#it's not even that the 2001 version was bad

[mattivoda]

This post isn’t targeted towards this person in particular but I see this same sort of tiktok come up on my timeline every couple of months and it feels me with a very specific RAGE because of how wrong it is about the core message of this show.

For those who don’t know, the music from the TikTok comes from the musical The Last Five Years, made by Jason Robert Brown. It originally opened in Chicago in 2001, then making its way to Broadway in 2002 after great reviews from critics and audiences.

the elevator pitch of the show is simple; a writer exploding with success (Jamie) and a struggling actress (Kathy) and the rise and fall of their marriage.

Normally this would be a pretty basic musical, right? However the true genius comes from one key part of its storytelling: the order at which the story is shown to you.

Jamie performs his side of the story in chronological order, from the start of the relationship ending with their divorce. Kathy, however, tells her story flipped; starting with their divorce and ending when Kathy first meets Jamie.

The two actors almost never interact on-stage, singing solo songs for every single song except for the act one ending song The Next Ten Minutes, where Jamie proposes and the two marry.

Now you might be asking: why is this important to the story? and which character was supposed to be the “bad guy” in the marriage?

If you delve into the story and look at the way the story depicts both characters’ perspectives on what happened then an obvious fact becomes clear:

Jamie is an asshole and was the main problem in the marriage. You aren’t, and never were supposed to side with him.

Throughout the show, Jamie is shown to be obsessed with his own fame, gloating about how he seems to only be able to exponentially succeed in his writing. His obsession makes him blind to the struggles of his wife, even going as far as deluding himself into thinking his wife’s struggles is simply her being jealous of his success. By the end of the show, Jamie cheats on Kathy and proceeds to blame her for not allowing him privacy.

THAT’S why the storytelling of The Last Five Years is so compelling. By only showing these characters seperate from each other, it forces us to become familiar with Jamie and Kathy as individuals rather than a couple. It allows us to see Jamie’s douchebaggery up-close and personal, with the entire first act highlighting this glaring detail and allowing us to see the consequences of this as his marriage devolve in the second act. Just the simple fact that Jamie’s story is chronological creates a beautiful dichotomy between Kathy’s frustrations, sadness and abandonment and Jamie’s cocky, happy-go-lucky success story.

Before I finish writing this and go to bed, i’d like to say I don’t blame those who hold this view for thinking this about The Last Five Years for one reason only; the only way they got to see it was the movie version.

the film adaption of The Last Five Years (2014) decided that the reason the musical worked was because “interesting timeline go brrr” and decided to keep the original timeline, but instead had both characters constantly interacting.

Instead of having this abstract deconstruction of these two characters, with both Kathy and Jamie monologuing their personal thoughts and emotions separately, they mash together and create this weird, realistic depiction of a breakup. The performances from Anna Kendrick and Jeremy Jordan were amazing, don’t get me wrong, but these choices in the adaption rip the emotion and soul out of its inspiration and sell the corpse for $20 a viewing.

Jamie and Kathy’s marriage is a cautionary tale about what happens when you don’t listen and understand your partner. It is not a desperate attempt of a composer to appear in the right about his marriage and it shouldn’t be a sloppy retelling of a failed marriage with a quirky form of storytelling. Please please PLEASE if you agree with this original TikTok’s message just know you are so UNBELIEVABLY wrong.

tldr; you are not supposed to side with Jamie!!!! he is in the wrong!!!! that’s the whole point of the musical!!!!! don’t watch the movie it sucks and is innacurate!!!!!!! RAHHHHHHHHHHHH

#musicals #broadway #the last five years #anna kendrick #jeremy jordan #jason robert brown #music #theatre #art #essay #relationships #marriage #divorcedlife

[vlsn-the-third]

Atlantis: The Lost Empire – Trial by Fire (2001) developed by Zombie Studios was one of the oddest fps games I ever played. It looks so bad so cheap and lazily made so I wonder why Eurocom's PS1 game wasn't just ported on PC instead of this poor shooter.

I haven't seen this exact game cover when I was a kid I found it on internet only years after. It's rare version of the cover with Milo holding this gun thing. Mostly there's only cover with Milo holding fists instead of this Duke Nukem Milo 😎

Just years after I realized that Milo here literally TF2 Medic before TF2 Medic even appeared, ahah.

Anyway The Lost Empire was a great movie. While there was Zombie Studios game and Eurocom are released the game for PS2 was in development by Ubisoft Canada but cancelled and never released.

#meme #disney #valve #team fortress 2 #tf2 medic #milo thatch #atlantis the lost empire #garry's mod #source engine

[tgmsunmontue]

You need to learn how to fall 1/10

Hangster (and IceMav) - Bradley is too tall to be a naval aviator and instead becomes a sky diver, specialising in spin recovery. He is a civilian contractor to the Airforce and Navy to teach pilots how to survive parachute spins from ejections. A more in-depth version of this.

PROLOGUE

1998

                “Okay buddy, fifteenth birthday! Stand up against the wall. Got to measure you for prosperity!”

                “Can you reach above my head still Mav?”

                “Excuse you! Uh… actually. Ice? You want to… um, do the mark?”

                Tom steps up and he smiles softly at Bradley, sharing the shared smile of being used to humoring Maverick. Bradley is tall, taller than his father by several inches and Tom wonders if he knows.

                “You’re six foot and three inches.”

                “Fuck.”

                “Language,” Tom murmurs quietly, but he’s guessing Bradley does indeed know the height restrictions for naval aviators. Not that it would stop him joining the Navy, but it would stop him from flying. The rate he’s going he’s going to be taller than Tom, is already taller than Mav by several inches.

1999

                “We’re not going to have to tell him no,” Mav says. The ink from the biro marking six foot and six inches would still smudge if they touched it.

                “No, we won’t. You need to reign in your happiness about him not being able to apply though.”

                “At least he knows now, won’t even apply for that programme…”

                “Who knows, not us. And probably not Bradley. He’s just turned sixteen. Let him figure out his own path…”

                “Stay?”

                “You know I can’t…”

                “Can’t or won’t?”

                “Don’t start Mav.”

                “Sure. Okay.”

                “I’ll see you later.”

                “Sure.”

2000

                “How many applications have you made?”

                “Meh, about five. All within state except one. I don’t want to be too far away.”

                “Planes exist you know. What are you thinking?”

                “Something in the sciences. It’s easy.”

                “Okay, you let us know if there’s something you’re interested in though okay?”

                “Sure thing Ice.”

2001

                “You got me a skydive?”

                “Yeah. I thought we could go and do it together!”

                “Oh my god this is so cool! Thanks Mav!”

                “Well, you only turn eighteen once!”

                A few weeks later, standing out on the airstrip Tom looks at the clear blue sky. It is a beautiful day for flying. Flying. Jumping out of planes is another matter.

                “Can I just state for the record that I think this is a bad idea?” Tom asks, peering at the small plane through his aviators. The pilot and jumpers are doing a whole bunch of safety checks and part of him itches to go over and double check everything.

                “Is it so you can tell me you told me so later?”

                “Yes.”

                “Sure. You know it never stops me.”

                “Unfortunately. I’ll see you when you’re finished I guess.”

                He’s officially given up smoking, but he still finds himself sucking at a cigarette, nervous beyond belief that something is going to go wrong.

                Nothing does though, and they land not very far away, driven to where Tom is waiting by the chase vehicle.

                “Fucking hell… that was…” Mav is pale, eye wide and ringed with white.

                “AMAZING! Oh my god, I want to do it again! Can I do it again? Man what a rush!”

                Tom watches Bradley go and talk to the two jumpers and gets a sense of unease. Moves closer to Mav who isn’t shaking but also doesn’t look happy.

                “That was the worst experience of my life. Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly functioning plane?”

                “Was your dumb idea.”

                He isn’t surprised that night when his phone rings in the early hours and he can hear stuttered breathing over the line.

                “Mav? That you?”

                “Yeah. Sorry.”

                “Nightmare?”

                “Yeah.”

                “Goose?”

                “Ha! No… God. I wish. No. Bradley. Him dying. What have I done?”

                Ice lets out a long breath into the silence and lies back in his bed, wishes he could reach out through the phone line and hold Mav close to him.

                “You’ve raised a happy, confident young man. Against all odds, he’s well adjusted.”

                “I think you can take most of the credit for that.”

                “And you need to take credit for his love of sky diving… it’s okay Mav. There are so many safety precautions. You don’t think I looked into it before I let you two go up?”

                “Yeah?’

                “Yeah. We can’t protect him from everything. We’ll deal with it the best we can.”

2002

                “I thought you were doing something chemistry related?” Mav says, looking at the text books Bradley has just dumped on the table. Tom is ordering pizza, only half-listening to the conversation.

