art to what might get the most attention or please the widest demographic of people. It’s how you think when you’re young and you don’t know any better. But for the first time, I was creating something on my own terms that I had no idea if anyone would even listen to and the actual creative process of making said art was ten times more rewarding than any single comment I could ever read. Which really, what I realised, is what art is supposed to be. I can safely say that if Merlisten didn’t get a single comment from here on in, I would still want to see it to its conclusion for one very simple reason: Because I had something to share.

This brings me to my recent return to writing fic in fandom and it’s not a decision I’ve regretted for a second. More than anything, I’ve realised how personal art can really be, especially when it’s in writing. I’ve found it revealing and cathartic and fascinating in a way that I didn’t ever imagine.

But more importantly, I’ve realised that the real beauty for me in engaging in art is the ability to get an emotional response from it or to relate to it. And that goes for both other people’s work and my own. I can feel just as invested in my own work as someone else’s and that’s not because I think my work is amazing, it’s because I know it’s come from something that was living in me. When I put something out there that I made with my own two hands, that feeling now trumps any sort of feedback I could possibly get and that’s the endorphin I live off.

Don’t mistake this for me not liking comments, that’s obviously not true. My brain gets the same dopamine hit as anyone’s when I get a notification for something or other, but I’ve realised that I have a very specific relationship with comments that I definitely didn’t have before, if my requests for review on FF.net is anything to go by.

Now, what I find exciting and thrilling is the thought that, if writing this fic got this sort of emotional response out of me, the writer, I wonder if there are other people out there who think the same way I do? Who have a similar way of experiencing joy or suffering or humour or who like the same things as me? That, is an insanely invigorating feeling. And then when someone chooses to take time out of their day to tell you that what came from your head is the same sort of way they feel about life? That’s not a comment, that’s not feedback, that’s a connection you have with another person. And that’s where I start to get excited. And it’s taken me this fucking long to realise it.

Honestly, I was really worried upon returning to writing and vidding this year that my experience working in digital marketing, where everything is about numbers and social media is all about engagement and nothing else, that I would be overwhelmed and not be able to switch off the part of my brain that’s been trained to think like that. I’m so relieved that that’s not the case.

As previously mentioned, I suck at giving a shit about analytics and looking at my own stats. I couldn’t give a flying fuck. But I did just go and check my YouTube videos since returning back to vidding. Not a single one of them has views over 200 at this point. Most have less than 100. My most viewed video on YouTube has 57,000 views. And the thing is, there might have been a time when I looked at that and thought, well, this means I suck. This means I can’t make art. This means there’s no point to it.

But no, that's not true.

The point is not how many people see it, how many people like it, how many people comment on it. The point is that I made it. I’m going to continue making YouTube videos despite the fact that the algorithm will destroy any chances they have at getting engagement or views. Even if not one single person comments on them. Because when I’ve finally rendered a new video, or finished proof reading a new chapter, I feel so fucking happy that everything else is just window dressing to me now.

Because not only is online engagement and following such a stab in the dark these days anyway with algorithms changing and trends moving constantly, but this is the real truth about comments, following and feedback:

The truth is, I don’t need a stranger on the internet to praise me so that I can feel good about my art. The day that I start doing that, I’ve already lost. I used to think that way on a regular basis. Guess what, it didn’t make me produce better art. It didn’t make my life better. Because being validated by others never does. It doesn’t matter how many keysmashes I might get or how many sonnets or kind words, because If I don’t like what I create, there isn’t a single human being on the planet who will make me like it, no matter what they say or how they say it. For others, this might not be the case. But this is my reality.

I know this, because I recently speed-wrote and published a fic for a fanweek. I wrote 13k in about 8hrs. So far, it’s received nothing but positive words. But it doesn’t matter. After I published it, I had a crisis about how it wasn’t good enough, that there should have been an extra arc, that it ended too quickly, that there wasn’t a climax. Even as the comments came in, it didn’t change my mind. Because other people’s comments will never really lead to fulfilment.

I want you all to know that I get emotional over every single comment that is sent to me. Every personal story, ever keysmash and heartfelt thoughtful message that took the time to analyse my work. Connecting with you guys has been one of the biggest joys of entering this fandom. But it’s not going to be what fuels me to create and to carry on doing the best work I can. All I can do is treat it as the wonderful privilege that it is, and not any part of the reason I do it.

In conclusion:

Finally, at age 27 and in the midst of enjoying fandom after a very long period of being either meh about it or lurking, I finally feel content with the fact that I want to create in order to put things out into the world that I worked hard on, that I’m passionate about and that hopefully, in whatever way it might be, it might have touched someone who feels the same things too. It makes me feel accomplished, it makes me feel like I might be contributing something small to the world and it makes me feel like maybe one other person was made happy by it. And even if they never tell me that and if no one else ever comments on what I create, or even if they comment on it in spaces that I never see; private servers, chats between friends or blogs that I don’t follow, that’s also fine. Because there’s always at least one person who is going to feel happy that she made something. And that’s me.

The short version: I never used to care about comments, then I did, and now I no longer do.

Sorry for the ramble, but I wanted this here for myself to look back upon in case my opinion ever changes on this or I ever start to lose my way again and feel overwhelmed. I’d love to hear your guys’ experiences with this sort of thing and whether you’ve ever felt bogged down by the need for feedback.

#writing #fandom #vidding #essay #personal

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itsclydebitches · 5 years

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RWBY Recap: Volume 6 Episode 9 “Lost”

Welcome to Volume 6, Episode 9 where “Lost” truly encompasses all of my feelings today! Sorry for the late recap, but let’s not waste anymore time.

We open on Emerald and Mercury as they hang out in Salem’s palace, the woman in question nowhere to be found. She’s probably still off seething over Ozpin’s latest reincarnation. There’s some pretty heavy symbolism attached to how each character navigates the room: Mercury energetic and full of purpose as he trains in the open space; Emerald static and curled in on herself on the floor. She admits that she hates “being in the dark like this” and Mercury agrees. Cinder was annoying, but at least she kept them both filled in.

Of course she did, because Cinder craves power in a way Salem doesn’t. She wants a particular type of submission tied up in validation. Qrow reminds us in Volume Four that Salem keeps to the sidelines. She’s—to borrow our Wizard of Oz vernacular—the man behind the curtain, happy to pull strings that lead to everyone pointing accusingly at one another, with no inkling that someone more powerful is really to blame. Can we picture Cinder laying out plans that didn’t result in her taking credit for the plot? I can’t. She needs to be in the thick of things, monologuing her victories, and by extension she has a closer relationship with her pawns than Salem ever will, by pure necessity. Cinder would have eaten up the kind of attention from Tyrian that Salem brushes aside unless acknowledging it directly suits her purpose. It’s that faux intimacy that’s convinced Emerald they have a real connection.

With these kinds of thoughts on her mind, Emerald asks Mercury why he bothered to come with them all those years ago. He reveals that his father was an assassin, trained him to be the same, and the night he manages to kill him a group comes along that just happens to need his particular type of expertise? “Just felt like it was meant to be.”

Emerald: “That’s it?”

I agree. Though Mercury is by far the more convinced of the two, he’s still demonstrating the same lack of clear convictions that our heroes have been grappling with. You signed your life over to this war because a bunch of strangers happened to be passing by? That sort of coincidental justification can’t sustain itself. Even Pyrrha’s firm belief in destiny grew shaky once she was faced with a truly difficult decision and Mercury has had pretty smooth sailing lately, especially compared to the life he had with his father. He beat up a bookseller, framed Yang, helped destroy Beacon, had a minor role at the Haven battle, and has been hanging in the palace ever since. He’s actually been doing pretty well, especially since losing Cinder is no real blow to him, so why wouldn’t he think he made the right choice to impulsively follow her and Emerald when they met? The problem is, these victories won’t last. What’s Mercury going to do when his “it just felt like it was meant to be” collides head on with a truly difficult situation… like oh, say, having Salem turn that anger on him as an abuse survivor? As others have already pointed out, Mercury was pretty damn spooked by her reaction to the news about Oz and saw it coming far faster than the other characters. One of these days he’s going to realize that it’s not going to be continuous smooth sailing to Salem’s new world where he’s a top dog no one can touch. Then he’ll have a choice to make.

Of course, Tyrian is already anticipating that. Sometimes it doesn’t matter whether you ever discover those true convictions. Even if Mercury some day realizes he wants to get out from underneath Salem’s thumb, good luck with that. Hello, difference between her and Ozpin. Ozpin let’s people leave, no matter the cost to himself and the war effort. I doubt Salem provides such luxuries.

Emerald tries to get Mercury to understand how her motivations were tied up entirely with Cinder: “[She] was the only family I ever had. She cared about me…” Mercury interrupts with the cruel truth that no, she doesn’t care about either of them, and Emerald is so enraged that she attacks.

You can easily see her heart isn’t in it though. In a nice parallel to Oscar’s line at the end of the episode, she’s been worrying about the exact same stuff. After her initial attack Emerald is barely keeping her fists up and backs off as Mercury starts advancing on her.

He brings up an interesting conundrum: is it worse to have been denied the love of a parent, or to experience the hatred of another? Of course, the truth is that both are horrendous, but Mercury is clearly of the mind that his trauma trumps Emerald’s. Surprisingly calm while also housing great fury, he reveals that some semblances can apparently steal others. At least I’m assuming this power came from his father’s own semblance. Whatever it was (omg tell us lol) apparently made Mercury “weak” in his eyes and after taking it he said he could get it back when he proved he was “strong.” Well, Mercury proved his strength by killing his father, but he didn’t get his semblance back. So it apparently doesn’t revert back after death.

Before things can get anymore heated Tyrian sneaks creepily out of the shadows. His usual entrance. The highlight of his hastily justified visit—just saying goodbye!—is the reveal of his new tail. Did he have the rest of his tail removed? I’m assuming that only the end is new with the rest of his tail just encased in that armor. Later we can clearly see a drop of his poison on the tip (along with the purple visible on the underside) so I suspect in order to create an apparatus that could draw it out again they’d have to keep the rest of the limb. Regardless, it’s too bad for our heroes. It looked like Ruby had done some permanent damage back in Volume Four.