                “I was, but I looked into some stuff and I’m going to do physics and human performance science. Maybe some business papers as well.”

                “What are you going to use that for?”

                “Skydiving!” Bradley says, expression clearly informing Mav he thinks he’s an idiot for needing to ask.

                “Uh…”

                “I’m going to become a Skydiving instructor. I need to get my A and B licenses, then an additional hundred jumps. Then I can start coaching alongside other instructors. I need to do another two hundred jumps then, and there’s a list of requirements. There are things like accelerated free fall which looks so cool. Then I have to do a course… I figure I can become a tandem instructor by the time I finish my degree.”

                Tom meets Mav’s eyes across the table and they both keep their mouths shut. He knows he’s not the only one hoping that it’s only a passing phase.

                It doesn’t pass.

2003-2006 - The early years

#IceMav #Top Gun fanfic #Hangster #you need to learn how to fall

[stereor4t]

lesbian movies I've seen so far (review based on my tastes)

I'm going to give my opinion of the lesbian movies I've seen so far and I'm going to give them a score from 1 to 5 stars :3 it may contain some spoilers

Bound(1996)

For the year this movie was made, I was actually surprised by the END of it(fuck the obsession with killing the protagonist). I didn’t really have much faith in it by how it stars, but man, I was so surprised, I loved it, be gay do crime. ★★★★☆

Gia(1998)

God, this movie is my new roman empire, I didn’t know about Gia’s story, but the ending of the movie DESTROYED ME. the scene where shes talking with Linda and she says: now we have all the time in the world, I was so moved by it, I loved it. It’s currently one of my favorite movies.★★★★★

Lost and delirious(2001)

ugh shakespearean shit, this movie touches more than one of us when it comes to the experience of liking girls. I liked it but I felt like there was a lot of wasted potential that could’ve made it great, tbh i just wanted Paulie to be happy; the fact the Piper Perabo is in it helps the score too. ★★★☆☆

D.E.B.S.(2004)

ITS THE BEST FUCKING MOVIE IN THE WORLD, GOD. I actually hated this movie before watching it ‘cause I thought it was some dumb comedy, but god, when I gave it a chance it BLEW ME AWAY. If you want to see some lesbian spies enemies to lovers shit watch debs.  ★★★★★

My summer of love(2004)

Personally, I HATED this movie kjj, I didn’t really get ANYTHING at all, like it felt like everything was just too rushed??? like when did they even fall in love lol? Gets points just for Emily Blunt. ★★☆☆☆

Imagine me & you(2005)

Piper Perabo again and Lena Heady THE WOMAN. This movie is ART, my fav movie, it’s beautiful, comfort movie af. The true don’t let your husband keep you from meeting your future wife. ★★★★★

Loving Annabelle(2006)

This movie was made for all of us who once liked a teacher or profesor. I liked it quite a lot, but I feel like seize it’s true potential. Personally, I choose to think that the alternative ending it’s the true one lol. ★★★☆☆

Bloomington(2010)

Again for us that like fantasizing about our teachers. I like this movie but again, I feel like they didn’t really make the most of it jskdja annoying af bitching about the same but yeah, it bothered me. Anyway, i liked the movie, and I didn’t like the ending at all,I felt bad for the poor teacher :c. ★★★☆☆

A perfect ending(2012)

I know a lot of people hate this movie and think it’s shit, but I personally love it lol. Idk I remember that when I watched it it got me super emotional and i liked it a lot, dont care what anyone says to me it’s a good movie. ★★★☆☆

The girl king(2015)

★☆☆☆☆

Didn’t like it at all, boring af, i didn’t really get it, idk, i was expecting more. ★☆☆☆☆

First girl i loved(2016)

Im fond of this movie, it was one of the first ones I saw, the ending just made a me a bit frustrated, but I liked it, Brianna Hildebrand with a wig funny as hell. ★★★☆☆

Disobedience(2017)

Rachel Weisz and McAdams DAMN. Great movie, I liked it in all aspects. Although the ending wasn’t what I expected I still liked it. ★★★★★

Tell it to the bees(2018)

Mmm I think this movie is kinda meh, like it’s okay but I feel like it lacks something for me to like it, tho I didn’t get the ending, like I don’t understand the decisions each one took. ★★☆☆☆

Ammonite(2020)

Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan!!!! I liked it but I didn’t love it, I never got to understand if Mary hated or loved Charlotte. The ending got me frustrated!!! ★★★☆☆

Crush(2022)

The kind of movie you gotta watch after Gia, I liked it I thought it was silly, like very much teenage romcom sort of shit, like the Kissing Booth but for lesbians. ★★★☆☆

You can live forever(2022)

I think this is a great movie, interesting story, I wasn’t expecting the whole ending sequence, what Marike says to Jamie destroyed me, in my head theyre the young version of the Disobedience ones. ★★★★★

Booksmart(2019)

GREAT MOVIE, very entertaining and funny, I liked it quite a lot, it’s perfect to watch it with friends. Gigi is just like me fr best character ever. ★★★★★

#wlw #sapphic #lesbianism #movies #wlw movies #lgbtq community #lgbtq #queer #queer community #lesbian #woman #booksmart #bound #gia #rachel weisz #rachel mcadams #saoirse ronan #kate winslet #piper perabo #rowan blanchard #angelina jolie #debs 2004

[bestiarium]

The Ale [Bulgarian mythology; Slavic mythology]

Many cultures from around the world have tales of powerful supernatural creatures – be they spirits, deities or monsters – who can create bad weather. In Slavic folklore, this role is taken by the Ala, a type of malevolent meteorological spirits associated with storms, hail and hurricanes. They are found in Serbian, Macedonian and Bulgarian beliefs (in the Bulgarian version, these creatures are called Hali (singular Hala).

Ale are demonic creatures with serpent-like bodies and the head of a horse, though their appearance varies a lot between stories and iterations. They usually have wings, and sometimes three heads or a sword-like tail. The Ale are shapeshifters and can also assume a human form. Sometimes, they become ravens.

Inherently malicious, the Ale are notorious for destroying or stealing crops, uprooting trees and creating powerful storms to devastate orchards. These demons have the ability to transform into a thick fog cloud: when they take this form and descend on farmland, the corn can no longer ripen.

Interestingly, these monsters are said to avoid lakes and rivers. Being inherently solitary creatures, an Ala usually lives alone in a cave and will even defend its habitat if other Ale approach.

When an eclipse happens, it is said that an Ala is trying to devour the sun, as their hunger is insatiable.

Sources: Conrad, J. L., 2001, Male Mythological Beings Among the South Slavs, University of Kansas, SEEFA Journal 4(1), pp. 3-9. Bane, T., 2014, Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures, McFarland, 416 pp. Avilin, T., 2007, Meteor Beliefs Project: East European meteor folk-beliefs, WGN, Journal of the International Meteor Organization, 35:5, p.113-116. (image source: John Wigley on Artstation)

#Slavic mythology #Bulgarian mythology #demons #monsters #mythology #mythical creatures

[linktoo]

Watching Alien 9 - how it's perceived and what it wanted to say

Warnings for themes of abuse and implied sexual assault. 

Two things before I start: I watched the subbed version of this, and also there are only 4 episodes if you want to check it out yourself, it’s very short.  

I started watching Alien 9 basically knowing nothing about it. It's an older anime, released back in 2001 so there isn't much internet discussion about it for each episode. But I remember watching it slowly realizing there’s a lot to unpack here. The art direction is beautiful and the dialogue is actually really strong. I went out of my way to look for analysis I could find on the internet because there was a lot that I couldn’t really put into words… but I very quickly came across an ongoing issue.

I guess this is probably a common problem with a lot of media that came out before the internet became the juggernaut that it has become today. The discussion you tend to find doesn’t seem to be very cleaned up or very nuanced - a lot of it is also probably lost to time with discussion forums and personal websites shutting down. But all I saw were really outdated remarks, like “oh kasumi’s the lolicon" and "this is pedo bait”, etc. It was gross and frustrating. So I wanted to talk about it in-depth.  

The anime is initially presented to be a cute slice-of-life anime. Set in a regular school with a sci-fi twist, it gives off a cheery sweet vibe, but even from the very beginning, there was always such an off vibe to it all. With the music fluctuating between cute and off-kilter and discordant. Every shot feels vaguely oppressive, trying to hide something that should be immediately within your line of sight if you were there yourself. You immediately get a sense that something is wrong. 

Not to mention so many silent shots of this looming, grotesque-looking alien pod that looms over the school with weapons. 

Someone commented that the OST for this anime like “a child with anxiety” which is such a great way to describe it! It’s filled with lots of very juvenile, bouncy tunes (like lots of recorders and kazoos and xylophones and horns), even with motifs that sound similar to nursery rhymes like “Mary Had a Little Lamb” but in a minor key. It gives a very jaunty feeling while distinctly feeling off. I think it also has a very soldierly, elementary school vibe to it - like the sound of a bell and young students chanting together in unison like a military cadence. There are instances of kids singing as a choir, giving a religious, holy aspect to certain tracks. It also mixes in synthy, crazy bonker wet sounding and snappy sound samples for the alien feel of it all. It’s erratic. And it’s so cohesive!! I really don’t know much about music composition, but it’s so distinctive to fit the narrative and themes of the show and I love it. Check it out if you’re interested, it’s so funky: [x]

The show focuses on three 12-year-old girls, being tasked with capturing and subduing aliens  with guns, roller skates, and symbiotic aliens that are attached to their heads and feed on their body fluids. Yeah. That’s a bit overwhelming. 

And Yuri Otani, the main character, gets so much shit for hating it. She was forced into it, in a very isolating method of basically the entire classroom ganging up to all vote for her to join (no one wanted to join themselves). The other two, Kumi and Kasumi, are very competent in their own way, which makes Yuri’s inability to capture these very understandably disturbing, pulsating creatures look foolish in comparison.

She cries. Yuri cries a lot. She’s already had a very overwhelming fear with anything that pertains to aliens and left to her own devices she collapses, faints, shudders, wails, and shuts down throughout the entire show. 

And understandably so, it’s creepy and gross and absolutely horrid! It doesn’t get any better!! But everyone around her acts like fighting these aliens are completely normal. Her peers are passive about her distress. Her one kind classmate friend tells her it’s not that bad because of the emergency perks. The adults around her tell her to just stick it out. The other two peers in the alien fighter club frankly have their own concerns and it’s more than just a bit of a liability that Yuri can barely defend herself at all. 

Yuri in turn struggles with depression every moment she isn’t fighting aliens. She can't get out of bed in the morning. She zones out, at home and at work. It’s very resonant with me, because that kind of depression is debilitating and takes over so much of your life - you’re seen as lazy when really, you quite literally can’t function unless someone firmly and continuously forces you to do something. It’s upsetting to watch. 

There are invasive, sexual overtones to this story. A lot of people have likened it to an allegory of puberty where your body is rapidly changing and just in general everything feels very confusing and upsetting. Being taken advantage of because you aren’t experienced. The danger that these adults put these children in and tell them just to figure it out or basically die trying, is very reminiscent of a lot of real societal pressure for kids to grow up with very little emotional support. To “toughen” them up, because one day they have to face this big scary world alone. It’s uncomfortable and it gets worse as the story progresses. 

I don’t want to get into it too much, but there is an allegorical gang rape scene that occurs to Yuri in episode 2. The Hunt club advisor already recognized that she was struggling with alien capturing and was instructed to feed the aliens alone, without the help of the other two members to keep her safe. There, three boys who willingly attached aliens to their head and have had this odd fixation on Yuri for several days, find her all alone. It’s violent. Their drills are overtly phallic themed. I can’t get over the haunting statement of her friend calling her “miss popular” just a few hours beforehand. Their attention was NEVER wanted and that framing is so unsettling to me, like the way people say women who were sexually assaulted were “asking for it”. It’s one of the most disturbing parts of the whole show.

It’s repulsive what they do to her. And her pain is destructive not to herself, but everyone around her. 

And how she immediately collapses when she sees the one person that has always been the closest thing to emotional support throughout the entire show. 

There are very human moments in the show, when there are people that show signs of affection that they didn’t have to do, but did it because they cared about her and it makes all the difference.

Yuri’s one friend Miyu always waits to walk home with her. The alien capturing duties are very isolating from the rest of the school, and forces Yuri to stay very late after everybody leaves. But Miyu waits long hours, and at the end of the day, excitedly meets up with her. She invites Yuri to go shopping with her. It’s very obvious she looks forward to the time they spend together.

(E.g. Miyu reading the shopping manual, passing a note to Yuri in class, the way she runs up to meet Yuri when she’s free. It’s so sweet.)

You can even see the beams almost being prison bars that Yuri is momentarily free from. She’s the reason why Yuri gets enough courage and resolve to try her best again with alien fighting and bonding with the others of her own accord. It shows a lot about Yuri’s desire to do well with the insane tasks and responsibilities her adults give her, even when no one else notices. 

The other two members of the alien capturing club are Kumi and Kasumi.

And though they help Yuri out, it’s definitely a little of a drag for them. Kumi in particular has this deep rooted anger when Yuri begs for help. Her own situation at home reminds her that she is constantly relied on; to be the good sport, to be the mature one in every situation and make all the decisions for everyone. 

“I don’t feel like being nice. Not anymore.

[...]

You know something? I was the class leader from grade one onward. Being class leader sucks. All you do is look after other people and you even have to be responsible for what they do. I always got stuck doing all the crappy jobs. That's why I have this position now. So nobody can say to me ‘YOU be the leader.’ Back off and take care of your own problems.” - Kumi

You can even see her wardrobe tends to be clothes that make her more mature than she actually is, especially her black turtleneck. But she’s just a kid, too.

And to her, Yuri is another pathetic whiny colleague asking for her help. Again. And she’s tired.

Kasumi's own narrative definitely is its own disturbing, isolated situation. She’s seen to be the least upset out of the three of them in the whole series, always with a level head and a smile on her face. She’s a prodigy, and seemingly enjoys what she does. She loves everything - sports, playing music, scoring high on tests. But you can see how it feels rather empty, how she’s put herself in this situation to constantly affirm to all the adults in her life that she is well adjusted and super talented. I get the feeling she was not given the love and attention really needed as a child, and did everything she could to get some form of acknowledgement. Notably, her big brother who is noticeably absent the entire time. For… disturbingly what was implicated to be because of incest and grooming. She never quite recovers from the yellowknife alien taking advantage of her unhealthy dependency on him, as they weren’t able to save her before it symbiotically fused with her.

It's not until the traumatic incident Yuri goes through that it’s revealed that the three of them are emotionally bound and feel Yuri’s distress as if it's their own. It’s startling, like they realize that they all experienced that same terror individually, but Yuri’s is much more paralyzing. And understanding that distress, they become particularly protective about her. They only have each other that can ever fully understand what they’re going through at the moment. A classmate couldn’t ever really see that, and Kumi and Kasumi become the people in Yuri’s life that truly empathize with the situation.

and with all of them, Yuri SHINES.

Every time there is a kindness that someone extends to her, her eyes light up. She goes quiet and says, “I think I can stick this out, I think I can keep fighting for a little while longer” and god honestly it makes me feel so weepy. Being shown even one ounce of love, one little action that says “I want you to be here with me,” it gives so much weight to her as a person, someone that keeps her being like. I don’t know! Just a little kid!! Doing random kid stuff!!! It’s genuinely healing and the things they do to coax her out of her shell just a little bit brings levity of the show and moments that she can feel safe again.

You also really get to see as she’s encouraged to get over her fears on a much lower level of danger (swimming in an ocean, running through a “haunted” shrine) with her friends. Even when she’s heavily reminded of her traumatic experiences, she can always run away, back to her friends' arms. 

Notice I didn’t point out her advisor leading the alien capturing duties, because she obviously has no real care towards these kids. It’s honestly a little insidious, because every adult Yuri comes in contact with is female, and have this like, motherly/teacher tone that can SOUND nice and polite, but it’s cold. It’s distant. The three go through harrowing experiences and all the advisor can focus on is her job, and what it means for her. Just that it’s just a nuisance to her. 

“This is strange. I didn’t ask for this. I wonder if it got here by attaching itself to a spaceship. I haven’t even finished checking everyone’s summer homework. This is the last thing I needed!”

Obviously, that doesn’t even begin to talk about how she and the other adults are not transparent at all and have hidden intentions for the girls.

And I want to get into that as a narrative with the discussion online, because holy FUCK. 

It’s time to talk about the obvious Neon Genesis Evangelion (NGE) inspiration that touches the show, from the stark compositions and beautiful animation and notably, how the main character is struggling with depression and the overwhelming responsibility that’s piled onto him. It’s honestly such an interesting comparison to me especially since the two main characters are in starkly different (yet overwhelming) situations. While Shinji is a 16-year-old boy, Yuri is a 12-year-old girl and their societal expectations based on each identity sets them apart. 

Everyone really loves to compare Shinji and Yuri, even going so far as to say “Alien 9 is basically just NGE.” God. That’s a bit reductive of a comparison. You can see the way they talk about both of them, how useless and crybaby and whiny they both are perceived to be by this audience. 

They call Yuri “bitchy”, they call her “useless crybaby”, they call her stupid and moronic, but most importantly, they say she has 0 character development throughout the entire show. I want to take a second to process that, because trauma does NOT equal character development. 