I’m actually rather fascinated by how RWBY treats its disabled characters. There’s a very heavy focus on the psychological trauma as opposed to the physical. Meaning, once the character “gets over” the injury (I use that awful phrase not literally, but just to describe the moment when the arc focused on their injury is complete and the narrative needs to move on) the focus then segues to how much stronger they are now. Again, physically if not mentally. Mercury’s legs are now more powerful than the average human’s, as is half of James’s body, Yang’s arm, Tyrian seems to be able to do everything he previously could with his tail, except now it won’t be so easy to slice through it with a scythe. We also get moments where the act of being disabled is the factor that tips the scales: such as when Yang detaches her arm to get into the vault. On the one hand this is an incredibly positive and potentially inspiring trend. On the other hand real life disabilities sometimes still suck in a way that really isn’t portrayed here, especially since everyone has access advanced tech to “fix” the problem. Yang is right. There’s a part of her missing that she’ll never get back, but that doesn’t change the fact that her new arm is portrayed as more powerful and versatile than her original could ever hope to be. Putting aside the trauma of losing it for a moment, the fact that she’s missing an arm is itself no longer presented as a disability.

I’d actually like to see more moments where the tech isn’t portrayed as such an easy fix: Someone doesn’t have the money to get fancy Atlas stuff, Yang’s arm breaks down in the middle of a fight, whatever dispenses Tyrian’s poison jams up, someone with a tech or metal-based semblance gets a huge advantage when they realize a bunch of the allies are reliant on metal limbs, etc. AKA, more like Fullmetal Alchemist where disabilities are both an asset (I always have a weapon on hand!) as well as a hindrance (…that often gets destroyed) depending on the situation. I think the closest we get is with Maria. Losing color meant that she didn’t pick up on Ruby’s eyes until the very last moment, putting them in more danger. Beyond that she says her specs need a tuneup, but so far we haven’t seen any downsides to not getting them upgraded.

ANYWAY. I should get back to the actual episode…

Tyrian points out that Mercury is too afraid to leave the pain and violence that he’s always known and Mercury gives the expected line that Tyrian doesn’t know anything about him. Makes me wonder what Tyrian’s past was like and why this conversation out of them all would bring out his more philosophical side.

We see more of Emerald’s need to hang onto what little family she has left. Despite attacking Mercury just moments before she lets out a furious, “Hey!” when Tyrian pins him and uses “we” when asking whether they’re just supposed to leave, despite the fact that Mercury has expressed zero interest in considering that option. Emerald considers them a set and, like with Cinder, is projecting more love than might actually be there. She expects that if she leaves, Mercury will follow.

Boy, that might be another kick in the teeth if it ever came down to it…

Tyrian gets his line about how they should love what they do… but ultimately you don’t have much of a choice. Not when Salem is involved. Watts appears reeeeeal far back to let him know it’s time to leave for Atlas.

Could you be more dramatic?

With the ominous knowledge that literally every semi-notable character is heading to Atlas, we cut to JNR looking for Oscar. Jaune gets some excellent lines here:

“This is all my fault. I overreacted…he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Damn straight. Most of the fandom was willing to absolve Jaune the moment he showed a guilty look, but in this volume particularly looking guilty isn’t the same thing as an apology and a change in behavior. Qrow hasn’t apologized to the group yet. The group hasn’t apologized to Ozpin. There’s been a lot of shots of people looking regretful, but not doing much to act on that regret. Given this theme I wouldn’t have been surprised if Jaune hung onto his anger and tried to justify his reaction… but he didn’t and I’m so glad to see this glimmer of maturity, especially coming from one of the more violent characters this volume. He’s doing everything right here: being frank about his mistakes and responsibility, implying that it won’t happen again, apologizing the moment he sees Oscar. Good job, Jaune.

We see how with a few hours to calm down JNR is totally on board with continuing the mission. They’re concerned about what they’ll do, not whether they’ll do anything at all. “It’s going to be a lot harder than we thought” implies that they’ll be continuing the fight and Nora and Ren are back to their endlessly optimistic selves. Honestly… while I’m glad to see this characterization in general, it feels cheap after last episode. As said, RT has given everyone an identical reaction to the information about Salem, undermining their individual temperaments and outlooks, all so we can build up this hatred of Ozpin. But if you’re going to give characters unlikely reactions (like Nora going full pessimism) at least commit to it. By skipping over their thought process and discussion, by jumping straight back to, ‘Of course we’ll fight!’ it paints their original reactions as inauthentic. Nora isn’t really doubting whether all their work meant something, Ren isn’t really mad at the rest of the group, Jaune doesn’t really think Ozpin has taken over Oscar—those emotions were just tools to fuel the drama of one scene. And yeah, some people will read that as a legitimate response to getting horrifying news. I personally don’t. That scene could have achieved everything it needed to without making JNR a carbon-copy of RWBY in their grief.

We also get another example of how the team is happy to keep secrets when it serves their own purposes—“I know, I know. Top secret”—and how less stock they put in the traditional huntsmen lifestyle now. Saphron says that if they’re not sure what to do they can always get their licenses and help out in Argus. “There’s a lot of good you can do here” and this is juxtaposed with images of safe and smiling people who only have that happiness because of the everyday huntsmen doing their work. Saphron points out that they don’t have to be the ones to complete this mission and “it’s not the only mission that needs doing.” She doesn’t have any of the details… but she’s right. Someone needs to get the relic to safety, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be 10+ people. If anyone has doubts about continuing the fight against Salem specifically, now’s the time to bow out, especially since not being committed is dangerous to everyone else. It’s what Ozpin said back in Volume 5: abstaining isn’t anything to be ashamed of, but you’ll reach a point where you can’t retreat.

This suggestion is brushed off though and I don’t think it’s because JNR has some inspiring drive to face Salem no matter the cost. It’s because everything else still feels ‘useless.’ It’s hard to learn about the Big Bad and then go back to fighting the small fry, even though that’s primarily what keeps Salem at bay. Fighting grimm, bandits, her subordinates, promoting peace… these are the things that keep her from getting a foothold. JNR may be willing to continue to Atlas, but they haven’t quite acknowledged yet that this war doesn’t always have straight-forward quests for them, the heroes, to complete. Secure the relic! Kill Salem! I mean this will never happen because it’s a show and we need plot, but in-world it’s totally possible that after Atlas the thing to do is just the sort of stuff Saphron suggests. Salem’s plans are usually years in the making and we can’t go kill her… so I guess all we can do now is go back to being just huntsmen.

I hope RWBY addresses this pseudo-superiority that’s developing; the idea that their group always has to be on The Mission To Save The World. I just want someone to acknowledge again that keeping magical relics safe is important… but so is, say, saving a random village from their geist grimm. The world needs both.

Which brings us to Pyrrha.

(Ah, look at that Volume 1 opening callback.)

Ren and Nora try to cheer Jaune up with drinks at a cafe (coffee! shop! a! u!) but he hangs back on a bench. Everyone’s heart rips out when a familiar leaf drifts by and lead’s Jaune to Pyrrha’s statue…

Let me be clear here. I love the emotion of this scene. I love that JNR finally got to have this conversation. The only thing I don’t love is how heavily it pushes the idea that it’s noble to die even when you didn’t have to, even when it accomplishes precisely nothing.

Woman: “[Pyrrha] understood that she had a responsibility to try… I don’t think she would regret her choice, because a huntress would understand that there really wasn’t a choice to make. And a huntress was what she’d always wanted to be.”

This viewpoint makes sense for whoever this woman is, Pyrrha’s mom, her older sister, etc. Of course that’s how she’s going to rationalize the tragedy, especially when she presumably doesn’t know the details of Pyrrha’s death. I truly doubt anyone from Beacon told her Pyrrha went off after someone who she knew she’d lose against and died uselessly. But JNR and the narrative itself? They can afford to be more critical.

Of course there was a choice to make. If Pyrrha was here she SHOULD regret the choice she made! There was no reason for Pyrrha to die. She didn’t die out of ignorance by underestimating her enemy. She didn’t die to save someone else’s life. She didn’t die to buy someone time. RWBY was careful to make sure that Pyrrha’s death served absolutely no purpose and has brought only hardship to those around her. That was her fatal flaw—fighting for the sake of fighting—and Ruby at least recognizes this as something they need to learn from. JNR? Apparently not. They parrot the woman’s words and talk about how they “have to try,” clearly conflating Pyrrha’s situation with Salem’s immortality, but they’re in no way the same thing. They actually don’t have a choice when it comes to Salem because the only other option here is death/enslavement for all of humanity. You know what other choice Pyrrha had though? Listening to her headmaster, not throwing her life away, sparing her friends their grief, and living to do more good later on. I’m used to the fandom endlessly twisting Pyrrha’s death into something inevitable (Ozpin manipulated her!) or something purely noble (she was so close to beating Cinder!), but I didn’t expect the show to do the same thing. It’s a disservice to her character to pretend that she didn’t have any faults… and that one of those faults got her killed.

So yeah. The lessons in general are important ones, just not when they’re applied to this specific context. Regardless, it solidifies their feelings that they’ll continue on to Atlas and after some more apologies from Jaune for being a “terrible leader” and friend, they decide to head back to the house. Jaune takes one more look at Pyrrha’s statue with an airship flying overhead, a very non-romantic choice that won’t make sense until the end of the episode.

After all that emotional upheaval we cut to Ruby. Looking like this:

This child is so fucking done.

I suppose the one silver lining is that Qrow managed to make it back to the house before he passed out? Yang comments that she’s “never seen him this bad” as these poor kids drag him back onto his feet. As Ruby angrily fills him in about Oscar being missing Jaune goes, “Don’t worry. We’re not going to Atlas without him.”

Ruby: “We? :D”

As everyone basks in their newfound determination, the door opens to shed some literal light on them all. Our farm boy is there, safe, sound, and sporting new digs.

Oscar: “Oh. I was wondering when you’d get back.”

I know I joked last time about how Oscar probably just went for a walk since everyone agreed to take time to themselves, but RT could have given us some indication of where he went, what he did (besides shopping), what he thought… basically anything that would show us some actual development, rather than having it all happen off screen. Like Nora, Ren, and Jaune suddenly 100% on board after their pessimism last episode, we completely skip over Oscar’s thought process. We don’t get to see how he went from this

to this.