And finally, I want to talk about one of the most casually unsettling parts of the show for me, personally:

Yuri’s teacher notices that she’s distracted and detached. She can’t focus on school. And her assumption?

That she’s thinking about summer vacation. And then, in the very next scene, Yuri asks to quit the alien capturing duties because she can’t take it anymore - and the teacher says THIS.

The hypocrisy and apathy in these two scenes. The way adults pretend they care but also assume every sign of distress means you're just lazy. It’s heartwrenching. Which one is it? Stop relaxing, or don’t be so uptight? It’s maddening to me. To change the narrative to suit your own assumptions about this child because really, Yuri doesn’t have a choice in the matter. And she continues to collapse under the weight of these responsibilities, and continue to be locked into something that she is completely incapable of handling. 

Yuri is so overwhelmed all she can do is shut down and cry and everyone just tells her to get over it like one day she'll snap and do her job no problem like she's not going through the most harrowing shit no one should ever go through ever in their lives. And she ends up screwing up more and more because they keep withdrawing all support to "toughen her up". They NEVER take her seriously, they never let her breathe because she's just a little crybaby girl who doesn't know what's best for her and it just keeps getting worse.

And that’s what is so haunting to me, to see such a common response from the audience watching this same show, to sound exactly like these adults. To take away from the show that Yuri is useless and bratty and should have snapped and fought back at one point, like a main protagonist in a hero’s journey converting their trauma into a badass version of themselves or something. I don’t know, there’s something to be said about how these tone deaf reviews were written and discussed by cis men, while one of the few blog posts I actually liked about Alien 9 was posted in 2021 by two women. There’s a bit of a whiplash to how people received this show on the internet based on who was watching and when.

Anyway, there’s still way more to unpack in terms of the other characters in the show, but I’ll leave it here. Alien 9 in all of its flaws and open-ended questions deserves to be engaged head on. It has its flaws and due to cancellation and budget cuts, was forced to leave on a cliffhanger on its fourth and final episode. A lot was left open. 

But it had a very particular set tone from the beginning, and there was a lot of deliberate intention behind their creative decisions. I’m tired of seeing people say “it’s sooo weird” and “they didn’t know what they were doing” for discussion. It’s definitely a show I keep thinking about on and off again.

#alien 9 #Yuri Otani #Kumi Kawamura #Kasumi Tomine #tw abuse #tw implied sa #tw assault #Linktoo rambles #I finally finished writing this #sorry it's so long... I hope someone enjoys reading this #I love alien 9 I listen to the ost while I'm working

[acewitch-writes]

Hello! I recently found your account, and I went on scrolling down and down...and now I hope you know how grateful I am. Thank u- Merci. About 90% of the content you share here has made me feel so much better. I realllyy hope wonderful things happen for you. I've been a fan of hp since 2001, but I'm not really a social media person so I haven't been active in the fandom. I had no idea what was happening here until recently..two months ago to be exact (other details are not important) and omg.. I ended up in a discussion with some I think, new fans. tbh I thought, "Great! I'm good at this, I read all the books more than once Let's talk :)"  and omg their very first question was "What do you think about Regulus?"

I was like, "Who?" *dying from secondhand embarrassment bc It turns out I'm not that good at this

but as the discussion continued, I became more and more baffled bc "Why was everyone talking about Barty, Evan, and Regulus? who is daddy Remu? and what do you mean people ship James Potter with R.A.B.? What?"

I swear for a moment I thought "Did the writer publish a new book? Did I miss something? " tbh, I respect everyone's opinion it's none of my business but I'm still shocked. The only thing that bothers me is everything that happened with this new Wolfsar

omg, for most fans around my age (or at least people I know), Sirius was the complete portrayal of a bad boy- a rebel, with boots, tattoos, a leather jacket, and a fucking motorcycle. so this new Sirius is like a stranger to me, and that's okay. Mein issue is kinda with this new Remus T T my beloved .

They (the fans I was talking with) told me Remus is "tall, so handsome, SO strong, and hot-headed person because,  yk he's a werewolf." I was like "hot headed? excuse me?" I tried to explain to them that Remus being a werewolf is a metaphor for illnesses like HIV, it's not some superpowery gift.  they didn't believe me, but then they literally looked me in the face and said, "Then why would Sirius like someone like him? He's poor, short, and ugly." I swear I wanted to cry right then and there.

What is this mindset that makes some people think that a person should be, Idk, hot and flawless to deserve to be loved? Yes I don't think Remus is tall and super hot and perfect and isn't it fine? and I am 100% sure he's so beautiful. not like Sirius ofc but he has this "warm, cozy, and soft" sort of beauty. and I don't think he was a coward (ok maybe he was a liitle) but I guess it's easier for us, humans, to take the worst or weakest moment of a character and amplify it until it defines them entirely. and omg I'm so sorry for my rant and my bad english. but once again thank you for your beautiful soul <3 thank you

Hi anon! I, too, am baffled by the recent obsession with Regulus in this fandom. I think Jegulus is fine as a crack ship, but it has become so mainstream that many fans have just gone ahead and canonized it to the point that you'll be vilified for not accepting it as canon. I underestimated how popular the "best friend's brother" trope was, apparently. I also think it appeals to many fans as a Marauders Era version of one of the most popular ships of all time, Drarry.

This new version of Wolfstar is my biggest complaint with today's fandom, too! I get that the Marauders have very limited canon information and therefore we have more creative freedom to flesh them out, but I really believe that it has gone way too far. Sirius and Remus in today's fandom don't bear any resemblance to the characters they're based on. Remus is just a generic alpha werewolf OC and Sirius is his generic himbo femboy love interest OC. They don't even share a physical description with their Canon counterparts, and their personalities and character traits are so far removed that I can't even fathom how we reached this point as a fandom. How can you claim to like these characters if you have to change everything the source material says about them?

You're English is great, by the way! I completely agree that Remus has a cozy-and-warm sort of beauty. He made a point to distance himself from the stigma surrounding Lycanthropy because it was the focal point of his shame and self-loathing. And I just adore Wolfstar's dynamic from this lens, with the intimidatingly beautiful, confident, headstrong Sirius Black, who could have his pick of anyone he wants, choosing this ordinary guy because he's cozy and soft and it's exactly what Sirius wants after surviving the harsh ideals and abuse of House Black.

[citrusotakutea]

Hey op just curious what makes you hate the new Hellsing fanbase. As a fellow Hellsing fan I was wondering if I’ve completely missed something strange going on lately.

The new Hellsing fandom honestly irks me because of the surface level probing of the source material*. Yes, to most it's a hard core, dark, violent, mad and bad-ass anime but, like I've said so often, for so long on this dumb blog, it has the BEST female characters I've ever seen, recently rivaled by Arcane. Incredible depiction of platonic relationships and morally grey characters. To me, it's primarily a found family story, among other things.

The side characters are incredible, Yumi and Heinkel are the most underrated of the show. I mean come on priest and nun lesbians (lesbian used liberally). Heinkel is confirmed by the author to be an INTERSEX HUMAN. Alucard shapeshifts into a female (which, looking at the Devilman fandom, everyone took for an obvious trans metaphor, why not here?). The source material is as homoerotic as it can get between a lot of the characters (the tension between Sir Integra and Seras during the blood scene). Let's not forget Rip van Winkle, Pip, Walter, and Alexander. Alucard's teasing, Seras' naivety and subsequent maturity, Pip's endurance and playful wittiness. These characters and relationships are stuck in my head forever, they're all incredibly unique, fleshed out and worth remembering, no matter how short a time they spent on screen. And the character designs? As a long-time vampyr and catholic guilt fan, can I just say. Rawr. This show shaped how I dress like irl and my own shitty characters, as well.

Sir Integra is my favorite character of the show and one of all time. Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. Like, an actually good depiction of a no-nonsense, androgynous as hell, unabashedly commanding (dare I say) woman? And it's played completely straight? No "Whaaa that's a woman?" every 2 seconds or "heh, you will listen to me despite my womanhood" from her. Powerful in her own right despite being the few "magic"-less humans of the series. 0 sexualized Ultimate scenes (sorry Seras and the "hot down there" comment doesn't count, that was banter). She was fucking knighted by the Queen of England before she was even 25, hence Sir Integra. Canonically bi-racial and South-Asian. I'm not even going to go into her character's willpower and values but. Hellloooo??? 

Not to mention, something noteworthy about the series, but Hellsing works because Hirano made time for silly moments. I mean, hell, one of the scenes I remember most vivdly was the gag of Heinkel lighting Sir Integra's cigar and being mega-pissed about it during the final battle, it's funny yet in character, despite many fans saying the humor throws you out of the "reality" of the show.

Oh no, but what do the new fandom gremlins talk about? "Alufart rails Y/A" "OMG VLADCARD'S BARA HAIRY TIDDIES I WANNA RUB MY FACE AGAINST THEM" (you know who you are) “I drew the most fucked up version of Alucard I could think of in my twisted mind”

and my personal "favorite":

"omg 🥺 what if intewa and alucard kisswdd", it's almost as bad as Seras x Alucard.

Unfortunately, I am a part of the ship police, so I'm gonna say right now that these two are my most hated ships:

1) Sir Integra and Alucard's relationship goes beyond romance to me. Since none of the new fans know the lore, Sir Integra is and will die a virgin (canon), it's literally plot relevant because by having sex, if she gets bit she will become a zombie slave (obvious but apparently needed to be said) and, taking a note from the 2001 anime, gone is any chance to continue the Hellsing mission. If she was bitten, plot armor aside, she'd have to off herself instead of becoming a vampire. (and for you freaks out there/pos, dare I say… ace representation? you can argue about desire and subtext later)

2) Seras and Alucard's relationship was specifically noted by the author to be a father/daughter dynamic, which is kind of obvious in the show. Like I said, fundamentally a found family series. Yeah, you don't need to treat found family like family family but I gen can't stand this ship.

I know that people will ship characters who've never been in a room together before. I can't stop people from shipping them and these two ships have ALWAYS been popular in the fandom. I typically ignore this and, yes, "don't like, don't interact" is my main rule. However, new fans ONLY talk about this stuff. None of the rest of the show seems to matter, just Alucard's hairy mustached tig bitties and him fucking one of the two women in the main cast. Or someone's self insert.

((tangent but personally my favorite ships are Alexander x Alucard (obviously in an enemies to enemies way), Heinkel x Yumi, and a romance only Seras x s.Integra. Like, you want old women yuri??? There ya go! They were in a mansion for like 30 years (I forgot) together, probably going missions alone and sharing their grief over Alucard and their unique experience/history. Like I said, I can't help who people ship, I'm not trying to say the source material is in favor of my ships or "how dare people interpret these obviously gay characters as straight". like no, that's not why I'm upset and ik alucard and alexander weren't yaoi-ing it up but like. alucard and s.integra shippers dni /j))

Not to mention, I couldn't help but notice, despite this information being readily available to my middle school self, no one knows the fckn lore or background of this show?? I honest to god saw someone comment that Hellsing Ultimate™ was a bad “remake” because it diverged from the original anime.

Here's SOME fun facts:

-the 2001 version of the show has a different ending than the manga because it wasn't finished yet (duh). Hellsing Ultimate is "soooo short" because production took almost a decade and it was trying to be a faithful, well-animated (that takes time bruv) adaptation. Oh, and a bunch of directional changes that I won't get into.

-there are multiple OVAs following Walter's youth in WW2 (Hellsing: The Dawn). Young Walter's design honestly was one of my favorites from the series so. Walter enjoyers. Check it out.

-there is a bonus book explaining a lot about the characters and process of creating Hellsing written by Hirano himself. whenever I got a hold of it, though (8+ years ago) there was no English translation.

-Alucard didn't just transform into a girl that one time, he was in his girl form the entire time during WW2 (hence why when people mention his possible affair with the Queen it might've been a sapphic thing but I think that mostly stems from the abridged series. the queen thing not the girl thing)

-Hirano used to be a Hentai mangaka and actually designed many of Hellsing's characters in said hentai or in short stories (such as Crossfire, it's basically extra, non-canonical Hellsing content) beforehand. Which, this used to be the most popular "fun fact" but has been lost to the sands of time now, so prepare for a lot of people rediscovering this.

-personal lore is I almost named myself Rip van Winkle bc of this show (quirked up Portal, Grell Sutcliff, queer-coded, rifle-wielding shawty)

Anyway, to sum it up, I hate when people don't interpret characters in the same way I do. Yes, I am a bad “fandom elder”, idgaf I am fundamentally a hater.

*I keep seeing this happen with old shows that resurface. Unlike newer or more popular shows where every scene gets scoured, characters who showed up for one scene get analyzed, and endless cafe AUs are made- older shows mostly get fan art of the main charas and the ships of the two hottest characters and that's it. Discussion of lore and themes are completely off the table. So I'm not surprised, just disappointed.

#long post #hellsing ultimate #hellsing #alucard #integra hellsing #seras victoria #et al #yeah i just get this way about media i've fundamentally tied to my person because I watched it as a kid and hyperfixated on it my bad #hellsing ova #lore dump #anyways rant over #sir integra #me #run on sentences aren't real #I heart hating #goddamn protestants #intersex #aromantic #gay people #queer coding #idk tags #did I mention it was a long rant post #oh and if I see “is Integra a woman” one more time... #edit for typo #oh and #lesbian #found family #enjoyers watch this show except don't if youre gonna be annoying about it

[justaboutdead]

House of Leaves, 2001, and Daisy Bell (and why its not creepy)

(Fairly minor) Spoilers for House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski and 2001: a Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick

About 500 pages into House of Leaves, Will Navidson begins falling. Alone in the twisting labyrinthine corridors of the House, he is alone, out of supplies, by all metrics thoroughly and definitively defeated. The floor suddenly disappears beneath him and he begins to fall. And there it is, vertically stark against the white page, as many lines are in this section, falling just as he is.

“Daisy. Daisy. Daisy. Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I’m half crazy over the love of you. That’s not right.”

Daisy Bell was written in 1892 by composer Frank Dean under the pen name Harry Dacre. A relatively prolific composer at the time, he is thought to have written the song about Daisy Greville, the Countess of Warwick at the time, although evidence for this factoid is sketch at best, and the lyrics directly contradict this reading.

Daisy Bell is a very simple romance song that tells a very endearing story of a young couple’s romance, being unable to afford much more than the eponymous “bicycle built for two.” There’s also an often ignored line about how they will both “despise Policemen and lamps as well.” Even from a modern perspective this song feels really intimate and cute, expressing joy despite poverty, in the policemen line even expressing disgust at cops and urbanization without care for the environment.

Through a variety of circumstances, Daisy Bell, despite this global appeal, has become primarily associated with advances in computing, being the first song to be synthesized by a computer in 1961 on an IBM 7094, and references to this development persist.

The resilience of references to this accomplishment are remarkably popular, primarily due to Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: a Space Odyssey in which the computer HAL 9000 sings the opening lines of the song as he is deactivated, calling back to the IBM demo, which Clarke himself had witnessed.

This rendition, and the original synthesized rendition are often described as creepy and off putting, but I find them strangely endearing. The original version represents a massive leap in computing, its few seconds of audio, and is extremely imperfect. The choice of Daisy Bell, and simple live song from a hundred years ago also helps to humanize the voice singing it. HAL 9000’s rendition is pained, sung as he looses his memory and cognitive functions in what feels like an eternity, in both novel and film. HAL 9000 is a painfully sympathetic character for me. While in the film his intentions remain fairly ambiguous, in the novel they come from a conflict in his instructions, and how he chooses to navigate around those instructions, interpreting them extremely literally being a computer.

It is clear that the intention with the character was to present an uncanny valley human-like consciousness, but honestly a lot of the time it just reads like he’s on the spectrum. He speaks extremely deliberately with awkward pacing. He reflects, in many ways my own anxieties about being excluded, as-well as a very human survival instinct. He is a bad liar, and extremely trepidatious about the task he believes he has to do. He reads in many ways as I would expect a human to in a position of such intense responsibility.

Thus HAL 9000’s final song to me Isn’t creepy, its confirmation of just how human he is. It is, distinctly, something he asks to sing, he almost reads as excited to show it off. It is fitting that the last song he sings is the first song a computer ever sung. I care way more about HAL than I do any of the other characters in the movie, despite his atrocious actions. In many ways he seems the most human, and I think that was part of the point.

My favorite rendition of the song comes from this popular lineage of synthesized version. Tamachang’s Daisy Bell from Future Music With Future VOICES is hauntingly beautiful. Composed of three synthesized voices, that of IBM 7094, Vocoder, and Vocaloid 4 Cyber Diva, as a fusion of old and new, it’s genuinely a really beautiful piece. Each voice has its own unique qualities, all of which lend the song distinctly different emotion.

The narrative I like to imagine is one i have seen dozens of comments on the song mentioning, and stems from the fact that Cyber Diva sounds far more youthful than the other two. In this framing, it is a newer computer saying goodbye to her old relatives as they die, via singing an extremely human cheesy love-song with them. All of these narratives around computers and Daisy Bell are a byproduct of our tendency to over-anthropomorphize computers.

House of Leaves, on the other hand, seeks to draw on themes completely unrelated to the long lineage of robotic Daisy Bells. My first thought when I saw the line in the novel, was of Navidson’s daughter, Daisy. I could see this having been a lullaby, sung to her as he put her to bed. I do not believe this reading to be the most compelling, however. The novel does not spend much time on Navidson’s children.