The fact that this time skip proceeds Jaune’s apology makes it a highly uncomfortable scene—for me at least. Because Oscar went from flinching in his company to making them all dinner and interrupting Jaune before he can even finish, claiming it’s fine because he’s had the same worries. In short, it feels like Oscar is the one apologizing here because we haven’t gotten any insight into what else might explain this sudden mood change. He’s a “like minded” soul to Ozpin though and Ozpin blames himself for everything. So Oscar watches how no one gives a damn if he’s okay after Jaune assaults him and, instead of being angry at them for that, makes everyone casserole with the hope that they’ll be pleased with that gesture. He doesn’t let Jaune take full responsibility for his actions or complete his apology because Oscar thinks that reaction was justified. Oscar implicitly apologizes for making them worry all day even though he had every right to leave. He talks about himself like he’s dying—“I don’t know how much longer I��ll be me”—and instead of being upset about that anymore he says that he’s going to help others with “whatever time I have left.”

Oscar is doing exactly what Ozpin did a few episodes ago, trying to please those around him instead of calling them out on their shitty behavior. For Ozpin it was giving them a life without him; for Oscar it’s playing the supportive outsider who’s determined to not be a burden. He can’t help that he’s merging with Ozpin, but he can be better prepared for their next battle (combat gear), take care of little things he has control over (dinner), and accept their apologies instantly with a smile. He’s not giving them any reason to hate him anymore than he thinks they already do.

If this is at all a reflection of how Ozpin’s comeback will go, it’s not a good sign in my opinion. I’m still worried that Ozpin will be the one apologizing and will just brush off any half-hearted apologies he gets in turn.

Of course, a big portion of the fandom is theorizing that this isn’t Oscar at all, but rather Ozpin controlling him. I’m not buying that theory right now. Mostly because Ozpin wouldn’t do that. We just watched Jaune lose it because he thought Ozpin might be tricking them by pretending to be Oscar…so Ozpin’s gonna turn around and do exactly that? And to what purpose? Take back the relic from Ruby? If he could hear during his self-imposed isolation then he knows that RWBY is still determined to get to Atlas. If he couldn’t then he woke up in Argus and can infer the same thing. It’s foolish to go off on his own in a body that, to be frank, is still barely trained, especially when time has proven that it takes a team to make it out there. The only way I might buy this is if Ozpin thinks he’s sparing everyone by taking the relic himself; unburdening them from the mission.

I can see why people are suspicious. Oscar is indeed acting off, though I attribute that to the fact that, again, he’s clearly rattled by what happened and is trying not to show it. I can also kinda see why people would be suspicious of him buying combat gear now—he’s planning to go off on his own!—but this was also just a decent time for him to get an outfit change. Plus he needs combat gear regardless of whether he’s with the group or not.

In the end, believing that this is Ozpin in control here is rooted in the fandom’s belief that Ozpin is a horrible manipulator who would turn around and do all the things Jaune just accused him of. If this ends up being the case I’d be incredibly disappointed in RT, because this goes against so much of Ozpin’s core characterization. Until it’s actually proven, this isn’t a theory I’m subscribing to.

With Oscar’s Jaune’s apologies out of the way Qrow tries to leave and Ruby finally loses her temper, snapping that he can at least sit with them. Qrow is once again entirely dismissive of Ruby. He sarcastically says how he “wouldn’t want to get in the way of your celebration,” callously brushes off whatever Oscar and the group apparently made up about, and reiterates that they don’t have a plan. Hell, he doesn’t even know that JNR has learned about Salem and he clearly doesn’t care. Jaune tries to diffuse the situation by mentioning that he has thought of a plan... though it’s the “no going back” kind.

Steal an airship. Please look at everyone’s horrified reactions. Except for Nora.

She’s so proud!!

Why the shock though? Objectively speaking this group has never cared much for laws or rules. Ruby and Yang come from a family with bandits in it. Blake was a member of a terrorist group. Ren and Nora clearly had to steal in order to survive. Jaune got into Beacon with forged transcripts. They happily let Ozpin bend the rules for them at school. They never reported all the illegal activity of the White Fang. They then started acting as huntsmen despite not having licenses. Weiss snuck out of her own Kingdom as cargo. And they just straight up lied to a military figure to try and cross the boarder. Like I get that stealing a ship is a bit bigger than this other stuff (with the exception, perhaps, of Jaune’s transcripts and Blake’s past), but it’s not like this is a group of totally law-abiding citizens. They’ve been working outside of the Kingdoms’ laws for a rather long time now.

It’s the perfect excuse for Qrow though and he tells them to drop it. There’s a clear visual divide between him on the stairs and everyone else below, reinforced when Ruby says that she wants to “hear [Jaune] out.”

Interesting choice of words. Jaune just admitted that ‘steal an airship’ is all he’s got. There isn’t anything more to hear out. Ruby is just making it very clear who she’s siding with.

She says she knows Qrow is worried for them and thinks it’s all hopeless, but “right now I don’t really care what you think.”

To quote the popular meme, you can pinpoint the exact moment his heart breaks!

Needed to be said though.

However then… then. Oh boy. Then Ruby spouts this absolute nonsense about how the kids have never needed adults and definitely don’t need them now.

“We’ve been in tough situations before and we didn’t need an adult to come save us or tell us what to do. We did it our way.”

I’m sorry, Ruby. When the hell was this?? Was it when you tried to take on the White Fang by yourself instead of providing Ozpin with information that might have helped him figure out Salem’s plan? Or was it when an experienced huntsmen had to come save you with your team when you went off alone at Mountain Glenn? Was it when the adults did just as much work to win the battle of Beacon as you? How about when you were traveling to Haven and didn’t have any grimm to deal with because the adult was following behind and taking care of them all, then saved you from being kidnapped? Was it when Ozpin trained you for weeks and finally gave you a plan to follow? Or was it two days ago when Maria’s experience literally saved you all from certain death?

To say nothing of the reverse. It’s because of the kids’s actions that they’re in this position in the first place. It’s because Ruby went and used a question that Ozpin isn’t around to help them anymore, to help recognize the Apathy for what it was, to gain them entrance across the boarder. Kids thinking they know best is precisely what started all this nonsense.

But yeah. Apparently there’s no remorse for how they treated Ozpin yet. Rather than regretting their inhumane treatment now that they’ve had time to cool off, they’ve settled on a ‘Who needs him anyway?’ mentality.

This viewpoint came totally out of left field and I honestly hate it. Everything from the rousing shots of everyone’s smug expressions—Yeah! Bonding over how much we don’t need you!—to Maria cheering them on, I absolutely hated it. Ruby isn’t mad at adults, she’s mad specifically at Qrow and his drinking. She could have easily called him out on his shit (something that needs doing) without charging her team up with the misguided idea that they’ve somehow been surviving without adults when they haven’t. We could have re-asserted Ruby’s convictions to keep fighting without throwing all her 20yo+ allies under the bus. Apparently they’ve learned little from their impulsive decisions this volume.

However, RWBY is acknowledging a common issue with child protagonists: how do you make them the star of the show when presumably adults should be fighting in their stead? There are a couple ways to get around this:

Adults are available but we don’t trust them (Harry’s abuse in Harry Potter)

Adults are around but are fundamentally useless (HP again - Harry is brushed off by McGonagall in the first book, dealing with evil or idiotic DADA instructors, etc.)

Adults are forced to hand over the reigns to kids (any story with a Chosen One plot)

Adults might want to help but can’t for reasons outside of their control (they all died off, they’re hypnotized like the parents in It, etc.)

The problem with RWBY is that adults have always and will always be an integral part of the plot. The narrative hasn’t given Ruby a distrust of authority figures (she grew up with a loving father and clearly respected her instructors), it hasn’t painted her as Remnant’s inevitable savior (in-world at least. We as the audience know she’s the primary protagonist, but to the cast she’s only a little special because of her silver eyes), it hasn’t forcibly removed adults from the battlefield, and it hasn’t characterized them as useless. Yes, RWBYJNR has had some of their faith undermined given Ozpin’s fall from grace and Qrow’s drinking, but those are balanced out by Maria’s endless help and the Cotta-Arc family giving them sanctuary. RWBY is suddenly trying to push a YA-esque ‘kids know best’ viewpoint without doing any of the work to justify that. As an adult watching this show, that scene didn’t make me go

like I think it was supposed to. It just reinforced that they are, in fact, kids. Literally. Only kids look at adults and go, “We don’t need you! We’d be just fine on our own!” I mean yeah, as semi-trained huntsmen they’d probably survive, but that’s not what Ruby is saying. She’s taking her frustration with Qrow’s individual problem and twisting that into a failing of everyone who’s not her age... while standing next to the adult who saved her life and finally explained silver eyes, while her hosts finish making her dinner, in the house they’ll all be sleeping in tonight, while prepping a mission that hinges on getting to Ironwood. Sure, Ruby. Your way doesn’t rely on adults at all.

God I hope this view was just a one-time thing that I can forget ever happened. If Ruby’s leadership gets tied up in a kids vs. adults mentality the rest of this volume is going to be very uncomfortable to watch. Maria’s,“Looks like you didn’t give her enough credit either!” is great, just not in this particular context. A lot like Oscar’s kindness and JNR’s determination to “try.” This episode was filled with things I wanted to see, but then they all got twisted in ways I never expected—and largely don’t like.

Oh well. I’m gonna hang onto Oscar’s BAMF new nutcracker outfit and that glorious image of the gang prepping to dog-pile on him.

Until next week!

Other Details of Note

I’ll admit, I did like the apparent threat behind Tyrian’s goodbye while he had his tail poised over Mercury’s face. He’s good at messing with people.

Nora’s gasp when she sees Pyrrha’s statue : (

But she still got Jaune a drink! :D

I’m wondering now why Pyrrha chose Beacon over Haven…

Terra freaking out about the neighbors was pretty hilarious.

Interesting that Ruby says, “We got this far without Oz.” Normally I’d be thrilled to see her treating him as a peer with a nickname, but considering that the rest of the speech is about how they don’t need adults, it feels more like a dig. He was still “Professor” after Jinn’s vision. Now that she’s decided he’s useless? No more respectful titles.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #mymetas

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6oct · 5 years

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1, 2 and 27

this got long. omg

1) bts

omg. you want me to get cancelled don’t you. Full disclosure I am an ex-army and i like a lot of bts songs, i LOVE jungkook, my ult used to be taehyung, i get it. I just get so mad about them sometimes. I’ll never say that they aren’t talented or hardworking but I think EVERY single kpop group EVER is as hardworking as them. There are countless groups from unknown companies who have had the exact same experience and talents as them, bts was just in the right place at the right time, truly. That influx in 2015/2016 was right when they were releasing run and i need u and so many people latched onto that. I think their success is not exactly a fluke, but I feel bad for other groups who are trying to do the same thing. its unprecedented, sure, but their success will never be emulated. I just can’t understand how people who have been around for a while can agree with the ‘bts paved the way’ thing. It makes so many people think kpop starts and ends with bts. I understand that there are a lot of new fans who only see bts everywhere and think ‘this is the only kpop group ever’. That is so not the case and to praise them in these ways is so unfair to every other hard working group ever. I guess my problem isn’t with them, its their fans. And I’m not trying to make a blanket statement about their fans because I know there are a lot of armys who understand this and uhhh follow me, but the loudest voice in the army fandom is those who have to tear down everyone else to praise bts. Their music I feel has also swayed completely. I acknowledge the trends have changed and something like we are bulletproof wouldn’t fly now, but their sound has completely gone to mainstream stuff that western audiences will like. I’ve heard that its kind of out of their control now, but their company is never going to understand that there are long time fans who are just really disappointed with the ways things have turned out. The American media’s fascination with them is really kind of gross to me, too. It really feels like every time i see a bts thing in something here the narrative is ‘isn’t this cute? haha’ and it negates their hard work. It’s not fair to them that they’ve become the darling of American media just so they can be put on display like some sort of weird exhibit. That halsey collab, while it brought them just huge massive success, felt so weird to me. They were promising a return to their roots with a song called boy with luv and I thought collabing with a western artist on a title track felt like a slap in the face. Of course I bop to it and it’s in heavy rotation because i just love pop music, but comparatively it just felt strange. I truly think spring day was their last good title track before the focus became trying to appeal to the widest audience possible. I’m putting this at the end because hopefully people stopped reading at this point, but i always got weird vibes from their dynamic. It was really hard to continue to like all of them after i got into got7 because i couldn’t help but compare the two and feel like bts had far less chemistry than got7. It’s clear to me they bts is together because they were in these trying times together, and they wouldn’t be friends otherwise.

2) exo

ok. controversial omg. u NEED me to be cancelled. exo was on their way to be in bts’ place but SM fucked up. I think exo laid more groundwork to be successful in western arenas but SM started promoting them so poorly and people honestly started forgetting about them. I remember seeing them at the olympics and thinking ‘wow, they’ve made it. they’re going to be everywhere now’. I think they deserve way more success than they got. Call me baby was EVERYWHERE when it came out and was so capturing and should’ve just propelled them with no stopping. I think a lot of people also have false negative information about exo much like got7 and that turns them away from them. The whole jennie/kai thing made blinks hate them, but the mob mentality made people blind to the fact that it was so obviously fake and planned for promotion. They’ve done ‘problematic’ things in the past and sadly cancel culture, as much as everyone beats this to death, is ruthless. Now that kyungsoo is in the military I think sadly exo might fade away and never be as strong as they once were. I barely heard anything about that unit comeback they had and now that sperm is happening exo is going to be put in the basement. I think sadly NCT became the darling of SM and exo is being paid dust.

27) sf9

omg i know nothing about them. like actually nothing im sorry

#i literally cannot picture a single face from sf9. omg.#ask

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16ruedelaverrerie · 5 years

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Excuse you!!!!! First of all, anon, if you ever call yourself that again I will find you on your birthday and I will take from you that which you love the most. If at any point I happen to say something that rings true or seems even vaguely insightful, that is a product of practice and experience and has nothing to do with natural aptitude! Literally I have been trained for more than a decade to read things as a career, and I’m still slowly learning how to do it better!

It is, of course, also a product of even less remunerative forms of practice and experience-- that is to say, too much time in fandom. Even in that regard, there’s still more for me to learn! But it’s really fun to think about how each fandom has its own distinct ecology, how each subsection of that fandom operates under a distinct microclimate, and how each country (or linguistic community) has such different norms of engagement YEAH THAT’S RIGHT THE THIRD ITEM IN THIS LIST DOESN’T COME WITH AN ENVIRONMENTAL METAPHOR

I think that’s the problem with fan studies academics who aren’t actually knee-deep in the filth of fandom, but are just... distantly fascinated by fandom; they’re trying to draw global conclusions by aggregating disparate sets of local phenomena, because they haven’t run up against how heterogeneous fandom is on the ground level. I mean, sure, there are trends! There are waves! But sometimes people do arrive at the same thing via wildly different paths, and having seen that makes me reluctant to come to any kind of conclusion (other than only very tentative suggestions). So everything I say here should probably be read as you picture me shrugging so noncommittally that my shoulders shoot up past my ears. (Thank you very much for reading v v v)

THIS IS... TOO CLOSE TO A HORROR MOVIE. It’s kind of like that AO3 Gothic post! “YOU ARE ALREADY FOLLOWING THIS USER. YOU ARE ALREADY FOLLOWING THIS USER.” As your foot snags on a floorboard and you come crashing down onto your elbows, the voice dogs your heels through the interminable hallways. “YOU ARE ALREADY FOLLOWING THIS USER.” You try to crawl to some sort of escape, one knee after the other, sobbing for breath. “I DON’T WANT TO FOLLOW THIS USER,” you scream, tasting blood in your throat. “IT’S TOO LATE,” says the voice. “YOU ARE ALREADY FOLLOWING THIS USER.” This is the price you pay for making kind but unwise decisions with your social media accounts!

NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI. NAGEKI.

Gosh I love Hatoful Boyfriend SO MUCH. I have to confess, though, that this is one of those canons/fandoms where my love is composed mostly of the emotional memories that I have from the process of playing the game, not of any recall of actual factual details! I did play it and a short bit of Holiday Star, but I didn’t actively seek out the fandom or any fanworks, and I think that allowed a lot of the plot to ebb from my brain over time. But, I mean, it’s like 95% still there! I’ve only forgotten some of the intricacies of the BBL route!

Hatoful is a MIRACLE. It is an IMPROBABLE CONFLAGRATION WITH GREAT CHARACTERS and it would surprise absolutely no one who is familiar with my terrible track record with character preferences to hear that my first instinct was to make a beeline for Shuu. Not even exactly because of AH MY SERIAL KILLER PARTRIDGE DOCTOR LOVER feelings, but more-- I just really needed to see what he was about??!? And then it turned out that what he was about was Ryuuji Kawara, which (it would also surprise no one to hear) I was INTO. You know what I was also into?? That bit during the epilogue where Kazuaki turns up pushing Shuu’s wheelchair and Sakuya is like ?!?!?! APPLYING ETHICAL GUIDELINES TO EITHER OF YOU IS COMPLETELY FUTILE. Like what kind of convalescence interactions are Kazuaki and Shuu even having during this time!! They are both SO INCAPABLE OF RELATING TO EACH OTHER IN WELL-ADJUSTED WAYS that I was charmed in the way that you are charmed when you see something so intractable that it defies understanding. I just want them to have hilariously maladaptive cohabitation routines where they are both SO SERIOUS about themselves and the entire rest of the cast is just like ????!?!??!?!?!!?! WHY IS THIS HAPPENING

I ended up talking a lot about Shuu, but I really do love all of them so much. They are all so special and if I started shouting the names of characters I loved I would just end up shouting all of them! It’s debatable whether Shuu is even my favorite, because Okosan exists... as does Anghel... and Yuuya... and Azami... and Sakuya... and... SEE THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS AFRAID WOULD HAPPEN. Anon you are a blessing for sending in this ask and you should tell me your feelings about Hatoful too!

fkjld;hlgkeofkld “I DON’T DANCE” IS DEFINITELY A REFERENCE I HAVE MADE BEFORE, IT’S LIKE YOU KNOW ME INSTINCTIVELY ANON. First of all I will never be out of DBH, I talk about this a lot but I do have to make it clear, I’m just not capable of losing interest in things for good so you bet I’ll still be in DBH fandom long after DBH fandom has functionally ceased to exist! Second of all, Markus x Simon (Simarkus, I suppose, but my aversion to namesmushes continues unabated) to me is less a pairing that I choose to ship or not ship, and more... a precondition, like a natural fact of the world. In my head I am like, yes, I accept Markus x Simon, what would I be otherwise, a flat-earther?! And I say this as someone who loves North very much and doesn’t care for invalidating her as a romance option. Markus x Simon is just... a thing! But anyway THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL

SIMON TEACHING MARKUS THAT IT’S OKAY TO EXPRESS HIS MUSICAL THEATER INCLINATIONS

WOULD ALSO WATCH SIMON AND NORTH DO THE “BOP TO THE TOP” ROUTINE

Oh my god I hope that in this AU Josh is Troy but that the plot is split in half instead of converging so that Josh is just running around having important epiphanies and going through crises and falling in love with whoever Gabriella is, but it’s happening entirely in the background while Simon and Markus just engage in one elaborately convoluted set piece metaphor after another about Markus discovering his sexuality. At the end of the movie they meet up and Josh is like “Guys so much has happened, I don’t know where to start” and Markus is like “Okay! Well Simon and I are an item now” and Josh is like “...That’s too big a thing, you were supposed to be the side plot”

I realize that “I Don’t Dance” is from HSM 2 but honestly that is a sequel that is FAR SUPERIOR to the original!!!!!!!!!! (Insert 15-minute monologue here about how I think “Bet on It” is one of the funniest pieces of cultural output that humanity has ever produced.)

#askbox #detroit become human #hatoful boyfriend

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meeedeee · 5 years

Text

Vidding Linkspam July 19, 2019

Conventions/Challenges

Connexions

Multi-Fandom Convention in Maryland is seeking vids for their vid show. Submit your vids by August 1

https://sites.google.com/view/connexions-south/programming/vid-show?authuser=0

Fall Equinox 2019 will be a costume party!