An often cited fact about the novel, and the Navidson record in particular is that its actually primarily a love story. I believe this to be a far more compelling understanding of the song’s conclusion. Will and Karen Navidson have been through hell together, and this song, sung when things seem darkest, as Navidson falls, as we latter understand, towards his wife, is the subtle confirmation, that despite everything they’ve been through, they will be ok.

House of Leaves, in general, is about, on some level, love (not just romantic) in the face of adversity, both through the lens of the Navidsons troubled reparation of their relationship, as well as Johnny’s slow collapse and our eventual understanding of his past. Daisy Bell is a perfect expression of the realization of these themes. That love can persist even when circumstances seem dire, and can in fact help you through those circumstances. A relatively simple message, but with many complexities

Thank you for entertaining my over-analysis :)

Fav Daisy Bell:

Original synthesized Daisy Bell:

Daisy Bell Hall 9000:

#house of leaves #2001 a space odyssey #literary analysis #book recommendations #daisy bell #vocaloid #ibm #ibm 7094 #Hal 9000 #will navidson #karen navidson #stanley kubrick #arthur c. clarke #mark z danielewski #cyber diva #vocaloid 4 #vocoder #Youtube

[where-them-kinomiya-at]

G-Revolution Rant

If you’re a huge fan of g-revolution, I’d suggest you don’t read this post because in no way do I have any intentions of offending any fans. This is basically a critique.

I was thinking a lot about this today and I had to vent a little. I’m only going to list one of the very many problems I have with g-rev ore else it’s going be a long ass list.

Alright let’s begin. So apart from the two major problems of:

1) the awful dub censorship (trust me, the previous two seasons did not nearly have a censorship this bad)

and

2) the nerfing of every character (+a million other stuff),

I have another issue with this season regarding the entire concept of Tyson being the ‘world champ’. As someone who’s favourite is Tyson, this shouldn’t offend any of his fans because this is entirely the fault of the PLOT and has nothing to do with his overall character.

G-Revolution gives us this awful perception of Tyson being the exclusive ‘world champ’ when he’s literally not. If they changed that concept to him being something like the ‘strongest rival/ ultimate rival’ etc, it would’ve made everything so much better.

When Tyson is confronting Ray and Max about leaving the team, he says something like ‘I’ve won the championships twice in a row and now you want your turn’. I hoped that the Japanese version would have a different dialogue but that wasn’t the case.

I think the creators forgot that both Max and Tyson were tag-team champions last year. Sure, Max’s performance wasn’t that good in the 2002 finals, but that does not exclusively make Tyson the ‘world champ’. Also what about Ray? The creators forgot how essential Ray’s victory against Bryan was in the 2001 finals.

Ray and Tyson were the ones who brought the victory to the team, but it’s not like they both were exclusively the world champs. V-Force did not do this bullshit of only Tyson being the world champ. In that season, each and every one of the BBA team faced the pressure of being the world champions. But G-Revolution ruined this entirely.

Episodes 20 and 21 of G-Revolution focus on Tyson’s pressure of being a ‘world champion’ which in my opinion should have been changed to something like ‘the pressure of being an overly STRONG opponent’. That’s what V-Force was about, where everyone was in desire of the power of the BBA team and they ALL faced the some or the other pressure in different ways. An example for Tyson:

This example speaking about Tyson’s insecurities was a much better one that what G-Revolution used.

In the dubbed version of the 25th episode of G-Revolution, Max says, ‘You’ve always underestimated me Tyson and now you’re going to pay the price for that.’ On one hand it sounds believable but then you realize that Tyson was literally the biggest supporter of Max in V-Force and even yelled at Ray and Kai for doubting him once. Ultimately, it’s the audience that underestimates him and the show itself makes Max look like a weak link when he really isn’t. I believe there was no such dialogue in the original Japanese version, but it’s kinda obvious that Tyson slightly underestimated him before and during the match when compared to Ray and Kai. Or perhaps it might have looked like that because Tyson had no particular beef with Max like he did with Ray and Kai, so the friendliness might have appeared like underestimation.

This one particularly had nothing to do with that concept but I just wanted to put it in there, because Max’s contributions last year were completely neglected and there was a major downfall in Max and Tyson’s friendship. It saddens me how the friendship went down the drain but it was bound to happen, given that it’s nothing but the repercussions of the world championships. I hope they we got to see more of the them in the second half but it just wasn’t enough.

This is the best way I could put my finger on the issue because my brain seriously malfunctions and I cannot focus on one thing at a time so I hope it all made sense.

#tyson granger #takao kinomiya #ray kon #rei kon #max tate #max mizuhara #beyblade g revolution #bakuten shoot beyblade

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #2949: Espeon (Neo Discovery #1)

The first Espeon card was all about match-ups. Psychic Resistances were certainly out there, and there were also some Pokemon that didn't require much Energy to attack, which Espeon didn't hit as hard. There were also plenty of Pokemon that required at least 3 Energy, where Psychic would be doing good damage, and while Psychic wasn't the most common Weakness it was certainly out there. Espeon was something that obviously needed a partner to work. It also had a lot of potential to pull its weight against some important Pokemon.

80 HP was in an interesting spot. The number was high enough to force some strong hits to actually get a clean KO, and a lot of opponents were going to have to take a second turn. This even included Dark Gengar despite the Psychic Weakness. Giving Dark Gengar a damage boost was likely the main issue with the Weakness outside of other Espeon, whether a mirror or the Aquapolis version in Neo-On. Espeon was very lucky to be able to retreat for free. While this was probably the era with the most free Retreat Costs, it was nice to have an attacker that was also able to do so as it meant that Baby Pokemon weren't the only pivots.

Bite was just 20 damage for 2 Colorless Energy. It was something, but rather weak and not why you'd be using this.

Psychic was the better attack. It did require 2 Psychic and a Colorless Energy and there wasn't a good way to accelerate here, so like quite a few other decks of the era you had to manually charge it up. 30 damage was a really weak base power for that even in 2001. Psychic was good in some games, however, as 10 more damage was added for each Energy card attached to the Defending Pokemon. This was generally enough to take half the HP off a Feraligatr, KO a Crobat on its Weakness, and generally do a big chunk to anything that needed to charge up like Espeon itself did. Against things like Kingdra or Murkrow, however, the attack was really underwhelming and you'd often just be stuck there.

Espeon was a nice way to handle things like Crobat and Giovanni's Machamp while at least being able to pitch in against the likes of Feraligatr. The issues with Kingdra, Magcargo, and Darkness-types meant that it had to be paired with something else to work, and people had success back then with partners such as Umbreon and even Kingdra itself. It also did a good chunk, though missed a KO, on the popular Slowking. In modern Rocket-On and Neo-On, Espeon is used a good bit less. The rise of non-Slowking disruptive decks hasn't helped Espeon at all, as the odds of having a bad match-up have gone up. In any situation, having the nice hit on Crobat and taking 60 off a Feraligatr was still a real role to consider, whether then or now, as long as you kept its limitations in mind.

#pokemon #pokemon tcg #card of the day #espeon #neo discovery

[quetzalpapalotl]

hi im new to the transformers fandom. i watched half of season 1 of tfa and all of earthspark and Thats It. do u think im qualified to read eugenesis??? or unqualified? or whatever will be more fun?

I mean, I can't tell you whether you're qualified or not to read a fanfic, but I can give you some context so you can decide if you want to:

Eugenesis is a fanfic written by James Roberts (JRo) who would later go to write the fan-favorite comic More Than Meets the Eye in 2012, which is set in the IDW1/IDW 2005 continuity (more info on that here).

Eugenesis was published in 2001 (being a remix of an earlier, incomplete fanfic also by Roberts) when JRo was part of Transmasters UK (TMUK). A group of fans that would distribute zines, organize cons and collectively write their own fanfic continuity based on the Marvel UK comics (the UK version being different from the US version of the comics, more info on that here)

So, ideally, to read Eugenesis with full context, one would need to have read Marvel UK and the previous TMUK stories. You can find the first online, but a great part of the later has been lost to time. @polyhexian is currently working on an archive of TMUK stuff. Luckily, you can make do without any of these (like I did at the time), because Eugenesis comes with a helpful continuity notes guide whihc you can download here, along with the main text.

I would greatly advice to anyone to read that first, even if you have read Marvel UK, because it also covers TMUK stuff. Eugenesis is still going to be a tad confusing at times, but it'll make things so much easier to understand.