Theme will be: Fictional sources in any format that are set in earlier eras than they were produced/released in -- e.g., costume / period / historical dramas and comedies. Deadline for Signups: July 21 - 28 https://equinox-exchange.dreamwidth.org/27045.html

Convention Vid Show Question

I'm now getting a little worried... would submitting 3 premieres to fanworks con be considered a dick move? I don't wanna take time away from anyone, but I also really wanna show these vids to people. https://findmeinthealps.dreamwidth.org/7949.html

VidUkon Eurovison 2019 Vid Show ....this year's Eurovision show listing showcasing European vidders & source and celebrating the diversity of the European vidding community across all platforms.

https://amnisias.dreamwidth.org/59043.html

VidUKon 2019 Feedback Notes

It's been a little over a week since VidUKon, so it seems like a good time to post up some of the feedback notes from the final panel of the year and the end-of-con feedback session. First up: panel notes! https://vidukon-cardiff.dreamwidth.org/39561.html

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MetaVidshow Discussion Post: Be Gay, Do CrimesVidUKon is a vidding convention held in the UK. This year they're trying something new - inviting people to watch one of the vid shows online and then comment. The vidshow is "Be Gay, Do Crimes " https://vidukon-cardiff.dreamwidth.org/39913.html

Vidding Chatter July (vid_bingo)

What is your least favorite thing about vidding as a hobby? What is your favorite thing? https://vid-bingo.dreamwidth.org/4373.html

Vidding Chatter June (vid_bingo)

Have you ever been to a vid or fan-focused convention? Which one? What was your experience like, etc? https://vid-bingo.dreamwidth.org/3623.html

Vidding Chatter May (vid_bingo)

Are you a vidding plotter or a pantser? If you use storyboards, how do you approach them? Are they vague or detailed, handwritten or a google doc? https://vid-bingo.dreamwidth.org/3441.html

Fanvids- Vids that you think of every time you hear the song

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/378261.html?thread=2216111765#cmt2216111765

Vid Me Closes (on building our own vidding platform)

This article is about why the site VidMe closed, but provides fascinating insights into the state of things; particularly hilarious TO ME are the "Insights for Newcomers," i.e. what they learned for people who want to try to do this: If you’re considering building your own video platform, here are a few suggestions.... https://cesperanza.dreamwidth.org/594255.html

YouTube Vidding Contest Strategy

Vidding strategy is not a thing I usually think about in those terms, but here we are. I entered a youtube vidding contest and the first round was scored and "The Engineer" finished tied for 13th out of 19 entries. https://seekingferret.dreamwidth.org/307266.html

Vids With Dialogue

I hate, hate, hate all these vids with the dialogue left in.

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/374581.html?thread=2192738613#cmt2192738613

VidUKon Vidshow Discussion Post: 2009 Retrospective

This is a new thing we’re trying - we love talking about the vidshows at the con itself, but we think there’s scope for further discussion here on Dreamwidth, where folks who weren’t able to attend the con can get involved too. Anyone who’s interested is welcome to watch the show and join in! We’ll be running these posts roughly once a month, initially featuring shows from VidUKon 2019. https://vidukon-cardiff.dreamwidth.org/39170.html

FanVid Recs Thread: Special Request

Nonnies, please give me funny crack vid recs? Any fandom, any ship. I need something to laugh about today.

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/374457.html?thread=2190469817#cmt2190469817

Good Omens FanVid Takedowns

I've never understood how fanvids persist against takedowns at all, especially the popular ones.

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/374457.html?thread=2189939641#cmt2189939641

FFA FanVid Recs Thread

music vids, AMVs, edits, supercuts, mashups, etc. Ask for recs or just drop a link to something you like!

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/374060.html?thread=2189690924#cmt2189690924

Newbie: I'm a newcomer to vidding and wondered if I could have advice to learn the ropes.

If someone could help me learn the ropes that'd be lovely. https://vidding.dreamwidth.org/395455.html

The evolution of #vidding trends be like

2012 - heavy colorings, catchy songs, crossfades, overlayers, texts

2019 - almost to no coloring, clean cuts, minimal editing, trailer-ish instrumentals

2020 - no coloring, no editing, no music, just play the damn episode would ya?

https://twitter.com/anJaaXx/status/1139404158820220928

Do you ever have an amazing idea for a vid but lack the confidence to actually make it

cuz you’ve never done something like it before and don’t want to screw it up? Now try having that for like 4 different ideas...so frustrating #Vidding #VidderProblems https://twitter.com/hollywoodgirl05/status/1137771341635964928

You know the feeling when start project so inspired and then get to some part of song and you just can't move past it? For weeks... And then start to hate whole song and part of project you already finished. Yeah. #Vidding #Viddingproblems https://twitter.com/TheMica993/status/1134759868605390848

Reading it made me think of lumi_nation and other fellow vidders who see & hear music as movement & color, hear color as music, and so on. There are many of us. We don’t often talk about it outside of con suites and panels, but we exist in our special little universes. #vidding https://twitter.com/Bonibaru/status/1132780458494910464

Vidding and/as Pedagogy Vids explore themes related to the source material(s) they remix and rework. In a vid, the juxtaposition of moving images and music, as well as careful sequencing, cutting, and pattern construction, work together to communicate the vidder’s messages.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324065471_Vidding_andas_Pedagogy

Vid Society: discord server dedicated to editing/vidding We are a friendly content creator-based community, mainly for video editors (but also for various other artists), with a passion for anything fandom and art related. Join our humble family and feel free to stay as long as you like!

https://meeedeee.tumblr.com/post/186406012376/discord-server-dediacted-to-editingvidding

Vidding Styles There is a difference between completely ripping off a style to the point it's just the same video with a different song and taking inspiration, then adding your own spin. While nobody has 'ownership' over a style.... I'm tired of seeing basically the same videos everywhere.

https://twitter.com/xOurConnections/status/1150547423841771520

Current vidding status:

Vid for which I have clipped that seemed fun: now seems silly and tropey.

Vid I have most excellent song for is for a show I thought was ok, but for which I'd need to learn new vidding software.

Vid I've pottered with for years now has corrupted files.

https://twitter.com/BrokenMnemonic/status/1149750471156015106

Your favourite well-made music vid.... I am an old and don't listen to music radio, so in the last twenty years, my main way to discover music less than thirty or forty years old has been through very well-made fan videos. So please rec me yours with the appropriate link

https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/373194.html?thread=2181417674#cmt2181417674

#viddingpetpeeves

When someone vids ship and uses voiceovers or scenes related to the competing ship on that show. I just always think to myself Bro, that's off-limits" Is this super petty of me. Don't hate me. What are some of your pet peeves, #vidding community

https://twitter.com/IATFirstGlanceI/status/1146041935074922496

VidRecs.com

#vidding friends, for the last couple of weeks I have been exploring (link: http://vidrecs.com) vidrecs.com! (Some of you may remember I mentioned it briefly at #vidukon.) It's very new but it looks as though it could be a really cool resource!

https://twitter.com/llintrek/status/1144966906690134016

I just posted my first #fanvid to #Instagram.

It is an old VCR-era #Titanic vid #Titanicedit #fanedit #vidding (link: https://ift.tt/32FnCPR) instagram.com/p/BzKUNThjCZr/ https://twitter.com/morgandawn6/status/1143897561394110464

nothing has demotivated me from vidding more ...

...than youtube and twitter. lost channels on youtube 5 times and twice on here. i know i can unlist, but i don't like doing so. now i'm just waiting for july 27th so my strikes can clear off.

https://twitter.com/RuksarCreation/status/1148686654904983557

call me old fashioned but I am really not a fan of the youtube vidding trend..... of putting dialogue over the whole fucking thing. I can deal with a bit here and there but for a 3+ minute song?? I imagine you picked the song for a reason, let me hear the lyrics!!

https://twitter.com/leanwellback/status/1140679467406376961

...fanvideo styles getting more & more reduced,

is it even fanvideo editing in some cases anymore.... i guess vidding is living on borrowed time anyway. https://twitter.com/disasxter/status/1139406005723230208

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Technical

VIDDING TECH: WHERE SHOULD I GO FOR HELP?

After a decade as a Mac vidder, I am about to buy my first Windows machine and start vidding on a PC. https://laurashapiro.dreamwidth.org/382846.html Sharing Your Fanvids To Instagram

Instagram limits the number of external links you can use in a post. Up until last year, they didn't support longer vids or links to external websites, preferring to keep the material "in house." If you have a streaming vid on Youtube, Vimeo or your own website, you can still promote it on Instagram https://morgandawn.dreamwidth.org/1667645.html

Mac Vid Encoding Vids on Mojave

LlamaEnc is not currently compatible with macOS Mojave.

https://fanworks.dreamwidth.org/10195.html

Request: Vid Tagging Assistance, Vid Streaming Alternatives

Requesting assistance in tagging vids using Excel (2013/2016/2019). If you have Office 365 this would be ideal as we can collaborate in real time similar to what you see in those ads for Google docs co-authoring where you see the names of people typing as flags. Additionally, if you have ever wanted to get up to speed with Excel for work or to get work this could be one way of doing so while also watching and tagging vids. I teach Excel as well

https://vidding.dreamwidth.org/394837.html

Video Analysis Software

Any idea if any vidders have played with this (or related tools) yet? #fandom #vidding ML-powered automatic video editing app released recently

https://twitter.com/arnicas/status/1143800870896832512

Quick question #vidding community

Is there any other way besides rewatching the source materiel a hundred times to connecting clips to the lyrics? Is there some sort of trick I'm missing?

https://twitter.com/IATFirstGlanceI/status/1139669286581092357

Vidding friends, I'm about to make the switch from Mac to PC vidding.My better half is building me a machine. What should I know? How much RAM/what kind of hard drive? Is there a solution for converting iTunes source? (feel free to DM me) Thank you!

https://twitter.com/killabeezish/status/1145014452552515584

comments x-posted to morgandawn | comment there Anonymous commenting enabled or use OpenID to log in to comment.

#IFTTT #Crosspost

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sage-nebula · 6 years

Text

I’m not in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom by any means, and to be honest I wouldn’t really call myself a fan of the show. I like what I’ve seen of it all right; it’s enjoyable to watch, but it’s not something that really captures my fascination or holds my attention for very long after the episode has concluded. It’s not something that I’d really want to dig into. Some things just aren’t that deep, and Miraculous Ladybug is one of those things for me. (Which isn’t at all to insult those who are super hyped about it, of course! It’s just not something that really gripped me.)

To that end, I’ve seen each season one episode once, and I’ve seen a couple season two episodes here or there. I just watched “Queen Wasp” (in English, unfortunately), and what I’m about to say about that episode should be taken with the grain of salt that I’m not a dedicated fan, I haven’t seen every episode, and I’m definitely not up to arguing with those who are dedicated fans. With that said . . .

I think that “Queen Wasp” is a good indication that this show could be deeper, that the writers do have the skill to do that, but there’s something (likely network or parent company regulations) that’s preventing them from going the distance.

From what I know of the situation that the show is in, the creators are forced to succumb to a randomized airing order that differs from country to country. To try to salvage their show, they’ve made it so that a reset button is hit at the end of nearly every episode, so that viewers can jump in without being too lost. As a result of this, season two is at least a good deal underway, and school bully Chloe hasn’t made very much progress in becoming a better person. She’s had a few episodes where she was given Pet the Dog moments, but she hasn’t made great strides toward improving, because if viewers were thrown into an episode where Chloe was nice, and then the next episode that was shown to them had Chloe being a jerk again, they’d be confused.