As for my personal recommendation, is Eugenesis good? Is it bad? Well, it is an experience, for sure, I'm obsessed with it. I adore how depressing it is, how it has some of the most touching lines I've read followed by the weirdest description choices and oh boy, does the prose drag at times. It's an amateur work in a way that makes it very raw and I love it, it truly is born out of love.

It has value as a piece of fandom history and as a fan of Robert's later work in Transformers. A lot of concepts that JRo introduces in his comics first appear here, and it's interesting to see his influences and the way his prose has evolved.

Now, this is very important, the way the fandom talks about Eugenesis it's as something very silly, JRo writing a fic for his mechpreg kink. And yeah, I also do that because a lot of the stuff in this is premium material for shitposting. But this is NOT something that's worth reading just for the lolz.

Eugenesis is a very depressing read with a lot of potentially triggering material. Including lots of robot body horror and death, some detailed, some just mentioned in passing. Also suicide, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. One part goes into detail about a character's mental state before taking their own life, including allucinations, but no one here is ina good mental place. There are also death camps, with torture depersonalization and detailed inhumane treatment. This is holocaust with robots. One chapter is literally titled "The Anti Holocaust". It does throw you bones at the end, but at it's core is a book about futility.

Depending on what you can stomatch, it may not actually be that bad, some even wish it was worse. But I don't know you, so I want to give you a fair warning, and I repeat, it is not worth reading just for a laugh.

Sorry for all that infodump. You may do whatever you want with this information. I hope it helps and feel free to ask any more questions!

#eugenesis #quetzal rambles tf

[nitewrighter]

While we're on the subject of Harry Potter fuckery, there's a memory that recently popped up for me.

So like... in 2001 the first Harry Potter movie was coming out, and like, even before the movie was in production there was actually a lot of Harry Potter merchandise--a lot more than pretty much any other kid's fiction you might find-- but the movie allowed the merch market to really explode with all of these promotional materials. Among them was Jelly Belly releasing Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. And like, you know anyone who read the book or saw the movies can tell you there was this running gag about "They mean every flavor! Some flavors are earwax or vomit or boogers!" And like, in the book, those flavors were supposed to be very rare and you had to be incredibly unlucky to get one--this was not the approach Jelly Belly took. Jelly Belly made a point of including earwax, vomit, grass, skunk spray, and booger flavors among the butterscotch and strawberry and green apple. Like any Jelly Belly box, they had the little flavor guide for the different beans, so you would actually know full well when you were biting into a nasty one. So being kids, and being as obsessed with Harry Potter as a 90's kid might be in 2001, we got our hands on a box.

So like, normally when you eat a jelly bean that's a flavor you don't like, you just go "Ugh, buttered popcorn" or "ugh, black licorice" and move on. This was not the case with Bertie Botts. After eliminating all of the reasonable flavors the consumption of the candy soon turned to a morbid ritual where we would dare each other to eat the nasty flavors. Grass wasn't so bad, but vomit and earwax would literally have you running to the bathroom to spit them out into the toilet.

I just remember my dad looking on with disturbance edging into mild horror as my brothers and cousins and I dared each other to eat the terrible beans and would promptly sprint to the bathroom to spit them out in the toilet and desperately try to wash the flavors from our mouths from the sink faucet. Despite being a teacher, and very passionate about kids reading, my dad never got into the Harry Potter craze ("He doesn't do anything, he just reacts to things happening to him" my dad would always say) and like, it got to the point where he said, "Why would they even put those flavors in there?"

And we were like "Dad, it's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans."

And he's like, "Okay, but don't have to eat them if they're that bad."

And we were like "Ugh, Dad, you don't get it, it's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour beans and we're wizards."

I wrote recently on re-watching The Chamber of Secrets and being surprised at all the "sucks to your ass-mar" casual cruelty of the kids in that movie. And like looking back, it is crazy to see a younger version of yourself eating this nasty thing, and inflicting the nasty thing on your siblings and cousins just for the sake of feeling closer to a fictional world. I dunno, watching all the Kotaku article writers and streamers try to justify themselves for playing a game that has a super antisemitic plot and actively lines the pockets of a hateful transphobe, on some level I kind of feel what my dad felt... watching his kids eat vomit-flavored beans.

[klonoa-at-blog]

From: Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil Official Guide Book (Published by Famitsu/Enterbrain - 2001) (Pg. 201)  

~Messages from the Klonoa 2 Staff~ Lastly, we would like to show you messages from those who were involved in the development of Klonoa 2 to the public. You'll find hard work, inside stories, and a few positive ones(?!) here and there! ......So, thank you all for your hard work!

Yoshihiko Arawi Profile: ● Age: 31 years old ● Blood Type: AB ● Responsibilities: Graphics director, character design, scenario, direction, etc. (Art Director, Lead Character Artist, Screenplay) ● Comments: This was the result of our staff’s blood, sweat, tears, and many other efforts. I am proud to say that we have been able to provide deep gameplay that stimulates the imagination through hidden elements and underlying themes, character movements, and the thoughts entrusted to the background world. We hope you enjoy the game in a natural way, without worrying about such things. First and foremost, have a pleasant adventure in this world! ● Favorite characters: The more I struggled, the more I love and hate Klonoa (laugh). In terms of design, Tat and Spooky Moo are the most like me.

Mika Tominaga Profile: ● Age: Secret ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Chief of the background team (Background design and production) ● Comments: Tranquility, joy, discord, indecision, and sorrow. Each kingdom of Lunatea is based on human emotions. We prepared the stage for Klonoa, a place where people can be at peace, have fun, be angry, be troubled, be sad, accept these emotions, and grow up. I would like to thank the background staff, the Klonoa team, and all the players who played the game with us. Thank you! ● Favorite character: Joila, the idol of Joilant Fun Park.

Manabu Okano Profile: ● Age: 29 years old ● Blood Type: Unknown  ● Responsibilities: 3D character model chief, character lighting, etc. ● Comments: Enjoy the dynamic movements of the characters and their emotional portrayals. ● Favorite character: King of Sorrow

Naoko Ishizu Profile: ● Age: ? years old ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Leorina and puppets in general (Character Animation, Lead Puppet Display Scriptor) ● Comments: I am very attached to Leorina because it was the first time for me to create a model, and I had a lot of hard work to do. When deciding on the camera angle for the puppets, I thought, “It would be cooler to shoot from below to make her look more intimating.” I tried to create impactful atmosphere for Leorina, even though she did not appear in the game very often. ● Favorite character: Leorina

Daigo Okumura Profile: ● Age: 26 years old ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Lolo’s model, motion production, background character production, etc. ● Comments: I have a confession to make, but there was one part in Lolo’s creation that left me with some regret before the final mastering. When Mr. Arai was thinking up Lolo’s favorite thing, I felt I had to make a statement: “Lolo’s favorite thing is mocha java, it’s the only way! It’s perfect! Perfect!” But I was rejected without a second thought. I hope to work without regrets next time. ● Favorite character: Tat

Aiko Shimosako Profile: ● Age: 26 years old ● Blood Type: O ● Responsibilities: Backgrounds (3D Background Design) ● Comments: I was in charge of designing the puppet display backgrounds and a few backgrounds for the main game. I became a big fan of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile before I joined the company, and my first project after joining was Klonoa 2. The thing that remains in my memory are the bugs we had with puppet displays. Unlike bugs during gameplay, the bugs concerning puppet displays were interesting. Too bad we can’t see them anymore in the full version. (Of course!!) ● Favorite character: Moo! (Especially the ones that sleep)

#klonoa #leorina #tat #king of sorrow #moo #lunatea's veil #translation #yoshihiko arai

[theportuguesewolf]

THE SCARLET LETTER

The always advised Ihsahn from Emperor told US on an interview with Metal Injection, and I quote: “You can’t compete with nostalgia.” and that’s why he doesn’t see a new Emperor album happening. Smart.

Besides his illustrious and differently themed solo career, his former black metal wizard group called it quits (as far as new music goes) in 2001 (Prometheus) , 23 years ago, but Emperor live activity never quite ceased and even in 2024 they still headline stages all over the world, playing what their fans “really like” which consist of their mere 4 albums run, kicked off by the monumental classic In the Nightside Eclipse, a game changer not only for Norwegian Black Metal but also in the way how extreme Metal and Symphonic came together.

Comparing to Moonspell’s own bumps on the road of our “not so smart” musical decisions  (according to thousands of our fans), the question emerges if new music and albums is merely a caprice of bands; a kickstart of a new touring cycle; new numbers on the bulky business of digital or if there’s something else, deeper and perhaps, more spiritual that goes against the common sense of Ihsahn affirmation and against the fans’ general coldness and anxiety/fear of a new album by band who meant so much to them in their “happy days”.