As a result, it was of no surprise to me (and I actually thought it was a clever move) that Chloe wasn’t given her Miraculous, but rather she found it after Marinette accidentally dropped it. It was of further no surprise to anyone that she used it for her own selfish gain, refused to give it back when asked, and ended up as the first akumatized Miraculous holder (and isn’t this, like, the second or third time she’s been akumatized? Damn). But what pains me a little bit is that if any episode was going to start a Chloe redemption arc for real, it would have been this one. The pieces were all there, but the status quo maintained that they be ignored.

In this two-parter, we learn that the bulk of Chloe’s issues stem from the fact that her mother is emotionally abusive toward her. And yes, I do mean she’s abused. Audrey not only neglects her daughter for years on end by leaving her in Paris while she gallivants around the world, but when she is in Chloe’s presence, she cares so little about her that she can’t even be fussed to remember her name, sometimes referring to her as an inanimate object. She repeatedly threatened her with violence when akumatized (and given that akumatization feeds on latent feelings, we can’t say that was all Hawkmoth’s doing), and then spent the next right episode berating her not only to her face, but in front of others, half the time on live television. It’s made evident that Chloe acts cruel to others because this is what she has seen her mother do for her entire life, and she figures that if she emulates that behavior, she can win her mother’s affection, approval, and love. No, this does not excuse her actions or mean that those she has hurt have to forgive her, but it does explain her actions, makes her more sympathetic, and opens the door for her to realize that this behavior is wrong and that her mother is not someone she needs approval from---that there are better role models and familial figures out there.

Now, there are two ways this growth could have occurred naturally. The first would be to give her an actual arc wherein she doesn’t reveal that she has the Bee Miraculous, and instead keeps it secret, acting as Queen Bee but keeping her identity hidden. We’d still see her selfishness and obstinacy as she refused to give Marinette the Miraculous back, but we’d also get to see her interact with Pollen, and see how Pollen’s influence helps her become a better person (as well as regular interactions with Ladybug and Chat as a teammate rather than a fan). Through bonding with Pollen, Ladybug, and Chat, Chloe would come to realize that she isn’t dependent on her mother for approval and affection---that she can do things her mother could only dream of doing, and that kindness and empathy are far stronger than selfishness and cruelty. While she wouldn’t have been deserving of the Miraculous at the start, she would have ended up becoming a worthy holder, so that by the time she tried to return the Bee Miraculous to Master Fu herself, he told her to keep it.

The other path would have been to have the episode carry out just as it did, but at the end when Chloe asked Ladybug to give her a second chance, Ladybug would tell her that maybe she will, someday---if a need arises for Queen Bee again, and if Chloe starts being kinder to those around her. I don’t mean to turn the comfort that Ladybug and Chat gave her into a lecture, because I do honestly believe that she needed and deserved that encouragement after the way her mother treated her (on live television, no less), but I do think that Ladybug should have slipped in a little bit about how perhaps Chloe could be a Miraculous holder again someday, but that Miraculous holders have to be exceptional not only in their abilities, but in their character, and that means Chloe has to start helping, protecting, and caring for those around her even when she’s not in uniform. Even if Chloe resisted at first, thinking about what Ladybug---her hero---said to her about her behavior could give her cause to start modifying her behavior, even if it’s in baby steps. If that trend continued, then by season three or four we could see a Chloe that Marinette willingly gives that comb to.

But I don’t think there’s even a chance of that happening. Not only did Ladybug say nothing of the sort to Chloe, but ultimately she encouraged Chloe to keep being nasty by using that nastiness to help Chloe bond with her mother. Chloe’s plan of being rude and nasty to others in order to get her abusive mother’s approval paid off. And that . . . is just so entirely disappointing. Chloe meekly asking her mother, “Why don’t you love me?” was a powerful moment that anyone who has faced abuse from a parent could empathize with. Chloe voiced what so many of us have wondered so many times. Yet instead of her mother having to own up to this, Marinette interjected and turned the whole thing into a lighthearted joke that ended with Aubrey deciding that, since her daughter is cruel, perhaps she’s worth sticking with after all. It’s honestly a pretty terrible message to send with regards to child abuse, and while I understand that the network or whoever else potentially didn’t want to delve that deep into emotional parental abuse on a lighthearted show, there comes a time when it’s too late to turn back, and that line was crossed with Aubrey and Chloe. Particularly given that Aubrey repeatedly berated and humiliated Chloe on live television, that ending was particularly terrible.

That said, not all emotional beats were ruined or poorly done in this episode. The scenes between Nathalie and Gabriel were absolutely fantastic. I love that they never once had Nathalie say out loud what she was feeling; it was clear from the way she embraced Gabriel, and the way her expression crumpled when she walked out of the room, that she has feelings for him that she knows are not reciprocated, and that she’s mostly all right with those feelings not being reciprocated, but that it pains her to see him continuing down this destructive path when she can do nothing to stop him (at least, from her point of view). That easily could have been a moment where she monologued to spell all that out, but the producers instead decided to show it, and that was an excellent decision on their part.

All of this said, I’m still not a super fan of this show. I wouldn’t even call myself a fan, really, given that I haven’t seen all the episodes and I’m not in any hurry to. It’s enjoyable once in a while, and I can definitely see moments where they play at something deeper, but I think executive restraints to keep the show lighthearted (and keep the status quo enforced so that kids can jump in at any point) hurt it. Ah well, what can you do. Not every show can be The Dragon Prince, and at least Miraculous Ladybug isn’t trying pretend it is something that it isn’t. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.

#at least ML doesn't make me upset when i watch it #which is more than i can say for certain other animated programs #so i'll take what i can get without much complaining tbqh #////#/////#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug spoilers #ml spoilers #chloe bourgeois #meta

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fyeahkard · 7 years

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Is KARD Breaking K-pop? The Wild KARD Tour in San Francisco

KARD is unique in many ways. They’re finding unprecedented popularity for a co-ed group but that’s not the only reason they’re so much unlike any other K-pop act. While co-ed groups have existed before — to varying degrees of success — and will likely continue to show up here and there, none of them have resembled the marketing strategy of KARD. It’s becoming clear that no K-pop act in history has rivaled KARD in its ambitious overseas marketing at such an early stage in a group’s career. Which raises the questions: Is KARD breaking K-pop? That is, has their avant garde marketing strategy struck such a nerve with K-pop fans that it begs to be replicated?

Promoting overseas isn’t a trait that’s specific to KARD alone. In fact, many groups during what’s considered the Golden Age of K-pop (2009-2012) focused heavily on overseas promotions, specifically in Japan. Ever since the decline of the Hallyu wave in Japan, and more recently in China, K-pop groups have returned much of their focus onto the domestic market. However, KARD is doing the exact opposite. Instead of focusing on Korea, they’ve put much of their efforts into appealing to fans overseas. And instead of treading into the usual K-pop stomping grounds of East and Southeast Asia, KARD turned its attention to the West.

The Wild KARD Tour in San Francisco marked the group’s final stop in the US and it’s just one of a litany of stops since the group started touring in early May, which at the time was less than six months since the release of their first single. Over the course of the following five months, the group performed in countless cities across the Western hemisphere, making multiple stops throughout North America, South America, and Europe. During this time, KARD also made their official Korean debut with “Hola Hola” by performing for the first time on music shows. This video from Popsori does a good job of summarizing KARD’s rise in international fame.

Hats off to the people at DSP Media who clearly thought outside of the box in their promotional strategy with KARD. Having cashed in heavily on Kara’s run as arguably the most popular K-pop girl group in Japan, DSP understands the importance of overseas promotions. In fact, KARD member Somin first debuted as a member of Puretty, a girl group that promoted only in Japan and never debutted in Korea before disbanding. I wrote back in January that I thought this company was in serious trouble given the lack of revenue-generators on their roster after the departure of Kara and Rainbow, but they have truly hit a home run with KARD as the group is undoubtedly bringing in immediate profits in just their first year active.

As a matter of fact, interest towards this group seemed to be at an all-time high when I stepped into a sold-out venue for the show. Every single seat in the theater was occupied, and I mean that literally because every ticket came with a seat. I thought it was an interesting choice to have actual seats at the front of the stage. I’m not sure if that served an actual purpose though because those seats went mostly unused once KARD took the stage.

Before we get into the show, let’s talk about KARD’s music because I hear people say that it all sounds the same but not in a bad way. I have to agree with that assessment because, among their four singles to date, they all share a very similar structure and sound. They’re also made by the same group of producers behind the scenes so solidifying this sound was very much intentional as it capitalizes on the tropical house trend that’s been everywhere in K-pop lately, perhaps best punctuated by the commercial success of Winner’s “Really Really.”

KARD appeals to international fans in several ways and one of them is by using English in their songs. Opening the show with the English version of “Don’t Recall,” KARD shows right away that they care far more about the international fandom than anyone else. Unlike other groups which tend to treat international fans as secondary, KARD’s marketing strategy has put international fans first and, as evident, international fans have returned their love in droves.

Another reason international fans are drawn to KARD is because the members show that they’re just like us. Following the first set of songs was a variety segment where the members each went around answering fan-submitted questions. One of the more memorable responses was when the group was asked what concerts each member has been to. The two clear-cut answers were FNC Kingdom and AOMG. This was rather fascinating because you rarely hear K-pop idols discuss other K-pop acts, much less attend the family concerts of competing agencies. This aspect resonates with international fans who are largely multi-fandom, and so it’s refreshing to hear that idols are also fans of multiple K-pop artists. In doing so, it undercuts the stereotype that K-pop fans must be loyal to a single fandom. It counteracts the rabid fan culture of stanning your bias and adheres to a more level-headed appreciation for the music and performances.

A second reason for the group’s international success is that the marketing appeals to both genders. As the night went on, the group performed various covers of English songs and played variety games which included the participation of a few lucky fans. Another memorable moment was when the MC, Danny Lim, pointed out that there was a fair amount of male and female fans in attendance which is actually quite a rarity at most K-pop events. He’s hinting at the heteronormativity of the marketing strategy behind most K-pop groups, where male groups are marketed to female fans and vice versa. In the case of KARD, that heteronormativity is still very much in play but it’s being deployed on both male and female fans simultaneously. That’s likely the biggest draw with KARD; they attract both genders equally and so they bring in twice the number of fans. The math is undeniable.

As the group performed their final set of songs and an encore, I couldn’t help but think what a long journey this has been for KARD. It’s been roughly ten months since anyone has even heard of the group and they have already held packed concerts in close to 20 cities throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Amsterdam. That’s more concerts held in the West than what even the most successful of K-pop groups ever dare to attempt over the course of their careers, and all of this occurred over the course of five months!

This brings me back to my original question: Is KARD breaking K-pop? It remains to be seen if other companies can successfully replicate this formula. There are many factors which stand out but the most significant features of this group comes down to: 1) They are a co-ed group which appeals to both genders simultaneously, 2) they draw their fanbase from international fans in the Western hemisphere, and most importantly, 3) they tour feverishly in places that do not traditionally attract a ton of K-pop acts. If this business model continues to find success, other companies will start taking notice and the future of K-pop will look noticeably different.

For once, K-pop fans residing in in the Western hemisphere don’t feel like we’re being ignored and that is likely the single biggest driver of KARD’s success. They’re showing that there is a viable K-pop market here and that other companies would be making a mistake to continue to ignore it. In that sense, I believe this group has broken through the K-pop industry’s traditional business model — of marketing mostly at home and to countries in Asia — by pioneering a new marketing strategy that has allowed the group to gain an inordinate amount of exposure to Western audiences.

via seoulbeats

#kard #k.a.r.d #t:article

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serenagaywaterford · 5 years

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1) "Is violent mob revenge the answer? (I honestly can’t make that determination.) Is violence sometimes the answer? Is war the only answer with totalitarian regimes?" Those are the kind of questions I had in mind actually. Obviously, I wouldn't expect any answers (bc those are up to the audience, not the series), but it would be interesting if they went there. Of course, these questions would fly over some people's heads (like you said), bc honestly? Said people approach THT like it's a

2) Disney-esque (/superhero) series (nothing wrong with them), where the totally good guys get to punch and kill the totally evil guys in the end, uwu. (If I'm being too much of a dick, just tell me and I'll tone it down a notch, lol.) Anyway, mob mentality aside, history proves that such regimes fall and rise the same way they have been created. Aka "Those who arrive with blood, fall with blood." Doesn't mean that we have to like it. I've mentioned before that I detest violence and I especially

3) believe that it has NO place in politics. I've been called naive for this, so there's that. Weirdly enough, I'm also the kind of person who thinks that equating ALL forms of violence is quite dangerous given that: i) threats/regimes like Gilead are inherently genocidal in their ambitions, ii) the scale of violence is not always the same, iii) every country (democratic or not) has its army and police and most people consider this kind of (controlled) violence perfectly valid, iv) there's

4) self-defense. Where I'm going with this? If a pro-Gilead person is threatened by an anti-Gilead one, the former has a choice: they can ask for a democratic trial (bc it's too late to apologize). Most likely, civilized/democratic people will listen to reason. (Well, unless we're talking about mobs... THEN, things get quite disturbing.) But if a person belongs to a group/minority targeted by Gilead, there's nothing they can do that will make pro-Gilead people happy... except die or get raped

5) for life. Anyway, I really could go on and on about this subject, but I think I'll stop here, bc it's quite complex. /// I was thinking about what you said concerning Fred and Serena's pre-Gilead relationship, and you know what? You're right. Their relationship would have fallen apart at some point, Gilead notwithstanding or not. Fred is two-faced and he sure af played us in S1. (Ngl, I used to think he was the lesser of the two evils.) But one doesn't become such an antipathetic monster at

6) a flip of the dime. The nasty parts were always there, but he concealed/controlled them. Maybe bc said parts wouldn't exactly make him endearing to others? Anyhow, your interpretation makes him quite the interesting antagonist/villain, so I'm rolling with it, lol.

---------

OMG. I think I’m in love with you? PLEASE NEVER STOP BEING YOU. I don’t think you’re being a dick at all. I love it. Cos sometimes we just gotta call the BS like we see it?

“Of course, these questions would fly over some people's heads (like you said), bc honestly? Said people approach THT like it's a Disney-esque (/superhero) series (nothing wrong with them), where the totally good guys get to punch and kill the totally evil guys in the end, uwu.”

This is such a huge point. Cos I think there’s a very common trend of THT attempting to approach issues from various angles and try to show the complexity of it but then it going WHOOSH over so many viewers’ heads. Which never makes sense to me cos like, what’s the point in watching THT if you’re not considering it on multiple levels and trying to explore the issues? I don’t wanna point the blame in the general directions of particular shippers but I can’t help it, perhaps cos they’re just the most vocal in fandom, but it seems that the Disney-eqsque superhero tale is what they want, complete with EPIC HETERO ROMANCE!!! throughout. I’d say at least 50% of the responses are about Mr. Nicky (It goes up to 75-80% if we are actually shown his face). (And their concern is focused on the male romantic lead... YAWN.)

I would absolutely love THT to take the path of questioning mob mentality and the cycle of violence/victimization, etc. But it may be too much for even Hulu to want to tackle considering how black and white viewers seem to think. They are trying so HARD to present characters as shades of grey (Serena, being the main example. But June, Emily, Luke, Nick, etc. also) but instead of placing them along a spectrum it’s either DIE EVIL SCUM! or AMAZING CINNAMON ROLL CAN DO NO WRONG! I think the only one they complain about is June cos she’s not AS perfect as they’d like her to be. She makes some dumbass fucking decisions for sure. Sometimes I like that about her, especially how pre-Gilead June was not a super great person. She was just sorta... normal. (Other times I’m like, “JUNE YOU IDIOT WTF?!” lol but that’s fun too I guess.) If I made a scale myself, I’d probably put June fairly close to the centre, rather than on the far “good” end.

I always wondered this:

If June hadn’t been deemed a “fallen woman” and thus been allowed to stay as an Econowife, with Luke and Hannah, would she have done anything? Would she be as inspired to rebel and resist as she is? I’m not trying to shit on June at all, but I feel like it’s a question I’m curious about. A lot of people say they would be big heroes, but when really faced with the reality of living a sort of shitty life or risking that for an uncertain thing/death, most just choose to go along with it and hope it ends (especially hope that SOMEBODY else takes the risk to end it). Even good people. What do you think?

(Aside: June being called a fallen woman is SUCH bullshit. She wasn’t cheating on anybody! LUKE was unfaithful, not her! Which is why I thought perhaps they missed a chance to address race. It could have influence on what Gilead deems “holy” marriages, and those they see as “sinful”. And a (even subtly) racist fascist state, would deffo see mixed marriage as a terrible thing. “Let’s get the fertile white woman knocked up with some white babies; no more of this mixed race babies!” Again, as we talked about before, it would limit Hannah’s storyline ofc, but I guess it wouldn’t HAVE to. She could be in a “lesser” household, instead of the rich fancy one she is.)

Sorry, those were some unplanned side rants!

I love how you described all the politics of that. It really is a fascinating thing to consider, especially how to deal with Gilead, both on an international scale, and just on smaller scales. War? Seems inevitable honestly. And clearly, Gilead is STILL fighting wars all over the continent. I honestly... you’re so right. It’s very complex and I’m not sure how detailed THT will go with that. They seem to be keeping things quite... superficial. They reference things every so often but there’s nothing solid to latch onto. It often reminds me of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park.

phase 1: blow up congress

phase 2: ???

phase 3: establish fully-functional military fascist handmaid regime over entire continental US.

....so how to bring down Gilead then???

phase 1: burn down 3 house + angry handmaid steal babby back then let babby go to canada!!

phase 2: ???

phase 3: overthrow massive fascist military regime!!!!

So, we’ll see how they do it. I doubt we’re really going to get a lot of details about how everything works and maybe it’s just better that way cos it seems like the more they try to explain how Gilead stays working, it makes even less sense. And also, as much as this stuff is interesting, I really don’t wanna watch THT turn into like Zero Dark Thirty or some shit. It’s strongest when focused on the women’s experiences specifically.

“Fred is two-faced and he sure af played us in S1. (Ngl, I used to think he was the lesser of the two evils.)“

Same! It wasn’t until S2 that I started going “hmm” about Fred. I thought he wasn’t as evil as her. And when you go back and watch S1 knowing what he’s done in S2, tehre are hints and I got a weird vibe. Like... I dunno. I was randomly just rewatching that 2x11 scene where Fred and Serena are at the house and Fred is just so.... Yikes. His motives are so clear. And I tried to find examples of Fred’s humanity. I do believe we get glimpses of Serena’s, and she has capacity for kindness--in very specific circumstances but I couldn’t find a single scene of Fred where he does anything selfless, or without expecting some sort of gross sexual favour/ego stroke in return, or even kind. It’s all for his own gratification. And I am 1000% convinced he has some sort of pregnancy fetish. It doesn’t seem like he gives a shit about the actual baby, esp once its born. He’s more interested in June’s bodily changes (not the actual baby) when she’s pregnant, and her lactation afterwards. And I may not know much about the world of fetishes but I do know that’s not exactly a rare one for men.

I think an argument against me would be the car convo about creating the Ceremony cos Fred kind of just went along with it and was on the fence. But then I think... it’s not that he was against it at all. He just didn’t think women would like it. It was never, “Nah, mate, that’s a step too far.” It was more like, “Cool idea, bros. But let’s rebrand it okay?” I mean, in the flashbacks, he did seem very proud of her, enamored, like you said. But part of me just can’t shake that, okay fair play that he probably did honestly love/respect her in some ways, but he also saw it as, “Yes, this plan is going just the way I want it!” I don’t feel like power corrupts THAT much, that quickly that he’d go from perfect husband and lovingly gazing at his amazing wife to demeaning, repeatedly cheating on her, and beating the living shit out of her (and raping her) in a few years. Then again, extreme situations can make people change quite abruptly. Who knows.

I dunno. Maybe I just hate him and dont’ wanna give him any credit for being a human being in any way whatsoever lol.

#rants and raves #so soz these are taking longer and l onger to respond. RL ya know!#Anonymous

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blainematters · 7 years

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For your reading pleasure, a selection of awful fucking quotes from CC’s latest *~masterpiece~*. That’s right, I read all 407 pages so you don’t have to! Unless you too are a complete masochist, in which case go nuts.

This is image heavy, fair warning. Some names have been slightly altered to protect the crazies who would read this and cry.

Audiences found the show’s campiness to be rather charming, its unique underdog spirit resonated with them, and a global phenomenon was born. Nice description of Glee there. Very original. Good work.