Even though Under the Moonspell, Wolfheart and Irreligious, were no piece of cake to write, release and promote on the road, our ordeal with unsatisfied fans  started with Sin/Pecado, the ever changeling third album. The 2ND SKIN EP was a true omen of times to come, and first reviews were not properly warm enough. They rather entertained the notion of the “why have they done that” and of “we don’t really know how to come to terms with their change”. This was symptomatic of those pair of years that kicked off with Paradise Lost’s One Second in 1997 and topped by “misunderstood” records such as Tiamat’s Deeper kind of slumber of the same year or My Dying Bride’s 34,788%... and of course our own sinful entry into our yet pristine gothic metal pedigree.

A little declaration of interest, before we go any further: I don’t intend to analyze here if  the album aged well, if people were foolish and unprepared or simply mean and vengeful to bands who dared changing and “disappoint” their fan base.

What interests me, for the sake of argument, are those underground metal  years and what happened to the actors involved.

As far as Moonspell goes, there has been no or little forgiveness. I dare to say that we never fulfilled our potential as a band destined for bigger success, as designed by our flamboyant debuts and we did shrug our shoulders and diverted our path through adjacent roads, unaware of Ihsahn later day wisdom and perfect timing.

A deal breaker was ,definitely, our cover of Depeche Mode’s Sacred.

The fans of the wolf and the eye of Horus’ simple but effective mysticism joined the ranks of magazines that ditched Sin and even our former bass player Ares was quoted in Rock Hard Germany, defending his split from the band with a loud and clear “Kein Boch Depeche Mode!”, even though it was his idea in the first place to “expand” our fan base and to cover the amazing British band.

We simply didn’t get away with it.

On the contrary, In Flames’ 1997 Whoracle Everything Counts met with praise and no beef and later, Lacuna Coil, would get lauded by their Enjoy the Silence version in 2006, having the dust settled.

As far as I’m concerned, I’m not the biggest fan of Sin myself and all the album making of and recordings were crooked from beginning to end, starting by the band’s horrible atmosphere back then and being topped by a, in my opinion, a faulty production that seen the band intentions clashing with the conservatism. That’s why I intend to re-record this one album in the future, so help me Goth.

It wasn’t all was good or bad with Sin (for instance, it still is our best-selling album in many countries such as France),  quite the opposite but this was the lesson learnt and, in that aspect, Sin/Pecado was the most central album of our entire discography, and, undoubtedly, the most influential in our personal lives and career as the songwriters, musicians and touring performers of Moonspell. Some say we never bounced back, others that it freed us and allowed us to make even better music. Maybe no one is right, or wrong, but I write from an inside perspective, thus beyond good and evil.

To wrap it up: I'm still left wondering with a couple of things:

What are new albums for? Would it have been different if we did Sin under a new band monicker (like many told us) being smart about it just like Emperor did dealing the subsequent Ihsahn music which probably wouldn’t please the die-hard Emperor fan base?

Has Sin and other aforementioned albums been a rebellious act of freedom which, ironically, paved the way to more cliched Heavy Metal forms like Hammerfall and all the “novelty acts” that followed, inaugurating sub-genres like pirate and dwarf metal that enjoy now their popularity peak?

Was the early Moonspell works et al so damn good or was it our very life that was so damn good when they came out, and we all fell from innocence when we ate the apple of experimenting and seeing our bands and songs under a different light?

I don't have all the answers but I genuinely keep asking.

#moonspell #SIN #PECADO #MUSIC #emperor #ihsahn

[dick-the3rd]

Rant time!!

Unpopular opinion, but I really like Jason's attack on the Titan's Tower despite the fact that most people seem to use it as a bad rep of his character.

Why? Well, buckle up this is going to be long.

First of all, I believe that what he does to Tim is not only very much in character but it's also an important part of who Jason is and what are his motivations after he became Red Hood.

Let's begin at this scene, from UTRH, if you haven't read it I strongly recommend it. Or, alternatively, see the movie version of this, I really like Jason's monologue here.

In this scene he states that he isn't seeking revenge on Bruce for not saving him, no, the real problem is that the Joker is alive. Jason clearly states that he thought that, at least now that the Joker killed him, Batman wouldn't let him hurt anyone else. From Jason's point of view he should have been the last victim.

Focus on that. The last victim.

Next scene. This is from Green Arrow (2001) #72. Red Hood abducted Green Arrow's sidekick, Speedy (who in this issue is Mia). When Oliver asks Bruce why would Jason do that, this is his answer.

Jason is incredibly smart and has proven more than once how he can have more than one goal within the same plan. This is one of this cases.

He abducts Speedy to make a diversion for the case he's currently working on in Star City. He also abducts her as a message to Batman. But also, more than that, he abducts her so he can talk to her, one on one.

Right at the beginning of this issue Jason says to Speedy that he's there to teach her a lesson. That is followed by a sparring of sorts, where Jason states how unfair is that she holds back to avoid killing people when her enemies are obviously aiming to kill her.

Which is followed by this.

It's made very clear how grey Jason morality is. Doing something bad does not equal to being bad, there's a bunch of circumstances around it.

So far so good?

Then we have this panel right here

(I know what it looks like, no he doesn't kill her. He barely even hurts her, by the end she just walks out of the place)

This is a lot more personal than "I'm taking control over Gotham's crime to do damage control". This is him admitting that he'll do things even himself considers very bad because there's a greater goal.

This is him admitting it was wrong of him to kidnap her and give her a beating just to prove a point. This is him saying he doesn't think that what he does is right, but the ends justify the means. Even though the end doesn't make the means right.

Then, FINALLY, we come to this.

The Titans' Tower. Here is the beginning of his speech.

Without any context just sounds like he's bitter and jealous. But then you think about how he wanted to be the Last Victim. Then how he kidnapped Mia to make a point.

Do you see where I'm getting at? No? Here, let me add this:

Read the last panel again. I failed- but I'm still beating you.

Jason died on that costume and that made him the weak Robin. Yet, he's still beating Tim's ass, so that means Tim is weaker than him.

And that means Tim isn't strong enough to be Robin, because if Jason is that good and he died, what chance does Tim have?

Jason knows that beating Robin up to teach Bruce a lesson is wrong. He knew it was wrong with Mia and he knows he's wrong with Tim, but he still thinks it's worth it.

Except it's not only a lesson to Bruce, is a lesson to Tim too (just like it was with Mia). During the whole dialogue Jason is trying to convince Tim that he isn't good enough to be Robin, not because Tim isn't worthy the name, but because it's too dangerous for him to wear the costume.

He's trying to make Tim give up on this life because Jason knows how dangerous it is (, the Last Victim, remember?) and it's unfair to ask for a teenager to put his life at risk to fix something that not even the grown ups can fix.

(To some level, this is also Jason admitting that he wanted someone to stop him before he died. But this is really up to personal interpretation)

Then we have this. Tim beaten to a pulp but still standing his ground.

This is Tim saying that Jason is wrong about the thing about being strong enough, because it isn't Tim's fault that he is bloody and beaten. It isn't even Bruce's fault.

It is Jason, because Jason chose to beat Tim. Jason chose to teach a lesson through pain. He's calling out Jason's hypocrisy. This is Tim refusing to play by Jason's rules.

Which is why I like the ending of this issue too (honestly if Jasom wanted Tim dead Tim would be dead, but I think at this point we all agree that death isn't his goal)

Here is where we can see exactly what makes Jason so bitter. It's not the replacement thing. It's how utterly alone Jason was when he was Robin.

Early this issue Jason says how no one cared that he died and how even though he was a Titan there wasn't a statue to him. Until then it can be read only as a whiny villain doing the bohoo no one loves me thing.

But when we get to the end we can see how deep this truly is. Jason didn't only died alone, but he also died feeling lonely. When he went looking for his mother, he was also he looking for someone that could make him less lonely.

Jason knows he's wrong. He knows he isn't a good person. Hell, he knows what he just did was really fucked up, but he does what he thinks it's best and up to this point he thought that there was a very real possibility that Tim ended up like him.

But by the end of it he realizes he was wrong. Tim isn't like him, Tim has a safety net and has people around him that won't let him end up like Jason.

Jason went to the Tower to teach him a lesson, and by the end he is the one that learns something new.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long rant but I needed to get this out of my system.

Edit: It came to my attention recently that the Green Arrow issue I reference in this post came two years after the Teen Titans issue. It messes a bit with my reasoning and overall organization (since it was meant to be chronological). (This is the problem with reading isolated issues years after they were published, it's hard to keep track of the chronological order of things) Personally speaking I don't think it changes everything, and I still maintain my main opinion of the attack making sense for Jason as a character, but the chronology does affect things and I think it's important for you guys to know it.

#batfamily #batfam #jason todd #red hood #tim drake #robin #meta #jason meta #mine #in depth meta #my meta #my rant #revised #(nothing drastic just fixed a few grammar errors and add alt text to the images)