Pitying looks were cast upon the unfortunate souls without seats, as if they were third-class passengers on the Titanic. The death of 1500 people in the worst maritime disaster in history is not a funny or clever simile.

Luckily for him, these days Cash had a little help to take the edge off. He reached into his pocket and pulled out three large pills and two marijuana gummy bears. This is how the main character treats his anxiety. He takes this combo with whiskey. This apparently makes him ‘completely numb’.

He thought it was funny how there was hydrocodone, weed, and alcohol flowing through his veins at a work event but he wasn’t the biggest douchebag onstage. Except he really, really is. Funnily enough people on drugs aren’t the best judge of character.

If he responded with something they didn’t like, his social media would be bombarded with pictures, videos, and GIFs of decapitated animals, human feces, and militants destroying priceless artifacts.

“Olá, fucktards,” Davi said—his use of American slang was a work in progress. What. This character is brazilian, and he swears constantly. Those are his only character traits.

“That’s incredible, Huda,” Mo said. “If only diplomacy worked as efficiently as a fandom, there would never be war again.” I’m fucking dying.

“Young lady,” the psychologist said. “I have studied the human mind for more than four decades. I understand the appeal of joining the transgender community, but I promise you, the transgender movement is nothing short of a trend for nonconformists. In fact, it is still considered a mental illness by the World Health Organization.” Sorry, what appeal? What even is this nonsense? Why does it go on for five pages? Why the need to unnecessarily torture the trans character with this when it makes no difference to his storyline? Why?

Mo had suffered from OID (overactive imagination disorder) since childhood. The condition wasn’t officially recognized by the United States Department of Health (because Mo had made it up) but the disorder was just as taxing and consuming as any. From the entire community of people with mental illness: Fuck you CC. Fuck you for this awful, awful thing. Kindly go fuck yourself for pretending you have any understanding of what a mental illness is like to live with. Ugh.

A very good-looking man in his early twenties. He wore thick sunglasses, a black leather jacket, dark jeans, and designer boots. Yes, this is how ‘Cash’ is described. He’s also been previously described as a total mess who hasn’t showered in days, so I’m not totally convinced it’s accurate.

“I’m T0pher C0llins. It is such a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter.” T0pher C0llins? Are you fucking shitting me?

“I walked into my bedroom and saw Peaches had taken a huge dump in the middle of my bed, so I had to clean it up and put my comforter in the washer.” This is said by the only girl in the group, in front of ‘Cash’, who she idolises. Because girls are just stupid fucking blabbermouths right?

“-it’s getting asked advice on how to break into the industry from the guy taking a dump in the stall next to you” Oh look, another thing that has never, ever happened.

“You gotta say that shit so no one labels you as a future has-been—that’ll kill a career. Even if it’s obvious you’ll never do anything but the show you’re on, you can’t admit it.” The first honest and realistic thing in this book, and it only took till chapter seven!

“Every time I get any recognition he writes me into a coma or puts me through something horrendous as punishment. After I was on the cover of TV Guide, he put a dangerous stunt into a script and it broke my ankle. After I won a People’s Choice Award, he put my character in a coma for twelve episodes. The list goes on.” I wonder how Ryan Murphy will react when he hears about this character who is so clearly him?

“Nothing is stranger than fanfiction,” Cash said, like a sailor recalling his encounter with a horrible sea creature. THIS ENTIRE BOOK IS REAL LIFE FANFICTION YOU HYPOCRITICAL ASSHOLE.

“He’s a little jaded, I’ll give you that—but after all the joy he’s given us over the years, the least we can do is let him be a human being. ” Yes, let the straight white cis male tell you all how to think, feel, and act. Your hero isn’t a douche, he’s misunderstood. Let him treat you like shit because who else gets that experience?

The world’s biggest rubber-band ball bounced into the horizon like a deer recently freed from captivity. Chapter nine: ‘Cash’ destroys a national landmark for shits and giggles.

The actor excitedly passed out tickets to Topher, Joey, Sam, and the Sacagawea statue—mistaking it for Mo. He’s also a racist. Are we surprised?

Why is he dancing like an epileptic on roller skates? Aaaaand a joke about epilepsy. I’m sure Hannah loves it.

“What did you do? How did you get over it?” Joey said. “One day I woke up and decided I had had enough.” ‘Cash’ cures his crippling agoraphobia by just going outside. Again, fuck you CC. That is not how mental illness works. Do two seconds of research for fucks sake.

“The night we were all watching the season six finale of Wiz Kids at Joey’s house, I was actually supposed to be watching Billy while my mom was at a Bunco party. I gave him some cold medicine so he would sleep and ran home to check on him every commercial break.” Drug your disabled siblings, your friends will think you’re cool and laugh about instead of telling you that you’re an awful fucking person. Which you are.

“Then one day, as I was posting a GIF of a decapitated giraffe on her profile, I learned WizKidLiz01 was a little girl with Down syndrome.” Also on the list of things that make you an awful fucking person… plagiarism or no, don’t do this shit.

“So what’s your real name?” Topher asked. “Now, that you’re not going to believe,” Cash said. “It’s Tom Hanks.”

“They were the most eccentric group of stoners Cash had ever seen and he couldn’t take his eyes off them, like they were the subjects of a fascinating nature documentary.” One character is literally screaming her head off with paranoia and scratching invisible bugs in her skin, but hey, watching teenagers on a drug trip is so interesting!

“I think you’re giving him too much credit,” Cash said. “He’ll be long gone by then.” Oh yeah, ‘Cash’ is extremely preoccupied with death. He frequently says shit like this alluding to it. No-one notices.

“Because if you don’t, I’m going to tell the fangirls about the treatment we’ve received today and unleash them upon your establishment like a plague of locusts! They’ll harass you, humiliate you, and chase your wrinkled, old, racist ass into hiding for the rest of your miserable existence! Do I make myself clear?” Um… what? Why would you even?

“Of course the brakes worked, I was just fucking with you,” Cash said. ‘Cash’ continues to be the absolute worst by making someone think she’s going to die. Of course, she somehow she also doesn’t know that James Dean died in a car accident. Sigh.

“But I think we’d know it if he was mentally unbalanced or an addict of some kind.” YOU ARE EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD AND YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT. YOU LITERALLY JUST DESCRIBED ‘CASH’.

“You lose the right to humanity when you become famous. It’s just the way it is, but I’m not going to whine about it.” Except in this entire book.

“I’m transgender!” Sam declared. “I know what it’s like to have everyone treat you like something you’re not because people have been doing it to me my whole life. I’ve never met someone who could relate—but it’s like everything you just said! We’re both trapped! We’re both prisoners of unfair expectations!” These! things! are! not! comparable! Mostly because ‘Cash’ could leave that life any time, Sam won’t ever stop having to deal with being trans. Shut the fuck up CC. Sam then spends waaaay too much time explaining gender and sexual identity to ‘Cash’ because he’s a complete moron.

Darla spoke with the energy and enthusiasm of a camp counselor on crystal meth. How is this joke in any way appropriate when the main character is clearly a raging drug addict? He’s literally constantly tweaking.

The others stared at Cash in disbelief. It was like a demon living inside of him had taken the reins. Watch as these people we’re supposed to believe all got into prestigious colleges like Colombia and MIT completely fail to recognise the signs of an addict going through withdrawal.

They had never in their lives felt more exposed, more violated, or more gutted. It was as if someone had ripped off all their clothes and chucked their hearts into the depths of the Grand Canyon. ‘Cash’ is so self-obsessed and full of self-pity he decides to out two people in the group and tell another she’s wasting her life just to make them all feel as awful as he does. What a delightful person huh?

“Joey, I have always wanted a gay best friend. I’m not mad because you hid your orientation from me; I’m just upset because of all the Will & Grace opportunities we’ve missed out on.” ARE YOU SHITTING ME?

He was staring at Topher with a weak smile and his eyes were opened just barely enough to see. He clearly knew who Topher was, but Topher couldn’t place him.

“I have glioblastoma,” Cash said. “That’s a fancy stage name for brain cancer.”

I was fine and could easily hide this until a few days ago, but now I’m so weak and frail you don’t even recognise me. Usually Glioblastoma on the brain stem causes symptoms like seizures, confusion, paralysis, vomiting, dizziness, and loss of basic functions, but I’m a special snowflake and get to stay able-bodied and cognisant until the end!

“In April I started getting these really bad migraines,” Cash explained. “A doctor came to the set and recommended I get a scan. We were behind in production so the producers wouldn’t give me time off to get it done.” It’s all Hollywood’s fault he’s dying! Not his for not getting any fucking treatment. And actors can and do take days off for health reasons, that shit is totally allowed.

“Holy shit,” Topher said. “These are all mine.… You’ve saved every letter I ever wrote to you.…” That’s not totally fucking creepy at all, ‘Cash’.

“He’s not a bad person—he’s got brain cancer! That’s why he’s been behaving the way he has!” That makes everything okay! Except not really. Cancer doesn’t give you a free pass to be an asshole. You aren’t making the most of what life you have left, you’re just being a shithead.

“The actor had had so little control over his life, but his death was exactly how he wanted it to be.” Yes, he dies five days later. No-one wondered about his odd behaviour or suspected he might be sick until they visited him in a hospice. These people must be so stupid they can barely function for this to make sense. He’s been dying for months and nobody at all noticed? Bullshit.

“Oh gosh, I’m so nervous to hear how it went! I practically feel like I came out as transgender, too!” NO MORE.

“Not to be a downer, but did anyone watch the footage from Cash’s funeral today?” Mo asked. “Why did they wait a whole month to have it?” Topher asked. “Because it was sponsored by Canon and their new camera comes out this week,” Mo said.

I don’t think companies generally sponsor funerals? Let’s just hope it wasn’t an open casket, that shit would be nasty after a month.

“Fuck off, I’m banging Marilyn Monroe.” No, god no. Please no. Just end this thing now please.

The aspiring writer felt like she and her friends were living a ridiculous happy ending straight from the final page of one of her outlandish stories. Uh…

And a bonus from the author’s note:

However, for the purpose of good storytelling, the characters’ opinions and choices are sometimes flawed. Please do not view their actions as generalizations or examples to follow, but as the mistakes and triumphs of individuals. All of my characters were awful and/or treated like shit by everyone else, but that’s for the sake of the story. It’s not my fault if you act this way and everyone hates you! (And still love me please god I’m so alone...)

#blainematters reacts to terrible shit

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